Alabama Information Technology Association: Corporate strategic communications is where IT is at

Objective:
Our objective was to positively position a new statewide information technology association with potential members, corporate partners and the Alabama business community, in a full-scale effort to increase the organization’s recognition and to help grow its membership.

Challenges:
Very few knew about the just-established Alabama Information Technology Association (AITA) in January 2000. This was only two months before the non-profit organization was to hold its first statewide forum to match growing information technology companies with capital-funding resources from across the country.

Strategies:
Although the client was an organization representing member businesses, it needed to establish a corporate identity program. The first step involved the creation of a professional and attractive logo for AITA that would create a positive presence for the organization before the first forum, during the event, and in the years to come.

Panorama surveyed the industry climate and did as much research as possible on information technology in Alabama before launching a "media blitz." Techniques to garner positive public and media awareness of AITA consisted of pitching solid AITA-related story ideas to targeted media representatives in Alabama and with national trade journals, Web site development, e-mailing and direct mailing communications to the media and potential AITA members/conference attendees, press releases, media alerts, advertising creation and media buys, and even putting up posters across the state.

Many media outlets featured AITA, the forum, industry issues and background on members in articles and reports. These media included Alabama Public Television and its Alabama at Work show, Birmingham and Huntsville television stations, the Alabama Live statewide newspaper Web site, and daily newspapers in most major markets across Alabama. In addition, the positive recognition campaign served to boost attendance greatly at the first AITA forum. AITA leaders told Panorama that the crowd was much larger than they originally anticipated.

Results: Panorama helped AITA leaders to grow the organization by more than 300 percent in just one year following the AITA’s inception. The organization and its members have been featured in numerous media outlets and trade publications not just in Alabama, but across the United States.

AITA leaders continue to count on Panorama to help the organization grow, open up new doors for partnerships, offer more value-added services to members, and position itself as the authority for IT issues in Alabama.

back to top

back to case studies