Greetings MAMA members,

It’s already March! Hope your 2020 is going well, and that you had a great holiday season and a productive Chicago Auto Show.

Speaking of CAS, we were once again honored to kick off the show’s Media Preview days with the Midwest Automotive Media Association Breakfast. We announced the winners of our Family Vehicle/Luxury Family Vehicle of the Year awards and the James L. Mateja Memorial Scholarship, and hosted the Automotive Hall of Fame’s announcements of their 2020 inductees. Our keynote speaker was Ed Laukes, Group Vice President—Toyota Division Marketing, but instead of the standard podium speech, Ed and I sat down for a more informal “fireside chat” interview.

Spring is just around the corner, and that means the 2020 MAMA Spring Rally is fast approaching as well. The MAMA Spring Rally Committee had our kick-off planning meeting in late February, and we are working to bring an improved off-road course and maybe a surprise or two to the event. The dates are May 20 and 21—mark it down on your calendars now! To our manufacturer-rep members: We do have a few Spring Rally sponsorship opportunities available. Please contact Senior VP Harvey Briggs or myself if you’re interested in claiming one of those slots.

Also, Harvey is the point person for our monthly luncheon meetings, so contact him if you’d like to host one of those. We’ve already had two monthly luncheons this year… Nissan filled us in on the redesigned-for-2020 Sentra at our January meeting, and Alfa Romeo just showed off the 2020 Giulia and Stelvio at our March meeting.

One of the MAMA board’s primary aims for 2020 is to ensure our journalist members are producing content, and to assist them in growing their audiences where we can. In our interactions with various PR representatives, the term we keep hearing is “return on investment.” Since all MAMA events, and particularly the Spring and Fall Rallies, depend on manufacturer participation and support, we as an organization have to make it worth their time and expense to do so.

For that, we need to rely on our journalist members, so when you attend our events, please “post early and post often,” and share your coverage with us so we can share it as well. Here’s to a great 2020!

All for now,

Damon Bell, MAMA President