• by Larissa Faw , February 17, 2014

As digital shopping increasingly becomes vital to a company's bottom line, marketing and advertising agencies that measure, track and decipher digital shopping behaviors are finding their services are increasingly in demand.

As a result, shopper marketing agency Mars Advertising, whose clients include Walmart, Campbell's and Colgate-Palmolive, has hired several new executives and promoted several more to keep up with its growing accounts.

"This is an exciting time for Mars, as we are experiencing significant growth with existing and new clients, which include Chobani and Hallmark Cards," says Ken Barnett, global CEO, Mars Advertising. "As such, we are leveraging our existing internal resources, as well as adding new talent that will support the client expansion and continue to enhance our capability and competency in the areas of digital, planning, creative and finance."

The new hires come from a variety of well-known companies, including Nestle, Clorox and Xerox. Industry veteran Lisa Golloher, previously director of strategic planning at TracyLocke, has been named director of strategic planning and will work out of Mars' New York City office. Golloher will work as a liaison to the client leadership, retail consultancy and creative teams.

Another experienced executive, Craig Tokusato, previously of Diamond Foods and Clorox, joins Mars as a marketing consultant to collaborate with the digital team on a comprehensive eCommerce strategy. 

Also, Lisa Bradley-Mitchell, previously of Xerox and MetLife, has been named director of people and culture to manage the strategic design and implementation of a new training program and curricula. William Rozek becomes a member of the executive team and chief financial officer after leaving his CFO position at Budco. 

Mars has also promoted several executives from within. Scott Reid jumps from the Toronto office to Detroit to become executive creative director and a member of the creative leadership team. Theresa Lyons is promoted from VP strategic planning to SVP retail consultancy, assuming leadership for the Mars retail consultancy team. 

Mars Advertising has more than 300 employees working in 11 offices in North America and the UK.