engage Consultants, one of the world’s leading specialists in shopper marketing, customer management and training and organisational development, has launched in Ireland, in conjunction with local companies Visualise, Ireland’s leading shopper marketing specialists, and i4P Consulting.
The engage concept focuses on ‘Total Marketing’, which advocates that the integration of consumer marketing, shopper marketing and customer marketing into one seamless process is crucial for consumer brands if they want to optimise marketing investment and achieve long-term, sustainable, profitable growth.
The Irish operation of engage will work with clients in the Irish and UK marketplace to:
Create insights and identify growth opportunities
Develop shopper marketing strategies that will deliver growth, efficiencies and greater profitability
Develop marketing and sales team effectiveness through the utilisation of organisational development and training programmes
engage was founded a decade ago by Mike Anthony and Toby Desforges, co-authors of The Shopper Marketing Revolution, and together they have worked with over 20% of the top 250 consumer goods companies across three continents. The company currently has offices in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa and further expansion in Europe and Australasia is planned for later this year.
Ciaran FitzGerald, Managing Director of Visualise, says the partnership is a perfect fit for all parties:
“At Visualise, we have been long time advocates of engage’s philosophy and have been hugely impressed by how they have worked with clients to optimise their marketing investment. Mike and Toby literally wrote the book on shopper marketing and the engage offering totally complements the services offered by Visualise. We already work on the in-store execution and creative development of shopper marketing campaigns, so the launch of engage brings us further into the mix by developing initial insights and strategy, from which strong creative development and in-store execution can stem. We are extremely excited about bringing the engage concept to new and existing clients in Ireland and the UK.”
Stephen Rust has been appointed as CEO and will be a shareholder of engage Consultants in Ireland. Stephen has over 15 years of experience in delivering and embedding consumer and shopper insights into the heart of organisations. He has held a number of senior positions in the areas of category marketing and consumer and shopper insights with companies such as Kerry Foods, Diageo, Nielsen and Eircom. He founded i4P consulting in 2013 and last year, he won ‘Marketing Consultant of the Year’ at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Excellence Awards.
Stephen says: “The considerable changes in shopper behaviour and the market environment in Ireland are causing significant investment challenges for companies. The danger is that more money, time and effort are being spent by Irish companies without necessarily achieving the required returns. engage offers a total marketing approach which drives growth and better return on marketing investment through focusing on what will connect with target shoppers.”
Mike Anthony, CEO of engage worldwide, added: “We have been working closely with the Visualise team over the last number of years, and are delighted to have found the right people to drive the engage business in the Irish market. Our strategy remains to provide our customers with tools and tactics that deliver improved efficiencies and greater profitability for their businesses. Together with Stephen and the Visualise team, we look forward to bringing a new perspective to marketing, shopper marketing and customer management in Ireland and beyond.”
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