InField Marketing Group announced today the launch of a new company division, Influence Marketing.

Martin Rydlo, partner at Mississauga-based InField Marketing, says the department has been in the works for the past three months, adding that the expansion allows the company to step away from solely focusing on what happens in the store to provide research and marketing that helps client brands to reach consumers prior to visiting retailers.

“We realized we could offer a much more strategic option to help drive people to purchase, much more than experiential or retail marketing and events,” he says. “InField focuses on what happens in the field. But there is a component that happens outside of the store, such as mass media, digital or experiential.”

“Recently, we did an audit [for a client brand] that looked at their key points of the path to purchase. We used our experiential architect to observe the dynamics and exactly what people are doing. We were able to pick out [shopper] nuances as they’re going around the store and buying, but we’re also [looking at] what happens before they enter the store. After they’ve seen an ad [from the brand], there are several days for them to influence [shoppers], so what we’re doing right now is working with retailers to figure out how we can activate it through their communication channels to reach their shoppers both in and out of the store.”

Rydlo says there will be no hiring of new staff as a result of the new division as yet, adding that Influence and InField will work as an integrated company with a focus on its four cornerstones – “Stop them in their tracks. Create immersive experiences. Instigate action. Pave the path to purchase.”