DEI & Accessibility Initiatives, Magazine Rebrand Powered Member Engagement Efforts at ESPA, IMARK
PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J.—March 11, 2024— CMA, one of the nation’s top association management companies, announced today that it won two national marketing awards from Association TRENDS, a leading association industry publication.
The award-winning, full-service communications, marketing and association management company took home the following honors:
- Silver for “Best Advocacy Campaign” for spearheading the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Accessibility initiatives on behalf of the Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA).
- Bronze for “Most Improved Magazine or Journal” for rebranding IMARK Today, the official publication of the IMARK Group, plumbing vertical.
“It is a tremendous honor for our work to be acknowledged with these two notable national awards on behalf of our association clients,” said Jeffrey Barnhart, CMA’s founder and CEO. “For over three decades, CMA has maintained a steadfast commitment to delivering exceptional results, a tradition underscored by our successful partnerships with leading organizations like the IMARK Group and ESPA. Our track record of award-winning performance is a testament to our skilled team of in-house professionals, all of whom specialize in driving associations toward significant growth in membership, sponsorship, attendance and revenue worldwide.”
For ESPA, a leading advocate for event service professionals in the tourism and hospitality industry, CMA and other industry allies collaborated to develop two crucial new resources: a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) guidebook and an accessibility toolkit for venues and destinations. The DEI guide quickly became a go-to resource for advancing diversity and inclusivity within and beyond the ESPA community, addressing key roles and challenges in event services with actionable recommendations. Likewise, ESPA’s accessibility toolkit provided venues and destinations with strategies to make events universally accessible. Both resources have been crucial in fostering inclusivity and accessibility discussions in the profession, emphasizing their significance.
For IMARK Group, a member-owned cooperative serving the plumbing distribution sector, amongst other verticals, CMA rebranded the magazine, previously known as IMARK Plumbing, to better align with the cooperative’s expanding new membership. The result was a new name, IMARK Today, a new masthead and revamped sections designed for the group’s key divisions. The redesign retained ties to the original branding while introducing new fonts and colors to enhance aesthetics, readability and reader engagement. The fresh look and feel reinforced the magazine’s positioning as a leading resource in the plumbing distribution sector and boosted advertising sales across all divisions.
Since its founding in 1987, CMA has won over 400 awards in communications, marketing and association excellence for clients in various industries, including financial services, hospitality, lighting, health care, distilleries, professional services and associations.
Last year, CMA also won two Association Trends marketing awards for its exhibitor and sponsorship sales kit for the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) and its monthly newsletter for Federally Employed Women (FEW).
For more award-winning association marketing solutions, visit CMAsolutions.com or follow CMA on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
###
About CMA
CMA is a full-service communications, marketing and association management firm that has provided its clients with award-winning and proven results for 35 years. CMA utilizes its strategic solutions to drive ROI, including branding, digital marketing, web and mobile app development, social media, public relations, advertising, collateral, association management, event planning, publications and advertising sales. Through its proprietary discovery process, Marketecture™, CMA offers a strategic analysis to help clients understand how they can best be positioned in the marketplace. Community is central to CMA, with over 3,000 hours dedicated to volunteering, fundraising and pro bono services over the past three decades. CMA embraces a workplace that fosters fun and creativity for its clients and staff, from summer BBQs and team-building activities to a pet-friendly environment. Visit CMAsolutions.com and follow @CMAresults on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
