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June 18, 2015

Falmouth firm buys Florida 'secret shopper' group

A subsidiary of Falmouth marketing firm TideSmart Global has acquired a Florida-based hospitality consulting group that uses “secret shoppers” to gather real-time data for consumer brands.

EMG3, which describes itself as an experiential marketing firm, said Wednesday that its purchase of Phantom Shopper LLC will allow the firm to expand services for clients. Phantom Shopper founder and CEO Brian Mula-Howard is joining EMG3’s team as an executive. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

"EMG3 has managed hundreds of thousands of events at retail for top consumer brands," Steve Woods, CEO of EMG3 and TideSmart Global, said in a prepared statement. "We're thrilled to be able to now offer our clients the capability of real-time data that will not only help improve the quality of their brand and customer experiences, but also provide valuable knowledge to help grow their business."

In EMG3’s announcement, Phantom Shopper is described as a “provider of mystery shopping, customer feedback and a variety of business intelligence services for the service industry worldwide.” The firm said Phantom Shopper has recruited and worked with a database of more than 45,000 “secret shoppers,” who “anonymously shop with the purpose of gathering real-time accurate data for bands.” This information is then made available to clients, who will also be able to access customer feedback surveys, comprehensive reports and more data.

"Our approach to collecting, reviewing, and delivering customer experience data for our clients is the most accurate, reliable and accessible in the industry," Mula-Howard said in a prepared statement. "We are very excited to be joining EMG3, a recognized leader in experiential event management, and to be enhancing their existing repertoire of great systems with our array of business intelligence programs and tools."

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