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OHJA is a 30-year-old, not-for-profit equestrian association, made up of over 2000 members across the province and in the US who’s mandated is to support competitive riders through points tracking, programs and education.
The organization had been deeply impacted by regulatory changes in funding resulting in a significant increase in membership dues without any added value to the members. Additionally, the lack of board engagement, and the introduction of a new powerful show promotor who was gaining influence and control over how the competitive showing environment was run, was fuelling overall competitor dissatisfaction, and bringing into question the relevance of the OHJA brand and its value.
The bond between a rider and their horse runs deep and is filled with passion and commitment beyond the cost of having it. This bond was the common ground between members and the organization.
After consultation with the association’s newly appointed president we recommended that the organization needed a significant transformation with much deeper engagement from the board/leadership team if organization was going to remain viable for the long-term. In order to achieve this Yield recommended a highly engaging process to reimage the association’s mission, vision, and values.
The new mission and vision energized the board which lead to the development of a 3-year strategic plan that Yield facilitated followed by the development of key strategic business building initiatives that would help the organization flourish and get back to growth while adding deeper value. Next Yield developed a comprehensive brand strategy that aligned to the business plan and fuelled a new brand identity, and visual identity system that built out the brand’s future architecture which was embodied by the tagline – For the love of competition. Work is underway rolling out the new brand into various initiatives such as a new website, their quarterly magazine, sponsorship materials, and educational programs and events that celebrate the rider achievements.
While it is early days, the board has been restructured with new more engaged members with deeper skill sets. The brand has received positive feedback from its members and the membership is far more engaged with higher readership of the magazine and attendance at events. A youth ambassador program was launched expanding the organizations resources while bringing new ideas and perspectives on how the association could evolve.
Finally, work has begun to launch new revenue streams in branded goods and plans have been put in motion to tap into a completely new perspective member segment that is expected to grow the organization significantly.
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