Made possible by

Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) is the retail media business of Kroger designed to make brand advertising more effective by closing the loop between media exposure and store sales. Powered by 84.51˚data science, and Kroger’s popular loyalty card program, KPM connects consumers to brands through engaging moments that inspire purchasing online or in-store.​ https://www.krogerprecisionmarketing.com

Daniel Caridi: [00:00:00] This episode is made possible by Kroger Precision Marketing. Brand growth starts with signals you can trust. Powered by retail data from over 62 million households, Kroger Precision Marketing connects insights, media, and loyalty to help brands plan with confidence, act with precision, and drive scalable growth.

Marcus Johnson: Hi, everyone, and thank you for tuning in to this Cannes podcast miniseries featuring Kroger Precision Marketing. EMARKETER's vice president and principal analyst, Sarah Marzano, sits down with Christine Foster, group vice president, commercial strategy and operations at Kroger Precision Marketing, to discuss why retail and data is emerging as a critical planning foundation, and what it takes for brands and retailers to build more accountable, sustainable, long-term growth together.

Marcus Johnson: This episode was recorded at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Enjoy.[00:01:00]

Sarah Marzano: Christine, it's still early in the week. We all just got here, but I'm curious what conversations you're most looking forward to having here in Cannes. What are you excited to hear about?

Christine Foster: First thing Monday- ... very excited to be here, Sarah. Um, I think for me, I'm really excited to have conversations that better connect creativity to commerce.

Christine Foster: Um, I think this is the inflection point in the industry that we're seeing, and I am so excited about the kinda new conversations that we're having, um, that kinda take us out of our silos- Mm-hmm ... that put us in a space to match the consumer journey, which as you know, is evolving and changing. And, uh, I think we're gonna hear a lot of those topics this week, and I'm excited to see what new partnerships and, uh, announcements get made.

Christine Foster: Uh, it's gonna be a great week.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah, no, I totally agree. I feel like we're at this inflection point in retail media where we're starting to get the opportunity to be a little more playful, a little more innovative in how we- Exactly ... reach consumers. Exactly. It's exciting. Yeah.

Christine Foster: Yeah.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah. So very cool. Um, so something I'm curious to [00:02:00] hear about, I think it was about a year ago that Kroger brought retail media, loyalty, customer insights, and marketing together under a more unified structure.

Sarah Marzano: One of the themes that I see often come up in my research is that organizational alignment feels like it's one of the biggest challenges facing a lot of RMNs today, particularly in the US. So I'd love to hear more about what problem you were trying to solve and, uh, what you've seen along this journey now that Kroger's about a year into this.

Christine Foster: Yeah, about a year in. Uh, so early last year we brought our consumer insights, our loyalty marketing, and our retail media business together under the Kroger Precision Marketing umbrella. Um, since then, we have also integrated and, uh, we now partner with merchandising. So, uh, Kroger Precision Marketing now rolls into the merchandising- Mm-hmm

Christine Foster: organization. Those two kind of moments for us, or pivots for us, were a natural result of a desire to have a one seamless experience- Mm-hmm ... with brands [00:03:00] and advertisers. Um, I think what we have learned over the course of, you know, maybe the last decade as retail media has emerged, um, is that we were at a maturation point where having these disconnected and siloed conversations just no longer worked.

Christine Foster: Um, brands really need a holistic strategy. Mm. They need a better connected tech stack, and they need a unified team to kind of work that all together. And what we have found, um, in the year since, is that we are more equipped to have more insightful conversations all the way from product innovation and what a merchandising strategy is gonna look like, what is the weekly promotion gonna look like- Mm-hmm

Christine Foster: and then how are you amplifying that through media? Um, so I think for us, it's been a really, it's been a really important journey to learn what do brands actually need to grow. And I, w- I, you know, we'll talk about this I'm sure, 'cause it comes up in every conversation, but- If what's good for the brand is good for us.

Christine Foster: And so for us, it's really, it was really about [00:04:00] maximizing impact across the total ecosystem. And I'm excited about what we're seeing so far and, and, and we're just early on this journey, so it's, it's only gonna get better from here.

Sarah Marzano: No, I, I think that that makes a lot of sense, and it's really exciting, and I can see it having benefits in terms of streamlining the experience for your external stakeholders, right, the brands that you partner with, as well as the internal stakeholders, right?

Sarah Marzano: Because it's so important in retail to make sure everyone is bought in on this journey, right?

Christine Foster: Exactly. It's a one strategy, and I think that's, you know, cliche to say. Mm-hmm. Um, it's a lot harder to activate on. Absolutely. Um, which is why we needed to bring it together. You know, in, in the earliest panel this morning, we did talk about org design as well.

Christine Foster: Mm-hmm. Um, and it's such ... It, it seems like such a small thing, but it's so impactful in bringing the teams together, the right teams together, to pull together the right strategies. And then when you amplify that through a connected view in technology and, um, make sure that all of it is working together, um, it's even more powerful.

Christine Foster: So I think for us, that was a ... It's a big ... It's ... It [00:05:00] definitely is the reason we did it. Mm-hmm. And it's a big part of where we'll continue to go to make that even better.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah. I honestly predict we're gonna see a lot of RMNs following suit, and, um, it's exciting to be a first mover in that arena.

Christine Foster: Completely agree.

Sarah Marzano: Um, this, this segues, uh, really well into the next thing I wanted to talk about. We talk a lot about retailer brand partnerships, but I think that can mean a lot of different things in practice. Help me understand, like from your perspective, what a truly collaborative growth model between brands, retailers, and even folding in agencies who are key players here as well, what does that look like?

Christine Foster: Yeah. I think it starts- With planning, right? And it goes back to exactly what, what we just talked about, which is making sure all the people and teams and coordinated pieces are pulled together right from the start. Uh, Kroger sees millions of customer interactions and transactions. Um, we are best equipped to, uh...

Christine Foster: or retailers are best equipped, I think, to help brands see that entire consumer journey, and to activate on them [00:06:00] in near real time. Mm. And so for us, that's something that I think we'll continue to focus on. Um, you know, it's, it's more than, you know, most publishers or most in kind of a media-focused world are gonna be focused on, you know, the next impression, or the publisher is, is kind of focused on the next impression or the next IO.

Christine Foster: Mm-hmm. For us, it really is about that next sale. And I think for, for most retailers will, will probably say the same thing, right? Which is that is going to be the most important thing. Mm-hmm. And I... you have to have the right connectivity in order to do that effectively. Um, so I'm excited to kind of keep pushing in that direction, but we're, we're s- early on that journey and, and I think we're seeing good signals that it's actually helping.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah, I think what, what comes through for me, and that is there's a high level, a high degree of accountability in retail media, right? Because this is an outcome-based-

Christine Foster: Yes ... media

Sarah Marzano: product,

Christine Foster: right? Exactly. To that point, right, it's not just about the next IO.

Sarah Marzano: Mm-hmm.

Christine Foster: It's not just about selling the next advertising campaign.

Christine Foster: That's right. It's about selling that next product. Mm-hmm. Um, and doing that over and over again- Mm. -in a [00:07:00] repeatable and scalable- Right ... way, which is what we're building here, right? That's the, the connected ecosystem that retail media builds, um, which is better for brands in general.

Sarah Marzano: Absolutely. So what are some of the signs that a retailer brand partnership is creating sustainable growth versus focused on the short-term, like, next, uh, immediate sort of outcome that needs to be achieved?

Christine Foster: Yeah, I think this goes back to why it's important that we are connecting in with merchandising, too. Um, you know, it... while, again, back to the we don't just wanna sell the next IO or the next advertising campaign, we wanna sell the next product, we wanna sell that product in a way that grows the category.

Christine Foster: And, uh, when it grows the category, all of us are winning and growing together. And so for us, it's about taking that retail intelligence- Mm-hmm ... boiling it down to something that is very actionable f- by a brand and by our team so that we're activating the right strategies that do that. Um, it's, it's, it's not just about kinda selling ourselves- Mm-hmm

Christine Foster: to the world, it's [00:08:00] about making sure that we actually are growing share. Um, and that's a very methodical, thoughtful kind of process to get to a different place, but it's all, at the end of it, it boils down into growing categories.

Daniel Caridi: I think you know this about me, but I grew up in merchandising, and so

Sarah Marzano: this is- I do

Sarah Marzano: music to my ears. I love it. I love it. It's a topic that's near and dear to my heart, so I love it. Um, so let's switch over to, um, talking about brands who have access now to more data than ever before, right? Um, but not all of them seem equally confident in how they're using it. So in terms of your purview where you work with so many brand advertisers, what do you think separates those organizations that are using retail intelligence effectively from those that are still struggling to turn data into insights effectively?

Christine Foster: It starts with setting one source of truth. Mm. Where you, the merchandising, the retail media network are all going to s- you know, center on what is our source of truth. Mm. For us specifically, we have over 1,000 brands actively [00:09:00] using our, uh, retail purchase signal platform- Mm ... called Stratum. Um, that platform is kind of integral to the entire process at Kroger, meaning this is where brands and merchants are working together around innovation.

Christine Foster: Um, this is where they're looking at the week-over-week results. Um, and then this is where they can kind of start the basis for the next marketing, the next media activation that they do, not just with us, but just in general. Um, and I think that's important, is really centering on what is the source of truth and how are you con- using that source of truth to connect your ecosystem better.

Christine Foster: Um, I think- Separately, one of the things that we've done over the last year, uh, is launch a, an AI element within that platform.

Sarah Marzano: Mm-hmm.

Christine Foster: Where the brands that are actively using it get a readout on Monday morning, we call it Agent Monday. Um, it's an email that gets sent with the basic breakdown of everything that happened over the last week.

Christine Foster: This [00:10:00] saves brands hours of time- Yeah ... when they log in on a Monday morning, figuring out where to start. Mm-hmm. And it doesn't mean that they don't wanna go deeper, they absolutely can, but this is a space where it gives them a launchpad to say, "Here's what happened over the last week. Here's what we think you should do next."

Christine Foster: Mm-hmm. "Here's where you should look into." Um, it's, it's very, it's a very good top-level view with a very intricate kind of summary of what to do next, and I think that's where we all need to, to kind of focus and harness these data signals that are coming at us in real time faster than we can absorb them.

Christine Foster: You need that kind of extra step- Mm-hmm ... to, to boil down, what should I do with this? It's, it's one thing to have data, it's another thing to action on data, and we wanna make that as easy as possible for the brands on our shelves.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah. That sounds like a really exciting tool, like avoiding that analysis paralysis that can come with having so much great, exciting data.

Christine Foster: Exactly. If you know what to do- Yeah ... first thing Monday morning at Kroger because you can see what happened at Kroger the [00:11:00] last week, you're gonna make better decisions. It's not to say that you don't wanna go deeper.

Sarah Marzano: Right.

Christine Foster: It's, it's to say that we're gonna give you the first step, and then you can decide where to go from here.

Sarah Marzano: That's incredible. What kind of feedback are you hearing so far from advertisers?

Christine Foster: Really powerful feedback. Yeah. I think we've also seen a lot of new type of marketing and media activations coming from it- Mm-hmm ... because there are insights that are bubbling up through this, like, first touch view- Mm-hmm ... um, that marketers or, and/or sales teams at these brands would never have s- have looked for.

Christine Foster: And now they're coming to the, to the forefront, and it makes it a lot easier to decide how should we action upon this.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah. That's great. Um, so switching gears a little bit, one of the trends that I am most excited to watch in retail media is the expansion into a broader set of off-site environments, right?

Sarah Marzano: And as it happens, we're seeing an increasing overlap between retail media and channels like creator marketing, which have traditionally operated somewhat separately. Um, historically, I think those have been two channels that have, like, been looked at as occupying different parts of the consumer [00:12:00] journey.

Sarah Marzano: But we know now that those worlds are increasingly converging. I know Kroger has had some announcements, um, around, uh, this exact theme, so I'd love to hear how you're thinking about it. Maybe tell us a little bit more about the announcements.

Christine Foster: Yeah, I would love to. Uh, late last week we announced a new partnership with TikTok.

Christine Foster: Very exciting. Um, we are now enabling our audience data directly into TikTok, so brands can activate purchase signals- Mm-hmm ... uh, in the seats that they already are buying through- Mm-hmm ... on TikTok, which is a, you know, an ease of activation for them, and obviously makes the sales flywheel spin faster at Kroger, which is always the goal.

Christine Foster: Um, for us, it's such an exciting moment. I think to, like, the broader intent of, of your question here, it's such an exciting moment to see culture and commerce- Mm-hmm ... come together, um, in more real time, and I think that's gonna be a continuing trend as we, you know, talked about earlier. It's really about, um, inspiration to transaction, and I think that's something that we haven't been able [00:13:00] to do in the past, and now we're, we're getting to this, um, kind of new world where, you know, the funnel is dead.

Christine Foster: Mm-hmm. And it's, it's about reaching customers in whatever part of that inspiration to transaction journey they are on.

Sarah Marzano: Yep.

Christine Foster: Um, and retail purchase signals really help with that. Absolutely. And so I think that's gonna be a continuing trend that we see. We, you know, are the first to do that with TikTok.

Christine Foster: Mm-hmm. We won't be the last. Um, and I think that's s- for us, it's like a rising tide. This goes back to the point of just, um, retail- Sales signals being the foundation for how media is transacted- Absolutely ... and how identities are determined in the future. And for, for us, that's a really m- you know, exciting move because it's going to make the industry more productive, less waste-

Sarah Marzano: Mm-hmm

Christine Foster: um, and more sales, which is what we're all trying to achieve here.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah. No, I love that. And to, and to that end, do you think there's still a level of misunderstanding among marketers around the relationship between creators and commerce and [00:14:00] measurable business outcomes? Like, this requires a big change in the way we've thought about these channels historically, with the way we've measured their success and held them accountable.

Sarah Marzano: So, like, where is the broader industry in terms of the spectrum?

Christine Foster: That's a great question. I'm gonna give you some stats here. I'm gonna look at them. Um, so what we see or have seen is 68% of purchase signals are tied to social, uh, based off of the new data- Wow ... that we have done through a survey, and 46% of those shoppers, uh, say that they come back, and those become part of their routine.

Christine Foster: So those products- Mm-hmm ... become part of the routine. So to your question around, um, I think there's been this kind of, uh, misconception that creator is too hard to measure, and it feels kind of high level and fluffy. For us, I feel like this is exactly where- Mm-hmm ... purchase signal data should play. It's absolutely what this is intended to do, and by connecting these audiences, by connecting these signals with those creators and with those strategies, brands [00:15:00] can now, you know, look at the CFO and say, "Here's where all of this worked together in a way that we've never been able to do in the past as, as media and marketers."

Christine Foster: Um, and I think that's the most important thing- Mm-hmm ... that we're, we're focused on moving forward through this connection with TikTok.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah. No, I love it, and I think a few of our, um, sort of conversations points have sort of circled around this theme that I would summarize as sort of transactions being the new currency of digital advertising.

Christine Foster: Agreed.

Sarah Marzano: And as we think about that, right, we know that marketers are navigating an increasingly fragmented media and commerce landscape. How do you think about the role that retailers, uh, and their media networks play in helping brands make sense of that complexity? It feels like they're sort of stepping into a new role potentially, right?

Christine Foster: Yeah. I- it's really about moving from insight to action- Mm-hmm ... more effectively. Retailers can help brands do that at the retailer, you know, more effectively than anyone else, and so partnering on those media and marketing strategies with the retailer in general [00:16:00] is just a f- is a f- you know, a, a baseline for- Mm-hmm

Christine Foster: uh, s- brands. Um, I think that's where things like Stratum's Agent Monday- Mm-hmm ... are gonna be really powerful, and this is just the start, right? Who knows where we're gonna go with all of the AI capability in the future. So I'm, I'm really, um, I think the team is really focused on making sure we c- Create less complexity- Mm-hmm

Christine Foster: and add more innovation that takes down the barrier to action. Um, and so for us it's really a focus on insight to action. Um, we, we specifically internally talk about it as insight to activation.

Daniel Caridi: Mm-hmm.

Christine Foster: Um, meaning that you want that, that, you know, line, that A to B, to be as short and- Yes ... easy as possible for brands.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah.

Christine Foster: Great.

Sarah Marzano: Um, okay, so if, if anyone is listening to this or watching as this conversation were to leave remembering one thing, what would you want that to be?

Christine Foster: I think that retail media is no longer just about on-site. Yes. It's not just [00:17:00] about putting search or display on a publisher or a, uh, commerce website.

Christine Foster: It is about looking at it as a more full customer journey solution. Um, and that's the replacement for the old kinda funnel, marketing funnel. Mm-hmm. It is a, uh, a customer journey connection in a way that is, uh, more powerful than it's ever been. So if you've only been focused on the on-site piece of a retail media strategy, you're missing out on probably 80%.

Christine Foster: Oh. And that's important for brands to keep focused on how you're integrating that full, uh, that full consumer journey with your retailer.

Sarah Marzano: Yeah. Lots of great lessons here. I love hearing about what you guys are up to. Thank you so much, Christine. Thanks

Christine Foster: for having me, Sarah.

Marcus Johnson: Thank you for listening to this episode of the Can Podcast mini-series.

Marcus Johnson: I hope you enjoyed it. We'll have more Can mini-series episodes coming out on every podcast platform, including Apple, Spotify, and the EMARKETER YouTube page. You [00:18:00] can find more coverage from the festival at EMARKETER's Cannes Coverage Center at emarketer.com. The link is in the show notes. Have a great day.