The Zest Lab

The Zest Lab is a marketing agency that brings brands to life through in-person experiences, marketing strategy and creative services. It concentrates on creating demand, traffic, brand equity and sales for clients, with a particular strength in grand openings, event sampling and field marketing.

The agency says its strategy starts by listening to the client rather than imposing its own view, and that it plans around the client's budget, whatever its size, recommending the tactics that work instead of favoring one channel. Its work is organized into activations and events, marketing and media planning, creative services and dedicated grand opening support.

• Grand openings: programs that drive traffic, run the event, analyze results and scale nationwide, with community engagement
• Event sampling: on-premise and off-premise sampling at locations such as stadium parking lots, festivals and small towns; it reports managing thousands of events
• Experiential: event design meant to build enthusiastic brand fans
• Field marketing support: staff augmentation that fills capacity gaps for marketing teams
• Media planning and analysis: plans that are created, tested, analyzed and adjusted with transparency
• Digital marketing and endemic advertising: metrics-driven campaigns and placements in communities tied to a brand's industry
• Creative services: advertising and content development, branding and rebranding, video support and web development

Its client logos include 7-Eleven, Speedway, Stripes, Grease Monkey, Flackers, White Claw, Cayman Jack, Mike's Hard Lemonade, Floor Coverings International and Cabinets To Go, which points to work in convenience retail, beverage and home services. Testimonials on the site come from Jason Beck, Marketing Director for Paid Media at 7-Eleven, Don Kelly, President and Co-founder of Flackers, and Callie Bowie of Northeast Sales Distribution Company.

The Zest Lab lists itself as a supplier and member of the IFA, and it publishes a blog called The Lab Report.