Creating Alberta’s largest credit union Servus Credit Union / connectFirst Credit Union

Two credit unions. Two distinct histories. Two member bases with their own sense of identity and loyalty. And one question that both of them had to answer yes to: is this merger worth it for me?

When Servus and connectFirst announced plans to merge, the strategic case was clear to leadership. The challenge was making it equally clear to the people who actually held the vote—members who had built their financial lives around institutions they trusted, and who had no particular reason to want change.

What we found

The barrier wasn’t opposition. Most members weren’t against the merger—they simply didn’t know enough to say yes with confidence. The communications challenge wasn’t to overcome resistance. It was to close the gap between a decision that made sense at a leadership level and the day-to-day reality of members wondering what it would actually mean for them.

The strategic answer had to be grounded in member outcomes—not institutional ambition, not financial scale, not the logic of consolidation. What would members gain? What would stay the same? What would be better? Those were the only questions that mattered to the people holding the vote.

What we did

We built a narrative centred on shared benefit and future growth—honest about what was changing, specific about why it was worth it, and consistent across every channel where members and employees would encounter it.

That meant aligning leadership on a single clear story before anything went public, training employees to carry it authentically at the community level, and sequencing the rollout so the right audiences heard the right things at the right time—internal first, then members, then the broader public.

The work spanned internal communications, digital and social channels, executive media preparation, and a dedicated member resource hub built to answer the questions people actually had rather than the questions leadership assumed they’d have.

The result

85% of members voted in favour. The successful creation of Alberta’s largest credit union—and a transition that left both member communities feeling informed, respected, and genuinely part of the decision.