Trade marketing is my love this year too

Trade Marketing Club, POPAI Hungary Association, Trade magazin and In-store Team Kft. organised their annual conference – the topic of which was mergers and divorces – at the headquarters of the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry on 17 February. Prof. Dr Bernd Hallier, managing director of the Cologne-based EHI Retail Institute was the first presenter. He spoke about ‘Famous marriages and divorces in Europe’, explaining how retail lifecycles work and giving an international outlook on the conference’s topic. After his dynamic and enjoyable presentation Mr Hallier answered questions and shared his opinion about the current situation in Hungary. The next presentation, held by owner-director of Trendinspiráció Dr Mária Törőcsik was about the culture and result of mergers and divorces. She explained to participants that there is no uniform recipe for acquiring brands and continuing them successfully. Péter Szabó, Unilever Magyarország Kft.’s head of customer marketing used the example of acquiring Sara Lee’s cosmetics brands to show how surprises can be avoided if an acquisition is well-prepared. Eszter Melisek, Nielsen’s client service director emphasised in her presentation that shoppers are choosing stores by using different criteria. She told that the three main criteria have been the same for years and that consumes expect different things from different store types. Ferenc Haiman, owner-managing director of Lekkerland Magyarország Kft. shared with participants the process of buying the company’s ownership from the mother company, preserving the existing structure and continuing with already existing agreements. Krisztián Király, Pick Szeged Zrt.’s trade marketing manager surveyed the nearly 150-year relationship of PICK and HERZ. Since 2010 the two brands have been rowing in the same boat – that of the Bonafarm Group. They started the repositioning of the HERZ brand last year: it targets trendy, health-conscious young consumers, while PICK remained a traditional, high quality family-centred brand. OSG Hungary’s commercial director András Kárpáti and the managing director of newly established OSG Form Kft. Gábor Balázs introduced how a flexible, 100-percent Hungarian-owned company can fit into the structure of an international group. Tibor Radó, managing director of POS Media Célcsoport Hungary Kft. gave a presentation about the merger of two former competitors with rather similar profiles. Szilvia Máté, managing director of BD-Expo Kft., the Hungarian representative of Messe Düsseldorf spoke about the forthcoming EuroShop, where 11 Hungarian participants will be among the 1,700 exhibitors from 50 countries. The conference ended with Ágnes Csibi, managing director of In-store Team Kft. presenting the ‘Trade marketing manager of the year 2010’ awards. The winners were: team category special award – Coca-Cola Trade Marketing Team, accepted by Tamás Merész; team category – Unilever Customer Marketing Team, accepted by Petra Korda; individual category special award – Gabriella Sára, Nestlé’s category manager and Krisztina Deákné Darányi, Univer’s product group manager; individual category – Tünde Sztankovicsné Kiss, ICO’s commercial director. Winners will give presentations at the award ceremony of ‘The most successful promotion of the year’ competition. This year’s Trade Marketing Club was supported by La Fiesta, POS Media Célcsoport Hungary Kft. and BD-Expo Kft.