This month, please take a moment and get to know AMA Member Liz Selig-Stephens:
Where do you work?
I work for University of Houston as the Assistant Director of Marketing for University Relations. The University of Houston will educate more than 37,000 students this year and has 304 degree programs between bachelors, masters and PHDs.
Briefly describe your job
On a daily basis I advocate for the University of Houston through marketing and branding a s well as supporting communications to our alumni and donors. We’re currently rebranding the university and my days are typically spent focused on research, media buying, managing e-communications for the university and working with many staff members on video, photography, design, writing, web and marketing.
If you weren’t at your current job, what would you want to be doing instead?
I enjoy my current job quite a bit and there isn’t anything else I’d rather do.
What is your all-time favorite marketing campaign or brand?
My two favorite brands are Coca-Cola and Target.
What’s your favorite food or drink?
My favorite food is Mexican and my favorite drink is Coke (the real thing, not diet).
How long have you been an AMA Houston member?
I’ve been an AMA Houston member since 2000.
What’s your favorite thing about AMA Houston?
My favorite thing about AMA Houston is the people I’ve met. I have some dear friends in the organization as well as some great relationships with partner organizations. The most beneficial experience for me was volunteering my time on the board from 2005-2007. It’s great to learn what others are doing and find ways to improve your own marketing plan and strategy.
Want to connect with Stacie personally? Be sure to say “hi” at the next event. You’ll also find her on LinkedIn, so be sure to connect there as well.
Membership / by
Robin Tooms
March 29th, 2010
2:31 pm
Events
At the AMA Houston January Luncheon, John Elmer, Chief Marketing Officer of Ingrain and Dr. Vikas Mittal, Professor of Management and Marketing at Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business shared insights into how marketers can build credibility with chief financial officers.
Did you miss the event? If you’re an AMA Houston member, you can download copies of their presentations on the AMA Houston LinkedIn Group.
Check out the March 26th issue of the Houston Business Journal. The speakers are shown on page 26A.
Pictured from left to right are Penny Todd, CenterPoint Energy, John Elmer, Dr. Vikas Mittal and Sherri Scott, AMA past president.
Events / by
Robin Tooms
Pull out the latest issue of “Marketing News” dated March 30, 2010 and you’ll find AMA Houston Board Member Stacey Eddington of Transwestern right on page four.
Thanks Stacey for sharing your perspective on marketing budgets with all of us.
Board Leadership / by
Robin Tooms
On March 15th, almost 300 marketers met at the Alley Theatre to celebrate the 2009 Marketer of the Year. All of the category winners were in attendance, which made for a “who’s who” in Houston Marketing. Congratulations to all of the winners!
The 2008 winner, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, was on hand to announce this year’s winner. Past Marketer of the Year winners include the Houston Zoo (2007), Weatherford International (2006) and the Houston Symphony (2005).
More information at the AMA Houston website.
Interview with Blinds.com and Boeing
Christine Hall, HBJ Reporter, was able to snag an interview after the event with both the winner, Blinds.com, and the keynote speaker, Kenneth Price, director of marketing, sales strategy and operations for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Read the full (very informative!) article.
Event Photos
Looking for event photos from the night? We’ve posted all of them on our AMA Houston Photo Gallery.
Event Webcast
Our friends at omNovia have posted a webcast from that night. You can see the full award ceremony and the Boeing presentation in its entirety.
Events, awards / by
Robin Tooms
There’s lots going on with AMA Houston, and our volunteers are no exception. This past week at the March luncheon, we announced the following volunteer honors:
- Board Members of the Month (we have THREE this month!):
- Brandy Beverly, Director Marketing Communications at Baylor College of Medicine and Rajul Khemsara, Senior Customer Research Analyst CHRISTUS Health: As Co-Chairs for the Healthcare Marketing SIG they have expertly managed several well-attended events. They exemplify what is great about our SIG programming: informative events that dive into relevant issues around marketing interests.
- Tara Johnson, Marketing Communications Coordinator at Mustang Engineering: Tara recently joined the board as Event Marketing Director (a demanding role!) and has been doing more than just getting our emails out in a timely manner, she’s looking for ways to help us promote events better as well.
- Volunteer of the Month: Shanthi Subramanian, Marketing Programs Manager at Gimmal Group, Inc. has been a real asset in keeping our website up to date. She expertly keeps our events and other news updated with the immediacy that our audiences expect.
Thanks to all of our volunteers for their help!
Board Leadership, Volunteers / by
Robin Tooms
This month, please take a moment and get to know AMA Member Stacie Fairchild:
Where do you work?
Bristow Group Inc. – one of the world’s largest providers of helicopter services, providing the safest and most efficient helicopter transportation, maintenance, search and rescue and aviation support worldwide.
How long have you been an AMA Houston member?
3 years
Give us three words that describe yourself:
Happy, very detailed, strong willed.
If I weren’t in marketing, I’d be…
A Veterinarian
What is your all-time favorite marketing campaign or brand?
Houston Texans
What’s your favorite food or drink?
Luby’s Mac & Cheese, Water & lemon
Want to connect with Stacie personally? Talk to her at the next event, or visit her company website at http://www.bristowgroup.com
Tell her you found her on the AMA Member spotlight. She’ll likely be able to chat you up with marketing tips, the Houston Texans or Luby’s. 
Membership / by
Robin Tooms
February 28th, 2010
11:12 pm
Events
Thanks to Shanthi Subramanian at Gimmel Group for providing us with the event recap below:
The presentation focused on how the Houston Rockets sought to improve the experience of customers by creating the “Red Nation”. We discovered that an injured Rockets player decided to sew the Rockets logo on a red blazer (he sewed the logo himself) and wear the jacket while he was sitting courtside. The idea started spreading among people within the organization – the marketing group asked the announcers to wear the jacket and then the idea spread to the actual customers.
From this experience they realized that their employees are some of their best advocates (and customers as well), in addition the expected customers: people who attend games in Houston, attendees of away games, and then those who watch the games on TV. The marketing organization also did some research to further segment their customer base into: superfans, naysayers, experientialists, party people, and traditionalists. One of the tools they used was the Net Promoter Score which asks fans if they would recommend attending games to their friends. This was a way for them to track how good the customer experience was for fans.
The Rockets launched their marketing campaign to show that they are back, attract casual sports fans, keep fans involved, reinforce sponsor relationships, continue year-round promotions and get customers to buy season tickets. They built their marketing campaign to address the economic downtown, competition from other teams, going to playoffs but not having a championships, injuries to major players and a reduced budget.
The approaches fell in the category of performance and fun. It is important to have honest promotions/taglines to build credibility with fans and the press. They have studied the current team and fan situations to build the momentum of “red”.
Having a color campaign has been something that everyone can get behind. Red is associated with passion. Fans know what to do – wear red. Color campaigns are sustainable year over year and can be changed slightly while reinforcing messages. Their marketing efforts have resulted in a increased market share and a better customer experience for fans.
Note: If you are an AMA Houston Member, you can go to our LinkedIn group and download the full presentation presented at the lunch!
Events / by
Robin Tooms
This week at the February luncheon, we announced the following honors for our wonderful volunteers
- Board Members of the Month:
Becca Castillo, VISION Production Group: As the VP of SIGs, Becca’s is keeping our event calendar going and is always on top of the SIGs – she’s even recruited quite a few new chairs for the upcoming board year
MaryJane Mudd, Full Tilt Communications: As President-Elect, MaryJane has also been working hard to shape our new board for the new year. She’s also a big part of the positive attitude you see on all of the AMA Houston volunteer faces.
- Volunteer of the Month: Allyson Bandy, Halliburton, for being the real hands-on talent “behind the scenes” on all of our AMA Houston monthly press releases. It’s because of Allyson that this important piece of communications stays on schedule too.
Thanks to all of our volunteers for their help!
Board Leadership, Volunteers / by
Robin Tooms
Freeman+Leonard is one of AMA Houston’s newest Corporate Sponsors. Because of their support, we’ve been able to continue our popular luncheon series of high-profile speakers and topics, and most recently, a Mobile Marketing event hosted by our Interactive Marketing SIG.
We wanted to take a few minutes and get to know them a little better…
If you had to describe your company in three words, what would those be?
On-demand marketing talent.
What makes your company different?
Our management team has run major account teams at big agencies so we have first-hand experience in assembling and managing talent teams to meet clients marketing solutions.
What’s one marketing tip you’d like to share with us?
Sharpen your digital media and marketing knowledge and skills. Traditional media, even in the business to business environment, is losing power and the world is becoming increasingly more digital, social and mobile. Marketers who can’t keep up and bring thought leadership will find their value in the organization increasingly diminished.
Tell us a little about Freeman+Leonard:
Freeman+Leonard has been in business for over 15 years, doing business under the ArtSquad name. Our core business has always been providing area company’s and agencies with primarily creative talent on demand. Last year, after researching the needs of corporate clients and seeing the dramatic changes taking place in both mass and digital media and the challenges clients and agencies were having keeping up with the pace of change, we decided to rebrand as Freeman+Leonard, expanding our on demand talent solutions beyond the creative area to encompass senior level marketing and communications talent as well.
Freeman+Leonard now offers a complete suite of on demand, top-level marketing, communications and creative talent…everything from strategy and planning through the executional functions like copywriting, art direction and design and project management. Our footprint in Houston, Dallas and Austin and beyond have allowed us to build a pool of thousands of registered associates that have worked for literally every company in the U.S., for every major agency in every area of marketing, communication and creative. We very literally have the resources to do it all for a client or agency.
We’re responding to clients asking for complete team solutions, such as outsourcing entire departments or functions like marketing process and systems assessment and implementation, external communications plan development and execution, advertising, experiential, digital content and social media planning and management…even the outsourcing an entire marketing department.
Our approach provides clients with the personnel bandwidth to get marketing, communications and creative work done without adding headcount, staying under their cost containment targets.
How can our members can connect with you:
scone@freemandleonard.com or our web site www.freemanleonard.com. People can also reach us via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
How long have you been an AMA Houston member?
One year
Why do you feel it’s important to be a sponsor for AMA Houston?
We know that corporate decision makers attend AMA events and although we have a concerted outbound marketing effort, we know the importance of building a brand and keeping top-of-mind awareness so that clients of think of us first when they have a need.
Thanks Freeman+Leonard for your support. We’ll see you at the February luncheon featuring the Houston Rockets.
Sponsors / by
Robin Tooms
Take a look at your current issue of Marketing News (dated January 20, 2010) – a few of our AMA Houston Board Members are shown on the back page. This was taken at last year’s AMA Leadership Summit – an annual event where AMA leaders from all over the U.S. get together to share ideas that we can take back to our respective chapters.
Show in the photo are:
We’re smiling because despite there being actual work involved at the Summit, there’s lots of fun too.
And as further proof that your AMA Houston Board Members are hard at work, here we are again a couple of weeks ago at the AMA Regional Retreat hosted by the San Antonio chapter.
About 50 Board Members from the Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth and Kansas City Chapters convened for great discussions on how we can continue to build a better AMA member experience.
I can honesty say that all of the “behind the scenes” sharing with other AMA chapters helps me tremendously and makes being a Board Member really enjoyable. Not only do I get a lot of ideas that help me for my specific Board role, I also meet a lot of great marketers in other cities this way (and they’ve all been very nice).
Board Leadership / by
Robin Tooms
