CROSSMARK Acquires Leading Shopper Engagement Firm PromoWorks

Plano, Texas-based CROSSMARK, a leading sales and marketing services company for consumer brands, recently announced it has acquired the assets of PromoWorks, an innovative leader of insights-driven shopper marketing solutions.

The transaction will result in CROSSMARK being the preferred product sampling and demonstration agency for 10 of the top 20 food retailers in North America and the exclusive event marketing planning agency for many of the top consumer brands.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

PromoWorks offers unique strategies that enhance the retail experience through customized shopper engagement and product sampling/demonstration events. Since 1999, PromoWorks has partnered with manufacturers and retailers to transform the in-store demonstration experience, performing more than five million events and engaging more than 1.5 billion people with shopper buying decisions.

"Through intense focus and execution, we have become the North American leader in in-store marketing for brands," said CROSSMARK CEO Joe Crafton. "Not only does PromoWorks add to CROSSMARK's scale and coverage, but we also are excited about the company's ability to create integrated and innovative omni-channel campaigns."

This is CROSSMARK's second recent acquisition of an engagement-focused marketing firm. In August, CROSSMARK acquired Marketing Werks, a leading out-of-store consumer-engagement firm based in Chicago.

"The PromoWorks and Marketing Werks transactions create solutions for our clients that are unrivaled. As traditional advertising continues to lose relevance in many categories, we are experiencing an explosion in utilizing people as media to engage with consumers on-the-go," Crafton said. According to CROSSMARK's research, experiential marketing is expected to see robust growth over the next decade.

"There is no more powerful marketing tactic than someone telling you face-to-face about a product benefit or giving you a sample of the product to taste or touch when you're on the path-to-purchase," said Jim Rose, president of CROSSMARK Marketing Services. "That is experiential marketing that leads to conversion and loyalty. And it's why we're so excited about making investments in this growing segment."

PromoWorks will be led by industry veteran Julie Beck. Prior to joining PromoWorks in 2011, Beck held a variety of leadership positions at Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft and The Partnering Group.

According to Beck, CROSSMARK brings a whole new level of scale, retailer and supplier expertise and analytic horsepower. "Everything from recruiting, training, I.T., advancement opportunities and innovation will be amplified with CROSSMARK's involvement. We have discussed this transition with our retailer, supplier and agency partners. They are overwhelmingly supportive and look forward to the increased capabilities that will come from this union," Beck said. "We will be participating in strategic conversations that we never thought were possible."

About CROSSMARK
For more than 100 years, CROSSMARK has helped the most powerful brands in the world achieve their business objectives. Expertise encompasses the areas of Headquarter Sales, Retail Merchandising, Retailer Solutions, In-Store Events, Experiential Marketing, Shopper Marketing, Consumer Engagement, In-Store Data Collection & Field Intelligence, Retail Analytics, and Retail Technology Solutions. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, CROSSMARK employs more than 36,000 associates worldwide with 47 offices throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.