Introducing Leads at Retail – Powered by Old City Media
Over the last few years, I have had a front row seat to one of the biggest shifts in marketing.
Brands have pushed more of their budgets into digital over the past decade, but the conversations that actually move the needle are still happening in person. Recent experiential research shows that participants in brand experiences are 85% more likely to purchase afterward and that marketers see higher ROI from experiential than from other channels (Source)
At Old City Media, we leaned into that reality. We focused on connecting brands with real people inside retail and grocery, and the result has been exponential growth over the past year. Our team has executed tens of thousands of in‑store activations, and the message from shoppers, brands, and retailers has been consistent: human, face to face interaction still wins.
That is why I am excited to finally talk about something we have been building behind the scenes.
Introducing Leads at Retail – Powered by Old City Media
Leads at Retail, Powered by Old City Media, is our new in store program that is powered by Old City Media. It is designed for home improvement and home services brands that want more than impressions. They want qualified homeowner leads.
The concept is simple on paper, but it took years of trial, error, and iteration to get right.
How Leads at Retail works
We partner with high traffic retail and grocery locations to give your brand team access to shoppers where they already are. Your brand ambassadors set up a clean, approachable presence in store and invite interested shoppers into short, friendly, reward-based conversations.
Shoppers walk away with valuable brand insights and education that build real confidence, sometimes along with swag or other incentives. Your brand walks away with a warm lead from someone who raised their hand and said, “Yes, I am interested.”
Benefits for retailers
Retailers benefit as well. They gain a new nonretail revenue stream without adding operational burden. Old City Media has streamlined the entire process with our proprietary scheduling tools, making it completely turnkey.
They see happier customers who feel appreciated. They watch national brands invest real dollars into their locations in a way that supports the store, instead of competing with it, because we book multiple brands efficiently to maximize every opportunity.
Complementing your digital strategy
For the brands, Leads at Retail is not meant to replace digital. It is built to sit alongside it.
Digital can create awareness and drive the first click. Our in-store programs create trust, collect accurate information, and hand the sales team a lead that already knows who you are. In a world where acquisition costs keep climbing, that combination matters.
Why this matters now
On a personal level, this launch means a lot to me.
In 2020, like many people in live events, I was staring at a very uncertain future. The GIFT program we created in that moment taught me that if you stay close to partners, keep listening, and keep adjusting, you can come out stronger on the other side. Leads at Retail is the next chapter in that same story.
I am proud of what our team has built and grateful for the retail and brand partners who trusted us early. We have learned a lot together, and we are just getting started.
Ready to connect?
If you are a home improvement or home services brand looking to bring this kind of experiential energy into retail on a weekly basis, we’d love to talk about how Leads at retail can plug into your pipeline. Reach out to me at ray@oldcitymedia.com, call 267-939-0503 or connect with me on LinkedIn.