As this is my first blog post as new President of the Advertising Club of Buffalo, I thought I would introduce myself and provide some insight into the club’s plans for 2014-15. I want to start with saying how honored and excited I am to have this opportunity to lead the club. We are coming off of another successful year in 2013-14, membership continues to be strong and the club is financially stable.
My Background
As a SUNY Geneseo graduate, I stayed in Buffalo after college to pursue my career in marketing. Ten years later, I am fortunate to still be here as this city has great new energy and positive attitude that we haven’t seen in a long time. My experience is on both the agency side, as an Account Executive, and currently on the corporate side focusing in the digital area. This has given me a great perspective on how the club can serve both agencies and non-agency professionals in the local advertising industry.
I joined the board back in 2011 and during the first three years, I served in the Treasurer position. As I have met so many great, hardworking people, it was an easy decision to move into this new role.
This Year
We have another strong group of board members this year who are already focused on achieving our goals for the year. We look to continue our strong membership and add new members (reminder – accepting new memberships and renewals right now!). We aim to increase our work with students by visiting classrooms and getting them more engaged in events, especially ADDY submissions. Also, we want to focus more on networking at our events, encouraging everyone to meet the board, meet new people as this is one of the great benefits of being part of the club.
The year got off to a great start already with another successful Big Tip Off event in August to raise money for our annual scholarships. I am always amazed at the commitment our local agencies make to the club. Without their support, we wouldn’t be as successful as we have been.
Our AdLab series returns this Tuesday with a panel that represents all the major sports programs in the area to discuss a topic that can benefit everyone in the industry, brand management and PR in the social media age.
October brings us Ad Week, from October 21 to 23, we have three events planned, starting with an AdLab topic that focuses on something most will enjoy, beer! We will also be screening the film SignPainters on October 22. The week concludes with a guest speaker, Jesse Reed from Pentagram on October 23. Stay tuned to our web site and social media for full details very soon.
And believe it or not, ADDYs planning is already underway. The club is excited to have the Martin Group leading the creative design for this year’s show.
We love to hear feedback from members, even if you aren’t on the board, you can contribute to committees and planning events. If you have ideas, questions or want to chat, I can easily be reached through email on Twitter at @sbartels47 or on LinkedIn.
I look forward to continuing to meet new people at our events and thank our members for their continued support of the Advertising Club.
~Scott Bartels, President
P.S. Check back regularly as we’ll soon unveil our newly designed, easier to use website!