American Marketing Association’s San Francisco Chapter Partners with MarketingCamp San Francisco

Feb. 21, 2013 - PRLog -- The Bay Area’s startup community has started to attract a lot of marketers who do not belong to the American Marketing Association (AMA)—one of the largest marketing associations in the world, with more than 30,000 members who work, teach and study in the field of marketing across the globe. In an effort to reach out to this audience, the San Francisco chapter of the AMA sought to host an out-of-the-box marketing event.

The MarketingCamp unconference is a gathering of innovation-focused marketing thought leaders to dialogue and brainstorm marketing topics, tools, trends and technology. The first-ever San Francisco MarketingCamp will be held March 30 at Hult Business School.

"We were thinking of doing a hackathon (a collaborative coding event for programmers)," said SFAMA VP of Programs Brian Kerr. Kerr, who is connected to MarketingCamp founder Paul Wcislo on LinkedIn, said, "When I saw the MarketingCamp unconference, I thought it would be ideal. So I reached out to Paul, and we both realized that SFAMA would be perfect to handle MarketingCamp San Francisco (MCSF) next year."

"I told Brian that I’d love to see MarketingCamps all over the world, and that we'd be happy to give SFAMA the chance to lead MCSF in 2014," said Wcislo.

SFAMA’s Board of Directors unanimously supported this decision with a vote. They hope to make it an annual event.

According to Kerr, the local AMA chapters are all about events—providing opportunities for networking and learning. Historically, these events have been attended primarily by B2B marketers. SFAMA would like to get more B2C marketers involved.

“The startup community is such a big part of the Bay Area,” Kerr said. "This kind of event appeals to them—entrepreneurs, founders, co-founders—even if they aren't actually looking for a marketing event."

In addition to sponsoring MCSF this year, SFAMA members will attend the unconference to learn the inner workings of the event. Starting in 2014, SFAMA will take over management of MCSF, becoming responsible for everything from securing a venue to finding volunteers and handling promotion.
      
“We are very excited to be a part of this,” said Kerr. “It’s long overdue. This will get marketers involved in the community with hands-on key learning.”

MCSF is tailored to the needs of marketing professionals working in and around San Francisco who want to learn and share innovative marketing strategies, tactics and tools. Sessions will cover marketing topics that focus on the region’s most crucial business concerns, from performance marketing to brand building. Topics of presentations and discussions are selected by participant voting, assuring that each person takes responsibility for what they get out of the meeting and that each topic is attended by those who are the most interested.

The San Francisco chapter of the American Marketing Association is the leading organization for professional and student marketers in the Bay Area. Founded in 1937, the San Francisco chapter reflects the innovation, standards of excellence, and industry and population diversity for which the Bay Area is known and celebrated. SFAMA’s goal is to advance its members’ professional capabilities and career development opportunities, while connecting with the leading-edge Bay Area marketing professionals.
      
To get involved in MarketingCamp, visit bit.ly/MCSF01e.