On Feb. 8, the Toronto chapter of The American Marketing Association (tama) will present its annual Marketer of the Year awards in a ceremony to be held at the Design Exchange.

This year, there are nine nominees, in three categories.

In services marketing, the nominees are: Dave Hagan, president of the consumer service group at Sprint Canada; Henry Rodrigues, president of personal lines at Lombard Canada (formerly Continental Canada); and Diana Watson, Michael Semeredy and Wayne Glover, co-chairs of the 1995 Red Ribbon Campaign for AIDS.

In the business-to-business category, the nominees are: Pamela Arway, vice-president and general manager of travel-related services at American Express Canada; Vic De Zen, president of Royal Plastics Group; and Craig Underwood, president of Loyalty Management Group.

In the consumer/packaged goods category, the nominees are: Tony Eames, president and chief executive officer of Coca-Cola Canada; Joseph Mimran, president of Club Monaco International; and Gordon Shank, president of Levi Strauss & Company (Canada.)

In what has become a Strategy tradition, George Walton, principal of Power Communications, has written a short, breezy profile of each of the nominees.

Walton says there are four universal truths that came out of this year’s interviews:

‘Get in bed with your customer;’

‘Add value;’

‘Be nice to your employees ­ they’re your executor and they’re a touch edgy in today’s business environment;’ and

‘The Web is awesome, but it’s not in a payback position yet. No one knows quite how to use it.’

Walton says it’s a great lineup, with some surprise contenders.

‘Some don’t see themselves as marketers at all,’ he says.

‘But, in truth, everyone in business is a marketer.

‘You are either doing it poorly or well. Ipso, if you’re successful, facto, you are a good marketer.’

The theme of this year’s awards is ‘Winning Tomorrow’s Customers.’

Business-to-Business

Tony Eames

President/Chief Executive Officer, Coca-Cola Canada

Look, it’s that cute Eric Roberts flick, The Coca-Cola Kid in reverse.

Coca-Cola adult Tony Eames comes here from Australia and sets the market straight.

Eames has already spread the gospel in eight countries, landing in Canada in 1987.

This interview falls on a special anniversary ­ married 30 years ­ to Coke.

Eames has never forgotten what a former Coke president told him: ‘It would be easy to screw up this brand.’ (Witness the New Coke fiasco some years back ­ not Eames’ idea.)

Says Eames: ‘Coca-Cola’s in the minds and in the heart. We have the greatest challenge of all. The challenge of staying there, as a 110 year-old brand. Everybody wants our crown.’

Accepting that not every great idea results in great success, Eames admires Ault Food’s kick at branding filtered milk in a commodity market.

However, he won’t accept Coca-Cola’s becoming a commodity.

‘We must create value,’ Eames says. ‘Price is an important component, and we’ve had to reduce prices in Canada.’

One crucial part of value is image.

‘We tapped into Hollywood,’ Eames says. ‘We’re in the image business, and that’s what Hollywood creates.’

And, at last, Coke is revisiting that venerable ‘hobble-skirt’ bottle image, in plastic.

Eames has bitten the productivity bullet, too: ‘We now sell more product from half the number of bottling plants, and the consumer benefits.’

But here’s Eames’ real customer key.

He has eliminated brand managers (yes, you read it right), replacing them with lifestage managers who grapple with all marketing activities of all brands, versus a particular age group.

‘Don’t start with the brand, start with the consumer,’ Eames says.

(To quote independent Coke worshipper and shrine builder Cybelle Srour, ‘The brand actually becomes the consumer.’)

If these innovations seem small or obvious to you, try running a market leader sometime.

It’s a whole different game ­ called winning by not losing.

And that could be just what Eames d’es on Feb 8.