College Sports Information Directors of America

Below is a letter sent by CoSIDA President Joe Hornstein (FIU) to the full membership on April 26, 2013 concerning the progress of the CoSIDA strategic branding initiative which was started in the summer of 2012.

Dear Colleagues,

The CoSIDA Board and I want to take this opportunity to share an important update on the progress of the organization's strategic branding initiative. Since our last update to the membership, the CoSIDA officers and staff have been working closely with Cryder Rinebold to further address how the findings and related observations will be used to advance our organization - now and in the future. I continue to be excited and encouraged about the tremendous potential. CoSIDA has to better position itself within the overall intercollegiate athletics landscape.

Attached are two documents:

1. Executive Summary of the findings download PDF
2. CoSIDA Strategic Branding Initiative Communication and Implementation Plan Recommendations download PDF

Specific to the Executive Summary, obviously there is an enormous amount of research data that supports the summary. Plans are already underway for divisional and advocacy groups to have sessions with the Cryder Rinebold principals at the 2013 CoSIDA Convention in order to provide additional in depth information and discussions. These sessions will allow specific CoSIDA groups the one-on-one opportunity to learn and discuss, "What does this mean to us?" There also is a general session - open to all convention attendees - with Cryder Rinebold scheduled for Saturday, June 15 (3-3:30 pm).

The Communication and Implementation Plan Recommendations provide a listing of the respective recommendations and specifically address the internal CoSIDA accountabilities for advancing the recommendations. The objective of this plan is to operationalize the recommendations developed by Cryder Rinebold. While the research and strategy development phases were critically important, the CoSIDA officers have also assigned a considerable amount of time focused on the appropriate action steps.

We look forward to announcing an upcoming webinar in May for the membership to have an opportunity to interact with Cryder Rinebold. The webinar will include an overview of the strategic branding initiative findings and address upcoming planning elements.

As stated, within the scope of this initiative there is a deep reservoir of meaningful and helpful data; however, without the benefit of an in-person presentation and/or a discussion, I felt it would be helpful to share these two timely documents.

Again, the CoSIDA officers and I continue to be impressed with the level of engagement and interest in the initiative by many stakeholders - and more importantly, how it will help guide our organization in the future.

Sincerely,

Joe Hornstein

Florida International University (FIU)

CoSIDA President 2012-13

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