ANA Honors Rising Marketing Stars

Young Marketers from Grant Thornton, Miller Lite, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and VISIT FLORIDA Celebrated at Masters of Marketing Conference

ORLANDO, Fla. (Oct. 25, 2018) — The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) recognized the 2018 recipients of its Rising Marketing Star Award today. The four honorees, all age 30 or under, were nominated by senior executives at their companies for having met the following criteria:

Made valuable contributions to the overall excellence/effectiveness of their marketing organization
Demonstrated leadership, innovation, creativity, and accountability in executing their marketing responsibilities
Exemplified skill in integrating marketing disciplines and working with other professionals
Exhibited knowledge of current issues in advertising and familiarity with the tools marketers are using to reach their audiences

The 2018 Rising Marketing Stars are:

Brianna Barnebee
Senior Account Executive
VISIT FLORIDA
Prior to working at VISIT FLORIDA, Brianna Barnebee led accounts at an integrated marketing communications firm serving clients ranging from associations to nonprofits. Ms. Barnebee is a Florida State University graduate and a native of Naples, Fla. This year, she spearheaded VISIT FLORIDA's China social media efforts. She was on the agency selection committee, worked on the terms of the selected agency's contract, integrated agency staff with the VISIT FLORIDA team, and successfully developed a plan to relaunch the agency's Weibo and WeChat platforms. She coordinated with partners throughout the state and her internal content team to collect relevant social content and worked with paid media and promotions teams to execute multiple integrated campaigns. Her efforts resulted in 145,000 new followers and 44 million views in the first four months across both platforms.

Liz Cramton
Associate Marketing Manager
Miller Lite
Liz Cramton earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and history from the University of Missouri, and later received an M.B.A. in marketing from Loyola University, Chicago. At Miller Lite she works on competitive and on-premise marketing programs. Within days of joining the Miller Lite team, Ms. Cramton oversaw the launch of the largest on-premise (in-bar) program of the year, "Know Your Beer," which was a blind, mostly unbranded taste test between Miller Lite and Bud Light aimed at using a breakthrough approach to get drinkers to reconsider Miller Lite. Not only did 72 percent of the 800,000 participants engaged to date choose Miller Lite, but the program is also driving volume and delivering improved brand perception and purchase intent.

Alicia Curley
Regional Marketing Leader
Grant Thornton's Atlantic Coast
Alicia Curley joined Grant Thornton in 2011 after graduating from Drexel University with a dual degree in marketing and accounting. In her current role she covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Curley upgraded a routine request for a direct mail letter campaign into a tablet mail campaign in which she developed the video content, sourced the tablets, and produced the mailing, resulting in $1.3 million in opportunities and $250,000 in wins, an ROI of over 500 percent. She also led Grant Thornton's regional Marketing and Social Media Committee, and increased social media engagement by 60 percent and conference satisfaction to a record high NPS of 89 percent.

Joanna Henley
Liaison, Marketing Strategy and Planning
ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
Joanna Henley began with ALSAC/St. Jude as an event marketing intern, and she returned after graduating from college in 2014 to join the marketing strategy and planning department. Over time, she has led various marketing campaigns and projects for ALSAC. Today, Ms. Henley is the marketing lead for the organization's High Wealth initiatives, including its Major Gift, Foundations, and DAF strategies. She created the first St. Jude Prospectus supporting the organization's future Capital Campaign efforts, which was used during visits with high-wealth prospects. Ms. Henley's strategy development and execution of this project resulted in a commitment of $1 million to the campaign. Additionally, she led a high-performing, cross-divisional team of business development, marketing, digital, events, and external vendors to plan, execute, and host the St. Jude Jam, which generated over $519,000.

"The ANA is proud to honor these four outstanding young executives," said Bob Liodice, CEO of the ANA. "They represent the future of marketing, and we congratulate them on the work they've done and look forward to their future contributions to our industry."

The four recipients were recognized in front of an estimated 3,000 attendees at the 2018 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, currently being held at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Fla.

The Rising Marketing Star program was enacted in 2010 to celebrate the ANA's 100th anniversary. It has become an annual recognition program at the Masters of Marketing Conference. Nominations for the 2019 award will be solicited in early summer of 2019.

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ABOUT THE ANA

The mission of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is to drive growth for marketing professionals, brands and businesses, the industry, and humanity. The ANA serves the marketing needs of 20,000 brands by leveraging the 12-point ANA Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed by the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA’s membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.

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ANA
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Email: jwolfe@ana.net