Trivia Night Food Sale

On Saturday November the 14th Soma organized a food sale for the trivia night event that was hosted in Herrick Library.  Everything we sold was donated by fellow Soma members in the form of snacks and baked goods.  The trivia night teams battled it out for hours while periodically visiting our table for snacks.  Our President Jessica Marble had set a goal of $30 for the night and when it was done and over with we had a total revenue of $35.  So i thank everyone in Soma that donated their time and money into this event.

Halloween Bash!

I’d like to congratulate SOMA on a great job hosting the Halloween Bash for the children of the Alfred area.  The reason we chose to do community service by hosting the bash is because in this area trick or treat ends at 8:00PM.  We thought this was way too early to call it a night on Halloween.

So we decided to borrow the fire-hall for the night and gave the children of Alfred a great Halloween Party.  The activities we chose to do were face-painting, a game of musical chairs; which ended in a battle to the death; a hilarious game of limbo and to finish it up we hosted a costume contest.  We also had gifts, prizes, pumpkin painting and of course we had snacks.

The kids had a blast, but nothing compared to the limbo game.  It was kids vs. a few SOMA members and the kids definitely didn’t want to see us win.  They sent friendly insults at Zeus and a human sized hotdog, cursing us for making it to the next level.  But to no avail Zeus and the hotdog failed and the kids of Alfred were victorious!!!

Overall the event was a great hit and the children can’t wait for another Halloween Bash next year.  Good Job SOMA!!!  Keep up the good work!

Recognition from the School of Business-CONGRATZ SOMA MEMBERS!

The College of Business Students are at it again!
The Students of Marketing at Alfred University are actively involved in community, on and off-campus. SOMA’s recent activities include offering workshops at a local high school, hosting a Halloween Bash for area families, participating in the Passionately Pink for Cure Breast Cancer Fundraiser, and offering mentorship to peer. Through leadership, initiative, and activity, SOMA students once again prove their professionalism in applying lessons from the classroom into the real world. Their accomplishments will be presented at the Annual American Marketing Association International Collegiate Conference to be held in New Orleans, April 2010 for which they recently submitted their chapter plan.

Everyone in Soma should be very proud for doing such a good job already!  We have again proven to be an elite chapter at Alfred University, and we continue to strive for greatness.  Everyone should give themselves a pat on the back, but we shouldn’t be satisfied yet! 

The original post can be viewed at   http://business.alfred.edu/

Homecoming Event!

The event went great.  We set up our booths at the entrance of the football field and offered free face paintings to everyone.  We didn’t charge money, but simply asked for donations.  We had everyone there, laughing along and supporting the artists who were brave enough to “give it a go.” The event was a very cool way to show support for SOMA and the football team.

                For this event our goal was 30 people and 30 dollars. We don’t have the exact number of “painted people” yet, but we do know we have made $55 in donations!  This was a great turnout, and surpassed our numbers greatly!

                Also, Ashley and Irving did a great job representing SOMA on the football field as candidates for homecoming king and queen. You guys looked great!!

Looks like a great year for SOMA!

The first meeting was a great success.  There were many new faces of all majors and class years, giving us many different skills and ideas.  We had 20 new members show up on Tuesday.  That is huge for us!  With all the man and woman power we have this year we can only expect to have a very successful year!  Don’t forget to tell your friends to join because our family can never be to large.

Press Release-AMA Big Easy 2009

Round 2: AMA and the Big Easy           

            For the second year in a row the Alfred University American Marketing Association (AUAMA) traveled to New Orleans, LA to participate in the International Collegiate conference, returning home with an award and priceless experiences.

            After an intense year of chapter building, fundraising, community service and professional development over 1300 collegiate AMA members travel to the International Collegiate Conference to network, learn exciting marketing news, and walk away with proud awards, flaunting all of their impressive achievements. This year the AUAMA was awarded an honorable award for Professional Development.

            From Thursday March 26^th to Saturday March 28^th Alfred University students spent their time learning from top professionals in the field in sessions focusing on marketing professions, sustainable practices, multicultural marketing and networking with professionals from all fields of the marketing world.

            Ashley Fantigrossi, a junior marketing major and president of the Alfred University chapter, especially enjoyed the annual opening session featuring motivational speaker and comedian Josh Shipp. Shipp melded comedy, tragedy, and optimism to relay his strong call to action of not being average and exceeding limitations.” I love that the conference starts out with a motivational speaker.” Fantigrossi noted.”It assures me that we’re marketers for the right reason and, even in the spirit of competition, we don’t sacrifice the wellbeing of our colleagues.”

            “HEATing Up Branding in Professional Sports”, a session presented by Mike McCullough, an employee of the Miami HEAT caught the eye and mind of senior marketing major, Josh Rafte, VP of Communications for AU AMA. He spoke about how his goal for the year was to change the reputation of the Heat from a lower-tier team to one of the most exciting teams in the league. “This was the most exciting thing for me about the conference and really made me want to have Mike’s job. Someday I hope to do something as fun as that!” exclaimed Rafte.”

            Each year Alfred University students return inspired and ready to improve the chapter and community in positive ways. After learning from the top chapters across the nation and sharing ideas with our peers and future leaders of the marketing world, the members of the chapter are all driven to implement the newly learned tools into the AU community.

            Joseph Sasaki, a first year marketing major noted his personal growth from the four day experience, “I grew not only in my knowledge and experience as a young marketer, but also as a person socially and in terms of my maturity; and that’s what the AU experience is all about.”

            So what was the biggest lesson for AU students? AMA isn’t just for marketing students, it is an opportunity for students of all majors to build a portfolio network and learn. President elect, Jessica Marble states, “the strongest chapters excel in all areas, because of the committed students they have involved. Graphic design, communications, engineering, business…they have it all, and we want that too! What better time to ask students of our campus to get involved than right now?”

            The AUAMA has already started the planning for next year. There are high hopes within the chapter to bring home more awards to our faithful Alma mater. As a chapter, the AUAMA agrees the future of marketing is at the current generation’s fingertips, and through hard work, determination, and high student involvement, next year will only bring success and impressive accomplishments home to our classmates.

Welcome to SOMA

Hello everyone.  We recently changed our name to SOMA to have a catchy, sweet and awesome phrase that will make people remember who we are.  With lots of exciting new ideas and events coming up within the next year, we are looking forward and excited to see many new faces in SOMA.

Recently Posted AU press release regarding AM@AU Wharton Trip

AMA chapter visits Philadelphia for marketing experience
2/11/09

Each year the Alfred University chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) strives to send members across the country to experience marketing outside of the classroom. Earlier this academic year, the Wharton School of Business Chapter (MUSE) of AMA the University Pennsylvania invited AMA members to the 2008 Wharton Undergraduate Marketing Conference.

The event, on Nov. 7, 2008, focused on “The New Age of Marketing.” Five AUAMA members traveled six hours, along with College of Business Assistant Dean Lori Hollenbeck to engage in a day packed with marketing professionals sharing stories and inspiring students for their future in the marketing field.

The conference began with an introduction encouraging fellow AMA members to pay attention and learn to work with the change in today’s society. Keith Niedermeir, director of undergraduate programs and adviser of MUSE told students, “Our goal is to try to deliver messages to the consumer when everything in the world around us is changing.”

Throughout the rest of the day the students divided into different speaker sessions throughout Jon M. Huntsman Hall on the UPenn Campus. In one session, Rob Drury, director of client partnerships with Lead Dog Marketing group, taught that with the constant change in technology in today’s society, consumers are becoming numb to traditional marketing strategies such as magazine ads, billboards, and commercials. Therefore, marketers have to adopt the concept of non-traditional marketing to produce a successful and attention-bearing marketing advantage to earn the loyalty, preference, and interest of potential consumers. With examples from the real world, students quickly learned that “consumer is king, we have a voice now and need to be spoken to, not spoken at.”

Evelyn Porter, a sophomore marketing major at AU, noted the session was “really geared to the future which was helpful to us as students.” She continued, “It was a good supplement to what we learned in the classroom and we were exposed to something that will be big for our own generation of marketing.”

Another popular session with the students, on mobile marketing, was presented by the keynote speaker. Vladimir Edelman, chief executive officer of Ansible, a worldwide mobile communication service company, explained how marketing through text messaging and cellular phone can be both dangerous and popular to the consumer. The cell phone is a popular product that is intimate to all consumers. He explained that cell phones have become so popular that there are more mobile phones in the world then indoor plumbing, and TV’s and PCs combined.

Mobile marketing has several pros and cons compared to alternative marketing strategies; however the strength is the intimate connection, ability to track success and the guaranteed receptiveness of the target message, and ability to engage consumers with a brand.

“The presentation reaffirmed my interested in emerging innovative technologies and helped me understand the importance of understanding mobile technology as a necessary method of establishing and improving relationships between consumers and brands” stated senior marketing major, Irving Escobar.

Jessica Marble, a sophomore marking major, particularly noted the speaker session titled “Success Strategies for your Marketing Career” by Angela Morsa, founder of Active Integrated Marking. Morsa, with over 18 years of experience in direct response marketing and advertising, gave students 10 major things to remember while looking for or on the job in the future. Her advice ranged from staying out of drama, to looking professional, to finding and learning from mentors.
Marble noted, “I really enjoyed hearing her honesty about the pay gap between men and women that is still apparent in the marketing world. The advice she gave me is helpful, truthful, and sure to come into use after I complete my higher education. I appreciated everything she had to say.”

At the end of the day, students had the opportunity to work with Barbara Hewitt and Samantha Camoni, both of the Career Services Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Their interactive session reminded the students of ways to practice and perfect their styles for interviews while offering little tips about problems students often overlook in the excitement of preparing for an interview.

When AMA members from the AU chapter have opportunities to travel to difference schools, learn outside the classroom, and network with professionals, it provides them with professional and personal growth which then leads to development in the AU AMA chapter.

Porter noted, “The conference helped me to focus in on emerging marketing strategies and find ways to integrate them into the AU AMA chapter.”

AUAMA Captures the Hearts of Alfred’s Businesses

AMA wins downtown business video competition
2/11/09

The Alfred University American Marketing Association (AMA) is the recipient of a $140 cash reward for competing in an Alfred, NY video contest.

Mandy Burns, manager at The Gallery in Alfred, introduced the friendly competition between AU and the Alfred State College Marketing Club.

Burns wanted to involve students in an activity to promote downtown Alfred businesses to both Alfred campuses. The objective was to create a two-minute video for YouTube, available for the public to view. With set rules and regulations the students had two months to plan, record, and edit a video for judging.

There were two outside-sourced judges on the panel, online comedians Rhett and Link. Their Web site http://rettandlink.com/ features clean humor that inspired the project in Alfred. Local business owners were also on the judging panel.

The Alfred University AMA video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/wa…. The Alfred State College Marketing Club Video can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/wa….

Alfred University Student News