Jack Shannon is the Co-founder and CEO of Recess, a brand activation platform for top consumer brands, like PepsiCo, General Mills, and Milk Bar. With over 15 years of experience scaling innovative marketing solutions, he and his partner have scaled Recess from the ground up. Jack is also an investor in Venvee and Editframe. 

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [1:20] Jack Shannon explains how Recess connects CPG brands with real-world communities
• [3:49] The proliferation of retail media and how Recess offers a more impactful alternative
• [9:05] Using location and mobile data to target high-density shopper audiences for sampling campaigns
• [12:25] The methods Recess uses to measure ROI 
• [17:37] How sampling can drive user-generated content and create omnichannel amplification across social and email
• [20:41] Jack shares the founding story of Recess and how the platform simplifies sampling
• [25:43] How AI shopping agents could disrupt search, marketplaces, and digital retail media models

In this episode…

As retail media networks proliferate and demand more brand dollars, many companies struggle to identify which channels deliver results beyond the major platforms like Amazon and Walmart. With hundreds of fragmented options, it's increasingly difficult to measure ROI, target consumers, and justify media spend. How can brands identify a scalable, performance-driven alternative that bridges physical and digital touchpoints?

Experiential marketer and media strategist Jack Shannon advises brands to leverage performance-driven sampling and targeted real-world applications. This includes using mobile data to reach high-density shopper audiences in environments like gyms, schools, and apartment communities — places where people are naturally engaged. By blending audience targeting, digital amplification, and measurement tools like store lift analysis and loyalty data integration, experiential marketing can drive bottom-funnel metrics and long-term customer loyalty.

In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant sits down with Jack Shannon, Co-founder and CEO of Recess, to discuss measuring and scaling experiential marketing. Jack talks about sampling as a form of performance media, how social amplification and real-world data drive meaningful outcomes, and how to reach offline audiences. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Aaron Conant on LinkedIn
• BWG Connect
• Jack Shannon on LinkedIn 
• Recess: Website | LinkedIn
• “Everyday AI for Everyday Productivity With Danny Silverman” on The Digital Deep Dive

Quotable Moments:

• "Recess is a platform and a tool to help capture new customers and win back market share."
• "Sampling was a great kind of initial ad unit that could be ubiquitous across many types of locations."
• "We built a targeting layer based on specific retailer audiences using anonymous cell phone data."
• "Experiential performance marketing combines real-world sampling with measurable impact like sales lift and return on ad spend."
• "We've brought the cost down by one tenth of what it cost traditionally to execute these programs."

Action Steps:

1. Leverage mobile data to target key shopper audiences: Using location-based insights ensures samples reach consumers who shop at your priority retailers. This improves ROI by focusing spend on high-intent, in-store shoppers.
2. Integrate sampling into performance marketing strategies: Treat experiential efforts like digital campaigns by tracking store lift and tying results to retail outcomes. This approach aligns brand dollars with measurable business goals.
3. Combine offline engagement with digital amplification: Use social posts and email follow-ups from community partners to extend the reach of your campaign. This omnichannel strategy maximizes visibility and conversion potential.
4. Simplify experiential campaign execution: Reduce manual work and costs by using tech platforms that automate sampling logistics and partner coordination. Making it easier to test and learn increases adoption and long-term investment.
5. Focus on long-term customer behavior, not just instant sales: Measure how trials impact loyalty and repeat purchases over time. This helps demonstrate lifetime value and strengthens the business case for sampling.

About BWG Connect...

BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.

In addition, we have had 1x1 conversations with over 5,000 brands and have a real-time pulse on what digital strategies are successful and why. This in-depth knowledge allows our team to operate on the cutting-edge and provide our clients with best-in-class guidance on how to win in the digital world. We have provided free consultations and strategy sessions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune-100, to enable growth, resolve issues and make curated service provider introductions that can impact your digital footprint.

We have held to the philosophy of providing high-level insights and actionable knowledge with no sales pitches in order to provide to our network the ability to listen, learn and act to improve themselves as well as their organizations. Our ultimate goal is to be the resource out there to help digital executives find the research they need to excel in the modern marketplace.

If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.