CITIES Market Studios and SPRING Merge to Provide Complete Retail Accelerator Ecosystem for Consumer Products

MINNEAPOLIS, Sept. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CITIES Market Studios, a consumer product and retail strategy company, today announced a merger with retail accelerator, SPRING. Under terms of the merger, SPRING will be incorporated into CITIES' Creative Commerce platform. The alignment between CITIES and SPRING comprises 85 employees, making CITIES Market Studios one of the largest business development, program management and product development companies inside North American retail.

CITIES collaborates with tier-one retail, brands and inventors to develop and execute strategies, products and programs for the digital and physical markets. SPRING is a retail accelerator for the consumer goods market, helping brands build, launch and grow globally. SPRING partners with, VC's, retailers, crowdfunding platforms, hardware incubators, and accelerators.

"Having partnered with SPRING for years, we've had the privilege of seeing their model and platform evolve into something sophisticated, collaborative and powerfully effective," said Marty Hawk, CEO, CITIES Market Studios. "There is a science to what SPRING has created through their retail readiness process. What I see in their methodology and curriculum is their ability to blend education with strategy; they don't just inform and guide, they partner on the future."

With the onboarding of SPRING, CITIES looks to invest strategically in Next Generation Retail, the emerging landscape between physical and digital commerce and the acceleration of innovation through technology. The new company's interests will likely include the digital and physical stores of Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, Target and Walmart.

"The speed and dynamics of the market are changing rapidly and emerging brands rely on trusted partners to deliver results," said Greg Appelhof, founder, SPRING. "Together with CITIES, we have a strong understanding of retailer needs, consumer touch-points and we prepare brands to grow profitably on the digital and physical shelf. We are inspired by genius products and their founders, and we constantly tune our combined experience to demystify the retail landscape. We employ our "Retail and Market Readiness" platform to develop successful startups globally."

With the SPRING addition, CITIES now supports every step of the consumer product continuum from evaluation and preparation to activation and reinvention. 

Hawk adds, "The start-up who comes to market prepared for the realities and demands of the emerging market, while being able to articulate and achieve objectives in the context of those realities, has a much greater chance for success."

With the addition of SPRING, CITIES is now positioned to support new entrants to the market at every step of the consumer product continuum from evaluation and preparation to activation and reinvention.

For more information, visit www.citiesms.com.  

About CITIES Market Studios:
CITIES Market Studios is a consumer product and retail strategy company. CITIES collaborates with retail, brands and investors to develop and execute strategies, product and programs for the digital and physical markets. www.CITIESms.com  

About SPRING:
Headquartered in Minneapolis, SPRING is a retail accelerator for the consumer packaged goods market, helping brands build, launch and grow on a national scale. SPRING partners with entrepreneurial businesses, ensuring their brand is positioned to realize the full potential of the retail opportunity through its proprietary platform to the world's biggest and best retailers. http://www.spring2market.com/  

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SOURCE CITIES Market Studios