IdeaWorks' Jon Bird moves to NYC for global gig

Y&R has consolidated its retail and shopper marketing capabilities to create a unified network, called Labstore.

Jon Bird, co-founder of Y&R’s retail marketing agency IdeaWorks in Australia and New Zealand, will move to New York to take on the newly created role of Labstore’s global managing director.

See the full release:

“May 8, 2014 — David Sable, Global CEO of Y&R, announced today the consolidation of the agency’s retail and shopper marketing capabilities into a single, unified network, Labstore. Jon Bird, who was a co-founder of Y&R’s successful retail marketing agency, IdeaWorks, in Australia and New Zealand, moves to New York to take on the new role as its Global Managing Director.

The Labstore offering includes shopper and retail strategy, retail execution, channel planning and shopper behavioural research with a focus on analytics and digital integration.

Labstore originated in Spain in 2001, and expanded in 2012 to six markets in Latin America. Y&R’s other retail and shopper capabilities will now all roll into the Labstore network and share the same proprietary resources, tools and global positioning.

David Sable stated: “We have great retail and shopper capabilities around the world. Labstore is the perfect confluence of Y&R’s core brands, Y&R Advertising and VML — highly strategic, enormously creative, digital at the core. 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.”

“There is no one better suited to lead Labstore than Jon Bird, who is a bona fide thought leader and whose great success with IdeaWorks in Australia and New Zealand has been an enormous training ground for leading this charge. With Labstore, we have a distinct point of view that speaks to the challenges and demands of the marketplace, both from the retail and consumer perspective and a way of working that is fully integrated with Y&R Advertising and VML,” he added.

“We are building Labstore for the reality of retail today. We live in a globalised, digitised, polarised and increasingly personalised retail world…where the shopper is in control. That’s our starting point, and from Day one , Labstore will have a global perspective, with digital and data at the core, " said Jon Bird.

Phil McDonald, National Managing Director of IdeaWorks, said, “Being an integral part of a global shopper marketing network like Labstore will be of enormous benefit for the knowledge of our people here in Australia and as a consistent source of global retail intelligence for our clients. It’s also pretty handy for us here that Jon is now the Global MD.”

Clients already include Telefonica in Spain, Movistar in Spain and Latin America, GE Moneybank in Europe, Colgate-Palmolive in Thailand and the Philippines, Dick Smith, Petbarn, Rebel and Payless Shoes in Australia and Westfield and The Mill in New Zealand.

IdeaWorks recently announced the appointment of Christopher Lyons, previously Chief Retail and Shopper Marketing Officer for Leo Burnett Asia Pacific as its Sydney Managing Director. The agency will be part of the Labstore network in Australia and New Zealand, delivering Labstore representation across the region in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland.”

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