Junior Account Executive
NAMA / Healy & Schulte Inc.

As a Junior Account Manager for PR agency Healy & Schulte, I helped create social content, write press releases, secure media coverage, produce marketing collateral, and design advertisements for NAMA, the association representing the vending machine industry.

The Campaign

Research showed Gen Y consumers had a favorable opinion of vending machines, many even preferring their ease and speed to convenience stores. Armed with this information, we set out to reinforce Gen Y's positive perceptions by positioning vending as a preferred, convenient, value-driven service. We designed initiatives aimed at Gen Y including special events, giveaways, and social media messages.

Social media content

We created and maintained a nationwide Facebook contest that encouraged Gen Y users to upload photos or videos and short descriptions of their favorite machines or products. I personally managed the daily operations of the contest, producing posts, tracking engagement, and messaging entrants. To help drive engagement, I also coordinated with vendors and posted snack giveaways on the contest page. This practice led to a significant increase in "likes" and contest entries. In addition to contest and giveaway posts, I also wrote posts referring to innovations in the vending industry to further boost awareness and generate excitement among consumers about the vending experience. 

Gratitude tour

The Gratitude Tour, the cornerstone of NAMA's Industry Image Campaign, was created to thank Gen Y consumers for their preference and use of vending over other convenience retail channels.  The Image Campaign and the Tour displayed a variety of unique and high-tech vending machines. The Tour visited twelve U.S. markets, including New York City, Boston, and New Orleans.

I wrote press releases and aggressively pitched media outlets for coverage during the tour. As a team, we netted more than 960 million media impressions. i also helped maintain Vendialogue.com, an online destination created for news media and others seeking to access the digital assets of NAMA's Industry Image Campaign.

NAMA ONESHOW

In addition to creating social content and securing media placements, I also helped write generate advertisements for the NAMA annual convention and ghostwrite copy for their trade show program. The relaunch of NAMA's annual trade show in 2010 as "The OneShow" resulted in an 18% increase in attendance in its first year.

I also wrote a draft of NAMA President and CEO Carla Balakgie's inaugural state of the industry keynote address at the event.