Editors’ Note

Jeffrey Brenner brings more than 20 years of corporate and merchandise sales experience, both national and international, to the role. His wealth of experience includes Special Markets’ sales management. His prior experience includes Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue in Corporate Sales and Strategic Partnership Development, as well as direct experience with luxury brands including Hartmann and Steuben Glass.

Company Brief

Pine Brook, New Jersey-based Rymax Marketing Services, Inc. (www.rymaxinc.com) is the largest national direct manufacturer’s representative in the incentive industry, providing quality brand name merchandise to a variety of industries worldwide. In addition to providing merchandise rewards for incentive programs, promotions, and corporate gifts, Rymax creates and manages total incentive solutions, helping companies achieve their goals through motivating employees and increasing customer loyalty.

Would you provide an overview of Rymax Marketing Services?

Rymax houses the best of both worlds – incentive programs and merchandise rewards – under one roof. Our position as the premier supplier of luxury brand name merchandise and exclusive relationships allows us to offer rewards not typically found in an incentive program while delivering the best value to our clients. We focus on a single goal to provide our clients with customized loyalty solutions and leverage the power of merchandise rewards to drive behavior and grow their businesses.

How are you able to customize your solution offerings to fit each client’s needs?

Our proprietary online rewards platform, MaxSite™, can be as robust or simplistic as required, depending on the needs of our clients. We do not demand that our clients conform to us, which makes us unique and separates us from the competition. We take a strategic look at a client’s environment and work with them to understand their goals first; we then present a customized end-to-end solution. Additionally, outside of our points-based platform, we have an extensive business gift division that is well-versed in selecting desirable gifts for all occasions and demographics.

Would you highlight your product offerings and categories?

It’s all about the long-term relationships we have forged with our 250 brand name partners such as Breitling, Baccarat, Canon, Denon, Godiva, Michael Kors, and Tumi. We are exclusive with about one-third of our brand partners, which further positions Rymax as a primary resource for many sought-after products, often before they hit the broader incentive marketplace. We offer a variety of product categories such as electronics, housewares, fashion accessories, sporting goods, and retail gift cards to allow participants to select rewards they truly desire.

How broad is the target market for Rymax?

Our market reach is global in scope and inclusive of all corporation sizes. No matter how large or small the company or project, we will customize a solution. In addition to servicing the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and the Pacific Rim, we provide customized incentive solutions in 40 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and Africa. Due to the depth and breadth of our products and services, our focus is simple: we are here to assist corporations of all sizes and budgets in growing their business. The application of utilizing desirable products across all lifestyle categories and geographic territories to motivate employee or customer behavior is what allows us to assist our clients to accomplish their goals. Regardless of the market sector or target population, our goal is always the same: to help clients drive sales and boost productivity.

What differentiates Rymax from its competitors?

We understand the importance of an inclusive solution and the cost-savings we are uniquely positioned to offer through our wealth of in-house services, ranging from exclusive access to factory-direct pricing on over 250 brands and 10,000 SKUs to Web site design, product fulfillment, and a U.S.-based call center. We also ensure that our clients’ programs evolve with new technology by incorporating the intuitive features of today’s e-commerce sites into MaxSite, our proprietary online rewards platform. Providing a client’s program participants with the ability to access program/product information anywhere via mobile devices improves their experience and gives them the capability to comparison shop, research products, and redeem from smartphones and tablets. We integrate social media by including Facebook and Twitter recognition tools into our platform. This allows peers or program administrators to recognize participants seamlessly, driving the social aspect of loyalty and recognition that today’s program participants have come to expect.

What is your outlook for Rymax and where will growth come from?

Even in these challenging economic times, Rymax has been experiencing consistent growth due to the ongoing and ever important need for companies to engage employees and recognize their customers for their contributions. Research consistently shows that merchandise rewards are more impactful, motivational, and memorable than cash. This is key in today’s economy where budgets are tight but value must remain high. Instead of giving an employee a $500 cash reward that costs you $500, a more strategic approach is to give them a product with a high perceived value that costs you much less. Merchandise has trophy value while cash, unfortunately, is spent on items that you may not remember and the goal of recognition is lost. We credit our continued growth to the reputation we’ve earned through our proven ability to create customized solutions that successfully build loyalty and drive engagement.

Rymax has been aggressive in strengthening its management team and attracting top talent. Would you highlight the expertise the firm brings to its clients?

Rymax is home to many of the incentive industry’s top experts, who have a clear understanding of the loyalty models that work best for specific industries and demographics. Our collaborative team environment fosters growth and productivity because our team is made up of category specialists in a variety of vertical markets.

Known as a primary resource in the industry, we are frequently asked to participate in panel discussions and invited to guest-write articles for magazines, industry newsletters, and white papers.•