Tustin-based Sunwest Bank, the largest Orange County-based bank, has changed its logo and unleashed a new marketing campaign aimed at a younger crowd and decision-makers to help it compete in an increasingly contested local market.
“The idea of the logo change is sort of a brand imaging,” said Chris Walsh, president of Sunwest Bank.
“Sunwest Bank has been here for 30 years (but) we really did not have a lot of name recognition and brand recognition in the county, and we thought that with some high-energy colors we would appear more of a bank that is changing with new technology,” Walsh said.
The bank also is preparing a more interactive Web site that will try and catapult the company with new business customers.
“You probably won’t see in the fourth quarter, but in the first or at least by the end of the second quarter of next year, you will see a totally different Web site,” said Walsh. “We are very much a business bank and we are looking at business from young entrepreneurs also.”
Sunwest’s marketing budget is up by about 15% from last year, according to Walsh.
Separately, the bank recently moved its headquarters to a newer and bigger building in Tustin.
“Our lease was expiring and we had the opportunity to consolidate all of our administrative functions in one location,” said James LeSieur, Sunwest’s chief executive. “We also had the opportunity to upscale our facilities.”
The bank moved from a 20,000-square-foot office space to around 28,000 square feet in Tustin.
“We have been in the location for almost 30 years. We did not own the building and it was going to require a massive amount of work to bring the building up to current building standards, and still we were concerned that we wouldn’t have room for growth and expansion,” LeSieur said.
Sunwest has three branches in Anaheim, Tustin and Newport Beach. LeSieur said the bank is looking at expanding to South County.
“It could be an acquisition of another operating entity, acquire assets, buy a branch or start a new bank,” said LeSieur. “Our goal is to run and grow this bank over the next three to five years.”
Sunwest has $203 million in deposits and $165 million in loans. In January, the bank’s deposits were $142 million and loans were at $133 million. n
