• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 17, 2023

At a time when planners and buyers are beginning to factor the carbon impact of media, retail giant Kroger is introducing what it claims is the first carbon emission metric for the burgeoning retail media marketplace.

The new metric, which was developed for Kroger's Precisions Marketing (KPM) unit by Scope3, initially measures the carbon output of the digital retail media supply chain for its on-site buys, but Kroger and Scope3 are working on an additional method for calculating the carbon associated with off-site media campaigns. You know, social and programmatic media buys.

“Media companies need to take action,” said Cara Pratt, senior vice president of Kroger Precision Marketing.

“The digital economy is energy-intensive, but we can reduce the impact today by eliminating wasted ad impressions," Pratt explains, adding: "This commitment paves the way for retail media to make publishers and ad tech more energy-efficient through precision audiences.”

One of the obvious ways media carbon calculators benefit advertisers and agencies is by associating carbon output with campaign performance, because poorly targeted ads aren't just wasteful for brands, but they're also generating C02.

As part of their announcement, KPM and Scope3 note the new retail media metrics come at a time when advertisers, planners and buyers are trying to come to grips with digital data signal losses due to the deprecation of cookies and digital IDs, which in theory also means they may become increasingly inefficient in terms of targeting consumers.

“Running tens-of-millions of digital ad impressions only to reach thousands of relevant consumers is not sustainable for business or the environment,” explains Scope3 Chief Commercial Officer Brenda Tuohig. “Kroger Precision Marketing uses in-store purchase signals to cut advertising waste, while Scope3 does this by helping advertisers identify and avoid high emissions inventory. Combining the two will improve marketer outcomes while reinforcing that what’s good for business is also good for the planet.” 

The new measurement deal with Scope3 follows Kroger becoming the first retail media network to join Ad Net Zero's overall ad industry effort to reduce the carbon associated with media buys.