The End of an Era

For the past eight years, nearly as long as I’ve worked at Hodges, I’ve been a part of the AMF account in some form or fashion. 

It began when I was the most junior staffer at Hodges, an office of five at the time, and I was asked to manage 5 new center openings for the upscale 300 Bowling brand, which were launching in major markets around the country. 

Hodges came up with a hyper-local approach, hiring small to mid-sized PR firms in each market to handle both community and media relations support. I was tapped with managing these firms and sharing best practices, so that we could try to replicate and build upon the successes from market to market. 

During the next 6 months, we managed a lot of moving parts, learned about the nuances of each market and racked up some great media hits along the way. Through that experience, we became the field marketers for the brand, and were asked to sit in on a branding conversation that was occurring at that time. 

I remember sitting in that meeting, sharing what I had learned, and having a group of about 5 grown men listen to me, and truly take interest in what I was saying. It was my first professional experience where I really felt like a working adult. Soon after, the director of marketing asked Hodges if we would serve as brand managers for the 300 division.

The following 7 years brought a lot of change—new directors of operations, rebranding efforts, and additional locations being brought on. Some of it was a lot of fun—I managed an event hosted by Katie Couric—and some of it was tough. The cool part was that we were this growing PR firm, leading broader marketing efforts on behalf of this 300+ unit retail company. And just like that initial branding meeting Hodges sat in on, I felt like I was growing professionally as the 300 brand evolved. 

Earlier this year, AMF filed for chapter 11, our internal client left for a medical leave of absence, and eventually, AMF was sold to a competitor. In short, our world had changed.

Over the course of the following months, we prepared to part with AMF. We transitioned information to key AMF personnel, saw our role decrease further and further and waited to get word as to when the relationship would officially end. We knew it was coming, and yet the news itself was no less shocking. 

In doing a quick Google search for this post, I saw that the average client/agency lifespan is about 3 years. To have worked with AMF for more than double that time, earning my marketing chops along the way, is something we should be proud of. So in celebration of that feat, and the good work that went into the 300 brand along the years, I wanted to take this moment to share this experience—mark the Facebook milestone—and say cheers to all the wonderful people we’ve worked with along the way.