Last year was a great one for MMC. We became a member of the Omnicom family, worked on some truly groundbreaking campaigns, enjoyed healthy growth and won several prestigious awards.
Today we have another reason to celebrate. And it’s a big one. AdAge has recognized MMC as a Best Place to Work in Marketing and Media! MMC is number 11 on the list of 40 and the first-ranked PR Agency out of only four PR agencies honored!
This is a momentous honor for us because we have worked hard to differentiate MMC from competitors large and small by creating the kind of culture that allows world class talent to flourish. And that effort hasn’t gone unnoticed: during 2011 we were recognized by both the Holmes Report and PR News as a best place to work.
The culture at MMC was developed to meet the needs of today’s generation and ensure excellence in the work and service we deliver to clients. Today’s workforce craves opportunity. They want their contributions to be meaningful and recognized. They flourish in a flexible and supportive environment where they are valued enough to work autonomously. So we encourage them to pursue their passions and work beyond their job description. And in return, our staff approaches everything with a “can do” spirit, always delivering more than what is asked.
There’s so much more we could say about how we nurture MMC talent: our open-door policy, mentoring, job swapping and Master’s training programs, annual awards and a liberal time-off policy. But it’s never just about the work; down time is essential for energy and creativity. So during any given week you might see a team seeking inspiration from a new movie, a pop-up store premier or even a group manicure. And, while this is just a guess, I think our staff has collectively traveled to every major city on the planet.
And then sometimes we’re just known for throwing great parties. From Halloween to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo…if there’s a holiday, there’s a celebration. Which is exactly what we’ll be doing tonight. We will raise a glass to Marina for creating and cultivating the agency’s spirit, to our staff for keeping that spirit in hyperdrive and to our wonderful clients, for their support.
We look forward to continuing to make MMC a place that fosters opportunity, growth and fun as we work together on the marketing campaigns of the future.
Image courtesy of PRNewsOnline.com
Marina Maher Communications, Inc. has been named a Top Place to Work in PR by PR News for the second time in recent years. The exclusive list of 20 Top Places, which includes corporations as well as highly respected non profits and agencies, was chosen by a panel of external judges, industry experts and PR News editors. Judges consider areas such as turnover, culture, diversity, project responsibility and empowerment and growth opportunities.
In addition to being named a Top Place to Work, we’re delighted to share three of our own have been honored in this year’s PR News PR People Awards. Amber Meredith, Managing Director in MMC’s Consumer practice group, was named a finalist for PR Team Leader of the Year and Kelly Cacioppo, SVP in MMC’s Health & Wellbeing practice group, was named a finalist in the Account Director of the Year category. Sarah Pfeiffer, a Management Supervisor at MMC on the Merck Women’s Health franchise, has been named one of PR News’ 15-to-Watch in the Agency category. This is the third year in a row that a member of MMC’s staff has been honored in the 15-to-Watch category. These awards, which set the industry benchmark for excellence across all areas of PR, honor outstanding PR leaders and creative practitioners from across the country.
The winners and honorable mentions of the PR People Awards, 15-to-Watch list of up-and-coming stars in PR and the Top Places to Work in PR will be honored at the PR News’ PR People Awards Luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on November 30. They will also be featured in an upcoming issue of PR News.
Is your current relationship getting stale? – the one with your employer?
Hungry for a chance to be heard – to execute your big new ideas?
Feel like you’re doing more but getting less out of it…?
About Me:
Fun, bold, brash, creative, award-winning agency; love dogs. My peers call me “special” – Specialty Agency of the Year! Some think I’m fun – Consumer Agency of the Year.
About You:
Big idea, creative thinker with a strong POV; love dogs; less wall-flower – more total ham.
This won’t be your first relationship. You will have somewhere between 3 and 10 years of experience and have a passion for healthcare, patient marketing and women’s health. Size likely matters to you – so it’s good that I’m an a agency that’s more Goldilocks and less Goliath.
What I offer:
World class brands, creative energy and a dynamic atmosphere PLUS a terrace with a view of Manhattan to die for! I’ll help you grow and even give you extra time to celebrate the holidays and of course, my birthday.
Oh, and I almost forgot – apparently the other folks in this relationship also think I’m great – they voted me Top Places to Work in PR and Best Agency to Work for ………all in one year!
Want to know more, contact me at opportunities@mahercomm.com
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Holmes Report Top Places to Work in PR, Holmes Report Best Agency to Work for, Specialty Agency of the Year, Marketing, MMC, PR, public relations, marketing to women, Marina Maher Communications
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The first of 2010’s bi-annual ASTA Awards were held last Thursday with hosts MaryBeth Murphy and Kate DiChristopher (@katelizdee) headlining the “Seis de Mayo” themed festivities to honor the MMC Leaders of the Pack.
Donning Sombreros and sipping margaritas the MMC audience was in full anticipation as the winners were announced and the record number of nominees given honorable mentions.
And the ASTA goes to ………
The first award of the evening presented by Sarah Pfeiffer was Puppy Love and went to MMC Health and Well-Being’s Sarah Shapiro. Puppy Love recognizes a team member who demonstrates client service excellence. Sarah’s ability to juggle multiple tasks for a busy client has not gone unnoticed. That’s apparently why Donny Osmond calls it Puppy Love Sarah….Congratulations!
Robert J Ricci teased the audience a plenty when presenting the Better Bark award announcing there was not one but two winners! As Robert’s honorary continued the audience murmurs of anticipation grew louder until finally Jivani Sherrod and Laurie Shulman were proclaimed the joint winners. In one of the more touching moments of the evening, the ladies congratulated each other on their joint efforts in maintaining the MMC website, and notably this blog, and Jivani exclaimed, “I always wanted to win an ASTA!”. So too have the Baha Men who led the ladies from the stage with the sounds of Who Let the Dogs Out……Whoo Whoo Ladies!
Watch Dog was next and Angela Pessolano, nominated by the entire Secret team narrowly pipped the competition to take the award recognizing her consistent strive to keep her Eyes Up and Body Out to bring the outside in. You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog Angela!
As the end of the ASTA’s approached and Robert and Arsenio edged closer to the taco bar for what would be a record eating contest later (I’ve heard numbers as high as 25 each), it was time to announce the winner in the newest ASTA category, the Big Dog.
The Big Dog Award recognizes the MMC Manager of Choice who is committed to the growth and development of their team. This inaugural award, presented by Annette Evans and Ashley Crooks Bain, was accepted by a teary and emotional Corrie Wollet who was almost upstaged by the cheeky grin of Miss Lilly Bain who threatened to steal the show from all the night’s winners.
Diana Littman Paige was on hand to present the honorable mention trophies to: Lisa Reindl, Joanna Garland, Cathy Fitzpatrick, Marissa Berlin and Arsenio Duran for Puppy Love; Rena Dubs for Better Bark; Jessie Tettemer and Katie Green for Watch Dog; Lindsay Kamin, Jennifer Kaczmarek and Sarah Pfeiffer for Big Dog.
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees and in the spirit of recognition, a huge thank you to Duria, Jeff and Arsenio without whom such a spectacular could not be staged. And, to my teammates, and the Producers of the show, Mary Beth and Kate… muchas gracias for practicing what we preach in recognizing, thanking and rewarding our colleagues and the great work they do daily for our clients. We can’t wait to see what the ASTA’s have in store for us later in the year!
I remember my first sailing experience as if it was yesterday. I was about 10 years old, my family lived in Thailand and along with most other expat families we descended on the yacht club in Pattaya Beach for a getaway most weekends. Like all the other kids my age, I was enrolled in a “learn to sail” course and after a couple of hours of mastering the art of tying a bowline and learning the basic mechanics of the boat, you were let loose on the water. This is where things started to go downhill for me. I won’t go into the actual incident but needless to say I graduated from the course with the “chunk of the fishing boat” award after allegedly ramming the side of a fisherman’s boat somewhere in the Gulf of Siam.
I had another attempt at sailing when I was in high school in Sydney. This experience was only marginally better: on day three, I stopped the equivalent of the Staten Island Ferry dead in its tracks. Evidently, attempting to sail a boat head to wind is not the way to avoid oncoming boating traffic that is 30 times the size of you!
Needless to say, I haven’t cared too much for sailing since. So, when a friend asked me to accompany her on a two day “basic sailing“http://www.sailmanhattan.com/ course recently at North Cove Marina in Manhattan, I was, suffice to say, slightly hesitant. Failure however is not an option in my book. If at first you don’t succeed, you try and try again and this was my chance to conquer this sport once and for all!
In two days on the Hudson learning how to take the helm as well as be a supportive crew member I not only learnt how to sail all over again (I am pleased to report without incident this time) but I rediscovered the joy of learning.
Some things in life you learn the hard way or simply take longer to conquer. Sailing was one of those things for me – so was skiing but we will leave that alleged incident for another time.
Other things come much easier like exploring New York afloat (do you know where old subway cars go?) but it doesn’t matter if your desire is to be the next Ellen MacArthur or the next Marina Maher. It’s all just about LEARNING and, I hope you agree: there is nothing like the sense of accomplishment you feel after learning something new.
New York City is 9,935 miles from my hometown of Sydney, Australia. That’s about 21 hours in the air. Factor in transit time in airports, waiting for baggage, immigration, taxi rides etc and it usually takes about 30 hours to get from New York to Sydney. Which every way you look at it, it’s a long way away and the idea of catching up for a quick drink with a mate after a long day at work stops at just that, an idea.
I joined facebook about a year ago and it’s become an addictive substitute to that drink with friends at the end of the day. Now I’m not implying in any way that passing a “virtual” round of drinks is quite the same as the real thing but my liver thanks me and the one liners and friendly banter still pack the same punch nightly on my lap top as they would if my friends and I were sitting together at the pub “socializing”.
Contrary to what the above may suggest though, I don’t spend my day on the couch courting this new relationship of mine. I also do it at my desk! As a recruiter at MMC searching for and connecting with potential candidates is my job. Professionally, facebook has also been good to me.
At MMC we recently created a group for PR students and graduates interested in learning more about entry level careers at our agency. Our active discussion board conversations range from “what news story was the most interesting to you over the past year” to “if PR was not your chosen career, what would be?” My favorite answer so far to the later question comes from a student at St. Bonaventure:
“There are other career paths besides PR?”
Request to join our facebook group: “Marina Maher Communications Graduate & Intern Opportunities”. We’re waiting to hear from you.
Maree
