The Rotary brand and our image

The first question we have to ask ourselves is: Is Rotary a brand?

What comes to mind when we see the Rotary wheel at the entrance of a town, weather it is well or not so well taken care of? A nonRotarian writer once said that every time he drove by a Rotary wheel on a highway, he knew that in that city there were good people who worked to support their community.

A brand is identified by a logo, but mainly by its core message, which is a promise promoted and kept by the organization representted by that logo. The Rotary pin is a symbol we display with pride, which makes us unique and carries a message we honor with our behavior.

Another element of a brand is that it needs consumers, among whom it will prosper and grow, promoting the strength it represents. The consumers of the Rotary brand are mainly the Rotarians and the community members benefited by our organization through the clubs actions.

Rotarians are one of the most powerful factors to enhance the Rotary brand. We are over 1.2 million all over the world, and that is the power of numbers. We must always keep the number of well-qualified members increasing, so our brand and our organization can remain vibrant.

We do not simply have members who support the Rotary brand; we have the enthusiasm of these members. They celebrate the great outcomes of projects, they put our core values into practice, they are

exemplary citizens in their conduct and they are committed. One of the components of the conduct of Rotarians, and therefore a component of the Rotary brand, is the Four-Way Test. It is a universal code of personal and professional ethics.

The Rotary brand has an internal and an external dimension. The internal dimension is perceived by the Rotarians themselves and the external one is the way the general public sees Rotary. Rotary has two organizations operating as one and moving towards the same success: Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.

In order to determine the necessary actions for Rotary to prosper and keep becoming stronger, it is important to identify its value.

The value of a brand is defined by the equation between what the brand promises to accomplish and how the resources (funds, time and dedication) are allocated towards achieving such accomplishments.

What the results are (the promise) BRAND VALUE = --------------------------------------------------------How much is made available (the resources)

How much we make available in terms of resources will allow us to define:

 Our areas of expertise  What we can do better  The simplicity in how we act  The clarity of our purposes  The impact of our actions  The enthusiasm and dedication of the Rotarians involved

What our brand allows us to achieve (our results) is directly related to:

 A focused purpose  The creation of a positive and attractive image  Consistency on the practice of our values  An extensive iconography and how it associates with our original brand (all the symbols used in relation to Rotary)

We must ask ourselves if our brand is attractive, for everything it represents to the communities and to our youth.

At first, in order to expand the value of our brand, we identify some challenges which must be carefully analyzed and overcome:

 The operations with all volunteers, those who are Rotarians and those non-Rotarians who are engaged in Rotary service;  The need to change the yearly leadership rotation system;  The review of the decision making process for grants, i.e. what decisions can be delegated and define levels of decision making;  The requirement of having regional and national goals and projects in order to expand the visibility of our Rotary brand.  Our capacity to catalyze the participation of donors, partners and membership as one body on our projects and programs.  How to intensify resourceful support to the club level, where action takes place.

Our Polio Eradication Campaign is something which is very connected to our Rotary brand and our image. At the risk of having our brand and image stained, we cannot fail in our efforts to end this disease, because this was a promise we made to mankind. We must

END POLIO NOW and already plan what we are going to do after this goal is achieved.

All this depends on each and every one of us.

We are the Rotary brand and image.