After much deliberation and mediation, we have found our winner. We thought that the ideas from LogoWorks were great. Very professional, and almost on target. The misses came from our lack of conveying the proper idea. This logo ties us in directly to the school. We are very pleased. Now, you might ask, why did you go through that exacerbated process just to come back to the school's logo with new copy? That's a great question. To make a very long story short; we made the same mistake that I think many companies make when they try to start a new line or service. The product managers are tired of the same old thing and want something new and exciting. Take Starbuck's for example. I'm sure when they launched their liqueur line, product managers were screaming for new identity, but in the end, it has the same logo tying it back to its parent. We needed to do the same. And with the help of a few key individuals with much more advertising and branding experience that the rest of us, they helped us understand that. Not only does this work for our association, but the same logo can be used for the Finance Association and the International Development Association as well. Lesson learned: continuity and preservation of brand identity is critical to the success of what would otherwise be a fractured organization.

Thanks again to the following: LogoWorks, Rick Baer, Phil Schlesinger, and Kristen Jarchow.