No club is better prepared for a massive rebranding than a professional marketing club. 

“When you join AMA (American Marketing Association), you become a part of a larger organization and connect with like-minded students at other colleges that are chasing the same ambitions,” said junior art major and AMA chapter Vice President Reese Paddock. “It changes how much reach we have, and it will just grow our network so much.”

Chapman’s American Marketing Association is the newest chapter to represent the national nonprofit organization with over 250 collegiate chapters across the country. But the club, previously known as the Chapman Marketing Association, was already hard at work in service of its members. 

“We had alumni speaker events, we had networking events with other clubs on campus like the finance or accounting societies and we had student internship panels in which students would talk about their work experiences,” said senior business administration major and AMA chapter President Sarah Cheah. “We provided a variety of ways to learn about people's personal experiences, both professionally and socially in the marketing industry.”

The club was founded in 2021 by an all-female board that set professional development events as their main priority. Now, they are starting their first semester as an official AMA chapter.

Freshman accounting major Josh Bunditsatheon joined the club in his first semester at Chapman last fall, and quickly gained practical marketing experience before joining the current board as the events director.

“Being a part of the club helped me build online marketing experience,” said Bunditsatheon. “Last semester we worked with a local client to run their Instagram profile, creating posters and building their online brand. And since I joined the board, my primary role has been to connect with alumni speakers. We’ve had people from Disney, Google, Netflix and other big companies come and speak about their experience in the marketing industry.”

The club is open for anyone to join, which Paddock believes is not only an integral value of the club, but is also relevant to the industry it is preparing students to launch a career in.

“Marketing covers such a wide spectrum and we allow all students to join and find the space within that spectrum that’s right for them,” said Paddock. “Our board is composed of people from all different majors, so I think in that sense, the club in general and the perspective we bring to marketing is very diverse.” 

Running the club as an individual organization wasn’t easy, which is why joining the AMA became the logical next step to expanding the club within Chapman and beyond. 

“We had limited resources,” Cheah said. “We had help from the business school, but we were limited to who was available at the school. The change felt natural, and everyone was excited about it. Now that we're part of AMA, we have access to countless resources like training courses, tool kits, playbooks and more. We can have networking events with other collegiate chapters and connect with a huge alumni network as well. Once you’re a member, you stay connected, and that’s very important for the marketing industry specifically.”

Cheah continued: “In terms of rebranding as a club, we changed all our logos and our entire social media approach. We worked very hard to make sure we presented ourselves well at the recent involvement fair. Part of our mission statement now is that we will engage with the benefits of AMA's network while making sure we stay authentic to Chapman’s culture and continue to represent what Chapman stands for.”

The AMA also hosts national conferences for academic competitions in which collegiate chapters compete in various marketing events. Chapman’s chapter will begin competing this upcoming fall semester, and members are aiming to place at the top.

“We want to build a strong presence for our Chapman chapter in the national organization, and winning in events at these conferences is the best way to do that,” said Bunditsatheon.

Chapter members believe winning in these events could promote Chapman’s marketing program in the organization while strengthening the program itself. 

“I think winning would mean a lot for the business school at Chapman,” said Cheah. “While other departments attend competitions, Chapman marketing students haven’t had the chance to compete representing the school, and faculty have really wanted us to be affiliated. I think we would represent the business school as a strong community and show not only how great the faculty is, but also how hard Chapman students work.”

Chapman’s AMA chapter also supports its members in teaching aspects of marketing that aren’t as frequently taught in class, especially regarding industry trends and new technologies. 

“Being in an environment outside the industry, with not many marketing students around us, it’s hard to know where the industry is going or where it’s at, especially with how unpredictable the industry can typically be,” Paddock said. “I've done a lot of research into using artificial intelligence (AI) technology as a branding assistant tool. It helps connect the pieces of your brand, because it's hard to visualize what the brand is before you publicly launch it. Marketing brings products to life, and without it, the product exists separate from the customer. I think AI has potential in helping facilitate that connection between products and their customers.”

Paddock continued: “There's no right or wrong approach to marketing, so be open-minded. Marketing is special because one person cannot do it alone. It's an extremely collaborative industry. You need a team, and we found our team at Chapman.”