Convening just before the March 15-19 ConExpo-Con/Agg show in Las Vegas, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association unveiled a new logo. More than retiring a familiar red mixer truck icon, though, the rollout was timed with a diamond anniversary celebration and operating changes among the most significant in the group's 75-year history.

With a green color scheme and streamlined mixer drum image, the logo reinforces a message that ready mixed concrete is environmentally friendly and supports sustainable growth, NRMCA notes. The unveiling launches a public image and media relations campaign for which the association has retained leading Washington, D.C., marketing communications firm Griffin & Co. Aimed at consumer and construction industry media and conducted with oversight from a task force headed by Texas Industries Vice President Jamie Rogers, the campaign will drive home the benefits of concrete and its advantages in an age of green building.

There was more than symbolism on the agenda in Las Vegas. After a few years of strategic planning and asset reallocation, NRMCA management and officers discussed how new headquarters and field staff will dedicate additional energy to promotion and government affairs activities. The group has most recently appointed two Capitol Hill and federal agency veterans to bolster government affairs activities amid increasing challenges on the regulatory (OSHA, EPA) and legislative (DOT funding) fronts.

The annual convention was also an opportunity for NRMCA to present its full field promotion staff, now consisting of five national resource directors who work regionally with major construction buyers and decision makers. To ensure closer ties with regional or state interests, NRMCA approved bylaw changes regarding board of director appointments. Beginning with the 2006 slate, half of the nominations for 48 at-large director posts will be made through regional or state RMC groups enlisted in NRMCA's recently established affiliate agreement program.

This year marks the final ConExpo-Con/Agg in which NRMCA and former sister group, National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association, will play a management role. Effective this month, the associations are dissolving their joint entity, the International Concrete and Aggregates Group, which has been a partner in the combined ConExpo and Con/Agg event since its 1996 premier. A November 2004 agreement calls for ConExpo owner, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, to assume full ConExpo-Con/Agg management and licensed Con/Agg name usage through 2020. NRMCA and NSSGA will continue show exhibit and education committee participation, and associate members will keep preferred-exhibitor status.

ICAG was formed in 1994 to represent the financial interests of NRMCA and NSSGA predecessor National Aggregates Association in the Concrete & Aggregates Show, held every two years. The associations had signed a 1993 agreement with ConExpo owner and AEM predecessor, Construction Industry Manufacturers Association, to combine their events into a show staged every three years. The current agreement with AEM allows NRMCA and NSSGA to expand certain annual conference exhibits, while reallocating resources that had been dedicated to ICAG.

During its 1995 convention, NRMCA struggled to embrace the principles of RMC 2000. That grassroots movement challenged some old-line members and staffers to rethink the house Vince Ahearn, Sr. and his son had built. Ten years later the RMC 2000 philosophy is reflected in new promotion and government affairs strategies; the NRMCA-anchored North American Concrete Alliance; Prescriptive to Performance and related research and engineering efforts. At 75, NRMCA appears older, wiser and better equipped than ever.

e-mail: dmarsh@primediabusiness.com