AMA Lifetime Achievement Award Tribute
Content Direction
When Steve Koonin received the American Marketing Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the goal wasn’t simply to document his career. It was to create a film worthy of the people, moments, and legacy that shaped it, while giving the audience and Steve himself a new way to experience the story.
At a Glance
Format
Executive Tribute Film
Premiere
American Marketing Association Lifetime Achievement Awards
Delta Flight Museum
Atlanta, Georgia
Audience
AMA attendees
Business leaders
Marketing executives
Steve Koonin and his family
Client
American Marketing Association
Honoring Steve Koonin, CEO of the Atlanta Hawks
Team
Lotenna Enwonwu — Creative Director / Editor
Mike McPherson — Director
Paul Carpenter — Producer
BGG Production Crew
Format
Executive Tribute Film
Year
2024
Business Context
The American Marketing Association wanted to honor Steve Koonin’s decades of leadership with a tribute that would be shown live during the Lifetime Achievement Awards ceremony.
The audience already knew why Steve was receiving the award.
The challenge was creating something that would still surprise him.
Challenge
How do you tell the story of a decades-long career without making another chronological biography?
More importantly, how do you honor someone who already knows their own story?
Insight
The most meaningful stories aren’t told by the person at the center of them.
They’re told by the people whose lives they changed.
Rather than focusing on achievements alone, the film would allow colleagues, collaborators, and friends to become the narrators of Steve’s legacy.
Strategy & Creative Approach
BGG interviewed the people who had worked alongside Steve throughout his career, capturing stories that revealed not only what he accomplished, but how he made people feel. Rather than building the narrative around milestones, the film was structured around relationships, leadership, generosity, and the lasting impact Steve had on the people around him. The final piece premiered live at the Delta Flight Museum during the AMA Lifetime Achievement Awards, where Steve experienced many of the interviews for the first time alongside the audience.
Capture
We interviewed Steve’s team, researched his career and relationships, and scouted the places that could help tell his story.
Curate
We found the story beneath the résumé, selecting the voices, moments and environments that revealed his impact on other people.
Construct
We combined Steve’s interview with former colleagues, archival material and surprise messages from people he’d influenced, refining the film closely with his team.
Circulate
The finished film premiered at the AMA Lifetime Achievement Awards, turning a career retrospective into a surprise shared with Steve and the room.
The Work
Story Strategy
Identify the emotional thread connecting decades of leadership through the people who experienced it firsthand.
Interviews
Conduct conversations with colleagues, collaborators, and friends whose perspectives became the foundation of the narrative.
Editorial
Shape dozens of stories into a single emotional arc that balanced humor, admiration, and reflection.
Event Experience
Design the film specifically for a live audience, building toward emotional reveals that could only happen in the room.
Outcome
The tribute became one of the defining moments of the evening. The audience responded with warmth and emotion, while Steve experienced stories and perspectives he had never heard before.
Following the event, Steve requested a personal copy of the film to share with his family, describing it as something he hoped would one day be seen by his grandchildren.
The tribute became one of the defining moments of the evening. The audience responded with warmth and emotion, while Steve experienced stories and perspectives he had never heard before.
Following the event, Steve requested a personal copy of the film to share with his family, describing it as something he hoped would one day be seen by his grandchildren.