Acronym

Interesting that you ask these questions, Scott. I actually posted on my blog recently that I thought the message of The Power of A is a good one, but that the implementation of the television ad wasn't likely to affect non-association folks. It didn't tell the story, but rather gave a couple facts that while interesting, weren't that compelling to the non-association person in my opinion.

On to your specific questions:

I believe is is extremely important that people outside of the association community are aware of the ways that associations are making a difference. Our prospective members are often in the public at large, so if we are not making folks aware of the things that associations are doing, how are we thinking we're going to expand our membership pool?

I'd also say it's especially necessary to target younger demographics with these awareness efforts, as I don't believe high school and college students these days necessarily understand that being a member of an association is important and adds value to their futures. If they did, our membership ranks would be replenishing and growing on a much steeper curve than I believe they are currently.

As for the likelihood of the widespread understanding of why associations are important, I think it really depends on whether associations continue to add value to their members' lives, and whether they are able to easily measure and explain how they're making that difference. I also believe it is up to us as association professionals to not shy away from talking about being an association professional. By sharing what we do and talking about it publicly and proudly, we can affect how the public understands what being a part of an association is all about.

Ok, this is a long comment. Thanks for reading.

These are interesting thoughts and a welcome solicitation of reactions. I heard John describe the campaign just pre-launch during a regular leadership briefing call and I caught myself thinking "it's about time" ... but that's a personal reaction, not something based on a need for society to understand us better. I gave up a long time ago trying to get my parents to understand what I did for a living. They could get the title/function much more clearly than they could understand the acronym/purpose/employer for whatever job I held at the time. I have always felt that in associations we are a category of employer more so than a distinct profession; out of maybe 400,000 people working in this sector worldwide (probably a really bad guess) I bet 90% of us would invest the majority of our personal meaning and self-definition based on the function we serve within the association (finance, marketing, HR, receptionist, curriculum developer, meeting planner) rather than identifying with a collective 'association management' profession. It's one reason why we are often so siloed in staff & team relations. And it's probably why ASAE enjoys fairly fierce loyalty among a subset of those 10% who do identify more with the association management field than they do their job function.

But back to the campaign: the low priority of outreach makes sense in the needs surveys you conduct, because collective goods generally score lower. If you're doing something for US, rather than for ME, most of us will downgrade that a bit as a less urgent or important need. But as with any advocacy it remains a real need for the profession. I often quote PPAI for a philosophy they have embraced for years--we serve the member best by serving the industry first--and it's nice to see some of this mindset in the campaign. I don't think (and I'm sure the campaign's positioning research has reinforced) that associations as a category have a clearly defined place in the minds of key decision-makers.

As individual associations we are catalysts for a great deal of press and content that is published but it's easy for audiences to miss the point of what we collectively do. We're not just the "special interest groups" we were described as in poli sci textbooks I read while in college; we serve critical roles in promoting social capital and human capital by providing venues for interation and training/development programs that would not otherwise exist; collectively we are at the forefront of CSR initiatives, etc. There are some overarching, memorable principles that help to summarize us as a sector that are rarely communicated, because we're servant leaders and self-effacing people who are accustomed to not talking much about ourselves. It's nice to see ASAE do this for us...

A twist on what's been said...I think that the awareness campaign is a good idea, simply for the fact that I don't think most people realize that there is a community of associations that represent their interests on a global scale in the way that most individuals can't. In particular, we hear constant bashing of lobbyists in the media, but "everyday Americans" seem to forget that they all have people representing them in Washington - teachers, police, firefighters, mechanics, artists, software engineers, zookeepers, physicians, nurses, construction workers, woodworkers, architects, cafeteria workers, daycare workers...the list goes on and on. It is insane, to me, how the media bashes lobbying (which most associations do) but we all (as representatives of those individual professions) have a right to have our voices heard in Washington. Maybe some awareness of the existence of the association community and the value we bring can help those in government realize that our knowledge and advocacy efforts have a lot of value. It's time to stand up for what we do.

Thank you all for the well thought out comments.

Bruce, I want to challenge you a little bit.

A lot of your comment focuses on expanding membership and awareness of the value of membership. Maybe you mean for this thought to be incorporated into your comments, but they way you talk about membership sounds to me like the way most associations think of membership -- or the traditional approach to membership.

Traditional membership is losing its value. I think it's possible that having growth as an association goal is losing a lot of it's relevance. Fueled by the collaborative web, the ways people are interacting have changed permanently. There's not an awareness campaign or anything else that will possibly change that.

People who do not join associations -- at whatever age -- know exactly what they believe has importance and value to them. Trying to convince them otherwise is fool's work.

Better for an organization to define what it is -- and define it in every way imaginable, in standard marketing, in social networking sites, in social media, in the look and feel of the events it puts on -- and accept the people who value that and want to grow in that way. Growth isn't the goal, depth of engagement is. If others find value in engaging in other ways, then let them.

Scott, I understand that “The Power of A” is not an awareness campaign designed to get members for our associations. My earlier comment was really meant to illustrate that a benefit of a more aware populous to the benefit of associations would not be a bad thing for our associations and their potential membership growth. Perhaps I should have been more direct in my understanding of that.

I do completely agree that traditional membership is losing its value due to the advances in technology and alternative places for people to engage. I also wholeheartedly agree that depth of engagement is an important goal for associations as you state near the end of your comment.

BUT, for that to be more important than growth, many associations will need to change their business models. Right now, I think many associations rely on membership growth and fees as main areas of revenue, while also having a goal to more deeply engage with their members. If the goal isn't to continue to grow our memberships, while also more deeply engaging with people who may or may not be traditional paying members, innovation and new revenue generation models are going to need to be developed, and fast.

Also I have to say that I hear what you're saying - that non-joiners at whatever age know what they believe has value and importance to them, and trying to convince them otherwise is fool's work. I just don't necessarily agree.

Associations can only more deeply engage with people who are aware of what we do. I contend that many non-joiners (especially in the age ranges that I talked about in my earlier comment) aren't always aware of the value that associations can provide. Thus, they don’t allow us to engage with them when they get into the workforce because they’re not aware of how they will benefit.

That is why awareness campaigns like the one ASAE is doing right now are so important. By making people (especially the younger demographic) understand how associations are beneficial to the country and world, they are more likely to allow us to engage with them. If they don't find value, there are other places for them to engage.