Latest / Retail Media Breakfast Club / The Fairy Godmother Of Retail Media, Cara Pratt, And Her Agenda At Circana
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- The Fairy Godmother Of Retail Media, Cara Pratt, And Her Agenda At Circana === [00:00:00] Kiri Masters: While retailers rushed to launch new ad formats and in-store screens, brands have a simpler request prove that their advertising works with Ana's acquisition of Nielsen's marketing mix model business [00:00:15] in August and NC Solutions in June, the company is positioning itself as the independent arbiter retail media desperately needs leading. [00:00:25] The charge is Kara Pratt, just 90 days into her role as [00:00:30] president of Global Retail and Media, who brings the unique perspective of having built Kroger's retail media network from the inside. [00:00:38] This post was originally published to my column for Forbes on September 3rd. I'll link up to the original article [00:00:45] in the show notes [00:00:46] [00:00:47] Kiri Masters: , the measurement crisis. Measurement consistently ranks as the top pain point for media buyers across every industry survey, and Pratt doesn't mince words about why she [00:01:00] says There's a lot of inconsistency in the go-to market models across retailers with their media practices, which creates a degree of confusion. [00:01:09] This fragmentation cascades through the entire ecosystem from planning and buying [00:01:15] to data strategies and performance reporting. The stakes are high. Retail media has ballooned into a $60 billion business on track to capture one in five advertising dollars. Yet the growth trajectory faces an [00:01:30] undoing of its own making. [00:01:31] As I've previously reported, retail media buyers site lack of measurement standards as their top challenge. Cara Pratt says that consumer brands who are investing in retail media. Need to have [00:01:45] confidence in every dollar invested, and you just don't see it yet. She says you can't hold onto that share of influence and dollars without being more transparent and more consistent. [00:01:57] So, con's, strategic position. [00:02:00] The recent acquisitions that Sona has made create what Prat describes as comprehensive measurement capability across the full marketing funnel. NC Solutions brings campaign level measurement expertise [00:02:15] while Nielsen's MMM adds sophisticated marketing mix modeling and Ana's existing point of sale and panel data provides the foundational consumer intelligence to gather these assets. [00:02:28] Span 26 [00:02:30] industries across 18 markets with visibility into $5.8 trillion in global commerce. 3.3 trillion in North America alone. Pratt says. We have a unique ability. I would even go so far as to [00:02:45] save responsibility to provide this new degree of transparency and consistency. [00:02:51] Unlike retailers who create their own homework or ad tech companies with vested interests, Sana claims a neutral position. [00:03:00] We're not buying any media on behalf of any brand Today. We're not influencing that says Pratt. This is not a new drumbeat for Pratt. As I reported in a 2023 profile of Pratt [00:03:13] while she was leading [00:03:15] Kroger Precision Marketing, she was already pushing for greater transparency in retail media measurement, describing wasteful ad spend as reckless and advocating for retailers to build their own tech stacks for better control.[00:03:30] [00:03:30] At Sona, the company's new liquid mix platform aims to make measurement accessible to smaller brands, while traditional consultative mix modeling targets brands spending 20 million on marketing [00:03:45] and requires teams of 20 to 30 people, liquid mix was built for brands spending $5 million with teams of just two to five people. [00:03:54] According to a spokesperson. Companies can now scale the product across their entire [00:04:00] portfolio. Not just flagship brands with results delivered in hours rather than quarterly or annually. When your time, budget and team are [00:04:15] already maxed out. Keeping up with retailer platforms and media requirements can feel like a never ending labyrinth. That's why even the best brands bring in an execution partner. [00:04:27] Acosta Group makes retail media [00:04:30] execution simpler. They stay ahead of every platform. Update tech shift. And media spec, so your campaigns actually show up and perform without draining your team. [00:04:41] Let Acosta group handle the chaos behind the [00:04:45] scenes so you can keep building the brand. Check out Acosta Group and tell them Retail Media Breakfast Club sent you. That's A-C-O-S-T group. [00:04:56] [00:04:57] Kiri Masters: Bridging trade and media. [00:05:00] One of retail media's persistent challenges is the organizational divide between merchant teams and media teams each operating with different incentives. Pratt sees measurement as the bridge. ~Every retailer gets to make some choices of how they wanna go to market. Pratt noticed.~ [00:05:12] ~S ~every retailer gets to make some choices [00:05:15] of how they want to go to market. Pratt notes diplomatically, but Ana's role is clear. Help both retailers and brands understand the efficacy of a dollar invested and to support them upstream within that business planning [00:05:30] process. [00:05:30] This becomes particularly crucial as the traditional separation between brand building and performance. Marketing continues to blur. She says the days of very separate teams that are focused on brand versus performance are starting to meash [00:05:45] together. Though she acknowledges the transition is challenging given that a lot of organizations still operate in silos and they still have very disconnected incentives. [00:05:55] The need for speed. Perhaps the most tangible shift in Ana's approach [00:06:00] is the dramatic acceleration of measurement timelines. Traditional marketing mix modeling has typically been slow to field and refresh, often taking weeks to months to build, and then updating on quarterly or biannual [00:06:15] cadences, which means insights can arrive long after campaigns have ended. [00:06:20] Ana's liquid mix compresses that cycle to minutes, vastly improving how brands can respond to market signals. Gone are the days where it's quarterly or monthly at [00:06:30] most. Pride explains this. Speed unlocks what she calls in flight optimization that extends beyond creative tweaks. Brands can now adjust channel distribution, audience targeting, and brand allocation. [00:06:42] While campaigns are still running, [00:06:45] the timing aligns with a broader industry shift. Brands are increasingly demanding flexibility in their media investments, moving away from rigid upfront commitments. Brands just want to be more flexible. They want to create that space for them to be able to [00:07:00] deviate based on the performance they're seeing. [00:07:02] Pratt notes. [00:07:03] For an industry where measurement has traditionally been backward looking, this real-time capability marks a meaningful change. Liquid mix even includes forward-looking scenario modeling, allowing teams to [00:07:15] test different investment strategies before committing dollars. In a retail media ecosystem where every dollar faces scrutiny from CMOs, CFOs, and boards, the ability to course correct in hours rather than quarters [00:07:28] could prove transformative [00:07:29] [00:07:30] with decades of data, newly acquired realtime measurement capabilities, and an independent position in the ecosystem, Ana is uniquely positioned to address retail media's trust deficit. The future of media is going to be more intelligent, more [00:07:45] accountable, and more connected. Pratt notes without solving measurement. [00:07:48] She warns retail media risks. A lot of damage for the growth trajectory that has supported the retail media ecosystem for so many years for an industry racing to capture advertising dollars while [00:08:00] struggling to prove value. So Cara's measurement first approach under Pratt's leadership. Offers a potential path through the chaos. [00:08:07] The question is whether brands and retailers are willing to let a neutral party call the shots. 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