Information Outlook, Vol. 5, no. 3, March 2001

Would You Buy SLA?


By Barbara Spiegelman.

Barbara Spiegelman is a member of the SLA BrandingTask Force, and may be contacted at : churchill_assoc@msn.com.
The SLA Board of Directors established the Task Force on Branding in January 2000, as one of four teams examining priority targets for change.

How Do You Decide What Brand to Buy?


Imagine that we meet in the drugstore. We were on our way home from the office, and both of us needed to pick up a few items. We laugh about having an informal staff meeting in "Digestive Aids", and proceed up the aisles together.
You son doesn't feel well, so you want to pick up a fever reducer. We walk purposely through "Cough and Colds", where there are at least a dozen products that will meet your needs. We ignore them, and together stop in front of the familiar red bottle: Tylenol. You choose the large size on the theory that whatever your son has, he will share with his sister!

I need contact lens fluid, so we zigzag to "Optic Needs". There are at least six different products to choose from, but I move right to the Allergan solution. I know what I want.

Ah, but here comes the interesting part. We both need toothpaste, so we head for "Dental Hygiene". (Is it me, or have drugstore aisles begun to sound like fourth grade?) There are even more products here, at least two dozen to choose from. You are adamant about your Crest, but I am not swayed from my Aquafresh. What's going on here?

In a nutshell, branding. Branding - that seemingly magical process that teaches us to buy a specific product in the first place, and then return to it unwaveringly. Every one of the products we chose today has changed since the first time we purchased it. Perhaps it has a "new and improved" formula? A new type of delivery mechanismflip top or "push down while turning"? New packaging? Or does it now come in gelcaps and tablets, and in three sizes instead of just one?

Branding - the product evolves, but the customer remains steadfast and true. Landor Associate's web site, www.landor.com/thinking/whati581.cfm defines a successful brand is "one that generates genuine loyalty and
affection because it provides a level of quality, trust, convenience, assurance and allure for which customers are willing to pay a premium." The successful brand continually evolves, just as their customer's expectations of these qualities evolve.

In some cases, a brand owner can choose to evolve either its brand's name, or its visual idenitity or both, to reflect its own evolution or cultural and attitudinal shifts among its audiences. Think of Federal Express' change to Fedex. Andersen Consulting's recent change to Accenture. Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC, as fried foods become less desirable on the surface, even as people keep piling in for extra-crispy-tasty whatever! So smart marketers acknowledge that brand identity change can be good even necessary. Whether it takes the form of a change in name, or a change in the "Visual Vocabulary" surrounding the entity, an identity evolution can be a powerful tool for managing the perception of the brand.

Branding - the product advances, and the customer remains steadfast and true. Would you buy SLA? Imagine our association as a product on the shelf. There it is, right in the "Professional Associations" aisle, in alphabetical order with every other initialism in the world of information associations. What does this particular brand mean to you, the member? What does it mean to non-membersto other information professionals? To current and prospective employers? To government legislators? We know it is a good brand because it generates our loyalty and affection. But is the SLA of today the same as the SLA you joined? Is it static, or has it evolved to more than it once was? Has our brand evolved as much as the association it represents?

Members of the Task Force on Branding have been looking at exactly these questions. The SLA Board of Directors established the Task Force in January 2000, as one of four teams examining priority targets for change.

Carol L. Ginsburg, of the Deutsche Bank, in New York, chairs the Task Force. Members include: Stephen Abram (task force network) Micromedia Limited, Toronto, Ontario; Marian Bremer, MIT Lincoln Labs, Lexington, MA; Holly Bussey, EBSCO, and past-chair of the advertising & Marketing Division, Yardley, PA; Ava Goldman, California Public Employee Retirement Fund, (CalPERS), Sacramento, California; Neil Infield, Hermes Administration Services Ltd., London, UK; Roberta Piccoli, J. Walter Thompson, Chicago, Illinois; and Barbara Spiegelman, The Churchill Associates, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The preliminary goal of the Task Force on Branding involves gaining a clear understanding of SLA's value proposition to its various audiences, developing a more aspirational brand strategy and vision, and creating an identity that will ensure its continued relevance for years to come. The goal is to give the SLA brand more longevity, resilience, strength and elasticity, together with an authority that need never be outgrown. Our evolving brand strategy may be expressed in a new name, logo, tagline, and/or visual design platform that triggers desired perceptions about a more vibrant and dynamic new SLA brand. But whatever we recommend, we'll check in with the leadership and membership early and often!

In addition, the group is charged with developing an implementation plan that could result in the official adoption of a new name for the association.

Branding is a more complicated process than it appears. The literature on the subject is growing daily. More and more American companies are examining their branding to determine if it has evolved to serve the growing global economy. Whether in the domestic or international marketplace, every organization is trying to establish an image and brand " . . . that generates genuine loyalty and affection . . .," while remaining true to its purpose.

Will our association achieve this goal? We have an advantage: our members remain steadfast and true, while working to help the organization evolve. Each member of the Task Force remains mindful that the topic of branding touches our hearts as well as our heads. Its work continues. Stay tuned.