General Merchandise/HBC

Advantage Sales & Marketing Canada Acquires Linkage Group

New acquisition complements agency's retail services

IRVINE, Calif. -- Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC (ASM) has announced the acquisition of Toronto-based The Linkage Group Inc., a national third-party merchandising and retail intelligence company with more than 600 employees throughout Canada. Linkage specializes in retail resets, planogram implementations and retail intelligence including pricing and on-shelf audits.

Advantage Sales & Marketing (CSP Daily News / Convenience Stores / Gas Stations)

"The addition of Linkage is an exemplary strategic fit as we grow our service offering in Canada," said Mike Salzberg, ASM president and COO. "The Linkage acquisition continues our strategy of building a broad array of services to meet all client needs in sales execution," he continued.

"The Linkage Group's capabilities in surge merchandising and retail intelligence will broaden ASM's ability to help clients succeed in the Canadian marketplace and further increase our rapid pace of growth in this key market," said Michael Aucoin, ASM Canada president.

This business unit will operate as The Linkage Group and will continue to be based in Toronto, reporting into Michael Aucoin.

Founded in 1987, ASM is a leading sales and marketing agency committed to building brand value. ASM's customized sales and marketing solutions include headquarter sales, retail merchandising and marketing services such as shopper, experiential, digital/social and multicultural marketing, for the grocery, drugstore, club, convenience store, natural/specialty, consumer electronics, home center and foodservice industries.

Based in Irvine, Calif., ASM has more than 38,000 associates and offices throughout the United States and Canada.

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