CADM Names 11 Emerging Leaders

CADM, the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing, has announced the first recipients of its EL (Emerging Leaders) Awards. The awards were created to salute marketers who show uncommon promise in strategy, creativity and innovative thinking. Along with the winner of the 2009 Charles S. Downs Direct Marketer of the Year, to be announced later in April, the CADM EL winners will receive awards on Monday, May 4, during the association’s IMX Spotlight dinner.

The recipients include:

Megan Bannon, Cultural Anthropologist, Cultura/Rapp, Chicago
Bannon had initially been hired as a summer intern in Rapp’s Chicago office. She currently heads Cultura, Rapp’s new cultural anthropology and research group, which combines traditional marketing research methodologies and proprietary tools with an ethnographic and cultural approach. She developed Digital Anthropology, a methodology that analyzes and organizes consumer-generated content online, and recently was selected as a member of G23 Next, Rapp parent Omnicom Group’s women’s consultancy.

Briana Fabbri, Assistant Director of Membership, Art Institute of Chicago
Fabbri created the message and design for a year-long direct marketing campaign for the Art Institute’s 2008 Annual Fund Campaign. Entitled “The Lionhearted,” the campaign inspired museum donors, increased response rates by 40%, and garnered the attention of the industry.

Jacqueline Camacho-Ruiz, “Make-it-Happen” Director, JJR Marketing Consultants, Aurora
Camacho-Ruiz helps her clients reach two increasingly important demographics: 20-somethings and Hispanics power. She started her consultancy in 2006, following employment in the hotel and food-and-beverage industries. She was named by Food Industry News as one of the hospitality sector’s top marketing specialists. Camacho-Ruiz offers economic stimulus marketing sessions to provide tools to meet marketing objectives.

Meghan Manchon, Associate Director of Marketing Communications, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston
Manchon helps market The Kellogg School’s executive education programs. She is responsible for all direct and interactive marketing for the school and mentors all colleagues in her department on how to use these techniques effectively. Directing research on candidates for the executive education program, Manchon discovered that Kellogg’s best customers, identified by SIC and geography, were executives whose class attracted executives at different points in their career and different management levels. These insights provided better target lists and more personalized and relevant copy. The initial campaign increased class occupancy by 30% and increased ROI by 25%.

Derek Britton, Director of Marketing, Travel Technology Group, Chicago
Travel Technology Group provides event housing and travel services to event planners. In his position, Britton uses design and copy that appeals to the target audience and putting the proper metrics and benchmarks in place to measure results for the company’s event housing and travel services offerings.

Erin Creaney, Senior Account Executive, Colman Brohan Davis, Chicago
Creaney worked as an event planner and then marketing manager at T. Rowe Price in Baltimore, before moving to Chicago two years ago. Creaney is a versatile marketer whose integrated marketing approach incorporates experiential components that bring a brand to life. As a practice leader for such disciplines as event marketing and social media, she spearheaded efforts for national retail clients, including Paul Stuart.

Jennifer Johnston, Guest Benefit Marketing, Preferred Hotel Group, Chicago
Johnston, a native of Australia, brought customer service, sales and marketing experience to her position at Preferred Hotel Group. This global perspective gives her expanded viewpoints and insights when approaching challenges requiring creative solutions. She re-engineered member fulfillment methodology for the chain’s hotel loyalty program, resulting in savings of $130,000 while enhancing member access to program benefits. She also developed a new system to market a collection of disparate products into a single, consistently branded offering and developed internal and external communications plan for the market launch.

Kristen Nomura, Central Region Manager-Search & Analytics, Google, Chicago
Nomura manages a team of consultants who help advertisers and agencies maximize the effectiveness of their search marketing campaigns and Web site user experience through the use of measurement tools including Google Analytics and Website Optimizer. Nomura helped transform a team of product support specialists to ‘analytics consultants’ who advise Google’s Fortune 500 clients and agencies on ways to use data to find new opportunities to reach their target audience. She planned and hosted Google’s first “Analytics Summit,” bringing together top clients to facilitate dialogue with products and engineers for the Google Analytics product.

Keith Tanski, Senior Interactive Strategist-Draftfcb Chicago
Keith Tanski is not only an interactive specialist who lives and breathes digital marketing, but also a practitioner with BtoB, BtoC, analytics and optimization expertise. As the agency’s point person for search engine optimization, clients and colleagues rely upon him for insights into current trends, best practices and expert counsel. He was a key player when the agency expanded its digital capabilities, leading and training project managers and associates across multiple clients and establishing the group’s search marketing projects.

Sherrie Miller, Print Production Manager, Diamond Marketing Solutions, Elmhurst
After taking CADM’s popular Basic Course, Miller embraced direct marketing strategies, progressing from print buyer to account manager to manager of the print production manager, all the while providing the agency’s clients with strategic direct marketing solutions. Responsible for more than $10,000,000 in print solutions, Miller’s clients include DePaul University, Verizon, and Lettuce Entertain You.

Chris Chleboun, Senior Account Executive, Colman Brohan Davis, Chicago
Chris Chleboun has devoted much of her career to championing an integrated approach to brand marketing. In her assignment to manage the development of an important branding initiative for agri-chem company CF Industries, Chleboun made herself highly knowledgeable about the agriculture sector. As a result, she helped transform CF Industries from commodity positioning to a value-add brand. She also works with global food and ingredients companies Loders Croklaan and Lipid Nutrition, Siemens and Fuel Tech. Prior to joining CBD, Chleboun worked at Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy Action and Fathom Communications, a division of DDB.