Acosta has hired Bill Ivany as its Canadian president, effective immediately.

Acosta is a global integrated sales and marketing services provider in the consumer packaged goods industry whose assets include integrated agency Mosaic.

Ivany will report directly to Darian Pickett, CEO of North American Sales for Acosta. The appointment also gives Acosta a dedicated Canadian president once again, as the duties were previously added to the remit of Acosta International president Mark Smith in 2018.

Ivany, who brings three decades of experience working extensively in operational management and sales roles in the CPG space, will head all Acosta Canada operations and a key role in driving value for Acosta’s Canadian clients and industry partners. He will be responsible for the management and direction of all business activities and organizational policies of the Canadian operation, as Acosta continues to drive strategic objectives of strengthening and modernizing its services and transforming the company’s operating model, Pickett says.

Looking at the current environment, Ivany tells strategy that point-of-sale tools remain important, and that consumers still want some excitement in their shopping trip and continue to enjoy the “treasure hunt” aspect of it.

“Retailers and suppliers still rely on the power of the impulse buy,” Ivany says. That said, Ivany believes that the increase in online purchasing of goods in Canada driven by the pandemic will remain, perhaps not as high as at the peak, but higher than pre-pandemic. Marketers, he says, will have to continue to divert marketing funds to social and digital media.

On the packaging side of CPG, Ivany maintains that the bottled water category is in need of help for the plastic shrink wrap packaging they use, as well as other categories/products that use a lot of plastic in their packaging.

“The retailers have made a point of going after plastic shopping bags. Will suppliers that use excess plastic in their packaging be next?” he asks.

Most recently, Ivany served as COO and president of Tree of Life Canada, a national sales and import distribution company representing more than 300 CPG manufacturers in the natural and organic, specialty gourmet, ethnic, fresh, and frozen sectors. Earlier in his career, Ivany held leadership roles as at Marshman International Food Brokers, Melitta Canada, and Conagra company, GVMF Canada.