Madison unveils shopper marketing consultancy with Narasimha as head

Madison has launched a specialist shopper marketing consultancy. This is to meet the needs of the rapidly growing organised retail sector in India. The consultancy firm, Madison Shopper Marketing, will be called MASH and it will be headed by Anand Narasimha as its CEO.

As reported earlier by agencyfaqs!, Narasimha has come here from Saatchi & Saatchi, Bangalore, where he was executive vice-president. He had then told agencyfaqs! that he wanted a change and that he would not join a conventional ad agency. Having worked with BPL, JWT, McCann-Erickson, Enterprise (now Bates Enterprise) and, more recently, Saatchi & Saatchi, he brings with him around 20 years of experience.

Shopper marketing is a new-age marketing discipline that aims at converting ‘shoppers into buyers’ at the retail outlet. It leverages the store as a marketing medium and helps brands and retailers win the battle for the shopper’s wallet by developing joint marketing platforms.

According to Madison officials, as modern retail grows and shoppers become more savvy, the store emerges as a key moment of truth, the place where purchase decisions are made, altered or reinforced. In this context, brands and retailers need shopper marketing solutions that see the store through the eyes of the shopper.

MASH hopes to give its clients transformational shopper marketing solutions comprising its four project pillars: shopper behaviour and insights, shopper strategy and tactics, shopper concepts, and shopper programmes. In addition, proprietary MASH tools and knowledge will be applied on client projects.

Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director, Madison World, comments, “Shopper marketing is a logical extension to Madison’s current offering, as organised retail is a rapidly growing industry and a critical consumer touch point – that is why we launched MASH.”

“MASH will complement Madison’s already existing offering in the retail design area, MRP (Madison Retail Paradigm),” he explains.

Anand Narasimha, CEO, MASH, says, “Our focus is on providing solutions that will make our clients win disproportionately at the store. There is an untapped need for true-blue, professional shopper marketing solutions that are founded on shopper insights and ideas and go beyond conventional POS activity.”

MASH’s client focus will be on brands for which modern retail is emerging as a key marketing battleground, brands where the ‘shopping experience’ is a key driver of differentiation and value, retailers seeking store/department/category enhancement or reinvention, and retailer ‘private labels’ seeking greater category share.

MASH will be located in Bangalore.

© 2006 agencyfaqs!