September 15, 2017—The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) this week launched a new brand designed to make the association stronger and more relevant to its members and to better position it to seek and respond to opportunities in the modern health care system. More than just a new logo, the brand boldly defines what it means to be an ACA chiropractor.
“We’re making a historic transformation on the inside by transitioning our governance, holding ourselves to higher professional standards, improving our relationships with other health care providers and committing to evidence-based care,” said ACA President David Herd, DC. “We’ve also improved our mission, vision, and values to inspire and empower a new legion of members to join our ranks.”
In addition, ACA is making a revolutionary transformation on the outside with a new look that is fresh, relevant and inspiring—and reflective of the association’s desire for collaboration with the wider health care world.
The new brand was the product of an extensive process of review, reflection and self-examination for ACA as an organization that started in 2015 with a new strategic plan. ACA then hired a respected consultant to reach out to members, non-members, other health care providers and a variety of stakeholders to ask what ACA means to them. The project took nearly six months and was a deep dive into the profession. After more than 30 hours of interviews, hundreds of survey responses and volumes of research, recommendations were presented to ACA’s Board of Governors last year, then ACA’s House of Delegates in March 2017.
Among key findings of the brand study:
- Chiropractic has a long history of intraprofessional fighting over treatment philosophy, making the goal of total professional unity unachievable.
- The profession is very insular and has an underdog mindset, which is holding it back.
- The wide variances in quality and treatment options for patient care leave consumers and other health care professionals confused and without a clear and consistent patient expectation.
- By reinventing itself with substance, a positive tone, and clear language, ACA has an opportunity to elevate members and move the profession forward. This also results in the public having clear expectations of and greater confidence in ACA chiropractors.
“We will ask all ACA members to become a part of our movement of chiropractors who pledge to be more collaborative with other health care professionals, more rigid in our standards and more evidence based. We want to set ourselves apart, to be the trusted source for great chiropractic care,” explained Dr. Herd. “As a first step in the brand roll out, members can show their support for our new direction by signing our Pledge of Professional Values. This will be a sign to the public and the health care world at large as well as other chiropractors that we are living our brand.”
For more information on the new ACA, visit www.acatoday.org/NewACA and watch our Facebook Live broadcast about the new brand.
