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07/09/2018

A Membership What-If

How to prepare for a large company quitting all of its associations for a year

Recently, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity dealt with a painful gear-shift: Publicis Groupe, the major advertising and public relations firm, sat out the event this year, a temporary pause that led to changes in how the festival will be held in the future, according to AdWeek.

Association consultant JP Moery ponders how a similar situation might play out in the  trade association space: What if a large company just quit all of its associations for a year? How would that decision affect the company? Would it eventually come back?

And more important, how would the move affect the association?

“My point is not to frighten, but [to] encourage you to consider a plan of action if your members begin to drop memberships for a year,” Moery writes. “Would you add to your association offerings to improve its value proposition? What programs would be eliminated? How would you engage former members during that year?”

Thinking through the hypothetical could lead to some preemptive strategic changes at your trade organization. After all, you never know when one of your members is going to pull a Publicis.

Please select this link to read the original article from Associations Now.

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