AA logo use?

[sloth]

In this spring 2012 issue of the arb magazine (which I found to-be the best in a while) was a letter by P Holloway, AA vice chairman regarding wider use of the AA logo. For those not aware logo use is currently restricted to approved contractors and registered consultants.

The letter explained how there is an ongoing consultation as to whether or not to allow wider use of the logo, ie for non registered/approved members to be allowed to use it. As I understand it, the registered consultants are against allowing its wider use, and feedback from approved contractors not complete.

I do not know if non registered/approved members will be consulted about their views, and I presume (always an iffy thing to do!) non members will not be consulted at all.

For those who are cynical, you may think the motive behind the consideration of extending logo use is financial. Personally I think wider use of the logo in its most basic form to simply show membership is a good thing, and would like to think the reasons for allowing it being to increase awareness of the AA and its 'cares for trees' ethics. Therefore I would like to think its use would come with membership, free of additional charge.

I understand the worry of just anyone displaying the logo and abusing the customers trust in a professional body which they know little if anything about. This reinforces my view that anything to gain wider knowledge of the AA and its role within the industry is a good thing, enabling the general public (who are responsible for a massive amount of trees) to make more informed decisions on the care their trees recieve, and from which companies.

Registered consultants and approved contractors we must, however, acknowledge as having proved themselves to be worthy of their status, as they will have worked hard to achieve it! This is where specific additions to the basic logo, and a wider public understanding of the AA would again be beneficial.

Finally, I ask AA members and non-members alike, what the arbtalkers views are. Should AA members be allowed to display the logo?

[Andy Collins]

Personally I believe that the logo should only be used by those entitled to use it , as it stands at the moment. However, the general public,still do not know or understand the meaning of the AA, let alone know or care what AAACs are, and as such window stickers are meaningless to the wider audience. At least AA members can wave to each other when they pass on the road

[treequip]

Personally I believe that the logo should only be used by those entitled to use it , as it stands at the moment. However, the general public,still do not know or understand the meaning of the AA, let alone know or care what AAACs are, and as such window stickers are meaningless to the wider audience. At least AA members can wave to each other when they pass on the road

 

Never a truer word spoken in jest.

 

The AA was ever akin to the “funny handshake club”

 

For my part I believe an organisations logo is that of the organisation, the AA should ditch the current logos for something else that represents the AC and RC schemes and use the current logo to represent the organisation as a whole, the AA is about more than the AC and RC schemes surely?

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Personally I believe that the logo should only be used by those entitled to use it , as it stands at the moment. However, the general public,still do not know or understand the meaning of the AA, let alone know or care what AAACs are, and as such window stickers are meaningless to the wider audience. At least AA members can wave to each other when they pass on the road

 

Hi Andy, hope yer well.

 

Thanks for yer post, and indeed Sloth earlier (thank you), and I'm not going to interrupt the debate about whether or not AA membesr should be entitled to display the logo...what I would add to that tho is that most ArbAC managers are also members and hence would ahve the opportunity to display 2 logos.

 

Anyway, on to my point. On my many hundreds of miles travelling each week, inc. Easton College this week to meet some very nice chaps (thanks fer coming along if yer reading!) I see many different Association / accreditation logos on contractors vehicles AND, with the exception of 'GAS SAFE' (CORGI) and NICEIC (electricians) I don't recognise any of them, but then why should I, they're trade associations etc.

 

I say this as a homeowner, as well as an accreditation scheme manager, and I wonder hwo many homeowners check their landscapers are BALI members etc. etc. I've struggled with this for far too long and we've been interviewed prevoulsy by BBC researchers etc. with promises of a mention on Rogue Traders but it never happens.

 

The only organsiations the general public know about is the FC, as the gov dept for trees, perhaps The Tree Council (as a charity who get much profile for tree planting nationally) and of course RHS because of the many RHS properties signposted up, down and across the country.

 

To conclude, realistically, we're never gonna become mainstream and the first point of contact for the public and trees (in fact we withdrew that service approx. 18 months ago as it swallowed up far too much of our time being consumed by neighbours complaining about nearby trees, council & private, for too mnay hours in the day.)

 

The message is down to the contractors, consultants and maybe soon members, to inform the general public about the Association and their position within it...our role, I beleive, is to give them the necessary literature etc. to enable them to do so effectively.

 

SORRY, another 'verbose' Paul post, still not done one fer a while.

 

Take care out there all..

Paul

[treebloke]

Never a truer word spoken in jest.

 

The AA was ever akin to the “funny handshake club”

 

For my part I believe an organisations logo is that of the organisation, the AA should ditch the current logos for something else that represents the AC and RC schemes and use the current logo to represent the organisation as a whole, the AA is about more than the AC and RC schemes surely?

 

Tricky one, I have been AAAC since 1990 and have never used the logo on my trucks so I guess I would not get 'the wave' even if there was one.

 

Like previously said the one thing that would bother me is the misuse which already happens with the tight controls that exist so a different logo or different colour might be the answer.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

Never a truer word spoken in jest.

 

The AA was ever akin to the “funny handshake club”

 

For my part I believe an organisations logo is that of the organisation, the AA should ditch the current logos for something else that represents the AC and RC schemes and use the current logo to represent the organisation as a whole, the AA is about more than the AC and RC schemes surely?

 

Fair comment, and something whihc is forming part of the considerations, i..e a 'common' base logo representing the organisation but with different footers, i.e. Member / ArbAC / RC. Of course most, if not all, ArbACs & RCs would alos be entitled to use 'Member'.

 

Not pre-empting any outcomes of course.

 

Cheers..

Paul

[Andy Collins]

I think more people are aware of the Chas logo and it's meaning, why is this? It hasn't been pushed in advertising, yet nearly everyone I speak to knows what it is.

In a similar vein, a gas engineer and plumber I know is Gassafe qualified, as you'd expect working with gas, yet his van has the Corgi signing still. I asked why he hadnt the more up to date Gassafe logo, he replied that people "know" and trust the Corgi logo, they aren't familiar yet with Gassafe. So changing the AA logo may only serve to confuse further an already confused (uninterested?) public!

Why even show a logo at all, after all I don't wear a swimming badge to prove I can swim, or a first aid badge to prove I can administer first aid, I'm not in the Masons (why does a secret society have badge that tells everyone they belong to a secret society??) and I wouldn't need a fish on the back of my car to prove an allegiance to my deity of choice (if I had one). It seems to me the only people who need to show a logo or badge are those who aren't too confident themselves. After all, I know what I can or can't do, and I have bits of paper to provide upon request that may or not prove I know.

Just my rambling thoughts, not to be taken too seriously by anyone, and apologies if any of it is offensive to swimmers around the world.

[AA Teccie (Paul)]

I think more people are aware of the Chas logo and it's meaning, why is this? It hasn't been pushed in advertising, yet nearly everyone I speak to knows what it is.

In a similar vein, a gas engineer and plumber I know is Gassafe qualified, as you'd expect working with gas, yet his van has the Corgi signing still. I asked why he hadnt the more up to date Gassafe logo, he replied that people "know" and trust the Corgi logo, they aren't familiar yet with Gassafe. So changing the AA logo may only serve to confuse further an already confused (uninterested?) public!

Why even show a logo at all, after all I don't wear a swimming badge to prove I can swim, or a first aid badge to prove I can administer first aid, I'm not in the Masons (why does a secret society have badge that tells everyone they belong to a secret society??) and I wouldn't need a fish on the back of my car to prove an allegiance to my deity of choice (if I had one). It seems to me the only people who need to show a logo or badge are those who aren't too confident themselves. After all, I know what I can or can't do, and I have bits of paper to provide upon request that may or not prove I know.

Just my rambling thoughts, not to be taken too seriously by anyone, and apologies if any of it is offensive to swimmers around the world.

 

Hi Andy,

 

I reckon more people, contractors not really the public, know about CHAS as:

1. I've mentioned it here before

2. Increasingly contractors, inc. many construction related, have the logo on their vehicles

3. Increasingly clients, in the commercial sector (AKA 'service buyers'), are requiring it at the pre-qual stage

4. It's a H&S scheme is probably as far as the understanding goes in many instances

 

Interestingly as I mentioned previously I was with a group of contractors at Easton College on Tuesday, none of who were CHAS and none said their (commercial) clients required it....this is certainly not the case nationally!

 

Cheers..

Paul