KLV brand awareness and image survey Subtitle: KLV Wageningen Alumni Network is well known and appreciated

KLV will be celebrating its 125th anniversary in style in 2011. The association is investing a lot in this. To make the intended brand awareness and positive image effects quantifiable, KLV decided to have two sets of measurements made. This article is about the baseline measurement in October 2010, before the jubilee. On instructions from KLV, the largest Wageningen Alumni Network, Trigenum carried out a (baseline) survey in September and October 2010 of its image and brand awareness. Both members and non-members were asked to take part in the survey, without the name of the principal being stated beforehand. A total of 1,982 people took part in the survey. 87.5% of these (n=1,734) studied at Wageningen University in the past. Respondent demographics:
60.4%

6.9% 9.0% 27.7% 22.1%

39.6%

11.5%

18-25 years 26-35 years 36-45 years 46-55 years

22.8%
Male Female

56-65 years over 65

What is your gender? (n=1,722)

How old are you? (n=1,727)

The number of respondents is comfortably enough to allow good and reliable statements to be made. A number of important results are given for you below. KLV brand awareness is very high! Spontaneous familiarity with the name 56.0% of those asked mentioned KLV spontaneously, with it being top of mind (KLV mentioned first) for 50%. 9.5% spontaneously gave the full name, KLV Wageningen Alumni Network, with it being top of mind for 8.8%. Overall, 62.0% gave one of the two names, i.e. KLV or KLV Wageningen Alumni Network (excluding the duplicates). As might be expected, the familiarity is greatest among members. Additionally, we see that members aged 18 to 26 are more familiar with KLV than their older counterparts. Assisted brand awareness When people are shown a list of various organisations and networks for graduates, familiarity with the name KLV (Wageningen Alumni Network) increases to 89.5%.
Spontaneous

KLV 9.5%

56.0%

82.1%
26.1%

57.4%
47.9%

KLV Wageningen Alumni Network

Assisted brand awareness (n=1,961)

without duplicates: 89.5%

In addition, at least a quarter of the respondents also knew of the Wageningen Alumni Portal (35.9%), the Vrouwennetwerk Wageningse Ingenieurs (VWI, Wageningen women science graduates' network) (25.7%) and the LinkedIn Group of Wageningen University (25.7%). Image: KLV is professional and reputable and a lot more besides The survey received a lot of neutral responses to the image questions. This means that the image of KLV is currently not very clear. If we look at the image aspects, we see that KLV scores well on professionalism and reliability in particular. The average score for both image aspects on a five-point scale is 3.5. This is followed by 'KLV is modern' (average 3.4). The most critical respondents are in the age category 26 to 55. Additionally, we see that men give more positive judgements across the board on image aspects. The same is true for members as opposed to non-members. The added value of membership is a critical success factor, scoring an average of 2.7 on a five-point scale. KLV membership In response to the question Are you a KLV member 44.4% indicated that they were ordinary KLV members. One striking aspect is that quite a number of respondents are not sure whether they are KLV members or not (see diagram below).
17% dont know!

I am a (regular) member 17.0% I am a student member 17.0% 44.4% No, Im not a member at the moment but I was in the past 7.6% No, I have never been a member I dont know f or certain if I am a member or not
Are you a KLV member? (n=1,692)

14.1%

Almost 8 out of 10 members would recommend KLV membership to others. The networking function (directory and contacts with former fellow students) are the key reasons for being a KLV member, along with keeping up-to-date on developments. The main argument given by non-members for not joining is the lack of added value. A sixth of respondents said that the main reason was that they are no longer working in the agricultural sector. A fifth of non-members are considering KLV membership in the future. This is one interesting group of potential members that the survey has revealed. The jubilee: the How to feed the World theme is highly appreciated! Both spontaneously and after suggestions were listed, a preference was expressed for events with genuine content (symposium, congress and lectures) for the jubilee. The theme of How to feed the World was popular (3.8 on a five-point scale). The events with less formal content, such as a party evening and barbecue, scored 'fair' or 'good' among younger people (up to 36) in particular.

The result: A result to be proud of, after the KLV rebranding! This measurement has provided a picture of the brand awareness and image of KLV. Looking at the results, we can say that KLV is a strong brand, despite the fact that we do not have figures for comparable organisations. If we look at benchmarks from other randomly chosen sectors, we can see that the brand awareness is good. In addition, the results also give a picture of the requirements for the jubilee. If you took part in the survey, you will have contributed to the Wageningen University Fund (WUF). A sum of 450 euros will shortly be paid into the Anne van den Ban Fund. We and KLV would both like to thank all the participants very much for their cooperation, remarks and suggestions. Trigenum BV December 2010 www.trigenum.nl