You thought commerce media was confined to a computer in a living room? Think again! Commerce media is now taking over airports, skies, and even beyond.
Last June, United Airlines launched Kinective Media, the first media network that uses insights from travel behaviors to connect customers with personalized, real-time advertising content, experiences, and offers from leading brands. The new in-house technology platform allows marketers to scale their reach across a wide range of channels, including United's mobile app and inflight entertainment screens.
Just like United Airlines, many other brands are creating more personalized, measurable, and effective marketing strategies with the help of first-party data.
For marketers, Kinective Media represents a new opportunity to reach customers in a hyper-targeted way—but one that needs to be tailored by experts to achieve the best results. AI Digital is here to help.
A Golden Opportunity Requiring a Strategic Approach
Retail media refers to advertising and promotional opportunities within a retailer’s owned properties, including websites, apps, or in-store displays. Retailers have direct access to their customers' purchase histories, browsing behaviors, and preferences—a goldmine of information for digital marketers. This data allows them to create personalized suggestions for more targeted advertisements. An example of retail media includes ads on Amazon’s product pages or sponsored search results on Walmart’s website. Even the best of us end up buying extra things at the checkout page.
Commerce media encompasses all forms of advertising and monetization strategies linked to transactions across various digital platforms, typically leveraging a company’s first-party data to offer precision targeting and sales measurement. Unlike retail media, it is not limited to traditional retailers; it includes channels like affiliate marketing and marketplaces. New entrants, like airlines, are also offering shopping experiences within their apps using commerce media.
The precise tracking capabilities of retail and commerce media enable marketers to measure the direct impact of their ads on sales. For instance, if a brand runs a campaign on a retailer’s site, it can track how many clicks led to purchases and calculate the return on their spending. As ad exposure and sales can be directly linked, marketers are compelled to hold their campaigns to higher standards of accountability. This ultimately leads to better quality control without the need to allocate a specific budget.
Retail and commerce media do not operate in isolation. They work best alongside other marketing efforts such as social media, email marketing, and programmatic ads. For example, a television ad must be attractive and effective enough for the consumer to visit the online store, allowing retail media to retarget them with personalized offers.
How to Capitalize on Retail and Commerce Media
AI Digital’s commitment to delivering solutions that work in the marketer’s interest is critical. Leveraging flexibility, neutrality, and results-driven strategies is what makes us stand out in this competitive landscape. Ultimately, we deliver a marketer-centric solution—here’s how:
Client-First Approach
No two businesses are the same; every business is unique, and so are digital marketing requirements. Hence, we never use a one-size-fits-all solution. Whether you are looking to increase sales, boost brand awareness, or drive customer loyalty, we align our strategies with client goals. This ensures that our efforts are not only effective but also aligned with the broader business objectives of our partners.
Tech & Data Neutrality
Our commitment to tech and data neutrality is a key differentiator. As AI Digital is not biased towards a specific data set, technology platform, or tool, we always select the optimal mix of data platforms and curated premium marketplaces to deliver against our clients' KPIs. This unbiased approach allows us to smoothly adapt to the constantly changing marketplace and deliver client-centric solutions. This includes pivoting to a new platform that offers better targeting or adjusting our approach based on real-time performance data.
Delivering on KPIs
Any retail & commerce media platform is measured by how well it meets and exceeds its clients' key performance indicators (KPIs). Whether it’s driving sales, improving return on ad spend, driving incremental sales, improving market share, or enhancing customer engagement, our strategies are designed to over-deliver on the clients' KPIs and optimize throughout the campaign to achieve these goals.
Advertise to the Sky and Beyond
Over the years, traditional retail and commerce media have evolved into a complex digital market that requires technical and strategic experts to help marketers navigate all the emerging opportunities. With the increasing digitization of the world, both retail and commerce media are becoming indispensable tools for marketers looking to engage with consumers in more personalized and impactful ways.
AI Digital is at the forefront of this transformation. Our unique position and strategic approach help brands navigate and succeed in this competitive world. From our client-first approach to tech and data neutrality, we deeply understand and prioritize each client’s objectives.
We do not follow a one-size-fits-all approach; rather, we optimize and customize all our solutions to align with client KPIs. As retail and commerce media continue to evolve, AI Digital remains committed to leading the way, providing innovative, data-driven solutions that drive success for our clients—from their living rooms to the highest possible space in the skies.
