Retail Advertising and Marketing Association

Gen/200

Retail Advertising and Marketing Association "Consumers know precisely what's wrong with advertising. Be it TV or print or whatever, they know that advertising is never creative enough ... never as witty, inspiring, sophisticated, entertaining and downright likable as they would like it to be” (Phil Dussonberry, former BBDO advertising executive). In the world of retail things are ever changing there is a constant need for new advertising or marketing to grab the consumers attention. Without these tools a retailers profits can quickly dwindle leaving them in the dust. One great tool for retailers is the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association(RAMA). This paper will explain what RAMA is, how it can increase my professional knowledge and abilities, and how perfecting my knowledge and abilities can affect my career success. The Retail Advertising & Marketing Association (RAMA) is a trade association of retail marketing and advertising professionals, plus their counterparts on the agency, media and service-provider sides of the business. RAMA is a division of the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association (National Retail Federation, 2011). RAMA also is the producer of the annual Racie Awards Competition, the industry’s most prestigious creative contest for retail broadcast, web and print advertising (National Retail Federation, 2011). RAMA is an innovative association that connects retailers Chief Marketing Officers around the world bringing new looks to the way we as retailers market and advertise our goods from books to clothes, to electronics. They hold a CMO Summit which is a convention where retailers send their main players within their marketing department to learn fresh ways to advertise and market from digital to mobile marketing and advertising. I have always wondered while setting planograms and feature shops at work why they were put where they were in the store. The truth of it has always been that someone in marketing and advertising decided it would better support what they were planning in the bigger picture. If I look back on the rise and fall of big box retailers a big part of it has always been advertising. The lack in a proficient advertising and marketing team can slit a retailers throat. I am extremely interested in understanding how these teams operate. I am sure that if i had a better understanding, that the RAMA can provide, I could be a better asset to my company and grow to be a better merchandiser. For instance, during the Christmas season in my company they give you merchandising freedom. This is good for us because we can do what we want but sometimes we do not utilize the tools that have been given to us to support advertisements. With using RAMA as a tool I could make better decisions in order to drive profit for my location by increasing sales. In retail your success all comes down to one thing, your profit margin. By merchandising with a better understanding of advertisements and marketing I can drive a better profit margin. This will contribute to my success because it will be a tool I can use no matter what retail establishment I happen to work for. The knowledge of a different aspect of the business is invaluable when operating on store level. Sometimes I tend to struggle and think why the would merchandise something in a particular area of the store. If I take the initiative to further understand how advertising and marketing works and what is new in that realm then I will not be so frustrated. This will free up energy for me to focus on other things that need to be re-merchandised throughout the store. In conclusion, the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association is a valuable tool for anyone to use who works in retail. This association helps fuel the fertile minds of our advertising and marketing departments. They are consistently reinforcing great advertising techniques such as using social media and text advertising. I firmly believe that understand different aspects of the company you work for is half of the battle to become an asset and a well rounded team member. In becoming a more well rounded, knowledgeable, able team member I will be on the road to success.

References

National Retail Federation.(2011). Retail Advertising and Marketing Association Retrieved from http://www.rama-nrf.org