CPG
The Best Shopper Marketing and Experiential Agencies
Updated October 17, 2026 · 5 agencies · How we build these lists
The short answer
Shopper marketing agencies divide by where they influence the purchase. Mars United Commerce works retailer strategy and joint business planning. HANGAR12 is CPG-only and sells speed to market. Theory House works the physical and digital shelf together, from endcap to sell-in deck. Inspira Marketing puts the product physically in a shopper's hand through sampling. Brandon provides full-service brand and retail support around the activation.
Shopper marketing is the discipline that operates in the last few feet before a purchase, and it barely overlaps with the performance media most agencies sell. The work is endcaps, packaging, sampling, retailer negotiation, and increasingly the digital shelf. If your constraint is velocity on an existing shelf rather than traffic to a website, this is the category you need.
At a glance
| Agency | Best for |
|---|---|
| Mars United Commerce | Brands that need the retailer, not just the shopper, managed |
| HANGAR12 | CPG brands that need to move fast on a shelf they already have |
| Theory House | Brands that need the physical and digital shelf solved together |
| Inspira Marketing | Brands where trial is the barrier and nothing substitutes for a taste |
| Brandon | Brands wanting brand, PR, and media around the activation |
Agency profiles
Mars United Commerce
Best for brands that need the retailer, not just the shopper, managed
Global, with Americas, Europe, and APAC operations
Mars United covers shopper strategy and analytics, commerce media, digital shelf, and retailer consultancy including joint business planning and retailer intelligence. Named work includes Walmart, Campbell's, Conagra, and Mars Wrigley. The retailer-side capability is rare and is usually the binding constraint on shelf growth.
HANGAR12
Best for CPG brands that need to move fast on a shelf they already have
Chicago, with Minneapolis and St. Louis offices
HANGAR12 works exclusively with consumer packaged goods brands and sells speed explicitly: senior access, fewer approval layers, and a short path from brief to in-market. It cites 50 years and three generations of CPG experience, with published work concentrated in food and snacking.
Theory House
Best for brands that need the physical and digital shelf solved together
Charlotte, NC · Growth-stage brands
Theory House covers point of purchase, endcap and signage design, LTO packaging, in-store activation, digital shelf optimization, and the sell-in deck that persuades a buyer. Named work includes McCormick, Diageo, and Black Rifle Coffee. It also runs early work on whether products appear in AI recommendations.
Worth knowing: States it partners with growth-stage brands rather than publishing a revenue band.
Inspira Marketing
Best for brands where trial is the barrier and nothing substitutes for a taste
Norwalk, CT, with a New York office
Inspira's core product is live brand experiences and product sampling, with named work for International Delight, Blue Diamond Almonds, and illy. It reports 80 percent of business coming from repeat relationships across 18 years. The only agency here whose job is getting a product physically into a shopper's hand.
Brandon
Best for brands wanting brand, PR, and media around the activation
Brandon is an integrated full-service agency where brand strategy, PR, and production sit alongside media, with consumer work including Idahoan Foods and Primal Pet Foods. Relevant when the shelf programme needs air cover rather than standing alone.
What we compared
- Whether the agency works retailer relationships or only brand-side activation
- Physical shelf capability: point of purchase, packaging, endcaps, signage
- Digital shelf and retail media capability alongside in-store
- Sampling and experiential execution where trial is the barrier
- Category experience with comparable products and retailers
- How in-store work is measured, given purchase happens offline
Frequently asked questions
- What is shopper marketing?
- Shopper marketing is the work that influences a purchase decision at or near the point of sale rather than building awareness beforehand: displays, endcaps, packaging, in-store signage, sampling, promotional mechanics, and the digital shelf on a retailer's own site. It is measured in sell-through and velocity rather than clicks.
- How do you measure shopper marketing when the sale happens in a store?
- Usually through retailer point-of-sale data, syndicated sources like Circana or NielsenIQ, geo-matched test and control stores, and sell-through against a baseline period. None of it is as immediate as platform reporting, and any agency that claims clean per-impression attribution on in-store activity is overstating what the data supports.
- How much does a shopper marketing agency cost?
- Project-based work such as a display programme or packaging refresh commonly runs from the mid five figures. Retained programmes typically start around $10,000 per month and scale with retailer count and activation volume. Sampling and experiential carry significant pass-through production and staffing costs that usually exceed the agency fee.
- Is shopper marketing still relevant if most of my sales are online?
- The in-store half becomes less relevant, but the digital shelf half becomes more so. Product page content, search placement within a retailer's site, review volume and retail media all operate on the same logic as a physical shelf. Several agencies here work both, which is worth asking about directly if your mix is shifting.