Human Resources: Forum to Redefine Branding for the 21st Century is Launched

IRVINGTON, N.Y., February 21, 2007 – There is a new way of thinking today in branding. Experts are sounding the alarm that old models are no longer effective for driving performance and profitability in the 21st Century. Now, branding is a key component in an array of business initiatives that are critical in helping boost sales, build loyalty, enhance communications, forge relationships, promote opt-ins, and improve learning – all of which involve people, first and foremost.

How do you leverage the world’s great brands to power your external and internal incentive, rewards, and recognition strategies? How can you take your company’s brand to the next level through the power of your people? How do you find new ways to enhance your brand through alternative markets?

Debuting May 30-31, 2007 at the New York Sheraton Towers & Suites in Manhattan, The New York Incentive, Rewards and Recognition Expo – also known as ‘The Brands Show’ – was created to tap the broad synergy of today’s branding initiatives and help industry professionals take brands to the next level in their corporate marketing, motivation and engagement efforts.

The Brands Show offers a comprehensive, hands-on learning experience for managers in sales, marketing, incentives, meeting planning, advertising, promotions, and human resources who are responsible for improving brand performance, both internally and externally.

The Brands Show’s exhibits and education will help organizations increase brand performance by focusing on the key drivers of 21st Century branding:
·        People: connecting the dots between customer needs and what channel partners and employees deliver
·        Engagement: getting people to opt-in and pay attention to communications and focus on what is important to customers or organizations
·        Alternative Marketing: finding new ways to enhance brands through promotions, co-marketing with other brands, engaging employees, selling brands for use by other companies in their promotions and incentives, and creatively displaying branding messages on products tailored to target audiences

The Brands Show will feature representatives from over 200 leading brands gathered under one roof to discuss ways conference attendees can use cutting-edge products and services to improve the performance of their marketing efforts, incentive programs, promotions, and rewards & recognition initiatives.

A special free education program, offered at the show and presented by the Incentive Marketing Association, will focus on the role of customers, channel partners, salespeople and employees in building brands, and on trends in key brand categories.

A slate of paid seminars features a unique combination of marketing disciplines focusing on the role of people performance in branding. Paid seminars are presented by the Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement, the Promotion Marketing Association, and the National Association of Employee Recognition.

In addition, exhibitors representing the leading brands used in internal incentive, promotion, rewards & recognition programs, as well as the top incentive and marketing agencies, will help attendees improve their branding efforts, displaying the latest performance solutions and discussing creative ways their products and services can be used to increase impact and return on investment (ROI).

“The marketing world has traditionally defined branding through the lens of packaging and promotion,” says Bruce Bolger, program director for The Brands Show. “We believe that another key component – the people charged with designing and implementing these programs – play an equally important role in maximizing the brand, and that includes customers, channel partners, salespeople, employees and even vendors. That’s what The Brands Show is all about – people and performance.”

For more information on attending The Brands Show, go to www.nyirr.com or contact Jim Kilmetis at 914-591-7600, ext. 229.

About Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement:
The Forum for People Performance Management and Measurement is a research unit affiliated with the Medill Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) graduate program at Northwestern University. It is funded by associations and corporations interested in the issue of People Performance Management and Measurement. A central objective of the Forum is to develop and disseminate knowledge about communications, engagement and management such that businesses can achieve their objectives through better designed and managed people-based initiatives both inside and outside an organization.