Kroger debuts managed service offering for retail media advertisers
The Kroger Co. is launching a suite of managed services to assist advertisers on its retail media network that don’t have dedicated programmatic teams.
Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), the retail media business of Kroger running on its 84.51˚ data analytics subsidiary, is now providing an expert in-house team to activate ads across programmatic audio, programmatic connected TV, and dynamic creative optimization for display.
According to Kroger, more brands are applying purchase-based audiences across streaming media. However, many mid-sized CPG companies don’t have dedicated programmatic audio or connected TV teams. By adding a managed-service offering, KPM seeks to remove complexity and simplify campaign execution for advertisers with smaller marketing teams.
The new capabilities will complement KPM’s existing self-service programmatic solutions and include:
Programmatic Audio: Ads run across mobile, desktop, and in-app environments on platforms like Pandora and iHeartMedia, with the option to add companion banners to help extend engagement.
Programmatic connected TV: Advertising runs within premium, ad-supported content on platforms including Roku, Paramount, and Samsung. KPM’s purchase-based audiences receive non-skippable video ads in brand-safe environments.
Dynamic creative optimization for display: Changes offsite display messaging in real time using variables like location, weather, time of day, or audience segment.
"CPG brands are under increasing pressure to deliver relevant messages at scale," said Christine Foster, senior VP at Kroger Precision Marketing. "These programmatic solutions enable more marketers to build emotional connections with new households."
The new managed-service offerings include retail media measurement with datsa such as incremental return-on-ad-spend (iROAS), household penetration, uplift, dollar sales and unit sales.
This announcement marks the first expansion of Kroger Precision Marketing’s capabilities since the unification of 84.51°’s retail media, consumer insights, and loyalty marketing services under a single team earlier this year.
Kroger Precision Marketing – a brief history
Kroger Co. created Kroger Precision Marketing in 2017, in an effort to apply data science to better connect CPG brands with relevant households. The retail media network sells self-service advertising on Kroger digital properties, managed-service advertising through publisher collaborations, and programmatic advertising through its private marketplace.
[Read more: Kroger expands retail media network to connected TV, video]
Kroger Precision Marketing features nearly 2,000 participating brands and has delivered an average 25%-30% household penetration lift and 35%-40% sales lift on campaigns, according to Kroger analysis.
To participate, advertisers can leverage an in-house-developed advertising platform as well as integrations with third-party demand side platforms such as Yahoo and The Trade Desk. In an initiative that has since been concluded, Kroger previously offered CPG advertisers the chance to reach customers in select stores with Cooler Screens proprietary, Internet of Things (IoT)-enabled, in-store digital “smart screens” displaying ads on cooler doors.
Based in Cincinnati, The Kroger Co. operates approximately 2,800 stores under a variety of banners across the U.S., including Kroger, Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Dillons, Smith's, King Soopers, Fry's, QFC, City Market, Owen's, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker's, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick 'n Save, Metro Market and Mariano's.
