Kristen Ingram (courtesy photo)
Kristen Ingram Creates PLUS ONE Marketing Firm
Ingram celebrates diversity by launching diversity initiatives, social clubs, and a marketing firm of her own.
Kristen Ingram has gone from being the head of affiliate marketing for the National Football League (NFL) to opening her own marketing firm, PLUS ONE, where the NFL is one of her top clients.
Some people start off thinking they want to major in a certain field of study and change their mind later on, but for Ingram marketing has always been what she wanted to do. When she discovered an opportunity to combine sports and marketing, she was completely sold.
“Me and my family have played sports our entire lives. When I realized that sports marketing comes together to build an enterprise I was all about it,” said Ingram. “The moments that I get to create for fans are so powerful. People are attached to sports like nothing else.”
Upon graduating from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Ingram was offered her first job with a communications firm. From there she went on to work for ESPN which led her to NFL Network, where she was responsible for creating different strategies to attract more viewers, as the head of affiliate marketing. She currently a handles all of the community relations for the NFL media in Los Angeles. Along with these roles, Ingram took on the task of launching the NFL Diverse Talent Community.
“The reason I created this platform for increasing diversity talent was because we don’t have a lot,” said Ingram. “Everything is always changing and to be the best in business you have to be diverse and be reflective of the community that we live in, so I’ve made it my mission to do that.”
Ingram decided to start her own marketing firm, PLUS ONE, in November of 2016. Instead of a company where groups meet separately but focus on the same creative campaign, Ingram wanted to create a firm where everyone is in the same room, with an open communication about creating the best strategies across the board.
“I’ve been in the industry for the past seven years and there’s a real need for a cohesive threading of departments when it comes to campaigns,” said Ingram. “Since I know both sides of the business, the distributor side and the network side, I can come in and be that thread that pulls everyone together to lead one campaign.”
In searching for ways to bridge a gap between business and people, Ingram also created a PLUS ONE social club where young professionals mingle once a month, with an array of activities from music series by Warren G and Biz Markie to workshops on learning how to spice up the bedroom with Sexologist Shan Boody.
Philanthropy is a big part of Ingram’s life as well. She actively works with the homeless through the Los Angeles Mission and the Welcome Home Project with Mayor Eric Garcetti. Ingram is also heavily involved in Food Mood, an organization that makes locally grown fruits and vegetables more affordable and accessible for lower income families.
“I do what I feel like needs to be done across the board. Some of it falls into philanthropy, some of it falls into community, some of it falls into social clubs and some of it falls into marketing,” said Ingram. “Wherever there’s a need or a gap that I think I can fill, that’s what I do.”
For more information on Ingram, visit plusonesociety.com and follow her on Instagram @kicertified.