Charlie to Charlie continued…
By Charlie Fashana ACB Club President
Let me preface this by saying I’m honored to have been chosen to lead the Ad Club for the next two years. My interaction with the people involved – from club and committee members to local businesses and vendors – has been nothing short of fantastic. And what’s more, the collective talent and passion of the Ad Club board is just phenomenal, and I already know great things will continue to happen. Special thanks to Charlie Riley for his vote of confidence, and great leadership as Club President.
So a little about me.
I’m a Buffalo guy, born, raised, and schooled in this great city. I’m an alum of both UB and Canisius. I’ve traveled enough to know how other cities and even some countries operate, but always find more reasons why it’s better here in Buffalo than anywhere else. I put my passion for Buffalo above all, but coming in at a very close second is my love for marketing & advertising. My career has taken me across a number of different business disciplines, but I’ve found my place in the marketing profession. Thankfully, my current role in Marketing at First Niagara and being active in the Ad Club allow me to indulge in the work I enjoy and support the city I love, every day.
Thoughts on the Ad Club.
As with the city and region in general, there is an exciting buzz around the Ad Club and it’s clear to see there’s energy and enthusiasm heading into this membership year. For that reason, we’ve decided to add three more board positions to help us capitalize on the momentum. We’ll look to maintain a full load of programming, while making adjustments to improve the offerings and the experience for everyone involved. With so much positivity, there isn’t a great need to make drastic changes to the club, but there are some keys I think will help us to grow as a professional organization:
Increase membership and engagement, most notably from the student population. Believe it or not, there are folks out there that don’t know about the club and everything they can get out of being a member. Moreover, students, arguably those who need our guidance the most, are in short supply. We need to increase our touch points and be exceptionally visible in order to cater to the wide range of talent in the Buffalo region, and keep that talent here.
We need to give back. We have access to the best people in their respective fields. It’s our responsibility to leverage the knowledge and insights we have at our fingertips to ensure we are helping our members. Moreover, there is so much noteworthy work being done in the area, by businesses and those of us helping to promote those businesses, I’m hopeful we can use our reach and connectivity to regularly highlight and recognize the hard work being done. That goes beyond the ADDYs.
Listen and fine-tune. We’ll continue to be successful if we continue to serve the needs of those who attend our events and support our cause. I’m hopeful that the relationship the club has with its members will always be two-way. Please share your thoughts and feedback, and challenge us to continually get better!
Our board has many more strategic goals, and we’re already moving on making these things happen. Following our two day board retreat in August, we expanded our mission statement to better reflect our dedicated purpose. You’ll hopefully begin to see us highlighting our local companies, agencies, and colleagues more frequently so please look for our emails, posts, and blogs, and definitely engage with us on them. And we’re also actively reviewing feedback and brainstorming ideas to ensure the club is accommodating to the large companies and agencies as well as to the freelancer and “marketing departments of one.”
I hope you’ll find us to be open to all ideas, and a leader in the professional community here in Buffalo. Feel free to send me an email (charles.fashana@fnfg.com), find me on LinkedIn, maybe follow @CharlieFlash23 on twitter (although this may not add a ton of value for you), or just say hi at one of our upcoming events. Looking forward to a great few years!
Go Bills.
