Co-operative identity and branding: An exploration in putting your co-op foot forward

Date:

23 October, 2013

The Measuring the Co-operative Difference Research Network invites to you this free, public webinar:

This webinar will explore the much-debated topic of co-op branding and identity. The three featured speakers will dig into this topic from different perspectives; grounded both in research as well as experience.

Georgina Whyatt will begin with an overview of her research on the implementation of a 'marketing our cooperative advantage (MOCA)' strategy. She will focus particularly on the internal challenges to implementing such as strategy. She explored whether values are something that has to be balanced with business growth or if the two go hand in hand. She also delves into the impact of values and co-op identity on management commitment, marketing messages, internal communication/training, business processes aligned with values/ principles, and so forth. She will describe how coops/CUs work to overcome those challenges in their businesses and their branding.

Donna Balkan will present her recent research exploring co-operative identity as illustrated on Canadian co-op websites: Co-op Identity 2.0. She will speak to her metrics for measuring whether co-op identity is showcased and the results of her scan of nearly 100 co-ops and credit unions (including the 50 largest co-ops in Canada).

Carolyn Hoover of DotCooperation will speak about the “dot coop” brand, how this url showcases co-op identity and she will provide an overview of the global picture in terms of which sectors are using the .coop url.

Participants will be invited to engage with the speakers and other participants for the last portion of the webinar with their questions, comments and ideas.