Ipswich Building Society becomes Suffolk Building Society

With immediate effect, Ipswich Building Society will now be known as Suffolk Building Society

Since 1849, the Society has provided a safe home for members’ savings and has operated an individual approach to mortgage lending, as well as supported its local communities. The new name and new look represent a significant evolution helping the Society to connect to a broader community while also reflecting its historic commitment to the county of Suffolk. In fact, the Society has undergone several name changes, originally being founded as the Ipswich & Suffolk, becoming ‘the Ipswich’ in 1975.

To mark the launch of Suffolk Building Society, Richard Norrington, CEO, today (9 November) attended the Society’s flagship branch, Mutual House, in Ipswich town centre for the unveiling of the new branding, which was also attended by charity partners and long-standing members. Other branches around the county also had similar celebratory events to introduce the new look and feel to their customers and the general public.

Richard Norrington, CEO of Suffolk Building Society, commented: “Today has been a significant milestone in the Society’s history. It has been a great pleasure to reveal our new Suffolk Building Society brand, a change which our members, employees and the public have been overwhelmingly supportive of.

Prior to the name change, the Society carried out independent market research and focus groups in which respondents said they felt an affinity with Suffolk and were more likely to align their values with the county name.*
Richard Norrington continued: “Careful consideration went into selecting our new name to ensure it is inclusive, sustainable and appealing. It is reflective of the fact that our member base is much wider than Ipswich alone, allowing us to retain a connection to the place we call home but giving us a fantastic springboard from which to support a greater number of people with their financial needs across Suffolk and beyond.”

New branding
The new logo and brand style are inspired by the characteristic sights of Suffolk, drawing on cast-iron street signs and half-timbered houses, and the places the Society helped build over its 172-year history. The colour scheme is influenced by the heritage colours of the county and features the iconic Suffolk Pink.

Commenting on the new branding, Richard Norrington said: “Our new website, features an evolved colour palette, fonts and imagery that better showcase our character, personality and county home. Members may recognise some of our county’s fabulous landmarks in the iconography used on the site and in the new photography that we commissioned using local photographer Richard Allenby-Pratt of The Suffolk Project.”
The new visual identity is also reflected in the Society’s social media channels too which can be followed on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

Branch network
Suffolk Building Society’s branch network will remain a core channel for its local residents: following the rebrand, it will invest in its branches across the county to ensure they continue to serve the needs of their communities in the friendly, face to face and straightforward manner in which members will be familiar.

Community focus
As a mutual organisation, with no responsibility to shareholders, Suffolk Building Society will continue to place great emphasis on involving, nurturing and supporting its local communities. The new name and brand refresh is a much more fitting reflection of the work the Society already undertakes across the entire county and its desire to protect, enhance and celebrate the people and places on its doorstep, now and in the future.

Sustainability
The evolution to Suffolk Building Society has been a very carefully managed and gradual process so that existing branded materials have been wound down to reduce unnecessary expense and crucially to minimise the Society’s carbon footprint.
Members will be offered new Suffolk Building Society passbooks but they are welcome to keep their existing book until it is full and needs replacing.

Richard Norrington concluded: “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the staff at the Society for all their hard work and dedication involved to complete the journey towards this new name and visual identity, and to members for their wholehearted support and enthusiasm for the rebrand.”

Further information can be found on the Suffolk Building Society website.

Image: Simply C Photography