The Challenge
MMA, a leading marketing industry body, had three core goals:
01
Increase its member base
02
Establish itself as the foremost voice in modern marketing
03
Drive participation for its marquee initiatives and IPs like Smarties, MMA Impact, Modern Marketing Reckoner, the Data Privacy Report, and Brand Safety Report
While MMA had strong brand equity and a clear vision, it was looking for a strategic approach to marketing that could unify its goals across visibility, growth, and engagement. Messaging was fragmented, campaigns were often reactive, and internal teams were stretched thin across competing priorities.
The Solution
Our approach was to not look at the engagement as a one-off campaign but to bring clarity, cohesion, and consistency to marketing, and create a strategy that could scale.
1. Mapping the ICP and member aspirations
We began by identifying the ideal member profiles across marketing leaders, agency partners, and solution providers. Through interviews, internal workshops, and audience behavior analysis, we developed a deep understanding of why different segments engaged with MMA, their aspirations, and the potential barriers that stood in their way.
This insight shaped how we structured messaging, campaigns, and outreach for each audience cluster.
2. Strategic planning with outcome-first thinking
We co-created a marketing strategy aligned with MMA’s three core goals. For each goal, we built a distinct stream:
- Membership Growth: Developed a structured messaging funnel highlighting MMA’s community, learning, and access benefits, tailored to mid- and senior-level marketers.
- Thought Leadership: Refined MMA’s voice and created content themes that positioned it as the go-to body for marketing innovation, data responsibility, and future-forward practices.
- Event and IP Participation: Designed detailed playbooks that mapped the audience journey from awareness to registration and post-event engagement.
We also worked closely with internal teams to ensure alignment across comms, partnerships, and editorial, driving cohesion in voice and narrative.
3. Building Custom Playbooks for Marquee IPs
Each IP required its own narrative and approach. We:
- Built pre-launch campaigns with teasers and community involvement
- Created integrated amplification strategies across email, LinkedIn, and partner networks tailored to the DNA of each IP
- Developed content and messaging guidelines tailored to the DNA of each IP
- Smarties & MMA Impact:
Leveraged industry influencers and spotlighted past winners to build buzz and credibility. - Modern Marketing Reckoner, Data Privacy and Brand Safety:
Positioned as industry benchmarks through thought-leadership content and media outreach, driving an uptick in downloads.
Impact
- Membership Growth:
Defined clear ICP segments and value-led messaging tracks improved lead quality and streamlined acquisition efforts - Thought Leadership:
Shifted the perception of MMA from an event-led brand to a year-round authority on modern marketing, evidenced by increased mentions across industry conversations and thought-leader shares - IP Participation:
Delivered tailored strategies that increased report engagement, improved webinar attendance rates, and drove record-level participation for Smarties and MMA Impact - Cross-Team Alignment:
Established a unified narrative and execution rhythm across teams and verticals, reducing last-minute marketing cycles and enabling proactive planning
We enabled MMA to market not just more—but meaningfully
