In-Store Before It Was Cool — George Forge, Quad

Quad was in-store before it was cool. Recorded at Groceryshop 2026, Tom Limongello sits down with George Forge of Quad inside the company’s pop-up store on the show floor. If you know Quad as a printer of circulars, FSIs and shelf signs, this is the 55-year arc from a print shop in the back of a family grocery store to a full-service marketing company with creative and media agencies, a household data set built on the mail, and digital screens in the aisle. George walks through how Quad tests the store the way you’d test a webpage, using eye tracking and heat maps from its Accelerated Marketing Insights practice. He explains why the long tail of grocers should treat store traffic as their media asset, and he has a contrarian view on where in-store screens belong. When you’re already standing next to the product, does the screen need to be there? Quad: https://www.quad.com Booth photography: Sean T Smith (@stsphotov) Chapters 00:00 Meet Quad at Groceryshop 00:41 Quad Beyond Printing 02:08 Two Big Takeaways 04:26 Quad Origin Story 05:49 From FSIs to Full Service 07:20 Acquisitions and Performance Media 10:38 Household Data via Mail 11:45 Micro Segmentation vs One to One 14:11 Testing Creative In Store 16:58 Innovation Centers and Packaging 19:18 Retail Media for Long Tail Grocers 20:07 Wedge Screens and Aisle Attention 22:48 Merchandising and Screen Placement 25:32 Complementary Placement Strategy 27:15 In Store Attention Advantage 28:03 Wrap Up and Thanks