AACE International Branding Survey
Executive Summary, July 2016

Introduction

This report provides an overview of a survey conducted by AACE’s Vision 20/20 Task Force in May of 2016 to determine the effectiveness of AACE’s branding and explore whether our current name, AACE International, accurately reflects our members.  We looked at the following:

• Professional interest areas of members
• Terms that best and least describe AACE
• How our current name describes the scope and work in which we engage
• What labels our member use to describe themselves

Feedback received from this survey will be used to develop additional research questions for focus groups as well as provide information to the 20/20 Task Force to determine next steps in the branding initiative.

Background

The Vision 20/20 Task Force is a task force appointed by AACE’s Board of Directors and led by AACE’s current president, John Livengood. The task force objective is to make recommendations to the board of directors as to the effectiveness of AACE’s current branding, marketing and whether our current name accurately reflects our membership.

Methodology

A survey was deployed using Survey Monkey to over 8500 members and AACE certified individuals. A total of 868 responses were received; 53% of the responses were from the United States and 47% international. The survey was delivered in English.  There is no margin of error calculated for the results. 

Key Findings

• Respondents found the words useful, valuable, technical authority, relevant and excellent quality to best describe the Association.
• About one third of all respondents describe themselves as engineers.
• About a quarter of respondents describe their area of work as project controls vs 13% as cost engineering.
• About half of all respondents think the name AACE International accurately describes the scope of work in which the Association engages.
• Only 6% of respondents are aware of AACE’s International’s legal name which is AACE International.
• Respondents found the words exclusive, local, well-known, general and research-oriented to least describe the Association.
• Many comments were made in the open-ended section of the survey representing various issues and personal experiences with regard to branding, marketing, and the current name.

Recommendations

Results of the survey indicate that further research and analysis is needed. The results coupled with the information from the focus groups will be analyzed. Additional surveys, interviews, and group discussions may be necessary before the Vision 20/20 Task Force makes any recommendations to AACE’s Board of Directors. AACE President, John Livengood, is committed to a transparent process whereby members will be kept apprised of this initiative.