Blog o' RAMA

Congrats to the MOY Award Winners!

Download RAMAPresentation-Marvel-PeterCuneo.pdf (558.0K)

Keynote speaker Peter Cuneo from Marvel promised his powerpoint presentation from his keynote at our MOY event this week - since there was little time for him to actually present it: see above.

I know all who attended will rave for weeks to come on what he did talk about: Ironman production (complete with the Ironman fantastic trailer!) and The Incredible Hulk, my personal favorite, with amazing trailor video, and how the brand image of Marvel's characters is handled (hint: as if they are human), and how they are each separate unto themselves, but all part of the bigger whole.

His experience turning Marvel around, creating a brand power-hourse from the ashes of a group of burning comic book heroes, is just one of many he could have told us. He's the turnaround King and we all hope he'll come back to do the real presentation - the "here's how I did it" presentation, someday. More on Peter another time...stories of movie production and Robert Downey Jr. and Gwenth Paltrow.

But, let's move on to the MOY Award Winners for 2008 who were presented with their awards at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center on May 7th - with our sincere appreciation to ALL who entered. Every entry deserves congratulations for a job well done. Rochester's rich talent for all forms of marketing was evident in each and every entry. And the winners are...

Marketer of the Year at RAMA 2008

The Rochester Business Journal salutes our local marketing heroes with the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association's Marketer of the Year award.

REGISTER HERE TODAY! Registration will be open until end of day May 2nd.

Lastest update: RAMA wishes to thank Unisys for being our VIP Reception Sponsor.

Event DATE: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Awards luncheon: noon to 1 p.m.
Rochester Riverside Convention Center

Featuring Peter Cuneo, former CEO and current Vice Chairman of Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

In his keynote address, “Marvel – Evolution of a Super Brand,” you will hear Cuneo talk about the resurrection of the Marvel brand from the company's near-death experience in 1999 to how it became the brand powerhouse we know and love today.  Learn how the strategic marketing of characters as celebrity brands helped lead the way for Marvel's success with super heroes like Spider Man, X-Men, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk.

Peter’s appearance is graciously sponsored by Alfred University .

The luncheon will recognize the outstanding work of the 2008 Marketer of the Year finalists:

• Ad Council of Rochester
• Admar Supply Co.
• American Diabetes Association
• The Bonadio Group
• Carestream Health Inc.
• Community Place of Greater Rochester
• Element K
• Excellus BlueCross BlueShield
• George Eastman House
• Mary Gooley Hemophilia Center
• Nazareth College Arts Center
• Next Step Publishing
• Nukote International
• Rochester Museum and Science Center
• Tavern on the Green/TavernDirect.com
• Transcat Inc.
• United Way of Greater Rochester

Our Presenting sponsor is the Simon Graduate School of Business

Supporting sponsors: Bob Wright Creative and John Smillie Photography

Tickets are $45 each/$35 AMA members/$400 table of ten
For reservations, visit THIS LINK.

The Rochester Business Journal salutes our local marketing heroes with the Rochester Chapter of the American Marketing Association's Marketer of the Year award.

REGISTER HERE TODAY! Registration will be open until end of day May 2nd.

Lastest update: RAMA wishes to thank Unisys for being our VIP Reception Sponsor.

Event DATE: Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Awards luncheon: noon to 1 p.m.
Rochester Riverside Convention Center

Featuring Peter Cuneo, former CEO and current Vice Chairman of Marvel Entertainment, Inc.

In his keynote address, “Marvel – Evolution of a Super Brand,” you will hear Cuneo talk about the resurrection of the Marvel brand from the company's near-death experience in 1999 to how it became the brand powerhouse we know and love today.  Learn how the strategic marketing of characters as celebrity brands helped lead the way for Marvel's success with super heroes like Spider Man, X-Men, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk.

Peter’s appearance is graciously sponsored by Alfred University .

The luncheon will recognize the outstanding work of the 2008 Marketer of the Year finalists:

Ad Council of Rochester

Admar Supply Co.

American Diabetes Association

The Bonadio Group

Carestream Health Inc.

Fun in the Workplace: A Spring Event with Fun is Good Guy: Michael Veeck

ALL YOU SIX SIGMA FANATICS CAN JUST STAY HOME ON APRIL 4TH!

RAMA Super Hero Michael Veeck is going to show Rochester how to deal with a serious topic: FUN! Fun should be part of your workplace and your life (every bit of your life). So says Michael Veeck, authors of Fun is Good: How To Create Joy And Passion In Your Workplace And Career.

Veeck is also the owner of several minor league baseball teams (how fun is that?) that he's made successful through his unique approach to this topic. Come join us on April 4th at the Monroe Golf Club for a luncheon that will include good ball park food - a preview to opening day! Visit the Events page for more details and the registration link.

Don't miss this exciting, fun, cheer-out-loud event with a guy who does fun for a living. Price includes his excellent book.

Special Thanks to St. John Fisher College for its sponsorship of this event.

Stay after lunch for a book signing. Take some fun back to the office.

Marketing 2.0 - The New Kodak Way: March 18th

Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Business Development Officer and VP, Eastman Kodak Company will talk to us about how Kodak is using YouTube, NBC's Celebrity Apprentice TV show and other unique marketing tools to enhance the Kodak brand.

When: March 18, 2008
Where: Mario's Italian Steakhouse; 2740 Monroe Ave. 14618; 585-271-1111
Time: 7:30 am - 9:30 am
Cost: $20 for members $35 for non-members

Special Thanks to our event sponsor,
Partners and Napier.

Come and hear firsthand from Jeff and his team about the new mindset behind these ideas, how they're working, and what the implications are for marketers of all sizes.

In anticipation, we invite you to visit these links:

The Celebrity Apprentice Video Episodes

The Kodak 1000 Words blog

Register here...now..today!

Reality Check on the Future of Media

Join RAMA and Speaker Ed Moran, Director of Product Innovation; Technology, Media and Telecommunications, Deloitte, for another exciting RAMA event on March 5th, 2008.

Deloitte's insightful brief titled, "State of the Media Democracy Survey - Rethink What You Know" offers a reality check on the future of media.

As an intro: "To continue to shed light on how different generations are "consuming" media -- and what their future media preferences are likely to be -- Deloitte & Touche USA LLP's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) practice has commissioned a second edition of its State of the Media Democracy survey.

The survey results provide keen insights into the different generations and their media consumptions habits."

Visit our Events Page for more details and registration.

64% of Super Bowl Ads Promoted Their Websites

What a football game! While it was not a high scoring game, Super Bowl XLLI was close throughout all four quarters and turned out a truly unbelievable ending. Sorry Patriots fans, but the Giants winning the Super Bowl and beating what was the undefeated Patriots is one of the best thing to happen in this country in awhile.

Anyhow, from my initial opinion and comments that I've read, the NFL did a much better job than the advertisers. Yes there were a few good ads but also some pretty lame ones. There will be many different personal opinions regarding who liked what, and there should be since we're talking about an audience of over 90 million people. But all in all not many that will be remembered by next year's Super Bowl.

For the past two weeks I’ve been writing about the Super Bowl and all the ads and promotions associated with the big event on my blog, Donna’s Promo Talk. In my last post before the game I wrote about how the ads were integrating offline with online promotions. I drew from MediaPost's Joshua Stylman who pointed out that nearly one in five ads in last year's Super Bowl failed to include a URL and 90% of them lacked any call-to-action! So, my prediction for this year was that we'd see URL's in close to 90%, if not all of them, and that half would have some type of call to action.

To read the rest of this article and see how it netted out please visit my blog here. Then come back here and tell us your thoughts.

SAVE THE DATE: February 13th!!!

Join us at the Bagel Bin for another New Member Breakfast event.

Meet the Board UP CLOSE and PERSONAL! Learn about member benefits and exciting volunteer opportunities.

February 13th from 7:30 - 9:00. More details on the events page.

5 Truths about branding: Luncheon Notes

Top Five Truths about Branding: Notes from the RAMA luncheon on January 22nd. As promised.

From Patrick Crane, Director of Brand Development, Eastman Kodak Company

1. You need great enthusiasm for branding, someone to champion the effort
2. It is useful to look back over the history of a brand to find clues to what has been successful.
3. You need a strong foundation in research, talk to the customer at all times.

Susan Kochan, CEO, Brand Cool Marketing

1. Test your assumptions, validate what you know by testing them outside of your organization.
2. You have to do it. You need an emotional connection with your audience.
3. Hook up your brand to the world around you. Look at what is happening and make your brand relevant to what is going on outside.
4. Decision makers are also consumers, make sure you look at all of your audiences.
5. Pay attention to brand equity and brand architecture.
6. Get everyone on board.

Pamela Black Colton, Executive Director for Admissions and Marketing, Warner Graduate School of Education, University of Rochester

1. Branding does work, so be careful in testing it.
2. Think about it clearly, research is critical, even if you don’t have a lot of money to do it, find a way.
3. Critical to get buy in from all of your stakeholders in order to succeed.
4. Get feedback, test, test, test.

One thing these Branders would do differently:

Patrick Crane: Find the right way to summarize the brand, have targets.

Susan Kochan: Make sure the image you project matches your brand. For example, if the logo that is being used is in direct competition with what the brand is, change it!

Pamela Black Colton: Spend money and time upfront on research so you are sure of the brand equity and the effect of change.

Resources for Branding on a Budget:

• American Marketing Association
• Marketing Sherpa
• Marketing Profs

February 8th - RAMA Presents A Market Research Boot Camp

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO INADEQUATE RESPONSE. WE INVITE YOU TO CHECK BACK FOR OTHER EXCITING AND EDUCATIONAL RAMA EVENTS IN THE PLANNING!

• Marketing researchers new to the field
• Seasoned marketers who need an update or an introduction to research
• Marketing practitioners who interface with research suppliers

Join Sanjob Misra and JJ Brakus of the Simon Graduate School of Business as they discuss:

• How to make your research work harder
• Ways to choose between qualitative and quantitative studies
• Statistics for non-statisticians, and many other important topics.

Time and Location:
February 8, 2008
8:00- 4:30
Simon Graduate School of Business
407 Schelegel Hall

New AMA Marketing Definition Reflects Individual Control

Hi, this is Bill Ward, Collegiate Relations Chair for the RAMA Board. I was pleased to see that the AMA announced an updated marketing definition. The AMA reviews the definition every few years and makes changes if necessary to reflect the dynamic and rapidly changing nature of marketing. I believe the new version more accurately reflects the interaction and control of the marketing process at the individual level (not just organizational) with the growing influence of online social media and consumer created content on society at large.

The new definition and the previous version are announced in Marketing Daily so you can judge for yourself.

The new definition reads: "Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

The previous definition stated: "Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."