Earlier this month in Dallas, a group of consumer products industry executives gathered together at the Promotion Optimization Institute’s event the Collaborative Marketing Driven by Advanced Analytics Summit. The summit included representatives from leading global brands and the topics ranged from Driving Mutual Growth in a Dynamic Retail Environment with a Revenue Growth Management Focus to Removing Barriers – Enabling Promotion Optimization for the Holistic Organization. All of the speakers at the event were highly respected individuals in their profession and they provided real tangible techniques and tips for the audience. I’ve highlighted some of my key takeaways from the event below.

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Change Management is a Critical Component of Revenue Growth Management

Our very own Steve Rosenstock shared his perspective on how fundamental shifts in the consumer products industry are challenging consumer products companies to consider evolving mechanisms for growth. For example, there are diminishing barriers to entry with an $18 billion market share shift from large-size to small and mid-size businesses since 2012. There are a variety of diversified retail channels, and consumers expect what they want, where they want it, and when they want it. Plus, merger and acquisitions activity is at an all-time high, challenging organizations to effectively integrate acquisitions. But, to stay competitive, particularly with a revenue growth management approach, companies need to continually evolve and change.

To access Steve Rosenstock’s full presentation on The Reality of Transformational Change in Trade Promotion Management you can download it here.

Revenue Growth Management is Not Just About Trade Spend

If you are looking to deploy a revenue growth management approach, your organization needs to be ready to think beyond trade spend. The RGM team needs to consider pricing, positioning, channel, promotions, mix and trade spend to be effective at revenue growth management. And, the structure of the organization is critical.  Should the RGM team be considered part of the sales organization? The finance team? Performing at the enterprise level? The expert panelists at this POI event had some varied opinions, but one consistent message is that it is absolutely critical to have executive support and buy in. No matter which organization the revenue growth management team reports into, they must have the ability to push back to drive the business forward and that comes with executive team support.

This event also gave the attendees a great opportunity to learn more about some of the emerging technologies in the collaborative marketing landscape.  Technology providers like Exceedra, SAP, Blacksmith Applications, and Eversight all gave interesting, and in some cases, very fun (!) presentations about their latest technology platforms.

The Reality of Transformational Change in Trade Promotion Management

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