NOVEMBER PRESIDENT’S BLOG
If you’ve been anywhere near a store in the past couple of weeks, you’ve noticed that holiday decorations and displays have begun. Tis early, but tis the season. What this time of year means for me, is time to connect with others whether they be family, colleagues, friends and of course, AMA Toronto members. Holidays aren’t the only thing ramping up this month. AMA Toronto is busy hosting events, panels, and regular and new programming. We’re creating fresh resources that will inform members and sharing more Leadership conversations to empower your leadership potential – including some amazing and tenacious entrepreneurs who are building successful businesses and marketing strategies that will inspire.
Awards & Accolades
Illuminating the Luminaries
Continuing with my Leadership Conversations, this month I sat down with the inspiring Founder of Love Good Fats, Suzie Yorke. Suzie is an innovator and entrepreneur who’s had outstanding velocity scaling her business – recently, Love Good Fats ranked as #1 in the 2021 Report on Business for Canada’s Top Growing Companies with astounding success and almost 20% growth in just 3 years. And most recently, one of the 5 winners in Canada to win AC Nielsen’s BASES 2021 North America Top Breakthrough Innovation Awards. It was amazing to spend time with Suzie as she shared her career journey as a Marketing leader in CPG to becoming Founder at age 50 for a purpose-driven brand and how she is giving back by sharing her experience and learnings with others.
Next in my series of Leadership Conversation is the renowned thought leader, entrepreneur and marketing guru – Tony Chapman. A 2008 inductee into AMA Toronto’s Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends and the current host of the popular Chatter that Matters podcast, Tony shares his leadership journey and his sage advice as we flip seats putting Tony in the interviewee seat, to shine a light on his unique leadership journey and the insights he shares including his mantra to “be a Yoda” and to give back through mentorship. Stay tuned for more.
Upcoming Events
AMA Toronto continues to share insights from leaders not just locally but from the global marketing world as well. We are excited for our upcoming 6th Annual Agency Panel event next month which will feature panelists that include Carina De Blois – President of Ogilvy New York. Register here and save the Dec 9th date to join us.
This month, nominations for the 2022 Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends open up. Since 2015 there have been almost 100 luminaries inducted as marketing legends and we encourage you to nominate someone in your network to be recognized in 2022.
Learning from Brand Yodas & Reinventionists
David Kincaid, is not only one of Canada’s Marketing Hall of Legends and Founder of Level5 Strategy, but who I think of as a true ‘brand yoda’. I’ve had the honour to learn so much from David as he co-chairs the AMA Toronto Advisory Council and the AMA Mentor Exchange program. My favourite drop of wisdom from David is a quote he is famous for which is “Brands are the most important asset, and also the most misunderstood and under-leveraged assets on companies’ balance sheets.” – 100% true. He’s written three amazing books – The Brand-Driven CEO, The Value of a Promise Consistently Kept, and Brand Forward Brand Back. I highly recommend them all, and have delved right into his latest book The Brand-Driven CEO continuing to be amazed at how much I learn page after page. I highly recommend reading it; you can see for yourself here.
Speaking of brands, Joe Jackman, a 2020 Marketing Hall of Legend Inductee, has continued to inspire through what he has coined the “Reinventionist mindset”. Renowned for his work successfully reinventing major brands like Walgreens, Old Navy, David’s Bridal, and most recently Staples, Joe has pushed several brands into hyper success through the process of reinvention. His book “The Reinventionist Mindset” is a stellar read, and his podcast is equally as stellar, and remains on my current playlist. With new episodes that have just launched, Joe interviews different guests to discuss their involvement, engagement and creation of change to challenge the status quo in the “pursuit of meaningful change.”
With amazing podcast guests such as Joe Mimran, Rebecca Minkoff, Fabien Cousteau and a host of others, listeners can delve deep into the reinventionist mindset and hear his guests talk about what makes them disruptors and visionaries that will inspire you episode after episode. Highly recommended adding this one to your podcast rotation! The Legends are among us – tune in here.
As always, I appreciate your support of AMA Toronto and your commitment to continuing to learn and grow with us. I am grateful for the opportunity to connect with you and am here to answer questions, listen to your ideas and learn from all of you.
Cheers,
Tina
