Romanian g7 Marketing merges with European’ WaveCrest Group

Romanian g7 Marketing, player in the Retail Marketing sector, announced the merger with Wavecrest Group, leading European shopper marketing & experiential agency, embarking on a journey to create the next-gen brand amplification agency.

Established in 1999, g7 Marketing has over 20 years of activity and accumulated over time expertise in the FMCG, Consumer Electronics and Retail segments, helping brands grow their shopper base, monthly sales figures and consumers’ loyalty. From an initial core of 3 people, the agency expanded to have over 500 people, covering the entire modern retail ecosystem throughout Romania. Over the years, it went from sampling and merchandising to designing 3D retail environments, executing omnichannel activations and building full-stack capabilities in Retail Marketing.

The association with European Field Marketing Partners in 2015 opened a journey to international markets and led to a closer cooperation with like-minded agencies across Europe. WaveCrest and g7 proved to hit-it off on multiple levels, working together on client accounts and joint-development projects.

Florina Zamfir, CEO g7 Marketing.

 “Since the onset of the agency, we’ve pushed hard to stay at the forefront of the industry and model our operations based on a strong organizational culture, sound work ethics and a sheer determination to create positive outcomes for our clients and our team. It’s such a fortunate event when you encounter a partner with the same mindset.”

WaveCrest is the leading agency in the Nordics, covering Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway combining creativity, execution and proven results. It applies decades of 360° marketing experience both strategically and tactically through events and brand encounters, in retail and beyond.

WaveCrest CEO, Sune Nielsen.

“We found in g7 a partner that shares the same care and appreciation for people and the same vision regarding what the future of brand experience looks like. One driven by creativity, fueled by data and supported by digital tools. That’s why it proved to be the right option for us moving forward. Having g7 part of our company group will strengthen our multi-talented agency with flourishing creative experience and extra IT resources.”

In addition to strong retail expertise, WaveCrest also brings in several innovative digital services: the retail platform SaleMate, the e-commerce optimization tool Digital Shelf and the online sales support tool Virtual Shop Assistant. The strong and contemporary sales and marketing service portfolio is one of the key strengths behind the merger. The combined agency, boosting more the 30 years of retail experience, will provide coverage for 5 operating markets, employing 2.000 retail professionals and is projected to reach a 23M EUR turnover in 2022.

In Romania, g7 continues to operate as usual in all of its business areas, for all  current clients, with added know-how and capabilities of a pan-European agency. Due to strong brand equity, g7 will keep its name and function under the g7 Wavecrest logo. Under the new structure, g7’s CEO will step in as Country Manager, while the existing management team will continue its work, with the posibility of accessing new roles within the group.

For g7’s clients, being part of the WaveCrest Group will bring an extended services portfolio, with significant strength in social media, and one of the most developed retail marketing tech stack, custom built for the industry. It can also offer Romanian brands seamless access to European markets. Going further, the Romanian branch will start gradually servicing also international brands and the Nordics market. 

For the agency’s employees, the merger opens new opportunities of working on international accounts, cross-markets jobs mobility and specialization in newly established Excellence Hubs. With further alignement under the WaveCrest umbrella, a strong emphasis will be put on ESG (Environmental, social, and corporate governance).

On the path of creating one of the largest European retail agencies, WaveCrest will continue its growth strategy over the next years, through internationally operating customers, selected acquisitions and strategic partnerships.

This merger is a sign of the maturing retail marketing industry, in which the changing nature of the retail landscape and the shopping behaviour make way for disrupting innovations from marketers and agencies. It is also an exciting moment in the life of the agency, as stated by Florina Zamfir: «We’re glad to see the values we’ve abided for in all our work are recognized and appreciated and we are looking forward to building the next steps inside WaveCrest. »