Marc Walkin is the Co-founder and Head of Marketing and Growth at Turbyne, a vertically integrated B2B SaaS platform that simplifies retail media. With over 15 years of experience as a marketing leader, he has built modern retail and CPG brands, including Stop & Shop, Popcorners, Beech-Nut, and Staples. Marc specializes in brand transformation, corporate strategy, and shopper and digital marketing playbooks. 

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [3:33] What is the retail media mirage? 
• [9:04] Why retail media is not fully integrated and the missed opportunities for in-store engagement
• [13:29] How retailers can enhance the retail media experience for brands
• [18:41] The importance of a unified data platform for a holistic retail media approach
• [30:26] Leveraging real-time inventory and AI to optimize retail media campaigns
• [35:16] Strategies for retail media sales attribution
• [38:22] Brands’ negative experiences with retail media

In this episode…

The retail media space is in disarray, with brands and retailers at odds over expectations and experiences. What’s more, digital and in-store tactics are not fully integrated, so 80% of brands struggle to justify increasing retail media investments. How can retail media networks streamline the experience for their brand customers?

Traditionally, retailers purchased products from brands to sell to consumers. With retail media, brands become customers by leveraging retailers’ advertising platforms. With a rich background in retail strategy, Marc Walkin stresses that retailers must create user-friendly platforms that unify data and offer real-time inventory tracking for greater ROI. Additionally, merging digital and in-store advertising strategies allows retailers to position themselves as profitable networks for brands looking to optimize campaigns.

In this week’s edition of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant interviews Marc Walkin, the Co-founder and Head of Marketing and Growth at Turbyne, about the disconnect between retail media networks and brands. Marc discusses the retail media mirage phenomenon, strategies for retail media sales attribution, and the importance of clean, unified customer data. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Aaron Conant on LinkedIn
• BWG Connect
• Marc Walkin on LinkedIn 
• Turbyne 
• “Measuring Incremental Retail Media ROI” with Meghan Corroon on The Digital Deep Dive
• Clerdata

Quotable Moments:

• "Retail media is growing like crazy, but growth will be inhibited until we see more ease of use and an inclusive channel offering."
• "Only 30% of retailers’ reach and 10% of transactions are on digital, suggesting that retailers are playing Amazon's game when they should focus on their unique assets."
• "What’s happening is you have retailers playing Amazon's game, where Amazon’s 100% digital — but retailers have a massive physical footprint, which is completely left off the table."
• "The biggest lever of growth for retail media is selling at scale and unlocking the potential of smaller brands."
• "Retailers are sitting on a fortune of data, but they're not using it to its full potential. You should be able to get media mix modeling on steroids."

Action Steps:

1. Embrace a platform-neutral approach to retail media infrastructure to make the process more accessible and streamlined for brands of all sizes: This step is effective because it addresses the need for simplicity and the ability to handle diverse retail media demands.
2. Leverage retailer-specific nuances and assets, including in-store opportunities, to enhance retail media strategies: By focusing on unique retail offerings and combining them with digital strategies, brands can create more effective and targeted campaigns.
3. Foster a collaborative relationship between retail media teams and merchandising to ensure alignment and unified objectives: Collaboration is crucial for overcoming internal silos that impede retail media's potential, as brands noted a lack of integrated efforts within retail organizations.
4. Prioritize developing data transparency and sharing mechanisms that address brands' needs for accountable and measurable results: Given the frustrations with data opacity in current retail media models, providing clear and actionable data is a critical step for improving trust and investment.
5. Consider implementing AI-driven analyses for inventory management and campaign optimization to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of retail media spending: As AI technology advances and the push for data-driven decisions increases, adopting such tools can significantly improve campaign outcomes by matching inventory levels with customer demand.

About BWG Connect...

BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.

In addition, we have had 1x1 conversations with over 5,000 brands and have a real-time pulse on what digital strategies are successful and why. This in-depth knowledge allows our team to operate on the cutting-edge and provide our clients with best-in-class guidance on how to win in the digital world. We have provided free consultations and strategy sessions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune-100, to enable growth, resolve issues and make curated service provider introductions that can impact your digital footprint.

We have held to the philosophy of providing high-level insights and actionable knowledge with no sales pitches in order to provide to our network the ability to listen, learn and act to improve themselves as well as their organizations. Our ultimate goal is to be the resource out there to help digital executives find the research they need to excel in the modern marketplace.

If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.