Rebrand
In 2019, I led a rebrand project for the Arizona Society of CPAs (ASCPA), a professional association with 5,000 members.
Prior to the rebrand, the ASCPA had a logo that was developed in the 1980s, which didn’t fit many of the important elements of a visual. It was not modern, relevant or inclusive. The organization also needed consistent brand messaging.
After choosing an agency to work with on the logo design, there were three phases to the project: research, development and launch.
The video on the right incorporates our members and president & CEO, who speak about what the brand means to them. We also had three shorter videos that focused on each element of the brand.
Research
We gathered feedback from our key stakeholders, members and leaders, through a brand workshop, phone surveys and online surveys. Through this research, the members confirmed their interest in a new logo and provided information that would be helpful in crafting the brand messaging.
Development
The agency we worked with developed initial logos. We narrowed down the options and tested them with key stakeholders of diverse backgrounds and age groups to determine the final logo. We created talking points to explain how the logo tells the ASCPA story.
I developed the tagline for the ASCPA: Your connection to the CPA profession. This tagline would encompass a variety of our stakeholders. CPAs would know that the ASCPA was the place they could create community with their peers. Legislators would see that we were the voice of the CPA profession and there to support and explain how accounting and tax legislation would affect businesses and the community.
We also developed a brand promise and three key areas of focus: advocating for members, creating community and maximizing growth.
Launch
Because we have members at a variety of firms and companies, we wanted to share the excitement for the brand launch. We put together a Swag Squad that would visit the firms and companies to show a short video about the new brand and bring them swag bags full of logo items. This was a hit with our members and also helped us strengthen our relationships with our members.
While not everyone was happy with the change, we had mobilized our ASCPA Champions to assist us in sharing the story of the brand. They spoke up on our behalf when members expressed concern on our online discussion board. And, as one of my mentors said, “If you don’t have any haters, you didn’t push the envelope far enough.”
View special edition of AZ CPA magazine featuring brand launch
