Posted By Ciaran McAleenan
Dear all

IOSH recently produced their Corporate Plan 2000 for members to comment upon. There are many aspects of the corporate that need to be debated at length and this forum would probably be a good one for that. (For the record; both Philip and I have made our comments to council)

To start I have posted the following comment regarding the notion of rebranding IOSH.

"Rebranding is a costly and unnecessary activity. As well as the direct cost to IOSH (the members) for this exercise there is a substantial consequential cost to all of those IOSH members whose corporate stationary would also have to change. It would seem that there can only be one winner in this one; the image consultant. Its hard to imagine how the benefits of rebranding (if there are any) could outweigh the costs."

Any thoughts?


Ciaran

mailto:ciaran@confinedspaces.com

Posted By Ken Taylor
I agree.
Is this the current fad? I see that the Post Office is going to be rebranded as 'Consignia'! Guess who will be paying for that!
The only thing about IOSH needing rebranding is a journal called 'SHP'.

Posted By Bryn Maidment
Yikes!
Previous message , para 2 - seems like the image enhancers also put in a little package that replaces oaths with stars. Just in case you thought I'd sworn big time the word was dam ned.

Posted By Neil Budworth
Before we get carried away with this re-branding is bunk thread, I just want to outline a few of the reasons that this is in the corporate plan. As a council member I have been privy to some discussions around this.

Just a reminder of what we are talking about, the section from the corporate plan says :-

'Within five years the Institution should become established in the minds of key stakeholders as delivering its services against its mission. The IOSH ‘brand’, including corporate messages, stakeholder perceptions and visual identity, or name, will receive close attention.'

The main thing is that the Institution becomes well recognised for what it does and what it stands for and that in turn means that the members receive greater recognition.

It states that the brand will receive close attention, not necessarily that it will change, although for some very practical reasons it may.

The practical reasons relate to the current logo :- the coat of arms which looks great - (mostly) The logo does not reproduce well, especially electronically and especially when it is a small logo. If you don't believe me just have a look at the logos on this web site. How many people realise that there is a cog in the logo, or an owl ?

The intention is I understand to undertake an audit of the brand to see how it is perceived, before any action is taken.

There is also the fact that we hope to be granted a royal charter in the not too distant future. This is a huge step in the development of the Institution.

The granting of chartered status means that we have come of age and we are recognised as being on a par with the other chartered institutions, in effect it means we have been recognised as the leading body for health and safety professional.

So what better way to signal the change than to look at the way we present ourselves. The stationary etc would need to be changed anyway to reflect the chartered status.

As members we (well certainly, I) want to see a sea change in health and safety management from the board room down and we have been continually pushing for IOSH to take a higher profile. Well the time is nearly here, but we need to listen to the professionals we employ to advise us on these matters, so that they have the tools they need to do the job properly.

We expect the people who employ us as professionals to do the same and take our advice.

I strongly support IOSH being more proactive in terms of its public profile and visibility, so lets do what is necessary to do it right.

Best Regards

Neil Budworth

Posted By Ken Taylor
I wonder how many people closely examine any coat of arms to see how many owls, cogs, ducks, etc they contain. the essential thing is that they recognise the logo, know the name and what it stands for. Why must we pay for an audit as well as a new brand and stationery rather than promoting the Institution from its current vantage point achieved over many years - or do we want a charter without a coat of arms?

Posted By Tim
Neil two points,

(1) Discussing the issue of rebranding is hardly bunk try reading Mr Mc Aleenan's posting again.

(2) Perhaps you or your fellow council members could inlighten the rest of us on the discussions to which you have been privy.

Tim.

Posted By Ken Taylor
Sometimes it helps to be a little flippant in order to make a point. Please recognise the note of appreciation in my communication too. As a member of IOSH for many years I have watched the Institution become more professional and better known and appreciated - and would not want the ground gained to become lost in a re-packaged product. Spending the money on improved member services should do more to promote IOSH than paying consultants for a new image. Let's keep this debate in the open at least.

Posted By Neil Budworth
Dear Ciaran,


Firstly let me apologies for the opening remarks of my initial posting. The remark was merely an attempt to keep the tone light.

Secondly let me make it clear that I am responding as an individual. I feel that the workings of the institution should be as transparent as they can be and that as a council member I have a responsibility to explain why decisions have been made as I may have been party to discussion where additional information was available. This is not to say that information is suppressed there is often simply a large volume of material produced (the corporate plan itself had five working parties and a steering committee) and of course there will be formal and informal discussion around any subject.

With regard to your questions themselves a plan of work has been established to support the corporate plan, as you would expect. As far as I understand it the only action that is taking place on this issue is the audit to see how we are perceived by key decision makers and timescales for this are in the process of being agreed.

As I understand it the name of the Institution will be reviewed if we gain a royal charter. I do not have any further information than this other than the Institute of Environmental health Officers changed to the Chartered Institute of ….. when they obtained their charter.

I have taken the opportunity to double check with Liz Spencer and she has confirmed that the Institution hasn't made any decision regarding a name change – that is why we are carrying out an audit and consultation re current awareness and opinions! The info in the Corporate Plan was included to give members an idea of what might be involved in any brand review. It does not mean that we will necessarily do all or indeed any of it.

I do not have details of any times scales involved and know of no separate budget other than the budget which has been allocated to achieve the aims of the corporate plan per se, although some money will have been allocated for the initial stage (ie the audit) as part of that process.

What I am sure about is that name changes etc would not go ahead without consultation, in council we are very aware of the trust that members have placed in us, that is why we ensured that every member was sent a full copy of the corporate plan. This was a costly exercise, but we felt that the future direction of the Institution was such an important issue that every member should see the detail of the plan.

I have no specific details of the consultation arrangements, but they normally revolve around the Safety and Health Practitioner, the branches and increasingly via the website.

With regard to the impact on members stationary etc. Any change (and I want to emphasise that not only has no decision been made, but the gathering of data to make a decision has only just begun) would require a consultation period and I would hope and Liz has confirmed that there will be a clear timescale which allows members to run down their stocks of stationery and publicity materials. We have a large number of members who run managing and working safely and we need to ensure that any change is clearly signposted.

I agree with you that the fundamentals need to be worked on and we have started this. A couple of years ago the PR needs of the Institution were analysed by the company Countrywide Porter Novelli (the spelling may not be correct as this is from memory) on the basis of that report Liz Spencer was appointed and a PR department was set up. Together with CPN they have developed a corporate communications plan, which has many elements

The foundations are in place and we need to listen to the advice of the professionals we employ in order to best serve the needs of the Institution.

I am glad that people have read the corporate plan and have taken the time to comment on it.

As I said previously I am always happy to talk about the workings of council and to explain why decisions were taken and the arguments for and against.

Please give me a call on 0115 936 6509 or e mail me on budworth-n@nsk.com and I'll answer any questions I am able to.


Best Regards

Neil

Posted By Website Co-ordinator
If you prefer clicking to typing, go to the Home page, look in the "In brief" box and click "IOSH Corporate Identity...."

Once you've read the intro., choose the web-based version if you want to complete and send your response online - it takes about 30 minutes to complete. If you need more thinking time, go for the download version.

Happy clicking.

Angela Wheatcroft

Website Co-ordinator