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The Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) and the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA) are now merged and have announced their new name: The Professional Landcare Network. This powerful, new green industry association represents more than 4,000 member companies and their more than 100,000 employees.
When ALCA and PLCAA began talks about merging more than two years ago, they cited the similarities of the two organizations - both organizations had enthusiastic and passionate members, and most agreed that merging the two organizations would result in one, better, stronger and more powerful association. They also agreed that the name components of the existing associations had their pros and cons, but neither name was a perfect fit for the new organization. They further agreed that the name and logo must be consisten with the values and personality of the new organization and that the name must be broad enough to encompass what the organization will become in the future, without being meaningless now.
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George Rogers, president of Eyeninety Communications in Hamilton, Mass., was selected to develop the new organizational name and logo. Eyeninety surveyed a broad array of stakeholders across the country to establish the name.
Seventy-six possible organizational names were initially considered. Each name was tested on its merit of meeting key objectives and then ranked according to the number of attributes that it met. Sixteen of the 76 names met at least five of the six criteria. These 16 names were then tested with focus groups. The chosen name that tested the strongest and received the most positive feedback is "Professional Landcare Network."
"We are so excited about this name choice," says Jason Cupp, a member of the Professional Landcare Network and its board of directors, and marketing chair for the new organization. "It conveys the many disciplines of our new membership."
The services represented by the new organization are diverse and include sod and seeding, nursery, interiorscaping, sports turf, water gardening, landscpae design/build and maintenance, natural area management, wetland management, lawn care, landscape restoration, landscape architecture, tree and shrub care, irrigation and snow removal. The new name encompasses these services and allows for organizational growth.
The new name components were initially indentified under context guidelines developed by Eyeninety. Words such as "green," and "environment" were deemed confusing and misunderstood by consumers. "Professional" was chosen because "our credibility/competency is promoted in secondary communications and everythign we do," according to the new organization. Finally, "landcare" was selected to effectively represent the diversity of the membership base, and "network" to progressively identify the association.
The Professional Landcare Network will continue to be headquartered in Herndon, Va., and will also have a satellite office in Atlanta, Ga. New employees have been hired at both locations to further serve the membership and new member programs will be announced soon.
"This is an exciting time in the green industry," Cupp says. "When we went through the branding initiative two years ago, our goal was to be the voice of the green industry. Now, with the merger of these two powerful organizations, we have so many new opportunities."