Sam Olmsted
that we are going to ask. And I see you both in the doc. We could just kind of pick a few right now if that works for you all. Because we’re not going to ask all of these. We can probably only ask like five tops. So I think that the first one, are you guys in the doc?

Allison Herrera
Yeah.

Rachel Smith
Yes.

Sam Olmsted
The first one’s good, benefits of joining. Sorry, Jordan, I didn’t do this before we.

Um.

Eliza Fillo
What do you all think about number three? I think it’s a good way for y’all to kind of talk about what people can gain from it.

Rachel Smith
Yeah, that’s good.

Eliza Fillo
Hmm.

Allison Herrera
I’m gonna move something in the background really quick.

Sam Olmsted
Okay, go for it.

Rachel Smith
I’ve been having some issues too with like internet connection dropping a bit. So, um, let me know if I drop out at some point. Hopefully not, but it just happened.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, if that happens, we’ll just pause. Okay.

Sam Olmsted
Um.

Sam Olmsted
Okay.

Allison Herrera
I don’t know if…

Allison Herrera
I don’t know about the complex questions, the first one.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, I don’t want it to be a contentious. I just you know. Let’s do the second one though. I think that’s a good one.

Allison Herrera
Yeah, I like that one.

Sam Olmsted
Um…

I think the third one is good, too, for this second part. Just to talk about, I mean, all these questions are basically describe the benefits with a different way. And I know you both talk about that a lot. And if things, this is online off script. So if one question leads to another question, we may not stick exactly to these questions. And we may say, oh, that’s a good point.

Tell me about that or whatever. OK, cool. Well, this is a good framework. We may pop in other questions. And we will go ahead and get started. All right, I’ll get some water.

Sam Olmsted
Everyone give me a thumbs up when you’re ready. Thumbs up, thumbs up. OK, cool. All right, Jordan, we’re ready.

Sam Olmsted
It seems like we’re recording. OK. Cool. All right. Thanks for joining us. How are you?

Rachel Smith
I’m doing great. Thanks a lot for having us.

Allison Herrera
Yeah, thank you for inviting us.

Sam Olmsted
Cool. Well, let’s just hop into it with questions. And we’ll start with, you know, basically kind of a simple elevator pitch question. What are the benefits of joining an organization like the American Advertising Federation or the American Marketing Association? And Allison, why don’t you go first?

Allison Herrera
I think the benefits of joining an organization like this is that it’s so industry specific, right? So when you join a group like the Chamber of Commerce, which is fabulous here in our lovely city, but when you join other groups like that, or women specific businesses and things like that, you’re kind of joining what it is. So a group of women who do business, a group of…

local or New Orleans businesses who all get together. But with something that’s specific like the American Marketing Association, you know that everybody is gonna be really focused and it’s really niched on marketing. And of course marketing is such a large industry. You have digital marketing, you have your more traditional outlets, but at least you know when you join, you’re with people who are in the same industry as you and like-minded individuals.

Rachel Smith
Yeah, I think that, yeah, I was gonna say pretty much the same exact thing. You know, and even the difference between advertising and marketing is so, you know, niche, but it’s a similar situation, right, where you’re meeting up with especially people like other media buyers or other creative people. So it really kind of helps you even dig in deeper to, you know, your…

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, I think that’s a good… No, go ahead, Rachel.

Rachel Smith
respective field and learn more about the industry. We try to be really engaging with our topics that we cover with our speakers that will keep everybody up to date with what’s going on in the industry and new things that make your life a little easier maybe.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, I think that’s a good point to bring up speakers because I know that a lot of organizations that I’m in, basically the main driver of growth in those organizations is the programming itself. So who’s speaking, who you’re getting to come to your events, and those events drive membership and they drive more engagement across those different organizations. So getting good speakers is always a challenge and I’m sure that there’s always a lot of overlap.

between both of your organizations in terms of who’s speaking and what they’re speaking about. Have you all found difficulty in securing speakers and what’s that process like?

Allison Herrera
Rachel, you wanna take this one?

Rachel Smith
Yes, I go first. Actually, in the past year, that’s kind of been my role in the board on AAF is to be planning out all the programming every month. So it can be a challenge to find the speakers that are going to bring something to the table that your members want to hear about. But I think usually we try to go outside of our just immediate area.

and try to get people that are from different, you know, areas of the district, areas of the country even, and different people that maybe no one in town has worked with before. So yeah, I mean, it’s just kind of all about your connections. And it’s surprising to see, you know, the connections that you have when you’re when you’re working to get this programming together.

Allison Herrera
Yeah, I think for us and our group, I know you mentioned across the country, but we usually stick with very local speakers or very local events, things of that matter. So getting in touch with them is fairly easy because as you mentioned, Rachel, connections are everything and New Orleans is such a small, big city, a big, small city, however you want to refer to it as, but everybody knows somebody, you know, everybody knows everybody at some way, somehow.

So securing the speakers isn’t the worst part, but I remember when I was in programming, the thing that gave me anxiety was, oh my gosh, these people aren’t answering. They agreed, but now they’re not answering me back. Are they not gonna show up? Oh my gosh, all these people are gonna come. Nobody’s gonna be speaking. It’s fine, at the end of the day, they all show up. It’s fine. But I think that’s the biggest challenge is just accepting that if someone commits to something and they’re a professional, they’re gonna come.

at the end of the day, but yeah, finding speakers isn’t as challenging as after and just keeping everybody in the loop or saying, can you send your bios, your headshots? I know I was a little guilty of that for the podcast, but no, we all, we’re all human. And I think that’s the number one thing to remember.

Sam Olmsted
Hehehe

Rachel Smith
Yeah, and I also just to follow up with that, over the past year or so, we’ve had a lot of people reaching out, too. That’s really helpful. If you have someone in mind and you’re part of these organizations, it’s really helpful to get in touch with someone on these boards to be like, hey, I have an idea for someone that can come speak, or I’m part of an organization that would be great to put in front of this

membership base. So yeah, I mean, anyone listening if you have, you know, if you want to speak, if you, I guarantee that someone will say yes on these boards.

Eliza Fillo
Yeah, that’s great that you all have an attraction within the community to have people actually coming to you and wanting to speak. I’m sure that also takes a lot of stress off of your plates. Um, but I have one more question that I would like to really just get both of y’all’s perspectives on. But how can joining these groups kind of encourage people to think and work in a different way?

Rachel Smith
I could go first with that one. So I think that it really kind of encourages more conversation with people that you might have never talked to, or just maybe a different side of things that you haven’t considered before. It can be helpful securing a new job if you’re a freelancer. I feel like that’s kind of one of our focuses over the past.

couple years is like putting freelancers in touch with companies that need help with that kind of thing. Um, but yeah, I think it’s a really good, you know, way to kind of get ideas flowing in that regard. Um, but yeah, I think that, I think that’s one of the main drivers there.

Allison Herrera
Yeah, I think being with other people who are like-minded or in the same industry, even if it’s different types, like for Rachel, if you’re in a different kind of advertising realm or for us, if you’re in a different marketing realm, it doesn’t matter because everybody at least has the same core. And when you speak to people who have that same core, you’re either inspired by something, you are refueled, you have that energy back again.

You look at things from a different perspective with an open mind, because in our industry, we understand things much cleaner than someone in a different industry. So I think that that’s really important is surrounding yourself, having that tribe of like-minded business people or people who understand your industry, at least, at least understand.

Rachel Smith
Yes. And I think for, you know, just within my personal, like what I do for work, a lot of it is about what tools are you using? And it’s helpful to be in a group where someone else may be using something different or have some, you know, different perspective on like how to use this kind of tool for what you’re doing every day can make your life easier.

Allison Herrera
Oh yeah, software, vernacular. The vernacular is huge. If I’m saying something that someone doesn’t understand, um, that’s a huge thing. So yeah, that was a solid point, Rachel.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, that’s a great point, Rachel. What tools do you think that you’ve discovered through these organizations, or how has it really made you better professionally in terms of just getting better at a certain skill or leaning on someone for advice or strategic thinking or anything like that?

Rachel Smith
Yeah, I think a ton of it comes down to, for example, I mean, media buying is where most of my experience is in. So it’s really helpful to meet up with these more experienced media buyers that have been in this market forever, talking about their vendors that they use, their favorite digital vendors. I think one of the…

real examples that I’ve come across is kind of like, you know, um, I mean, I want, I don’t want to name names or anything, but like, you know, new, new vendors that come across, you know, the board and be like, this guy who works here is really good to work with. Like that kind of stuff really is helpful because, you know, at the end of the day, a big part of what you do in this, in this industry, in this role is kind of comes down to the ease of being able to work with someone who you know, has a vouch for them, but someone else that you trust.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, so it’s really the networking, the connections, and just kind of making an imprint on the people that you are definitely gonna see down the line. I mean, as Allison said, it’s so small in New Orleans that it’s all about leaving a positive imprint on someone because you know you’re probably gonna work with them eventually if you stick with it and stay in New Orleans. I’ve got a kind of a curveball question and full disclosure, I’m on the board of the American Marketing Association chapter with Allison.

Rachel Smith
soon.

Sam Olmsted
So I kind of know this a little bit, but I don’t really know as much about AAF. Do you all partner with other organizations? So for example, you know, I know that you had not met each other, Rachel and Allison. So do you partner with other local organizations to put on events, to do activities, you know, workshops, things like that?

Rachel Smith
Yes, I think that’s kind of something that we’re even trying to do this year. And then in the coming, you know, back half of the year, we’re going to try to be more together with, with our, with our groups, which I’m excited about. Um, yeah. So we’re like, you know, it’s, it’s going to be, um, a bigger part of what we focus on in the next coming year. Um, but yeah, we’re, we’re totally open. I mean.

Allison Herrera
Morning.

Rachel Smith
Any other groups that are in New Orleans, we are happy to, you know, group up with, with any, you know, like-minded groups that need a little more, um, no membership focus on that.

Allison Herrera
Yeah, because I think in New Orleans, the name of the game is community over competition. And we’re all very like-minded people, whether it’s AAF, AMA, other marketing and advertising association groups, we all have a very similar background and we all have similar ways of how we conduct business. And we know most of our vernacular and whatnot. So when we

join, it’s not that we’re stealing members, it’s just that we’re combining and I think that’s beautiful, especially here in New Orleans. It’s always community over competition.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, I know there was a recent event that the AMA partnered with the Society of Marketing Professional Services and did a co-hosted event there. So that was a really cool thing to see and that was one of the first times I think that in my experience that with the AMA that I saw that play out in a really effective way.

Allison Herrera
It was really positive, I think.

Rachel Smith
For sure. I think that only is a benefit to members of both and any organization is, you know, to, to extend that reach out.

Eliza Fillo
Speaking of members and having them in these groups, how do you all find that you best keep members from leaving? So let’s say someone is maybe tempted to leave for whatever reason. What are the best ways that you find to keep them engaged within your respective groups?

Rachel Smith
I think that the biggest thing that we attempt to do is put a big focus on those, you know, those big, you know, flagship is maybe a good word, like events that we have going throughout the year. It’s like you don’t want to miss these, you know, these are the, for example, I think two of the biggest ones that I feel like anyone in these industries should come be involved with is definitely the.

the awards gala, the AAF awards gala we do in the spring. That is a huge event that I feel like is a great opportunity for people to be involved with. And our fall event is kind of more laid back. It’s just like a bowling event, but it’s something that’s so fun that brings the whole community together. So keeping a,

your membership helps us to put that on, your membership helps us to keep that going. But also programming throughout the year too, just keeping that exciting and different and electrifying for the members for sure.

Allison Herrera
Yeah, to kind of loop back to that question also, I haven’t yet, and I hopefully won’t experience any members dropping off kind of what the question is asking. But kind of what Rachel was saying, the retention helps keep them. And right now, AMA, the American Marketing Association, we don’t have a lot of things that are very member specific. And that’s one of the things that I’ve been working on as president. So what are things that

are very specific that only our members can benefit and not just events, because we kind of like to open that up to the public. It also recruits people too to become members. You get perks on pricing, you get perks on, what am I trying to say, Sam? I know you get perks on resources, that’s the word. You get perks on obtaining resources, you have access to the other members. So that’s all great for membership.

Eliza Fillo
Thank you.

Allison Herrera
but I am working on things that are very specific to members only and that benefits only them, other than the national benefits.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, absolutely. I think those member-specific benefits are really the way to retain your current members. And then the events seem to be a way to draw in new members. And that’s kind of a formula I’ve seen in the other organizations that I’m in as well. Another curveball question, and we’ll start with you, Allison. What is the best way to maintain your current members?

the AMA’s marketing strategy and what do we push into achieve?

Allison Herrera
through my presidency or overall.

Sam Olmsted
Like overall, what like we’re driving membership and we’re trying to increase membership. Can you just talk about some of the tactics that we that we do?

Allison Herrera
Yeah, so right now we are kind of in a limbo stage because we have a reorganization of the board. But in terms of obtaining members, we’ve been trying to put on more quality events. So we were focusing more on what our members went to see.

And we’ve been trying to obtain polls and surveys and just kind of see what keeps them with us and what will keep them with us. Right. So I think the most important part is listening to your members. That’s so important because you members join this association to benefit themselves. And we’re not throwing these events for us. We’re throwing it for our members. So I think that’s really huge. Another thing that I am working on through my presidency is obtaining sponsorships. So that way, people who join our associations.

can enjoy the perks of it and they can really benefit from everything. But through the sponsorships, they’re able to have more, what’s the good word, like what’s a good word for it? They’re able to have more of the freedom to do more expanded activities and better speakers and better everything overall. Because as we all know, things can be really expensive.

And then it also benefits the sponsors because when you put yourself in front of a group of marketers, only good things are going to come from that. So that’s really important to me right now. I think that last year we focused a lot on keeping students here in New Orleans. So Tulane students, instead of going back home or moving elsewhere, keeping them here and obtaining jobs for them here. Moving forward, I think my main focus is going to be.

keeping our members active, keeping our members retained, and doing that through higher quality events and sponsorship opportunities.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, thank you. And Rachel, what’s your marketing strategy?

Rachel Smith
Yeah, I think, you know, I remember I kind of came on board to our club, you know, coming off of the COVID years. So we kind of were going through a slump. And I remember, like, you know, turning to our president at the time, like, we need to use our superpowers on ourselves here. We need to advertise. And so we, you know, we took kind of, you know, that initiative and like, OK, how do we.

How do we make this more interesting? You know, like how do we bring more attention? So we kind of overhauled the way that we are, you know, messaging our, you know, our membership, but also just people that might be interested. We do a lot on social. We do, you know, mailing lists. We do, I think a big thing we’re gonna be trying to do in the next year is make our site.

lot more like useful to people. And that’s a comment that we’ve gotten a lot in last years like, where is this on the site? What do we do with this on the site? And like, okay, yeah, this is something that we can definitely, you know, bring more attention to. But yeah, I think that even more in the next year, we’re going to be trying to focus on, you know, what we do in our own like jobs is, you know.

getting these attention from people to, you know, get them to convert basically.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah. And I think, you know, I want to just state what I think is relatively obvious, but these are volunteer-led organizations, right? And it’s tough to wrangle volunteers to point everyone in the right direction. And so, you know, especially coming out of COVID and both of these organizations seeing a bit of a dip and a bit of a slump, and then coming back after that and relying on a volunteer-led group.

it can be really difficult. Have you all had any issues with that and how have you overcome them?

Allison Herrera
You know…

Rachel Smith
I can start. Oh, sorry. You go, Allison.

Eliza Fillo
Thanks for watching!

Allison Herrera
Okay. I was going to say, you know, I went to the American marketing. I went to the AMA national conference and everybody talked about their woes from exactly what you talked about or explained Sam was that, well, you know, coming up from the slump and doing this and doing that and everybody’s struggle was that.

Nobody wants to go to anything in person because now that they all work from home or they work remote or maybe they just didn’t do it for so long and don’t want to get back into it, those were their struggles. Whereas over here in New Orleans, we’re like, all right, it’s Thursday, where’s the next happy hour? So it’s completely different. Our struggles are completely opposite. Our struggles in New Orleans is providing

the value, you know? So people are saying, oh, I don’t wanna join this, it’s X amount of money, I don’t feel like going to that, it’s, you know, whatever. We have to provide the value for those people because here in New Orleans, we’re so easy breezy, everything’s great, laid back, Mardi Gras, fun time. So there’s a million things that these people can do. You know, there’s a million people that are, you know, our citizens, our natives, New Orleans natives, can get their hands into.

So what we have to do is make sure we’re providing that value and providing something that they really, really want to go to. So my struggle or our struggle with AMA is just making sure we’re providing something for someone that they really are drawn into. And I think having bigger names or a venue sometimes draws them in. But yeah, that’s a huge struggle. It’s just that we’re competing against so many other things going on in the city, along with…

just it be in New Orleans itself. You know, well, I’ll just have a drink in my backyard with my neighbors, you know? So it’s really big, especially here in New Orleans. A lot of people aren’t career focused and I know this is gonna come off really wrong. I was born and raised here, so no one come after me. But here in New Orleans, I think that we’re just so easygoing. Whereas when you go to New York, it’s that hustle culture and everybody’s trying to…

Allison Herrera
work past the nine to five and just really grind at it. So I think the demographic makes a huge difference too. So our problem isn’t drawing people to events, it’s letting them know you need to better your career by joining us, we can help you, we can do all these things for you and we provide all this value and we can scream it on the rooftops till our face turns blue, but at the end of the day, New Orleans, we’re easy breezy, easy going, we wanna be off on Fridays and…

start our weekends on Thursday. So I think that’s the biggest struggle and I’m sure Rachel experiences that too.

Rachel Smith
Yeah, I think we have had the exact same conversations. We’re like, why do other clubs have much bigger turnouts than us? And we’re like, oh, because we’re in New Orleans and we have so much other things going on in our city all the time. Whereas a different DMA, this might be the biggest thing going on this month. This might be the event to turn out to. So yeah, definitely we’ve talked about that. But yeah, I think.

Just, I don’t know if this is super staying on the same topic. Um, so stop me if it’s not, but I, I would recommend, you know, like if you are a member of either one of these and you feel like you want to get even more out of what these clubs can offer. Um, I recommend looking into joining your board, um, because I, that’s where I have. You know, found that I’m getting so much, um, I’m getting

you know, so much closer with people that work at different companies because we have to volunteer together, you know, like it’s a more like hands on kind of approach to it’s still networking though. Like you’re still networking with people that, you know, you might not talk to on a day-to-day basis or you might not know that even works in the same, you know, area as you, but, um, you have to work together to get things done. So I would recommend that that’s it. That’s a huge, you know,

driver to getting the most out of your club is volunteering and helping.

Allison Herrera
Oh, for sure. I’m going to piggyback off of Rachel too. And I know this has nothing to do with the question and it’s fully, but always join a board for any organization that you’re in, because if you want to learn a new skill or learn a new interest or learn anything, if you join a board, it’s a great opportunity to learn. It’s a great opportunity to try it out. And at the end of the day, it’s a volunteer opportunity. No one’s going to fire you if you accidentally do something wrong.

So if you know that maybe you want to focus on email marketing and you’ve never done that before in your life, join the board. Take that position for email marketing because if you make an oopsie, it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world and you’re not going to get fired.

Sam Olmsted
Love it. No, that’s really good advice. And I’ve really found that joining the board of the AMA kind of speaks to everything that you all talked about. But in addition to that, you know, you are now in a position to offer things to people without needing anything, you know, business-wise from them. So if you can offer someone a spot on a panel, or if you can offer a venue, a spot to hold your event, um, you, you’ve kind of flipped the power dynamic.

and you could be kind of lower level in your career and higher up in a volunteer organization. And it really allows you to network in a new way with a new perspective. So I think that’s a really good point.

Rachel Smith
Yes, a big thing I’ve already mentioned, like we have our gala at the end of every year and that takes half the year to plan. So it’s kind of like, I won’t say trauma bonding, but you do get to know people when you’re helping out with that. Like it’s a big job and you know, we become a big family basically when we’re doing that.

Sam Olmsted
Hehehe

Eliza Fillo
I have one more question that is maybe a curve ball. We’re asking a lot of those this podcast, but how do y’all’s groups find yourself working with members to ensure that these are, you know, inclusive spaces for people and relevant to the people within the communities that you serve or that you exist within?

And whichever one of y’all, Rachel, do you want to start?

Rachel Smith
Yeah, I mean, we take a lot of consideration into the different topics that we are bringing to the people. And one of the things that we’ve tried to keep on top of our mindset is diversity and what helps keep that relevancy because it’s a very diverse market and we need to, and also it’s a huge…

push from advertisers and marketers is to stay on top of that. So yeah, I think that’s just the way that we kind of are trying to stay on top of that is we’re just making sure that our topics that we bring in cover that.

Allison Herrera
Yeah, I think, I mean, inclusivity goes beyond just the surface level of it. It’s, as I mentioned before, marketing, there’s so many different categories and there’s different career opportunities in it. So really focusing on.

on not just one spectrum of it. So not just focusing on social media marketing or not just focusing on print advertising or all that good stuff, you’re able to kind of provide inclusivity for all members. So even if it’s a topic that maybe they’re just saying, oh, I’ll set out this one, I’ll go to the next one, it’s maybe more specifically geared to me, I think that’s really big, is that you have to listen to your members, collect the polls, collect the surveys, but listen to them.

focus on what area they’re coming from and provide opportunities for them and beyond. So maybe someone isn’t part of social media marketing and we do a talk on that. They may still go. It’s not going to hurt to learn more about that. And then as for your traditional definition of inclusivity, we have a DEI chair and her name is Sharique and she’s wonderful and she guides us through anything that we may need help with. But I think…

We come from all different backgrounds on the board and we come from all different types of families. And I think the big thing is that we all listen to each other too. We’re not just all your plain cookie cutter people. So I think listening to your board members, listening to your members, focusing on what is happening in the community, those are all really strong things to incorporate in terms of events.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, absolutely. And I’ll just add on that partnerships are always good, whether it’s with other organizations or corporations, and then who you have as your speakers, who’s doing the programming, where is the event being held, what neighborhood is it in, where are you putting it, what social media channels is it on, and then also what schools are you working with.

when we talk about inclusivity, it’s about getting new members and kind of changing the demographic of your membership base. And a lot of that can happen with people who are out of college and going into the workforce and feeling like, okay, this is a great and necessary step into building my network. And now I’ve already got the relationship built with AMA or AAF and I can go from there.

So I think widening the circle, expanding your locations, expanding your speakers and expanding your partnerships is a great way to be more inclusive as well.

Allison Herrera
Oh yeah, I’ll even tell y’all from, so I, I’m Hispanic. Um, I may look like a Barbie, but I promise I’m Cuban. And I went to Tulane for AMA to represent us and there were other Hispanic women and black women and they came up to me because they, they knew, they knew my background somehow some way and they said, it’s really great having one, a woman come represent and two, someone of your ethnic background because

They never were exposed to that at Tulane, or so they said. You know, I don’t know. But that’s what they told me. And I think that that’s so empowering when you have different members of your board able to represent in the community at different parts of the community, just like you said, Sam. Because I know Tulane is predominantly a white college. But when you have those girls, and predominantly male, but I know when you have those women who come up and they want to learn more.

different associations and they see someone that has a similar background to them, it’s more inviting. And I think that’s beautiful when you have people of all different backgrounds.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah, I agree. We’re going to wrap it up relatively soon, but I have some final kind of fun questions for you. And if you don’t have an exact answer, give me kind of a broad answer, if that’s OK. So I know that both of these organizations are really events-driven, a lot of great speakers. And if you could get one speaker that could headline an event,

go after. And it doesn’t have to be an exact person. So you don’t have to say, you know, Zion or whoever, but it could be kind of a job title or a company they work for. Who you really itching to get in there and kind of talk to your members. Rachel.

Rachel Smith
Yeah, so it’s funny because, you know, over the past couple of years, I feel like the people that are mainly in charge of our board have been from a media background. So of course, we’re like, let’s hear about all the media stuff going on in the world. But now, you know, I’m starting to like want to hear more about, you know, from the creative side of things, I really want to hear more about, you know, design and, you know, what’s new there. And I feel like that could really

be a huge thing for us if we could get more design focused like speakers and topics to come in. I would be really excited to hear like someone like that. I can’t think of a name. I don’t know. I’m not that like Don Draper or something like that. That would be wild, but someone like that.

Sam Olmsted
Hehehe

Allison Herrera
I think for us, a dream speaker, a dream panel per se, would be the marketing team for the Saints and Pelicans because there’s so many different outlets that they do. You know, you have your traditional marketing, you have your website, you have your social media. So I think hearing how they operate on season, off season, during a game, I think that would be really interesting.

whether it’s the Saints or the Pelicans, I think it’s the same organization at this point they kind of joined, but I think that would be really, really great to hear. And it would really speak to each marketing outlet because they cover everything. And then looping back to that inclusivity question, it would really gather people in. And who doesn’t want to hear about the Saints and Pelicans? I mean, come on.

Sam Olmsted
Well, this podcast is listened to far and wide, so I’m sure someone’s gonna reach out and ask to be a speaker. Yeah.

Eliza Fillo
I’m not going to do it.

Allison Herrera
And tell us the milk is our batter.

Rachel Smith
I just remembered something too, now that you brought up more local stuff. In the last year, I think we were trying to see if we could get someone from the branding side of local brands like Urban South or those kind of iconic brands for beer or I’m trying to think of another one, Abita. Get someone to come talk about what’s it like to this whole package of…

Allison Herrera
Aida.

Rachel Smith
How do you become this iconic brand? I think that would be really cool.

Sam Olmsted
Yeah. I’m sure they would love to talk to you. Huh?

Allison Herrera
We’ll see ya.

Rachel Smith
Hehehe.

Eliza Fillo
hear about that.

Allison Herrera
Well, Sam, the NFL is nationwide too, so it would be really, you know, they all probably, just like we’re part of an association nationwide, they probably have certain things that they do that represent the NFL as a whole through the nation. So that could be really cool too.

Sam Olmsted
I’m liking these ideas, folks. Okay, cool, I’ll put them in my notebook. All right, well that about wraps it up with our questions, but before we go, we like to make sure that our guests can kind of plug anything, whether it’s your organization, your upcoming events, where to find you, anything like that, and feel free to mention your organization that we talked about, or your company, or yourself. So, Allison, why don’t you go first?

Allison Herrera
Thank you.

Allison Herrera
Yeah. So just to reiterate, I’m Allison Herrera. I’m the American Marketing Association president for our chapter in New Orleans, but I’m also the owner and founder of Uptown Girl Media. It’s a digital marketing agency. If you want to get in contact with me, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. That’s always a great outlet. You can also call our office and it’s 504-788-2UGM.

Allison Herrera
So 504-788-2UGM. And my email is also my first name, Allison, A-L-L-I-S-O-N, at UptownGirl.media. So that’s how you can connect with me.

Sam Olmsted
Perfect.

Rachel Smith
Awesome. Yeah, so I just reiterate, I am the president of AAF New Orleans. You can find us, we are no longer referred to as Ad Club New Orleans, but our website is still adclubnola.com. You can find it just by searching at AAF New Orleans. You can follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, and you can reach out to us via the contact form on our site as well.

I work for digital remedy. We are like an ad tech solution. So you can, I mean, I can’t really plug it like Alison can, but, you know, check us out if you’re, if you’re interested in that kind of thing.

Sam Olmsted
Hehehehe

Allison Herrera
laughs

Sam Olmsted
Perfect. Well, thank you so much for joining us, y’all. It’s been great and we really appreciate you taking the time to sit down with us and talk with us about organizations, specifically local New Orleans organizations that really benefit the advertising and marketing community. So thank you again and have a great one.

Allison Herrera
Gosh, thanks for having us. You too, Sam.

Eliza Fillo
Thank you guys.

Rachel Smith
Thanks so much.