New Media Lab LLC of Oxford, parent company of HottyToddy.com and Experience Oxford Magazine, announced today that Allison Buchanan has joined the company as its chief executive officer.
“We are delighted to have this extraordinarily talented professional accept appointment as CEO. Allison is an Ole Miss alumna who has a demonstrated record of achievement and leadership in business communication and innovation. She is the perfect person to lead and direct the future envisioned for New Media Lab LLC,” said Dr. Ed Meek, chairman.
Allison comes to New Media Lab from The Focus Group in Gulfport, Mississippi, where she served five years as the company’s leader. During her tenure, the company grew more than ten-fold despite an ongoing recession, to become one of the largest and most innovative advertising/PR/digital agencies in Mississippi. Before The Focus Group, she was president of Buchanan Group, a marketing communications firm based in Biloxi.
New Media Lab has grown significantly during a time in which communications companies have been challenged. New Media Lab LLC has created a profitable digital product in HottyToddy.com, which has garnered an audience of 1.8 million unique readers and 9.8 million page views in the past year. With related social media, the company is experiencing explosive growth on social media at a pace of over an annual reach of 15.6 million people per year on Facebook and 13.2 million impressions annually on Twitter. Instagram and Snapchat are experiencing record growth as well.
“New Media Lab LLC’s core mission is to provide financial support to the Meek School of Journalism and New Media while providing enriching experiences for students and support for faculty. All profits will support the school,” Meek said.
“The company will expand rapidly to include a wide range of new digital products, business services, events and tradeshows,” he added.
“This is such an exciting time as the digital world shapes a new future for business in all sectors of society. New Media Lab LLC is going to be at the forefront of innovation in creating new products and services that are responsive to the challenge of the rapidly changing world of communication,” Buchanan said.
Under Buchanan’s leadership, The Focus Group won over 40 Addy Awards and 14 Public Relations (PRAM and SPRF) awards in 2015. As product line manager at Ecolab, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, she is credited with conceiving and developing the company’s high successful Oasis product line which is sold around the world.
Prior to Buchanan Group, Allison’s career path after college took her to both Dallas and Houston, Texas, where she served in sales and management roles with Pillsbury Corporation. She then joined Berkshire Corporation in Denver, Colorado, where she progressed to become national director of sales and marketing in the company’s home offices in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Following Berkshire, she joined Ecolab, Inc. in St. Paul, Minnesota as a product line manager with P & L responsibilities.
Allison graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Mississippi with Minors in Art and University Scholars. She was in the Ole Miss Hall of Fame, was ODK “Leader of the Year,” and served as president of the Ole Miss Association for Women Students and as national president of the Intercollegiate Association for Women Students. She was editor-in-chief of the Ole Miss Magazine, graphics editor of the Daily Mississippian, PRSA “Most Outstanding Public Relations Student in Mississippi” and was named “Most Outstanding Journalism Student” her senior year. Allison also served as president of Delta Gamma sorority.
“Her unmatched professional experience combined with her involvement, dedication and love for Ole Miss will no doubt help us achieve our goals,” Meek said.
Allison was involved in the community on the Coast, recently completing eight-years of service on the Biloxi School Board where she served as president and secretary. She and her husband, Pat, have two children – Hawtin, who is a 2015 Broadcast Journalism graduate of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, who played on the Ole Miss baseball team and is now playing in the Seattle Mariners organization. Their daughter, Frances, is an honors college junior at Ole Miss majoring in Integrated Marketing Communications in the Meek School.
