Join us at the Digiday Publishing Summit from March 24-26 in Vail
Walmart, Albertsons execs discuss the promise of AI and opportunity for marketers to more fully embrace retail media at Possible
Retail media networks and the powerhouse retailers behind them took the mic at the inaugural Possible conference and expo in Miami yesterday, extolling the value of RMNs. Notably, Kristi Argyilan, senior vp of retail media at Albertsons Media Collective and William White, CMO of Walmart, talked of the imapct of artificial intelligence — a strong theme throughout the conference — on RMNs, while offering guidance on how to convince skeptical marketers to get in on the action.
But RMN-related news broke beyond the walls of the Fontainebleau Hotel where the conference was being held. Disney today announced a deal with Kroger (with which Albertsons is hoping to merge next year) to bring that retailer’s shopper and purchase data insights to Disney streaming beginning with Hulu. The companies quietly launched a beta program to activate purchase insights in streaming, working with PepsiCo., which alpha tested the program.
Argyilan discussed the role AI can play in helping RMNs more effectively work. “Think of a lot of the tasks that humans still have to touch — simple things like optimizing campaigns — and how AI can accelerate that and get us to a place to do more optimizations in any given campaign,” Argyilan said.
White said his main message to marketers skeptical of RMNs is that “if your marketing remit is to drive growth for your business, then you’re probably going to want to play in the retail media space. The way that we’re able to reach customers who are in the moment of buying really helps drive brands forward. I’m not really sure what there is to be skeptical about.”
More in Media
The Trump tariffs are forcing creators to overhaul their side businesses
The Donald Trump administration’s tariffs, which impose an additional 10 percent duty on Chinese imports, have led to an increase in creators’ business costs.
Brands’ interest in “Grand Theft Auto” is mounting — but questions about brand safety remain
Although it remains unclear whether Rockstar’s stance toward brands will soften for “GTA 6,” the game developer is certainly aware of “GTA’s” power as a distribution network, both for its own products and for outside advertisers.
Media Briefing: Podcasters test different types of paywalls for subscriptions
Podcasters discuss testing out different podcast subscriptions, and how to grow them as a complement (or alternative) to advertising revenue at this year’s On Air Fest event.