Home Depot exec: Retail media is a collab between brand and retailer

Why the ‘proof is in the purchase’ for real-time retail data We're taking a short break. Retail Media Weekly will be back January 8. Happy holidays! DECEMBER 18, 2023 [Retail media is a collaboration between brand and retailer, Home Depot exec says]( Before retail media, brands would pay retailers to market their products, but weren’t necessarily involved in how they were promoted. “Now, it’s more of a conversation,” said Melanie Babcock, vice president of Retail Media+ and monetization at The Home Depot. Retail Media+ is The Home Depot’s [retail media network](. Here’s how The Home Depot works with its clients to maximize their retail media investments. Thinking holistically: The Home Depot launched its retail media network in 2019, offering on-site and off-site ad placements, which helped it to develop a [full-funnel approach]( right away. - “We look at our clients and try to figure out how to connect their brand and retail media strategies without cannibalizing them,” said Babcock. “Having off-site properties helps us with that.” - By having the building blocks of retail media down, The Home Depot can take more time to think creatively about addressing client pain points. - “We’ll always be refining our building blocks, but since we've been around for a little bit longer, we can step back and think about how we will uniquely address concerns,” Babcock said. Story continues below. A supporting role: It’s not just offering different ad units, said Babcock. “It’s about stepping back and figuring out how to build a business relationship together that really improves the brands’ business at the retailer.” - This can be done by creating more [standardization]( around campaign performance or measuring incremental sales, said Babcock. - Or it could be by helping to coordinate retail media buys with brand and performance buys so they’re not competing with each other. - “What we need to do as a retail media network is make brands' lives easier so that they know their investment in a retail media network like The Home Depot is worth their while,” Babcock said. Better together: The Home Depot differentiates itself from other retail media networks by understanding what level of service clients need and then delivering it, Babcock said, noting that a majority of its clients are independent, smaller companies that may not have a designated marketer who is familiar with media buys. “Can we provide some level of media guidance and recommendations to those who are new to our platform or new to media buying?” Babcock said. “Or maybe they don’t know how to set up their campaign, or they’re not sure what their KPI should be. That’s where we lean into the managed service model.” [Read online]( [Why the ‘proof is in the purchase’ for real-time retail data]( Retail media needs real-time data, according to Damian Garbaccio, chief business and marketing officer at Affinity Solutions, speaking on an episode of our “[Behind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail](” podcast. Key takeaway: “Fast, accurate data helps retailers. It [helps] with insights, it allows them to pivot swiftly with precision and confidence, and sort of puts in the backseat the ‘set it and forget it’ approach to how we did things in the past,” said Garbaccio. “Modern marketing demands that tools be real-time, [and] that purchase [data] be timely because it will inform a variety of other things down the road.” What does that mean for advertisers? Ad professionals need to take an active role in retail media campaigns to make sure they’re making the most of the information available to them. It’s not enough to get accurate information—advertisers need to make sure they’re applying it in a way that drives the next conversion, which means either teaming up with retail media networks or working with third parties to optimize that data. [Learn more]( Email sent to: {EMAIL} If you cannot view the HTML newsletter, [please read it in your browser here](. [Become a Premium Subscriber]( | [Advertise with us]( [Manage your email preferences]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [Terms of Use]( | [Privacy Policy]( ©2023 Insider Intelligence, One Liberty Plaza 9th Floor, New York, NY 10006 [LiveIntent Logo]( [AdChoices Logo](