• by Alex Vinci , Op-Ed Contributor, August 30, 2023

When headlines include figures in the ‘billions,’ you know the paradigm has shifted.  Retail media, considered to be the third-wave of advertising, is poised to overtake linear TV in spend by 2025, per eMarketer– which is not that far away.  Driven by the pandemic’s influence on consumer behavior shifting more conversions online and an imminent cookieless future, retail media has been propelled into not only the marketing vernacular, but the core channel mix.  Gone are the days of it being an ‘emerging channel’ as it is no longer limited to the end of the funnel.  Retail media IS media, and this area of ‘expertise’ has been democratized as it touches more and more channels, and more budget is flowing there.  Additionally, I think commerce will be part of the entry level curriculum just like search, social, and programmatic has been integrated, as commerce touches all of these channels. 

So how should agencies and marketers be thinking about this shift?

Modern Marketers Plan Full Funnel

If your role touches media, the expectation is that ‘full funnel strategies’ are part of your planning process, and your teams are not siloed between brand and demand.  As a practitioner and team leader, I’ve seen the landscape change and evolve with more players in the space and retailer offerings spanning more channels.  Marketers too are merging the media teams within the brand building and commercial divisions or at least connecting more frequently to discuss budget allocations, best practices, creative assets, and results.  This practice is being mirrored on the agency side as well to open up the lines of communication.  An easy first step to bring the brand and demand side together is developing ‘full funnel’ briefs which in turn requires not only the brand to connect with their commerce counterparts, but also the agency responding.   The collapse of the funnel ensures that commerce has a permanent seat at the table and is part of the conversation much further upstream.   As an industry, it behooves us to come together and align on some retail media standards.

Retail Media = Retailer Digital Sophistication

It bears repeating that Retail Media IS media. Legacy agency models often keep retail media in a silo, as a separate function/discipline, which goes against an integrated approach.  It's now more important than ever to integrate retail media thinking upstream in the planning process.   Especially given the forecast that next year, almost 20% of digital ad spend will go toward retail media.   Retail media is just a proxy for retailers becoming more digitally sophisticated.  As such, it represents a much bigger opportunity to deliver personalization at scale – which is a very familiar proposition.  Post deprecation of third-party cookies, it is important to anchor campaigns with the right data to be successful.  Retail media data, specifically 1P and 2P data, will become key to all audience planning (another core planning principle), irrespective of the call to action, and this data will be used to reach relevant audiences in broadcast channels as well.  

As the Landscape Evolves, Plan Future Roadmaps Collaboratively

As the digital maturity of retailers accelerates, it is paramount for anyone overseeing media activation, to be engaging in conversations about the platforms and capabilities (media and beyond) with retailers– where they’re at in their roadmap AND what we as agency partners and marketers can do to accelerate that agenda (much like it’s been done with non-retail media partners).  In commerce, it’s planning season year-round, so ongoing, active engagement with the marketplace is critical to ensuring long-term success especially as the landscape continues to evolve. 

Our industry is fortunate to have working groups like the IAB who are making a concerted effort to break down the perceived complexity in the space and produce work that defines clear standards and guidelines.  Their recently released Retail Media Buyer's Guide is a great resource that not only outlines the planning and buying processes involved in retail media, but also provides insight into best practices for bringing retail media further upstream into your planning.

Overall, agencies and marketers who are able to de-silo and integrate their media and brand teams, bring retail thinking further upstream into the planning process, and work collaboratively with retail partners to roadmap for the future will be successful. Like search, social and programmatic before it, retail media IS media and needs to be part of the holistic planning process.