BrainTrust Query: Who and what will it take to capitalize on the capabilities that new in-store media technologies promise?
Digital signage opened the door to the notion of targeting, dayparting and, to a certain degree, measuring the impact of in-store messages. With its flexible capabilities for addressability, the industry has come to understand the potential of communicating with shoppers in a more powerful, relevant way and the concept of Retail Media is gaining hold.
But what exactly is it going to take to realize the full potential of in-store Retail Media and how does it differ from traditional store POP?
In a recent roundtable discussion conducted by The Hub magazine, Lisa Bradner of Forrester made the following observation: "In-store media has potential for much more measurable impact. If you can really get it to a point where you can measure it and understand how those messages are driving the sale at that moment, that is the Holy Grail."
She also notes that the creative development for in-store media needs to involve visual merchandising, promotional and packaging people versus traditional agency people, who don't necessarily understand how to message in-store.
Also present at the roundtable, Bob Thacker, SVP of Marketing at OfficeMax, pointed out the potential of leveraging an intersection of technology, media and loyalty card data in the same piece. "If you could integrate the loyalty cards into the shopping trip, it would increase the relevancy of the messaging and tie loyalty back to the store...thus enabling shoppers to 'hijack' the store and truly make it theirs through a personalized shopping experience."
The common thread here is technology. If Retail Media is digitally-oriented, be it digital signage or one of the many exciting new technologies hitting the toolbox, they can indeed enable personalized, hard hitting messages. Though not widely utilized in this manner yet, it's been done online for years and the leap should not be great.
The systems infrastructure companies understand this, as they continue efforts to "snap together" all digital media within stores and build a common database for real-time measurement and operational impact. Their view is that the platform would not only know what is happening at the store, but would also be able to dynamically generate content relevant to the specific person -- and the technology device. It would also be linked in with other CRM data as well as inventory levels to provide a holistic view of field activities.
Discussion Questions: Does digitally-based Retail Media require a unique team - and skills - to best support it? Which ones? And what needs to happen to best capitalize on them?
Bob Thacker's vision of intersecting technology, media and loyalty data as the ultimate goal for Retail Media is gaining popularity. But this will require a set of skills coming together to address the unique challenges of each retailer and/or manufacturer. As Ms. Bradner notes, seasoned store people will need to be involved from a content perspective. But it will also require the sharpest skills of direct marketing, internet media and technology to create best practices for the unique environment of the store.
We have had quite a bit of conversation in the past about the challenges and opportunities of various in-store media -- many feeling that the future visions in The Hub article are far off. My experience has been that a small set of retailers and CPG companies are indeed embracing the potential of media technologies to radically evolve how we communicate to shoppers. My hope is that we will look at the end goal first and form cross-functional teams to make the vision real.