Branding Strategy

The NARMS “branding strategy” was defined during a recent board meeting and set into motion through the Division committees. NARMS will be under increasing pressure to assure ethical standards among its members.

When successfully executed, “branding” is one of the biggest assets to any company or organization. In Chicago, the owners of the 110-story Sears Tower have announced a “branding strategy” to portray the Tower as “the most prestigious business address in the world.” According to the August 14, 2006 article in CRAIN’S Chicago Business, 1.5 million visitors a year visit the Sky Deck, but only one in seven guests is a child. It is not surprising that the owners have hired a design firm founded by Walt Disney to make visits to the Tower an experience, not just a view.
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Board Engages Strategic Planning Retreat

The NARMS board of directors met in Chicago in mid-June to work through a strategic planning process to identify critical issues, create a vision for NARMS’ future, set long-range goals for the association and brainstorm possible objectives to achieve those goals. One could call it an exercise because it is intended to be an ongoing process that will further develop the collective skills of planning and help NARMS continually evolve to better serve its retail support member companies.
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It Takes More Than a Village- It Takes an Industry to Succeed

As an individual who has worked and believed in associations for almost three decades, you probably will not find a person who believes more in working together and creating a community. Unlike labor unions that usually only see one side of the equation, NARMS has created a community that brings all elements of the Retail Service Industry to the table and thus a forum to discuss and resolve mutual problems and concerns. Associations are the not for profit, legal means to gather and they are the “big tent” in bringing industries together.
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Ken’s Keystrokes

We’re heading into my favorite time of year! Besides celebrating my birthday and wedding anniversary just days apart, September marks my absolute favorite time of year. It is a month overflowing with memories and images of what makes life in the upper Midwest special.

I am sure each of you has your own favorite time of year for your own very valid reasons; here are just a few of mine. Labor Day weekend played host to my county fair in southwest Wisconsin where I grew up. Coming from a family that showed registered dairy cattle at various area cattle shows, this was an important part of my upbringing and responsibility education. Caring for a show string of Holsteins and greeting the visiting public was very much a part of the years of my youth. As I’ve gotten older, I proudly realize the extreme efforts made by my parents to accommodate the routine farm chores yet give opportunity to their six children through our 4-H and FFA projects. There is no question that those experiences have made each of us better persons!
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ROI Study Launched

Following affirmative action by the NARMS board of directors earlier this spring, a return on investment study has been launched recently that is intended to demonstrate client revenues and profit growth from merchandising service opportunities in retail settings.

The study, to be conducted by Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), will measure the return on investment a retailer and / or a manufacturer receives when they hire a NARMS member company to conduct in-store merchandising services. To ensure broad credibility and scope, the study will utilize at least 150 store samples across ten geographically dispersed market areas spanning the food, drug and mass merchandising categories.
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Merchandising Service Organizations Division

Summer is practically over. As we prepare both our homes and our businesses for the back-to-school rush, we hope that this update finds you well.

The MSO committee recently spent two days in Las Vegas to discuss a myriad of topics including the MSO ROI study (and sponsor opportunities), the NARMS Operational Benchmark Study, the McKinley Member Needs Assessment and the 2007 Conference in Tucson.
As the NARMS Board and executives secure blue-chip speakers, the 2007 Conference continues to take shape. The MSO committee spent ample time at our summer meeting reviewing feedback from the 2006 Conference and the data supplied by many of you to McKinley, with the hope of finding workshops for 2007 that will meet your needs. Because a resounding number of respondents had asked for more information on financial management, managing your business and technology, among other things, we are proud to announce our workshop topics for the spring 2007 Conference (see below).
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With Focus Intent

Hello everyone. I hope this edition of the newsletter finds you well and enjoying the summer with family and friends. Hopefully as a welcome interruption to your business day, this column’s intent is to relay information on the Event Marketing and Demonstration Committee’s (EMDC) ongoing activities.

Recently, on July 19, 2006, the EMDC convened in Chicago with the mission to set a strategy to implement value adding projects for its members and refine the schedule of events for next April’s NARMS Annual Conference in Tucson, AZ. The committee started with a review of member survey results. Thirty-nine respondents took the time to fill out the recent survey which helped us understand what you, the members, want the committee to focus on instead of having we, the committee, trying to guess at what is important to you.
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Moving to the Future in IFBA

It seems unreal that it is nearly fall and the year is 2/3 gone. Independent food brokers are noted for staying active and 2006 has been no different with lots going on!

As I noted in my last column, we are certainly attempting to “divide and conquer” when it comes to our IFBA association business. Four subcommittees of the IFBA Division Committee have been formed with Advertising Committee efforts chaired by Jim Hall; Membership chaired by Don Cox; Manufacturer Development Committee headed by Tad Mancini and the Top to Top Annual Conference Committee chaired by Lynn Sarsgard. All committees are focused on improving IFBA activities and membership.
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BETTER PROBLEM SOLVING

So much has changed in our industry since I first met a man named Chuck Belding at the Housewares Show in the mid 90’s. Chuck was describing a need for companies offering in-store service to meet and share best practices and better ideas. This idea has grown into what we know today as NARMS.

Back in the day, manufacturers knew more about the success of different products than the retailer. Today, the retailer’s database is so sophisticated that a manufacturer is fortunate to gain access to the retailer’s program. Not all that long ago, retailers chose not to build stores near their competitors. Today we realize traffic flow is king and retail planning insists on clusters of like stores. There was a time when a company providing in-store service was thought of as unique. Today many manufacturers provide in-store service or are represented in-store by MSOs.
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Where is PIC?

I did a Google search recently for “PIC”. Now that the name for our growing sub group of Professional Installation Companies within NARMS is distinguished by a Service Mark (SM) we are official in the marketplace.

I was encouraged to find over 128,000 listings under the entry of PIC – surely a reference to our group would be near the top. The first “PIC” group I found was the Photo Industry Council on page one. As I continued to search I came across the Periodontics Information Center, Project Internet Canada, the Professional Inspectors Coalition, and the Polemar Institute of Cosmetology. Diligently I kept scrolling down to find the Pultrusion Industry Council (no clue what Pultrusion means) followed by the Pacific Islanders in Communication (probably through message in a bottle). I was now at page twenty-two of my PIC search and I came across the Private Industry Council of San Francisco. To my horror I noticed their annual budget was listed at $25 million dollars. With these “Rockefeller–deep” pockets they’ve only made it to page twenty-two and still haven’t moved past the Pacific Islanders or the Cosmetologists from Polemar. At this point in my search I felt like we were in the back of the line competing for recognition in a very crowded space of other “PIC” entities.
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