Blog

Brand Values Drive Consumer Connections – Event Recap with Boxed Water is Better

January 23rd, 2019

by AMAWM

Written by Emily Potts The team at AMA West Michigan was thrilled to welcome Rob Koenen, Chief Marketing Officer at Boxed Water, to be the presenter at the January 8th luncheon. Boxed Water, which was founded ten years ago in Michigan, is the first brand to offer a sustainable alternative to plastic bottles. They have been very successful in creating a deeper connection with their customers, becoming a conduit between consumers and their growing desire to help the planet. This relationship has elevated Boxed Water to much more than just a water brand. Rob, who was there to discuss cause marketing, started out his presentation by saying that there is, in fact, no such thing as cause marketing. His opening statement garnered a... Read More

The Role of Typography in Marketing with Terrance Weinzierl

April 4th, 2017

by Dan Gibson

At our most recent luncheon event we were lucky to have Terrance Weinzierl join us to explain the vital role typography plays in marketing. Below are just a few of the top take aways from his insightful talk: Type is everywhere. Every sign, billboard, shirt label, smartphone app, website, restaurant menu. Any one room/location can easily have hundreds of types. Every individual letter was created by someone. There isn’t some magical program that generates the rest of the alphabet, numbers, and symbols after you create the first one or two. Fonts (especially for Terrance) are created using a combination of pen and paper, and electronic tools. Typically starts on paper or bar napkins. Then moves to the computer to elaborate on. Type is... Read More

Luncheon Recap: Why the Mobile User Experience Matters

March 2nd, 2017

by Dan Gibson

At our most recent luncheon event, we welcomed Katie VanderPloeg of Kmotion Design Inc. who educated attendees on why the mobile user experience matters. It’s no secret that mobile devices are vital to an effective marketing strategy and considering the user experience is what could make or break a campaign, or even your company. Katie left the audience with strong data to support why the experience matters and how people across the globe are using mobile phones. She also explained how the idea of utilizing “micro moments” to capture customers has become a key strategy, and why your user experience should make it easy for users to find what they’re looking for at any given time. Katie was generous enough to share her... Read More

Luncheon Recap – Change & Opportunity in Modern Media with Emily Richett-Hughes

January 16th, 2017

by Dan Gibson

This past Tuesday Emily Richett-Hughes helped us discover how modern media continues to progress and how the changes are opening up exciting opportunities. If you’re feeling disappointed that you happened to miss out on our latest luncheon event, as always, we’ve got your back. Check out top take aways heard straight from attendees and connect with us to keep the conversation going. We’re experiencing a complete shift in the PR industry as social media allows everyone to be a “journalist” You don’t need to be an expert to have your voice heard, Simply contributing to the conversation is extremely powerful. Spend some extra time to know your story and come up with creative ways to share that with your audience. It’s easy to... Read More

Top 10 Takeaway’s – Snapchat for Marketing Professionals Luncheon

September 20th, 2016

by Dan Gibson

Last week we kicked off our new season of luncheon events at our new amazing location! Marketers from all over West Michigan attended the “Snapchat for Marketing Professionals” event at the GRAM. Our friend Austin Pierce and his talented team from RCP Marketing, presented on how Snapchat can be utilized in our marketing strategy. We learned together, ate together, and left feeling excited about the possibilities of using Snapchat when we got back to our desks! We polled the audience to learn what they found most interesting or valuable about the talk or event as a whole. We’re super nice people and thought it would be cool to share those insights with all of our marketing peers, in case some of you missed... Read More

How the Digital Age has Changed the HR Marketing & PR Game

May 19th, 2016

by Hannah Morgan

The definition behind recruitment is to enlist people to join your organization or business. Many years ago, recruiters did this by picking up a physical phone book and calling candidates by going down the list of names. Today, the resources to aid us in recruiting are unlimited. The digital age has transformed the world of recruiting. We have LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Job boards, and the list goes on… However, in West Michigan we have a very unique community where perhaps solely utilizing technology isn’t the answer. Earlier this week I attended a luncheon event co-sponsored by the AMA West Michigan Chapter and the PRSA West Michigan Chapter, where a panel of local marketing professionals came together to share with us some of... Read More

5 Key Elements to Effective Integrated Marketing

April 19th, 2016

by Dan Gibson

Kimberly Elmore, Marketing Manager and Creative Consultant for Gilson Graphics shared what effective integrated marketing means to her and how she keeps things highly creative and engaging. She explained how her unique skillset and background has allowed her to be both left and right brained in order to dwell in the grey area between logic and creativity. She believes that tension drives her to produce artistic marketing materials that make an impact. She showed examples of past work and explained the process of creating those pieces while also describing how effective they ended up being. She outlined 5 key elements that go into all campaigns, both for Gilson and their customers. These elements act as a guide when developing integrated marketing pieces so... Read More

Winning Big with Digital Advertising Recap

March 14th, 2016

by Carrie Brown

On Tuesday, March 8, AMA of West Michigan welcomed Jason Dodge, founder of BlackTruck Media + Marketing, who presented on Winning Big with Digital Advertising. In a cause-effect kind of way, as our digital world expands, so do our digital advertising opportunities. Let’s break it down. Digital has reach. Our days are filled with all things digital – devices, phones, tablets and so much data. Last year of the $600 billion spent on advertising, $65 billion was spent on digital ads. A number expected to grow. There’s been a huge shift in how we access data; 40% of the world population has the Internet. And more people are now connected to the Internet than subscribe to cable TV. We’re wired, connected and feverishly... Read More

Bold Moves with boldSOCKS

January 20th, 2016

by Dan Gibson

Desire transcends the idea of growing your business; desire is setting out to change the world or disrupt the current state of an industry. That is just one of the main themes that resonated with those in attendance for our January luncheon event, which featured boldSOCKS Co-Owner and Creative Director, Ryan Roff. Ryan took us through the process of how to tell your brand story using a well-known story arch. He used the boldSOCKS story as an example and took the audience on the boldSOCKS journey from initial concept to the current state, and even provided a sneak peak into the future for the creative and energetic brand. He outlined 5 story elements that will help with identifying the key moments of your... Read More

4 Ways to Shake up Your Marketing

December 11th, 2015

by Carrie Brown

Creative Advice from Mig Reyes of Basecamp This week, the AMAWM welcomed Mig Reyes to Grand Rapids. In case you missed it, we’ll fill you in. Mig heads up marketing and design at Basecamp, which is the world’s best way to keep teams on the same page. He also presented Upside Down and Inside Out at MozCon earlier this year, which is one of the most respected inbound marketing conferences on the planet. He shared insights on how to shake up our approach to marketing by exploring, experimenting, and being creative. In his eyes, giving ourselves limitations can extend to our professional lives, and we have the tendency to pigeonhole ourselves. Simply by introducing ourselves and saying “Hi, I’m so-and-so, I’m a designer.” Mig says... Read More