Not content to have notched up 100 years as a motoring organisation, the RAC is firmly focused on the future, currently undertaking a brand strategy review with The Brand Agency and international brand and design company Landor (Sydney office).
While not willing to provide details of the review, RAC head of marketing Tracy Armson said it had been ongoing for six months and was assessing where the RAC brand was now and where to take it in the future.
Perhaps the review comes at a good time, with the RAC having slipped from third in 2004 to fourth position in this year’s most recognised brands category.
Recent years have been a time of change for RAC branding, with the diversification of the organisation’s products to include more than the motoring and roadside assistance for which it is so well known.
“There are also the RAC’s emerging businesses which include travel, insurance, finance, home loans, and security which we also have to look after,” Ms Armson said.
“So we have had to put together a brand identity which includes all aspects of RAC and bridges the gap between motoring and our other emerging businesses.”
The Brand Agency’s RAC account director, Colin Mackay-Coghill, said branding was, in essence, a promise a company made.
In this regard, Ms Armson says, RAC’s promise is “a 100 per cent commitment to provide service to our members, and we live by that”.
“People associate the RAC brand with trust, access and security. And our advertising and communication strategies assist with that greatly,” she told WA Business News.
And consumers feel this way about the brand, Mr Mackay-Coghill said, because the organisation’s staff did an incredible job servicing its members; meaning the RAC was backing up what its brand promised and in more than one way.
“Thousands of people are touched by the RAC every day and every year,” Ms Armson said.
“One in two households are a member of the RAC, which means 50 per cent of people in Perth are members.
“People have a good understanding of who we are and what we do both in business and the community.
“We are more than roadside assistance and insurance; we have the rescue helicopter, community school education programs, we work with Neighbourhood Watch and Crime Ctoppers and we conduct member satisfaction surveys every six months.”
Ms Armson and Mr Mackay-Coghill agreed the challenge would be to ensure the brand remained relevant.
“It is 100 years old and we need to ensure it remains relevant for another 100 years,” Ms Armson said. “And ensuring that relevance across all sectors of the RAC.”
