Life in Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home
00:04:03 · Jon Mundy
[00:04:03] S1: I think there's a lot of challenges. I think that we come from a programmatic background and and, you know, in programmatic, it's all too easy to look at retail media as something that is to do with online and ecommerce and that sort of thing. And actually, 84% of all transactions are not done online. They're done in stores. And so retail media is not not an online phenomenon. It's... It is it is a it is a bricks and mortar phenomenon phenomenon. And I think that I had a chat... Well, I don't think... I had a chat with Pete Woodvine, who's sort of retail media guru in in the JCDecaux just now, actually. And he's he's been really, really closely involved in developing our partnerships with with retailers such as Tesco and Waitrose and and how we work with the malls and how we develop our retail media offering. And I said, you know, what's what's the definition? He was like, yeah, it's easy to define. It says there's a definition here. And retail media essentially in his book is is when media and buying media is influenced by data that comes from the retailers. So if online, obviously that's very straightforward. But but if you look at the retail media that's bought in store and traditionally it's in store when it was, you know, shelf ends and that sort of thing that was based on knowledge from the retailers on where that media made sense. The thing that is changing now with the advance of programmatic digital out of home and programmatic generally is that that data is reaching beyond the store and the media owners, the stores are becoming media owners in their own rights. And so retail media essentially is anything where the data from the retailer influences the buying of the media.
00:05:45 · Dan Larden
[00:05:45] S2: I think that's a nice definition actually, because one definition that I've heard very recently on a podcast was any media which is owned and operated by a retailer. So any, actually, mean, you already referenced it because I think data is a great way of doing it because you've got the owned and operated media, and then you've got the data for targeting. And I think more importantly, now you've got the data for measurement. And I think that measurement of the data is the thing that's really driving retail media in itself, because for the first time an FMCG has a closed loop attribution. So it's being able to say, I showed this many ads and actually I shifted this many toothbrushes, this much purse or... And it's a quicker way around. But I think some people are kind of fascinated by the idea of retail media being owned and operated, but actually a slice of the pie now is coming on the off-site, run through DSPs. But also, it's even retailers or retail Tesco's and Dunhumby and Nectar, they're actually now running search campaigns on behalf of brands because they can measure that search media better than their agency can or better than they can themselves because they have that data. So, yeah. Now, let's go with your diff... That's a nice definition. I'll go with that.
00:07:04 · Jon Mundy
[00:07:04] S1: But I think the other thing that's really interesting here is if look beyond like all these things, you look to The US where where these things have been evolving in their own way for many years, and you see the rise of things like grocery TV and media owners that are in store. They're not the store owners. They're media owners that are in store, and they operate in store as networks essentially. And those guys are fascinating, and that... That's been a a really big evolution. Eventually, they are they are digital out of home networks. They're available through programmatic out of home channels and through the conventional DSPs. But they sit in this sort of hinterland between being a retailer and being a media owner. They're not the retailer. They are media owner, but they are in the retailers, you know, Space. Space. And to a certain degree, we are at Decaux. You know, we are at Tesco. We we have d six units, about 500 or so of them at major Tesco branches all around the country. And those are very closely... We work very closely with Tesco on that. In fact, we use Dunhumby data, to optimize campaigns accordingly. And Dunhumby and Tesco media also sell against those units alongside their in store placements. So you're right. The the things are merging between the retailer and other media owners. And, you know, what's to say that the the the the the JCDecaux d six on the high street right outside a bunch of boots isn't performing as retail media. Of course it is. If you ask, you know, one of the reasons Boots is our biggest programmatic media buyer this year on the retail sector is because it works for them, because they can use our sites right by their stores to drive footfall and drive traffic improve the value. So it's incredibly powerful. So out of home is retail media. Retail media is out of home. They both they work together.
00:08:59 · Dan Larden
[00:08:59] S2: I think from the brand side, it's very interesting now as well to understand where the budgets are coming from. And it's probably similar on your side, imagine being on the sell side or working with the suppliers directly, what their ambition is or why they're building these networks and these screens. Retail media has been classified as a new way that brands can take more control of just media in general. So the most advanced brands in this space are the Unilevers of the world and the P and Gs of the And I think they are on very specific programmes over the last three years to say, Let's forget about hiring an expert in channel, hire an expert in channel, hire an expert in channel, and then come up to a marketing director. They are now saying, maybe retail media is everything. And all actually we're talking about there is messaging the consumer. And so actually forget channel, forget data, forget where it's placed, forget how it's measured, forget how you define it, as we like to do all the time in our industry, is define a new channel and a new thing. It's actually just about consistent messaging. And those guys have been on a massive journey already to try and bring shopper, e com, trade, and media buyers all previously have never spoken to each other. They were all completely separate. Bringing those teams together under one budget, I think one of those things where is retail media driving in housing or this restructuring? Or is the in housing driving retail media? If you know what I mean, which one's driving which? Because I think it's just become almost like maybe digital should have done in the past. The opportunity just to sort of merge a whole lot of separate siloed things inside a brand and actually come up with, like, one single marketing consumer strategy?
00:11:14 · Jon Mundy, Dan Larden
[00:11:14] S1: Yeah. I think you're onto something there. I mean, I think that it's it's it's... One of the things that was always... I mean, it's not entirely surprising, but it's it's... It it... When you think about it, but it's always slightly shocked me is the lack of data that some FMCG brands have because they don't see the actual, you know, the data coming from retailers in the same way that the retailers have. So, you know, they have to then pay Dunhumby and Hector and others for that data. And fair enough, that's their business model. But they, you know, they are, you know, they're often, you know, their marketing strategy has been based on on on a relatively blind amount of data. This is fairly long term, whereas they they hit their retail team who are working directly with retailers. Retailers say, you know, this store does this. This store does this. They they know the story. And I think that that that's shifting now, and that's the story that's changing. And if you take I know I'm I'm gonna go back because I always talk about them because, you know, I like cheese. But Arla, who've who've who've [00:12:14] S2: Did the last podcast.
00:12:15 · Jon Mundy
[00:12:15] S1: Oh, yeah. We call them Arla a bit before. But I love Arla, you know, Crazy Danes with that with that with that with that milk and cheese. But no. What was really interesting about them is is, you know, they've built their in housing, their their their their media buying and then housing their their out of home and their in housing, anything programmatic and their creative. And they're actually starting to almost act as as as an agency for for other food brands as well. But what was really interesting was was the crossover between the data that they're taking in that themselves and actually starting to work more closely with with Excel data sources and being able to do it and and seeing them activate with a retail media focus rather than just an out of home focus. And it's... You know, and and and that's... I mean, they're they're they're a small example, but there are better examples in in the likes of Unilever and P and G who are doing that. And it's it's a significant shift away from the old buying model. And it's essentially those two those two verticals of of the marketing team and the retail team becoming one. And then obviously, you've also got the retail team of the the the the supermarkets who, you know, are also big advertisers, but they're also massive media owners, and they're becoming one and they're beginning to act as as agencies on behalf of their clients. So P and G will be spending money with Tesco for reinstall retail media, but Tesco could equally put that into a Tesco campaign that goes on out of home and beyond for that particular brand. We do some work with John Lewis, for example, when John Lewis John Lewis do exactly that. So John Lewis buy media from us, but they do it on behalf of their behalf of their brands. They might be running a campaign for Samsung and John Lewis. Yes. And I think that's a really interesting evolution of retailers acting almost as agencies on behalf of the products they sell.