Metro has picked Pigeon to take on its in-store communications, as well as regional marketing in Quebec.

Selected following a public tender, Pigeon’s remit includes planning, creating and producing in-store marketing to showcase the banner’s offering, as well as creating local and regional marketing plans. Cossette continues to handle Metro’s mass marketing.

According to Alain Tadros, Metro’s VP of marketing, the grocer was looking for a partner that could integrate well with its ecosystem and quickly generate results with in-store executions.

This is the latest sequential growth in Metro and Pigeon’s relationship. After already working on the Irresistibles private label brand, last year Pigeon secured the entirety of Metro’s private label portfolio, including Selection, LifeSmart and Adonis, handling brand strategy, portfolio, design and some collateral communication pieces.

Élyse Boulet, president and managing partner of Pigeon, says Metro was looking for a more integrated approach after working with a larger group of agencies. The agency’s work on Metro’s private label, Boulet says, means the agency is already very familiar with the business.

“Already serving Metro’s private label brands for several years, we are delighted to expand our partnership with the marketing team for the Metro banner for this significant mandate and contribute to crystallizing the trust relationship between the banner and their consumers throughout Quebec, through the depth of our service offering,” she says.

Pigeon will begin working on the new assignment this summer. Boulet says the agency has already begun upstaffing to handle the new work, though is still looking to fill several new roles.

Pigeon and Metro have also worked together on student design challenges centred on private label products, like Irresistibles kombucha.