Project: Business Vitality Branding Journey Contact: Michael Barnett Tel: ++64 9 309 6100 Web: www.b-vital.com

Be vital or be forgotten

William Shakespeare's Romeo may have inadvertently created the notion of branding when he asked, "What's in a name?"

And, as the Auckland Chamber of Commerce can tell you, the answer in the 21st century is "everything".

When the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of all chambers of commerce in New Zealand, set out to re-brand themselves, they were looking for a brand that every member could look at and know instantly what membership in a chamber of commerce would do for them.

In fact, they made identifying 'what's in it for me?' central to their entire philosophy of branding.

'What's in it for me?' is consistently reflected in the master brand, chamber brand and product brand that make up the unique three tiered branding system created for the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

Setting the tone for 33 chambers of commerce across New Zealand, the Auckland Chamber of Commerce adopted "Business Vitality" as their positioning statement, distilling a chamber's essence to two words.

The master brand "b vital" reflects this vision in a tight catchphrase.

The Auckland chamber also created five product sub-brands. Members are reminded that they need to "b heard, b connected, b fit, b global and b ahead".

These high quality, innovative branding strategies were made available for all of New Zealand's chambers to make their own. A unifying system of design brought these chambers closer together without threatening their individuality.

Integrating this branding system into marketing tactics like chamber web sites, magazines, newsletters, recruitment brochures and membership rewards programs was key to the brand's overall success.

The success of this ambitious re-branding goes well beyond the obvious improvements to image. Unsolicited requests to join the chamber are up sharply. Event attendance and magazine advertising sales h ave both increased.

It's clear, if you want to improve your chamber's overall performance - you've got to jump on the brandwagon!