Publicis Groupe UK has announced the launch of Le Shop, a new creative agency specializing in brand building in the commerce space, in London and Dublin. Le Shop’s offering—which includes retail experience, omnichannel marketing, and brand activation—will assist clients in seamlessly fusing brand and commerce in a time when everything is shoppable.
The new agency aims to make brands unmissable wherever and whenever a purchase decision is made, resulting in increased brand equity and commercial performance for clients. Bringing together expertise from across Publicis Groupe UK and born out of Publicis London, formerly Publicis•Poke.
Le Shop, led by CEO Amanda Farmer, a former Chief Client Officer at Publicis London (formerly Publicis.Poke), unites brand, commerce, and CRM with a team of over 80 specialists working across 20 client brands at launch. She is moving with 25 of her coworkers, including operations manager Maria McDowell and ECD Gabriela Lungu, and chief strategy officer Mark Jenkins is joining Publicis Groupe UK. Among the brands are BT:EE, Ovo, and Nomad Foods, which also owns the brands Goodfella’s, Aunt Bessie’s, Findus, and Birds Eye.
The move comes just a few weeks after Publicis Groupe acquired Mars United, the world’s largest independent brand commerce agency, with offices in the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, Canada, and throughout Asia-Pacific. Mars United was incorporated into the group’s data technology business, Epsilon, and used to strengthen capabilities at Publicis Media.
Publicis has had great success pooling talent through Le Pub, which focuses on bringing cultural relevance to brands such as Heineken, Barilla, Heinz, Oreo, and Philips. There appears to be a similar “power of one” principle at work here, with Le Shop joining the Publicis Commerce practice led by chief commerce officer Steve Ricketts. Consumer purchasing behaviour has shifted dramatically in recent years, resulting in a new creative landscape for commerce. LeSHOP will deliver creative storytelling based on behavioral insights throughout the customer journey to drive sales and strengthen client brands.
