Room to Soar
Carolina Collegiate started on a college campus. Caro was built to fly well past it. For more than two decades, we've shaped how this credit union looks, sounds and shows up, from a full rebrand to car wraps, ATM wraps and campaigns with a sense of humor. It's a brand made to grow, and it has.
Role
Brand Design & Creative Direction
Timeline
2003 – 2026
Result
$88M → $156M in Assets
Platform
Identity, Print, Vehicle & ATM Wraps, Digital Screens & Assets, Ads, Website
Leaving the Nest
A client since 2003, Caro started out as Carolina Collegiate Federal Credit Union, founded in 1967 for University of South Carolina faculty and staff. The garnet-and-palmetto brand fit the campus, and the personality was already there, as the “Bank in Your Boxers” campaign proved (complete with branded boxers).
Full Plumage
By 2017, though, membership had spread to other colleges, healthcare systems and employer groups from Greenville to Columbia to the Grand Strand. I helped build the brand that carried them from Carolina Collegiate to Caro: a shorter, warmer name, the carolina wren in flight and a teal-and-gold palette made for everyone they serve. From there, I went on to lead the team that has kept it flying. A brand isn’t real until it shows up everywhere. . From the card in a member's wallet to the ATM wraps and the car rolling through town, Caro looks like Caro, so members recognize the brand long before they walk through the door.
A Bird’s-Eye View
Most annual reports get flipped through and tossed. For the 2019 annual meeting, I designed one worth keeping: a custom die-cut piece that bisects the bird to create a clasp for the brochure. The design was based off of origami principles for boxes. It told the credit union’s previous year's story in something members wanted to pick up, open and talk about.
Something to Tweet About
The bird gave the brand a personality, and the campaigns gave it a voice. Credit union products can sound like fine print, so we wrote Caro like a friend who knows money: warm, a little witty and never talking down to anyone. Whether the ask was a loan, a membership or a blood drive, the goal stayed the same: give people a reason to look twice, and a reason to trust who's talking.
Still Soaring
Since the 2017 rebrand, Caro has grown from $88 million to $156 million in assets. Even before the 2026 mergers, assets were up 43%, and the credit union’s net worth ratio climbed from 14.1% to 15.8%. In 2026, Caro also welcomed 1st Cooperative and Rural Cooperatives into the family. A brand built to make room for more people turned out to have room for whole credit unions, too.