Inside AGC CEO’s Message

May/June 2008

Rebranding to Enhance Unity

AGC launches a new logo and streamlines communications

By AGC CEO Steve Sandherr

The key to a successful organization—and to maintaining a standard of excellence—is to constantly evaluate and find ways to improve. To that end, AGC’s 2007-2009 Strategic Plan was designed to lead us to many significant achievements. Two of our goals call for a strong brand and streamlined communications with and among chapters.

In order to meet those goals, we first assessed the needs of our growing and dynamic membership. AGC embarked on a comprehensive survey of members, chapter executives and chapter staff to identify what members want, how best to communicate with them and how to build membership across the country. We held extensive focus groups that have resulted in a plan to refine who we are, repackage our membership information and market the combined AGC of America and chapter product.

The survey was designed to measure satisfaction as well as commitment to AGC and interest in expanded involvement. Nearly half of the respondents held vice-president or higher offices and even more had a significant input in membership decisions.

Results showed a need to create a unified message to strengthen the commitment of current members and build the strength of our brand. I am pleased to introduce the new AGC logo, approved by the executive board at the convention on March 12. The new logo has been incorporated into new membership recruitment and retention materials, and we plan to provide a customizable template to chapters through the AGC Chapter Portal. You will notice that one of the biggest changes we have made is the AGC tagline: Quality People. Quality Projects. While we will continue to build America’s quality of life, we want our brand to reiterate the quality products and people that are behind those improvements.

As you can see, we maintained many of the same design elements in both the seal and expanded logo. The result is a more refined, updated look for AGC. In the coming months, we will work with chapters to develop a cohesive brand in all AGC of America and chapter communications.

We also are creating an outline for membership recruitment and retention that will put our new brand to work for us. The strategy will be delivered at regional training sessions beginning this summer. In the meantime, we are adopting a plan to roll out the new brand to the public.

The survey also revealed that most people do not differentiate between AGC of America and its chapters. The new brand will market a combined AGC of America and chapter product. To that end, we also have made significant progress in meeting our goal of improving chapter communications as we develop a portal for chapters to share best practices and streamline communications. The portal will include mechanisms for determining the use of AGC services and products by members, and best practices and downloadable templates for membership recruitment and retention efforts. Improved communications will be made possible by a comprehensive editorial calendar that will reduce multiple same-day e-mails.

We are confident that these improvements will make AGC an even stronger organization, here in Washington and across the country. Our primary goal will always be to concentrate on building a better industry for the professionals who build America’s future. To do that, we will continue to promote the skill, integrity and responsibility of our members who build that future. After 90 years of advancing the nation, AGC is set for another century of protecting public interest and servicing our members. Together, we can ensure future generations continue to recognize our national importance, just as President Woodrow Wilson did in 1918.