Latest / Retail Media Breakfast Club / Will the retail industry welcome the “commerce media” newcomers?
Transcript
- Will the retail industry welcome the “commerce media” newcomers? === [00:00:00] You know what's awkward? I launched this podcast in January, calling it Retail Media Breakfast Club, and now, seven months later, the IAB has basically declared my brand name outdated. Their new July [00:00:15] report provides a definition of commerce media, which has been many months in the making. It sounds simple, but the details of the language really, really matter. So should I be rebranding [00:00:30] this show to the Commerce Media Breakfast Club? Let's jump in. Good morning and welcome to the Retail Media Breakfast Club. I'm your host, Kerry Masters, and every weekday at 6:00 AM Eastern, I bring you candid and [00:00:45] real discussions in the world of retail, media and marketplaces in just 10 minutes. So bring your own cup of coffee and we'll get smarter about retail media together. [00:00:55] I recently wrote a deep dive of the I B's new [00:01:00] definition for the publication walk as part of my retail media unpacked series there, which you should definitely check out since it recaps this definition and also get some point of views from the incumbent. [00:01:15] RMN crowd, [00:01:16] so I'll link up to that article in the show notes here and walk is making it free to read for just seven days. So make sure you get on that before they gate that content. But I also wanted to understand what [00:01:30] this shift actually means for the people who in some ways matter most, which is the brands who are actually spending the media dollars. [00:01:39] Let me quickly break down what that IAB actually did here. They've moved from retail [00:01:45] media as a category of media spend to commerce media as the umbrella term, and their definition is pretty broad. Commerce Media is any business that transforms its physical [00:02:00] assets, digital properties, first party data, and proximity to customer journeys into advertising opportunities. [00:02:08] So within this umbrella of commerce media, they've identified six verticals. Retail media is the [00:02:15] most mature one and. By far the largest, but we also have travel media, financial services, media, automotive, telecom, and utility, and B2B media. So the obvious ones that have been [00:02:30] making a really big splash lately are PayPal ads. Airlines, banks now all officially part of the same ecosystem as Amazon and Walmart Connect. [00:02:42] Sure [00:02:45] you're crushing it. Sure. You're crushing Sure. You're crushing it on Amazon and Walmart. But what about Kroger, Instacart, and the fast growing regional grocers? [00:02:57] A Costa Group builds holistic media [00:03:00] plans on real shopper behavior across all the US retailers that your brand cares about. from digital shelf to retail media to data analytics, Acosta Group offers end-to-end connected commerce all under one roof. [00:03:15] Learn more at ACOA Group and tell them Retail Media Breakfast Club sent you. [00:03:21] That's a C OS T group. [00:03:25] Now what's interesting here is the budget implications. [00:03:30] Retail media has historically been funded through trade budgets, shopper marketing, co-op dollars, and more recently, brands have been creating a dedicated retail media budget, but commerce media can [00:03:45] potentially tap into much broader brand and performance budgets. [00:03:50] And that would be a significant unlock if it actually happens. But there's a crucial distinction that we need to understand. True retail media networks can track [00:04:00] advertising impact down to specific product sales. If you see an ad for Oreos on Walmart's platform, they can tell you exactly how many boxes you bought. [00:04:11] Other commerce media platforms might know that you made a [00:04:15] purchase. After seeing a brand's ad, but they can't give you that granular, skew level attribution, [00:04:23] So I reached out to some brand side leaders to get their take on this evolution and find out how they're [00:04:30] thinking about it. First up, Jason O'Toole, who is the head of Connected Commerce and media at Hanes Brands International, told me that his team is actually reorganized and renamed themselves around [00:04:45] Commerce media. [00:04:46] They have renamed the team from retail media to connected commerce and media because. In his words, they're placing the consumer at the center and recognizing that people don't follow neat funnel [00:05:00] patterns. He says it's possible today to discover a product through onsite search and decide to purchase during a connected TV pause ad we win by honoring that experience and delivering brilliant media activation.[00:05:15] [00:05:15] And that's exactly the kind of cross-platform thinking that the I'S new framework is trying to capture. Next up, Ben Galvin, who is the senior director of Omnichannel retail sales and e-commerce at Monster Energy. Told me that they are considering [00:05:30] buying media through non-retail commerce platforms like Instacart, Uber, and DoorDash because of their direct influence on purchase behavior. [00:05:39] But he also made a good point that brand side media buyers are often cautious [00:05:45] due to fragmented measurement. The ability to prioritize unit or case sales impact or projections. An unclear ROI compared to retail media giants like Amazon, Kroger, and Walmart. [00:05:59] [00:06:00] What's super interesting is that these platforms are actively pitching brands now, even being relatively new, and I can say that they were absolutely out in force this year with. Huge cabanas and big activations to get the word out to [00:06:15] marketers at can. Ben from Monster Energy mentioned that they're getting approached both by agencies and directly from the commerce media networks with promises of closed loop measurement and incremental sales. [00:06:28] But he noted that there [00:06:30] are inconsistent standards across platforms, which is nothing new in the world of retail media. [00:06:36] Next I got some thoughts from Ash McMullen, who is head of e-commerce at Advantis Health, who raised a really intriguing question about what this means [00:06:45] for direct to consumer brands who've really kind of taken a hit lately. She wonders if this signals that first party data will become increasingly critical, potentially breathing new life into D two C and giving whoever has the [00:07:00] most. [00:07:00] Robust organized data, a head start. Here's what I'm taking away from these conversations. The ink isn't even dry on the IAB definition paper and brands have already been thinking about going beyond [00:07:15] traditional retail media boundaries. They're dealing with the reality that consumers don't shop in neat categories. [00:07:22] They discover products everywhere and buy them wherever. It's convenient, but brands are also being pragmatic about [00:07:30] measurement standards. And ROI. The promise of commerce media is compelling, especially in our post cookie world where first party data and closed loop measurement are increasingly valuable. [00:07:42] Whether we call it retail media or commerce media, [00:07:45] that fundamental challenge remains the same, meeting the customer where they're at. So will I be rebranding to Commerce Media Breakfast Club? Jury is still out on that one, [00:07:57] but what's clear is that this [00:08:00] conversation is much bigger than naming conventions.