Retail marketing agency Vitamin has bolstered its service offering by partnering with marketing services and technology company, Inspired Thinking Group.
ITG has taken a financial stake in the agency in a deal that gives Vitamin access to the group's wide range of services, while boosting ITG's expertise in retail strategy.
Vitamin was founded in January 2014 by Natalie Somerville and Claire Roshanzamir, who have worked in senior positions at some of the UK's best-known retailers and brands, including Tesco, Camelot, M&S and Asda. ITG's existing retail client base includes Halfords, M&S, Boots, Morrisons, KFC and Sainsbury's.
Announcing the partnership, ITG's CEO Simon Ward said, "Vitamin is a great fit for us. Our technology already forms the marketing operational backbone of some of the world's best-known retailers and brands. Claire and Natalie know retail from the inside out - they have unrivalled knowledge and expertise in retail strategy. Their experience will be invaluable to our client base."
Vitamin currently provides marketing strategy for several large UK retailers. The team has helped redefine the B&Q in-store customer journey, with other recent projects including brand identity and activation for British Gas, café proposition development for Tesco and category activation plans for Unilever.
Natalie Somerville said 'Our ambition was to build an agency that offered a boost of real 'insider' expertise. We've spent most of our careers working on the 'inside', so we like to think we get it. We work alongside our clients, becoming part of their team and often help define the brief as well as deliver it. Our experience has shown us how to build inspiring retail marketing strategies that engage everyone from the board to the checkout to the customer."
Claire Roshanzamir adds, "this new partnership with ITG gives us the ability to offer our clients a complete end-to-end service - a round-the-clock asset production studio with over 100 artworkers and creatives; a cutting-edge in-house digital marketing agency; a brilliantly engineered print management service placing over £40 million of print a year, as well as its proprietary Media Centre technology."
ITG's head office and artwork studio is centrally located near Birmingham. Says Simon Ward, "not only will this synergy help both companies offer even better services to our clients, but the Vitamin agency's London offices will form the hub of ITG's presence in the capital."
Claire ended by saying 'Vitamin is the type of agency we would have wanted to work with as clients, and our new partnership with ITG means our future direction is even more exciting.'
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