A brand – how a member or consumer feels about and perceives your organization – is a living entity. It needs constant care and feeding to remain relevant for current members and future prospects. For many associations, however, a brand may feel “good enough” … and spending time on it feels like one more impossible thing to juggle amidst the myriad other pressing priorities. Inertia sets in, and soon enough, the brand suffers.
It’s a common enough reality that Christina Davies, art director & brand strategist, GRAPHEK; Natalie Hughes, assistant director, marketing & project management, American Association of Endodontists (AAE); and Bill Rowan, vice president, marketing & communications, National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), teamed up at a recent ASAE meeting to explore how to look at a brand with intent, recognize when it’s time for a refresh, and do the work to ensure that a better and stronger brand is within reach – all through the relatable but lighthearted lens of their longstanding professional relationship.
Thankfully, the rebranding process doesn’t have to mean completely reinventing the wheel – no matter what, it should mean reconnecting with your association’s purpose. It can create greater efficiencies as you remove pain points; a tired brand invariably creates more work as staff try to make outdated guidelines work in the current environment. It also doesn’t have to sidetrack an entire team! Hiring a third party to conduct the brand audit without bias and create a plan for initiating a brand refresh is a wise move.
What it does require is the willingness to look for red flags indicating your brand may not be working for your association anymore.
AAE’s visual audit before rebranding.
At AAE, it had been 10 years since their last branding effort and while members weren’t complaining, staff was struggling to make the outdated branding work. They made the case for being proactive about a refresh – before members started recognizing branding failures – and got the go-ahead.
NAPA’s visual audit before rebranding.
At NAPA, the brand standards and the color palette were limited and restrictive. The association’s logos for departments like its PAC, foundation, and awards lacked cohesion, and there was an overdependence on using color alone to represent the brand. Like AAE, “no one was banging on our door saying something was wrong,” Rowan said. “But we saw opportunity.”
“Our brand guidelines focused on fonts, logo, colors, and basic design preferences, but we couldn’t extend the guidelines to today’s realities,” Hughes added. “We were bending the guidelines to our will as usages on social media, the website, or in our emails increased dramatically over the course of 10 years. We were drifting away from core guidelines and toward ‘strategic infidelity’ as we started mixing colors and designs in ways that weren’t intended. It was getting out of hand and no longer striking the right chord.”
“Our logo was the brand at NAPA,” admitted Rowan. “It was limiting, so the push to refresh was staff-driven. We knew there was so much pride in the colors and logo that we needed to build the case and demonstrate need; we couldn’t just say, ‘We’re changing things.’ I also took the time to build the trust needed for a brand refresh. We asked a lot of forward-looking questions, recognized the pride in NAPA’s history, and focused on strategy.”
Once you’ve identified your “Houston, we’ve got a problem” moment, it’s time to take the next step of auditing your marketing materials, thinking about where you are and where you need to be. Consider member feedback through focus groups or surveys, as well. Ask yourselves what you want to keep, move toward, leave behind, and avoid. Select your core branding team carefully, including key stakeholders but not making it so vast that finding common ground becomes impossible. Your marketing and communications team and executive leadership are likely candidates; your association’s entire Board of Directors and committee leadership team are probably not.
A sample of AAE’s assets after rebranding.
“Our team was small and tight knit,” said Hughes. “We weren’t revolutionizing the logo or changing the name. And, thanks to the trust we’d built internally in terms of how we interacted with the Board and with members, they were open to our desire to conduct brand research and confident that we’d share our discoveries. By the time we presented to the Board, we’d done the research, gathered member input, addressed our branding pain points, and created guardrails to ensure adherence to the brand. It was more a matter of keeping them informed than asking for further input.”
NAPA’s refreshed logo and a sample of their assets after rebranding.
“Rebranding gave us the tools to align our communications, from social media to print. We’re more consistent and vibrant, and the result is a sense that members feel more connected, more involved, and more grounded because everything we do is consistent,” Rowan added. “They may not even realize exactly why they feel more grounded, but a thoughtful refresh builds a steadfastness and appreciation from members that isn’t going to be a hard sell to a Board.”
Looking ahead – in an environment where AI becomes seemingly ubiquitous – it will be especially important to continue humanizing your brand to reach members and prospective members. Root your brand – genuinely – in the core of what your association offers to your members. Let it reflect pride in the profession they’ve chosen and your association represents. And remember that while analytics of your membership will always be important, branding is both a science and an art. You’ll still need to study your membership and your competition, but you’ll also want to continuously read the mood and keep the spark alive through a brand that embraces the future and celebrates planning for it.
Feeling unsure how your brand stacks up? Take this quiz to find out if your brand isn’t supporting you or your strategy; has potential but could use a little help; or is humming along beautifully!
Do any of these red flags feel uncomfortably familiar? Let’s talk about your brand and how to better position your association for the future. Give us a call!
