ADVANTAGE SOLUTIONS[NASDAQ: ADV]
Driving Consumer Connection In Modern Commerce

Dave Peacock, CEO

Retail marketing has evolved significantly from traditional advertising campaigns. Brands today compete in an environment where consumer attention is fragmented across physical stores, digital platforms, social channels and emerging commerce ecosystems. Success increasingly depends on creating meaningful interactions that influence purchasing decisions at critical moments. As a result, experiential marketing has become a strategic discipline focused on transforming engagement into measurable business outcomes.

Within this landscape, Advantage Solutions has established a distinctive position by connecting brands, retailers and consumers through integrated retail experiences. The organization operates at the intersection of commerce, data and execution, helping companies navigate increasingly complex shopping environments while strengthening brand visibility and consumer engagement. Its approach reflects a broader shift toward experiential strategies that combine physical interactions with digital intelligence to drive measurable results.

Building an Integrated Commerce Ecosystem

Advantage Solutions delivers a broad portfolio of services designed to support consumer packaged goods brands and retailers throughout the commerce lifecycle. Its capabilities span retail merchandising, sales optimization, private brand development, retail media, category management and experiential marketing. Rather than treating these functions as separate disciplines, the organization integrates them into a coordinated framework that aligns brand objectives with consumer behavior.

Experiential marketing represents a central component of this model. Through in-store demonstrations, product sampling initiatives, digital engagement campaigns and omnichannel consumer experiences, the organization helps brands create direct interactions that influence purchasing decisions. These programs are designed to generate awareness and encourage trial, strengthen loyalty and accelerate conversion.

Execution is supported by a nationwide operational network that serves thousands of consumer brands and retailers. With relationships spanning approximately 85,000 retail locations, the organization possesses a level of market access that enables large-scale program deployment across diverse retail formats. This reach allows brands to execute campaigns consistently while adapting to local market dynamics and consumer preferences.

Technology plays an increasingly important role within the execution framework. Proprietary data platforms, artificial intelligence capabilities, advanced analytics and intelligent video capture tools generate actionable insights throughout campaign lifecycles. These technologies enable continuous measurement, optimization and refinement of experiential initiatives, helping clients make informed decisions based on real-world consumer interactions.

The result is a model that combines strategic planning, operational execution and data intelligence within a single ecosystem. Through the integration of these elements, Advantage Solutions helps brands shift from isolated promotional activities to more comprehensive consumer engagement strategies.

Scale, Data and Competitive Advantage

A defining characteristic of Advantage Solutions is its position within the broader retail ecosystem. Rather than serving exclusively as a marketing agency or merchandising provider, the organization functions as a strategic intermediary connecting brands, retailers and consumers. This perspective provides access to unique market insights that inform decision-making across multiple areas of commerce.

One of its strongest differentiators is scale. The organization supports more than 4,000 consumer packaged goods brands and maintains extensive relationships across grocery, mass merchandise, drugstore, convenience and big-box retail channels. Such breadth creates visibility into consumer trends, category performance and retail dynamics that few organizations can match.

Another distinguishing factor is the integration of experiential marketing within a broader commerce strategy. Many experiential providers focus primarily on event activation or sampling. Advantage Solutions extends those activities by connecting experiential programs with retail execution, merchandising, sales support and data analytics. This alignment helps translate consumer engagement into measurable business results, strengthening product visibility at retail, improving availability and supporting purchase decisions at the point of sale.

The organization's emphasis on data-driven decision-making further strengthens its position. Consumer engagement initiatives generate large volumes of behavioral information. Through analytics platforms and proprietary technology tools, these insights are transformed into actionable intelligence that helps brands optimize messaging, refine targeting strategies and improve return on investment.

Innovation remains another strategic priority. The organization continues to invest in technology-enabled solutions that bridge the physical and digital shopping experiences. Connected commerce capabilities, image recognition technologies, digital asset management systems and retail media initiatives support increasingly sophisticated engagement models that reflect evolving consumer expectations.

Importantly, the strategy remains grounded in measurable business outcomes. Experiential programs are designed to support sales growth, improve brand relevance, strengthen customer relationships and generate insights that inform future marketing investments. The focus on performance helps distinguish experiential marketing as a business discipline rather than a purely promotional activity.

Delivering Measurable Impact across Retail

The practical impact of Advantage Solutions’ integrated commerce and experiential marketing model is visible across multiple dimensions of retail marketing. Product sampling initiatives provide a particularly compelling example. Allowing consumers to experience products firsthand creates opportunities for brands to influence purchasing decisions at critical moments while gathering valuable feedback on consumer preferences and perceptions.

Retailers also benefit from these programs. Experiential campaigns can drive store traffic, increase category engagement and support merchandising objectives. Because initiatives are integrated with broader retail execution activities, they contribute to both consumer engagement and operational performance.

Emerging brands often face challenges related to visibility and market penetration. Advantage Solutions helps smaller and growing brands access distribution channels, connect with consumers and establish credibility within competitive categories using its extensive retail relationships and execution capabilities. This support can accelerate growth while reducing barriers to market entry.

The scale of operations further demonstrates real-world relevance. The organization reports more than four million annual sampling events and maintains connections across numerous international markets. Such activity generates extensive consumer interaction data while creating opportunities for brands to engage audiences in highly targeted ways.

Consumer expectations continue to shift toward personalized experiences and meaningful interactions. Advantage Solutions responds to these changes through the integration of physical engagement and digital intelligence. As a result, campaigns become more relevant, experiences become more memorable and marketing investments become more accountable.

Retail marketing increasingly rewards organizations capable of translating consumer insights into actionable engagement strategies. In this environment, Advantage Solutions demonstrates how experiential marketing can evolve from isolated activations into an integrated commerce capability that supports long-term growth.

Its ability to combine scale, data intelligence, operational excellence and consumer engagement into a cohesive platform delivers measurable value for brands, retailers and consumers alike. These strengths have helped establish a distinctive position within the industry and underpin its recognition as Top Retail Experiential Marketing Solutions 2026.