Author: AMA_admin

How Much Did You Learn from the Internal Marketing Tools of Engagement Presentation?? Please let us know in the comments, what you learned and what you liked about the luncheon!

Did you miss something from Sybil Stershic’s presentation on Internal Marketing Tools of Engagement? Well not to worry, she has shared a PDF of her presentation with us! And if you weren’t there, here’s a brief description of what she talked about with the link for the presentation below…

In today’s pressure cooker environment, employees are increasingly at risk of becoming disengaged and adversely affecting co-workers, customers and the bottom line. This means your best efforts to build and maintain a favorable brand impression can be undermined by employees. What can you do to ensure they’ll work with you in delivering brand promise?

Learn how to engage the people who most impact your marketing and organizational success. This interactive session shares critical insights and the practical tools you can use to strengthen employee and customer engagement. During the luncheon, Sybil will teach us:

• why engagement matters to marketers, not just HR
• best practices for building customer- and employee-focused culture
• what you can do to better engage your employees and customers. (Hint: It’s easier than you think!)

Click here to see Sybil’s Presentation.

And we have just the place to post your blogs!! As a member of AMA, you have access to our Member Blog and can post any of your marketing-related content. We’d also love to have members that would like to help start the conversation before our monthly luncheons and keep it going after… engage with us and become a go-to expert in the Greater New Orleans Marketing Community!

Here are the quick and easy instructions on how to post your content and feel free to use any content you’re creating for other blogs/posts!! Yet remember that this blog is a member perk… only AMA members can post, though anyone can read and comment on the blog.

AMA Member Blog Instructs

1. Click here: http://www.neworleansama.com/memberblog
2. You may need to log in – see the green column on the left-hand side. Don’t remember your log in info? Click ‘Forgot Password’ and go through the process to reset your password being sure to input the email address where you receive event announcements.
   
3. Once logged in – Click ‘Add Post’ and a WYSIWYG will open for you to copy/paste and format your content how you like!
4. Click ‘Post’ at the bottom and you’ve started the journey of becoming a New Orleans area Marketing Expert! 

Direct any questions or requests to be a ‘luncheon blogger’ to our chapter email address: ama-no@live.com.

Good luck and Keep Writing!

Determining the next move in your career path is a tough decision especially when changing from agency to in-house communications. While yes it is all PR and based on the same principles, strategies and tactics the daily work style, skill set and environment can be drastically different.

Often times the attraction to an agency is the multiple clients, the variety of industries, the camaraderie of other communications professionals and even the swank office. Agency PR pros are talking to media daily and don’t typically have politics to deal with since they don’t directly work for the companies they represent.

If you are considering leaving time sheets in the past, for stability, security and routine make sure the switch it is a fit for you and an answer to what you are trying to leave behind. The pros of working in-house does typically include better health benefits, more opportunity for advancement and fewer barriers to implement new PR programs.

“In-house, you are constantly building off of the previous work you have done, have a far deeper level of exposure, a greater variety of tasks and a more vested personal interested in the success of the organization,” says to Tim Whitman, Senior Manager of Corporate Communications, Application Security, Inc.

But also think of the negatives of in-house communications such as a supervisor who is not really sure what it is that you do, fewer tools to help do your job and the lack of working in a communications team for idea exchanges.

PR pros that come from agency background are sometimes better prepared to make the transition to an in-house practitioner. “I gained experience/exposure by working on multiple accounts, on multiple account teams, reporting to multiple managers, all with tight deadlines,” says Mark LoCastro, Public Relations Manager. “The skills I’ve acquired at an agency are invaluable for my in-house role.”

When considering making the switch from agency to in-house communications contemplate the following:

• Have an understanding if the company you are considering joining a good fit, not only from a business prospective and what you want to be doing, but organizationally as well.
• Analyze if the company personality matches yours.
• Interview your potential colleagues as much as they are interviewing you.
• At an agency you do not get to choose the clients you work on so switching in-house offers that unique opportunity. Be sure the company mission and subject matter interest you.
• Know what your upward mobility opportunities look like.

“I encourage people to move in-house, provided the environment is one they have reason to believe will engage their energy and their intellect,” says Joshua M. Peck, Senior Manager, Duane Morris LLP. “I believe that working with one company deepens one’s relationship with the work and makes one more effective to develop and shape messaging.”

This article originally appeared on PRBreakfastClub.com.
Read more: Considering Making the Switch from Agency to In-House? | PRBreakfastClub http://prbreakfastclub.com/2012/02/03/agency-to-in-house/#ixzz1mHMdRUcY

Join the Smart CMO Virtual Forum this March 1, 2012 with a complimentary registration for all AMA New Orleans members. The forum will showcase the Chief Marketing Officers from the National Football League, The Recording Academy and SAP to discuss innovation and convergence in marketing. We also offer exclusive access to our speakers via live Q&A chats following each presentation.

Read and watch what a past speaker at Smart CMO has to say about it here: http://www.paullyoung.com/2012/01/17/smart-cmo-virtual-forum/

For more information and to register to attend, please visit www.smartcmo.com.

What is Smart CMO? A global community of marketing executives whose purpose is to innovate, experience, and share marketing ideas, technologies, and media – always focused on results. We lead a global marketing conversation through live and virtual events, exclusive and original content, and interactive community discussions with an audience in over 24 countries. Their flagship event is the Smart CMO Virtual Forum, held online twice per year.

Learn from the Best

Smart CMO content is not available anywhere else. Take advantage of the exclusive opportunity to learn from expert speakers who are defining the future of the marketing industry.

Direct Access to Experts
Our community enjoys premium and exclusive content, and direct access to marketing thought leaders. You will be able to chat and interact directly with speakers.

Interact with Global Marketing Executives
Smart CMO is a global community of marketing executives representing 24 countries. Join in our vibrant discussions and be inspired and informed by your peers.

Experience Intelligent Networking
Smart CMO delivers an unparalleled networking opportunity powered by technology.

Walk Away with Ideas and Inspiration to Help You Succeed
Discover marketing resources exclusive to the Smart CMO community.

What a bittersweet time of year–the excitement of the holidays and time with family as we reminisce about the year and years past. So much has changed in the past couple of years and even the past couple of months that it is hard to take it all in. I am celebrating more than 10 years in the marketing industry with Ad2 Advertising and Public Relations, Inc. and look forward to embarking on the new adventures of EcoSound Environmental Services, Inc. My babies are growing up way too fast, and yet, I look forward to what life will be like with young adults and big kids in the house.

As we learned from the panelists in yesterdays LA brand panel luncheon, while there are tons of great new tools and digital media for getting your message across, it is still appropriate to use the more traditional forms of media and rely heavily on making personal connections with your customers, so they feel dedicated to your brand and you, relevant to them in all aspects and cycles of life. I feel like Community Coffee and Southern Comfort really stood out in the discussion yesterday and gave some great advise and bits to munch on, however, I left there wanting to learn more about Turbo Squid and Big Easy Foods and plan to do so.

I could really relate to Community Coffee, because we are one of his “loyalists”. My grandparents drank Community with us as kids with our “milk coffee” (cafe au lait), and my parents drank it, and fortunately, my husband’s parents drank it, so to us, there is no other coffee. We are Community Coffee drinkers and loyalists…some might even say snobs, because we do tend to turn up our nose if it’s not Community (totally involuntary, I might add).

Well, as I sip my Community and look forward to what the coming weeks and year hold for me, I pray that they hold many wonderful opportunities for you. We are mid-way through the AMA programming year and my year as president. I encourage you to get involved, find areas where you may be able to improve the organization or where the organization may help you to improve. Our President-Elect, Lauren Wilson, will be looking for people to help her make the organization all it can be for its members and would love to hear from you. Send us an email with any interests you may have, whether for or from your Chapter, and we will do our best to implement them.

Thank you for your support and participation. I hope you have taken advantage of everything we’ve had to offer and enjoyed and benefitted from your membership. We look forward to many more great things to come in 2012. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

So, I am getting ready to leave for the Northshore luncheon and am pretty bummed about the fact that there are only 15 pre-registered attendees. Is it the speaker? The topic? The location? The fact that this is the 2nd AMA event in 2 weeks-3rd in 3 for my board members? I do realize that it takes quite a bit of time out of the day to travel that bridge for a mid-day event, so perhaps that’s all it is. I really need to know, though. We are doing our best to answer all the needs of our members and provide a mix of opportunities from networking and socializing to education and professional development, but I wonder if they are somehow cannibalizing each other.

We only have 1 event scheduled for next month (sorry, not for you board members), and it is a lunch & lecture from Bridgestone Tires regarding their Super Bowl sponsorship. It sounds pretty interesting and who doesn’t love football and Super Bowl ads?!? So, I’m anticipating (and maybe hoping a little bit) that one will be a little better attended and received.

In December, we have a national event coming to town, had planned to do a holiday social event-perhaps in conjunction with the national conference since it falls during the same time frame and are planning to bring back the Louisiana brand panel that was such a hit last year. If you have any Louisiana-brands-gone-national that you would like to hear from or have questions regarding their strategies, please do post them or email them to us at ama-no@live.com. Like momma always said, “You’ll never know if you don’t ask.”

I look forward to hearing from you guys and seeing you at some of the upcoming events. If we have not answered your needs as a member, please do let me know, so we can add it to the to-do list. Coming soon: member directory for members only! Check back to be sure to get dibs! Have a great weekend and Halloween! 

Whoa! Where has the summer gone? The weather is already feeling more fall-like, football has started, and the board is scrambling to make sure that this year starts–and finishes–strong! We just had our first board meeting where we were presented our member survey results and recommendations by sponsor Q2 Insights and have already begun implementing changes to the AMA calendar to include many of the suggestions requested by our members. The first of which was the member orientation, which we hope answered any questions about AMA membership and also gave members an introduction and opportunity to meet with the Board of Directors. The meeting was a breakfast event, which was also requested through the member survey. We have also decided to add more evening, social, networking and professional development opportunities to our calendar to be sure and fulfill everyone’s expectations of their membership. Please be on the lookout for information regarding those events. Or if you would like to help develop these new, members only events and benefits, please contact our Co-VPs of Development.

Our Programming team has been working tirelessly to bring in the top-notch speakers, presenters and educators that we’ve come to expect from AMA NOLA. I am really looking forward to getting some Consumer Insights from Lisa Wilson with United Healthcare and figure out how to “humanize the research data” and make it usable for marketing at next week’s luncheon. Then, on the 29th, we have Chris Thornton from Definition 6 coming to give us the inside scoop on the successful viral campaigns of Coke and the HBO original series, True Blood. So excited about that, and that is only the beginning! Keep checking your mailboxes and inboxes for the fall line-up from AMA NOLA to be sure that you don’t miss out on anything. If you would prefer to stay updated through social media, be sure to like us on facebook or follow us on twitter for current news and events. You could also talk back to us and let us know what you want to see, hear or know more about, or if you’ve got a fave speaker that you want to share, please do!

We are still looking for sponsors to sponsor our 2011-2012 Speaker Series. We are hoping to tie up much of the promotional materials this week, so to be sure you are included in our marketing materials as a sponsor, please be sure to contact our VP of Sponsorship as soon as possible to sign up. We appreciate our sponsors and know that we could not continue to be the leader in marketing education and knowledge sharing without them. Please be sure to show your appreciation through reciprocation!

If you were unable to make the member orientation and have questions on how to get the full benefit of membership or to sign up for a volunteer position or committee, please email us for information! We appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at the next event!

So, we made it through the first-ever member orientation without any casualties. It was a crazy morning, but I think the event (and the fact that there was one) was great! I want to thank everyone in attendace; you made it all worth-while. I hope that you were able to get some valuable information from the event, but if it left you with questions or wanting more, please don’t hesitate to contact any of the board members at your convenience. We are here to serve you!

I do hope that you will take full advantage of your membership and all the benefits it offers you. I also encourage you to maximize your membership by volunteering, joining a committee or starting one of your own.

I look forward to meeting each and every one of you and working with you to get the AMA New Orleans to everything you need it to be. You may email any AMA-related stuff to me at ama-no@live.com or feel free to contact me directly just to chat. I want to help you any way that I can. My personal email address is kritter423@gmail.com, and my cell phone number is 504-908-2721. Here’s to a great year!

For those of you just dying to see my Scott Schwertly-inspired presentation, you may download it here. Thanks again for your support of AMA New Orleans! Have a great year!

The American Marketing Association (AMA) invites its members to display their creative design skills in honor of the AMA’s upcoming 75th anniversary by hosting a competition between chapters around the country for a new AMA anniversary logo. This special logo will be used in conjunction with the AMA logo throughout the anniversary year. The winning chapter will receive public recognition in selected AMA communications and a cash award of $1,500.

As one of the nation’s leading AMA chapters, in the nation’s most unique city, this contest will only be open to active members, both professional and student, here in the New Orleans area.  There is no fee to enter, but you must be an active member.  Submissions are due to the New Orleans AMA by September 1st, 2011.  Individuals can submit their entries via email to ama-no@live.com.

Members are encouraged to vote on their favorite designs via the New Orleans AMA’s Facebook page after September 1.  The members of the New Orleans AMA board will incorporate these votes into their final decision. The local board will vote on one winner from the professional level and one winner from the student level and those winners will receive a free membership. An overall winning design will be chosen which will serve as our chapter logo. The winning artist must relinquish all rights to the logo and give AMA permission to own and use as they see fit.  For further information, please contact current chapter president, Kim Ritter, kim@ad2inc.net.

(Note that some details below are for the Chapter Contest and some for the National Contest. We’ve designed the Chapter Contest to mirror the National Contest.)

How to Enter
1. Entries must include the following:

• Entry in both JPG and scalable vector graphic
• Entrant Chapter name
• Entrant primary contact name, phone number and e-mail address
• Name of the designer of the logo and their company affiliation, if desired

2. Entries must be submitted by e-mail to ama-no@live.com.
3. The deadline for entries is 11:59pm CT on September 1, 2011.
4. There is no fee to enter the Contest.

Design Guidelines
The AMA 75th Anniversary logo is a separate piece of graphic design that can be used alone or in conjunction (locked in) with the current AMA logo. The logo must contain the numbers “75” or the words “seventy-five.”

The logo may be used online, in print, and on merchandise. The logo will be made available for use to other chapters as well as International Headquarters. Flexibility is a key requirement, including the need to resize easily and to look good in black and white as well as color. The final version of the logo will need to be suitable for high quality printing. No use of clipart is allowed; original art only. No Publisher or Corel files can be accepted. The preferred file types are EPS or Adobe Illustrator, version CS5 or lower.

Because the logo or emblem maybe registered by AMA as a Service Mark, Entrants should take care that their entries are not similar to existing logos/emblems or other copyrighted images and be reasonably assured that AMA will be able to freely use the logo/emblem and that it is eligible to be registered as a Service Mark.

Judging, Selection and Notification of Winner
Chapter Contest:

• Two winning entries will be selected. One, from a professional chapter member and the other from a student chapter member. Winners will be chosen through a mix of social media voting and the AMA New Orleans Chapter Board. Their decision will be final.
• The Board will choose the overall winner from those two, which will become the AMA New Orleans chapter logo and give the winner the option of revising, if necessary to submit to the National Contest by the deadline for entries at 11:59pm CT on September 15, 2011.

National Contest:

• The winning entry will be selected by a panel of judges chosen from the four Volunteer Councils and/or the AMA Board of Directors. Their decision will be final.
• Accepting the prize constitutes permission for the AMA to make public and otherwise use the winning Entrant’s chapter name, and the individual designer and company affiliation, if desired.

Prizes
Chapter Contest:

A free one-year chapter membership

National Contest:

The winning Chapter, and the individual designer and company affiliation, if desired, of the entrant will receive public recognition in selected AMA communications.

A $1,500 cash award will be made to the winning Chapter Entrant.

National Contest Terms and Conditions
The AMA assumes no responsibility for submissions. Participation in the competition does not create a bailment. The AMA is not responsible for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of Entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind, or inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive entry information by the AMA on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or any combination thereof.

By submitting an entry, Entrant represents and warrants that: (a) the work is original and has not been published in whole or part elsewhere; (b) Entrant is the sole and exclusive owner of the work; (c) the work does not infringe on any third-party proprietary, intellectual property, industrial property, personal rights or other rights, including without limitation, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or confidentiality obligation; and (d) no state or federal laws were violated in creating the work or transmitting the work to AMA. Any intellectual property infringement, misuse or plagiarism of another person’s work in any form or state will result in immediate disqualification and forfeiture of eligibility to receive all awards, recognition and prizes, and AMA shall be permitted to make public statements regarding any disqualifications and any grounds for disqualification.

Entrant further acknowledges and agrees that, upon submission, the work becomes the sole and exclusive property of the AMA who shall have the right to edit, modify, publish, broadcast, publicize, market and/or distribute the submitted work(s) at their discretion at any time or otherwise use in any way the entry, Entrant’s name and likeness, without further compensation to Entrant, whether or not judged a winner and Entrant will provide written consent upon request.
Potential prize winners may be required to sign, notarize, and return an Affidavit or Declaration of Eligibility, a Liability/Publicity Release, an I.R.S. Form W-9, and provide any additional information that may be required by the AMA. Prizes will not be issued to the winner until all the appropriate paperwork has been submitted.

Your new AMA Board has planned a great year for 2011-2012! Here’s a sneak peek at some of the events planned for Fall 2011…This list is not exhaustive. Please visit our new website at: http://amanoc.wildapricot.org for more information and to register!

When? August 24th – breakfast
What? Member Orientation
Where? Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro
Who’s Speaking? Your AMA New Orleans Board Members

When? September 15th – luncheon
What? Consumer Insights
Where? Audubon Tea Room
Who’s Speaking? Lisa Wilson from United Healthcare

When? October 13th – luncheon
What? TBA
Where? Audubon Tea Room
Who’s Speaking? TBA

When? November 10th – luncheon
What? Superbowl Sponsorship & Advertising
Where? Audubon Tea Room
Who’s Speaking? Michael Fluck from Bridgestone Tires

When? December 15th – luncheon
What? Promoting Your LA Brand Nationally
Where? Audubon Tea Room
Who’s Speaking? Louisiana Brand Panel

When? January 12th – luncheon
What? Cause Marketing
Where? Audubon Tea Room
Who’s Speaking? Whole Foods

Topic schedule is subject to change.