Mediabrands Launches Shopper Marketing Agency

Interpublic Group's Mediabrands is launching ShelfLife, an agency specializing in retail shopper marketing.

John Ross, currently president of the IPG Emerging Media Lab, will head the new shop. Ross will report to Matt Freeman, CEO, Mediabrands Ventures.

Brian Monahan, head of social media at IPG's Universal McCann, has been tapped to succeed Ross as day-to-day head of the lab.

The new shopper-marketing agency will focus on generating insights, plans and activations surrounding the consumer shopping experience. It seeks to leverage the key influences that lead to the purchase of specific products ranging from everyday package goods to automobiles and other high-end goods and services.

"The journey from consumer to purchaser, from undecided to decided, is poorly understood," said Ross. Plotting that journey point by point and calculating the multitude of factors that influence the purchase decision is "at the heart of the practice," he said.

"Decision making at retail does not begin with a store visit," Ross added. "Most shopper journeys begin outside the store, with shopper influence coming from a variety of sources," including online search, word of mouth, ads and social media, among others.

ShelfLife will be based in Atlanta, where Ross has been located since joining the holding company a year ago. IPG is also building a second research lab in Atlanta that will be aligned with the new agency. It has been dubbed the Shopper Insight Center. Having research labs on both coasts "gives us a real one-two punch," he said.

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