A "Day in the Life" of YMA

The New Era of Marketing!

2011-01-07T12:12:00.004-05:00

It's that time of the year again, folks! YMA is excited and proud to present you our 2011 YMA Conference: The New Era of Marketing!

We have a lot of things in store for you at our conference, with great workshops and giveaways! So what are you waiting for? Head on over to our registration page and sign up for a day full of innovative speakers, networking, and marketing madness!

Early bird prices are as follows:

$30 for members

$50 for non-members

You can purchase tickets (and register) in person at Schulich (time and place also on our site), or pay online using Paypal or email transfer. LAST DAY TO REGISTER: JANUARY 21ST， 2011

For any questions, please don't hesitate to shoot an email to us at info@yorkmarketing.ca, we'll be more than happy to reply to any issues or problems that you have! Hope you all can come out and bask in the marketing glory!

The Last Few Months

2011-01-07T12:05:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year readers! The last few months before the new year has been a fantastic (yet busy) one for YMA. Let me recount the events so far:

Marketing for Dummies held in October was a huge success; many members (old and new) came and learned what marketing was about and got to speak with our speakers in the end (for pictures, please see the last post!)

Market Yourself 101 (MY101) in November allowed YMA members to learn about the different fields in marketing and the recruitment process. Members also gained valuable insights from the one-on-one interviews with our guest speakers.

December led way to Round 1 of the Apprentice (our marketing case competition) sponsored by General Mills. Winning team for this round was Team Synergy with members Abhinav Sawhney and Kazi Uddin with their “Vita” cereal idea. The top five teams are qualified for Round 2, which include:

Team Synergy with Abhinav Sawhney & Kazi Uddin
Team Asus with Benny Ussyshkin & Daran Somasundaram
Team Edge with Joanna Gussmann & James Dempsey
Team Skyll with Tayyab Rizvi & Harsimran Gill
Team Mastermind with Ryan Lee & Marcella Lok

Team Synergy with their "Vita" cereal

So that pretty much sums up our events in the past few months. Now, you may wonder what we may have next for all you lovely people. Well, wait no longer! What we have in store for you will revolutionize the way you think about marketing.

For more information, stay tune to our next Day in the Life blog post!

Marketing for Dummies!

2010-10-10T22:42:00.003-04:00

As many of the YMA members know, we had our first event this past Tuesday! Cool, eh? It was great seeing so many people come out to our first event and finding out just what marketing is about! Thanks to everyone who attended.and see you in our next event!

Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure (with the gracious permission of one of our Speakers Coordinators, Hazel...you've got her to thank for the lovely photography!):

Thank you!

2010-09-25T20:19:00.004-04:00

Just wanted to post a quick note of thank you to all who came and registered for another year with YMA! As of now, we have a grand total of 135 members who have signed up! For those who are still debating on joining, or didn't have the money during club week, we will be accepting membership registrations in our future events. Just bring your 20 bucks to pay for membership, and we'll give you one of our handy dandy, red and flashy YMA USBs!!! (heh, the rhyme was cute, don't you think? :D)

We've got a lot of exciting events happening this year--with the first one coming up in a few weeks! So stay tuned for updates and future chances of signing up!

The YMAge of Superheroes has officially begun, and to celebrate this awesome event, here are some pictures from club week!

Some of our lovely and beautiful members rockin' out the YMA t-shirts:

Our very own Sonia adding even MORE things to our already fantastic booth:

The YMA board also designed by the talented Sonia (an artist in hiding!):

But here's my favourite one--shows the dedication the execs have for YMA! Can we say ENTHUSIASM?!

Club Week & Interbrand

2010-09-19T19:13:00.005-04:00

I know, I know. So the title could be a bit more creative...but alas, my creative juices have been drained. I feel like the Day in the Life blog hasn't been getting enough love, so that means an update!

So here's what YMA's been up to lately.

This past Friday, a few members of the execs (yours truly included! :D) were able to go to Interbrand, a global branding consultancy with an office in downtown Toronto, for their Digital Day. What is it, you may ask? Well, from what I gathered, "Digital Day" is a seminar that's hosted in all of Interbrand's global offices that basically tries to gauge the market's digital needs and consumer POVs. We were invited to be the consumer experts of social media and to basically answer any consumer questions that dealt with digital media. Overall, I think we all learned a lot about brand consulting, as well as had a lot of fun at the same time. I mean, what more could we ask for? A few of us were even presented as consumer examples, and were labelled with stickers! Bragging rights, anyone?

Next, I'd like to draw all you lovely readers' attention to the main point of this post. CLUB WEEK!

Who: York Marketing Association!

What: Club Week! Sign up to be a member for only $20, and you will get a lovely prize in return, as well as great and fun events year round!

When: September 21-23

Where: Schulich basement! Look for the bright red tshirts and awesome posters with YMA all over it!

Why: Because YMA's awesome, and we want YOU to join in on the awesome-ness!

This year's theme is SUPERHEROES! Check out our video for a more clear understanding. I mean, if a picture's worth a thousand words, then imagine how much a video would be worth!

SEE YOU ALL THERE!

Sneak Preview

2010-06-26T01:14:00.006-04:00

Ooo ooo ooooo!! Guess what, ladies and gents? This writer has the first picture of the new YMA exec team, taken after the second general meeting!! Am I good or am I good? Just for your eyes I shall let y’all get a glimpse of a part of the team that will bring about one of the best years of YMA into existence.

(The, uh, fuzziness just adds to the mystery, don't you think?)

First General Meeting

2010-06-05T12:36:00.002-04:00

It was a dark and stormy evening; the rain fell in horizontals—except at occasional intervals when it was pelted against the huge windows of the Schulich School of Business building. Hmm. Not bad. It’s a shame that I missed the deadline for the BLFC (the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, for those out of the loop).

Anyway, on Wednesday, June 2^nd, 2010, the YMA exec team of 2010-2011 met for their first General Meeting. Hoorah! The meeting got off to a great start (albeit later than planned) with most of the members present, as the rest slowly staggered in later (due to the aforementioned downpour). For the next hour or so, the execs were hard at work drying off, finding extra chairs and getting into the groove of the group dynamic. Trust me when I say this—it was no easy feat.

Joking aside, the execs actually did accomplish quite a lot (well to be honest, I just saw a bunch of check marks on Cansu’s meeting list) in terms of job delegation, and tasks to do by the next meeting. Some of us were able to meet and greet those who were not able to make it for the Turnover meeting, while others were caught up on the latest news concerning the club. Not to mention the brainstorming session for ideas for the upcoming Club Week!!! To say that it will be awesome is an understatement.

Curious yet? Well, stay tuned to find out more!

Made In Canada, EH ?

2010-01-11T00:17:00.005-05:00

YMA Execs are hard at work, getting ready for this year's awesome theme... since BEYOND BRANDS: MADE IN CANADA is only 2 WEEKS AWAY!!

** Register asap as early bird prices end January 15. **
Members $30
Non-members $50

Check out our WEBSITE for details or msg us on Facebook!

Holiday fun @ Peridot Resto Lounge

2009-12-31T14:58:00.008-05:00

The YMA execs finally got together for some good laughs, good food and GREAT music at this year's "Secret Santa" holiday dinner.

We hit up Peridot Resto Lounge for our social and enjoyed some sangrias, their delicious pastas and even managed to try out their sizzling saganaki (greek cheese on flame) appetizer.

The night ended with our secret santa gift exchange where team members received some pretty awesome items like...Ines' cute Canada Olympic mitts :)

All in all, listening to their live band play some good tunes, topped with excellent service from Peridot's servers made this classic holiday dinner go down in memorable style.

Next up: The team will be preparing in full swing for our Made In Canada Conference, so stay tuned!

It's officially here: Schulich Apprentice Case Competition Round 1

2009-10-25T11:55:00.004-04:00

Come out to the Schulich Basement this Tuesday, October 27 for YMA’s Apprentice Case Competition Round 1.

· Apprentice teams will present their Round 1 marketing pitch
· General Mills and various Schulich Faculty will be judging all participating teams

All students are welcome to check out the talented Apprentice teams and hear their case presentation pitches.

Participate and support your peers by VOTING for the team that you think deserves to be Schulich’s next great Apprentice winner.

Club Week '09: FAME with YMA

2009-09-13T01:13:00.004-04:00

Look out at everyone! “Schulich Club Week” has officially arrived and now it's your chance to become an exclusive and valued member of the
YORK MARKETING ASSOCIATION (YMA).

Become a member and get access to the best marketing events and be a part of the best membership platform around!

Find the YMA booth in the Schulich basement starting this Monday September 14th and be ready for all the information and exciting things that we have to offer you.

"FAME with YMA". It's the only way to go.

COUNTDOWN: 2 DAYS UNTIL 'BEYOND BRANDS 2009'

2009-01-20T14:36:00.002-05:00

I'd like to thank Stephanie Barcena & Lorraine Chan for a much needed laughing fit...
Enjoy :)

YMA's Official Beyond Brands Promo Video

2009-01-20T14:35:00.002-05:00

Enjoy!

YMA Apprentice: ROUND 3

2009-01-14T02:00:00.003-05:00

The final round of YMA's 'The Apprentice' took place on January 10th 2009 at KRAFT's Toronto offices.

Our final three teams were comprised of: Team Renaissance, Hockey Nation, & Spit Fire.

Their objective: To ensure the sustainability and future success of KRAFT's Hockeyville contest.

Here's a brief breakdown of each team's strategy:

Team Renaissance (2nd runner-up):

partner with RONA and VISA
bring 'shoot to win' to retai
implement new Hockeyville challenges (i.e. allow towns to compete on the best Hockeyville jersey creation)
website improvements
contest prize: vending machines to top 5 teams

Hockey Nation (runner-up):

run tailgate parties in supermarket parking lots during 'NHL all-star season' as a promotional event building up to Hockeyville
promotional events launched under separate brand 'hockey nation' targeted at generating interest for Hockeyville among urban communities
bring in new corporate sponsors for Hockey Nation

Spitfire (WINNING TEAM):

use punch-out hockey jersey collectibles to be incorporated into the packaging of selected 'Hockeyville' brands as part of a KRAFT Bingo contest.
the 5 letters of KRAFT would serve as a platform for the BINGO game.
run 'shoot to win' promotional blitzes to be held in supermarkets in which customers could 'shoot to win' a sample of selected Kraft products.

Congratulations to all the teams for their participation!! You guys were all awesome!

YMA's Beyond Brands Conference Must Go On....

2008-11-18T13:29:00.016-05:00

I was secretly rooting for this strike. All I longed for was an extra week to complete all of my impending assignments... but I didn't want this: this looming uncertainty coupled with high anxiety about exams and graduation.

This is what I do know though: despite all the chaos that has ensued..YMA is committed.... yes COMMITTED to hosting an UNFORGETTABLE conference in January.

It may seem I've gone crazy with the caps lock but I`m trying to emphasize the fact that despite the strike, YMA's Beyond Brands conference is still a go.

We taken over the Starbucks at Dufferin & Steeles (just kidding, sort of...) and are continuosly sorting out the fine details and logistics of the conference.

Depending on when the strike ends (if it does...), we will be hosting an Information Session and give you guys more details... but for now we`ll be using our blog and YMA e-mail outs to keep you guys posted!

Hope everyone's enjoying their faux holidays.

Cheers :)

YMA Apprentice: ROUND 2

2008-11-17T19:14:00.011-05:00

Date: Thursday October 6th

While the strike may have suspended classes and other school-related events indefinitely, we didn't let it interfere with the 2nd round of the Apprentice. Instead of hosting the 2nd round at school, we moved the competition to Maple Leaf's Mississauga offices.

For round 2: the 8 advancing teams were paired with another team, thus we had 4 teams in competition.

The winner was: TEAM GREENLIGHT, comprised of:

Jonathan Cipoletta
Soha Mohiuddin
Naziba Noor
Babaneet Sandhu

Key highlights of their strategy for Maple Leaf included:

Placing expiry dates at the front of all packages to help boost consumer confidence
Giving consumers the 'steering wheel' by putting temperature responsive stickers on packaging to indicate that the food is stored at proper temperature level (prevention method)

Team Greenlight strategy would help consumer's move beyond the Listeria crisis and help restore confidence in Maple Leaf while building consumer loyalty.

Although there was only 1 winner, we would like to commend each team for their hard work! Maple Leaf & YMA noted the incredible presentation skills of each team and the teamwork that was involved.

Round 3 is tentatively scheduled for January 10th. We look forward to seeing the advancing teams for the 3rd and final round! Congratulations again to all the competing teams for making it this far!

Cheers,
YMA

A Forgotten Gem...

2008-11-12T01:25:00.010-05:00

....YMA had prepared a 60-second "WORK IT" skit for this year's Summer Night Social (Aug 2008)

Front and center were Maher and Jessie who volunteered to represent YMA in the skit.

The skit was intended to represent the spirit of YMA. It was fun, outgoing and creative: 3 aspects that represented the core of YMA.

Market Yourself (M.Y.) 101

2008-11-11T01:08:00.023-05:00

Date: Wednesday October 29th

First off, YMA would like to send a big THANK YOU to all the student's and companies' that participated in M.Y. 101!

It was truly a fabulous experience for us-we took great joy in watching the event unfold Wednesday evening.

Here's the Breakdown of the night:

M.Y. 101 officially kicked off at 5:30 pm.

The company reps started things off by introducing themselves & their companies. After the intro's, 45 minutes was delegated to a Q & A session. The questions were submitted by student's during the registration process. It was interesting to see the variety of questions that were put forth from students as nothing was off-limits (as one company rep put it "there are NO stupid questions"). We really tried to encourage student's to ask questions that they felt were relevant to their personal job pursuits and circumstances. Basically, we were encouraging student's to be frank with the company reps. Thus, we hoped to maximize the value the student's would recieve from this event. From the initial feedback I received that evening, it seemed as though many students had invested time into preparing questions-which is AWESOME! After the Q & A session, we hosted a mix-n-mingle for the student's and reps.

While the socializing would continue for the better part of the evening, we pulled students out and into their scheduled "mock interviews". I got the chance to speak with some of the company reps' , afterwards, regarding the students they interviewed and they noted, several times in fact, that the calibre of students at Schulich was top-notch and that they were beyond blown-away by the Schulich undegrads.

That being said- YMA would call this event a SUCCESS!

YMA Presents.....

2008-10-21T10:22:00.004-04:00

THE PROMOTIONS COMMITTEE!

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to the newest members of the YMA team!!

The committee will be comprised of:

Nicole Jung
Jea-Yeon Lee
Neda Abusaeidi
Maja Telebak
Maria Chung
Jonathan Oddell

We're excited for this, as this oppurtunity marks the growth YMA!

...keep checking in, as I'll be continuosly updating the blog with the adventures of the Promotions Committee :)

YMA Apprentice: ROUND 1

2008-10-06T18:59:00.013-04:00

On Thursday October 2nd,YMA finally kicked off the year with its first major event, THE YMA APPRENTICE.

We held a brief info session on Tuesday September 23rd for students who were interested in participating and getting a sense of what the competition will be like and how it is structured. On the night of the deadline, our inbox was overflowing with the applications we had received from enthusiastic candidates. In the end, we chose 30 qualified teams to enter Round 1, sponsored by General Mills. Their task: to come up with a comprehensive marketing campaign to promote Multigrain Cheerios to a target market of women with a health-conscious attitude looking to manage their weight and health without the pain of dieting.

Given a week to prepare a 5-minute elevator pitch to present to the judges, the teams showed up Thursday afternoon, in the Schulich basement with an armful of props and excited faces. The judging scheme combined evaluations from a panel of representatives from General Mills, Professor Ashwin Joshi, the executive team of YMA and of course, votes from the Schulich student body. By 2:30pm, the competition had commenced, and the basement was buzzing with excitement as students and judges alike explored the various booths and listened to the marketing campaigns of each competing team. I heard some ground-breaking collaboration ideas, saw some eye-catching print and television advertisements and walked through some impressive implementation plans coming from our competitors, making it that much more difficult to determine the top 8 teams that will advance into the next round. It was evident that each team had put in an enormous amount of time and effort into the preparation for the competition!!

Congratulations to the top 8 teams that are advancing to Round 2!

The advancing teams are:

Team Spit Fire- Neda Abusaeidi and Diana Vitti
Team Alpha- Johnathan Cipolletta and Babaneet Sandhu
Schulich Pros - Tristina Sinopoli and Maja Telebak
Team L'Equipe- Levon Golendukhin and Tim Mark
Pinnacle- Soha Mohiuddin and Naziba Noor
Insight- Davina Ramnarina and Lani Lim
Sin Limites- Narcis Tajvidi and Tanya Georgieva
The Renaissance Men (TRM)- Daniel Pilaprat and Fabio Abreu

A bit of YMA lovin'

2008-09-20T00:19:00.003-04:00

It's been a stressful, chaotic week.

We all needed a bit of R&R. So last night, the ladies and gentlemen of YMA got all glammed up for a night on the town (and a little bit of lovin'). We kept it relatively low-key with dinner at Ginza Sushi, this really trendy restaurant on Yonge & Clarke (eeks..all the free promotion we're giving them). But honestly, dinner was great. We had some good laughs and some very awkward moments....at times my face was burning from embarrassment both for myself and others (I wish I could say more-but its one of those what happened at that table HAS to stay at that table).

After dinner we headed for karaoke around the Finch and Yonge area. That's about the time I began to see the YMA exec in a new light (and may I say, I love them now more than ever). Leaving our inhibitions aside, many inner divas were awakened.

My favourite moment must have been when Eugene and Andrew were staring into each other's eyes, with vigour and passion, while singing The Beatles' classic "All You Need is Love"-now that was a truely classic moment.

Cheers,
YMA

I'm not done just yet.....

(Words don't do this picture justice-YMA loves their boys)

(YMA's own Idols)

YMA @ Club Week

2008-09-19T00:18:00.007-04:00

Welcome Back Schulich-ers!

While many of you may have spent the summer months sipping pina coladas's by the pool or strutting your stuff @ the coolest internships, the 2008-2009 YMA exec team were being held captive at Schulich.

After what seems like endless months of hard work & dedication, YMA was finally ready to 'strut our stuff' and show off at Schulich's annual Club Week.

From kissing games to risque messages left on sticky notes, it was a week that we won't soon forget!

So on behalf of YMA, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all our new & returning members. Because of your continual support, we've been able to step up our game this year. We look forward to this year! So here's to both the crazy and unforgettable moment's that will mark this year.

Cheers,
YMA