Page 13 - BusinessWest May 11, 2026

KNOWING
BUSINESS BANKING
IS KIND OF OUR
THING.
Signage within PeoplesBank Arena has given the institution
visibility and an opportunity to distance itself from the former
Peoples United Bank.
Staff Photo
“The whole reason why we did this was branding and visibil-
ity — just to have our name mentioned — ‘PeoplesBank Arena,
PeoplesBank Arena’ — around UConn and the WNBA’s Sun and
the debate about them moving or not moving from Mohegan
Sun; for us, that’s the value,” Bannister said. “We’re inviting cus-
tomers and prospects, and we’re donating seats to nonprofits
for auctions, so we’re maximizing what we do, and we’re track-
ing all that. But the big answer is differentiating ourselves from
People’s United.”
“I look at marketing as making
sure we’re top of mind when peo-
ple are ready to buy.”
SIOBHAN TRIPP
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Obtaining the naming rights to the arena is easily the largest
investment among locally based banks in the broad — make that
very broad — realm of marketing, but there are countless other
ways that institutions large and small work to get their name
and message out there.
This includes everything from Country Bank’s huge sign in
right field at Polar Park, home to the Worcester Red Sox, a city
where the bank is trying to grow market share, to Westfield
Bank’s commercials on Boston Red Sox radio broadcasts; from
countless area billboards to the sponsorship of events and pro-
grams, such as BusinessWest’s podcast and its various events,
as well as other digital platforms and social media influencers.
Certain banks and credit unions face specific challenges —
for example, there are two banks with Greenfield in their names,
Connecticut-based Liberty Bank is making a push into the Bay
State, while PeoplesBank and other Massachusetts-based banks
are expanding into Connecticut — but all of them have the same
basic assignment: finding ways to stand out in a crowded field.
And that’s not easy given the large number of banks and cred-
it unions doing business in area markets and the fact that they
are, for the most part, offering essentially the same products and
services.
“I look at marketing as making sure we’re top of mind when
people are ready to buy,” said Siobhan Tripp, marketing director
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Business W est << BANKING & FINANCE >>
MAY 11, 2026
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