Last week, I had the honor of moderating a session at the IAB Connected Commerce Summit called “How to Supercharge Your Creative Strategy with AI.” Joining me on stage were Mike Brunick, SVP, Head of Commerce Media at Yahoo; Devrie DeMarco, Managing Director at MediaLink/UTA; and Wendi Dunlap, EVP, Business Intelligence and Audience Science at Mediahub Worldwide.

Together, we dove into how AI is reshaping creative strategies and, most importantly, how it’s knitting together the online and offline worlds to build seamless customer experiences.

One of the most compelling moments came from DeMarco, who reminded us that it’s not just about optimizing workflows, it’s about crafting journeys that resonate across every touchpoint. She said it powerfully: “If AI can free people from manual tasks, imagine the potential of a better in-store experience.”That struck a chord. We’re not just using AI for efficiency’s sake; we’re using it to enrich the entire shopping experience, connecting the digital and physical realms.

Brunick emphasized that personalization needs to go beyond immediate transactions. It’s about fostering long-term relationships. Picture a customer’s journey as a continuous thread weaving through both online and in-store experiences. AI helps us analyze behaviors, build meaningful touchpoints, and drive engagement that resonates across channels. But it’s most effective when it amplifies our ability to connect on a human level. We can’t let data and automation drown out the personal touch.

Dunlap added another layer, urging us not to overlook the ethical implications of AI in creative strategies. While AI can enhance creativity, without vigilance, we risk introducing bias into the strategies we create to connect with diverse audiences. “Bias” and “inclusivity” must be at the forefront of any AI-driven approach, Dunlap explained. The technology is only as good as the data it’s fed. Without human insight, we can easily miss the mark in reflecting our diverse audiences and their varied consumer experiences.  This isn’t just about algorithms; it’s about responsibility.

AI Strategy in Three Key Points

Our panel boiled down AI strategy to three essential takeaways:

1. Bridge the Online and In-Store Experience: It’s not about separate channels; it’s about guiding customers through a unified journey.
2. Enhance Creativity, Don’t Replace It: AI should augment the human touch, but always keep a sharp eye on data-driven biases.
3. Start Small: Test a few use cases, learn, and then scale up thoughtfully. Don’t try to boil the ocean.

The Power of Experience

After my panel, I attended several discussions that expanded on these ideas. But the last session of the day — “Unlock the Power of Innovation through Creativity in Commerce” — truly drove everything home for me. Featuring Michael Olaye, EVP, Managing Director at Hero Digital, and Lauren Chesley, Head of Industry, Retail + Restaurants at SiriusXM Media, and moderated by Pam Zucker, Chief Strategy Officer at IAB<, this session wrapped up many of the themes we’d explored throughout the day.

They picked up right where our panel left off and closed the loop on what Walter T. Geer III touched upon earlier in the day during his fireside chat: We need to be creating experiences. It’s not just about selling products; it’s about crafting a journey that resonates on multiple sensory levels and stays with the consumer long after.

Olaye framed it perfectly: “Creativity stays the same, but the canvas changes.” We’ve moved from TV and print to automation and digital platforms, and it’s about using technology to drive human thinking. His words encapsulated what we’d been circling all day — AI isn’t here to replace creativity; it’s here to enhance it, giving us new canvases to paint on.

Chesley illustrated this idea deeper, painting a vivid picture of a European hotel where every detail was designed to engage the senses. The scent in the lobby, the jazz music playing softly, the warm towel handed to guests, and the champagne toast at check-in. “The more senses you activate, the more connected you are to someone,” she explained. It clicked. The same principles apply to retail. She argued that audio is a powerful yet often underused channel, creating emotional connections in a world saturated with visuals. When was the last time you thought about a brand’s sonic identity?

Olaye also introduced the idea of Zero UI — a world that moves beyond screens and traditional interfaces. Imagine stores where sensors, AI, and connected devices know your preferences without you having to input anything. Zero UI is about blending the physical and digital worlds in seamless ways. This dovetailed perfectly with what we discussed during the session I moderated: AI is a tool to build customer journeys that speak to how people want to interact with brands, online or offline.

Key Takeaways from the IAB Connected Commerce Summit

1. Phygital Experiences Are Key: Rose Ferraro of Rockbot emphasized that consistency between online and in-store environments is crucial. Unified media across audio, signage, and other touchpoints strengthens the brand narrative and keeps consumers engaged.
2. In-Store Digitization as a Business Enabler: Nick Ashley of Tesco Media nailed it when he said that digitization isn’t just about media revenue; it’s about enhancing the overall business. Elevating the look and feel of stores fosters long-term customer loyalty.
3. Retail Data Drives Better Impact: Elizabeth Cotogno of Kroger Precision Marketing noted that incorporating retail data earlier in media planning can boost business impact by 50%. But the real challenge? Moving beyond outdated metrics like CPMs and focusing on real-world outcomes.
4. Creativity and Technology Must Work Hand-in-Hand: Walter T. Geer III reminded us that while AI and automation provide incredible tools, it’s the human element — our stories, ethics, and passion — that ultimately drives compelling campaigns.
5. Personalization, but Not at the Expense of Privacy: The summit repeatedly highlighted that AI should personalize and enhance consumer experiences while keeping privacy and ethics at the forefront of every interaction.

Creating the Connected Experience

If there’s one major lesson I walked away from the IAB Connected Commerce Summit with, it’s this: AI is an enabler, not the end goal. Whether we’re streamlining creative processes or building phygital retail environments, the focus should always be on crafting meaningful, holistic experiences.

AI can free us from mundane tasks, drive deeper insights, and open up new possibilities. But at its core, it’s the human touch that keeps the heartbeat of creative strategy alive. It’s about understanding what truly resonates with people and using technology to amplify those connections.

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Without a doubt, Possible was the place for digital media and marketing professionals. The 3-day conference was jam-packed with tons of digital advertising content, and just about everyone you know from the industry was there. Even Ad Tech God was there…allegedly.

Attendees indulged in poolside conversations and meetings, which offered a refreshing change from the typical Zoom and office settings. The event content was diverse and engaging, ensuring that there was something of value for everyone in the industry. 

“While Possible’s second year did not have the Elon/Yaccarino jaw-dropping headliner, it matured into an impressive gathering of decision-makers,” said Richy Glassberg, Co-founder and CEO of SafeGuard Privacy. Possible tackled many important conversations, including brand safety, sustainability, the health of the ecosystem, DEI, and more, in a spirited environment with brand marketers everywhere.”

Last year, Possible emerged as the first conference to headline AI, and this year, it extensively focused on the application of AI. The event united diverse viewpoints across media, communication, ad tech, and MarTech industries. Stepping away from New York and immersing ourselves in a new environment with varied perspectives really inspired out-of-the-box thinking.

Since the Fontainebleau was right alongside the ocean, it was hard to hear at times. But here is what we heard beneath the wind. 

Navigating The Discomforts of DEI

Before getting hot and heavy into the bulk of ad content, the event launched with a lunch focused on diversity. Panelists discussed the power of ensuring inclusivity in your workplaces to provide a safe space for your team to show up as their whole selves. Tish Archie Oliver, Chief DEI&B Officer at Unilever, talked about being completely comfortable wearing her hair naturally curly to work and not hiding her identity. She explained that reaching this point took a long time.

Brianne Boles-Marshall, Global Marketing Services Diversity Media Strategy & Investment specialist at General Motors, fueled the conversation by encouraging the audience to embrace their discomfort in the workplace. “The fact that something is making you uncomfortable should let you know that there is something to be learned. Take it as an opportunity to grasp the situation in a way you never have. We should call it an opportunity to learn and grow with that person or through that situation versus feeling like, I’m going to mess this up,” Boles-Marshall said. “That’s how learning and growth take place.”

Your Business Strategy Comes First, AI After 

Sean Downey, President of Americas & Global Partners at Google, outlined a few steps publishers and advertisers can take to fully leverage AI. 

His sense of humor tickled the audience when he mentioned how his industry friends always asked him for AI advice. “My CEO said I have to have an AI strategy by Monday. Please tell me what to do,” Downey said. “Who here has gotten that question from their board meeting? Probably every single person. The answer is always that you don’t need an AI strategy. You need a business strategy that you want to apply AI to.”

According to Downey, focusing on a business strategy is paramount, and then you apply AI to solve specific business problems. To establish an effective business strategy, companies must do the following:

1. Understand the importance of consumer behavior and the need for real-time insights to reach them effectively. 
2. Embrace AI applications for measurement, media, and targeting to enhance marketing strategies and ensure quality data fuels AI to make accurate predictions and connections. 
3. Breakdown silos within marketing departments and adopt a holistic customer-focused approach.

The Art of Partnering for Impact 

While discussing all things programmatic with Rose McGovern, Head of Programmatic & Digital Ad Sales at DirectTV Advertising, she emphasized the importance of publishers prioritizing collaboration to thrive. 

“Publishers need to be very deliberate and discerning with the partners they choose as those partners will steward their content and inventory in a compliant way,” McGovern explained. “At DirectTV, our viewer experience and consumer data are critical to us because we have such a loyal fanbase, and that loyal subscriber base differentiates us.”

Any publisher must maintain a focus on their loyal audience. You can’t just offer your inventory to every buyer. Publishers need to develop a framework for evaluating potential partners and ensuring alignment regarding distribution, ad tech, and data partnerships. 

The Biggest Programmatic Trend Right Now? DOOH & OOH  

At Possible, we also chatted with 2024 Top Women in Media & Ad Tech awards honoree Laura Manning, SVP of Measurement at Clint/Lucid. When we asked her about the biggest programmatic trend of the year, she promptly identified DOOH. “It’s a lot easier to transact DOOH inventory, and therefore, more people are including it in their plans, even if they are just a traditional agency,” she said. 

What is the biggest challenge for DOOH? According to Manning, its measurement is hardly surprising. The ecosystem is continuously trying to solve this issue. Tracking who saw an ad can be tough, but the right partners can help agencies and buyers tie it together. 

What is her advice for publishers navigating today’s programmatic challenges? Education. She recommends engaging with others, reading industry newsletters, attending industry conferences, and discussing trending topics like AI— even if some are weary of the topic.. There is value in learning more about it. 

Regarding OOH, Lucy Markowitz, SVP, GM US Marketplace at Vistar Media, offers her insights on the space”

“The fragmentation in OOH has been part of the reason for the rise of programmatic buying in this space,” Markowitz said. “Being able to leverage multiple publishers as part of a single campaign simply and easily has helped to create opportunities to do better work on behalf of clients as opposed to taking what could be viewed as an “easy route” only leveraging a few publishers to mitigate work.”

According to Markowitz, as advertisers better understand consumer ad fatigue, they try other channels, making DOOH and OOH a great opportunity.  

“Advertisers are recognizing the value of OOH ads, which can adapt to real-time contexts and audience movement,” said Markowitz. DOOH can integrate technologies that boost contextual relevance to audiences, whether driving along the highway or browsing the aisle at the pharmacy. According to the Out of Home Digital Advertising Association, the medium has an impressive 82% ad recall.”

The Evolutionary Journey of the CMO

Over the past two years, CMOs and their strategic importance to the industry have gained prominence. We sat down for a poolside discussion with Natalie Bastian, Global CMO of Teads, to hear her thoughts on the future of the role.

“I’d love to see CMOs turning to CEOs,” she said. “That, to me, is a great indicator of the power and the strength of marketing, and if marketing has a seat at the table at the company as part of the business plan and part of those business decisions, then marketing will be successful. It’s about being simple and correlating the value you can bring to your target audience. Accountability is also a big takeaway; CMOs must be more accountable and responsible with their investments.”

Looking to the future, Bastian advises that CMOs maintain a close-knit relationship with the CFO. Speaking the same language and creating alignment between the two roles is the secret sauce to success; ensuring marketing investment can be effective and scale.

The Future of Advertising in Social Media 

Social media has proven to be an extremely resourceful marketing tool and it is only getting more efficient. As social platforms continue to leverage AI and machine learning, advertisers can employ these tools to create more personalized ad experiences. As well, the shift towards video and interactive content will only continue, with social commerce, like the TikTok shop, gaining more ground.

To gain more insight into the future of advertising in social media, we spoke with Bill Schild, GM of Americas at Channel Factory. As a data platform, Channel Factory uses contextual to maximize ad effectiveness while prioritizing brand safety and suitability on YouTube. The company’s partnership with the YouTube Measurement Program grants them unique access to YouTube’s data, resulting in more accurate and dynamic campaign adjustments. 

“There’s enough commentary to tell us that social media often gets the short end of the stick,” Schild explained. “However, there are two sides to every story, and enough positive content is promoted on the internet that can be a force for good. This should be how the future of social media advertising operates, and it’s something we actively help brands uncover. We envision a future where conscious inclusion and suitability are paramount. Brands, agencies, and advertisers will adopt inclusion-first strategies and utilize advanced AI to grasp context and achieve results that enhance their return on investment (ROI).” 

The Publisher’s Advantage In The Shopper’s Journey

By 2026, commerce media will represent over $150 billion in global ad spend. What does this mean for publishers? According to a recent report by Criteo, publishers across all regions can expect to make money through retail media networks in the next 12-18 months. 

With the end of cookies on the horizon, the ecosystem is diversifying revenue and heavily pursuing commerce media as an alternative.

“Like retailers, publishers have a wealth of first-party data, but their differentiation lies in their ability to connect with shoppers higher up in the shopper journey,” said Sherry Smith, Executive Managing Director for the Americas at Criteo. To effectively operate within the broader commerce media environment and drive new revenue streams, publishers must activate their powerful first-party data while building long-term partnerships with brands, agencies, and retailers. This combined effort will unlock direct access to powerful commerce data that provides continued personalized advertising on their owned and operated channels.”

Smith predicts publishers will look more like retailer websites in the next three to five years. The sites will combine personalized commerce experiences with core content, creating tailored user experiences where customers can shop and consume their favorite publications. 

Planning on Attending Possible Next Year?

If not, I am sure the following testimonials from ad tech industry leaders are enough to convince you. 

“In the constellation of industry gatherings, Possible shines as a guiding star, its second year solidifying its status as a premier tent pole event. Under one roof, Gen Z consumers, diligent workers, and esteemed executives converged to delve into the depths of industry trends, challenges, and the transformative potential of AI and other technologies. While Cannes will always retain its allure, Possible democratizes the stage, inviting every voice to contribute their brilliance to progress.” – Heather Macaulay, President MadTech 

“A mini-Cannes, complete with a productive mix of brands, agencies and solution providers. AI was a recurrent theme during the conference. It was exciting to hear how marketers are narrowing in on AI solutions that aren’t just flashy distractions, but instead genuinely help address some of marketing’s most basic challenges – like connecting the right ad with the right viewer.” – Peter Crofut, VP, Business Development – Agencies & Brands at Wurl

“This was my first time attending POSSIBLE and it exceeded my expectations in turns of scale and productivity. As we prep for Cannes and our engagement strategy for the rest of the year, I felt like it provided a nice combination of inspiration, engagement and opportunity to fuel creative ideas to take us through 2024 and beyond.” – Meredith Brace, CMO of XR Extreme Reach 

The post Revealed at Possible: Insights Shaping Marketing’s Future appeared first on AdMonsters.

High purchase propensities environments such as grocery stores, drug stores, convenience stores, and big box retailers are ideal for targeting consumers. Why? Consumers who enter a physical shopping environment are more receptive to hearing and seeing messages as they navigate the aisles to make a purchase. 

Not only are in-store shoppers more receptive to the advertisements, but they can interact with, purchase, and take home the product within the same trip.

E-commerce and other online channels need to  provide customers with this immediacy,and  other out-of-home channels like billboards or radio ads. This opportunity is unique to in-store environments and may be one reason global retail media spending will reach $101 billion this year, a 15% increase from 2021.

However, for advertisers to truly take advantage of shoppers’ necessity to spend at the point of purchase, they must craft appropriate messages the in-store audiences will value. Real-time optimization powered by data-driven ad placement automation eliminates the risk of broadcasting irrelevant messages. Also called dynamic content generation, real-time optimization automates the curation of ads based on data factors offering the most appropriate times and occasions to send a personalized message to that specific location. 

In other words, by leveraging various data sources, real-time optimization ensures personalized messages reach customers through each channel of the retail media network. Here’s how three key data sources work to provide real-time optimization: 

In-store Inventory Data

We’ve all experienced frustrating out-of-stocks, price increases, and down counts — especially during the current economic state. With supply concerns threatening brand trust and customer enjoyment in stores, real-time optimization guarantees supply synchronization by directly connecting retail media ad channels to store data. 

For example, suppose a grocery location sells out of specific on-shelf product. In that case, the in-store audio network could synchronize with supply data to stop running that ad in the specific store with the depleted product. 

By connecting retail media channels to real-time data about supply, stock keeping units (SKUs), and other first-party factors, in-store channels maximize every impression. Retail media channels like in-store audio are especially advantageous, considering they drive impulse buying: 48% of shoppers state that in-store audio influences their purchase propensity. 

Non-invasive Targeting 

Data sources that don’t rely on information about individual customers, such as geolocation, day of the week, time of day, and general demographic data, enhance optimization at the point of purchase.

Advertisers using non-invasive targeting strengthen relationships with in-store customers and ensure messaging meets their needs in real-time, all without relying on cookies and third-party sources. 

For example, if it rains one day, advertisers can sync in-store display ads with local weather data to show discounts and aisle locations for umbrellas. If the local sports team has a big game that night, advertisements might sync with day-of-the-week data and the team’s schedule to encourage customers to stock up on popular snacks or adult beverages. 

These real-time updates build a relevant connection with the consumer without obtaining personal data from third-party sources, invading shopper privacy. 72% of Americans are reluctant to share information data with businesses over privacy concerns — a percentage likely to increase as consumers continue to become more aware of how data mining invades their privacy. 

In-store audio advertising is a non-addressable channel — advertisements targeting more broadly through demographic trends, hourly impressions, or other in-venue digital techniques. Unlike e-commerce, where advertisements rely on invasive, identity-based cookies, in-store advertising targeting doesn’t threaten privacy. Advertisers need to leverage this advantage over e-commerce. Brands that use non-invasive targeting strategies show consumers that brands value their privacy while still wanting to build personal connections.

Consumer Shopping Patterns

Consumer shopping patterns represent advertisers’ most crucial data source to implement within a real-time optimization infrastructure. The foundational questions asked by advertisers when building  campaigns should be:

•     Does the campaign link the goals across e-commerce and physical store distribution?
•     How can your campaign gain your share of market over your category competitor? 
•     When and where are customers most receptive to promotions, discounts, and special offers? 

Real-time optimization automates the process, allowing these strategic questions to factor into ad placement decisions. 

 For example, shopping pattern data may reveal times of day, days of the week, or seasons in which shoppers choose to “trade down” or pick a more affordable  option over their usual preferred  option. 

Perhaps families opt for cheaper grocery brands to save leading up to the holidays, or college students purchase discounted home essentials leading up to back-to-school. On a smaller level, shoppers may adjust their spending habits leading up to or following their weekly payday. By implementing consumer shopping data, relevant ads for each shift in spending trends automatically run. Advertisers can have the confidence that their messages will reach the targeted audience. 

When shopper attention is at a peak, retailers and advertisers cannot afford to run campaigns irrelevant to consumer needs. Advances in targeting capabilities have allowed advertisers to speak to select consumers using shopping patterns and first-party data. Real-time optimization is no longer a luxury but a necessity with the evolution of in-store retail media.

The post How Is Real-time Optimization Transforming Retail Media? appeared first on AdMonsters.

Instead, I’m sure the ad tech ecosystem is grateful that she used her passion for deduction and problem-solving to decipher all things marketing and digital media. 

With now over two decades in the ad tech industry, Cara Pratt serves as the SVP, Kroger Precision Marketing at 84.51˚. She has worked in a variety of positions at companies such as Nielsen, dunnhumby and IRI, but she couldn’t help but smile as she reminisced on her childhood passions and how she was able to transform them into a successful career. 

“When you’re 11 or 12 there’s a lot of dreams and thoughts on what seems cool and interesting,” said Pratt. “When you’re older it’s up to you to see how those childhood passions can fit into the business world. For example, to have a little fun with it, impressions and clicks are circumstantial evidence and purchase data is direct evidence. As I think about my personal reflection here, you know, I’ve always been passionate about deeply understanding behaviors, not superficially.” 

The Risk Taker: Early Days

For her first post-undergraduate position, Pratt worked as a database manager at Nielsen. Even this early in her professional career, Pratt learned how to follow consumer behavior. While managing Nielsen’s database, she ensured that CPG brands and insight teams understood consumer trends. 

She stayed at Nielsen for a year until she decided to move to dunnhumby. Her work experience transferred perfectly to her new position at the company. At the time, dunnhumby was expanding into broader CPGs and shifting from syndicated aggregate data trend intelligence into micro behavioral understanding. Although, Pratt said that the move from Nielsen to dunnhumby felt like a huge risk at the time.   

It was early on in her career and Nielsen was an established brand that had a long history of success. They were also the company that organizations, CPGs in particular, were coming to for understanding trends and to influence business planning. On the other hand, dunnhumby was an unknown startup company that was new to the U.S. market. They had a very different approach to what information was most critical to productively influence business decisions. 

“Taking risks as a professional and as a business is really important. I’m a big believer in a calculated risk,” says Pratt. “Of course, do your research and be prepared. It’s a real challenge to transform and evolve businesses because if you don’t change, if you don’t look to the future, if you don’t test and learn and evolve, those businesses are not going to be successful. It’s too dynamic of an industry.” 

The Pioneer: Kroger Precision Marketing 

It seems her calculated risk-taking paid off. In 2017, Pratt started her position at 84.51˚ where she was instrumental in the creation of Kroger Precision Marketing and became a pioneer of retail media.  

“If I rewind time and take myself back to the prep and the actual announcement, standing on stage five plus years ago, the strategy and our focus had always been on business outcomes,” says Pratt. “Business outcomes for our shoppers, our customers that are physically coming through our physical or digital storefronts, as well as our brand partners.”

From the beginning, the goal of KPM was to inspire shoppers with relevant content and to make their brand partners successful marketers. While the evolution of data science and technology has helped improve the capabilities of KPM’s services, the driving force behind creating an accountable media ecosystem has influenced how customers engage with content, how to put appropriate content in front of consumers, and how marketing ad dollars are most effectively invested. 

“To be a leader in the industry means we need to set the pace,” said Pratt. “We need to set standards, and that’s always been a massive passion of ours because we have the ability to truly understand who we’re exposing content to.” 

The Innovator: Retail Media 

After five years of hard work, Kroger Precision Marketing has 2,000 participating brands and was rated as providing the top return on investment measurement among retail media providers. KPM had a head start on the retail media trend which has produced a massive amount of revenue and been lauded as one of the premier solutions for ethically sourcing consumer data under the new privacy regulations. Pratt attributes three components that enabled them to be successful and set standards for the industry. 

The first component was the trusted relationship between KPM and its shoppers. They created a value exchange with their customers through their loyalty cards where they could monitor how customers’ behavior changed over time. In fact, 96% of their sales are connected to the loyalty program which are the ingredients of data science that informs the second component–to create relevant audiences for brands to expose content to. 

“We have established a data science practice for the Kroger Company,” said Pratt. “84.51˚ is the analytic and activation engine of the Kroger Company and the fact that we have had for decades a really mature data science practice to leverage that data intelligence in the right way was really powerful.” 

The third aspect of creating a successful business is shoring up all three legs of the stool: commercial, technical, and operational. Each leg is critical to scale sustainably, Pratt said.

“Five years into our journey, KPM is evolving our business model and investing across technology, operations, and commercial capability — to make KPM easier to plan, activate, and measure,” she said. “All in a way that also ultimately makes the lives of our shoppers easier through relevant, seamless advertisements.” 

You can catch Cara Pratt giving her Keynote Address, “Building Trusted Bridges: How Retail Media Is Revolutionizing the Advertising Ecosystem,” at PubForum Nashville on Monday, Nov. 7. 

The post Publisher Forum Nashville Keynote Cara Pratt: The Retail Media Pioneer appeared first on AdMonsters.

When people could not go outside during covid, we began to see massive shifts in commerce towards more consumer shopping, and the shift is still shifting. Such changes increase margin pressures that retailers face, and retail media is emerging as a net new revenue stream that helps to defend what is happening.

On the flip side, first-party data has become equivalent to gold as the advertising ecosystem needs help finding a viable alternative to third-party cookies. The industry is scrambling to find ways to retain addressability without violating privacy concerns. Brands are looking to diversify how they target their audiences. 

Studies show that roughly 80% of consumers are perfectly fine with and expect things like personalization. Retailers are taking advantage of this statistic and are investing significantly in personalization over the past several years. The closed-loop attribution that retail media offers allow retailers to understand the series of events consumers make and how they influence shopper decisions. New data analytics investments for personalization advancement are quite synergistic with what it takes to produce quality media operations.

During Programmatic IO, Jason Cherok, Partner at McKinsey & Company, sat down with Charlene Charles, Head of Operations at Dollar General Media Network, to discuss ways to “Close The Loop Between Impressions and Transactions.” 

Commerce media is bustling. In the last two years, 15 to 20 media networks launched. Nonetheless, everything is not a walk in the park. With such rapid growth, adapting is challenging for retail media networks.

Current Roadblocks in Commerce Media

Charles oversees the P&L growth plan, ad product strategy, internal operations, media planning and buying, reporting and measurement, and procurement. She highlighted three main hurdles in the road that commerce media companies need to jump over.

1. Revenue
   Of course, we are starting with the money part. When preparing to implement a commerce media network, many retailers’ initial question is, is it incremental? According to Charles, it is, but it does take some internal education to convince key stakeholders whether or not this is happening in the merchandising funds. Often this is new territory for a retailer, and your ability to communicate that point to merchants and marketers on how it fits can be a learning curve.
2. The importance of a Dedicated Team
   There’s a balance between tech and talent that commerce media needs to consider while also realizing those gaps within their organizations. The work is more complex than copy and paste, so if/and when establishing a retail media network, think about whether or not you will need to seek outside talent and how you’ll operate effectively.
3. The Creative
   When thinking about personalization, audience segmentation, and the ability to curate messaging for consumers on their personalized journey, retail media networks should strongly consider meta-tagging everything across the board. Pay attention to the analytics behind the scenes, and observe vendor owned, paid, and amplified in a way that you don’t look at your results in silos.

How to Win at Commerce Media

Navigating new monetization territories is never easy, but here are some essential guidelines to motivate and help retailers win in this space.

Having a clear vision is critical. While it may sound easy peasy, many retail media networks need help articulating their value proposition and distilling it in a way that resonates. After this is thought out, a retailer’s next question is, what makes my customers unique?

“At DG Media Network, we pride ourselves in reaching the hard-to-reach and hard-to-measure consumers in rural markets,” Charles explained. “Brands want that unduplicated reach. They want to talk to our over 80 million customers that we can reach 90% of the time through paid media, and measuring their investment return is important.”

It’s crucial for commerce media networks to carve out what they plan to do from a dedicated end-to-end standpoint and what that means to sales ops technology teams.

Work through the ambiguity of business and technology simultaneously. When dealing with innovation, the unknowns can be endless. You have to be able to deliver fast and efficient outcomes and troubleshoot them. There will be problems, but it’s all about maneuvering them.

Lastly, performance is everything. It doesn’t matter if you can deliver outcomes if you do not have something to offer or the right technology and resources. It would help if you had measurable outcomes. Retailers and brands want to ensure they can see the return on ad spend in their investment build.

The Future of Commerce Media Networks

DG’s media network debuted this year, and we expect to see many more in 2023. Retail media networks serve a crucial role within the advertising ecosystem because there is an ability to close the loop. Traditionally, when you think about brands and agencies, they usually only worked with maybe four or five major players. From a media network standpoint, Charles expects that to “explode.” Expect to see more executions, more comparisons across different media networks, and more of a need for a centralized way to understand results across each.”

DG Media network also predicts that services will evolve. It can be beneficial to have the right partners, whether they’re clean room, identity resolution, or even operational day-to-day. Following figure out how they can add value to media networks to provide a service and partner together,” Charles stated.

It’s essential to keep the value proposition in mind. After all, you will need to have a differentiated message as to why your consumer is more valuable because everyone will start looking the same in the eyes of buyers. 

The post Commerce Media Challenges and How to Overcome Them appeared first on AdMonsters.

The first solution of its kind, ISM, is a one-stop shop for retailers where they can manage their in-store presence. Before this, stores had to negotiate digital signage, audio advertising, and in-store displays. However, with ISM, in-store media publishers can more effectively manage campaigns and simplify access to audio and display inventory. 

What better way to engage consumers than while they are out on their feet spending money? Engaging them with relevant advertising — right in their faces — will encourage them to dish out more dollars. Everything is about skinning the cat most efficiently. 

The ISM platform was developed to do just that. It provides a centralized ecosystem that brings efficiency to campaign management for in-store pubs through the ISM Ad-Server and ISM portal and offers oversight of retail media pricing, yield management, and buying activity reports. 

Retailers working parallel to in-store pubs can integrate ISM directly into their retail media platforms. Providers like CitrusAd can expand their unified offering to include in-store without integrating the contrasting in-store media systems.

Trusted media service providers in the marketplace include Vibenomics, Mood Media, Sellr Technologies, FuelMedia TV, WaterStation Technology, and others.

“The goal here is to provide in-store as an incremental revenue component to the retailer,” says Paul Brenner, Chief Strategy Officer, Audio Out-Of-Home, Vibenomics. “We want retail media to grow, and advertisers want to utilize digital in-store specifically. This benefits in-store publishers by bringing their digital media to life. Retail media should spend their ad dollars in the space where consumers are shopping and stop fighting for ad dollars outside of that space. In-store retailers will see revenue increases if they combine this common solution.”

It’s Time to Tap Into In-store Media

Retail media may have started as a digital commerce-only platform used by retailers to advertise and promote products online, but it is much bigger now. 

“2022 is the year of retail media,” according to eMarketer. U.S. retail media spend increased by over $41B and now accounts for 17.2% of the total U.S. digital spend. It’s booming and will continue to do so.

The nature of retail media has evolved to include DOOH, as well as in-store video displays and audio advertising. For example, as part of ISM, Mood Media provides advertisers with access to audio and display inventory across 330,000 of their affiliates and retailers through a single integration point.

“The In-Store Marketplace comes at a critical time for the retail media industry. Technology has changed how people use brick-and-mortar stores – even today, shopping looks drastically different than it did three years ago. As new programmatic technology, such as digital in-store audio and displays, becomes increasingly common, brands need a simple way to manage, activate and measure their in-store ad presence. This is where Mood Media saw an opportunity to collaborate with Vibenomics and contribute to the development of the In-Store Marketplace,” says Craig Hubbell, Chief Revenue Officer, Mood Media.

“Collaboration always breeds innovation. We are elevating the customer experience by being a part of cutting-edge offerings that simplify processes and enhance customization. From audio to display, the In-Store Marketplace creates a centralized hub that adds incremental value to our retail customers by integrating retail media tools into one another, making in-store ad management more accessible and effective.”

The Future of Retail Media 

Over the next 12-36 months, we will see the simplification of ad tech powering in-store media and its inclusion in retail media providing buyers with extensive access to inventory.

“The In-Store Marketplace allows buyers to bundle display inventory and digital audio into a single PMP or cherry-pick your options — whatever approach fits your current needs,” saysChelsea Monaco, VP, eRetail & Commerce Media, Merkle. “Consolidating the big shopper media partners like Vibenomics, Mood Media, Sellr Technologies, FuelMedia TV, and WaterStation Technology facilitates more frictionless engagement with partners and ubiquitous access to the inventory. These benefits were a major takeaway from our research last year, and I imagine they’ll surface again when we repeat our study this year.”

It’s evident there are money bags to grab in retail media, and Vibenomics execs believe that in five years we will see if retail media can retain its actual value. With retail media expected to grow to $70 billion over the next five years, the channel will need to improve measurement and its ability to prove results by continuing to offer innovative ideas, like ISM.

From the outside looking in, it seems that ISM will have a large hill to climb to build a viable network as we’re not yet seeing a huge selection of premium media providers currently signed up for the offering. Still, it fills a niche in a very complicated and diversified landscape of media owners where the buying process needs to be simplified for buyers. It feels like this is a step in that direction, but like everything else in ad tech, it will take time to get it right.

The post Brick and Mortar Advertising Made Simple With the In-store Marketplace appeared first on AdMonsters.

In fact, with the implementation of new privacy laws, retail media may be a necessity for publishers and advertisers. Now that third-party cookies are slowly fading away, it will be a challenge for the ad tech industry to analyze the actions of consumers after they interact with an ad. 

On the other hand, many assert that retail media could be a solution to this challenge.

The advantage of retail media advertising is that the medium provides marketing that links ad spending directly to digital sales. Establishing networks to offer retail media on a large scale is the next step and predictions suggest that US Retail Media Networks will exceed $52 billion in ad sales by 2023.

“Retail media is becoming a very critical part of the digital media ecosystem,” says Brian Spencer, Marketing Director at Kroger Precision Marketing. “You know, I would say we are routinely added to brand plans now.” 

What is Retail Media Advertising?

According to a Xenoss study, retail media advertising is “a form of promotion on the media inventory of the retailer, with advertisers paying a platform or marketplace to showcase their products at or near the point of sale.” 

The study highlights two forms of retail media advertising which include sponsored products and onsite and offsite displays. Sponsored products are generally the main form used for retail media advertising. They can be placed on a variety of pages on retailer sites such as search results pages, homepages, and product detail pages. 

In addition, Spencer asserts that offsite displays offer their own set of benefits. He noticed that larger retail media networks are including offsite media into their ad packages. For example, Kroger has cultivated relationships with Pinterest, Pandora, Meta, and Roku in an effort to engage other avenues where their consumers spend time. 

The advantage of retail media advertising is that the medium provides marketing that links ad spending directly to digital sales.

“We also have our own programmatic private marketplace,” says Spencer. “It allows brands to use our first-party sales data to identify most relevant households and reach those households across the open web, using their own DSP of choice.” 

Spencer adds that the programmatic marketplace provides daily reports on which placements are driving sales at Kroger. It allows opportunities for advertisers and publishers to reduce wasteful impressions and connect right with the consumer. 

Retail Media Networks

The next step is establishing a retail media network. This network is an ecosystem where retailers advertise their digital properties such as their website, app, and email distribution. The study describes it as the “digital version of in-store advertising” that allows the advertiser to connect with consumers at any point in their shopping experience. 

“Retail media networks, such as Kroger Precision Marketing, are built on well-established and trusted consumer loyalty programs,” says Spencer. “That’s really the fuel behind retail media networks.”  

Spencer alludes to the Kroger loyalty program which 96% of sales are tethered. While the program offers customer discounts, there is a huge benefit for the retail media network. The advertisers are able to gauge first-party opted data that is directly linked to the customer experience. Furthermore, publishers are able to access this information from the advertisers. 

“In contrast to the legacy digital marketing ecosystem, which was incentivized to sell impressions for the last 20 years, retail media networks hold data that is baked in consumer satisfaction,” says Spencer. 

The study highlights that there has been a significant increase in large corporations launching retail media networks. There are retail media networks established in major retailers, niche retail media networks that cater to advertisers of specific product categories, and connected retail media networks.  Within connected networks, ad tech platforms integrate inventory from multiple retailers and supply advertisers with a dashboard for targeting. 

Benefits for the Ad Tech Industry

At first glance, some might assume that the rise of retail media might take revenue away from publishers. The evidence suggests otherwise.

Long ago, retailers were prone to distance themselves from the digital advertising space because of its reputation for ruining the user experience. Although Amazon’s flourishing ad tech business changed a lot of retailers’ minds. Of the $41 million ad spend figure calculated in 2022 about 78% of that revenue went to Amazon. Large retailers such as Walmart, Target, and Kroger followed suit. 

Corporations began to understand that retailers and publishers could establish a relationship of mutual benefit. Now that retailers are investing in off-property ads, they are searching for “high-quality inventory.” 

“retail media data can become the new life-blood of advertising” 

To ensure that they are acquiring ads that reflect the quality of their brands, retailers are partnering with premium publishers for guaranteed direct deals. Major publishers are already benefiting from these new partnerships, but this sudden trend will in time begin to benefit niche publishers as well. 

The Xenoss study states that with the challenges arising from data availability and the diminishing of third-party cookies, “retail media data can become the new life-blood of advertising.” 

Firstly, it affords future-proof advertising. Within this medium, each retailer is its own unique entity and the data profile developed for each consumer is unique to that retailer. The first-party data connected to these profiles are not restricted by the new privacy legislation. 

In addition, the study asserts that retail media can track the ROI on media. It will essentially “bridge the gap” between sales and marketing data. The process will use clean data rooms that will allow marketers to obtain data while being compliant with privacy laws and while being more transparent. 

Spencer asserts that retail media networks are a new client base for the ad tech industry.  From his experience with Kroger, he sees that retailers are becoming media companies and their need to work with the ad tech industry is increasing. 

“I think there’s a really cool opportunity for retail media to help the industry set a new level of expectations for being consumer-focused,” says Spencer. “Retailers like Kroger want what is best for the consumer because we rely on them.”

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