Anatomy of a Rebrand

In June, CMA launched the redesigned and rebranded website for the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association (TMSA)—www.TMSAToday.org. Part of a six month rebranding campaign, the new website capped off a series of rebranding initiatives including a new association name and logo, a revamped e-newsletter and new programming offered at the organization’s Annual Conference. Let’s look at the phased approach of CMA and the TMSA Board of Directors in bringing this initiative full circle.

Phase 1: Determine an all-encompassing name. CMA worked closely with the TMSA Board of Directors to determine a name that welcomed sales executives, a new target market segment becoming increasingly essential to the success of existing members in marketing and communications. Ultimately, the group decided to stay close to their previous name and acronym (Transportation Marketing and Communications Association, TMCA) but replace communications with sales to directly recruit this segment.

Phase 2: Select a logo. CMA provided three different options for new logos, all looking to fulfill the goal of creating a more vibrant image. A departure from TMCA’s maroon and gray colors, the new logo is blue and gold and utilizes italics to provide movement and relate back to the transportation industry. The four arrows serve as a graphic depiction of the four key areas of member benefits – knowledge, connections, recognition and solutions.

Phase 3: Announce a soft launch. With an association that has been around for decades, CMA knew it would take time to fully establish the new name and brand. Starting the first week of January 2011, CMA’s marketing and public relations teams worked together on an integrated soft launch to notify members and the public of the new identity. The PR team secured nearly a dozen placements in industry media outlets, refreshed the brand look of all the association’s social media sites, introduced a transitional website phase where the new logo was showcased on the home page and began using transitional e-mail communications to the membership.

Phase 4: Full usage of the brand. Because CMA is both a marketing firm and an association management company, implementing the brand went smoothly according to plan. The association management team worked with TMSA’s Education Committee to integrate sales topics into the Annual Conference agenda, while the CMA marketing team worked with the association’s president on his conference presentation to fully introduce all facets of the new brand to the membership. The final pieces of the branding puzzle, the new website and the new e-newsletter, were officially unveiled at the Conference.

Ultimately, CMA provided the necessary team members and structure to create a successful and effective rebranding campaign. The association has been strengthened and is better able to recruit new members due to the refreshed image and increased functionality of member communications.