Stephen Furlonger, European business director at The Marketing Store, has left to join integrated agency WARL as business director to lead and develop its shopper marketing offering.

Furlonger spent three and a half years at The Marketing Store creating shopper strategies for brands including McDonalds, Vodafone, Shell Global, Danone, Nestle and Cereal Partners.

At WARL, he will work closely with managing director Kerry Bateman to build on the uniquely strong shopper function that WARL has developed over the past few years.

Stephen Furlonger says: “WARL was in at the birth of shopper marketing a decade ago with clients such as P&G. The agency has done some incredible work, based on its own insights and also in conjunction with the Ipsos MORI shopper lab, which has resulted in innovative shopper initiatives for a raft of clients. I am looking forward to helping the agency move its shopper offering to a new level in the coming months.”

Before joining The Marketing Store, Furlonger worked at the Clinton Partnership and Liquid ‘Communications. At WARL, he will work across the agency’s full client roster which includes Procter & Gamble, McVities, Tesco and Jeyes.

Kerry Bateman adds: “In today’s business environment, shopper marketing is potentially the most important discipline for fmcg brands. In Stephen, we have one of the industry’s most significant shopper experts and we are now in the process of introducing him to our staff and clients.”