Our International Alliance strengthens with a new streamlined brand

This year we have worked tirelessly towards unification in the international arena. SOT practitioners are competing against the whole chiropractic profession, as well as against the full gamut of natural health therapies and health care modalities. Our view was that we needed to work together to strengthen our SOT offer and build awareness of our unique ‘brand’ of healthcare.

This has been achieved by reinforcing the global alliance of SOT organisations. In this task, our key objectives were to:

• Grow the awareness of SOT globally vis-a-vis other chiropractic techniques
• Enable international exchange of intellectual property, research and resources for the good of the Alliance and its members
• Provide a universal system of teaching and learning, with a global standard for examining, that is highly respected by all practitioners
• Provide patients with a clear and identifiable quality endorsement system to help guide their practitioner choice.

The Board is proud to announce that we now have reached a milestone in achieving our objectives. Working with the SOTO International Board, we have developed standardised and internationally approved teaching materials for SOT education. This development is beneficial for practitioners and patients alike.

For practitioners wishing to advance through SOT education, the manuals have been collated into a coherent and easy to navigate single text. This will avoid unnecessary duplication and confusion, and assist those wishing to become certified.

A universal marque of excellence

Furthermore, all doctors who have been certified in SOT through one of our recognised international organisations, including those previously certified, will have the honour of displaying the marque of excellence, as designated by the logo shown below. This marque denotes international accreditation, and reflects the universal quality level and achievement of standards in the practice of SOT.

For your patients seeking the highest standard of SOT care, this marque of excellence will enable them to find a doctor who is fully certified. The ‘green dot’ logo will also appear on all of SOTO-A’s communications, manuals and certificates.

A new look, tone and feel for SOTO-A

Concurrently, SOTO-A has also gone through a rebranding process. The new visual identity is part of the international strategic branding program developed by us on behalf of all our member organisations. This rebranding represents a move towards a contemporary, accessible and professional image for our organisation that is easily recognised by chiropractors internationally. We look forward to rolling this out over time.

We have also taken on board many of your suggestions from the survey completed last year by the membership regarding the communications we produce and the services we provide.

Our new website, to be launched soon, is much more user friendly and easy to navigate. It is aimed at both patients and practitioners in order to create awareness of our technique and share important information. Key improvements include:

• A much improved search facility for patients looking for practitioners. Note: please make sure we have your most current information including contact and certification details for inclusion on this part of the site!
• An online shop with real time ordering and payment
• A forum where practitioners can share their views and ideas – I anticipate this will engage our membership in an interactive and educational way
• An online news area that will link back to email news bulletins. ‘Expressions’ will still be produced and filed electronically on the site
• An interactive events calendar supported by online bookings
• An updated classifieds section for posting ads online, in real time.

In addition:

• Our manuals have been redesigned with the new identity, and we are the first international organisation to have the Craniopathy manual printed
• Most of our Keynote and PowerPoint presentations presented at seminars have been modified to reflect the manuals – this is still a work in progress, so be patient with us!
• The SOTO International Board has closely scrutinised our exams and the questions are fully referenced in the accompanying manuals.
• Our promotional material has a new look and feel.

I am on the SOTO International Board and am proud to say that Australia has been instrumental in facilitating these changes, and in fact, we have been responsible for both the strategic and design work you see. This has taken an enormous input of effort, time and patience, however I believe the benefits will be forthcoming. Not only will this help us to achieve our primary objectives, it will also

I would like to thank our primary educators this year for their patience and understanding while these changes were being implemented. I would also like to thank our Board for their support and enthusiasm for this project, as well as our administrator, Averil Crebbin. And finally, our strategist and designers at Fix Branding who have done an excellent job driving the international change.

Darren Little President SOTO Australasia