Hello everyone! As this semester comes to an end we want to reflect on this past exciting, successful semester in AMA! We are so excited to share what AMA has accomplished in these past few months! For those of you who were unable to attend every meeting, here is a quick summary of our fantastic semester!
We were so excited to kick off the school year with our first meeting! To kick off the new semester we educated our new members on how to make the most of their AMA student membership. Through the workshop from our Director of Collegiate Communities, Luis Sierra presented a workshop called Elevate your AMA Membership.
Luis split our chapter into six teams to play Lost at Sea, the game where you imagine your team is in the middle of the ocean and your boat is sinking. Out of the list of 15 items, you must choose individually, as a group, and then with the whole class what are the most essential items needed? Would you rather have a shaving mirror or a map of the Atlantic? Would you rather have chocolate or a rope? After collaborating with your group and the class, Luis revealed the correct rankings as decided by the US Coast Guard. This interactive activity helped AMA strengthen its teamwork and cooperation skills with the combined efforts from everyone’s lists!
On October 18th, AMA was so happy to be joined by Dennis Mathews, Dana D’Aquila, Aaron Neuman, and Jackson Tolke from the Central Atlantic Regional Toyota Office! In this fun informative workshop, our members were able to get an inside look at some real-life scenarios our Toyota employees encounter during their day-to-day jobs.
Our members were split into four groups to practice having difficult business conversations as Toyota representatives while our guests played the manager role. Each group was given a unique scenario. One of our groups engaged in a purchase scenario, where the parts manager who worked for the dealer purchased aftermarket A/C compressors from a local supplier because they are cheaper and easier to use. They received a 5% kickback on each part so they were happy to continue purchasing aftermarket A/C instead of Toyota's. On the contrary, the district manager on the Toyota side wanted the dealers to purchase Toyota’s A/C compressors. Their A/C compressors generated a 10% higher gross profit for the dealership compared to the aftermarket part.
These conversations can be difficult to have since each party has different opinions and motivations. However, these conversations, even if tough, challenged our AMA members to use and strengthen their marketing, negotiation, and problem-solving skills to act as though they were salesmen for company Toyota.
AMA was so happy to be joined by our very own UMD Professor, Hank Boyd on October 25,! Professor Boyd went in depth with his life story and encouraged us to take action when we are passionate about a situation or topic. Professor Boyd started his presentation by going in-depth about his college experience. He explained how he explored all sorts of career paths including chemistry, law, marketing, and others.
After exploring his options Professor Boyd finally got a job at our very own Robert H. Smith School at the University of Maryland in 2005. Professor Boyd continued his presentation by telling us about the only one in his world, his daughter Gigi. She would always meet her friend to walk home after school, but on November 3rd, 2021, she had a doctor’s appointment and therefore would not be meeting her friend. She went to leave a note in her friend’s locker to inform her of this when she was met with a shocking situation. As a young middle schooler, she came across the N-word being written as hate speech across her locker. Gigi was in tears, heartbroken and devastated by what she found. And what did the school do? Practically nothing.
When faced with racial hate in his town, Professor Boyd would not stand back and let this hate continue. So with all of his talkative, passionate, outgoing experience in his college years as a marketing major, lawyer, etc., Professor Boyd decided to run for Howard County Council. Professor Boyd figured that with a budget of only $5,000 compared to his competitors who had $100,000 and more, he was in trouble. Despite this, nothing could stop him. His next move was to digitally publicize his campaign by making a website, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
With the help of his family and campaign manager, Sean he was able to promote his campaign and raise money for it as well. Even though in the end he did not win compared to the heavy competition he told AMA to take a chance, you get one life and I have done so many things but this was the most fun and educational.
With the collaboration of UMD’s very own Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity and the AMA chapter at Shady Grove, we were delighted to be joined by Sean Ellenby. Sean is the manager of Marketing, Communications, and NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) at Campus Ink! Streaming from Chicago, Sean joined AMA members in an exciting Zoom meeting where he discussed NIL marketing in the world of college sports.
Sean worked as an Assistant AD for Maryland’s sports teams to help athletes daily to help them build their brand. He also wanted athletes to have a fulfilling college experience from a marketing and communications standpoint, making NIL vital.
Since moving from Maryland to Chicago, he has continued to help college athletes build their brand through the apparel company Campus Ink, which is a NIL affiliate store. He taught us with NIL, collegiate athletes can get the compensation that they deserve by using their social media advertising, due to them having developed an entire ecosystem and community of fans who support their favorite athletes!
NIL is rapidly growing and Campus Ink’s growth has caused them to hire more staff members. He encouraged our members to be on the lookout. We were so excited to have Sean Ellenby come and talk to our passionate undergraduate members of AMA and teach them about sports and marketing!
Moving forward in the semester on November 15 our AMA chapter had an interactive DEI meeting led by our very own Isabella Guggino and Brian Myers. They lead a workshop about controversial advertising campaigns over the past few years. They started their presentation by educating our members about facts about diversity and inclusion. Some key ideas that stood out were:
Corporations identified as more diverse and inclusive are 35% more likely to outperform their competitors
40% of people believe there is a double standard against women
45% of American workers experienced discrimination and/or harassment in the past year
After discussing diversity and defining the topic, our members were prepared to research five controversial campaigns in groups with guided questions to have us engage more in the topic. Our groups researched controversial campaigns including:
Bristol Gin: “Shooting and Looting”
Dove: Whitewashing Commercial
Peloton: The Gift That Gives Back
Hyundai: Suicide Attempt Commercial
Calvin Klein: Skirt Flash
By viewing these controversial advertising campaigns our AMA members were able to engage in an important discussion regarding DEI in advertising and how to hold these companies accountable for their actions. Especially in today’s progressive times, companies must be respectful and inclusive of everyone. As members of AMA, we were able to leave with the takeaway to always trust your gut, and if you see something say something!
In November our chapter held the Undergraduate Marketing Conference, our biggest event this semester! The theme this year was the media multiverse. It focused on how marketers from various industries rely on digital media to grow their businesses. We had an amazing showcase of speakers that presented this year at the event including Patrick Arthur of the Washington Commanders, Danny Hoffman and Tyler Barron from Flywheel Digital, Carmen Bodziak from Goodshuffle, and Sam Blum from Total win & More.
During these presentations, we learned important lessons on numerous topics. Some of which include an inside look at the infamous team rebrand that took place this year with the Washington Commanders. During this presentation, we learned how the role of digital media played in the process of their rebranding. Through Danny and Tyler’s presentation about Flywheel Digital, we learned how they work with their promotion to ensure their brand is reached the right people at, the right place, and at the right time through digital retail.
To wrap up this fun-filled semester, during our last meeting in AMA we got into groups of four and played fun trivia games through the website Kahoot. This entertaining and interactive game allowed our members to have one last laugh before finals week to give members a break from the stress of finals!
We have had so much fun this semester interacting with so many amazing speakers and people to help educate our members on the amazing world of marketing! We hope you all had an amazing time with us this semester and cannot wait to see what is in store for next semester. Happy holidays everyone and have a fantastic relaxing winter break. See you all in January :)
- Layla Shulman
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