Version 2.0 by Brian Kaminski, 2007-2008 President
When I first started to write this letter, I decided to abandon it half way through. It was too formal and stuffy. Shades of the suit and tie professional me started to shine, while the creative and fun side was off doing something else I guess. As a professional marketer, I find myself walking that line quite often. Should we be straight and narrow marketers or loosy goosey ones? After all, our goal is to create attention in our respective marketplaces and deliver results, isn't it? However, we can't be too far out there having to activate our crisis communications plans to fend off all the activist groups with nothing better to do.
The AMA likes to talk about "results-oriented marketing efforts." With the average CMO tenure being less than two years - who can blame them? The pressure to perform along with ROI analysis has placed terms like "branding" on the back burner for now, and probably forever. And how, you ask, does creating a MySpace page, using product placements on YouTube, blogging, or even marketing to folks on their cell phones impact ROI?
Well, it's our goal this year to bring expert marketers in these areas to the forefront and demand answers to such questions. In addition, I would like to tap both ends of the marketing spectrum, engaging those 24-month-and-out CMOs, as well as the local collegiate communities to become more involved with this great association.
Let the AMA know if you have any suggestions or marketing concerns and we will do all we can to address them.
Till next time,
Brian
P.S. for those of you interested in the original letter, read on...
Fellow Marketers:
It is an honor to be appointed as president of the Greater Omaha American Marketing Association. I am excited to build on to the recent successes of previous chapter leaders. Omaha is a very strong chapter and each year we take another step in the right direction.
In addition to continually improving programming and growing membership, my goals for this year are as follows:
1. Help members get involved
2. Educate C-level marketers on the value of the AMA
3. Increase the value of sponsorship opportunities
Etc., etc
