Board Member Spotlight: Jon Anderson
Former president of AMA Atlanta, Jon Anderson enjoys the organization so much that he is our longest-tenured board member. Next time you see him, ask just how long that is – he always pretends not to remember when the subject comes up at board meetings!
Board position: Treasurer
Company: Principal, Andersen Law Firm
Why do you love AMA? I have been an active member of AMA for more years now than I can remember, and have served on the Board for almost the same number of years. Other than the year in which I was president of the Atlanta Chapter, which was enjoyable but a lot of work, every year has been fun, educational and full of nice memories. I have made countless friends and many of these friends have become clients of my law firm. And since my field of practice is centered on advertising, marketing and promotional law, the seminars, SIG events and luncheon speakers have been a great resource to keep me current on the issues facing my clients. It has been a wonderful bang for the buck.
What do you think the marketing landscape will look like in 2020? Predicting the future is always an iffy proposition, but there are some things I feel certain of. The basic human needs will still be the same, and appeal to common human emotions will still be effective. The biggest changes will come in the manner in which marketing information and offers are distributed. Technology changes and innovating thinking will create a variety of new products to enable consumers and B-to-B purchasers to be better informed than ever about available options. Marketers also will know even more about their customers than they do today and will be able to customize products for these customers. Plus, I am sure good marketers will convince me that I really need products that do not even exist today, just like the iPhone which did not exist yesterday. I also think that the government will play an increasing role in establishing rules, guidelines and standards for marketing messages. For those in the foods category, the obesity lobby will not go away until the government begins to get active in the field. Whether we like it or not, the pressure for government intervention is relentless, and marketers will have to deal with it.
What advice do you have for someone entering the marketing field? Get a good education, probably in the liberal arts area. Be sure that you are someone who likes people. Seek employment with reputable companies. Know your product inside and out. Learn, learn and then learn some more, but don’t necessarily get too caught up in the publications of the marketing guru of the moment. Do not be afraid to try something new, and if it fails, learn from it and move on. Be persistent. Trust your instincts. And join the AMA and get active in your local chapter.
Connect with Jon on LinkedIn.
Arby’s President Hala Moddelmog kicked off 2012 for AMA Atlanta speaking to a sold-out crowd at the January Signature Luncheon. Her career trajectory was of interest because she rose through the marketing ranks to become the first female president of a major fast-food chain while at Church’s Chicken. Typically, leadership in that industry has come from operations or finance.
Hala spoke of the importance AMA Atlanta holds for her. Through networking, she found her first job through AMA contacts. That position would be her first of three turns working at Arby’s, the third being her current role which she started in 2010.
Hala joined Arby’s while it was a public company, Wendy’s/Arby’s. Under her leadership, the company has had five consecutive quarters of growth, and in the meantime was sold to an Atlanta-based private equity firm, Roark Capital. Roark owns 19 food brands - Arby’s is the largest – and it understands franchises, which is important to the Arby’s structure.
From a marketing standpoint, Hala said, Arby’s is fortunate to have 86% consumer recognition of its iconic hat logo. But the brand faced a slump when the economy turned downward. Hala joined the company ready to take on a complete, system-wide transformation led by new brand positioning. With the help of extensive market research, Arby’s identified key emotional spaces in the consumer market, one of which represented a hole in a primary group of the fast-food segment.
In fast food, she noted, speed is essential. This relates to both delivering the product and executing a transformational re-branding. One aspect of the system-wide update was to examine the company’s three-tier value strategy. Entry-level, or low cost items, drive traffic to stores. Core products are what keep loyal customers coming back. Premium products, such as new Angus beef sandwiches, attract new consumers to the brand and offer variety to loyalists. Signature sides were also analyzed, with key products such as curly fries remaining on menus alongside new additions including steak house-style onion rings. Arby’s knows its core customer, of whom Hala said, if all else fails, go back to cheese and bacon.
To complete the brand transformation, Arby’s tapped BBDO New York for a new ad campaign. The resulting “It’s Good Mood Food” campaign was certainly memorable. The campaign got people talking about Arby’s and garnered 47% recognition after seven months.
Arby’s re-branding took a 360-degree approach. Refreshed packaging and point-of-purchase reflected the updated positioning. A partnership with “Eat This, Not That” enables consumers to make healthier choices if they wish. And, of note, even the Arby’s Foundation has a new focus on childhood hunger. Directing fundraising efforts to Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry effort, Arby’s, with the help of its customers, doubled a first-year goal and raised $2.2 million for the cause.
Hala closed with two 90% rules that guide her. First, she would rather have 90% today vs. 100% tomorrow. Speed matters. Secondly, she said, life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it. She thinks it is important to have fun every day (or at least most days) because in the end, business is a game, and she and her team are playing to win.
AMA AMYs – Tips for Creating a Winning Award Submission
It’s that time of the year again. 2012 is in full swing, companies are working hard starting the year off right and the AMYs committee is planning March 29, the 2012 AMY Awards. We are eagerly awaiting submissions from individuals and companies whose “Big Ideas” during 2011 truly inspire all of Atlanta and awaken our minds.
The AMY Awards is back at The Fabulous Fox Theatre to honor programs and campaigns with innovative strategies, unforgettable creative and outstanding results. Submissions are being accepted for all categories, including the newly added Innovation in Marketing Research. Check out all the entry categories here.
Success in marketing takes more than great creative and strategy, it takes solid leadership. AMA Atlanta is looking for this year’s corporate and agency Marketer of the Year, and we need your help. Who do you know that has led their team to execute Big Ideas to drive Big Results? Nominate them for Free today. Nominations are being accepted through February 10.
What Qualifies as a Good Entry?
We want to make you successful. To ensure you bring attention to the right information in your entries, we asked our 2012 judging panel what exactly they were looking for in a winning submission.
When judge Laura Davis-Taylor of BBDO looks at a marketing program, she seeks to understand:
- The business challenge at hand, the key insights considered and how the program/idea uniquely addressed both
- How the idea was woven into the other marketing channels
- The results—both direct (transactional) and indirect (loyalty and brand perception)
For judge Laurie Hood of Silverpop there are two keys to success:
- Clear goals for a campaign and some kind of measurement. Why did you do this, what did you want to achieve, and what did you achieve?
- Explain their company and what the company does – entrants should never assume their judges are familiar with them or their products
And last, yet definitely not least, judge Lynn Moss of Allconnect, Inc. says, “I’m most interested in strategy and results. Judging creative to be innovative and memorable can be subjective; therefore, I’m more interested in the following questions.”
- Strategy: How did you decide on the marketing campaign? Who was it targeted to? How was messaging developed? How did the creative support the messaging? Why email, social media, print or event marketing? Was it integrated across media?
- Results: What was the measure of success? Was the campaign considered a success? Were there key learnings? Perhaps it wasn’t deemed a success, yet the learnings are helpful for future campaigns.
Are all of these expectations ones you can fill? After reading this do you feel like you deserve a Red Pencil sitting on your wall or desk? Well then, submit your entry here: http://www.amyawardsatl.com/submissions.
When filling out the AMYs submission form, be sure to answer the essay questions with the information needed, while keeping in mind the judges’ suggestions. Incorporating what the AMYs committee needs with what the judges want to see will help you get that much closer to the Red Pencil.
Early entry submissions end January 27, 2012. Entries received after January 27 will be eligible for the late entry deadline, February 10.
We look forward to all of your submissions and can’t wait to see everyone at The Fox Theatre on March 29, 2012.
Board Member Spotlight: Marion Yoder
If you went to this year’s Holiday Mixer at Twisted Taco, you enjoyed networking with some of Atlanta’s top marketers, signature cocktails and fabulous prizes. Meet the man who planned the event – AMA Atlanta’s Young Professionals Chair Marion Yoder – and hear some of his thoughts on marketing.
Company: Currently Job Seeking
Why do you love AMA? AMA has been a part of my life since college. It’s always created connections, kept me on the cutting edge of the latest trends and sparked creative ideas.
What do you think the marketing landscape will look like in 2020? I believe the consumption of media will continue to evolve. As more devices such as tablets allow us to consume media whenever and wherever we want, I believe traditional TV will decline. In 2020, consumers will likely be making purchases using a mobile wallet on their smartphone vs. a plastic credit card. This will create new opportunities to display ads relevant to the store a consumer is shopping at.
What’s the biggest current marketing trend that you think will continue to affect the field for years to come? Social media is here, and it’s here to stay. Marketers will have to continually challenge themselves to create engaging content that breaks through the clutter to attract consumers.
Want to learn more about Marion? Find him at marionyoder.com, @marionyoder or on LinkedIn.
Marketing 20/20. Are you Ready for It?
In this month’s State of Business from Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, AMA Atlanta President Jo Ann Herold discusses marketing in 2020. What changes can you expect? Check out the article, and then learn more at our November Signature Luncheon.
If you missed September’s Signature Luncheon, you missed delicious food, a Southwest ticket giveaway and great insights from Dave Ridley about what makes a company successful. Here are the key takeaways:
- Amazing facts about Southwest Airlines:
- 4th leading brand in the world
- The only airline to be profitable for 38 years straight
- No layoffs in 38 years
- Employees come first:
- “Happy employees –> happy customers –> happy shareholders”
- Their flight attendants used to wear hot pants
- Southwest Airline has three core values:
- Have a warrior spirit (work hard), a servant’s heart (treat others as you’d like to be treated), and a fun-loving attitude (take work seriously but not yourself).
- It’s easy to be cheap or to be really good; it’s challenging to be both inexpensive and good.
- To be successful, you have to be two things – the first to get in the game and the second to stay in the game:
- Smart – good strategy, marketing, operations, etc. – “all the MBA stuff”
- Healthy – minimal politics, strong understanding of the mission among employees, an organization that lives the mission.
- An injection of the human spirit into a bad product delivery (e.g. a canceled flight) can convert it to a good experience that inspires repeat purchase.
- Don’t practice random acts of kindness – practice routine acts of kindness.
- Good culture starts with how you hire. You can’t train for happy and nice – you have to hire for it. Hire for attitude, train for skill.
- Ask front line employees like receptionists and security guards to weigh in on prospective hires: how someone treats the people on the bottom of the hierarchy tells you all about their true character.
- Leadership trumps all: leaders must model the kind of customer service they want employees to deliver. Lead with an “other” orientation.
- If you’re in a job where you have to sweat over things like “lid slosh” in the margarine tub, find a new job.
Don’t miss October’s lunch with Scot Safon, Executive Vice President for CNN Worldwide.
What is Neuromarketing?
At what point does your brain get most excited while you’re eating chips and salsa? Neuromarketing research can tell us, providing valuable insight for marketers. Check out this blog from AMA Atlanta’s young professionals committee chair, Marion Yoder, as he recaps last week’s marketing research luncheon and shows us how neuromarketing works.
AMA Atlanta Wins National Spring Membership Drive!
Atlanta is ripe with some of the best and brightest marketers in the nation, and at AMA Atlanta we are thankful to have so many of you as members of our organization.
It is truly our members that make us what we are, so we are excited to warmly welcome all those new members who have joined us since the Spring Membership Drive earlier this year, and continue to be appreciative of those who continue to remain with us year after year.
We are thrilled to announce that AMA Atlanta was recently awarded the national honor of having the most new members during our Spring Membership Drive – more than any other chapter across the country!
Many thanks to our wonderful volunteers on the Membership Committee for helping to make the Spring Drive a success.
We look forward to seeing all our new & returning members at Kick-Off Wine Tasting later this month!
AMA Atlanta Elects 2011-2012 Board of Directors
The Atlanta chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) has elected its new board of directors for Fiscal Year 2011 (July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012). The 26-member board develops, manages and promotes programming, professional development and networking opportunities for its 800+ members and the greater Atlanta marketing community. All board positions are voluntary.
AMA Atlanta executive board members include:
- President: Jo Ann Herold, Arby’s
- President-Elect: Ashley Leckey, Guest Relations Marketing
- Executive Director: Susan Stottlemyer, Association Planners of Georgia
- Immediate Past President: Moira Vetter, Modo Modo Agency
- Past Presidents Council: Sharon Goldmacher, communications 21; Glen Caruso, Firecracker Media; Heather Foster, ControlScan
- Secretary: Amanda Parker, ControlScan
- Finance/Treasurer: Jon Andersen, Andersen Law Firm
Additional volunteer board members include:
- Jennifer Beech, Modo Modo Agency
- Teresa Caro, rDialog
- Greg Cohen, Sparks Grove
- Joe Koufman, Enguage Digital
- Louise Mulherin, GreenEarth PR Network
- Brandon Pelissero, Ecolink
- Serretha Ransom
- Stacy Shade, User Insight
- Renee Spurlin, communications 21
- Andrea Walker
- Liz Ward, Thought Partners
- Patrick West, The Weather Channel
- Fara Wilson, Ecolink
- Marion Yoder, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service
- Renee Thompson, TechTarget
- Michele Miller, Access TCA
- Kevin Ware, Assurant Solutions
“We are very excited to welcome both our new and returning board members for what promises to be an exciting, growth year for our Chapter,” said Jo Ann Herold, incoming Chapter President and Vice President of Brand Marketing for Arby’s. “Our Chapter depends on its Board in two critical ways: to conceive and deliver relevant events for Atlanta’s marketers and to deliver measurable value to our nearly 800 members. Our new and returning Board members bring expertise and good judgment in both of these critical areas – a great benefit for the Atlanta AMA,” Herold added.
AMA Atlanta, the fourth largest chapter after Chicago, Houston and Washington in the larger AMA organization, includes professionals across marketing disciplines in the following areas: marketing technology, non-profit, public relations, advertising, branding, direct marketing, interactive, creative, research and next generation marketing.
AMA Atlanta’s President Featured in Skirt! Atlanta
AMA Atlanta’s fearless leader, Moira Vetter, not only sets the direction for one of the nation’s largest AMA chapters, she also runs Modo Modo Agency, named the #2 2010 Fastest Growing Women-Owned Firms by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. How does she do it all? And why does she stay committed to AMA? Find out in this interview!
