Snap survey: How brands’ retail media strategies are maturing

That was the overarching theme at Digiday Media’s Retail Media Strategies event held in New York City last month. There, leaders from brands like Bayer, Mondelez and Clinique spoke about how they approach different retail media channels.

Clinique, for example, is a top-selling brand at Ulta, which means the company invests heavily in its retail media advertising offerings — all while expanding into new channels like Amazon. Being the top performer at the beauty retailer “comes with a lot of work across account management and marketing,” Maiah Martin, executive director of consumer engagement at Clinique, said.

It’s a sentiment felt by many of the attendees, as well. During the one-day event, Digiday Media held a snap survey to understand participants’ current views and pain points with retail media. Many were juggling multiple channels. In fact, 35% said they were investing in five or more retail media networks.

Beyond investing in more channels, speakers and attendees spent the day talking about ways to get more bang for their buck from retail media campaigns. Mike Sallette, vice president of media at Danone, for example, spoke at length about the best practices for leveraging retail media offsite channels while also making sure they work in concert with other brand campaigns.

In the onsite survey, attendees were clearly interested in understanding the ways retail media campaigns can work beyond lower-funnel conversation. For example, 22% said they saw retail media as a great way to help facilitate new customer acquisition. Similarly, 18% said they used retail media to help with engagement.

While the survey’s findings aren’t earth-shattering, they paint a picture of the ways retail media networks are maturing and becoming more useful to marketers.

Still, as one speaker put it, it’s best for brands to be strategic with the channels they choose. According to Pattern Brands’ co-founder and chief business officer, Sue Dowling, “You don’t need to be everywhere all at once.”