New President To Re-Examine SITE

The upcoming year will see a major rebranding initiative for the Society of Incentive Travel Executives, in an attempt to cast the association as the central meeting point for the different areas of the industry, said SITE's incoming president.

Padraic Gilligan, partner and director of marketing for Dublin, Ireland-based Ovation Global DMC, will take over as president at the association's international conference in Monterey, Calif., held Dec. 6-9. He has served on the board of directors for three years, including as the director of finance, before being elected president by the board last year.

The main thrust of Gilligan's presidential year will be the research and execution of a rebranding exercise. "We're asking the full breadth of stakeholders to give feedback on how they feel about us and how we can best serve the needs that they have in this changing marketplace. The results will be launched during my presidential year," Gilligan said.

The research will be conducted by a third-party branding and marketing company, which will collect data through focus groups, interviews and surveys.

"The international conference in Monterey will be an important moment in terms of bringing key stakeholders together to give feedback to the branding and marketing agency based on the exercises they're conducting," he said.

The results of focus groups held in Europe, the United States, Asia, Africa and the Middle East also will help shape the recommendations.

The marketing company will draw up a series of recommendations that will be presented to the board of directors at SITE's executive summit in Kuala Lumpur early next year.

"The association is approaching its 35th year. It's appropriate that after 35 years it examines itself again and sees whether it's meeting its new mandate within a very rapidly changing industry," Gilligan said. "SITE is uniquely positioned to be that focal point, as its membership comes from all sectors of the industry. I would like to have SITE as the meeting point for all those other associations to dialogue with each other on the basis that we all share common focuses and objectives."

Part of that process is a plan for opening regional offices for Asia/Pacific and Latin America to provide "a local focus that brings together all the interested parties in those particular areas." The offices are anticipated to open in 2008.