FCCS News & Insights

What’s in a Name? FCCS Launches New Brand at Virtual Summit!

We are excited to launch our new brand identity, built on the bedrock of 45 years of expertise and burgeoning from recent disruptions to embody the immense opportunities presented to us and our clients. A dynamic new name. A compelling tagline. An insightful logo. But the same commitment to excellence.

“Our new name – FCCS – embraces all that we offer to all of our client groups, while giving a firm nod to where we came from,” says Chad Moller, CEO. “This rebrand will bring exciting energy to our team and their efforts to enhance, expand and update our offerings and we’re excited to bring a new level of forward-thinking expertise and consulting to help accelerate the growth of our client’s businesses.”

FCCS

A more modern take, the name FCCS is the next step in our continued evolution, embracing our history as FCC Services, and before that as Farm Credit Council Services. Always ready on the front foot, FCCS – the name and the organization – is leading edge and high energy.

Forward. Thinking.

Especially in today’s world, it’s easy to get distracted by the everyday instead of staying focused where leaders belong: thinking about how best to meet the future. To thrive, we need to look forward, to think forward. At FCCS, that’s what we do all day, every day.

The “Bioleaf” Icon

FCCS is growing towards the future, but we recognize that the position of trust we hold with many of our clients stems from a shared history and a shared inception within Farm Credit. Our “Bioleaf” draws from the Farm Credit BioStar, but is shifted to indicate new ways of thinking and is presented in a unique color to demonstrate our distinction from Farm Credit as we serve a broader audience outside of the System.

“In the past, there’s been some confusion in the market about the full scope of our services and offerings and even who we serve,” says Jean Cantey Segal, Chief Learning Officer. “Our new FCCS brand will position us to claim our territory and start to educate clients around the full breadth and scope of our offerings and the integrated solutions we provide.”

Timing is Everything

With the world in turmoil from the pandemic, economic uncertainty and civil unrest, this might seem like a counterintuitive time to rebrand an established organization, rather than hunkering down and “sticking to your knitting.” That’s quite the opposite of FCCS’s philosophy.
“This year has been an exercise in reinvention and resiliency, and we’ve really viewed it as a transformational period in our business evolution,” says Chad. “We’ve thoughtfully reshaped a number of our programs, and established a comprehensive, client-centric approach that crosses all our teams. The new brand is another representation of the same philosophy and commitment.”

Getting to FCCS

Rebranding an established organization is no small undertaking, even with the strongest justification for the effort. FCCS started considering an organization rebrand while creating the new brand for the Accelerate Center [Please see related Services Spotlight article.], when the discovery process expanded to include examining the overall organization and raised the possibility of rebranding.

With the question then on the table, FCCS convened a stakeholder group of employees to drive the rebranding initiative, beginning first with the question of whether to rebrand at all, and then to direct the rebrand development process. After surveying the board of directors to identify key attributes and themes that speak to the future of the organization, FCCS engaged long-time design partner EnZed Design to undertake the concepting and design of the new brand identity.
“EnZed has worked with us on many design and product-level brand engagements, so they were supremely positioned to drive our organizational rebranding,” says Stephanie Barton, Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Account Management.

After considering more than 100 tag lines, names and icons, along with countless combinations, the stakeholder group found it an easy decision to settle on the new identity. “We had great dialog about every component of the new identity and came to such easy agreement with pretty great excitement,” says Stephanie.

The Power of Brand

FCCS pursued a new brand after carefully considering its customers, its offerings and the market, along with its overall evolution as an organization. In addition to reflecting our legacy while demonstrating our evolution and unifying our offerings, the new brand will inspire and energize employees.

“Rebranding creates a new vitality and reframes how both customers and employees think about your brand,” says Helen Young, Creative Director and Owner of EnZed Design. “A new brand amplifies forward momentum, which can lead to new opportunities and new potential.”

“FCCS has been delivering exceptional service and instrumental services for 45 years, and the new brand, including the tagline, builds on that legacy while underscoring our current role in anticipating market trends and industry issues,” says Chad. “Forward. Thinking. It truly defines what we do every day, as well as the focus of our efforts.”