Putting STAMMA to the members

In January 2019 we asked our members to vote on our new brand campaign 'STAMMA'.

We introduced the STAMMA brand and accompanying campaign at the 2018 AGM, which took place as our 2018 conference in Cardiff. We promised that we'd let Members vote on adopting it and asked for feedback.

Why did we do it?

Before 2018, our membership was less than 1% of the people who stammer in the UK. That our reach was so small wasn't surprising — our research showed that just 2% of the population knew who we are.

Financially, we weren't sustainable at that level of membership. As a charity, our duty is to reach all those who stammer. We had to extend further.

The ​STAMMA branding, created by one of our members who worked at a branding agency, was designed to be a bold call to action to those who stammer and memorably announce our existence. The name and the colours are deliberately disruptive and demand attention. The text pushes readers to read, re-read, be patient and think about stammering.

We said we'd use this artwork to transmit messages from the stammering community: Don't hang up on us. Don't finish my sentences. Accept my speech.

During the campaign we said we'd invite supporters to photograph and share pictures of the adverts and posters. We also ask for personal messages from people who stammer, which we can use in new adverts online and in print. We wanted to use this campaign as a channel for you to communicate with the public.

We said we'd keep the British Stammering Association (BSA) name, which will sit at the foot of the adverts and posters, but we'd be trading as STAMMA and creating a new website.

As we said at the AGM, success will be easy to measure — an increased rate of growth. If that doesn't happen we said we'd get back to the drawing board.

what happened next?

We asked our supporters to vote on this and set a deadline of Monday 21st January 2019. We announced the results on 28th January 2019.

2,807 members received voting instructions, by post and online. Members received instructions from Election Runner on how to vote, and we also emailed members informing them of the vote. Those who didn't open that email received a second mailing. All members who hadn’t voted also received a reminder from Election Runner. We estimate that around 1,741 members saw that the vote was happening.

Results

620 members took part in the vote on the STAMMA campaign, which we believe was the biggest vote in BSA history. Most people who voted also fed back on it, so we have some invaluable feedback on the campaign which we shared with the branding agency, and which you can read below.

77% of those who voted were happy for the BSA to proceed with the new STAMMA branding and campaign; just over 18% voted against and 4% held no strong feeling. 

22% of the BSA membership voted. Previous history indicates participation has been as low as 13% in the past with a high of 21% in 2012 and 17% taking part in last year's Trustee elections.

Comments

Here's a selection of the many comments we received:

"Great way to educate public and create more understanding in awareness with patience."

"I like the adverts that say 'staaammmer' etc, but I do not like the name STAMMA as this is spelled incorrectly. Can we not be called 'stammer'?"

"Very good graphics — they make you pause to work out what's going on. I hope you'll be able to get pro-bono poster sites."

"Eye-catching, clever and effective."

"It's time to be open and engaging about stammering — I love the campaign."

"A very silly idea."

Feedback

Trustee Naheem Bashir crunched through all the feedback (see the table below). The biggest issue is with the name 'STAMMA' — 11% of all of those that voted told us they do not like the name; concerned that we’ll be seen as trying too hard to be cool, that it indicates we can’t spell properly or that it's just offensive. Other feedback included concerns about how STAMMA has been handled, the readability of the adverts themselves, whether the logo in black is too harsh and whether any change is needed at all. In context, 68% of the feedback was positive, with many welcoming what they see as a fresh and bold campaign, necessary to attract new members and raise awareness with the public.

How will we know if Stamma has been a success?

We will measure the success of STAMMA on a variety of criteria including, but not limited to: the rate of growth of membership, visits to the the website, enquiries answered, social engagement, changes in public perceptions of and knowledge about stammering and increase in attendance to self-help groups across the UK.

This is a big change for all of us and we understood that for some, the face of the BSA would look very different. We hoped that when STAMMA was launched and the name is seen within the context of the advertisements and new website, STAMMA would become more acceptable to members.