MMA honors Thom Dammrich
Outgoing NMMA President Dr. Thomas Dammrich was presented with the special “Marketer of Excellence” Neptune Award by Marine Marketers of America at the third annual Grow Boating Marketing Summit at IBEX in Tampa, Fla.
Dammrich received a standing ovation from the crowd of 200 marine marketers in attendance.
“Marine Marketers of America is honored and extremely pleased to present this well-deserved and highly distinguished award to Thom for his exceptional marketing leadership of the past 20 years, said MMA President Wanda Kenton Smith. “Thom has been a stalwart marketing champion throughout his 20-year marine industry career, and we all owe a debt of gratitude to him for his outstanding leadership and countless major marketing contributions.”
Kenton Smith cited numerous marketing programs launched under Dammrich’s watch which have positively impacted the marine industry including the Discover Boating outreach campaign and its industry-facing Grow Boating initiative.
Additionally, his broad-reaching vision of welcoming diverse new markets as well as recognizing the buying influence and importance of engaging kids has helped focus the importance of longer-term industry growth strategies.
Dammrich has also served as a powerful industry advocate and PR spokesperson, having represented and positively positioned the recreational marine industry in hundreds of media interviews.
During his tenure, Dammrich built a strong NMMA marketing team which has collectively improved business intelligence, marketing research and statistics, while providing a high level of marketing and PR support services and deliverables made available to the industry at large.
“We’re sitting here today at the third annual Grow Boating Marketing Summit because Thom recognized the importance of fostering important professional development opportunities for marine marketers in order that we can stay on the edge of all the most relevant marketing developments necessary for industry growth,” said Kenton Smith. “He has also sounded a clarion call to industry leaders and stakeholders to move beyond the traditional sales and product focus to fully embracing and empowering the marketing team.”
Concluding her remarks, Kenton Smith noted this award comes on the eve of Dammrich’s retirement from the NMMA.
“We all wish Thom many hours enjoying some well-deserved relaxation on the boat of his dreams after all the years he has so feverishly promoted and marketed the boating lifestyle,” she said.
A customized crystal Neptune Award was presented to Dammrich by Kenton Smith and Marine Marketers of America board member and Neptune Award Co-Chair Kristen Frohnhoefer.
