Reblogged from Marketing Tapas:

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The Atlanta Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) is now accepting nominations for the 2013 Atlanta Marketer of the Year (AMY) Awards. The AMY Awards, which recognize individuals and companies who set themselves apart as originals during 2012 to truly inspire us, will be presented on Thursday, March 21, 2013 at The Fabulous Fox Theatre.

The AMY Awards honor programs and campaigns with innovative strategies, unforgettable creative and outstanding results in 12 different marketing categories such as visual branding, direct response and advertising.

Read more… 256 more words

I loved my term as President. Up and away we went! It’s such a great group—and I know with this team– where there is a will, there is a way.

Whether it’s Liz wooing Southwest, or Cindy talking to Newell. We are the best because AMA stands out from the rest.

Ashley’s dedication and leadership will take the chapter to new highs. Whether we think she looks like Pippa or Kate, her beauty follows her with every step she takes. With Renee at her side, the chapter will grow and thrive.

Jennifer and Teresa gave us the chic event AMY’s at the Fox—while Patrick and Greg led our collegiate efforts that totally rock!

Brandon is our hero teaching marketing to high schools. He has gotten us buzz, PR and wherever he goes, he rules. Serretha is drinking the cool-aid—and when Brandon says DECA, she says YouBetcha!

And Marion organizes our YP events and makes us seem a little cool.Amanda kept us in line as our secretary extraordinaire. And does she want to help us win the CEA, yes very.

And what rhymes with very—well that would be Mary. She and Liz gave us blockbuster programs to sell-out crowds. And when you see Mary, ask her about Bobby Flay and his elevator ride with AMA and I think he’d say scary.

Our web-site now has event photos, our blogs, tweet and cool flash. Thanks to Renee, Paul and Michael for making it a splash.

Louise gave us great buzz, PR and zip. While Kevin helped us with non-profits and made us seem a little more hip.

Stacy grew our membership by 11 per cent. We just beat NY and are on the heels of DC where we’ll ascent.

Angad and Michele grew our sponsorship by leaps and bounds. Cash sponsors and in-kind–a better duo could not be found.

Jon helped us count the beans to ensure we are financially lean and mean. And a big thanks to Susan and Stephanie for helping us herd the cats. And what I love about this group is I know that we all have each other’s back.

I feel lucky to know you. I hope you enjoy AMA as much as I do.

They are:

1. Have Conviction- If you can conjure up conviction, you can use every situation as an opportunity for growth and challenge.

2. Be Present- Show-up and be there. Being present allows us to have presence and clear communication. Live in the now.

3. Have Fun-  Do what you love; love what you do.

4. Volunteer- My favorite people are those who raise their hand and say, “I’ll do that, I’ll help you out!” Good always comes from helping someone out.

5. Have Good Energy-Be positive and imagine the best possible outcome in every situation. It usually happens.

6. Be Informal- Which is not to be confused with unprofessional. Use humor especially in difficult situations.

7. Share Your Vision- Make sure people feel the cause in both the brain and the heart. Make them feel they are working on something larger than themselves.

8. Leverage the Team- Don’t pretend to know all the answers. Guide the team to get to the right decisions.

9. Be Yourself -Use everything you’ve learned in both your personal and professional life. Don’t compartmentalize or wall off one part of your life from the other.

Paul Prisco, owner of Dog Food Designs, created an infographic for AMA. This is the first time I’d ever seen an infographic.

The infographic that has resonated with me the most is The Power of In-Person. I believe that one lunch, dinner or glass of wine is more valuable than 20 Linked-In contacts. In person meetings and connections do matter! In a time where people are searching for meaning, friendships and connections, there is no substitute for an in-person meeting.

My favorite groups are the WOOs (Women of Oakdale Road),  American Marketing Association, Leadership Atlanta and my dear Divine Diva friends from the Coca Cola Company.

So, carve out time to meet with people. Your life will be much richer and full as a result.

These are a few things I recently saw–that I am loving:

Starbucks has a cup magic app. Check out www.starbucks.com. This cute and fun Starbucks Cup Magic is a celebration of love.  When you use this app, you can send virtual Valentine’s messages to everyone who holds a special place in your heart.

Cup Magic

My friends at Coca Cola are showing some love with the supporting women’s heart health issues. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhMOjhth9vw to learn a little bit more about what they are doing.

Krispy Kreme and their yumm-a-licious-ness made me smile. How can you go wrong with their heart-shaped donuts and packaging? Krispy Kreme even gave away Valentine’s Cards with  a note to come back. Now, who wouldn’t LOVE that?

Subaru has a video with their driver’s sending love letters. My first car was a Subaru. I loved it–and can see why others do also. See and read their love letters at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nluF2sy-7c0.

Of course, everyone you know how much I love Arby’s. Did you see the Facebook post?

Southwest capitalizes on love, so much that their ticker symbol is LUV.

I also wanted to let you know that our Signature Lunch events are planned through June. 

• In January, Hala Moddelmog, the President of Arby’swill speak. Hala was formerly the CEO of Susan G. Komen. Prior to Komen, she was CEO of Church’s Chicken. You will definitely want to hear what she is doing to grow the Arby’s brand. Plus, there will also be some yummy gifts! We have already sold lots of tables and this one will definitely sell-out.
• In February, Sara Beth Zivitz will speak to us from Groupon. Sara Beth previously lived in Atlanta and worked for Pink Magazine before she moved on, went to Harvard Business School and then to Groupon. I can’t wait to hear what is new with this exciting company!
• In March, one of my favorites, J. Walker Smith is returning to speak to the AMA by popular demand. Walker has been a member of AMA for many years and currently serves on our AMA executive advisory board. He has written many books and articles on trends. These books include: Generation Ageless, Rocking the Ageless: The Yankelovich Report on Generational Marketing and Coming to Concurrence: Addressable Attitudes in the New Model for Marketing Productivity.
• I am happy to say in April, my mentor, Nancy Gibson, Global VP of Shopper Strategies and Solutions at Coca Cola will present to us. I have known Nancy over 16 years. Nancy is smart, sassy and is the leading global authority on shopper marketing. Read about her in our Tribute to Mentors at http://tinyurl.com/3lcnkxg.
• In May, Kat Cole, the President of Cinnabonwill be in the house. Kat is the young, brilliant and beautiful leader of Cinnabon. Kat is someone I’ve also known for many years and admire greatly. Imagine someone who looks like Angelina Jolie, has the global-view of Bono– all combined with the brains of Warren Buffett—and then you will understand why I like Kat so much.
• In June, Del Ross, VP at InterContinental Hotelswill speak to us. He will give us insights on the Holiday Inn rebrand success.
• Sign up on our site at www.ama-atlanta.org

Happy 2012 all. Can’t wait to see you in the new year.

All the best,

Jo Ann  Herold

watercolor of my favorite journals

I love the new year. It can be the first day of the rest of your life. Every year, around this time, I write-out my resolutions using a brand-new journal.

On the top of the list this year:

1. Spend more time with family. Especially with my daughter, Lily. We are going to take more trips this year–including going to the MSU bowl game in Nashville this week. Go dawgs.

2. Continue to grow sales and profits @arbys.com. Love this brand and the delicious products. Also want to continue to do good work with No Kid Hungry. We are working with Share Our Strength to eradicate childhood hunger by 2015.

3. Have a fun end-of-the-year celebration for AMA on the Rooftop at the W Hotel (hint: we need a sponsor). We have so much good momentum with this smart group. Membership  and sponsorship has grown by leaps and bounds. We are working towards winning the chapter of the year! Check us out @ http://www.ama-atlanta.org

Happy New Year. Hope it’s filled with health, wealth and the time to enjoy!

So, what do I mean by this?

1. Do what you love, love what you do. I try to find jobs or work that don’t feel like work. Even if the project or job feels daunting in the beginning, my recommendation is to dive in, understand what needs to be done and own the project. I often ask others for their advice if I am not sure how to get something done. I receive great input and my advisor’s really appreciate being asked for their opinion.

2. Over-deliver on the deliverables. Exceed expectations when asked to do something. Most important, make sure to do the full-time job with excellence. Once that is mastered, go beyond what was asked and look for areas that could be improved. Don’t wait for someone to ask you about the project–be proactive in giving updates and calling a meeting to showcase your work. Get others inspired by what you are doing.

3. Give back and be there -People who volunteer are truly the cream of the crop and the top 10%. The first step of accomplishment is simply being there. Volunteers are the people who want to learn new things and have their fingers on the pulse. These are the people with whom I like to be around and learn from.

4. Good things will come. When the passion and the purpose are evident, the plum assignments will follow. What gives me energy is loving what I am doing–and being able to do great work. And isn’t that the key?

• In January, Hala Moddelmog, the President of Arby’s will speak. Hala was formerly the CEO of Susan G. Komen. Prior to Komen, she was CEO of Church’s Chicken. You will definitely want to hear what she is doing to grow the Arby’s brand. Plus, there will also be some yummy gifts!  We have already sold lots of tables and this one will definitely sell-out.
• In February,  Sara Beth Zivitz will speak to us from Groupon.  Sara Beth previously lived in Atlanta and worked for Pink Magazine before she moved on, went to Harvard  University and then to Groupon. I can’t wait to hear what is new with this exciting company!
• In March, one of my favorites, J. Walker Smith is returning to speak to the AMA by popular demand. Walker has been a member of AMA for many years and currently serves on our AMA executive advisory board. He has written many books and articles on trends. These books include: Generation Ageless, Rocking the Ageless: The Yankelovich Report on Generational Marketing and Coming to Concurrence: Addressable Attitudes in the New Model for Marketing Productivity.
• I am happy to say in April, my mentor, Nancy Gibson, Global VP of Shopper Strategies and Solutions at Coke will present to us. I have known Nancy over 16 years. Nancy is smart, sassy and is the leading global authority on shopper marketing. Read about her in our Tribute to Mentors at http://tinyurl.com/3lcnkxg.
• In May, Kat Cole, the President of Cinnabon will be in the house. Kat is the young, brilliant and beautiful leader of Cinnabon. Kat is someone I’ve also known for many years and admire greatly.  Imagine someone who looks like Angelina Jolie, has the global-view of Bono– all combined with the brains of Warren Buffett—and then you will understand why I like Kat so much.

More to follow, but did want to let you know. I also wanted to alert you that our events have been selling out. I would suggest reserving your seat now at www.ama-atlanta.com

Speaking of events that sold out, were you able to attend the panel on Marketing 20 / 20? It was an all-star panel that received rave reviews. Thanks to LaserStream video, one of our newest sponsors, you can view the panel on our AMA You Tube channel at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqg4iztvG4Y. Also, read a great recap from Louise Mulherin in her blog http://tinyurl.com/7jbrc5v. In this blog, you can also find a link to white paper.  We set a record for number of Tweets and #amaatl was trending in Atlanta.

I really enjoyed the holiday party and would like thank Marion Yoder for planning it.  A big “shout out” to YuMe for sponsoring the event. It was great to spend time Caitlin Borgman and her dynamic YuMe team. There was lots of great buzz about YuMe—and we are excited to get them more involved in AMA. We are also delighted to have Definition 6 and Michael Kogon in the AMA family. It was fun seeing John Levinson from the AJC and meeting new friends, such as Erin Perez from Arke. We are working with Cynthia Good and Pink Magazine on a collaboration. Moreover, we have lots of new group members including the Cartoon Network, Moe’s, Georgia Pacific and others. Needless to say, our chapter is growing by leaps and bounds.

Finally, the AMY’s are coming up @ the Fabulous Fox. I love the chicness of the AMY’s and think it’s the Oscars for the Atlanta Marketing crowd. Check out the site at http://www.amyawardsatl.com/

You will definitely want to start thinking about which campaigns you want to submit in our call for entries (maybe all of them?!). Kudos to our AMA Marketing geniuses, including Jennifer Beech, Angad Chera, Teresa Caro, Bottlecap, Modo Modo and the AMY committee for their heart and soul that go into planning the AMY’s .

 Happy holidays y’all!

 I feel fortunate that I found a career in marketing where I can pursue both my passions and purpose. AMA has helped in so many ways.

Here are the 5 C’s of why I love AMA:

1. Connections: Some of my best friends are volunteers for AMA. Volunteerism is a wonderful way to give.
2. Collaboration: The board members meet and collaborate at 7:30 am (yawn) to develop relevant and fun programming for its members.
3. Curiosity: Always with an intent to learn, the AMA programs and events are designed to provide current, timely events that keep our members ahead of the curve.
4. Courageous: As marketers, we are always asked to take risks. The happiest people are those who jump off the side line, jump-in and participate. AMA provides opportunities to try new things that you might not be able to do at work.
5. Communications: AMA is a great way to hone communications skills.  Whether it’s writing a blog, tweeting, or speaking—AMA can help you try out new things.

Our upcoming winter schedule is packed with great speakers. Hope to see you at the Twisted Taco on December 1. Also, don’t forget to sign up to see Hala Moddelmog for the January luncheon. This event will sell out—and you won’t want to miss it. Sign up at www.ama-atlanta.com