Ricks Steckles, the former Chief Technology Officer at CTI Digital has invested a “6-figure sum” into GAZER.
The Cheshire-based specialist food, drink and hospitality agency will use the investment to support its next phase of growth.
Steckles will join the company as Technical and Insights Director, helping it develop its “OPTICS” campaign evaluation product – which tests products, serve strategies, point-of-sale and activations in live hospitality environments before a wider rollout.
“What attracted me to GAZER was its specialist understanding of the on-trade and the opportunity to apply technology to real commercial problems,” explained Steckles.
“There is a huge amount of data in the sector, but it is often fragmented across different systems. Our focus is on turning that into clear, practical intelligence that helps clients decide where to focus and what to do next.
“My role will be to build that technical and insights capability as GAZER continues to grow.”
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GAZER is about to launch a rebrand, which it views as the next stage in its development.
“This investment is an important milestone for GAZER and gives us the backing to accelerate the business we are becoming,” added Michael Potts, Strategy & Growth Director at GAZER.
“We are combining strong strategy and activation with technology, data and commercial intelligence to help clients make better decisions and understand what is genuinely working.
“OPTICS is an important part of that, but this is about the wider direction of GAZER and building a more valuable, scalable offer for our clients.”