In-store retail media success factors: Content automation

There are multiple areas of content automation to develop such as campaign content production, intelligent campaigns, and campaign material automation. We will explain in this post each of these development areas and their benefits in detail so that you can build a solution that suits your retail media business the best.

Campaign content production

Traditionally, the campaigns run on digital screens in stores are video or static content produced by professionals. Soon, in-store retail media will grow the amount of content on screens in several ways:

1. The rapid appearance of this new media channel will increase both the number of advertisers in general as well as the number of ads needed by a single advertiser.
2. Audience-based targeting means that producing multiple target group-specific ads becomes a viable option.
3. Tactical advertising near where the actual product choice or purchasing decision is made will become more common as the number of screens gets bigger. More and more brands by product category will start competing to get seen on shelves.

All this development means that new ways to produce content for in-store retail media must be innovated.  In-store retail media can learn a lot about how things are done in the online sphere. For example, as you search for a product in a web store, the product listing lists first sponsored products – from the brands that have paid to be seen by customers. The same product can be seen on various campaign formats throughout the site. The content production here is typically fully automated and content as well as product info are fetched from the website back-end.

In the same manner, in-store retail media platforms can be integrated into various operative systems the retailer has, such as DAM or PIM and why not with e-commerce websites also. All content can be produced on digital screens in stores without any manual work phases. The visual appearance and content can be variated as much as is wanted and needed.

Intelligent campaigns

When the in-store retail media platform is well integrated into retailer systems and can utilize context-specific information, ads can get intelligent.

Three examples of how intelligence can be added to ads:

1. Prices, images, and product info are at all times up to date. The sensibility to errors gets significantly lower as the information used originates from operative systems.
2. As we know on a detailed level which products are available at which shops, only products that can be bought right away are advertised.
3. Ads based on audience data can add multiple new layers to targeted advertising. For example, retargeting a target group based on an estimate of re-visits may produce very good results.

Only imagination limits adding intelligence to in-store ads. The understanding of which ones to invest in and develop is gained through experimentation. Basic services, such as up-to-date price and availability are common customer services, that consumers expect retailers to deliver.

Campaign material automation

Campaign material automation is at the center of development initiatives when the goal is to reach an “industrial scale” in in-store retail media. When audience data-based ads are distributed, the number of materials multiplies compared to traditional loop-based advertising on screens. Material management must be as fast, smooth and automized as possible in modern in-store digital media.

When materials are produced from retailers’ systems, the whole process can naturally be automatized throughout the whole production process. For brand building and inspirational advertising ads with richer content are often produced as a co-op between parties. From the standpoint of material automation, in these cases, the in-store retail media builds automatically the campaign booking with audience targeting and a party involved in content production then simply ads through a link the needed materials by the given specs.

Conclusions

Content automation is one of the main enablers for the bright future growth of retail media. In in-store retail media, the need for campaign automation and material automation is even greater as key features in the self-services offered to trade partners and other advertisers.

Serving the partners: trade marketers, advertisers and media agencies in the new emerging retail media ecosystem is a development that must be done with long-term determination. And finally, it all boils down to the fact that all activities also create value for the consumers. This value is measurable not only through actual sales but for example by loyalty of your customers.