INNOVATION January-February 2015

pub l i c awarenes s

Branding APEGBC

“Why is this being done? Why is there effort being put into this that could be spent elsewhere?”

“I’m in full favor of APEGBC’s rebranding exercise. APEGBC should be at the center of raising the stature of its members in the eyes of the general public.”

An initiative is underway to evaluate and develop APEGBC’s brand, and we are hearing diverse responses from members. This is a rather telling reflection of the process itself, which aims to influence public awareness and perceptions of professional engineers and geoscientists given the impact of these factors on how APEGBC fulfills its public safety role. We want the public to value the P.Eng. and P.Geo. designations and the work of engineers and geoscientists, and we want to grow public confidence in APEGBC’s leadership in engineering, geoscience and regulatory practices. What does this have to do with APEGBC’s brand? An organization’s logo and name is often mistaken for its “brand.” However, this is only a small part of the equation. Branding refers to the overall experience of the organization: what core values and attributes does it exhibit publicly and align itself with, what user/client experience does it promise, and what kind of personality does it display? A logo is merely part of a brand’s visual identity; it is a representation and reminder of the organization’s brand promise, but it alone does not make up the brand itself. To send strong and consistent messages to the public, we need to be able to clearly articulate who APEGBC and BC en- gineers and geoscientists are and what they do. However, this is not nearly so clear cut: while our number one duty of public safety has not changed, APEGBC does more than we’ve ever done before, as do our members. From registration to member services, from practice guidelines to career awareness, we are a different organization than we were 30, 20 or even 10 years ago. And, in that time, BC engineers and geoscientists have changed as well. APEGBC members come from more diverse backgrounds, their skills and education are better-rounded, and the work that they do is increasingly specialized and tech- nologically advanced. Not just a marketing exercise To authentically articulate APEGBC’s brand, the work that is being done is necessarily member centered and data driven. This first phase of the project has involved a brand audit and comparison studies, survey data from members, staff and the public, one-on-one interviews with members representing different demographics and internal groups, as well as external stakeholders. We will be sharing more detailed information on that research in a future article in Innovation . As indicated by the statements at the beginning of this article, we’ve had a wide variety, and even conflicting views from members about different aspects of APEGBC—what it does,

what it represents, how it comes across in interactions. Some see the association’s role as a public guardian, while others, an advocate. In their interactions, different members may see the association as serious, bureaucratic, conservative, sophisticated, technical or even paternalistic. A multitude of views into one brand Through the branding initiative, we hope to make sense of this multitude of views and find a common thread to build on in rep- resenting the association and its members externally and inter- nally. To date, the research indicates that APEGBC is a solid and respected organization, and we’ve seen that members are proud of the work that they do and take their responsibility to protect the public seriously. However, the breadth and range of members from across the engineering and geoscience professions makes it hard to find singular messaging, tone and purpose. Members and stakeholders seem to agree that regulation and public safety are seen as the primary role of APEGBC, but beyond that, a lack of clarity exists around what the association does.

On recognition “If you say APEGBC to 99% of the public, they won’t have a clue who you’re talking about.” “Does it matter what the name is? I have to join; it’s not a choice, it’s for my job.” On APEGBC’s role “Provide resources to members” “Advocacy for members” “Ensuring that P.Eng.’s remain certified” “It’s APEGBC’s role to promote engineering to kids.”

As a next step, we will be looking at how we can find a way to draw on the strong foundation that exists to develop the APEGBC brand in a way that unifies and inspires members, and grows public awareness and confidence. We will continue to keep you updated through this process, so watch for further information in Innovation . Do you have a question about the branding initiative, or would you like to share your thoughts on this topic? Please contact Maria-Carmen Kelly at mckelly@apeg.bc.ca or 604.639.8179. v

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