Albertsons Media Collective Redefines How Advertisers Reach Consumers

Partnership with The Trade Desk enables grocer to pioneer new approach to retail media on open internet

6/22/2022

Albertsons Media Collective Redefines How Advertisers Reach Consumers

The Retail Reimagined panel at Cannes Lions. Left to right: The Trade Desk’s Jed Dederick, Albertsons’ Kristi Argyilan, PepsiCo’s Shyam Venugopal and Mindshare’s Brian DeCicco. (Source: The Trade Desk)

Thanks to a new partnership, Albertsons Cos. will be the first grocer in the United States to enable verified-buyer audience and measurement solutions for advertisers across the open internet through The Trade Desk’s platform. The grocer’s retail media arm, Albertsons Media Collective, has partnered with the technology company to help buyers of advertising better understand the connection between ad campaigns and customer sales.

Introduced in November 2021, the Albertsons Media Collective is a next-generation retail media network rooted in connections, technology and innovation. It connects with consumers in more than 2,275 locations encompassing 24 banners across 34 states and the District of Columbia.

Albertsons Media Collective will now be able to provide advertisers, such as PepsiCo, Unilever and GroupM (with media agency Mindshare), insights and metrics across audience data to help close the loop between advertising spend and sales. Albertsons Media Collective is the first within the grocery space to separate data from inventory. This new partnership, which was unveiled at a Cannes Lions panel discussion on June 21 in France, makes it easier for brands to reach the right audience across the open internet and beyond, including the industry’s fastest-growing digital channels such as connected TV.

“Retail media represents an incredible opportunity for brands that want to connect their marketing spend to sales,” said Jed Dederick, chief client officer at The Trade Desk, which is based in Ventura, Calif. “As consumer habits continue to change and the identity landscape evolves, our clients are looking for future-proofed, data-driven ways to run impactful campaigns. Partnering with Albertsons Media Collective gives us the ability to provide advertisers what they want, which is targeting that reaches the right consumer, and closed-loop measurement to inform media decisioning and optimizations across the whole open internet.”

New sources of audience data are critical, as Google revealed in 2020 its plans to remove third-party cookies for Google Chrome. Chrome is the most common browser, with more than 63% of the global market share. Brands will need to activate their first-party data and future-proof their advertising strategies to create meaningful, personalized content for consumers that prioritize data privacy. Through Albertsons Cos.’ new partnership, brands will be able to deploy new tools such as Unified ID 2.0 to preserve the value of relevant advertising while increasing consumer control.

“Albertsons Media Collective and The Trade Desk are redefining what it means for advertisers to reach the right audience and measure their marketing campaigns,” said Kristi Argyilan, SVP of retail media at Albertsons. “Our shared philosophy on solving the issues on identity, transparency and inefficiencies that currently exist within the advertising ecosystem will create opportunities for brands to embrace the power of the open internet that drives precision and relevance.”

Big-Name Advertisers On Board

“Advertising is going through a transformational shift, and PepsiCo is excited about the impact data-driven advertising is making,” said Shyam Venugopal, SVP, global media and commerce capabilities at Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo. “The partnership between The Trade Desk and Albertsons Media Collective is enabling brands to drive better control and decision- making, as well as greater transparency across our media buys to give us the ability to leverage first-party data to reach the right consumer.”

“This partnership will enable Unilever to more accurately target valued consumers off retailer websites, while also measuring the impact of investment in ways previously unavailable,” noted Luis DiComo, EVP of global media at Unilever, which is based in the United Kingdom.

“We’re very excited about the partnership that Albertsons Media Collective and The Trade Desk have forged to help our clients better understand the connection between ad campaigns and customer sales,” added Jeff Malmad, global head of commerce at New York-based Mindshare. “We always reinforce to our retail partners the importance of value, viewability and verification, and this partnership allows us to deliver across all three.”

Just a few weeks ago, Albertsons Cos. partnered with marketplace advertising platform Pacvue to expand access for CPG manufacturers to advertise within its stores. Pacvue users can now leverage the platform to create, execute and manage sponsored product advertising campaigns with Albertsons Media Collective.

Albertsons operates more than 2,200 retail stores with 1,700-plus pharmacies, 402 associated fuel centers, 22 dedicated distribution centers and 20 manufacturing facilities. It operates stores across 34 states and the District of Columbia under 24 well-known banners, among them Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, Carrs, Kings Food Markets and Balducci’s Food Lovers Market. Albertsons is No. 9 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.