NYSAE Communications Institute Gave Insights to Relaunching, Measuring, and Protecting Your Brand

By Nicole Millman-Falk, CAE

An association’s brand must succinctly convey who we are through colors, images, and text, communicate our missions and visions clearly to all our stakeholders, and be consistent throughout all our marketing and communication channels. The New York Society of Association Executives’ (NYSAE) May Communications Institute on The ABCs of Rebranding presented industry experts who shared their knowledge and offered case studies on how to relaunch, protect, and measure an organization’s brand. Held at New York’s University Club, the program was organized by Lauren Beneri, account executive at Kellen Company, and a member of NYSAE’s Education Committee.

“Our brands are intended to be memorial, elicit a positive emotional response with our members, donors, prospects, sponsors, and consumers,” said Michael Cummings, vice president, Kellen Company, who moderated a panel presentation on Relaunching Your Brand. “How do you know when you’re ready to rebrand?” he asked the panelists including: Noel Mick, director, public and professional education, The Eye-Bank for Sight Restoration; Denise Pesich, vice president, communications, Girl Scouts of the USA; Kelly A. Koczak, vice president, marketing, Product Marketing Association (PMA); and Lance Helgerson, director of strategic marketing, Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS).

“PMA had been around for more than 60 years, but we were only known for one week in October when we held a trade show,” explained Koczak. “Because of the success of that trade conference, we got a bit complacent.” PMA decided to convey that it provided year-round value for its members. The organization began its rebranding efforts with research. “We asked such questions as what were the key drivers? What were our members looking for? We needed to show not just a visual identity but new value dimensions.” The organization eventually developed a master architect brand and then sub-brands for events, its foundation, and its global activities. It also used board members are viral agents. “We wanted to show that we looked different and that we were different, so we launched two new products–a social networking platform and consumer research on packaging–to demonstrate how we were changing.”

The need to double the amount of eye donations to meet the needs of the community prompted the Eye Bank to rebrand. As the oldest organ donation group in the country, the Eye Bank wanted to reclaim its status as well as increase the number of people who donated their eyes so that others could see. “We went through a period of introspection,” said Mick. “We had an ‘aha’ moment when we realized that we needed to talk to people about being donors, not recipients. It changed our entire messaging approach.” It changed its tagline from “world’s oldest eye bank” to “see what your eyes can do for others.” The Eye Bank also decided it wasn’t using the best media to communicate its message. “We had to overcome our traditional attitude and conservative spending options that relied on free public service announcements and pro bono work. It wasn’t accomplishing what we needed to do in today’s marketing environment,” said Mick. The Eye Bank wanted to get the information out faster and on its own terms. The Eye Bank launched its new branding campaign with professionally designed subway ads featuring the late Jerry Orbach.

The Girl Scouts was proud of its ability to churn out female leaders of great distinction, including such people as US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Activist Gloria Steinem, and Journalists Barbara Walters and Katie Curic. It decided that its 100^th anniversary was an opportunity to rebrand and reposition itself. “We had completed a new logo in 2010, but decided our anniversary presented a chance to reposition ourselves,” said Pesich. A landmark 2008 study about girls and leadership by the Girl Scouts’ Research Institute spawned its message. “What we learned,” said Pesich, “was that women don’t need power over people; we want power to affect change.” The organization decided to focus its message not on the “Year of the Girl Scouts, but rather on the Year of the Girl.”

Helgerson was just a few weeks into the job when he learned that PLUS was in the midst of a rebranding campaign. “I quickly learned about the perils of marketing decisions by committee. Since that first rebranding effort didn’t work, it was time to stress that rebranding is not a logo and it’s not a font.” That being said, he decided that all logos would be presented to key decision makers in black and white only to avoid the “I don’t like that blue phenomenon. That allowed our committee to focus on the design elements and not the color.” Leading the new efforts, Helgerson felt the rebranding needed to be mission-driven. He also got all vendors, such as web designers and printers, involved as early as possible to make the rollout a smooth one.

Following the rebranding panel, Joan Cear, vice president, Kellen Communications, presented Protect Your Brand: Issues Management & Crisis Communications. “Reputations are the most important asset a nonprofit organization can have,” said Cear. “The choices an established organization makes during a crisis can either undo years of hard work or build a solid foundation for growth moving forward.” She stressed the four phases of crisis communication planning: prevention; preparedness; recovery; and assessment. (An article on crisis communication planning will appear in a future issue of InView.)

Jon McGinley, director of marketing at Salesforce/Radian 6 rounded out the Institute with a compelling presentation on Social Media Monitoring. “The single biggest transformation in marketing in the last 80 years,” said McGinley “is how and where people consume media.” Twitter is the new phone, he added. “Eighty-six percent of millennials use twitter as their first line of communication, interaction with a product, service or with other people.” Monitoring social media, therefore, is critical. Even more important, he stressed, is what we do with the information and how we use the data to shape our associations’ marketing and social media messages. (An article on social media monitoring will appear in a future issue of InView.)

Following the Communications Institute, NYSAE held its Annual Meeting, which included election of new officers and directors (see separate story). Neil Mullanaphy, acting president and CEO/senior vice president sales for the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau and a member of NYSAE’s Board of Directors, spoke at the Annual Meeting on the rebranding initiatives of the Convention Bureau as it prepares for its 50^th anniversary.

Nicole Millman-Falk, CAE, is president of Millman-Falk Communications, LLC, providing editorial and communication services. Among her clients is NYSAE, for whom she serves as managing editor of InView. She can be reached at 201-652-1687 or mfc32@optonline.net