Commerce

Retail media is returning to the spotlight after its heyday of mascot-branded cereals in Saturday morning TV cartoons, newspaper circulars and cardboard cutouts in store aisles. This time, retail media is powered by first-party purchase data and loyalty programs. We speak to SVP of Kroger Precision Marketing Cara Pratt, an OG when it comes to OGs (online groceries, that is).

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Kilar Out Outgoing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar had interesting tidbits for Bloomberg about HBO Max advertising, now that WarnerMedia merged with Discovery (and is run by Discovery chief David Zalsav).  Set aside the rubble of AT&T’s once-ambitious plan to build a top global […]

A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem…

Two years after Instacart made its first major push into ad tech, the company is launching more products that follow the playbook written by other major online ad platforms. “We’re a maturing ad platform,” said Instacart VP of advertising product management Ali Miller. As Instacart itself learns over time what works and what doesn’t on its ad platform, it will turn those learnings into commercial products.

Consumer habits and changes among retailers themselves have reshaped the agency landscape around a new form of commerce media. The trend wasn’t as obvious a few years ago, when online retail media opportunity looked scattered with an emphasis on discounting: think cash-back apps and the heady days of Groupon sales, or CPGs on Amazon Fresh. Now, a brand that sells online faces a different landscape and an entirely different team of partners helping them.

BDG sees opportunity in the parenting vertical, and its acquisition last year of Some Spider was a major step toward ramping up its focus on parenting. The publisher plans to continue creating an ecommerce-focused experience across its portfolio that allows endemic brands to target users throughout their parenting journey, according to Sharon Mussalli, BDG’s EVP of revenue and operations.

Retail media is reaching the C-suite, with advertising (and first-party data projects) coming up in retailer earnings. Then, we talk about the $16 billion deal to buy Nielsen. 

Walmart uses its “growth algorithm” – adding high-margin advertising and its third-party marketplace businesses as it simultaneously invests in low-margin businesses (namely, groceries and ecommerce fulfillment). Macy’s is pursuing its Polaris plan, an overhaul built around its new customer lifetime value measurements. The mall-based fashion brand EXPRESS has an EXPRESSway Forward plan. Across categories and shopping channels, US retailers have reshaped their businesses.

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. The Shrinking Podcastiverse Podcasting has consolidated dramatically, perhaps even unhealthily, in recent years.  Roughly one year ago, the audio market research firm Edison Research conducted a test to see how many podcast networks an advertiser would need to buy from to cover 50% […]

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign up here. Spare Me Your Change Welcome to the new normal!  Actually, forget the exclamation mark. It’s the same old normal.  There are countless examples of so-called dramatic changes in how people shopped and spent their time throughout 2020 and 2021 – Zoom, Peloton, sweatpants, […]