Hy-Vee CEO Ric Jurgens Honored as Retailer of Year by Iowa Grocers. Mueller-Yurgae Associates, Blue Bunny’s George Tracy also recognized at IGIA annual dinner

DES MOINES, Iowa – More than 400 grocery industry leaders attended the 16th Annual Iowa Grocery Industry Association Hall of Fame Dinner Tuesday, November 3, at the Sheraton West Des Moines Hotel, where the IGIA honored its Retailer of the Year, Supplier of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award winners.

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TeamHaven & FSS Receive Top Honors at Marketing Channel’s Annual Awards Banquet: Most Effective Use of Technology and Data

November 2009 - United Kingdom – After going up against the best companies in the Field Marketing industry, TeamHaven and FSS’s case study on Cadbury UK was selected as the winner of the Most Effective Use of Technology and Data. Partnering up with TDRIVEN, a creative agency in Orange County, California, FSS and TDRIVEN prepared a winning product that truly displayed the power of TeamHaven’s technology.

Field Sales Solutions (FSS) have been working with Cadburys for over 17 years, offering a number of field marketing disciplines from sales and distribution drives through to merchandising and auditing activities.

With a cutting-edge, industry leading IT system, TeamHaven, FSS has created a bespoke platform for Cadbury – enabling them to provide a greener, paperless means of briefing the field team, collecting data (via PDA) and providing online reports back to Cadburys. This use of IT, coupled with FSS’ use of CACI’s Journey Planning system to ensure the Ambassadors spend the minimum number of hours possible on the road (and a significant reduction of vehicle emissions) has earned them the Field Marketing and Brand Experience “Green Award for Effective Use of Data and IT”.
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The Beam Team Acquires Ready Set Management

Atlanta, GA (October 2, 2009) – The Beam Team has recently acquired the merchandising division of Ready Set Companies (RSM) retail services. Ready Set is headquartered in Schaumburg, IL with approximately 250 employees. RSM provides retail services specializing in in-store merchandising installation including product assembly. With a strong business presence in the Midwest market, RSM will improve the Beam Team market coverage, enhance their service offering and generate new efficiencies.

According to Beam Team President, Rick Hall, “This deal is a smart move for both companies on many levels. It will improve our ability to offer our existing customers better coverage and make us more competitive for future growth opportunities. Ready Set provides many of the same services as we do and they have an experienced work force. Adding them to our team builds our commitment to employ full-time (W-2) workers who consistently out-perform companies who rely on a temporary work force. Ready Set also has strong management that we will leverage to grow our business. Leading this group is Ed Martin, a former director at The Home Depot, who will bring great insight into the industry.
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Lawrence Merchandising Announces New President and Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Birke

MINNEAPOLIS, September 15, 2009 – Lawrence Merchandising, a Minneapolis-based Merchandising Service Organization, today announced the appointment of Stephen (Steve) Birke as the president and chief executive officer effective October 5, 2009. Birke succeeds Don Koller who resigned on August 7, 2009 to pursue other interests.
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DDP Holdings, Inc. announces a new brand name for its Retail Services Groups

DDP Holdings, Inc. today announced a new brand name for its Retail Services Groups, which were formerly known as DDP Holdings, MI-DE, CSA, and ionSMART Team.

President/CEO Mike Sunderland stated that the group will be rebranded as Apollo Retail Specialists, or ARS. The name is “more in line with our service portfolio which includes a full range of retail services from new store set-up to detailed merchandising activities,” and rolls under a single brand the various acquired companies. This will assist us in integrating our teams into a single brand name, while keeping our broad base of services.
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Natural Insight Announces Merchandising Powerhouse RMP as Newest Client

In a slow economy companies leverage technology to power growth.

Sterling, VA & Duluth, GA, September 1, 2009 — Natural Insight, the developer of a fast and flexible solution for managing distributed workforces, has added Retail Marketing Professionals, Inc. (RMP) as its newest client. RMP is a leading provider of merchandising services that help clients ensure consumer products are correctly stocked, positioned and marketed in stores across the country.

Due to the nature of RMP’s business and the many store locations that its workers visit, the company needs to coordinate and manage the work of a widespread team of more than 6,500 employees — a challenge that grows more complex each year. “We have worked with other service providers in the past,” says Bob Schafer, RMP’s owner and partner, “and we’ve found that Natural Insight provides greater flexibility and a more comprehensive approach to workforce management.”
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Natural Insight Expands Management Team with SaaS Veteran Steve Brown

Sterling, VA, August 11, 2009 — Natural Insight, developer of a fast and flexible solution for managing distributed workforces, today announced the appointment of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) veteran Steve Brown as the company’s new vice president of sales and business development. The move comes as the company is rapidly expanding its marketing and sales efforts, thanks in part to an infusion of investor funds and continued strong demand for innovative workforce solutions.
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NaturalInsight to Provide Advanced Workforce Management Solution to Ready Set

Industry-leading platform helps major retail services company transform management processes

Sterling, VA and Elk Grove Village, IL, July 21, 2009 Industry officials today announced that Ready Set has chosen NaturalInsight for managing their nationally-distributed field workforce.

By implementing the NaturalInsight platform, Ready Set will rapidly transform its management of workers in hundreds of retail locations across the country. Ready Sets workers perform a variety of specialized assignments, such as assembling displays, in store service, retail merchandising, and sales representation. Using NaturalInsights intuitive Web-based platform, Ready Set managers will be able to manage and assign projects, survey consumers, and track on-shelf product management far more efficiently.
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ICC/Decision Services Launches UpSellCalc™ iPhone Application, Available Now for Free Download on iTunes

New York, NY (PRWEB) July 14, 2009 — ICC Decison Services (http://www.iccds.com), an international customer experience management company based in New York City, has developed an iphone application is the first of its kind in the industry. Now available for free download on ITunes, the UpSellCalc ™ will quickly and easily calculate the sales potential of increased suggestive selling.
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Teamhaven Builds Strategic Partnership With Retail Performance Group (Rpg) In Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia—May 2009— Retail Performance Group (RPG) is a retail management and merchandising company that provides field marketing strategies across the Middle East. Their retail program network stretches from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain employing a field force of 305 full time employees. They are a retail business and integrated merchandising company that offer excellent solutions to increase and expand the sales market for your company.
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