P2PI Jan/Feb 2024 by ensembleiq

JAN/FEB 2024 P2PI.com

BRAND WATCH: OREO Super Mario packs at retail

ACTIVATION GALLERY

The holidays & Dry January

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JAN/FEB 2024

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• P2PI Trends Report: Retailer Media Network Ratings • The State of Retail Media (in collaboration with Skai)

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Contents

Jan/Feb 2024 VO LU M E 3 7 | I S S U E 1

T Y

Special Report: The State of Retail Media Our proprietary research aims to benchmark retail media’s meteoric rise and offer statistical guidance for CPG brands. In collaboration with Skai.

Trends 2024: Retailer Media Networks Part 1 of our Trends 2024 report focuses on a survey that includes retailer media network ratings and insights.

Mondelez International promotes its limitededition Oreo cookie packs featuring characters from Nintendo’s popular Super Mario games in separate campaigns at Target and Family Dollar.

Sprite’s “Infinite Potential. Zero Limits” campaign activates in support of Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” movie.

Brand Watch: Oreo

Brand Watch: Sprite

Path to Purchase Institute magazine (USPS 4568, ISSN 2835-0219) is published bi-monthly by EnsembleIQ, 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60631. Subscription rate for the U.S.: $96 one year; $186 two year; $17 single issue copy (pre-paid only); Canada and Mexico: $138 one year; $258 two year; $20.40 single issue copy (pre-paid only); Foreign: $138 one year; $258 two year; $20.40 single issue copy (pre-paid only). Periodical postage paid at Chicago, IL 60631 Copyright 2024 by EnsembleIQ. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Path to Purchase Institute magazine, 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60631.

P2PI.com

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Contents 12

DEPARTMENTS

Editor’s Note Jump-Starting 2024

P2PI Member Spotlight

P2PI Member Perspective

10 Focus: Retail Media Spotlight on Ahold Delhaize

12 The New Consumer Non-Alcoholic Beverage Consumption

18 In-Store Experience Gangnam Market in Chicago

40 Activation Gallery Holidays and Dry January

43 Solutions &

Innovations

46 Insider Intel Johnsonville’s Bratsgiving at Cub

46 Editorial Advisory Board Dana Barba The Lemon Perfect Co.

Christiana DiMattesa Houser Under Armour

Tony Fung Bob Evans Farms

Brendon Lynch Jushi Holdings

Kelly Sweeney The J.M. Smucker Company

Stephen Bettencourt CVS Health

Gregg Dorazio Giant Food (Ahold Delhaize)

Patrick Hallberg Apple

José Raul Padron The Hershey Experience

Joseph Vizcarra The Coca-Cola Company

Lianna Cabrera L’Oreal Paris Cosmetics

Paige Dunn FIJI Water, JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery, Landmark Vineyards & JNSQ Wines

Travis Harry Home Depot

Jonny Rigby Amazon

Rodney Waights Beiersdorf

Carter Jensen General Mills

Jeff Sciurba Dyson Americas

Mia Croft Native

Follow the Path to Purchase Institute here: 4 l Jan/Feb 2024

BUSINESS 2 BRING IT ON. Your industry. Your agency. If you’re competing in B2B you need a strategic creative partner that knows your industry inside and out. Only EnsembleIQ’s BrandLab offers full-service marketing capabilities and deep experience across retail, CPG, and technology, infused with industry knowledge and marketing intelligence.

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Editor’s Note

8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60631 877.687.7321 www.p2pi.com

Jump-Starting 2024 Fresh off two of our industry’s largest tradeshows — CES and NRF — my head is still spinning from all the cool tech we saw, the fascinating conversations about the future of commerce, and all the emerging AI tools that are poised to reshape countless industries. In hindsight, attending these two mega-events, back to back, right out the gate after returning from the quiet holiday weeks was a bit aggressive. However, it was a great way (minus what it did to my inbox over those 10 days) to kick off 2024 with insights, inspiration and plenty of ideas for the year ahead. Not surprisingly, many of the discussion at CES and NRF centered around retail media and how quickly it’s growing and changing. Increasingly driven by data, measurement and the continued convergence of content and commerce, retail media is truly evolving into commerce media at breakneck speed. And the growth of retail media is showing no signs of slowing down — it’s expected to be the fastest-growing ad channel across media through 2027, making it larger than CTV, digital audio and traditional TV advertising combined in the next few years. While at CES, the Path to Purchase Institute teamed up with our friends at Skai to unveil the results of our State of Retail Media study, which we conducted in partnership last fall. This proprietary research aims to benchmark retail media’s meteoric rise and offer statistical guidance for CPG brands. In this issue of P2PI Magazine, we feature highlights from that data-rich study starting on page 28. (Inside tip: P2PI members get access to the full deck of research results at P2PI.com.) In our survey, we polled commerce marketers on everything from components of their retail media strategy, common channels, spending on various tactics, allocation decisions, metrics, measurement and incrementality, challenges and, yes, even AI. Also in this issue of the magazine, we explore retail media even further via part one of our Trends 2024 report, which showcases our annual retailer media network ratings results. Anecdotally, we all know brands are working with more RMNs than ever before — and now we have the data to back that up. In our study, 36% of survey takers said they’re working with 10 or more RMNs — that’s up from just 6% who said they were working with that many networks when we conducted a similar study in summer 2022. Dig into the results on page 20. Whether you also attended CES and NRF and are already energized, or you’ve eased into the new year at a more reasonable pace, I hope the data-packed research on retail media in this issue offers you the insights needed to jump headfirst into 2024! Now, if you’ll excuse me, my inbox is still calling me ...

BRAND MANAGEMENT Senior Vice President, Brand Director Eric Savitch esavitch@ensembleiq.com

EDITORIAL Editorial Director Jessie Dowd jdowd@ensembleiq.com Executive Editor Tim Binder tbinder@ensembleiq.com Managing Editor Charlie Menchaca cmenchaca@ensembleiq.com Digital Editor Jacqueline Barba jbarba@ensembleiq.com Managing Editor, Member Content Cyndi Loza cloza@ensembleiq.com Editor, Member Content Heidi Bitsoli hbitsoli@ensembleiq.com Director, Events Content and Strategic Engagement Lori Pugh lpugh@ensembleiq.com Contributing Writers Michael Applebaum, Ed Finkel, Erika Flynn, Jenny Rebholz, Bill Schober

ADVERTISING SALES & BUSINESS Associate Director, Brand Partnerships Arlene Schusteff 847.533.2697, aschusteff@ensembleiq.com Regional Sales Manager Orlando Llerandi 678.591.8284, ollerandi@ensembleiq.com

MEMBER DEVELOPMENT Director of Retail Patrycja Malinowska pmalinowska@ensembleiq.com Sr. Director, Membership Development Nicole Mitchell 203.434.5733, nmitchell@ensembleiq.com Membership Experience Manager Ann Estey aestey@ensembleiq.com Manager, Membership Development Brady O’Brien bobrien@ensembleiq.com Membership Experience Manager Heather Kurtik 724.553.0093, hkurtik@ensembleiq.com

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CORPORATE OFFICERS Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Litterick Chief Financial Officer Jane Volland Chief People Officer Ann Jadown Chief Strategy Officer Joe Territo Chief Operating Officer Derek Estey

PHILADELPHIA

Decoding Data to Unlock New Insights Into Shopper Behavior WWW.EVENTS.P2PI.COM/FUTUREFORWARD2024

Member Spotlight

Meet the Marketers HERE’S A SNAPSHOT OF INDUSTRY LEADERS FROM THE P2PI MEMBER COMMUNITY.

MCCORD CHAPMAN Vice President, Commerce and Omni Planning Public Label

ELLEN DONATO Brand Manager, E-Commerce Heineken USA

Main job responsibilities: I lead the key shopper and commerce marketing accounts for Public Label, a Denver-based, multi-funnel creative agency. We specialize in shopper and experiential marketing, with exceptional brand stewardship at its core. I’ve been with the agency for a few years, and my primary account work is Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. This includes client management for shopper, sales and brand clients. We handle annual planning, integration, alignment and execution of more than 25 retailer accounts, directly managing some key retailers and working with our field team experts on others. A focus for me has been evolving our measurement solutions capability to ensure quick results and simple summaries leading to actionable implications.

Main job responsibilities: Creating and monitoring e-commerce marketing moments across B2B and B2C media outlets, best-in-class digital shelf maintenance, and managing product ratings and reviews.

How you win with shoppers: Interrogating performance analytics and innovating our solution sets. Understanding the true fundamental drivers for not only good results, but also for suboptimal results has been the secret sauce to optimize wild success in these uncertain times. Our team developed a massive dashboard for all our activations to be reviewed together and we refine weekly to ensure we review current results and optimize frequently. By bringing these together we can get to a more realistic ROAS estimation, plan and allocate dollars more actively. Given the influx of data in the last few years, the expectations for proof of performance ahead of time — and an ability to confidently forecast sales impact — has grown significantly. If we are going to recommend where your first dollar goes, we need receipts to back it up. New marketing tactic that you use: Geo-targeted, routine-based digital ads focused on driving in-store traffic and conversion. It’s not entirely new, but we have made a more substantial investment in multiple accounts and have seen strong results. Retail media networks are getting better at showing the in-store impact of their programs, but the geo/routine targeting is a nice complement to the other more traditional purchase/demographic-based targeting and can reach relevant shoppers much more efficiently than the cost of traditional in-store vehicles. Best career advice you’ve received: It’s more fun to be nice, especially in a service business. We all have difficult clients but if they have any hesitation calling us because we’re perceived as difficult, then we aren’t doing our job. 8 l Jan/Feb 2024

How you win with shoppers: We develop content that engages consumers to anticipate and meet their needs with our products, targeting the right shopper at the right point in the path to purchase. We also continue to work with our media agency to ensure the platforms we use are generating strong ROAS and brand awareness. New marketing tactic that you use: We leaned heavily into retail media through demand-side platforms and look forward this year to continuing this trend as it becomes more available within the three-tier system of adult beverage. Best career advice you’ve received: We sell beer — let’s try new things, learn, and have fun. Memorable aha moment in your career: Realizing it is never too late to make a change and follow a new path. What you are reading or watching right now: “Lessons in Chemistry” and “The Crown.” Recent travels and spring plans: I spent the winter holidays with my family in New Jersey. Next, I’m traveling to Kilkenny, Ireland, in May to see Bruce Springsteen.

Member Perspective

Making the Commerce Marketing Connection RETAIL MEDIA HAS INTENSIFIED THE NEED FOR INTERNAL ALIGNMENT AT CPGS. BY ROB RIVEN BU RG H

Nearly all commerce marketing veterans agree that the classic structure of CPG organizations has been obsolete for a number of years. Now it’s starting to become a significant obstacle to business growth. The rigid division between the roles of sales and marketing at traditional CPGs is no longer valid. Neither are the silos that were established between brand, commerce and trade marketing. Sales and marketing are no longer separate activities because awareness, consideration and conversion aren’t distinct, linear actions for consumers anymore. Yet it’s not uncommon for CPGs to have four different functions — sales, commerce marketing, e-commerce and now media — separately negotiating and planning their own activity with retail partners. Without a well-executed process for internal collaboration, that scenario can easily lead to plans with conflicting goals, duplicated efforts or audience gaps. All of this can lead to inefficient spending and ineffective programs that deliver a poor, even confusing, brand experience to shoppers. These facts have been apparent for some time but were made even more obvious by the rise of retail media. CPGs not only have a greater need to align toward omnichannel commerce marketing. They also have an unprecedented opportunity to fulfill the objectives of all four functions by jointly developing plans that reach consumers across their entire path to purchase. While a few companies have undertaken a formal restructuring to unite sales and marketing functions, many are still struggling to dismantle the decades-old practices and rigid mindsets that can make change so difficult. The longer they wait, the harder it will be to stay effective. Through our CPG client work, The Mars Agency has identified five models for achieving the internal cross-functional alignment that’s needed. Since we understand the complexities involved with reorganization, only one model involves an actual restructuring. That is the creation of a dedicated “Connected Commerce” function that either draws from all the sales and marketing functions or absorbs them entirely to establish a centralized, holistic function to manage all activity at retail. We’ve seen a few CPGs moving in this direction. But for the many companies that aren’t yet ready to revamp their current structure, the other four models employ various methods to achieve internal alignment by either: 1. Building out the existing customer teams to incorporate the necessary subject matter experts on retail media, e-commerce, digital marketing and even data analysis. This model can provide all the tools needed to win at critical retail partners. 2. Creating a dedicated center of excellence, with its own resources and personnel, serving as a central hub for guiding all retail activity. 3. Forming an ad hoc task force from the various stakeholder functions that meets regularly and plans around common business objectives. 4. Selecting a single point of contact who is responsible not only for

Agreeing on mutually beneficial KPIs can be difficult, but the ability to drive total business impact is well worth the effort. coordinating cross-functional collaboration internally, but who also owns the retailer relationship, to make sure communication runs in both directions. This works best for CPGs not yet able to fully restructure. Ultimately, the model itself is secondary to the need for achieving the desired goal: gaining the internal alignment required across all sales and marketing functions to facilitate planning around mutually determined business objectives. And yes, to make decisions on budget sharing, too. Agreeing on mutually beneficial KPIs can be difficult, but the ability to drive total business impact is well worth the effort. It’s going to take a little longer for CPGs to break down the silos, but we have to make sure they don’t get in the way of growth.

About the Author Rob Rivenburgh is global CEO of The Mars Agency, where he oversees all operations worldwide. He joined the agency in 2002, leaving Diageo to establish the Bentonville, Arkansas, office and build a game-changing relationship with Walmart. Rivenburgh was named chief operating officer in 2009, then moved to the Southfield, Michigan, headquarters in 2016 to lead North American growth efforts before becoming global CEO in 2021. P2PI.com

FOCUS: Retail Media

AD Retail Media’s Transition In-House PEAPOD DIGITAL LABS’ BOBBY WATTS DISCUSSES AD RETAIL MEDIA’S RETAIL MEDIA JOURNEY OVER THE PAST YEAR AS WELL AS THE RETAILER’S ASPIRATIONS AND FUTURE IN THE SPACE. BY CYN DI LOZ A

In 2022, Ahold Delhaize USA’s Peapod Digital Labs announced plans to grow and transition its media network, AD Retail Media, to a fully in-house, end-to-end agency. The move included plans to more than triple its team to 70-plus individuals and launch a unified on-site and offsite advertising platform, enabling a single dashboard for measuring campaign performance. P2PI recently caught up with Bobby Watts, senior vice president, executive lead of AD Retail Media at Peapod Digital Labs, to see how the transition has been going and explore the retailer’s future in the space. P2PI: How long was expanding AD Retail Media to an in-house digital media agency and growing its retail media team in the works? Watts: We had talked about it for a couple of years. “When’s the right time?” was always the question. When are we ready to make the investments as an organization? Because it takes not only the people-resource investment, but also capital investments in technology and ensuring that you have the right organizational alignment in the areas of investment that you need to be sure that your offering can be on par, if not better, than the others that have been at this for many years. ... So, for us, it was a question of when’s the right time for us based on the investment profile we want to put in the business to ensure that we can do it in a successful way and learn from others’ mistakes. I think that’s one of the other things that we’ve been able to benefit from — to learn from some of the mistakes we’ve seen others make. I think one of the primary reasons [we choose to do this] is just our omnichannel ambition. We believe that not only is retail media one of the keys of unlocking our omnichannel ambition — it’s a must-have. You can’t be omnichannel and not bring digital media marketing to the table in a joint business plan. It can no longer be just about the in-store activation and what we’re doing inside of print circular and in-store display, but it’s about how do you bring all the components of the suite of offerings and consumer touchpoints together. So, for us, it was the ability to do that in a seamless way and own that end-to-end ... and [have] just more transparency and control over our destiny. We’ve always been an organization that stands behind results, driving growth, and retail media is just another lever to drive growth and gain share in the market. P2PI: How has the transition been going? Watts: I think the transition is going really well. We have really good momentum going into Q4. The business has really smoothed out. We’ve learned a lot in how we partner with agencies and some of our CPG partners 10 l Jan/Feb 2024

differently from the previous managed service model we had to, now, more of this in-house, fullservice model. Much like any time you’re standing up a new business, there’s some bumps and key learnings along the way. We expected some of those. I think the number one thing that we expected is just the desire for talent in this space is extremely high, so growing our team … came with challenges just to ensure that we had the best talent that we could find in market. We chose to partner with Publicis Groupe to help us in that search as well, but still doesn’t come without [challenges]. You think you got the right person, but sometimes it’s not the right fit, or they’re just not exactly what you were looking for. ... We’re going to continue to look for talent in a highly competitive space, so that’ll be something that we’ll obviously continue to wrestle with. P2PI: How does bringing AD Retail Media in-house benefit the retailer and its CPG partners? Watts: By bringing it in house, it gives us the ability to bring a multitude of channels together under one business plan. If you think about iy, in the old days, you would have media buyers doing the social buy, you’d have somebody else doing the off-site buy, you’d have someone doing a digital out of home buy, [and] you’d have someone else doing the on-site buy working on a sponsored search campaign. By bringing it all in house and having all of those channels in our purview, that’s the benefit to our CPGs and to our customers because then you have the ability to sit down and say, “How do I develop a full path to purchase campaign, event or program, and do that in a way where I can then see measurement cleanly?” You’ll also hear us talk about the integration of shopper marketing and loyalty as well as. Outside of core merchandising planning that we know we have to be a part of, it’s also [about] bringing shopper marketing and loyalty planning

into the fold as well, and making sure that’s in our consideration when we build out the right program or activation when we’re talking to CPGs around, “What is the mission you’re trying to achieve? Let us build out the right set of tactics and capabilities to allow you to achieve that mission,” versus coming fi rst with all the different individual tactics and then saying, “Hey, go do these things. Go build a sponsored search campaign.” By itself it is not as impactful as when you do things together. P2PI: With bringing the network in-house, the retailer launched a unified on-site and off-site platform to deliver a single point of activation and measurement. Can you elaborate on what is meant by “unified” here? Watts: Our core strategy is easy activation wherever. We know our agencies and CPG partners have lots of choices and complexities that they’re dealing with now with all the pop-up of retail media networks where things were first very simple for them to do kind of one national buy, but now they’ve got lots of retail media networks they’ve got to work with. So, as part of our stand up, our mission has been: how do we continue to find ways to drive simplicity and ease of engagement for our advertisers? One of the ways that we’re doing that is through the unified approach, and what that means is how do we have a single [user interface] — that requires a single login, a single interface for our advertisers to log in — and be able to buy both on-site, off-site, sponsored search all through one single UI and then also see measurement for all of those within one single UI as well so they’re not having the ping-pong between different systems. They’re not ping-ponging through different variations of measurement and reporting systems. It’s all in one single UI for them for ease. That also gives them the ability to see holistically how their campaigns are being effectively used or not, or where they can make optimizations live. Our aspiration is to continue to bring additional channels in like in-store audio ... we want to bring more of the digital screens in store into that purview as well. P2PI: What are your thoughts on the buzz surrounding artificial intelligence (AI)? Will it be the metaverse of 2022? Watts: Let’s hope not. That was a disaster. [Laughs] I remember first coming into this space and everybody talked about the metaverse but ... now you don’t hear anybody talking about the metaverse at all. I don’t think that’ll be the case for AI and machine learning (ML). I think there’s too many really good use cases for AI and

It’s the next frontier to ensure that we are able to have the right capabilities in-store. [But] you have to be able to do it in a tasteful way that still allows the consumer to have a great in-store experience. So, whether that’s the digital screens, whether it’s the native mobile app, or if it’s print that you’re using in-store or holographic imaging, whatever the situation is and how you’re doing it, you [have] to have a strategy to that in-store experience and ensure that you’re not doing anything to jeopardize how a consumer feels when they walk into your store. — Bobby Watts, Peapod Digital Labs

ML in the space. ... Not only the eﬃciencies of work and automation of work, I think it can also help us with just how we think about analyzing consumer behavior. As a retailer, we have robust first-party data on all of our customers so to understand their shopping behavior. And how do you use AI and ML to be able to help really build smart audiences in a different way in the future? I think it’ll definitely have staying power with us. P2PI: How important is in-store? What are the retail media opportunities within brick-and-mortar? Watts: About 90% of purchases are still done in-store, and that’s an awesome opportunity to reach consumers just like reaching them digitally is. It’s the next frontier, in my opinion, to ensure that we are able to have the right capabilities in-store. [But] you have to be able to do it in a tasteful way that still allows the consumer to have a great in-store experience. So whether that’s the digital screens, whether it’s the native mobile app, or if it’s print that you’re using in-store or holographic imaging, whatever the situation is and how you’re doing it, you have to have a strategy to that in-store experience and ensure that you’re not doing anything to jeopardize how a consumer feels when they walk into your store. They should be able to walk in your store and they should feel excited about the season [for example]. The time of year should match the consumer mindset for that particular time of year, and we should be doing that through all the digital touchpoints. And then we should be thinking about ease of shop for them through the native mobile app, and how we are driving discoverability, inspiration and value to them through our advertising in-store. All of those things work in concert with everything we’ve been doing in the retail media space for the last several years and bringing those together to me is really powerful and it could be a really bright future for advertising if we do it the right way. P2PI.com

The New Consumer

Data From Two Consumer Studies NEW RESEARCH ON NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONSUMPTION, PLUS A DIVE INTO LGBTQ+ MARKETING SENTIMENT. BY JACQU ELI N E BARBA

overall health and well-being. It also notes that 78% of consumers think their mental health is as important as their physical health (source: Ipsos).

While still a small category, non-alcoholic wines, beers and seltzers have grown substantially in recent years, mainly due to wellness and moderation trends and production innovation. Plenty of recent research points to Gen Z consumers in particular drinking less alcohol compared to Millennials, not only for physical health reasons, but also for their mental well-being. Recent research relating to this trend and the rise of Dry January (a challenge to go alcohol-free for one month) include: • Most people who drink alcohol (69%), Gen Z (81%), and Millennials (78%) are interested in exploring a “sober curious” or “damp” lifestyle (source: White Claw survey, November 2023). • The majority (64%) of consumers wish there were better non-alcoholic options available (source: White Claw). • Consumers said they would be more likely to choose non-alcoholic drinks if they have flavors they like (83%), were from brands they know (72%), had electrolytes (72%) and were low in sugar (71%) (source: White Claw). • 94% of alcoholic beverage consumers are also purchasers of nonalcoholic alternatives (Nielsen IQ). • Drizly’s non-alcoholic category experienced a 62% increase in 2023 over 2022, making it among the fastest-growing subcategories across the marketplace. Also notable, according to alcohol giant Diageo’s “Distilled: A Diageo Foresight Report,” published in December 2023, mocktails and non-alcoholic beverages were trending topics in Europe (up 41% YOY) and in Africa (up 93% YOY), largely due to a significant rise in consumers’ desire to improve their 12 l Jan/Feb 2024

LGBTQ+ Marketing After Target found itself embroiled in controversy and negative social media traction by some vocal consumers who chose to boycott the retailer for its LGBTQ+ marketing efforts during Pride Month (June) 2023, the retailer ultimately opted to downplay its Pride promotions in-store and online (e.g., scaling back and relocating Pride merchandise/displays from highly visible spots, in some cases). This soured many LGBTQ+ consumers’ view of Target’s authenticity toward their causes, despite the retailer’s long stretch of support, and reinforced how important it is for marketers to get it right when marketing to this community, and all minority communities. A report from Collage Group titled “Deliver Resonant and Relevant LGBTQ Ads” took a close look at LGBTQ+ advertising and how that community (as well as non-LGBTQ+ people) in America feel about recent ads representing them: • Most Americans are either in support of such advertisements or impartial. • 66% of LGBTQ+ Americans follow influencers or celebrities on social media, compared to 48% of non-LGBTQ+. • When LGBTQ+ individuals or groups appear in ads, 71% of the LGBTQ+ segment has positive feelings, as does 31% of non-LGBTQ+ individuals. • While LGBTQ+ consumers react positively toward commercials that attempt to appeal to them, more than half are still skeptical of the brands’ intentions. • For those who identify as LGBTQ+, 55% say that brands’ efforts to woo the community come across as insincere. • 23% of Americans (almost 59 million people)

have boycotted a brand because of its stance on a social or political issue. • Awareness of backlash toward companies that support the LGBTQ+ community is low among general consumers. Baby Boomers tend to be the most cognizant of such backlash, followed by Gen Xers. • Consumer response to advertising and marketing that addresses transgender and non-binary issues is more muted than LGB issues, though there is room for growth as 50% of Americans think brands should speak up about transgender and non-binary issues.

Other 2024 Trends The aforementioned Diageo “Distilled” report also highlighted global trends that are shaping consumer behavior, including: • Neo-Hedonism: Consumers are re-evaluating how they spend their money, searching for guilt-free ways to experience pleasure in their everyday lives. This is a newer trend, but on the rise (+39%) since 2021, with consumers searching for meaningful and unique experiences over wealthy gifts. • Betterment Brands: Consumers’ conversations show them to be increasingly eco-conscious,

Most People Either Have a Positive or a Neutral Response to LGBTQ+ Representation in Marketing LGBTQ+ Consumers, Understandably, Are Overwhelmingly in Support of Such Representation What do you feel when seeing LGBTQ+ people represented in advertising or retail display? Total

Positive, 37%

Neutral, 43%

Negative, 20%

LGBTQ+

71%

26%

Non-LGBTQ+

31%

46%

Younger (18-43)

Older (44-77)

37%

27%

23%

Source: Collage Group, CultureRate:Ad Study, July 2023 (18-77 population), weighted data Single select Significance test: Confidence level 95% over/under Non-LGBTQ+; over/under older generations

becoming more aware of the environmental and social impact of their choices. Consumers are increasingly seeking ways to align their purchasing decisions with their values. • Expanding Reality: Technologies such as AI, VR and AR are revolutionizing how consumers perceive and interact with reality. Conversations around the technologies have risen 94% including a 134% rise in discussions of AI-enabled relationships since 2021, the fastest growing micro-trend identified in the report.

But LGBTQ+ Consumers Are Skeptical about Brands’ Attempts to Court Them Through Advertising Younger LGBTQ+ Americans Have Higher Standards for Gauging Brands’ True Commitment to Them What would make you feel a company’s LGBTQ+ focused advertising campaign is insincere?2

Total

55% of LGBTQ+ people say brands’ advertising campaigns aimed at LGBTQ+ audiences often come across as insincere1 Younger (18-43)

Older (44-77)

58%

47%

Younger (18-43)

Older (44-77)

It only happens during or around Pride Month

63%

62%

63%

It feeds into sterotypes of LGBTQ+ people

57%

58%

55%

It’s not representative of the real LGBTQ+ experience

55%

60%

43%

It doesn’t use the LGBTQ+ community’s talent (e.g., firing LGBTQ+ creatives, cast, agencies, etc.)

52%

57%

39%

It doesn’t align with the brand’s internal actions

41%

It is inconsistent with previous campaigns

38%

40%

34%

It doesn’t align with the brand’s value

36%

39%

27%

LGBTQ+ GenZ (18-26) is the most skeptical audience: 65% often deem such campaigns as insincere Source: Collage Group, American Now Survey, August 2023, 18-77 population, weighted data % agree (other answer options included “disagree” and “not sure”) 1 Orginal agreement statement: “When brands do advertising campaigns aimed at LGBTQ+ audiences it often comes across as insincere.” 2 Multiselect; Respondents who agreed withe the statement “When brands do advertising campaigns aimed at LGTBQ+ audiences it often comes across as insincere.” (other answer options included “Other, please specify” and “None of the above”) Significance text: Confidence level 95% over/under Total Pop.

P2PI.com

Brand Watch

Oreo Shines at Target, Family Dollar THE MONDELEZ BRAND’S SUPER MARIO-THEMED COOKIES GET FULL 360-DEGREE CAMPAIGNS. BY CHARLI E M EN CHAC A

Mondelez International pulled out all the stops in 2023 to promote its latest limited-edition Oreo cookies at two national retailers. The packs, featuring characters from Nintendo’s popular Super Mario games, were central to separate campaigns at Target and Family Dollar from July through early September. The target audience was shoppers at those retailers who have fond feelings for the Super Mario world, says Jennifer Mason, director of shopper marketing growth channels, at Mondelez. “Research has demonstrated consumers are interested in nostalgia experiences through food; 76% of those aged 22-55 love eating things that remind them of their past,” Mason says. “Based on previous success from similar campaigns recognizing this insight, we wanted to once again take advantage of both the sentimentality and crossgenerational fondness for Super Mario and Oreo cookies by creating a limited-edition product to remind shoppers of those nostalgic childhood feelings.” As part of the Family Dollar campaign, Oreo had custom floorstands in 7,500 locations. At Target, Mondelez worked with the sales team

14 l Jan/Feb 2024

banner ads drove to a product listing page so consumers could easily add the cookies to their digital shopping cart, Pitmon says. The campaigns were successful at both retailers. Family Dollar saw double-digit unit and dollar sales increases versus prior year with the Oreo portfolio. At Family Dollar, the Breaktime Media experience resulted in tens of thousands of unique engagements with an average engagement time of more than two minutes, Mason says. The offer step of the campaign came in 53% above the Breaktime benchmark, with almost 100% of users clicking to take advantage of the offer. There was a nearly 100% interaction rate in the trivia step of the experience, which educated shoppers and kept them engaged with the brand.

on multiple in-store display locations to reach shoppers in and out of the cookie aisle, says Melissa Pitmon, customer manager for the shopper marketing Target team. Each campaign had pre-shop content from solution provider Breaktime Media. Since the campaigns were running at Target and Family Dollar at the same time, each program had its own unique look and feel to drive purchase of the Oreo cookies. The experiences both had digital coupons to save on a purchase of the Super Mario cookies, with Target’s coupon being offered through its Circle loyalty program. Both teams also staged robust retail media activity to help drive awareness and conversion with their retailer partners. Chesapeake Media Group, Family Dollar’s media network, amplified and drove awareness of the Oreo programming with banner ads throughout the Family Dollar app and posts on the retailer’s Facebook and Instagram pages. There were also off-platform banner ads via Aki Technologies. The Mondelez Target team partnered with Roundel, Target’s media network, to create a digital banner campaign that ran on Target.com and the Bullseye Marketplace with their off-site media partners, Pitmon says. The media plan included social display ad units on Pinterest and Facebook, partnering with Neptune Retail Solutions on an email and working with Vericast on an influencer program. The creative showcased the Super Mario cookie packaging and Mario and Luigi character imagery to drive awareness of the limitededition products at Target. All

Research has demonstrated consumers are interested in nostalgia experiences through food; 76% of those aged 22-55 love eating things that remind them of their past. — Jennifer Mason, Mondelez International

“At Target, consumers spent an average time of one minute and 41 seconds engaging with the experience, and 82% of users added the product to cart, demonstrating fantastic purchase intent,” Pitmon says. The Super Mario cookies were the top-selling limited-edition Oreo in 2023, Mason says. Other contributors to the campaigns were Mondelez agency partners VML and Phoenix Creative Co.

P2PI.com

Brand Watch

Sprite Unleashes ‘Infinite Potential’ AN AWARD-WINNING CAMPAIGN WITH MARVEL’S ‘BLACK PANTHER’ INCLUDED AUGMENTED REALITY AND STORE DISPLAYS. BY CHARLI E M EN CHAC A

The Coca-Cola Co. and its marketing partners developed an end-to-end commerce campaign with one of Marvel Studios’ highest-grossing movies. Sprite Zero Sugar teamed with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” for a campaign called “Infinite

16 l Jan/Feb 2024

Potential. Zero Limits.” The monthslong effort ending Dec. 31, 2022, set out to build brand love, drive sales, generate excitement for the film and empower multicultural consumers. The target audience was Gen Z ages 18 to 26, with an interest in areas such as music, film, art, fashion and entertainment, according to agency Momentum Worldwide. “Sprite’s partnership with Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Panther’ movie gave us a great opportunity to showcase Black and Latinx creators and highlighted the ‘Infi nite Potential’ and ‘Zero Limits’ of self-expression,” says A.P. Chaney, Sprite North America director of creative for Sprite and Fanta. Shoppers scanned a QR code on Sprite Zero Sugar bottles to launch an immersive augmented reality experience. Through a custom interface,

Sprite’s partnership with Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Panther’ movie gave us a great opportunity to showcase Black and Latinx creators. — A.P. Chaney, Sprite North America

the virtual guide led participants through a “Hall of Zero Limits.” The guide gathered information about the shoppers’ artistic interests and matched them with creators from the movie who shared their stories through videos, pro tips and other content. They introduced specialized roles such as production designer and storyboard artist, with a focus on how these creators of color translated their talents into successful careers in film. During the campaign, Sprite used limited-edition packaging inspired by the Black Panther superhero costume. In-store displays and signage — including endcaps, pallet wraps, shelf talkers and standees — highlighted the packaging design as well as Shuri and Okoye, two female lead characters from the film. Beyond retail, Momentum Worldwide hosted screenings of the film for the historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) community. HBCU students had the opportunity to submit their best designs for an invention as part of a competition held in conjunction with the campaign. Voting kicked off during the 2022 Cricket Celebration Bowl college football game, and winners were selected at the end of that year. At the campaign’s end, it had 825 million earned media impressions and helped the brand to a 54% increase in sales. More than 300,000 people scanned the code on the campaign bottles and typically more than three minutes were spent on the digital experience — three times the industry average, according to Momentum. The campaign was also the grand prize winner for experiential marketing at the 2023 Association of National Advertisers Multicultural Excellence Awards.

Chaney says she is very proud of the campaign’s success. “We hope that by showing how these talented professionals started out in fields not traditionally associated with Hollywood, we inspired aspiring creators to dive deeper into discovering their purpose, passion and power,” she says.

CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS -Cashmere Agency – public relations and influencer kits -EssenceMediacom – media connections planning -Golden – packaging design -Wieden+Kennedy – strategy, consumer composite index, and television commercial, online video and over the top content production -WPP’s OpenX – social and digital content -Wunderman Thompson – digital experience and AR shopper hook

P2PI.com

In-Store Experience

Gangnam Market ASIAN-AMERICAN GROCERY STORE IN CHICAGO LEVERAGES NEON SIGNS THROUGHOUT. BY JAQU ELI N E BARBA

If a retailer were a neon bar sign, AsianAmerican hybrid grocery store Gangnam Market would be that sign. Located in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, Gangnam Market is part supermarket and part food court/bar. It just opened late last year. Local restaurateur and Gangnam owner Kenny Yang told nonprofit newsroom Block Club Chicago in December that the business’ name was inspired by the Gangnam neighborhood in Seoul as well as a little after 2012 viral hit song “Gangnam Style.” On the outside of the store, which is fitted in between and below residential buildings and kitty corner from a CVS Pharmacy, it doesn’t look like anything special. Without the bright and colorful lights shining through the windows, you probably wouldn’t even know it’s a supermarket. It looks small — and in comparison to a Walmart or Albertsons location, it is — but inside, it feels much larger and spacious. Upon entry, guests are met with pops of color, vibrant artwork and neon signs hanging above a large food court and bar full of authentic Asian

18 l Jan/Feb 2024

and American spots to eat and drink traditional foods as well as a spacious seating area. Dedicated concepts offer myriad authentic dishes from various Asian cuisines, including freshly made bubble tea and Gangnam Taco, the retailer’s Korean-inspired menu. My favorite part of the food court was a cluster of Sakura (i.e., cherry

blossoms) hanging from the ceiling, reminiscent of one of Japan’s biggest national obsessions. To get to the shopping aisles, guests walk through a motion-sensored gate, where the color continues, though the navigational signs hanging from the ceiling now appear in English. There are also neon signs in every department. In terms of assortment, the store stocks as much, if not more, product from national brands (many in English) as it does Asian products. It’s actually the only store I’ve been to in Chicago, outside of Chinatown, that stocks unique ﬂavors from national manufacturers like Mondelez International and PepsiCo/FritoLay that are mostly sold internationally. But those products are plentiful at Gangnam Market, and even receive prime merchandising space, such as dedicated endcaps and branded ﬂoorstands, the same ones you would see at any other U.S. retailer, throughout the store. About the concept, Yang also told Block Club Chicago, “We want to keep their local favorites and add a little spice on the Asian elements,” he said. “It’s actually a bit of local favorites with just a little bit of Asian twist.” The confectionary assortment seemed to follow me throughout the store. Nearly at the end of every aisle in every department, there were unique Asian candy products (as well as some from national brands) merchandised on dedicated shelves and other miscellaneous displays. Other unique elements of the store: • A cotton candy machine located at the entrance that almost looks like a vending or claw machine upon first glance. • A robust assortment of individual beverages from national and emerging brands merchandised on a long refrigerated open display. • A sushi section in the produce department that goes far beyond what you would find at a traditional grocer, including fresh poke bowls and dango (Japanese dumplings). • Multiple anime/Asian-inspired art pieces. • A large, refrigerated display for sake variations. • A walk-in beer freezer. • Stringria Coffee and Tea Bar offering bubble tea and coffees with a to-go window for the summer. • Only a handful of checkout registers. P2PI.com

TRENDS 2024, Part 1

Retailer Media Network Ratings & Insights From CPG brands juggling 10-plus networks, to budget allocations and future investments, we share results from our annual survey. B Y C Y N D I L OZ A

20 l Jan/Feb 2024

Retailer Media Networks: Change in Investment 2022 vs. 2021

etail media — and all its opportunities and challenges — has been a strong focus at the Path to Purchase Institute for the past several years. Retail media’s growth and impact on the commerce marketing world has been unbelievable and unrelenting, and Insider Intelligence has forecasted U.S. retail media ad spend to more than double between 2023 and 2027 from $46 billion to $109 billion. While the numbers that surround retail media are big and get thrown around a lot now, let’s think back to what helped steer our attention toward the growing retail media opportunity several years back: our annual Trends survey. Since 1995, the Path to Purchase Institute has conducted a yearly Trends survey to examine the major issues affecting consumer goods companies. To devise the survey questions, our editorial team comes together every fall to discuss hot topics and trends gleaned from our reporting, educational events and webinars, as well as conversations with CPG brand professionals, retailers, solution providers and agencies. It was clear to us years ago that our commerce community was eager to learn more about retailer media networks (RMNs) and related companies, including their impact on the omnichannel landscape. Recognizing these insights, we’ve made sure to include several questions related to retail media in our survey over the past five years, as well as a section devoted to rating RMNs. Furthermore, the retail media portion of the survey has grown so large that we decided to split our report into two parts, with the first dedicated to retail media. (We will report on Part 2 in our March/April issue.) For the retail media portion of this year’s report, we surveyed 76 CPG brand professionals between Sept. 18 and Oct. 10, 2023. To qualify for the survey, respondents had to indicate they worked with one or more retailer media networks. A majority of respondents surveyed (53%) were managers, followed by directors (41%) and senior management (6%). When it came to their primary job functions, 38% of survey takers indicated shopper marketing, while the rest varied from retail media (13%) to e-commerce (11%). A third reported working with packaged food and snack

2023 vs. 2022

37%

38% 28%

26%

25%

20% 13% 2% 4% Significant decrease in investment

5% Minor decrease in investment

Flat, stayed the same

Minor increase in investment

Significant increase in investment

Q. How has your organization’s investment (budgetary spend and/ or attention) changed for retailer media networks this year (2023) compared to last year (2022)? 2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

Average Percentage of Retail Media Spend by Budget Something else

Dedicated retail media budget

22%

Trade

Shopper marketing

27%

Incremental Spend by Budget 1% > 50% 41 - 50% 31 - 40% 21 - 30%

National media

24%

24% Q. What percentage of your organization’s retail media spending is provided by each of the following budgets?

11 - 20%

11%

5% 3%

17% 29%

1 - 10% None

34% Q. How much of that total spend on retail media is incremental to base budget(s)?

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

items, followed by other categories including packaged household items (16%), non-alcoholic beverages (12%), over-the-counter drugs/medical (7%), beer/wine/liquor (5%) and confectionery (5%). Investments and Budget Allocations Considering the retail media industry forecasts, it will come as no surprise that more than 3-in-5 respondents indicated that their CPG organizations increased spending in retailer media networks in 2023. Sixty-three percent of respondents reported at least a minor increase in retail media investment at their companies compared to 2022, which is a slight increase from last year’s Trends report, when 53% reported a minor increase in 2022 compared to 2021.

P2PI.com

TRENDS 2024, Part 1

What is staggering, however, is the number of RMNs CPG brand manufacturers are currently juggling. Half of survey takers told us their organizations are currently working with three to six RMNs, while 36% said they’re working with 10 or more. For comparison, we asked the same question in a research study in the summer of 2022 and only 6% of CPG brand survey takers indicated working with more than 10 networks. Looking at budget allocations, we found that retail media spending is coming from a variety of these marketing budgets. Shopper marketing budgets are most commonly used to fund retail media efforts, followed relatively closely by national media, trade and a dedicated retail media budget. When we asked how retail media budget allocations are determined in their organization, 63% of respondents said they were determined in an annual budget, while a third reported they were determined campaign by campaign based on objectives.

Half of the survey takers told us their organizations are currently working with three to six RMNs, while 36% said they’re working with 10 or more. Retailer Media Network Ratings When it came to rating specific RMNs, some stood out above others with regard to specific performance metrics. We asked respondents to rate the retailer media networks with which they work based on their relative strengths in targeting effectiveness, measurement capabilities, ROI, data sharing, sales growth, creative freedom and traffic-driving capabilities. Not surprisingly, Walmart Connect, Amazon DSP, Target’s Roundel and Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) were the networks our brand respondents

22 l Jan/Feb 2024

How Retail Media Budget Allocations Are Determined 63%

33% 4% Determined in the annual budget

Determined campaign by campaign, based on objectives

Something else

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

How Many Retail Media Networks Does Your Organization Work With? 1-5 networks: 46%

6-9 networks: 18%

10+ networks: 36%

18%

16%

13% 9%

7% 4% 1% 1

8% 1%

15%

5% 8

3% 9

11-15

>16

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

worked with the most followed by Albertsons Media Collective, Instacart Ads and Sam’s Club Member Access Platform. Among these networks — and all other networks included in the survey — KPM, Amazon DSP and Walmart Connect led the way across all metrics. Comparing these three networks: • Amazon led the way in targeting effectiveness with 92% of survey participants giving the network at least a good rating in this metric. • KPM’s measurement capabilities, ROI, data sharing and sales growth performed the best, with at least 80% of participants giving it at least a good rating for these metrics. • Walmart Connect had a slight edge when it came to traffic-driving

capabilities, with 82% of survey takers giving the network at least a good rating for this metric. Among other noteworthy results: • More than half of respondents gave Instacart and Sam’s Club at least a good score across all metrics. • More than half of survey takers gave Roundel at least a good score when it came to traffic-driving capabilities, sales growth, measurement capabilities and targeting effectiveness. • Meijer generally performed well across most metrics with 62% of survey takers giving the network at least a good score for ROI and creative freedom. Retail Media Challenges and the Next Frontier When asked to consider the challenges of working with RMNs, a quarter of survey takers pointed to increased costs, minimum spend requirements and budget, as well as lack of data and data sharing. Also identified by respondents was clear attribution/closed loop reporting/ability to prove ROI and a lack of consistent measurement across retailers. Despite their challenges, 69% of respondents said that RMNs are as effective, or more effective, than other digital media. Breaking it down: • 43% noted RMNs are effective, but no more so than other digital media. (“We get better exposure and return from social media,” said one respondent.) • 26% said RMNs are more effective than other digital media. (“There’s a direct tie to sales and more input over how we can pull the strings on specific products to reach certain audiences,” explained a survey taker.) Skeptics remain, however, with 20% noting RMNs are a simple money grab for the retailer. Program rates and an inability to prove out the ROI of retail media tactics lead some to say retail media is a money grab by retailers. “Customers are demanding buy-in with large investments, but we can’t attribute it to sales,” said one survey taker. When it comes to retail media measurement,

What’s Your Assessment of Retailer Media Networks? 43%

26% 20% 11% A simple money grab for the retailer

Effective, but no more so than other digital media

More effective than other digital media

Something else

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

Challenges in Working With Retailer Media Networks Increased costs/Minimum spend requirements/budget

24%

Data sharing/lack of data

24% 17%

Clear attribution/Closed loop reporting/ability to prove ROI

14%

Lack of consistent measurement across retailers Complexity of managing multiple RMNs/number of networks Lack of flexibility

12% 8%

Targeting capabilities

Does not deliver on promised outcomes

Retailer communication

Restrictions/lack of knowledge in alcoholic beverage space 4% Lack of expertise from retailers 4% Difficult to align on goals/needs with retailers 4% Pay-to-play

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

nearly 9-in-10 respondents said they wanted their retailer partner to provide proof of sales lift and ROI for campaigns. Nearly half also indicated they want their retailer partner to provide granular and customized reporting and more than 40% said they wanted standardized metrics and definitions, and offline and online attribution. Considering the “next frontier” for retail media, survey takers pointed to an

P2PI.com

TRENDS 2024, Part 1

array of tactics and areas. Most notably, 66% highlighted omnichannel audience tracking, followed by increased personalization (54%), AI technology (51%) and shoppable video content (50%). Check back with the Path to Purchase Institute as we revisit RMNs, shoppable video, AI and other commerce-related hot topics in the second part of our Trends survey in the March/April edition of the magazine.

Measuring Retail Media: What Do You Want? Ranked #1

Ranked #2

Ranked #3

54%

Proof of sales lift and ROI from campaigns Providing granular and customized reporting

13%

22%

12%

14%

Standardized metrics and definitions 9% 14%

21%

Offline and online attribution 11%

12%

18%

Comparable cross-retailer measurement and attribution 9% 11%

20%

Enabling self-serve access to campaign data 3% 8%

16%

Viewability and third-party verification 1% 3% 3%

Q. When it comes to retail media measurement, which of these do you most want from your retailer partner(s)? Rank the top three. 2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

Retail Media: The Next Frontier 66%

Omnichannel audience tracking Increased personalization

54%

AI technology

51%

Shoppable video content

50%

In-store digitization

47% 42%

Media mix modeling Data clean rooms

28%

A/B testing

28%

In-store checkout experience

18%

APIs/data connectors

17%

CTV

16%

Single payment provider for digital and physical transactions

13%

Augmented/virtual reality

12%

Something else

• Influencers and creator content • Shoppable media • Interest in my category participating

Q. What do you think is the “next frontier” or up-and-coming area(s) for retail media? Select all that apply and/or write in your own. 2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

24 l Jan/Feb 2024

Organizational Mapping and the Retail Media Opportunity As the omnichannel landscape continues to grow more complex, we asked survey takers to consider organizational mapping and the retail media opportunity, and how their organization sets up internally. We found CPG organizations are set up to manage retail media in a variety of ways. Some respondents said retail media sits within the shopper marketing team, while others said it is split across sales, e-commerce and marketing. The biggest organizational mapping opportunities identified by respondents focused on increasing collaboration across teams to reduce silos and inefficiencies. Here’s what some of the respondents had to say on that front … “Shopper marketing owns retail media planning and execution (as they run point on the marketing relationship with the retailer). Our media team (along with the retail media agency we work with) supports high-level strategy and planning. We like the current setup and have no plans to adjust in the near future.” “Our organizational set up is extremely poor with low competency of team members, no accountability for performance and little to no integration with other related departments.” “Retail media falls under the responsibility of marketing and e-commerce. This is an ideal setup as it allows for true omnichannel perspective where the person is not tied to specific accounts, but drives the overall goals and revenue of the brand and business.” “We are still relatively siloed between marketing and sales, which creates challenges with increased retail media funding, especially when it comes to upper-funnel retail media (i.e., CTV).” “We don’t currently have a shopper marketing team so retail media gets split between the functioning trade team and above-the-line media — which is ineffective and we’re working on organizational shifts to optimize.” “Needs improvement. Way too siloed. I’d love to be able to manage the entire retail media budget, instead of having to spend by retailer budget restraints.”

RATING RETAILER MEDIA NETWORKS For any retailer media network you have worked with, please rate its performance in the following areas … Excellent/Very Good

Ahold Delhaize

Fair/Poor

Albertsons

(AD Retail Media)

(Albertsons Media Collective)

Targeting effectiveness

43%

Measurement capabilities 5%

24%

Targeting effectiveness 8%

57%

Measurement capabilities 11%

71%

38%

ROI Data sharing

Good

56%

31%

58%

ROI 3%

36%

71%

Data sharing 6%

33%

61%

62%

29%

36%

61%

Sales growth 5%

33%

62%

Sales growth

11%

36%

53%

Creative freedom 5%

28%

67%

Creative freedom 3%

50%

47%

Traffic-driving capabilities 11%

36%

Traffic-driving capabilities 5%

48%

47%

Respondents: 21

Respondents: 36

Amazon

BJ’s Wholesale Club

(Amazon DSP)

53%

(BJ’s Media Edge)

49%

Targeting effectiveness

43%

Measurement capabilities

51%

ROI

42%

Data sharing

34%

Sales growth

43%

Creative freedom

Targeting effectiveness

25%

17%

Measurement capabilities

33%

28%

30%

ROI

38%

28%

Data sharing

19%

Sales growth

25%

Creative freedom

21%

Traffic-driving capabilities

32%

38%

28%

47%

Traffic-driving capabilities

32%

Respondents: 47

Respondents: 12

Costco

CVS

67% 58%

67% 42% 8%

33% 58%

42% 42%

50% 58%

42%

50%

(CVS Media Exchange)

Targeting effectiveness 10%

25%

Measurement capabilities 10% 20% ROI

15%

Data sharing 5% Sales growth 15% Creative freedom 5% Traffic-driving capabilities 5%

65% 70%

40%

20% 30% 25% 35%

Targeting effectiveness Measurement capabilities

45% 75%

ROI

21%

14% 22% 29%

Data sharing 7%

55% 70% 60%

Respondents: 20

Sales growth 7% Creative freedom

29%

64% 21%

21% 29%

7% 21%

Traffic-driving capabilities 7%

50%

43%

50% 72% 64% 72% 50%

Respondents: 14

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

P2PI.com

TRENDS 2024, Part 1

Excellent/Very Good

Dollar General

(Leap Media Group)

35%

Targeting effectiveness 12% Measurement capabilities 12%

23%

ROI 12%

29%

Data sharing 12%

Targeting effectiveness 8% 8%

53%

69%

Data sharing 8% 15%

77%

ROI

35%

53%

18% 29%

53% 24%

77%

31%

59% 70%

29%

84%

Measurement capabilities 8% 15%

65%

18%

Sales growth 12%

Traffic-driving capabilities

Fair/Poor

Giant Eagle

(DG Media Network)

Creative freedom

Good

Sales growth 8% 15% Creative freedom

47%

Traffic-driving capabilities

Respondents: 17

Respondents: 13

H-E-B

Hy-Vee

77%

23%

77%

15%

85%

(Hy-Vee Red Media)

Targeting effectiveness Measurement capabilities

25%

ROI

20%

Data sharing

20%

Sales growth

25%

Creative freedom Traffic-driving capabilities

15%

25%

15%

60%

Targeting effectiveness 8%

23%

69%

60%

Measurement capabilities 8%

23%

69%

40%

20% 20%

15%

25%

60%

Data sharing 8%

55%

Sales growth

60%

Creative freedom

30%

45%

Respondents: 13

Instacart

Kroger

(Instacart Ads)

62%

31%

61%

46% 15%

54%

31%

54%

38%

Traffic-driving capabilities

Respondents: 20

62%

(Kroger Precision Marketing)

22%

50%

Targeting effectiveness Measurement capabilities

28%

33%

ROI

28%

44%

Data sharing

16%

Sales growth

39%

Creative freedom

33%

Traffic-driving capabilities

28%

42%

28% 39%

33% 33% 28%

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

Targeting effectiveness

42%

41%

17%

Measurement capabilities

44%

41%

15%

ROI

36%

49%

15%

Data sharing

37%

44%

19%

Sales growth

32%

54%

14%

Creative freedom

32%

Traffic-driving capabilities

39%

28% 42%

Respondents: 36

26 l Jan/Feb 2024

38%

ROI

28% 34% 44%

Respondents: 41

39% 34%

29% 27%

Excellent/Very Good

Meijer

Good

Fair/Poor

Sam’s Club

(Sam’s Club Member Access Platform)

Targeting effectiveness 5%

48%

Measurement capabilities 5%

38%

47% 57%

43%

48%

Data sharing

14%

48%

43%

Sales growth

25%

Creative freedom

21%

36%

Traffic-driving capabilities

14%

54%

38%

48%

Creative freedom 14%

48%

43%

Respondents: 21

Respondents: 28

Target

Wakefern

(Roundel)

Targeting effectiveness

36%

53%

Measurement capabilities 11%

18%

Sales growth 9%

17%

40%

43%

29%

53%

ROI

52%

Traffic-driving capabilities 9%

18%

38%

ROI 10% Data sharing 9%

Targeting effectiveness

28%

54%

47%

39%

Targeting effectiveness

25% 17%

25%

50%

43% 32%

75% 83%

Measurement capabilities 12%

43%

45%

Measurement capabilities

ROI 10%

38%

52%

ROI

25%

75%

Data sharing

41%

52%

Data sharing

25%

75%

Sales growth

17%

33%

67%

25%

75%

55%

40%

Creative freedom 5% Traffic-driving capabilities

47%

36%

31%

43%

26%

Sales growth Creative freedom Traffic-driving capabilities

Respondents: 42

Respondents: 12

Walgreens

Walmart

(Walgreens Advertising Group) Targeting effectiveness Measurement capabilities

58%

42%

(Walmart Connect)

36%

57% 71%

29%

47%

16%

Targeting effectiveness

37%

Measurement capabilities

37%

35%

28%

49%

23%

ROI 7%

36%

57%

ROI

Data sharing 7%

29%

64%

Data sharing

35%

40%

25%

Sales growth

35%

42%

23%

Sales growth

71%

29%

Creative freedom Traffic-driving capabilities 7%

43%

57%

50%

Respondents: 14

43%

Creative freedom Traffic-driving capabilities

25% 35%

35%

40% 47%

18%

Respondents: 57

2024 Path to Purchase Institute Retailer Media Network Trends Study (October 2023)

P2PI.com

SPECIAL REPORT

THE STATE OF RETAIL MEDIA:

Outlooks, Strategies & What’s Next

From defining incrementality to accelerators and barriers to investment, P2PI and Skai’s proprietary research aims to benchmark retail media’s meteoric rise and offer statistical guidance for CPG brands. B Y C Y N D I L OZ A

In collaboration with

28 l Jan/Feb 2024

etail media’s rise and impact on the marketing landscape has been undeniable and it shows no signs of dying down. It’s going to be the fastestgrowing ad channel across media through 2027 (according to Insider Intelligence), making it bigger than connected TV, digital audio and traditional television advertising combined in the next few years. Recognizing its growth, omnichannel marketing platform Skai has produced a “State of Retail Media” report the past few years to help marketers understand trends driving the channel, as well as current and future retail media challenges and strategies. “This is our third annual report on the state of what has become the fastest-growing channel in advertising history,” says Michelle Urwin, Skai’s vice president of marketing. “[Retail media is growing] faster than search, faster than social, and is still growing in double digits year-over-year. Through these State of Retail Media reports, Urwin explains, Skai’s goal is “for marketers to

Assessment of Retailer Media Networks in 2023 53%

24%

20% 3%

0% Terrible, it had a negative impact on our desired objectives

Poor, it had little to no impact on our desired objectives

Fair, it did not quite meet goal KPI expectations

Good, it has met goal KPI expectations

Excellent, it has exceeded goal KPI expectations

Q. Which of the following best describes your assessment of retailer media networks? Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

Importance of Specific Marketing Channels Not at all important

Minimally important

Retail media 3% 1%

15%

Online - Paid search 2% 7%

Somewhat important

Very important

39%

11%

Extremely important

42%

27%

53%

Online - Programmatic display 2% 5%

23%

34%

36%

Online - Paid social 2% 5%

24%

30%

39%

Shopper marketing/trade promotion/co-op programs

CTV/streaming TV

11%

Out of home (digital + non-digital)

10% 13%

24%

Traditional print

26% 9%

34% 20% 37%

18% 21%

28%

25%

32% 24%

28% 38%

23%

Traditional television/radio

Sponsorships

21%

21% 46%

10% 16%

13%

14%

Q. How important are each of the following marketing channels to your organization? Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

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gain valuable perspectives on how their peers are embracing this opportunity and navigating its unique challenges.” The Path to Purchase Institute (P2PI) — which conducted our own State of Retail Media research back in 2022 — teamed up with Skai to jointly produce this year’s report aimed at benchmarking retail media’s meteoric rise and offering statistical guidance for CPG brands looking to make informed and strategic decisions on their retail media programs. To do this, P2PI fielded an online survey from Oct. 23 to Nov. 20, 2023, picking the brains of 98 professionals working within a consumer product manufacturer (with more than 10% of marketing budget allocated to retail media) or an agency. Respondents were asked a variety of questions ranging from retail media strategies and measurement to accelerators and barriers to more investment in the channel. Executives working within agencies made up 59% of survey respondents with CPG brands making up the rest (41%). Nearly a third of respondents surveyed (30%) were managers, followed by directors (23%) and senior management (22%) and head of business (8%). Among CPG brand professionals, a majority (58%) indicated that 11%-35% of their total marketing

Components That Are Part of Your Retail Media Strategy 77%

On-site (digital ads on retailer websites) Paid search shopping ads (Google Shopping, etc.)

69%

Social commerce (TikTok Shops, Facebook Marketplace, etc.)

65% 60%

Off-site (digital ads but not on retailer websites) CRM (app, email, loyalty marketing, etc)

52%

In-store (endcaps, signage, POS aisle, etc.)

51%

Digital in-store (digital screens/signage, DOOH in-store, etc.)

49%

On average, organizations are using 5 of these components in their retail media strategies today.

38%

Marketing co-op Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

budget was allocated to retail media in 2023, followed by 28% who reported 36%-50% of their total budget was allocated to retail media and 15% who said more than half was designated for retail media. Common Channels & Tactics When asked to gauge the importance of several common marketing channels, a large majority of respondents (about 80%) indicated retail media and online-paid search were at least very important to their organizations,

Retail Media Tactics: Your 2024 Budget vs. 2023 Will not spend on this area

Moderate decrease (11% to 25%)

Stay the same

Moderate increase (11% to 25%)

Significant decrease (> 25%)

Slight decrease (1% to 10%)

Slight increase (1% to 10%)

Significant increase (> 25%)

Retailer on-site (sponsored products, paid search, etc.)* 5%

Social commerce (TikTok Shops, Facebook Marketplace, etc.) 7% Off-site (digital ads but not on retailer websites)

21%

3% 3%

Digital in-store (digital screens/signage, DOOH in-store, etc.)

12%

In-store (end caps, signage, POS aisle, etc.)

14%

CRM (app, email, loyalty marketing, etc)

10%

Marketing co-op

12%

29% 27%

18%

10%

24%

3% 2%

35%

5% 5% 3%

4% 8%

13%

35% 21%

6% 24%

24%

34% 42% 44%

Values <3% not displayed *Represents combined weighted average of “paid search shopping ads (Google Shopping, etc.)” and “0n-site (digital ads on retailer websites) Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

30 l Jan/Feb 2024

26%

18%

20%

14%

18%

17%

Retail Media in 2024 BY MICH ELLE U RWIN

There’s a lot of attention on retail media these days, but 2023 wasn’t all roses. Although still growing, industry experts downgraded lofty spending forecasts due to poor economic conditions. On top of that, retail media was categorized as being in the “Trough of Disillusionment” phase in the Gartner Hype Cycle. Increased competition is driving up costs, and there are inherent complexities of having so many retailers now with media businesses. As the channel evolves, 2024 will be a make-or-break year. While it’s still one of the hottest areas of advertising, it’s not without its challenges. Here’s what we think the next 12 months have in store: The Evolution of Retail Media to Commerce Media The channel has a short history, and 2024 will see more innovation and change than any previous year. Retailers are now all in and actively looking for ways to grow ad investments by offering advertisers more inventory up the funnel as well as new ad formats and placements, while inviting non-endemic brands. Retail media is also growing outside of its own walls. Advertisers can point their Google and Meta ad traffic to their retailer product pages. Through their DSPs, they can leverage the powerful retailer’s firstparty commerce signals to buy display ad impressions across the open web. In our “State of Retail Media” survey, two-thirds of respondents even said that search shopping campaigns and social commerce are part of a retail media team’s scope. Given all of these advances, this year’s headline is that retail media is growing beyond the confines of a channel and becoming a “layer” called “Commerce Media.” When you consider all of the components that encompass commerce media, it becomes an incredibly rich and robust new arena, including: • Full-funnel on-site retail media across numerous ad formats; • Off-site placements on retailer-owned properties and partners; • Ad buying on the open web via retailer first-party commerce signals; • Building bridges to other walled gardens, such as the Amazon and Snap partnership; • Search shopping/social commerce campaigns; and • Even oﬄine shopper marketing and co-op.

Retail media is a new channel, primarily servicing endemic advertisers, and ‘commerce media’ is an existing and growing layer driven by data, measurement, and the continued convergence of content and commerce. — Conor McKenna, LUMA Partners

Notable Takeaways From the Survey • No one-size-fits-all solution to measurement. For the third year, proving incrementality continues to be cited in our survey as a significant challenge in retail media. And, while marketers desire a “silver bullet” to solve for measurement, they are coming to realize that retail media is an imperfect environment that will require each organization to build its own incrementality approach. • Standardization is not the real need. One of 2023’s major storylines was the industry-wide call for standardization. However, in this year’s survey, we’ve discovered that standardization in itself is not what marketers desire. Actually, standardization seems to be a proxy goal to advance what they really want from retail media networks — which is more transparency, connectivity and control. • Brand/agency misalignment. This year’s report shows a gap between how agencies and brands evaluate retail media success. Agencies tend to rely on media metrics like reach and frequency and ROAS, while brand marketers focus on business outcomes such as new to brand, share of voice and digital shelf analytics as key performance indicators. Could this misalignment be because of how agencies are managed by brands, or the fact that agencies generally don’t have access to backend analytics to be able to manage holistically? There’s much more to dive into with this year’s “State of Retail Media” report. We hope you find this information useful as you navigate 2024.

About the Author Michelle Urwin is global vice president of marketing at Skai, where she is responsible for growing brand visibility and driving market growth. With more than seven years of experience in retail media, she is a recognized industry expert and has proudly spent the last year hosting Skai’s popular “Retail Media Thursday” series.

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with more than half even reporting online-paid search was extremely important. About 70% of respondents also indicated online-programmatic display and online-paid social was at least very important to their organization, followed by shopper marketing/trade promotion/co-op programs (62%) and CTV/streaming TV (56%). On the other hand, more than half of respondents said traditional TV/radio and traditional print were minimally or not at all important. We next shared a list of components with survey takers to understand which ones were part of their organization’s current retail media plan. We found that organizations are leveraging a variety of tactics in their retail media strategy today, most commonly on-site digital ads on retailer websites, paid search shopping ads (Google Shopping, etc.), social commerce (TikTok Shop, Facebook Marketplace, etc.) and off-site ads. Additionally, when we asked participants to look ahead to their organization’s 2024 budget plans, more than half reported at

Most Important Factors in Your Retail Media Budget Allocation Decisions 56%

Following performance measurement To test new ad formats/types, targeting options, and/or

50%

bid adjustments from retailers

48%

Annual budgets set based on the previous year’s performance

32%

Media mix modeling (MMM) recommendations

30%

Agency/consultant recommendations

28%

Retailer recommendations

28%

Adherence to joint business plans (JBPs)

22%

To test new retailer media networks

Select (up to) the top three. ^Only shown to those working at Consumer Product Manufacturers Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

What Would Accelerate Your Organization’s Investment in Retail Media? #1 Driver

27%

Higher ROI versus other advertising channels

Improved insights from retailers/RMNs

10%

17%

Ability to better measure upper funnel impact

11%

14%

11%

Measurement innovations for better/easier value proof

11%

14%

Emerging practices for better return optimization Enhanced customer engagement by retailers Integrated retailer negotiations/JBPs needing more retail media investment

6% 11% 5%

4% 10% 7%

“Cookie demise” boosting retail media appeal over other channels 2% 4%

Valuing retailer audience access over brand’s audience

5% 3% 3%

Shift from D2C to more retailer partnerships 3% 4%

Streamlining supply chain and retailer fulfillment 3% 3%

Rank (up to) the top three. Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

11%

14%

Channel standardization easing management complexity 3% 2%

32 l Jan/Feb 2024

10% 13% 10%

12%

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Challenges That Might Drive Less Investment in Retail Media #1 Driver

15%

Analytics and reporting limitations Lower ROI compared to other advertising channels

19%

20%

Difficulty proving investment incrementality

19%

12%

14%

12%

Supply chain and retailer fulfillment constraints

Retailer control/walled garden environment

Internal organization structure limiting effectiveness

Lack of standardization across retailers

Lack of retail media expertise internally

Poor or inconsistent content

Increased D2C sales, less retailer reliance

Newness, lacking best practices for investment maximization

9% 12%

11%

Increasing prevalence of private-label products at retailers 3% 4%

Rank (up to) the top three. Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

least a slight increase in retailer on-site tactics (sponsored products, paid search, etc.), social commerce and off-site ads. Investment Accelerators & Barriers To understand the most important factors in their budget allocation decisions for retail media, we had participants select from a list of considerations, ranging from media mix modeling recommendations to adherence to joint business plans. Participants reported that their retail media budget allocations are most often driven by performance measurement (a factor selected by 56% of survey takers); an interest in testing new ad formats/types, targeting options and/or bid adjustments from retailers (selected by 50%); and annual budgets set on performance in the previous year (48%). Respondents working within agencies were significantly more likely to follow performance measurement when determining retail media budget allocations compared to those

34 l Jan/Feb 2024

How Do You Keep Up With Retail Media Network Proliferation? Relying on data analytics and insights platforms

58%

Engaging with agencies for retail media management^

58% 49%

Utilizing third-party retail media platforms Investing in continuous training and upskilling of internal team(s)

43%

Forming dedicated retail media team(s) within the organization

41%

Leveraging AI and automation tools

40% 31%

Collaborating with retail media consultants

22%

Outsourcing to freelance experts for specific tasks Something else

• “Continuously keeping up with what’s new with our customers and ad platform providers.” • “Growing partnerships.”

Q. With only so much human capital, how are you and your organization keeping up with the continued proliferation of retail media networks? ^Only shown to those working at Consumer Product Manufacturers Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

What Metrics Does Your Organization Use to Inform Its Retail Media Efforts? Currently using

Would like to use in the future

No plans to use

11%

30%

59%

Average order value

24%

67%

Organic sales

23%

69%

New to brand

10%

35%

Add to carts

55%

Percent sales (In-store/Online)

54%

32%

14%

Sell-in metrics (e.g., Purchase Orders, Revenue, Net Receipts, Order Volume)

53%

31%

16%

Sell-through metrics (e.g., Ordered Revenue, SCOGS, OPS, GMV)

47%

42%

Media cost (CPM/Average CPC)

81%

Return on ad spend (RoAS)

78%

12% 5% 8% 10% 14%

53%

33% 66%

Product performance data

29%

53%

Audience performance data

40%

50%

Shopper behavior and engagement

31%

61%

Detail page views

26%

69%

Ratings & reviews

16%

32%

56%

Viewability

30%

62%

Advertising cost of sales (ACoS)

17%

25%

70%

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

Inventory health

48%

Digital shelf analytics

46%

40%

38%

14%

46%

Category or market share

18%

77%

Click-through rate/video completion rate

Social signals

11%

77%

20%

Competitive analysis

73%

26%

Share metrics (e.g., Share of Voice, Share of Shelf/Aisle/Search)

69%

28%

Organic ranking

61%

28%

11%

Gross margin, net ppm, EBITDA (Profit Metrics)

58%

34%

Best seller rank (BSR)

45%

46%

Incremental ROAS (iROAS)

48%

Customer acquisition cost (CAC)

47%

43%

10%

Customer retention

44%

48%

43%

Multi-touch ROAS

36%

51%

13%

Post-purchase behavior (e.g., referrals, reviews)

33%

59%

Customer LTV

30%

54%

16%

Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

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working within CPG organizations. Survey takers were generally pleased with their retail media results last year with more than two-thirds indicating the results retail media drove met or exceeded goal KPI expectations at their company in 2023. When asked what would accelerate their organization’s investment in retail media in the future, nearly half of those surveyed said investment in retail media would accelerate if it delivered a higher ROI compared to other channels. Additionally, improved insights from retailer media networks and the ability to better measure upper funnel impact would fuel further investment. However, when asked what the critical challenges are that might drive their organization to invest less in retail media in the future: • 53% of participants pointed to limitations in analytics and reporting; • 41% shared lower ROI compared to other advertising channels; and • 38% indicated difficulty proving investment incrementality. With only so much human capital at a company, we also asked survey takers how they are keeping up with the continued proliferation of retailer

Incrementality Measurement 56%

24% 8%

Do not measure incrementality

Do not measure incrementality, but plan to start in 2024

Measure incrementality at a basic level

Good at measuring Extremely good incrementality at measuring and applying incrementality and the insights leveraging the insights

Q. Which of the following best describes your organization’s proficiency in incrementality measurement for retail media? Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

media networks. We found many organizations are leveraging external solutions to keep up, including relying on data analytics and insights platforms and using third-party retail media platforms. Fifty-eight percent of participants working within CPG organizations also pointed to engaging with agencies for retail media management.

Defining Incrementality Ad attributed conversions of new-to-brand customers

56%

Showing a product ad to a customer that hasn’t purchased that product before

48%

Serving ads where my products aren’t already showing up in organic results

47%

Serving ads to consumers that haven’t yet searched for my brand

45%

Serving ads to customers when they are likely to repurchase

41%

Showing a product ad to a customer shopping on my competitor’s product detail page

39%

Shifting ad budget from products with low profit margin to products with high profit margin

38%

Correlating advertising to improved organic rank for specific keyword(s)

35%

Increasing my ratio of total-sales-to-ad-spend (i.e., reducing TACOS)

32%

Ads that have the highest multi-touch attribution return on ad spend

27%

Don’t know 4% None of the above

Q. Listed are several ways organizations may define incrementality in retail media. Which, if any, are most relevant to your organization? Select all that apply. Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

36 l Jan/Feb 2024

Challenges Faced When Implementing Incrementality Measurement Concerns about the accuracy or reliability of incrementality results

51%

Limited tools or technologies that support incrementality measurement

50%

Lack of standardization

43%

Lack of data

43%

Lack of clear methodologies or best practices

38%

Difficulty in distinguishing between organic and driven sales

35%

Extensibility of incrementality measurement across ad types, targeting methods, retailers, etc.

33%

Costs associated with setting up controlled experiments or test groups

24%

Challenges in aligning internal teams around incrementality metrics

24%

Lack of internal expertise

18%

Something else 4% None of the above, I haven’t faced any challenges

‘Something else’ responses: • “Current models aren’t accounting for all possible sources/touchpoints that influence incremental sales.” • “Capability of RMNs to act on results.” • “Every retailer is asking for investment and we are a value brand.”

Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

Incrementality Measurement When asked to share which metrics their organizations currently use to inform their retail media efforts, respondents pointed to media cost, return on ad spend (ROAS), click-through/video completion rate, cost per acquisition, and “new to brand” metrics, as well as ratings and reviews. Category/market share, competitive analyses and share metrics were also commonly used. Looking at how agency professionals answered versus CPG brands, we found agency respondents were more likely to report using audience performance data to inform their retail media efforts. Our survey indicated there’s need for improvement when it comes to measuring incrementality. While a majority of respondents (56%) shared their organizations measure incrementality at a base level, only 30% reported their organizations are good/extremely good at measuring incrementality and applying or leveraging the insights. When we followed up and asked how their organizations define incrementality in retail media, we found organizations define it in a wide array of ways. The most common definitions consider: • Ad-attributed conversions of new-to-brand customers;

• Showing a product ad to customers who have not purchased the product before; and • Serving ads where products are not already showing in organic results. Looking at how survey takers answered based on job level, director-level leaders and above were more likely to include “serving ads to consumers

How Coordinated Is Your Retail Media With Other Digital Ad Channels? 34%

35%

16% 12% 3% Operates Limited independently, alignment, with with no distinct strategies coordination with and messaging other digital ad for each channel channels

Sometimes Largely aligns with Seamlessly aligns with other other channels managed alongside channels, with but occasional other channels, notable gaps in discrepancies with consistent coordination in messaging or messaging and strategy strategy

Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

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that haven’t yet searched for my brand” in their definition of incrementality. Participants working with manufacturers were also more likely to look at “shifting ad budget from products with low-profit margin to products with high-profit margin” as part of retail media incrementality. When asked what challenges they have faced, if any, trying to implement incrementality measurement in their retail media strategy, at least half of respondents reported concerns with the accuracy or reliability of incrementality results, as well as limited tools or technologies to support the measurement. Lack of standardization and data were also called out by 43% of survey takers. Participants at CPG companies were more likely to say they had difficulty distinguishing between organic and driven sales when trying to implement incrementality measurement. AI & Tech Solutions Looking at channel management, we asked participants how coordinated and integrated their organization’s retail media is with other digital ad channels. Nearly half of respondents indicated their organization’s retail media either largely aligns with other channels, with occasional discrepancies in messaging or strategy, or is seamlessly managed alongside other channels with consistent messaging and strategy. However, 35% of participants reported notable gaps in coordination. Artificial intelligence (AI) was a hot topic in 2023 and respondents shared that it would impact their retail media strategies in a variety of ways in 2024. Nearly half of participants said they anticipate AI will enhance their targeting and bidding strategies this year, while at least 41% said it would: • Enable real-time campaign optimization; • Provide greater insights and recommendations; and • Automate or enhance creative efforts. Looking at the solution categories of their e-commerce stack, nearly 3-in-5 respondents said their organizations have business intelligence/ data analytics and retail media management solutions. Nearly half also shared they had digital shelf analytics in their e-commerce stack. When it came to data clean rooms, most survey takers said their organizations are not using them extensively today. About 2-in-5 of participants

38 l Jan/Feb 2024

How Will AI Impact Your Retail Media Strategies in 2024? 47%

Enhance our targeting and bidding strategies Enable real-time campaign optimization

44%

Provide greater insights and recommendations

42%

Automate or enhance creative efforts

41%

Increase personalization capabilities

36% 32%

Reduce operational costs Accomplish more with a small team and/or less human capital

29%

Optimize the relevance of our retail media efforts

28%

Improve our forecasting capabilities

28%

AI will not impact our retail media strategies in 2024

14%

Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

On average, respondents selected 3 of these areas where they believe AI will impact their retail media strategies in 2024.

Which Solution Categories Are in Your E-Commerce Tech Stack? Business intelligence/Data analytics

58%

Retail media management

57% 49%

Digital shelf analytics

47%

Measurement/reporting/data clean room Inventory & order management

43% 39%

Demand side platforms

27%

Content syndication/PIM/DAM

21%

Sentiment/Reputation

19%

Operational excellence/Demand planning Reseller management/Price monitoring None of the above

16% 7%

Skai + P2PI State of Retail Media Survey (November 2023)

reported they are using data clean rooms in some capacity, but less than 10% said this usage is widespread or integrated. Following up, we asked what difficulties the respondents faced when it came to data clean rooms, and the top challenges included joining data with additional sources (shelf analytics, etc.), not having enough first-party data, costs and lacking internal technical expertise.

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3 Holidays, Dry 2 January & More The 2023 holiday season saw plenty of in-store and online traffic despite still-present economic concerns. That provided brands and retailers a strong opportunity to appeal to consumers. Following the holidays, the marketing opportunity continued with New Year’s resolutions and Dry January, an increasingly popular occasion for consumers to partake in — particularly younger generations. On the following pages, we provide a glimpse at how some retailers and brands activated during this timeframe — online, in stores and beyond. BY JAQU ELI N E BARBA

Target teamed up with British retailer Marks & Spencer to offer a holiday collection for the second year in a row, this time adding wine and refreshed packaging. In Target stores, the M&S London collection items, including boxes of chocolates and tea tins of shortbread cookies, were stocked near the packed food department on an eye-catching aisle display resembling a double-decker bus. 40 l Jan/Feb 2024

Revolution Beauty tied in to the 20th anniversary of Warner Bros.’ “Elf” by launching a cosmetics collection inspired by the Christmas film in November, first exclusively at Walmart. The I Heart Revolution x Elf line Revolution was stocked on a dedicated holidaythemed endcap in stores and promoted via influencer outreach on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

Instacart ran a seven-week integrated and multifaceted campaign across the U.S. and Canada dubbed “Holiday Rescue App.” Multiple CPG brand partners, including McCormick, Kodiak, Diageo and Mars Wrigley, activated within the campaign to inspire shoppers as they prepared for holiday festivities, including New Year’s Eve. For Instacart’s retail

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Albertsons Cos.’ Jewel-Osco used an interior “Give Dry January a Try” ad in its weekly circular to highlight multiple nonalcoholic beverages from Molson Coors, Mark Anthony Brands’ White Claw, Revolution Brewing and Heineken’s Lagunitas, which was particularly elevated with a $5 manufacturer’s rebate that could be claimed after scanning a QR code.

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Hop Wtr, a healthier beverage alternative to booze, ran its second annual Dry January campaign, this time enlisting certified hypnotist Amy Koford to award sober-curious consumers with a 1-on-1 session to be hypnotized into staying dry all month and kickstart a healthier 2024. The campaign also came to life through organic social media promotions and a national social media giveaway, in which the brand partnered with other nonalcoholic beverage brands to award booze-free bar cart essentials to one winner.

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co-marketing efforts, there was “Holiday Rescue App” messaging and creative showcasing the breadth of its retail banner assortment and selection with gifting options across beauty, sports, home improvement, pet care and spirits. Media ran across linear TV, OTT, search, YouTube, paid and organic social, influencer, audio and direct mail.

O R STAT

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8 6

McIlhenny Co.’s Tabasco addressed the Sriracha shortage of 2023 in its holiday efforts with a “12 Days of Sriracha” Instagram sweeps from Dec. 12-24, awarding 12 winners a one-year supply of Sriracha daily. Tabasco commissioned popular content creator Keegan Evans (@keeganevansphoto) to help bring Santa’s struggle to life and showcase how he was coping with the high demand through a comical video shared to both Tabasco and the creator’s massive Instagram following.

Coca-Cola offered +One loyalty members a slew of holiday-themed experiences, including a way to create AI-generated Christmas cards and artwork inspired from nostalgic Coca-Cola images, via its brand website. Additionally, a sweepstakes awarded a grand-prize trip to Santa Claus Village amusement park in Finland. 42 l Jan/Feb 2024

Famous Mineral Water Co.’s Crazy Water ran a cheeky campaign encouraging consumers to kick off the new year, as well as what it’s dubbed “Crazy Dry January,” healthier. The brand deployed massive billboards in Texas as well as a series of videos and social posts with humorous taglines like “Let’s Get Undrunk” and “Get Zero Sheets to the Wind.”

Walmart tapped singer John Legend, influencer Emma Chamberlin and fictional Christmas anti-hero The Grinch to promote their favorite products found at Walmart ahead of the holidays. A slew of promotional materials, such as email blasts, social media posts/videos and a dedicated Walmart. com brand shop supported the campaign and highlighted each person’s festive favs, such as The Grinch’s “awfully good” stocking stuffers.

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This winter, Beautyque NYC, a virtual storefront, began beta testing “Beautyque Verse,” which is said to blend “social connection, AR technology and AI-driven product recommendations ... in a thoughtful and interactive VR shopping realm.” The system is accessible on Oculus devices, through Apple’s app store or on Google Play. Once granted a password, users enter a beta testing portal via www. beautyqueverse.io. The goal is to let users interact and shop with their friends in a shared virtual space. Users can also consult with “Amara,” an AI chatbot that acts as a “BeautyQoach” by offering “gentle guidance.”

In mid-December, IGA launched an enhanced “Family Meals Made Easy” recipe platform (powered by Grocery Shopii) on IGA.com. Enhancements include curated seasonal recipes featuring key brands and recipe influencers, nutritional and serving-size information, and a shopping-list function for use in-store. Shoppers will, twice a month, receive a Recipe Club newsletter with links to the IGA “National Digital Ad” that has offers tied to featured recipes; in-store recipe displays feature matching signage, recipe cards and QR codes.

Hershey Co. used proprietary augmented-reality and imagerecognition technologies in its November launch of Reese’s Caramel Big Cup. Using augmented reality, Hershey’s retail-territory sales leads conducted walk-throughs with store managers and generated images on tablets of what merchandising displays could look like in any part of the store. Image-recognition technology identified specific displays and in-store locations and enabled the tracking of sales in real time. This tech-driven effort also provides forward-looking data to help Hershey understand how future placements could affect sales and in-store experiences.

In mid-December, Adidas announced that its three-stripes brand would be available through pop-up stores on Roblox, the global gaming platform that claims a user base of 214 million players per month. The pop-up stores are carrying digital wearables and accessories that let gamers dress their avatars. Prices for some of the digital packs range from 85 Robux to 500 Robux (roughly $1 to $5). The idea seems to be that stocking usergenerated content (UGC) inspired by Adidas’ physical collections could spur IRL (in real life) purchasing. P2PI.com

Solutions & Innovations

Yaysay is a feed-based, discovery-driven shopping app that launched in mid-December out of beta mode. Helmed by executives previously at Casper, Gilt Groupe and Stitch Fix, Yaysay is said to use AI technology that delivers a personalized, “relevant-for-you” feed of fashion items daily. The AI curates a short list of items for each user designed to provide “a 5-minute dopamine fix,” according to Wilmington, Delawarebased Yaysay, which is owned by Treasure Hunt Labs, Greenwich, Connecticut.

In mid-December, Atlanta-based Relex Solutions introduced AI-driven, price-optimization capabilities that the company says informs and empowers retailers when setting pricing rules and strategies. These include “Flexible Rule Setting,” which customizes pricing strategies to maintain margins or drive traffic; “Optimized Price Recommendations” that leverage predictive analytics; and “Scenario Testing,” which gauges the impact of price changes on sales, margins and competitive positioning. Relex Solutions works with retailers including The Home Depot, AutoZone, PetSmart, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar.

In mid-December, New York-based MikMak partnered with Circana on a solution to help brands measure the impact of digital marketing and prevent cart abandonment. Called the “Digitally Influenced Offline Sales Lift Report,” it enables brands to better understand how their digital marketing affects offline sales, by channel, campaign and more along with demographic insights into who is most likely to make in-store purchases after interacting with digital marketing. Circana provides cross-industry data to nearly 7,000 brands and retailers.

In December, Mastercard, through its personalization platform Dynamic Yield, announced “Shopping Muse,” a generative AI tool that helps shoppers search for products in a retailer’s digital catalog. Shopping Muse is said to recreate an in-store, human experience by translating consumers’ colloquial language into tailored product recommendations, complete with suggestions for coordinating products and accessories. It can respond to unconventional search terms like “cottagecore” or “beach formal” and build on a conversation’s context over time to handle even eccentric queries.

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In mid-December, Dallas-based LTK introduced “Match. AI,” a system that can identify influencers who’ve proven to be the most effective advocates for specific brands. The system uses an algorithm that searches LTK’s dataset of influencers, brand and shopper data — 100 million data points representing billions in sales, according to the company. The tool looks at the products and categories that influencers are posting about, determines who is most effective based on metrics like engagement, impressions and sales, and then recommends influencer/brand collaborations.

In mid-December, Cupertino, California-based Displace, a maker of wireless TVs, announced that “Displace Shopping” will launch in early 2024. Viewers using Displace Shopping can initiate real-time purchases of products and services featured in commercials, TV shows and movies using a proprietary gesture technology. The TV pauses to let AI analyze the screen for images of for-sale products that the viewer can than drag-and-drop to initiate purchase via a built-in NFC payment reader. If a specific product isn’t available, Displace will search for similar items.

Tipping delivery drivers may not tip things in your favor, but it can’t hurt. Amazon’s “Alexa, Thank My Driver” feature lets U.S. customers directly thank U.S. delivery services, including Delivery Service Partner associates, Amazon Flex delivery partners and Hub Delivery associates. Shoppers can thank them year-round via Alexa-enabled devices, the Alexa app or Amazon.com. For a few weeks around the holidays the driver also receives a $5 tip from Amazon (at no cost to consumers).

AIWizards has launched “AI Sommelier” to give retailers and hoteliers AIdriven suggestions based on food pairings, event specifics and inventory management. It claims its “Human X Interface” makes “chatbot interactions pale in comparison.” Helsinki-based sommifyAI’s interactive sommelier for retailers features a popup chat box that can be embedded into any website or app. Big Hammer Wines, an online retailer in Poway, California, launched the “BHW Digital AI Sommelier” for consumers. It sorts through thousands of selections with advice for food pairing, gift-giving occasions or even just to “cellar and age.”

In late November, White Plains, New York-based Ritani launched “Virtual Gemologist,” an interactive experience that mimics an in-store consultation. The website service enables a certified Ritani gemologist to show customers specific areas of diamonds for real-time discussions of imperfections, unique refractions or other distinguishing characteristics. Customers themselves can rotate and zoom in on each diamond, allowing them to scrutinize facets and angles. P2PI.com

Insider Intel

Johnsonville Celebrates Bratsgiving at Cub THIS YEAR’S PROGRAM INCLUDED A SWEEPSTAKES AND IN-STORE, LIFE-SIZE ‘CARL THE GREAT BRATSGIVER’ CUTOUT. BY SAMANTHA N EL SON

Johnsonville ran a “Bratsgiving” sweepstakes at United Natural Foods’ Cub as part of the sausage brand’s annual summer campaign. Shoppers could enter the sweepstakes from July 30 through Aug. 28 by posing in stores with a cutout of the made-up holiday’s mascot, “Carl the Great Bratsgiver,” and sharing it on Facebook. The winner received a tailgate package that included coupons for 12 packages of brats, a cornhole game and a fi repit. The chain ran a similar sweepstakes in 2018. “Cub specifically loves having the in-store engagement, so they really go big with the instore activation highlighted with the life-size Carl cutouts for shoppers to snap a selfie with for a chance to win brat-themed prizes,” says Val Brasseur, Johnsonville national account manager. “Every year we have consumers reaching out to Johnsonville asking how they can get their own life-size cutouts. One year we ended up sending a couple to a nursing home for a celebration at their request.” The cutouts appeared along with stanchion and header signs with QR codes linking to a promotional page within Cub.com. Johnsonville products were stocked in refrigerated endcaps and cooler displays alongside other products for backyard barbecues from brands such as Kraft Heinz Co.’s Heinz, King Arthur Baking’s Artisan Hearth and Clorox Co.’s Kingsford. Cub used Facebook and Instagram posts to introduce the sweepstakes and promote a smoked sausage piggy sliders meal for four as part of the chain’s ongoing “Doable Dinner” platform. The recipe incorporates Johnsonville sausage along with SKUs from King’s Hawaiian, McIlhenny Co.’s Tabasco, Knouse Foods’ Musselman’s and Post Holdings’ Crystal Farms. Bratsgiving has run every year since 2014, targeting consumers who would normally only purchase and eat brats for Memorial Day and 46 l Jan/Feb 2024

In 2020 the campaign drove a sales lift of

“This program started as social media engagement only. We saw the consumer engagement was very high, so the expansion began at the retailer level and has seen continued growth.” — Val Brasseur, Johnsonville

Fourth of July celebrations. “This program started as social media engagement only,” Brasseur says. “We saw the consumer engagement was very high, so the expansion began at the retailer level and has seen continued growth. Retailers love the Bratsgiving program. This window in August provides them ‘retailtainment’ in the store to engage the shoppers. It’s after the major summer holidays but before school starts.” This year’s national campaign centered on a sweepstakes run in partnership with the W. C. Bradley Co. and Sprecher Brewery from Aug. 9-16. Consumers entered through a promotional website and could earn additional entries by engaging with the brands on Facebook or Instagram. Two winners received prize packages including brats, soda and grilling equipment from W.C. Bradley’s Tiki or Char-Broil. Johnsonville supported the campaign with in-store signage, email blasts and digital activations.

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