CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - March 24, 2010) - Schawk, Inc. (
The RACie Awards honor creative excellence and effectiveness in retail marketing. A panel of advertising, marketing and branding executives in the retail industry selected the finalists and winners from an entry pool that exceeded the previous year by 42 percent. Each piece of work was judged on creativity, strategy, results and innovation. The annual competition is sponsored by the NRF (National Retail Federation).
"Given the historically unforgiving economic conditions of 2009 and its impact on the retail sector, campaigns to drive consumer spending faced unprecedented challenges," noted John Petrakis, president of Schawk Retail Marketing. "Consumers tightened their purse strings and considered every purchase with much greater scrutiny and rationalization. And when they did spend, it was more deliberate and purposeful."
Added Petrakis, "We view this recognition as confirmation of Schawk Retail Marketing's ability to help clients create compelling and consistent brand experiences for consumers that translate into retail sales."
According to Zenith Optimedia's Advertising Expenditure Forecast, direct mail is expected to remain a significant piece of the direct marketing mix for the near future. While direct mail dollars continue to shift to online media, it still represents the largest category of expenditure at 39% of all direct marketing media. The study projects direct mail to grow 2.5 percent in 2010 and 3.1 percent in 2011.
In the Integrated Media Campaign (Large) Category, Schawk Retail Marketing, along with Sears and Y&R Chicago, earned a Gold Award for Sears "Back to School." The full "Back to School" campaign featuring Disney star Selena Gomez in integrated efforts included broadcast, online, in-store and print. Schawk Retail Marketing was responsible for the print advertising efforts.
In the Direct Mail (Large) Category, Schawk Retail Marketing earned a Bronze Award for Bloomingdale's "Fall 2009 Best of Men's."
In the Single Media Campaign/Print (Large) Category, Schawk Retail Marketing earned a Bronze Award for Lord & Taylor's "Spring 2009 Style Books."
High resolution files of Schawk Retail Marketing's winning entries are available upon request. You may view all winning work at: http://www.nrf.com/racie10/winnersbook.
Schawk Retail Marketing, a business unit of Schawk, Inc. creates online, offline and in-store marketing communications for many of the world's top retailers. By integrating the retail experience across brand touchpoints, Schawk Retail Marketing helps companies create compelling and consistent brand experiences to achieve a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Schawk, Inc. is the leading provider of brand management services, enabling companies of all sizes to connect their brands with consumers to create deeper brand affinity. With a global footprint of 48 offices, Schawk helps companies create compelling and consistent brand experiences by providing integrated strategic, creative and executional services across brand touch points. Founded in 1953, Schawk is trusted by many of the world's leading organizations to help them achieve global brand consistency. For more information about Schawk, visit http://www.schawk.com Follow Schawk on http://www.brandsquare.com and http://twitter.com/BrandSquare.
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. RAMA is the producer of the annual RACie Awards Competition, the industry's most prestigious creative contest for retail broadcast, web and print advertising. In addition, RAMA produces several events each year that provide education and networking opportunities to its members. For more information on RAMA, visit http://www.rama-nrf.org/about/.
Contact Information:
AT SCHAWK RETAIL MARKETING:
Lisa Hyland
(312) 666-9200
lisa.hyland@schawk.com
AT SCHAWK, INC.:
Patti Soldavini
(973) 527-8100
patti.soldavini@schawk.com
