December 2009

I hope you didn’t miss this month’s MarketingMasters Luncheon Seminar, which featured a great presentation by Eileen Zicchino, the CMO of J.P. Morgan Treasury Services, at The Standard Club. Those of us who were there picked up a lot of tips, insights and ideas on how to sell marketing inside your organization and how to make sure the senior leadership team and all your stakeholders are up to speed on the value that marketing delivers. Here are a few comments from some of those who attended:

 

Schuyler Opila, Walker Sands Communications: “It was a great presentation... For young folks like me that are just starting their careers out and just getting into marketing, it’s great to understand what a senior person really says about the organization and what to do. Events like this and other BMA events are fantastic.”

 

Judy Fitzgerald, Our Big Splash: “I think that was one of the most engaging, charismatic, energetic presentations I’ve seen all year. She took us through, step by step, from what everybody already knows, which is that we’re totally underrated as marketers, and then walks through the tools that we can actually [use to] improve our own PR.”

 

Beth Marshall: “Getting your message out to your internal audience is every bit as important as what you do to market to your clients, to help people understand what you do and the value that you bring to your organization.”

 

Anne Marie Kovacs, Bite Strategic Marketing: “Her speech today made me want to sign up with BMA.”

 

As you can see, people learned a lot at our December luncheon. Our next luncheon seminar on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010, will feature John Maples, vice president of sales for PepsiCo’s Quaker Food and Snacks unit. I know what you’re thinking: Why do we have someone from a consumer packaged goods company coming to speak to the BMA? The reason is there’s a B-to-B side to PepsiCo, and Maples is going to tell us that story, so sign up today at our Web site. 

 

Have you Twittered with BMA lately? Please make sure you follow us at @BMAChicago. And if you’d like to tweet, be sure to put #bmachicago into your tweets. There’s been a whole lot of tweeting going on during our events, especially our luncheons, so even if you can’t make it to an event, you can follow it on Twitter and see what some of your colleagues who are there are have to say.

 

Also, if you’re registered with LinkedIn, be sure to join our BMA Group. It’s a very active community and growing by the day. And there are some very active discussion groups going with topics that are relevant for all of us as marketers.

 

I want to remind you that the National BMA is again holding its annual conference here in Chicago from June 2 to 4, 2010, this time at the Swissotel. The 2010 conference’s theme is “Engage” and I happen to know that there will be some really big names on the agenda. So even though June may sound like a long way off, it’s not too early pencil those dates into your calendar.

 

And if you join, renew your membership or refer someone to BMA by the end of December 2009, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a $795 registration to the June conference. The second prize is a couple of seats at BMA’s February luncheon featuring Kathy Button Bell, CMO for Emerson. Also, if you’re interested in a sponsorship or to become more involved in managing, conducting the event itself, please definitely reach out to Marla Schrager, who is our executive director.

 

And lastly I just would like to thank everyone that was involved in putting on the Acronym Holiday Bash. I hope everyone out there had a chance to go to Harry Caray’s and have some fun with all the other marketing organizations in the city. I just want to thank a coupld of people specifically. George Buckley from the CADM managed this event as well as our very own, BMA’s Mike Burke, and all of the volunteers that helped put that together. And of course it wouldn’t have been possible without our sponsors as well for that event: Alpha Zeta, Continental, Ltd., Pronto Connections, Rise Interactive and Allant. Thank you very much.

 
And if you are not a BMA member, I encourage you to join today. Go here to see all the benefits that come with membership for only $270 a year.  Be a part of BMA's single largest chapter, serving nearly 450 business marketing professionals through professional development, networking events and programs. 

 

You can also stay updated on the latest news about all BMA Chicago activities and events by subscribing to our BMAIL electronic newsletter. You can join, register for BMA programs and subscribe to the BMAIL through the BMA Web site. 

Once again, I wish you a warm holiday season and happy new year. 

Best regards, 

 

 

Suzanne Martin, President, BMA/Chicago