AICPA
Company: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, New York, NY
Company Description: The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (www.aicpa.org) is the national, professional association of CPAs, with more than 350,000 members. Its mission is to provide members with the resources, information and leadership that enable them to provide valuable services in the highest professional manner to benefit the public, employers and clients.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications Team of the Year
Nomination Title: AICPA Communications and Media Channels Team
1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
In 2008, the Communications Team continued to develop in organization and
expertise. In July, Magazines and Newsletters joined the Communications Team,
and the group became the Communications and Media Channels Team (CMCT),
allowing us collectively to capitalize on the teams’ considerable
newsgathering and distribution functions. The CMC T now consists of
Advertising & Brand Management, Communications, Creative Services, Media
Relations and Magazine & Newsletters, which includes advertising sales.
Each area makes significant contributions to the AICPA’s success as the
nation’s premier professional organization for CPAs. The materials and
programs the CMCT produces and manages on behalf of members, state CPA
societies, the public, AICPA staff and other audiences, continues to grow in
volume and range.
Our team’s success contributed to the AICPA’s success. Our programs have
earned 57 awards this year, demonstrating our commitment to deliver,
important, targeted and timely information to our varied audiences.
2008 highlights:
Start Here, Go Places. Student Recruitment Campaign: the program acquired
63,460 new leads. Of these leads, early college students are five times more
likely to choose a career in the profession and 10 times more likely to pursue
CPA certification than the general early college population.
The Edge: the monthly newsletter that focuses exclusively on issues and
concerns to young professional consistently received a high rate of new
subscribers and maintained an open rate well above industry standards: 45%
among its 40,000 subscribers.
Feed the Pig for Tweens, a math-based curriculum for 4th-6th graders, extends
the savings message of the profession’s financial literacy effort to a younger
audience. The program launched August and by November, orders were placed for
more than 35,000 kits, representing a potential reach of more than 1,000,000
students.
Executive Communications: the team provides volunteer leaders and state CPA
societies with the resources they need to deliver the profession’s messages.
The team supported leaders in delivering more than 300 PowerPoint
presentations, speeches, videos, issue briefings and other resources to assist
AICPA leadership in their outreach.
Internal Communications: In May, an internal survey indicated that staff was
looking for shorter, more to the point publications that met their individuals
needs, while reducing the amount of email messages. More than 300 employees
responded to the survey. The results provided the internal communications
staff with an opportunity to revise and revision the Team Network News Family
of publications, its branding and purpose. Approximately 90% of survey
respondents found the information in TNN to be good or excellent. TNN has a
readership rate of 95.1% of staff.
Launched on September 15, 2008, CPA Letter Daily points readers to the
original articles for in-depth information and to videos, resources and tools,
including AICPA information and websites. Links to numerous online resources
and interactive features round out the e-newsletter. A next-generation RSS
feed, or widget, containing the day’s news stories can be grabbed from the
www.aicpa.org home page and placed on members’ or state CPA societies’
websites, social networking profiles or blogs. CPA Letter Daily is offered on
an opt-in basis. By November 6 more than 94,000 CPAs and financial
professionals signed up. The open rate hovers in the 45 percent to 47 percent
range, well above the industry standard.
The Media Relations team presents CPAs to the public as skilled professionals
and objective experts through outreach to the international, national,
regional and local press. Over the past year, the AICPA and its spokespeople
have appeared in more than 3,000 news stories, generating more than two
billion media impressions. AICPA spokespeople have been quoted in ABC World
News, Chicago Tribune, Fortune Small Business and USA Today, among many other
outlets.
Multimedia maintains the Institute’s in-house television and media studio and
provides video, audio, interactive CD-ROM, photography, PowerPoint
presentations, Web-based streaming, live Web broadcasting, podcasts, and
international translation and duplication services. The Multimedia team
produced more than 200 videos, webcasts, infocasts and podcasts in 2008.
Graphic Design provides creative strategy and concept development for print
and electronic advertising, marketing and promotional materials, direct mail
campaigns, copywriting, graphic design, photography, brand management, print
preparation, project management and proofreading. The Graphic Design team
completed more than 1,000 projects in 2008.
Working with IT, the Journal of Accountancy team planned, designed and
developed an entirely new website during fiscal year 2008, which launched in
October. More than 10 years of Journal archives were moved to a content
management system, and the overhauled site offers AICPA members new features
including daily news, multimedia and web-exclusive content, plus a host of
interactive tools. The site’s robust search and advanced search capabilities
allow seamless searching across JournalofAccountancy.com, AICPA.org and
CPA2Biz.com. The new JournalofAccountancy.com opens the door to previously
unavailable revenue streams.
2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
Start Here. Go Places. http://www.startheregoplaces.com/
Feed the Pig for Tweens http://www.feedthepig.org/tweens
Media Center http://www.aicpa.org/MediaCenter/
Video Library http://www.aicpa.org/stream/index.htm
Journal of Accountancy Online http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/
3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:
Janice Maiman is Vice-President, Communications & Media Channels for the
AICPA. She directs internal communications to state society audiences, member
groups, and Institute staff, as well as executive communications and special
communications projects. She also is in charge of the Institute's Media
Relations function and multi-media group.
Maiman has been a key player in launching 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy
program, designing and executing the grassroots communications program called
CPA Ambassadors, and directing the image enhancement campaign and advertising
program.
She holds a B.A. in English from Brooklyn College and a Masters in writing
from the University of Virginia.