News from the profession

A summary of current CICA projects and initiatives

Branding program launches with high-profile CA Advantage campaign

By Daniel McMahon, FCA

This month the new CA Branding Program kicks off with a high-profile advertising campaign that tells the public about the distinct advantages CAs bring to business.

Appearing in a variety of venues — television, magazines, airport billboards, elevator screens and the Internet — the campaign delivers the key message that CAs are the best in class — the pre-eminent accounting designation.

This advertising campaign is just one part of a comprehensive branding program set to roll out over the next several years across Canada. Its goal is to shift perceptions about the CA profession by raising awareness that CAs Do So Much More than auditing, tax and financial reporting. The advertising campaign is part of the broader CA Branding Program, which aims to communicate the core values of the CA profession and strengthen its identity inside and outside the profession by creating a consistent, integrated picture of the value CAs provide to businesses and organizations in all sectors of the Canadian economy.

These days, branding is a significant part of any organization’s business strategy. Increasingly business leaders are learning that an organization’s reputation — or brand — is a strategic asset and a key factor in its ultimate success. This is also true for professions.

Branding is about reputation. It is about being known for consistent attributes. It is about building a reputation for consistent behaviours and values based on multiple experiences that create a consistent impression.

Branding occurs each time a CA conducts an audit, develops a strategic plan with a management team or helps an individual client file an annual tax return. In fact, every experience the public or others have with CAs — either directly or through our advertising or media relations efforts — contributes to their overall impression of the CA brand.

The CA Branding Program aims to enhance the strength of the CA brand, inside and outside the profession. The goal is to reposition the CA profession for today’s marketplace. As such, both the branding program and the new ad campaign are designed to deliver a consistent integrated portrait of the profession and the value it provides to enterprises and organizations, regardless of size or economic sector, across Canada. To ensure we reach our goals of altering perceptions in the marketplace, the progress of the branding program will be evaluated at specific points during the campaign.

Branding was identified as a key initiative in the 2004 Strategic Plan and, in focus groups leading up to the branding launch, members agreed that while the CA brand is very strong it needs to be strengthened further. Canadian CAs are trusted for financial expertise, integrity, objectivity and independence. We are the pre-eminent designation within the accounting profession. At the same time, we must continue to promote the strong attributes of the CA profession and the added value that CAs bring to the business team.

To extend the brand, the new advertising campaign champions the value CAs bring to decision making beyond their traditional financial expertise — business insight, strategic thinking and leadership. The brand vision also spells out who CAs will be in 2010 — the accounting professionals of choice for all public, private and not-for-profit organizations across Canada.

To help us achieve this ambitious vision, the branding program comprises three main strategies: A marketing campaign that will build brand awareness for business, members and the public; a member campaign that will encourage members’ participation in brand development as role models; and a recruiting strategy that will attract the best and brightest people to the profession.

Each strategy will come online simultaneously through a series of different initiatives. And each of these works hand-in-hand with the other strategic pillars of our Crossroad’s Strategic Plan — Public Trust, Education and Member Services — to strengthen the relevance and effectiveness of the profession and, hence, the CA brand.

The first of these strategies, the marketing campaign, is now in full swing with this month’s launch of the profession’s advertising program. Central to the advertising campaign is a website, available in English and French — CAadvantage.ca and avantageCA.ca. Providing a bird’s-eye view of the entire campaign and how it is being rolled out to the market, this new website highlights the ads as well as the rationale behind them — why the CA designation is No. 1, what CAs bring to the table, and the value-added attributes that distinguish CAs.

This campaign targets businesses, students and the public with a series of advertisements appearing this month on TV, in select magazines, on billboards in airports and on the Internet. The slogan CA Advantage anchors the campaign, providing a context for the theme CAs Do So Much More.

To illustrate CA Advantage — the advantage that business gains by employing a CA — a micro website displays profiles of members across the country who exemplify each of the four key attributes: financial expertise, business insight, strategic thinking and leadership.

“On the set during filming of CA Advantage TV ad”

These profiles tell real stories and demonstrate how CAs are living the brand by providing the high-quality effective services, solutions and strategies that employers and clients need. They clearly exemplify not only the strength of the profession but the talent, skills and expertise of CAs in each region of Canada and Bermuda.

As well as the website, the branding campaign also includes magazine and billboard advertising, e-mail newsletters for members, and media relations activities.

Down the road, other activities are planned. These include the development and launch of a new logo and tag line for the profession, as well as long-term public relations, government relations and sponsorship programs. These long-term initiatives are designed to enhance and protect the CA brand.

The two other components of the branding strategy — the member and recruiting strategy — are also in the works:

Member strategy
Through the strategy, members are being asked to play a role in promoting the brand, particularly in communicating key messages to students, the market and other members. While brands may be reinforced by advertising, they are built by grassroots adoption. That’s because the most effective branding starts internally — when each member builds a reputation for the profession and personifies the brand in word and deed.

During the focus groups conducted to support the development of the 2010 Vision, an interesting piece of information emerged. CEOs told us they value people skills and effective communication ability even more than technical skills. CAs are already adept in these areas. However, the member strategy will, in part, rely on CAs to continue to enhance their skills in areas that will strengthen their recognized value within organizations and businesses.

Recruiting strategy
Recruiting is a critical aspect of regeneration of the profession. The recruiting strategy is, therefore, an integral part of the branding program, especially if we are to continue to attract the best and brightest people to the profession and secure the future supply of CAs. Doing this requires a change to our experience requirements, and this move is currently under way.

All provincial institutes/ordre are active on campuses spreading the message that the CA designation is the passport to a successful business career, providing the best business fundamentals and hands-on training in Approved Training Offices. The combination of the best education and experience provides students with instant credibility in the business world when they have earned their CA.

In September, university students will see the advertising campaign on television, in magazines and reflected in a variety of promotional vehicles. These ads reinforce the core messages of the campaign and underline the benefits that CAs and the provincial insitutes/ordre have long been communicating on campus: that joining the CA profession opens a world of career possibilities with the top business profession in the country.

Our new advertising campaign and related branding activities have one goal: to ensure a strong competitive Canadian profession with significant international presence and influence.

In launching this initiative, we are building on a strong foundation of values, created more than a century. Our values not only define our profession but help us realize our brand vision — to be recognized as the best accounting and financial designation in industry, public practice, education and government.