BrainTrust Query: What will the respective roles of marketers, agencies and merchandisers be in the new in-store media movement?

By Laura Davis-Taylor, Founder and Principal, Retail Media Consulting

Last week, we discussed the concept of creating a store GRP for valuating in-store retail media. Many comments were submitted, the common theme being that, although the concept makes solid sense, multiple challenges exist that must be resolved.

Most of the issues were rooted in the concept of the store as a media channel. Unlike other "burgeoning media" such as the internet, the store is an established channel where merchants control the turf. Most often, their teams strategize, activate and measure in-store promotions directly with brands. They rarely involve marketing teams and tend to keep results close to the vest. They also carefully screen promotional ideas to avoid "store clutter" issues, particularly now that store real estate has become more competitive to secure.

As marketing and agency camps are focused on creating brands and executing them at all touchpoints, it's obvious that they have a role in the "last mile" of the brand experiences that they seek to create. However, complexities arise when they cross the line into the store, as they are unfamiliar with the challenges involved in retail store terrain. They are also not merchandising savvy and more focused on capturing awareness and impressions than generating sales.

At the heart of the debate is change. Agencies are changing their perspective on how to reach consumers. Retail marketing teams are changing their view on how to capitalize on consumer touchpoints in-store, clearly driven by a new emphasis on customer centricity. And everyone realizes that we need to link all efforts and budgets together.

Discussion Questions: If we are to find a way to firmly establish the Retail Media channel, where does merchandising expertise and marketing/advertising expertise come together? What will be our greatest challenges? How can marketing and advertising teams be more involved with the merchants in planning, negotiating and executing brand messages between the retailer and CPG?

As a retail media consultant, I confront these issues daily. In my mind, these "retail touches" do belong as an integrated piece of a yearly marketing plan. However, I also understand that merchandising and store strategy are very different than traditional marketing. Having come from the advertising world, I've seen that it's a stunning learning curve that must be respected.

Retail media is more than advertising. It's connecting the dots to all external efforts and should be focused on increasing sales and enhancing the store brand.

Spencer Knisely, Sr. Manager of Design Integration at Best Buy, recently supported this perspective at the At-Retail Media conference in New York. When presenting their digital signage efforts, he suggested that teams "make sure that the store digital media experience is supporting other media and merchandising efforts across ALL channels. TV, newspaper, the store curb, your employees...all of it."

And, you can't overlook the actual challenge of capturing consumer attention in-store. A study done with RMS Services in the UK showed that digital screens in Tesco stores were viewed for an average of only 3 seconds. This implies that we must know how to quickly communicate the most attractive feature/benefits of a product in very compelling manner - something merchants and store experts know well.