Q&A: LPi Group's Leslie Maislin and Erin Henry
Company: LPi Communications Group
Locations: Toronto, Ontario; Calgary, Alberta
Representatives: Leslie Maislin, VP Client Solutions, Connected Commerce Planning, and Erin Henry, VP Client Solutions & Growth
Q. What does your company do?
LPi Group is an independently owned, Canadian agency that is built for commerce marketing. With 35-plus years of CPG and Canadian retailer experience, we deliver a deep knowledge of Canadian shoppers, category trends, retail media networks and retailer-agnostic media networks.
We are creative commerce experts with an intimate understanding of what motivates consumers and shoppers along the path to purchase, ensuring that campaigns are not only compelling but also drive measurable impact at shelf.
Our "Belief to Basket” framework provides us with the tools to build end-to-end solutions for our clients with deep knowledge across brand storytelling, commerce media and shopper activation. We know that “People Buy Belief,” and our Belief to Basket approach is how we make it happen, from the first impression to the shelf.
Q. What differentiates you from your competitors in the marketplace?
Our strongest differentiator is our end-to-end, fully integrated capability across strategy, planning, creative, retail media and activation. Under our Belief to Basket ecosystem, we consider all the various touchpoints that can intercept and impact decision-making. From uncovering actionable shopper insights through in-store observation and data analysis, to crafting creative that resonates across multiple channels, to executing complex programs with disciplined project management, LPi functions as a seamless extension of our clients’ teams.
LPi is a leader in omni-shopper media planning, providing visibility to emerging platforms and solutions allowing our client partners to take first-to-market steps in engaging their consumers in the pre-shop phase of the shopper journey. Our strong relationships with all major retailers, combined with daily integration into their planning and media cycles, enable us to optimize campaigns in real time.
Q. What is one recent company win you can share with us?
Our most continuous win over the last 18 months has been expanding our role with both existing and new clients through the integration of omni-shopper media planning and activation. By broadening the touchpoints and creating a more robust ecosystem to strategically activate our clients' brand plans, we’re seeing larger more effective campaigns that deliver against the core KPIs – namely, increasing consideration and driving conversion.
Q. Where do you see the greatest opportunity right now for growth?
Digital shelf optimization, often seen as the “forgotten child” in the marketing mix, has become the fastest-growing priority for many of our clients. Ensuring digital shelf presence is accurate, compelling and continuously optimized is as important as brand storytelling and in-store presence. Each touchpoint is interconnected, and with the growth of online shopping, which now accounts for nearly 10% of FMCG spend in Canada, many of our clients are prioritizing this touchpoint.
Q. Any new marketing tactic you used (or recommended to clients) in the past year that you plan to keep in your toolbox for the future?
By combining retail media with retailer-agnostic media targeting consumers based on purchase history, brands can extend reach, increase consideration and drive incremental conversions back to Canadian retailers. Agnostic partners such as GenesisX, AdAdapted, Flipp and others bring continuously evolving solutions designed to get our brands on the list and ultimately in the basket.
Q. What is one challenge you (or your clients) are facing right now?
Brand switching, private-label product growth, deep discounts and pricing strategies make it challenging for established brands to compete amongst the financial strains Canadian shoppers are facing, including inflation, tariffs and job uncertainty. This requires our team to be agile and proactive to the various business challenges facing our clients.
Q. Any solution you are trying or recommend to others facing the same challenge?
To look at offering consumers value not necessarily through the lens of price or discount but based on rewards, loyalty offers, experience and most importantly, ownable brand differentiators that build and sustain brand belief.
Q. Looking to the future, what are you most excited about in terms of the evolution of our industry in the coming year?
We’re most excited about the emergence of agentic commerce and what it means for how consumers discover, evaluate and purchase products. For CPG brands, success will increasingly depend on influencing both human shoppers and AI-powered shopping assistants. That will require brands to rethink everything from packaging and content to product data and digital shelf strategy, ensuring brand attributes are both emotionally compelling for consumers and machine-readable for AI. The opportunity lies in helping brands build relevance and preference across these two decision-making environments, which we believe will be one of the most significant shifts our industry has seen in years.
Q. Which P2PI member benefit(s) do you value the most and why?
The access to partner case studies, retailer profiles and the network of P2PI members is invaluable. The increased representation of Canadian content through the membership portal is refreshing to see and provides direct application to many of our clients' business opportunities.
BONUS … Q. How was your experience at Retail Media Summit Canada in February and what are some of your takeaways from the event?
Being privy to the insights, innovation and thought leadership from marketers who are elevating their categories was both motivating and exciting. And the opportunity to connect with partners, vendors and clients who all share the desire to deliver breakthrough marketing tactics in Canada was an invaluable experience for our team.
