Retail Observer

OCTOBER 2016 RETAILOBSERVER.COM 43 N ationwide Marketing Group held their largest summer PrimeTime! Conference at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville from August 14-17. Dave Bilas, CEO, and Jeff Knock, CCO, kicked off the biggest Nashville show by explaining the show attendance exceeded 3,600 people. The show held over 900+ member com- panies and 190+ vendors. Occupying 220,000 square feet of show space, the traffic was heavy at this largely attended show. Nationwide was pleased to share their membership numbers this year. The leadership team said the group has 3,500+ members representing more than 10,000 storefronts, with a collective buying power exceeding 15 billion. The group's kickoff event held at the Grand Ole Opry featured NMG staffers Jeff Knock on drums and Kris Kuester on vocals, opening up for an awards show recognizing many members for various accomplishments. Wynonna Judd and her band, the Big Noise, performed some of her latest hits on stage for the Nationwide family. Jeff Knock reported that 2016 so far was strong for Nationwide programs. "Over the years, I have spent a lot of time in our industry, crusading to bring my customers and (and now members) through '95% Share Marketing', a company completely devoted to help building an army of Super Hero's with retailers that have chosen to take the path of change. We have moved over 300 members through an experiential program to help them take control of their brand and own their customer relationships. Now, with "95% Share Aftercare" in place, we can bring even hundreds more through this on-line program through our Learning Academy. While the motive is helping us create over-the-top consumer experiences, 95% of the program is focused on concentrating on our people. As a retail business, we are a brand. As a brand, we are sum of many components. Our most critical components, our employees, define our businesses. They also determine whether we are a good brand or a not-so- good brand. They can build our unknown brand into a well known brand or tear down our well known brand to rubble pretty quickly." All members joined together Sunday and listened to keynote speaker Jason Dorsey deliver a powerful presentation on millennials and how to market to them and overcome generational gaps. Members also selected courses from the group's 80+ options from the Nationwide Learning Academy program. The goal was for members to take home strategies to capture share in their marketplace. Tom Hickman, EVP of CE & distribution, reported that "Our unpredictable, but exciting category continues to drive more focus and awareness to all things Connected Home. The first half of 2016 proved to be the launch of new technology we couldn't have imagined just five years ago. 4K UHD continues to remain prevalent and booming in our industry, while streaming video via the refrigerator screen and communicating with a robot vacuum via your smart device is the new norm for this level of connectedness (and could potentially lead to the demise of home cleaning services). As we look at what's in store for the remainder of 2016, the advancement of this technology within our category will continue to ignite buzz. You'll hear the foot traffic pattering deeper into your store as your customers get immersed in controlling their entire home at their fingertips. 4K UHD will be a huge holiday promotional point, as will wearables—and I'm talking way beyond the Fit Bit." Some of the newest web service initiatives included the announcement of the continuing growth of the group's Just Say Yes initiative, described by EVP of Member Services Frank Sandtner, as the group's latest digital marketing GU ST 2 0 16 P R I M E T I M E R E CA P #FAMILY COMES TOGETHER IN HVI LLE

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