Article

DOOH consultancy Imperative Group extends services to North America

Bill Collins, Laura Davis-Taylor and Michael Mascioni have been appointed as U.S.-based practitioners.  

October 12, 2009

Imperative Group, a European independent digital out-of-home network-development and communications agency, today announced the expansion of its services from Europe to North America and the appointment of Bill Collins, Laura Davis-Taylor and Michael Mascioni to its roster.

Across Europe, Imperative provides a range of services to help retailers, landlords, media and technical businesses connect, develop, innovate and communicate their digital retail and out-of-home media projects to deliver end-user value and competitive advantage.

Imperative's network-development services currently include business-case development, proof-of-concept studies, new product development and project and insight management. Communication services include the creation and delivery of bespoke marketing and business-development strategies, public relations and orientation, strategy and development (OSD) workshops.

The appointment of Collins, Davis-Taylor and Mascioni to Imperative's existing team of 10 U.K. and European associates will enable the business to extend its portfolio of skills, talent and resources to any customer in any vertical whether they are European with interests in North America or vice-versa.

Chris Heap, managing director of Imperative Group, said:

It is the right time to widen our reach and associate ourselves with like-minded and experienced people wherever they may be. Our clients, who amongst others include Scala, Premier Retail Networks, BTiNet, Sony Professional Solutions Europe and POPAI, are international organizations, which reflects a market that is increasingly internationalizing in its ambition and capability. Our response in offering this genuinely independent international service will enable us to help our customers achieve more in more places through a single management point.

Collins will provide custom audience research and B2B ‘go-to-market' experience. Collins is a thought leader and practitioner in the digital out-of-home sector in North America and founder of his own custom research and digital out-of-home consulting firm. Collins is formerly a senior analyst at InfoTrends and a cofounder of AKA.TV.

Davis-Taylor will provide in-store digital media strategy, customer experience-design and media-integration experience. She is the founder of Retail Media Consulting, an in-store digital media activation practice, and has been a pathfinder in the North American market for longer than eight years. Davis-Taylor co-authored the first book on the topic, "Lighting Up the Aisle," leads the POPAI Digital Advocacy Committee and chairs multiple educational tracks for the show each year. Laura also contributes to numerous publications, associations and tradeshows each year.

Michael Mascioni will provide analysis, insight and strategies relating to the successful identification, use and deployment of cutting-edge digital media, including gestural signage, interactive media and augmented reality.

Michael was formerly director of client services for the Global Management Bureau and has written on interactive entertainment for the Encyclopedia of the Future. Formerly a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, Michael was also the creator and program director of a conference entitled "Revolutionizing Interactive Marketing in Public Spaces: the Mobile and Gestural Digital Signage Imperative" at Digital Signage Expo 2009.   Bill Collins said:

Imperative's impressive team of associates offers clients the full range of independent services and capabilities required to plan, develop, operate and enhance their digital out-of-home networks. Because of the talent this group brings to the table, clients gain an ability to move quickly without having to hire as many full-time staff or deal with multiple layers of vendors to plan, launch and maintain the excellence of their networks. Digital out-of-home is a new medium. That means that this type of high-level talent is difficult to find and almost impossible for any network operator to recruit without the help of an agency like Imperative. This agency led by Chris Heap is meeting a real consulting and human resource need at just the right moment in time in the history of the digital out-of-home industry.