Acknowledging the growing importance of marketing products at the retail level, VNU Expositions (New York) will launch a new trade show and conference that focuses on stores as new media. The At-Retail Media Expo will be held Sept. 22-23 at the New York Hilton Towers in New York City.

“[The at-retail media] trend has left brands, retailers and their agencies hungry for retail channel solutions,” said Doug Hope, group vice president of VNU Expositions and show director for GlobalShop. “To address this burgeoning demand for answers, we are launching a new event that focuses on stores as the new media.”

According to VNU Expositions, growth of retail stores as the new media for marketing and promotion can be seen in the explosion of merchandizing services companies. In 1996, fewer than 100 merchandizing companies were available to retailers. Now, more than 500 are available, with 50,000 men and women in the field working with retailers to build branding within the retail space.

“At ARM Expo, the focus is on the retail industry as a media channel—the way that retailers, brand marketers and their agencies now look at the market,” Hope said. “ARM uniquely combines the emerging at-retail technology market with traditional at-retail media solutions to provide the market with the only complete retail media channel trade show solution.”

For more information, contact VNU Expositions at (703) 488-2700, or visit www.vnuexpo.com. [January 2005 PET AGE]