‘Through the line media planning could unlock more budgets for retail media’

Addressing the theme ‘Unlocking the true potential of Retail DOOH Media’ at the 18th edition of OOH Advertising Convention (OAC) in Bengaluru, Dan Durling, Managing Director of UK-based Alight Media, succinctly highlighted the opportunities and challenges in the retail media space, while underscoring the huge potential that it holds.

“Digital retail media overtook global OOH spend in 2017 and has continued to grow by 20% each year factoring forecasts for 2024 and 2025,” said Dan Durling, Managing Director of UK-based Alight Media,one of the Top 5 OOH firms in the UK, while addressing the theme ‘Unlocking the true potential of Retail DOOH Media’ at the OOH Advertising Convention 2024 that was organised in Bengaluru on July 26-27. 

Retail media is indeed one of the fastest growing OOH segments, and Dan’s session threw more light on the opportunities in this space. “Four out of ten retailers plan to introduce in-store networks,” said Dan, underscoring his point.  

Further pointing to the scope for collaboration in this space, he added, “Where retailers may be experts in their own customers, their e-commerce platforms and their data, operating physical screen networks presents its own set of challenges that the OOH world is now well versed in. From selecting and installing the best hardware and software to power the screens, to establishing processes for scheduling content / measuring audiences and reporting on playout there are opportunities for vendors from across the DOOH ecosystem to partner and work with retailers in markets across the world.”

Dan further took the audience through a case study of Alight Media’s retail media project for UK’s largest pub business Stonegate Pub Company to launch MiXR, what Dan called “the UK’s digital retail media proposition in hospitality”.

By sharing some of the challenges that the company experienced during the course of Project MiXR, Dan highlighted important aspects of how retail media works. “The first challenge we faced with MiXR is how to best fit it into our commercial model,” said Dan, and over the course of his presentation, threw more light on some critical questions in the context of retail media, such as “Who do we sell this to”?  “What do we sell”? , and “Is it  credible”? pointing to the issue of credibility of first party data that often arises in this context. 

The other very important aspect that Dan highlighted was the difference between traditional broadcast media and retail media, in terms of their planning and buying, with each having its own set of dynamics. “In OOH we’re used to transacting our media space with traditional media agencies who understand how our product influences upper funnel metrics.  Lower funnel metrics however, particularly in retail environments, are not an area of expertise that these same teams have.”

Diving deeper into the crux of it he added, “We often talk about the difference between above the line and below the line advertising and this line has historically separated retail media and traditional broadcast media planning and buying. So, it has often been a challenge finding the right room to be in to sell.”

Further, with some more examples, Dan listed out some key factors that help leverage retail media right. Finally, emphasising the opportunity and the strategic approach that brands need to take to get the best from their retail media networks, Dan said, “Analysts are forecasting that retail media spend will grow to as much as 25% of a brand’s total advertiser expenditure - this dictates the need for brands to re-think their own internal structures to ensure that both brand and activation budgets work effectively together.  The concept of through the line (TLT) advertising is becoming more and more common with some of the world’s largest brands currently deploying this strategy across their markets. Through the line media planning could unlock more budgets for retail media.”