We chat with Paula Alves, Head of Ad Operations - Retail Media, about the retail media innovation 

5 min read

As the Head of Ad Operations - Retail Media in charge of the Trading Desk at relevanC, could you describe your team's role and the value it offers?

The trading desk team at relevanC is in charge of operating advertising campaigns for Infinity Advertising, the Joint Venture between Intermarché and the Casino group.

We support our clients’ marketing objectives by buying digital advertising inventory on their behalf. We combine media expertise, advanced algorithms, and technology platforms to buy the most high-performing inventories possible in real time.  By optimising bidding strategies, adjusting targeting parameters, and testing different creative elements and audiences, we allocate budget to high-performing channels and placements to ensure our clients' campaigns are delivering the best possible outcomes. And as the owner of a vast first-party data resource, we have deep insights into our audiences that allow us to match the right ad to the right customer, ensuring satisfaction and loyalty.

Could you elaborate on the evolution of online retail media, particularly within the grocery retail sector?

The evolution of online retail media within the grocery sector has been driven by the convergence of e-commerce, data-driven targeting, technological advancements, and the growing importance of delivering personalised shopping experiences. As online grocery shopping continues to grow, we can expect further innovation and expansion in retail media, offering new opportunities for both retailers and advertisers alike.
Many retailers have formed strategic partnerships or acquired advertising technology companies to enhance their capabilities in the online retail media space. These partnerships allow retailers to offer innovative advertising solutions and better compete with digital advertising giants like Google and Facebook.

How does retail media stand apart from other marketing strategies?

Retail media offers advertisers a unique opportunity to reach highly targeted audiences with relevant messages in a brand-safe environment while also providing valuable insights and metrics to measure the impact of their campaigns.
Retail media allows advertisers to target consumers based on their shopping behaviours and preferences. Advertisers can tailor their messages more effectively to reach relevant audiences, which means that the audience is more likely to have a high purchase intent. This makes retail media an attractive option for advertisers looking to drive conversions.
With retail media, advertisers and agencies can more easily track the impact of their advertising efforts on sales within a single platform. This enables more accurate attribution and allows advertisers to optimize their campaigns based on performance data and in real-time.

Could you provide specific examples of the types of campaigns your team executes for clients?

We offer our retail media expertise to our clients through 2 different types of campaigns:
Onsite campaigns: We monetise the inventory of retailers' websites, launching targeted campaigns and measuring the sales impact post-campaign.

Offsite campaigns: We activate first-party data on external inventories through various DSPs and social media platforms, such as META, Snapchat, and TikTok. We then measure the impact on sales activity post-campaign.
 

You mentioned segmentation. Could you explain its importance and how it's achieved? 

Data segmentation is crucial in marketing and advertising because it involves dividing a broad target audience into smaller, more homogenous clusters based on specific characteristics or behaviours. This process allows marketers to tailor their messaging, offers, and strategies to better meet the needs and preferences of each segment.
The value my team brings to our clients is underpinned by the granular data segmentation that we can apply to offsite campaigns. Our data segmentation expertise allows us to respond to our clients’ objectives and chosen KPIs.  

Would you say retail media remains an evolving field? If so, what future developments can we expect to see?

Yes. It hasn’t stopped. We are seeing continuous innovation driven by the convergence of technology, and data, and fuelled consumer expectations. We can expect to see advertising experiences designed to seamlessly integrate with the shopping journey to capture consumer attention in new ways. This includes the emergence of new ad formats and technologies such as interactive ads, ads delivered via connected TV,  shoppable video content and voice-activated advertising.

The second area where we will continue to see change is the market’s push towards standardisation in reporting. Conversions and incremental revenue remain the most important KPIs to track. But at the moment it’s tough for advertisers to compare like for like between different agencies. That’s because there are some unsolved measurement challenges that remain. For instance, while measuring incremental revenue has already proven its efficiency with offsite campaigns, it is still complicated to do for on-site campaigns where understanding which shoppers are exposed vs. unexposed is a significant challenge. Going forward, we will need to ensure that we can construct twin groups with sufficiently robust samples to guarantee the reliability of the measurement. How we measure campaign performance in retail media is a hot topic right now, and I expect to see some further standardisation industry-wide in 2024. 

In what ways is relevanC driving innovation in retail media?

At relevanC, our innovative approach to retail media leans heavily on the breadth and quality of the first-party data we collect. We focus on data-driven targeting, omnichannel integration, creative ad formats, collaborative partnerships, measurement and analytics while maintaining a firm commitment to privacy and compliance.

A recent exciting development is how we are using CSR data to support brands in their efforts to become more eco-responsible. In partnership with Microsoft, we conducted a study with the aim of understanding the environmental impact of the different campaign types we run for our customers. This has allowed us to reduce energy consumption by using eco-optimised devices, formats and inventories as well as offer our clients more eco-friendly advertising options.