Brian Monahan exits Albertsons Media Collective amid leadership shake-up

Business partners were informed Friday of the move. It was also confirmed by a company spokesperson and two agency executives today. Albertsons did not say if Monahan’s position as senior vp of Albertsons Media Collective would be filled in the future. It’s also unclear why Monahan’s position is being folded. 

“Brian played a key role in building Albertsons Media Collective into an important and growing part of our business. We thank him for his leadership and contributions and wish him continued success,” said a company spokesperson.

In the release on Friday last week, Larson reassured business partners around the leadership changes and decision to bring media and marketing capabilities within the same organization as merchandising. 

Monahan spent just over a year at the company. According to his LinkedIn account, Monahan joined Albertsons from Dentsu, where he served as head of retail media solutions. Monahan also did a stint at Pinterest, leading the platform’s retail vertical strategy.

Under Monahan’s leadership, Albertsons launched its Retail Media Incrementality-Based Multi-Touch Attribution measurement solution, and a scripted branded entertainment offering. His time at Albertsons was marked as a “pivotal moment” in the company’s ambition to accelerate the growth of its retail media business.

For one agency exec who spoke to Digiday on the condition of anonymity, the leadership changes are not expected to impact client ad spend. It is, however, perhaps a larger indicator of the crossroads long tail RMNs find themselves.

“Our sense is that the RMN side hasn’t grown at the pace they had hoped,” said another executive who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity. “Brian was brought in to help build that part of the business, but based on what we’ve seen from the outside, it doesn’t appear to have reached the scale they were aiming for.”

Albertsons’ retail media business is a bright spot in its otherwise gloomy financial outlook, based on its most recent earnings. While its digital sales increased by 13%, its identical sales decreased by 0.8%. (Identical sales, or same-store sales, measure the change in revenue from existing retail locations over a specific period.) The grocery chain does not explicitly break out separate income or specific dollar earnings for Albertsons Media Collective. 

Monahan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.