engage Consultants (‘engage’), one of the world’s leading specialists in shopper marketing, customer management and training and organisational development, has appointed Stephen Rust as CEO of the company’s new Irish operation.
The Irish arm of engage Consultants has been set up in partnership with Visualise, Ireland’s leading shopper marketing specialists, and i4P Consulting, a consultancy founded by Stephen Rust.
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 new venture 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
Stephen Rust has over 15 years’ experience in delivering and embedding consumer and shopper insights into the heart of organisations. He has held a number of senior positions in the sector, including Head of Customer Insight with eircom, Head of Shopper Marketing and Insight with Kerryfoods and Market Planner with Diageo.
In 2013, he founded i4P Consulting and last year he was named ‘Marketing Consultant of the Year’ at the Chartered Institute of Marketing Excellence Awards. He takes up his role with engage Consultants with immediate effect and he will also be a shareholder of the new operation.
Commenting on Stephen’s appointment, Ciaran Fitzgerald, Managing Director of Visualise stated. “Stephen’s wealth of experience on the client side, combined with his impressive work since launching i4P, meant he was the ideal candidate to partner with in order to drive the engage brand forward in this region.”
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.
Mike Anthony, CEO of engage worldwide says: “We are delighted to welcome Stephen as CEO of our Irish venture. During his career, Stephen has led and coordinated a wide range of projects to utilise consumer and shopper insights to optimise category and brand positioning, products, innovation and many other marketing and trade activities. Stephen will lead our strategy to provide customers with tools and tactics that deliver improved efficiencies and greater profitability for their businesses. Together with Stephen and the entire engage team, we look forward to bringing a new perspective to marketing, shopper marketing and customer management in Ireland and beyond.”