• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, May 7, 2014

As part of an effort to further build and consolidate its capabilities in the retail and shopper marketing sphere, Y&R has named Jon Bird to the newly created position of Global Managing Director of its Labstore operation.

Bird is co-founder of IdeaWorks, Y&R’s retail marketing agency in Australia and New Zealand and is relocating to New York to take on the new role. IdeaWorks will become part of the Labstore network.

Bird is tasked with strengthening the network’s offering, building the client base and overseeing its expansion beyond the 20 countries where it already operates. Labstore currently has about 200 employees worldwide, per the agency.

“We have great retail and shopper capabilities around the world,” said David Sable, Global CEO of Y&R. “We now have the ability and leadership to leverage this offering globally so that both global and local clients everywhere can meet the increasing challenges of the retail environment.”  

Labstore originated in Spain in 2001, and was expanded in 2012 to six markets in Latin America.  One of Bird’s priorities is build the network’s presence in North America and a rep said that Labstore would be tapping the resources of W3, a unit of Wunderman, to help achieve that build-up. Wunderman is also part of Y&R.

“We believe there is a sweet spot where retail and shopper marketing intersect, and that will be Labstore’s territory, working with both retailers and manufacturer brands to develop great solutions for the shopper,” said Bird.

The Labstore offering includes retail marketing strategy and execution across all retail touch points, as well as shopper research, insights and execution.

Labstore clients include Telefonica in Spain, Movistar in Spain and Latin America, GE Moneybank in Europe, Colgate-Palmolive in Thailand and the Philippines, as well as Payless Shoes in Australia and Westfield in New Zealand.