Page 19 - BusinessWest May 11, 2026

Banks >>Continued from page 17
they feel good about and brands they’re connected to,”
said Hamel, adding that Liberty eventually arrived at
“Be Community Kind.”
“That’s more than a tagline for us — it’s our brand
promise,” she said. “People want to be part of some-
thing, they want to be part of the community, and they
want to help each other out, and we said to ourselves,
‘this is who Liberty Bank is, we’ve always been this,
and this [tagline] became a way to formalize it.”
Like Regin, Hamel noted that branding success
starts from the inside and works its way out. “It has
to be that filter that a business runs all its decisions
through. We have to be authentic and live what we
believe in.”
Meanwhile, PeoplesBank focuses on “Simple
Banking,” a message, said Bannister, that is difficult
to replicate.
“With most bank ads, if you erase the bank’s name
and put in another bank’s name, the ad would still
work; everyone is selling the same products and ser-
vices. So we wanted to put a stake in the ground on
something that other banks weren’t going to be able
to easily copy, because it takes a lot of discipline to
work yourself to be simple.”
When it comes to marketing in an ultra-crowded
financial services sector, very little is simple, other
than the mission — to somehow gain some separa-
tion and be top of mind. BW
STASH >>Continued from page 18
chase process and begin building equity for long-term
wealth,” said Dennis Duquette, president and CEO of
the MassMutual Foundation. “We are pleased to help
make it possible for STASH to expand and enhance
homeownership opportunities for families throughout
Massachusetts.”
The announcement of the $1.55 million marks
the second major investment from the Racial Wealth
Gap Partnership, which was founded in 2022 by the
Boston Foundation and is a broad-based partnership
of more than 40 members representing a wide range
of financial, philanthropic, nonprofit, and civic leaders.
In late 2024, the partnership supported the launch
of the ONE+ Program by the Massachusetts Housing
Partnership (MHP) in collaboration with the Boston
Foundation, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
“This collaboration with MAHA is a
wonderful complement to our ongoing
work with MHP’s ONE+ program
because it allows the partnership to
broaden the avenues for access to
homeownership for first-generation,
first-time homebuyers across the entire
Commonwealth.”
Eastern Bank Foundation, and the State Street Foun-
dation. To date, that effort has supported nearly 400
first-time homebuyers across Massachusetts.
“This collaboration with MAHA is a wonderful
complement to our ongoing work with MHP’s ONE+
program because it allows the partnership to broaden
the avenues for access to homeownership for first-
generation, first-time homebuyers across the entire
Commonwealth,” said Courtney Brunson, director of
Economic Equity Initiatives at the Boston Foundation.
“Through its programs and partnerships with orga-
nizations across Massachusetts, MAHA is providing
a powerful combination of resources to ensure fami-
lies can buy their own homes and keep them to build
long-term wealth. We look forward to our continued
partnership in this work.” BW
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