Category: President’s Message

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!