The International Branding Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing branding as a specialized area of expertise. We serve as a centralized forum: a place where brand-passionate professionals, educators and students from around the world can band together.

The Need

Many of us practicing within the vast communications field are drawn to the specialized expertise of branding. Understandably, we are not adequately represented by business, marketing, advertising or design associations, which must deal with multiple categories.

In 2005, Errol Saldanha's industry research via brandingbranding.com made him question why no professional branding associations existed. There were hundreds of books, articles, blogs, websites and seminars on the topic of branding, but no organized professional group.

Other groups, like Advertising professionals, have clearly benefited from the solidarity of their communities. Imagine if those of us who were passionate about brands and branding could gather in one place. If we could jointly work to make the concept of branding so crystal clear that it would eliminate the need to pitch it at every client meeting. The idea of an association solely devoted to branding emerged.

Action

The need for a specific forum to unite qualified branding practitioners clearly existed. The Canadian Branding Association was launched on January 10, 2005 to fulfill that need. However, we were only getting started. The Canadian group was launched with the objective of inspiring the formation of other national groups — ultimately creating the International Branding Association.

What began as a national concept, has quickly spread globally. Currently, many of the leaders of our industry are working together to build chapters in America, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, New Zealand, Romanian, Serbia & Montenegro and South Africa. Many more national groups are in progress. Branding in education, encouraging ethics and documenting our history are only some of the Association's early initiatives.

Join Us

We launched a professional association to gather like minds and distinguish a valid expertise. Unless an industry defines itself, sets standards for practice and education, it will never evolve. It is up to qualified practitioners to elevate their own practice.

Just as a successful brand requires the collaboration of many, so does the launch of an international association. If you are passionate about branding, we need your help to further our cause.

Errol Saldanha
Canadian Branding Association

Objectives

1. Create a forum to unite qualified branding practitioners
2. Conduct local/global branding research and share findings
3. Help develop a common definition of the term ‘branding’
4. Differentiate branding from marketing, advertising and design
5. Raise awareness with the public, business, government and media
6. Encourage professional and ethical branding practices
7. Learn from and honor national/international branding pioneers
8. Further branding curriculums in educational institutions
9. Inspire the formation of national branding associations
10. Coordinate global efforts via the International Branding Association

Structure

The International Branding Association is made up of various national associations.

International Branding Association
|
American Branding Association
|
Canadian Branding Association
|
Romanian Branding Association
|
etc.

While the International Branding Association is a global body, our structure is designed to respect local culture/issues of each country -- each chapter is nationally named to covey this.

Please Note: While Blogger is not an official sponsor of the International Branding Association or its National Chapters, we gratefully acknowledge the Blogger service which has helped facilitate our global effort.

Copyright © 2005-2006 International Branding Association. All rights reserved. All content (including comments) posted at this site remains property of the author(s). Reproduction without the author’s and Administrator’s permission is strictly prohibited.