P2PI_11/12_2022

INTRODUCING

The customer is always right, unless you’re asking the wrong customer.

You ask the right questions.

We find you the right consumers. You get the right answers — fast.

A self-serve consumer research platform that uses behavioral targeting based on first-party data, so you can reach verified purchasers and start seeing results in as little as 24 hours. Get it right.

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2022 OmniShopper Awards

We showcase the 21 winning campaigns — across 13 categories — that engaged shoppers and drove results.

2022 Women of Excellence

We recognize 36 female brand marketers, retailers, agency executives and solution providers for their achievements in influencing shoppers along the path to purchase.

FEATURES 42 62

Special Report: The Impact of Visual Content

Our exclusive research shows how consumers are interacting with images on Amazon, other retailer websites and social media. (In collaboration with Vizit.)

Path to Purchase Institute magazine (USPS 4568, ISSN 2688-4984) is published bi-monthly by EnsembleIQ, 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60631. Subscription rate for the U.S.: $80 one year; $155 two year; $14 single issue copy (pre-paid only); Canada and Mexico: $105 one year; $185 two year; $16 single issue copy (pre-paid only); Foreign: $115 one year; $215 two year; $16 single issue copy (pre-paid only); $56. Periodical postage paid at Chicago, IL 60631 Copyright 2022 by EnsembleIQ. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Path to Purchase Institute magazine, 8550 W. Bryn Mawr Ave. Ste. 200, Chicago, IL 60631.

That’s a Wrap

With the New Year just around the corner, I feel compelled to reflect on all the changes, successes, challenges and surprises of the last year — both here at the Path to Purchase Institute (P2PI) and across the commerce marketing industry.

We’ve seen fluctuations in the pandemic (from January’s omicron variant surge to a bit of reprieve and fading to the background this fall), which have continued to impact shopper behavior in both expected and unexpected ways. E-commerce is still going strong, but consumers are returning to in-store shopping in droves, reinforcing the need for integrated marketing efforts that connect with hybrid shoppers along every point on the path to purchase. The year has brought economic volatility and uncertainty, inflationary pressure and the rise of emerging forms of commerce (think social/shoppable media, metaverse, Web3, etc.) for marketers to deal with. And, perhaps most exceptionally, the continued proliferation of retail media is still coming in hot.

The year has brought economic volatility and uncertainty, inflationary pressure and the rise of emerging forms of commerce. And, perhaps most exceptionally, the continued proliferation of retail media is still coming in hot.

For P2PI, 2022 brought a whirlwind of transformation as we realigned our brand to keep pace with our industry, members and readers. With that came everything from a refreshed logo, integrated website and magazine name to brand-new, inperson events, newsletters, membership exclusives and more. Behind the scenes, our team spent countless hours reimagining our offerings so that we could continue to serve the evolving needs of our audience. It’s been amazing to see it all come to fruition over the course of the last 12 months — a slow burn, step by step, one foot in front of the other. All those changes along the way have fi nally culminated into a massive, overarching metamorphosis. And we have so much more planned for 2023 (hint: a new video series, monthly newsletter and podcast, to name just a few items from next year’s lineup).

In this edition of P2PI Magazine, we are proud to close out the year on a high note by honoring some of the standout individuals and innovative campaigns — via our annual Women of Excellence Awards and the OmniShopper Awards — that have helped fuel the fi res of industry transformation.

On page 42, you can get to know the 36 executives who make up this year’s Women of Excellence across five categories. And on page 18, you can dive into the 21 winning campaigns that rose to the top as winners in the second annual OmniShopper Awards.

As we wrap up 2022, I want to thank you for being a part of our community of commerce marketers. We can’t wait to connect you, inspire you and propel your businesses (and careers) forward in the New Year. Cheers to 2023!

JESSIE DOWD, Editorial Director

Reframing the Planning Process

HERE ARE FOUR QUESTIONS BRANDS SHOULD USE TO ENSURE STRATEGIC GROWTH.

BY MICHELLE BAUMANN

The annual planning process is a time of year when we rethink previous approaches, promising not to make the same mistakes again. Typically, we lament aggressive timelines yet spend hours combing through secondary research to build our strategic approach. And still, we likely only get to surfacelevel audiences, targeted with non-category-specific learnings, that we refer to as “insights.”

What if we approach planning differently then? Systematically leveraging available data sources can increase efficiency and category specificity. But identifying the right data sets, and knowing how and where to involve them, remains a challenge.

Reframing your planning process against the following four key questions enables a consistent approach, while still leaving room to explore human truths and creativity in execution for brands to win their rightful share.

1. Who is the consumer? Build a set of consumer/audience profi les that serve as lanes to journey down at greater depth. Start by investigating your core consumer — both current and potential targets. The current consumer is often where marketers focus, but digging into potential consumers creates new messaging opportunities — and inroads for greater incremental growth. Data sources like MRI Simmons, Global Web Index and other proprietary agency fi rst-party platforms can form the basis of understanding for demographics, psychographics, lifestyle habits and then media touchpoints. These sources also help size current and potential audiences and dollar potentials.

What does the consumer say? Layer on learning from social listening tools like Infegy and Brandwatch, plus ratings and reviews, to get unfiltered, qualitative consumer perspectives at scale. Round out consumer profiles with qualitative research methods, such as focus groups, one-on-one interviews or shopper intercepts, to uncover preferences, attitudes and usages at a deeper level. This helps brands see various consumption moments, and which categories/ brands they consider versus ultimately use for each occasion. Understanding what was ultimately consumed, what was considered and why brands did or didn’t win helps us build winning strategies.

— Michelle Baumann ,

Commerce

3.

How does our consumer shop? The consumer and shopper aren’t necessarily the same individual, although we often use the terms interchangeably. For example, while Gen Z is a muchcoveted cohort for current marketers, only one-third of Gen Z shoppers are 19-plus years old and act as the primary shopper for their households. The other two-thirds are consumers who heavily influence the actual shopper (i.e., a parent). Investigating the shopper that corresponds with key consumer groups helps answer questions like: What’s in the basket? What’s the average trip frequency and trip type for this shopper? Where are they shopping and cross-shopping in terms of retailers and channels? Comparisons in shopping behavior can identify gaps, ultimately unlocking ways to fi ll them.

4.

Why buy? Finally, once we know the who (consumer or shopper), the what and the how, the final step is to get at the whys and why nots. Proprietary quantitative research studies can dig into these whys (triggers) and why nots (barriers) to category or brand usage today at scale. By creating look-alike segments against your initial consumer/ shopper targets in your research study, you can tie together the above questions to clearly view your target and uncover ways to win. It’s important to discover unmet needs at a foundational level for any given consumer/shopper group, to strategically build the right moments, timing and messaging as you move to campaign execution throughout the year.

Using the insights from these questions will ensure one cohesive, strategic growth plan driving better outcomes for your category and brand.

About the Author

Michelle Baumann is the chief strategy officer at VMLY&R Commerce. In her role, she has supported the transformation of the business with the creation of a next-generation strategy team, uniting the agency’s brand experience and marketing sciences teams under a single capability to create a collaborative, holistic insights team.

2.

Reframing your planning process against the following four key questions enables a consistent approach, while still leaving room to explore human truths and creativity in execution for brands to win their rightful share.

VMLY&R

FOCUS: Retail Media

The Promise of Retail Media

KROGER PRECISION MARKETING EXECUTIVE DISCUSSES THE FUTURE OF RETAIL MEDIA AND MEASUREMENT — AND HOW EVEN FIRST-PARTY DATA GETS OLD.

BY CYNDI LOZA

October marked the five-year anniversary of the launch of Kroger’s retailer media network, Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM). The Path to Purchase Institute recently chatted with Cara Pratt, senior vice president at KPM, to discuss the state of retailer media networks, data and measurement, and advice for marketers getting into the retail media game.

P2PI: You helped launch KPM in 2017. What was it like in the beginning versus today?

Pratt: The world has changed in five years. People shop differently, work differently and consume media differently. We started our retail media offering as a small, passionate team with expected retail media products. Today, we have hundreds of colleagues influencing a suite of top-rated, full-funnel retail media solutions that thousands of brands are investing in to deliver business impact. Our media capabilities touch every point of the shopping journey — most recently adding programmatic connected TV (CTV) into our self-serve portfolio.

P2PI: Considering the rise of e-commerce grocery adoption, fueled by the pandemic, and Google’s plan to end third-party cookie tracking, is retail media just table stakes now for brand marketers?

Pratt: Yes, retail media is foundational for marketers. It goes beyond the digital shelf, which is increasingly important — even for influencing in-store sales — and into influencing equity and inspiration off retail properties. Put simply, retail media is shaping new and higher performance standards in brand advertising. Marketers have always wanted their advertising to be more effective and less wasteful. Now, retail media makes that possible by influencing the right households and then measuring sales impact. You can strike the right balance for media efficiency and effectiveness — and now more than ever, it’s critical to do so.

P2PI: Limited access to data and reporting is the biggest challenge brand marketers are facing with retail media. Do you expect this to improve or will it be dependent on the network?

Pratt: It will vary depending on the capabilities of the retailer. There is a reason eMarketer has declared retail media as the third wave of digital advertising, and that’s because of the accountability we can bring forward assessing media impact. No doubt there’s an opportunity to establish standards for measurement practices centered on business outcomes (i.e., sales incrementality and household penetration gains) as an important bridge beyond the media metrics evaluated today.

We have been focused on influencing this change and elevating practices in the industry since we launched KPM five years ago. With our popular loyalty program that connects to 96% of sales, we have a rich view of consumer behavior and a direct way to measure impact of advertisements. For example, marketers using our programmatic private marketplace receive daily sales results so they can optimize campaigns against in-store sales. The connectivity with brands will only get better from here.

P2PI: Can you share some campaign success stories? What are the ingredients needed to create a great retail media campaign?

Pratt: What has been exciting for us is seeing how our data science can be applied to helping brands grow beyond existing shoppers. For example, today 42% of people clicking on Kroger product listing ads are new to the brand. And the impact of our data science extends beyond our own e-commerce property. We’ve been working with Roku for over two years — allowing advertisers to tap our data science for audience targeting and measurement. On average, advertisers using our data on Roku see a 5.7% median sales uplift and 8.1% median household uplift.

As for ingredients, it’s important to recognize that not all data is created equal. Even firstparty data gets old. Data can be narrow, stale, unstructured. It’s important to have highly curated and collected data in standard formats that is current, expansive (spans categories, brands, attributes) and predictive. It’s equally important to have strong practices in how data is analyzed; humans can’t decipher the best combinations of variables — machine learning is necessary.

Editor’s Note: The full, extended version of this interview is available on P2PI.com. And be on the lookout for our new video series, “Retail Media Unplugged,” debuting in 2023!

Reach Loyal CVS® Customers

CVS Media Exchange™ leverages purchase behavior data from our 78 Million Loyal ExtraCare® customers to deliver targeted, relevant campaigns that glean actionable insights and drive results.

Online vs. Offline Shopping

AS CONSUMER BEHAVIORS AND THE STATE OF RETAIL CONTINUE TO EVOLVE, RESEARCH SHOWS HOW AND WHERE TO REACH AND INFLUENCE SHOPPERS.

BY JACQUELINE BARBA

Recent research from Bazaarvoice shows that the line between online and offl ine shopping continues to blur. Based on a survey of more than 6,000 shoppers around the world and more than 400 retailers, the company shared the following key takeaways:

• Most consumers seek out multiple touchpoints when making a purchase decision.

• Shoppers are influencing other shoppers through usergenerated content (UGC) at all stages in the purchase journey, with social media playing an increasingly important role in discovery, research and conversion.

• Two-thirds of consumers prefer omnichannel shopping. Sixty-six percent of shoppers said they feel happiest with a hybrid of both in-store and online shopping, while 25% said in-store and 8% said online.

• A generational gap in behavior exists. Most consumers ages 25-34 enjoy a hybrid of shopping methods (75%), and just over half (56%) of those ages 65 and older prefer a mix of both in-store and online.

• Almost two-thirds of shoppers use their smartphone instore to look at price comparisons (69%), product reviews (60%), advice from friends/family (33%) and product demonstrations (30%).

• Shopper voices and verified reviews power commerce. UGC makes up seven of the top 10 types of research shoppers prefer to utilize before buying (e.g., product ratings, written reviews from verified buyers, expert reviews, questions and answers, recommendations from friends/family, shopper photos of the product and visual reviews from verified buyers).

• Online research is universal. Both online (79%) and in-store (59%) shoppers conduct research online prior to purchasing.

• Social media increasingly influences shoppers. One in five consumers shop on social media, including via Facebook Shops (41%), influencers’ Instagram Stories (37%) and sponsored ads on Instagram (36%).

TikTok’s Growing Influence

Another social platform influencing consumers is shortform video sharing app TikTok, which reportedly registered its billionth user last year and is estimated to grow to 1.8 billion users by the end of 2022.

“TikTok is no longer the channel for teenage dance

Quarterly Global Consumer Spend in TikTok

$900M $800M $700M $600M $500M $400M $300M $200M $100M

37%

of TikTok users have a household income of $100k+

Source: Zaza Digital TikTok Consumer Spend

challenges as people tend to believe,” said Vladimir Bestic, CEO and founder of TikTok ad agency Zaza Digital, in a news release. “It has become the most powerful advertising channel because of its explosive user growth and high levels of consumer spending and engagement.”

Some recent research fi ndings outlined by Zaza Digital indicate that:

• TikTok is not just for connecting to a younger audience. More than 55% of users are 25 or older while 37.90% are 35 and older.

• In the U.S., the number of users has risen to 186 million, or 56% of the population.

• As for consumer spending, 37% of users have a household income of more than $100,000 and 9.6% have less than $25,000.

• Users are highly engaged, spending an average of 45.8 minutes on the app per day.

• Hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt currently has 15.7 billion views on millions of videos where people showcase products they bought on TikTok.

• TikTok Ads can be cheaper than other social platforms, with a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) just above $6 versus $12.57 for Facebook ads.

• According to Statista, TikTok generated $4 billion in advertising revenue in 2021, a figure that is expected to double by 2024 and triple by 2026.

- Commerce Marketer for a Global CPG Company

To learn how Marilyn can help you make better decisions, create connected experiences and deliver stronger results, visit meetmarilyn.ai

“ ”

The amount of programming we’re measuring is probably 4-5x what we were measuring before and we’re probably measuring it in about 1/3 of the time.

Convenience Across Channels

PEPSICO’S KATE GARNER EXPLAINS HOW THE COMPANY USES DATA TO BETTER HELP SHOPPERS.

BY CHARLIE MENCHACA

Shoppers no longer confi ne their quick trips exclusively to convenience stores. Instead, they are utilizing all channels for this shopping occasion, says Kate Garner, senior vice president of marketing at PepsiCo’s Demand Accelerator.

In this Q&A, Garner shares how shopping behavior has evolved and what her organization is doing to meet the moment.

P2PI: What are PepsiCo’s data and insights resources saying about the current state of the shopper?

Garner: Everything we do at PepsiCo is rooted in consumer trends. Through Pepviz, our proprietary data practice, we bring together real-time data and analytics coupled with industry expertise to assess the holistic shopping behavior of retail consumers across channels. We then share these insights with our retail partners, so they can make data-driven decisions. With such increased competition, it’s crucial that retailers understand the needs and motivations of their consumers and cater to those effectively.

We currently see shoppers falling into six categories: engaged enthusiasts, health-focused shoppers, price-sensitive shoppers, habitual shoppers, infrequent indulgers and lastresort shoppers. Each shopper possesses a unique set of needs. Given these insights, we are laser-focused on innovating around these consumer needs and working with our retail partners to optimize their business to meet consumers without sacrificing choice.

P2PI: What role does artificial intelligence (AI) play when you assess your brand elasticity?

Garner: We take a consumer-centric approach, leveraging AI and various other data collection methods to assess opportunities for growth and innovation across our brands. Since this gives us a complete view of consumer behavior, we are able to understand the wants and needs of our consumers. We use that information to make strategic decisions for our brands when it comes to partnerships and expansions.

P2PI: What are some recent innovative product offerings from PepsiCo?

Garner: We strategically innovate in accordance with consumer needs. This has led us to invest in and create various

new food and beverage offerings this year to add to PepsiCo’s already vast portfolio. Recently, we announced Fast Twitch, which is the first-ever caffeinated energy drink from the makers of Gatorade. It features 200 milligrams of caffeine, electrolytes and B vitamins to help athletes prepare for physical activity and ignite performance.

“Hot & Spicy” continues to be the largest and fastest-growing segment across PepsiCo’s salty portfolio. We’re continuing to launch new innovations in that category that we expect to strongly resonate with Gen Z’s diverse palate.

Finally, we plan to make Doritos Sweet Tangy BBQ a fulltime offering in 2023.

P2PI: How can retail media networks enhance CPG/ retailer partnerships?

Garner: Retail media networks can play a role in fostering and growing CPG/retailer partnerships by giving brands and retailers a platform to connect with consumers and optimize their relationships with them. Through our Pepviz insights, we found that 61% of consumers’ media time was spent in digital channels last year. Due to digital media’s accessibility, consumers expect a more personalized experience, with 87% of them saying it’s important to buy from brands or retailers that understand them. At PepsiCo, we partner with retailer media networks to enhance their media and data capabilities by identifying opportunities and scaling audiences, ultimately driving ROI.

P2PI: How are you using data to satisfy consumer preferences in the convenience retail channel?

Garner: We can identify consumer behavior and shopping preferences through Pepviz. Then we empower our retailers with that information to effectively cater to different shopper segments, optimize e-commerce options and drive customer growth.

Currently, we see a transformation in the quick-trip segment as consumers diversify their shopping channels, seeking anything that can offer them a fast, simple and frictionless experience. We’ve taken a close look at the different types of quick-trip shoppers and their corresponding motivations and preferences for factors such as daypart, checkout experience, e-commerce and more.

We are equipping retailers with the actionable insights and tools needed to turn data into growth solutions.

Inside XMarket

THE VEGAN BODEGA CONCEPT IS TAPPING INTO THE GROWING HEALTH-CONSCIOUS CONSUMER SEGMENT, OFFERING ONLY PLANT-BASED PRODUCTS.

BY JACQUELINE BARBA

PlantX Life, a Canadian plant-based food and lifestyle startup that also operates an e-commerce platform, officially debuted its XMarket retail concept this past July in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood after quietly opening months prior with order fulfi llment. It is PlantX’s second store in the U.S. and sixth location globally.

The Path to Purchase Institute visited the 6,000-square-foot vegan bodega, which was rebranded from a Peter Rubi grocery store after being acquired by PlantX. Located at the floor level of a high-rise apartment complex, the store sells only plant-based products and employs few associates.

At the time of our visit, the store was under construction, notably reducing the size of the retail area. The store’s product assortment includes pantry items, packaged home goods like cleaning supplies, health and wellness products such as protein powders, a liquor assortment, and refrigerated beverage and food items via multiple cooler displays.

One entrance was closed due to construction, so all shoppers entered through a side door to fi nd one associate-assisted checkout lane next to two self-checkout lanes in the front of the store. (Another two are located in the back.) A four-way display near the checkout stocks individual impulse-buy and grab-andgo options, including snacks and candles.

Behind the checkout area, the store offers a self-serve vegan ice cream machine next to a rack of boxes doling out single packages of chocolate candies on one side. On the other side, a small section of freezers stocks frozen goods.

A few aisles stock dry goods, and include endcaps dedicated to product categories, such as teas and coffee as well as pasta sauces.

In the back, a long, refrigerated wall display features vegan milk brands and a wide array of individual beverage options, such as Kombucha and unique wellness drinks from emerging brands.

While the store is full of national brand products, there wasn’t much branded marketing activity — at least not yet. We spotted a single wall display comprising case stacks and individual cartons of Just Water, affi xed with two paper signs touting a slightly lower price than at other stores.

While PlantX is hoping to expand the XMarket footprint in the U.S. in the future, this location is also growing. A store associate told us the idea is to keep the retail market portion small — with the addition of a plant-based meat counter in partnership with Very Good Butchers — and to build a food hall on the other side with permanent vendors, 300+ seats and a full-service bar.

C M Y CM MY CY CMY K

Honoring the Year’s Best Campaigns for Shopper Engagement

BY MICHAEL APPLEBAUM

The Path to Purchase Institute, in partnership with presenting sponsor 84.51, unveiled the winners of the second annual OmniShopper Awards on Oct. 20 at P2PI LIVE in Chicago. The OmniShopper Awards program is the only program designed to recognize excellence in shopper engagement across the entire path to purchase, from newer tools like retail media networks and social commerce activations to traditional methods such as in-store displays and on-shelf signage. The program shines a spotlight on the effective activation of touchpoints both separately and as part of more comprehensive campaigns designed to reach shoppers at all stages of their purchase journey.

There were 21 winning campaigns in 13 categories this year. Read on for details about the 2022 winners …

COLLABORATIVE: BRAND-RETAILER (Long-Term Partnership)

Campaign: Skittles Pride It Forward at Walmart Brand: Skittles (Mars Wrigley) Retail Partner: Walmart Agency/Solution Provider: The Mars Agency

Director,

Barilla

Skittles prides itself on being the favorite candy brand of Gen Z consumers, nearly three in four of whom believe that brands have a responsibility to stand up for social causes. Notably, LGBTQ rights are considered a top-five issue among this group.

Skittles’ annual “Pride It Forward” campaign at Walmart began in 2020 as a way for the Mars Wrigley brand to celebrate Pride month and allow the colors of the Pride rainbow flag to take center stage. A limited-edition Skittles Pride Pack with gray-scale packaging and all-gray candies was the centerpiece of a partnership that included a $1 donation with each Skittles purchase (up to $100,000) to GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy organization.

Although the inaugural campaign achieved strong results, some shoppers were confused as to why Skittles packages were missing their iconic rainbow colors. In year two, the Skittles brand team worked with six LGBTQ artists to design original Pride packages to be sold nationally in place of the all-gray designs, while Walmart spotlighted the package design from artist Mia Saine for exclusive content and artwork showcases. Her work was featured in the retailer’s online advertising and on a brand page (Walmart.com/ SkittlesPride), where visitors could learn more about the artists and advocacy program.

In 2021, Walmart more than tripled chainwide distribution to 4,700 locations and provided incremental added-value digital media on Walmart.com. In 2022, the retailer worked with the Mars Wrigley team to drive stronger engagement with its own associates. The 2022 program was on track to surpass the previous year’s total of 577 million shopper impressions, which contributed heavily to the 1.5 billion total impressions of the national program. `

Stephen Bettencourt Executive Director Retail Insights CVS Health

Joseph Vizcarra Vice President, Customer Marketing, Walmart/Sam’s Club Coca-Cola

Patty Vukanovich Senior Customer Marketing Manager, Off-Premise Molson Coors Beverage Company

THANKS TO OUR JUDGES!

Rodney

Waights Vice President, Shopper & Customer Marketing USA Beiersdorf

Debbie

Zefting

Shopper Strategy and Engagement

What’s in Store for Omnichannel Retail?

84.51° HAS THE KNOWLEDGE YOU NEED NOW TO MEET CONSUMERS WHERE THEY ARE SHOPPING.

By Barbara Connors, 84.51°

Consumers are grocery shopping online more than ever. The path to purchase continues to evolve as omnichannel shoppers have warmed to the convenience of filling their digital shopping carts at home, then either going to the store for pickup or scheduling a delivery.

At 84.51°, we leverage our deep understanding of consumer and purchase behavior, both in-store and online, to uncover insights into the new hybrid shopper and build actionable strategies for growth.

Introducing the Hybrid Shopper

Hybrid shopping refers to consumers who use both e-commerce and in-store shopping modes to get their groceries, although not necessarily in the same trip. Hybrid shopping has been growing in popularity over the past several years, spurred by the convenience of e-commerce. However, consumers exist across a spectrum of adoption — from the Digital Dabblers who still go in-store for the majority of their trips, to the Digital Champs who now go online 75% of the time.

E-Commerce Enables Grocery Shopping to Fit in

our Lives in New Ways

As more shoppers integrate e-commerce into shopping routines, they are developing stronger preferences about what trip missions they prefer to complete in-store vs. online. In-store still holds the first-place spot as the preferred method of fulfilling the “main grocery” trip among hybrid shoppers, but with a slim margin.

Many Are Still Going In-Store to Round Out

Online Baskets

When pickup shoppers visit the store on the same day as placing an online order, four out of 10 say they’ve done so because they forgot to add something to their online cart.

However, the more comfortable an online shopper gets, the less likely they are to need to go in-store. The percentage of online orders accompanied by an in-store visit drops from 26% among Digital Dabblers to a mere 7% among Digital Champs. This highlights the importance of consumer confidence in driving adoption.

E-Commerce and In-Store Are Leveraged for Different Trip Types

Digital Touchpoints Influence the Majority of Shoppers — Especially Around the Holidays

Digitally influenced shoppers appreciate the ease and convenience of digital coupons. And shoppers utilize digital coupons even more during the holidays compared to the rest of the year, as shown here. Brands and retailers have an opportunity to give consumers the gift of inspiration and value through e-commerce experiences this holiday season.

Living large online: The “main grocery trip” rules. While people shop in-store for a variety of trip needs, e-commerce is predominately leveraged for stock-up trips. Nearly eight out of 10 online orders for pickup, and 65% of online delivery orders are now large-cart buys (18-plus items), compared to only 30% of in-store transactions.

Small e-commerce baskets often fill urgent needs. When shoppers do make small pickup and delivery orders, they are often to fulfill very specific household needs. Small pickup orders tend to include baby essentials, such as formula, diapers and wipes. Small delivery orders often comprise either family/household essentials or entertaining essentials, such as baby items, pet food, toilet paper, alcohol, beauty products and flowers.

Omnichannel Insights = Omnichannel Opportunities

Omnichannel grocery shopping is in a pivotal growth moment. Now is the time to understand how evolving shopping behavior is impacting your consumers and brands, while also developing products and experiences that meet consumers where they’re shopping today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: As vice president of strategy and acceleration for 84.51°, Barbara Connors is an innovator, problem solver and strategist for Kroger and many of the most recognizable consumer packaged goods companies in the global grocery retail industry. She is responsible for long-range innovation planning and near-term, go-to-market strategy for 84.51° Insights. Connors brings customer-centric thought leadership to the industry and supports acceleration of 84.51°’s entire alternative profit portfolio by driving strategic alignment between Kroger and 84.51°’s 1,000-plus CPG clients.

Download our omnichannel whitepaper to read the complete report.

COLLABORATIVE: BRAND-RETAILER (Single Activation)

Campaign: SPK Mystery at Circle K

Brand: Sour Patch Kids (Mondelez International)

Retail Partner: Circle K

Agency/Solution Provider: Phoenix Creative

Campaign: CVS Positively Real

Brand: Dove (Unilever)

Retail Partner: CVS Pharmacy

Agency/Solution Provider: Arc Worldwide

In the spring of 2021, the lingering influence of the pandemic was dampening sales and foot traffic at convenience stores. At the same time, Mondelez International’s Sour Patch Kids (SPK) brand was facing stiff competition from other nonchocolate candy brands in a crowded environment.

With overlapping Gen Z and Millennial core consumers, Sour Patch Kids and Circle K developed a mystery-themed “Secret Circle” program to engage shoppers at Circle K stores. The promotional centerpiece featured a mystery flavor Sour Patch Kids pack with a limited-edition SPK mystery flavor Polar Pop in a buy one, get one for $1 combo available only at Circle K.

Notoriously averse to traditional marketing, Gen Z and Millennials found a compelling twist in the Circle K program. SPK Mystery-themed creative invited every shopper to guess the mystery flavor, blanketing stores on signage, gas pumps, exterior signs, window clings, fountain beverage machines, shelf talkers and front-counter mats.

Meanwhile, “LIFT” checkout screens featured awareness media and an upsell offer to add SPK to the basket. Consumers could also earn points with SPK purchases and redeem them for prizes in a sweepstakes contest. In addition, a national geo-targeted digital program with high-impact ad placements and mystery-themed creative helped reach onthe-go shoppers.

The Secret Circle at Circle K program generated impressive sell-through and incremental sales that were well above expectations for both Sour Patch Kids and the overall category.

CVS’ beauty and personal care trips have been declining for some time, in part because shoppers primarily associate the retailer with health, a perception further fueled by the pandemic. In fact, 78% of CVS shoppers’ annual spend in the beauty and personal care categories is not at CVS.

Unilever’s Dove brand set out to change this dynamic at CVS. The brand’s research uncovered a crisis in confidence among CVS shoppers, who faced a challenge in consistently expressing positive self-esteem. On the flip side, simple selfcare activities like showering or styling hair could counteract self-consciousness, with 83% saying they feel more confident when they participate in a beauty or self-care routine.

“Positively Real” was based on the idea that Dove’s shampoo, deodorant and body wash products could be used as tools to empower self-love. The campaign celebrated the beauty of unretouched models in its creative and encouraged consumers to post and share unfiltered photos, using the hashtag #DovePositivelyReal. Social media micro-influencers promoted a Self-Love sweepstakes and linked their posts to a custom CVS Brand Shop page on CVS.com.

Digital CVS circular ads and off-site/on-site CVS media drove e-commerce traffic to the online environment. In stores, eye-catching endcaps and shelf-talkers engaged shoppers with positive mantras like “confident and capable” and “I can and I will” that were featured across all campaign touchpoints.

Dove portfolio sales exceeded expectations for the program, up 18.1% in unit sales, while display was secured in a total of 1,620 CVS stores. Positively Real generated a total of 11,148,026 impressions, driving increased engagement of both Dove products and the overall beauty category.

DIGITAL: DIGITAL MEDIA ACTIVATION (Non-Retail Media)

Campaign: Mazda Retail Go-To-Market

Brand: Mazda Retail Partner: Mazda dealerships Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

Campaign: Demogorgon Surprise

Brand: Energizer Retail Partners: Amazon, Walmart, Target Agency/Solution Provider: Grey

For the past three years, Mazda’s overarching business goal has been to sell more cars with less marketing investment. Part of its strategy to increase marketing effectiveness and efficiency was to leverage first-party data in order to improve ad targeting across the shopper journey.

Working with The Trade Desk, Mazda curated audiences using data from MazdaUSA.com and passed the information to dealer websites to enable retargeting. It also used the data to model first-party lookalikes that strengthened the quality of leads among “intender” Mazda buyers. Those audiences were served messages at the start of their journey, vehicle attributes mid-journey and conversion-driving offers latejourney, effectively pushing them down to the dealer. This dramatically improved the quality of the traffic hitting dealers’ physical and digital showrooms, leading to much higher sales and greater marketing efficiency.

In addition, by minimizing duplication between brand and dealer marketing, Mazda successfully expanded reach and message frequency to new prospects. The company prioritized engaging audiences on CTV devices to establish Mazda’s presence and to enter the customer consideration set, leveraging digital video/audio and paid social to increase campaign reach and frequency, and to maximize the use of Mazda first-party audience.

Participating dealers in the “Retail Go-To-Market” program reported 35% higher increase in year-over-year sales than non-participating dealers, while dealer media activity became eight times more efficient from piloting to roll out. Dealer engagement increased, and within one full year (September 2020 to August 2021), $24 million in total dealer funds had been redeployed into the Mazda ecosystem.

To capitalize on the excitement of “Stranger Things” season four, Energizer launched a limited-edition Demogorgon hunting flashlight, named after the underworld creature from the original season of the Netflix drama-horror series. The collector’s item became the focal point in a digital/social campaign that encouraged shoppers to “Hunt Demogorgons.”

Energizer leveraged “Stranger Things” fandom with teasers for the show delivered across social media and e-commerce sites, including Amazon, Walmart and Target. Flashlight performance standards for both basic and enhanced creative were turned into “Dungeons & Dragons” stats; unique “Stranger Things” elements were served up as challenges; and season-related benefits were playfully executed. Those teasers’ interactivity got people talking, exploring and sharing their new collector’s items.

Energizer relied on user-generated content to drive awareness and sales both in store and online. Creative was designed to answer questions and tease moments in the upcoming season to encourage fans to share their experiences with the community on sites like Instagram, TikTok and Reddit. Fans created, sought out and engaged with this content, piling up organic impressions and driving exceptional results for the campaign.

Energizer sold all 4,000 units within the first 4-6 weeks after launch, which led to out of stocks on Amazon due to the high sell-through. Thousands of user-generated stories and millions of social impressions and engagements were created during the campaign.

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DIGITAL: MOBILE ACTIVATION

Campaign: Nature Valley Adventure Quarters

Brand: Nature Valley (General Mills)

Retail Partners: Kroger and affiliates

Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

DIGITAL: RETAIL MEDIA ACTIVATION

Campaign: Oreo Pokemon Adventure at Target

Brand: Oreo (Mondelez International)

Retail Partner: Target Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

Nature Valley granola bars had been experiencing sales declines at Kroger stores since 2019. One of Nature Valley’s longtime partners, The National Parks System, was also seeing its lowest visitation numbers since 2015, with Park attendance down 25%.

To gain relevancy with modern families and tap into the desire of Kroger shoppers to bring more adventure into their lives, Nature Valley created a first-of-its-kind, commerceenabled experience leveraging a historic U.S. Mint initiative: The America the Beautiful quarters collection. The unexpected partnership turned 19 billion everyday money pieces into savings on a favorite snack brand, Nature Valley, and outdoor adventures at 56 of America’s National Parks.

Kroger shoppers were driven by omnichannel media to an AI-powered experience on AdventureQuarters.com, where they could scan any one of their special-edition America the Beautiful quarters found in their pockets or coin jars at home. The quarters acted as tokens allowing users to engage with an interactive map to learn about the National Parks, to enter to win a National Park pass to promote tourism and conservation, and to obtain a discount on their favorite Nature Valley products at Kroger and affiliate grocery retailers.

Surrounding media consisted of 11 separate touchpoints ranging from Kroger emails and exclusive coupon offers to TV retargeting, animated paid social, travel-focused influencers, animated mobile display ads, and in-store print signage with a scannable QR code.

Nature Valley saw a 26% increase in dollar sales lift at Kroger stores during the eight-week campaign (April to May 2022), which facilitated close to 300 new trips to visit the National Parks, more than 50% more people than the campaign goal.

In 2021, consumers were still craving Oreos during times of comfort, but were increasingly looking for ways to reconnect with people and have fun. Mondelez International needed to develop an e-commerce play for Oreo’s Pokemon partnership at Target that could leverage the nostalgia and crossgenerational love of the brands while driving sales of online sales of limited-edition Pokemon Oreo packs at Target.com.

“Oreo Pokemon Adventure” played into the iconic videogame’s “catch ’em all” mentality by using animated social posts to tease the 16 different Pokemon characters — which came emblazoned on the package and embossed on each Oreo cookie — that could be “captured” by purchasing multiple packs of Oreos as part of the limited-edition launch.

At the same time, Target’s Bullseye banner ads drove shoppers to a custom Pokemon microsite and harnessed the power of nostalgia by asking them to take part in a quiz to gauge their Pokemon expertise. Additionally, Roundel media served animated ads on both Facebook and Snapchat that asked viewers to guess which Pokemon embossment was featured on the Oreo cookies. These targeted ads drove shoppers to the product listing on Target.com where they could add direct to cart for themselves or for their kids.

Limited-edition Pokemon Oreo cookies achieved $255,000 in e-commerce sales during week one, with 31.5% of all sales online, which was more than nine times higher than the next SKU in the cookie category. Pokemon Oreo eclipsed Game of Thrones Oreo as the highest one-week dollar sales total for any snack item ever at Target.

DIGITAL: SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVATION

Campaign: Allegra #LiveYourGreatness Sweepstakes

Brand: Allegra (Sanofi)

Agency/Solution Providers: PureRED, Havas, Lippe Taylor

In fall 2021, Allegra launched a new campaign platform, “Live Your Greatness,” which showcased allergy sufferers feeling unrestricted and living on their own terms. For spring 2022, PureRED recommended extending the platform to include a sweepstakes contest that could significantly increase consumer engagement and sales.

The #LiveYourGreatness promotion encouraged users to post a picture or video on Instagram and Twitter platforms that showed off their “greatness” outdoors without allergies holding them back. Sweepstakes participants (on AllegraLYGSweeps.com) entered the tags #LiveYourGreatness and #AllegraSweeps for chances to win weekly first prizes or the grand-prize trip anywhere in the continental U.S., up to $10,000, and first prizes for outdoor related e-gift cards from participating merchants such as Visa, Amazon, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s Columbia Sportswear, Dick’s Sporting Goods and REI.

The promotion targeted current users and competitive category buyers for whom the #LiveYourGreatness sweepstakes would fulfill their desire to share how they are unencumbered by allergies and are living their greatness every day. Multiple advertising and promotion channels were utilized to build awareness of the sweepstakes, including social media, online videos, display ads, social influencers, broadcast TV tags, paid search and national FSIs.

Allegra’s #LiveYourGreatness sweepstakes was an effective complement to the brand’s existing marketing program and contributed to a 7.4% year-over-year sales lift. The promotion exceeded all major KPIs, which included 238,000 microsite visits, 4,330 sweepstakes entries and a total of 1 million brand engagements.

DIGITAL: MASS MEDIA ACTIVATION

Campaign: Oreo Stuf Scan

Brand: Oreo (Mondelez International)

Retail Partner: Target Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

Mondelez International needed to reverse the recent dip in Oreo sales and overall cookie category consumption at Target. Determined to re-engage Gen Z and Millennial shoppers with young children, it landed on a central theme “to take back Oreo” via an augmented reality (AR) experience.

“Oreo Stuf Scan” reinforced the idea that Oreo owned black-and-white iconography in popular culture. Here’s how it worked: Shoppers were invited to go to StufScan.com and upload images of black-and-white items (namely, the Oreo-inspired sneakers that Oreo cheekily says have been “hijacked” from the brand) in order to unlock a QR code for a fun AR experience that included a digital coupon offer for a 2-for-1 purchase of packs of Oreo cookies.

The experience was promoted through targeted push notifications and on-site/off-site Roundel display and search banners to drive awareness. An out-of-home billboard including a QR code also promoted the Stuff Scan experience. Influencers drove awareness on Instagram and TikTok and linked to the experience from their content, while paid social ads amplified the program.

The campaign resulted in increased Oreo sales and overall cookie category sales at Target. The offer redemption rate was over 50% during the promotional period, and the mobile push notification resulted in 29,000 engagements (nearly 2% above benchmark). The microsite received one view every 15 minutes throughout the duration of the campaign. Influencers saw an engagement rate of 13.4%, with 31,000 engagements.

IN-STORE MARKETING: DIGITAL ACTIVATION

Campaign: Make The Trade

Brand: MilkPEP (Milk Processor Education Program)

Retailer Partners: Various Agency/Solution Provider: The Mars Agency

IN-STORE MARKETING: ON-SHELF CAMPAIGN

Campaign: A Publicly Pubic Story

Brand: Gillette Venus Feminine Intimate Grooming (Procter & Gamble)

Retail Partners: Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Kroger, Meijer, regional food Agency/Solution Provider: Grey

At the start of 2022, MilkPEP (Milk Processor Education Program) set out to increase fluid dairy milk sales and modernize the perception of milk as a performance beverage for active lifestyles. Needing to stand out on shelf in a sea of non-dairy alternatives, MilkPEP decided to align milk with a modern technology that would appeal to young moms and their kids.

“Make the Trade” welcomed consumers into the futuristic world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a blockchain-powered cultural phenomenon that allows people to “own” digital assets such as videos, GIFs, images and even tweets. Three exclusive NFT cards were developed in partnership with NFL football players and sports card manufacturer Panini, with a unique feature allowing the NFTs to digitally rotate to show more content by employing both sides of the card.

An instant-win game and sweepstakes gave consumers the chance to win the cards by engaging with a dedicated interactive microsite. Activation included on-pack milk labels, in-store shelf signage, mobile push notifications, digital addto-list apps, shopper-rich mobile ads, digital native display ads, and organic and paid social media. Additionally, in-store signage placed in the milk aisle and e-commerce ads on Instacart’s digital shelf helped drive direct conversion.

Milk sales increased by 591 incremental gallons per 1,000 households during the 15-week promotional period. Impressively, 100% of the total sales volume lift reflected increased sales by existing buyers versus new buyers, indicating that households already buying milk were consuming and repurchasing at a much faster rate.

Gillette Venus was launching a new line of razors intended for the pubic area, an aspect of personal grooming that is rarely talked about openly in society. Despite progress in female body positivity, the pubic area is still stigmatized, and most women resort to using slang terms when referencing it.

Thus, in order to secure broad retailer acceptance of the entire product line and drive sales of the products, Venus created an omnichannel campaign to help destigmatize the subject. The brand featured “pube positive” messaging in various channels and platforms, including in-store merchandising, social media posts and optimized digital assets.

Venus also developed a Feminine Intimate Grooming (FIG) toolkit for P-O-P displays and social commerce. Retailers were required to accept the shelf tray and full portfolio of merchandising tools, which allowed the brand to communicate its message and deliver maximum product benefit to the shopper. FIG provided clear messaging at shelf and assisted shoppers within an area not typically discussed in the in-store environment.

Venus FIG was a success on all fronts. The campaign contributed 56% of Venus’s brand growth and 45% of Procter & Gamble’s North America total female shave care growth in calendar year 2021, driven by shelf wins particularly at Walmart and Target. There was broad retailer acceptance nationally of the new FIG regimen.

IN-STORE MARKETING: STORE/AISLE REINVENTION

Campaign: Remember the Birthday Card, You’ll

Be Glad You Did

Brand: American Greetings

Retail Partner: Meijer

Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

Knowing that forgetting to give a greeting card is the No. 1 reason people do not give a card when they want to — and that this happens most often during birthdays — American Greetings wanted to motivate Meijer shoppers to stock up for future birthdays by treating the occasion like a holiday.

In Meijer stores, American Greetings store representatives wore campaign aprons and buttons to stop shoppers in their tracks. Card category endcaps and in-aisle cards were replaced by oversized billboard reminders, while secondary displays in complementary categories reminded shoppers to pair cards with wine, sweet treats and flowers. Finally, aisle violators promoted a limited-time Brand Rewards offer through the Meijer mPerks loyalty platform for shoppers to earn $5 when they spent $20.

Targeted emails promoting the offer and linking to the Meijer.com cards page let shoppers purchase for curbside pickup on their next trip. Social media 15-second video ads linked to a Meijer.com shoppable page; on-site digital banners at Meijer.com linked to an American Greetings shoppable page; and location-based mobile ads reminded shoppers to pick up a birthday card.

American Greetings helped Meijer grow the card category 7.9% more than any other retailer in their market during the birthday campaign. The Brand Reward had 2.8 times the participation than previous mPerks mass one-time offer programs. Painting the store with reminder signage and blanketing the market with media proved successful, as baskets grew to 6.8% over 2019 (the baseline comparison because 2020 foot traffic was down due to the pandemic).

Campaign: Hershey’s Robotic Daypart Endcap

Brand: The Hershey Co.

Retail Partner: Convenience store partners

Agency/Solution Provider: In-Store Experience offer Painting the store with reminder with media proved successful,

Convenience stores (c-stores) are typically open 24 hours, but they have clearly targeted dayparts for specific products. The typical customer doesn’t shop for sweets in the morning or baked goods in the afternoon, yet the stores need to have space for both categories even though they sit dormant for various stretches of the day.

Hershey’s turned to the In-Store Experience team to fi nd a way to satisfy customers with a unique approach to create excitement and engagement, save labor costs and offer valuable space back to the c-store operator. Its solution was a fi rstever robotic endcap with moving shelves presenting different products at different times of the day.

With expertise in electromechanical engineering, In-Store Experience designed a system that swaps shelves of baked goods automatically two times per day. The system was designed to be reliable, safe and easy to maintain. A unique single counterbalanced drivetrain swaps all the shelves slowly and quietly via a custom-engineered microcontroller.

The robotic system serves up the right snack at the right time of day and does it without human interaction. The patent-pending shelf automation system creates twice the merchandising opportunities in a single display footprint. Consumers are drawn to the product variety and bold graphics. Retailers also benefit from the reduced waste of perishable baked goods.

The unique endcap combines two food categories into one footprint, creating more than 18-linear-feet of new usable space for c-store operators. Early results showed that consumers are drawn to the endcap, adding both incremental sales and reduced waste to the bottom line.

IN-STORE MARKETING: PRODUCT DISPLAY (Temporary)

Campaign: Dr. Squatch Walmart Launch Family

Brand: Dr. Squatch

Retail Partner: Walmart Agency/Solution Provider: WestRock

Dr. Squatch is an emerging brand of skin care and hair care products for men. To promote the retail launch of the Dr. Squatch line at Walmart, WestRock needed to create a family of displays that would bring the brand to life for shoppers in the new natural and organic health section of Walmart stores.

Dr. Squatch appeals to the organic shopper and “wildernessinspired” side of male consumers by emphasizing the brand’s all-natural ingredients. The products carry masculine scents and are free from estrogenics, which helps alleviate fears that hormones may be in some of today’s personal care products. Dr. Squatch reinforces its male-dominated message on the shelf with the brand’s tagline “Feel like a man, smell like a champion.”

The main components of the display program were an endcap, power wing, four-way display and an inline shelf display. An impactful corrugated endcap utilized humorous elements from the brand’s video ads for strong visual appeal. Walmart allowed Dr Squatch a 48-inch inline section in the category, and WestRock designed a permanent unit that replicated a quarter-section of a fallen log to support the brand’s natural, outdoors identity.

Die-cut hand graphics act as aisle violators, and a removable corrugated graphic block allowed additional product to be loaded, providing flexibility and futureproofing of the unit. Two versions were produced of the inline unit — a 10-inch-deep version and a 12-inch-deep version — to accommodate different retail shelf dimensions.

able corrugated graphic block allowed additional product to 10-inch-deep version and Dr. Squatch became the

Dr. Squatch became the top-selling soap brand at Walmart during the launch period, and store personnel found it a challenge to keep the displays stocked as a result of the popularity and strong sales of the product.

Campaign: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri and Sour Patch Kids

Brands: Sally Hansen (Coty), Sour Patch Kids (Mondelez International)

Retail Partner: CVS Pharmacy

Agency/Solution Provider: WestRock

Coty’s Sally Hansen brand was entering the second year of its partnership with Mondelez International’s Sour Patch Kids on a limited-edition line of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Sour Patch Kids nail polish products. The beauty company was seeking a fun and disruptive merchandising solution to launch at CVS stores in early fall 2021, a key selling period for both the nail polish and candy categories.

Coty needed the display to leverage the excitement of Halloween. Thus, it matched nail shades with the Sour Patch candy for every age and demographic, inspiring kids to dress up and have a fun shopping experience.

Measuring 3-feet tall and featuring four tiers of white tray shelving to house the colorful products, the Sally Hansen display was designed to stop young shoppers and their moms in their tracks with eye-catching appeal. Its central feature — an oversized purple Sour Patch Kid dressed in a Frankenstein costume as a pop-off — came accompanied with the tagline and copy, “Frightfully fast color: Faboo-lous shades in 60 seconds.”

The Sally Hansen InstaDri and Sour Patch Kids display encapsulated the best elements of Halloween — candy, dressing up and fun — and achieved its goal of delighting shoppers looking for nail polish to complement their Halloween looks. The display launched successfully in 4,000 stores. Through the disruptive tower in year two, sell-through increased by 50% versus the prior year’s limited-edition collection at CVS.

goal of delighting shoppers complement their Halloween

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IN-STORE MARKETING: PRODUCT DISPLAY (Long-Term)

Campaign:

Meijer Cync Display

Brand: GE Lighting, a Savant Company

Retail Partner: Meijer Agency/Solution Provider: Frank Mayer & Associates

GE was looking for a merchandising solution for its Cync Smart Home products line that would increase awareness and consumer engagement with the products at Meijer stores. The company settled on an idea for a powered lightbulb display that would fit into the Meijer shelving system while featuring a crown molding header that would match the store decor.

“Experience Cync” was the theme designed to showcase a smart home experience that goes beyond lighting, with new products like an indoor smart camera and outdoor smart plug. The display calls attention to the simplicity and flexibility of the Cync products, while a digital monitor plays an educational video loop until a button is pushed for sound. The Cync displays were installed in 275 Meijer locations during the last week of August 2021.

Moving the Cync 4-foot section to the front of the aisle was a way to engage shoppers who were interested in experimenting with smart products for the home that work with a voice assistant or with the Cync App. Since the GE Lighting Cync Display formally debuted in September 2021, the POS sales for the Cync Smart Home Products increased 127%.

INTEGRATED PATH TO PURCHASE ACTIVATION

Campaign: Kleenex Tissue Sessions

Brand: Kleenex (Kimberly-Clark)

Retail Partner: Target Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

Kimberly-Clark’s Kleenex brand needed to increase household penetration among Target’s younger shoppers, especially with Black consumers. By activating a socially conscious campaign during Black History Month and Women’s History Month, as well as by offering Target-exclusive designs from diverse artists, the brand looked to spark sales during the traditionally soft March to June timeframe.

Kleenex chose a group of upand-coming female artists to create the Celebrate the World collection, a variety of limitedtime-only Target designs depicting vibrant scenes from around the world. The strategy was to turn Kleenex purchases into a larger conversation about inclusivity and diversity in design — and by extension, everyday culture.

To bring the campaign to life, Kleenex teamed up with LikeToKnowIt influencers to encourage followers to share their perspectives on important topics. Influencers were equipped with “Designed to Inspire” kits containing conversation cards with questions to spark discussion and a box of Kleenex tissues featuring one of the collection’s designs and drink coasters, which mirrored the graphics of each Target-exclusive design.

The designers and Instagram influencers created shoppable posts (including InstaStories) that encouraged Target shoppers to host Tissue Sessions themselves throughout Women’s History Month. A PR campaign and the Kleenex brand’s own social page, along with a series of e-blasts, helped spread the word, while the Target.com brand page showcased the designers’ personal stories and passion for inclusivity.

The Kleenex Celebrate the World pack achieved an inventory sell-through rate of 97%, an impressive result for a program that lacked any broad-scale media. The success of the program also cast a halo on the total Kleenex brand, with Kleenex sales at Target increasing 28% versus the same period the previous year, outpacing total category growth of 25%.

INTEGRATED PATH TO PURCHASE ACTIVATION

Campaign: Stand up to the Fuego: Bring Intensity to Taco Night

Brand: Old El Paso (General Mills)

Retail Partner: Walmart Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

To support the introduction of Old El Paso’s spicy new Takis Fuego Stand N’ Stuff taco shells, General Mills needed to drive awareness and trial of the products exclusively at Walmart. It also wanted to bring a sense of fun and excitement back to family taco night, a weeknight meal tradition that has lost a bit of its luster among the brand’s target audience of young Millennial parents and their children.

Stand Up to the Fuego (i.e., fi re) brought the heat to Walmart shoppers on National Taco Day, Oct. 4, 2021. Exclusive PR kits with products, swag and recipe content were distributed to some 400 food bloggers, 2,000 qualified Walmart shoppers and seven TikTok influencers via a social challenge at #takistacochallenge. Sampling also took place at a food truck event at a Walmart store event in El Paso, Texas, and continued at some of the hottest and coldest places in America, including Fairbanks, Alaska.

In addition, Old El Paso scored an invitation to rapper Snoop Dogg’s 50th Birthday Party and a few of his concerts, garnering additional buzz with his social posts on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

At the end of the campaign, Old El Paso Takis Fuego was the top performing taco shell at Walmart and grew weekly dollar share through Oct. 16, 2021. Retailer media helped drive immediate product awareness of the new item. The overall campaign sales lift was 10.66%.

Campaign: The Best Year Starts Here

Brand: General Mills’ Box Tops for Education participating brands

Retail Partner: Walmart Agency/Solution Provider: VMLY&R Commerce

The COVID-19 pandemic has made perceived inadequacies in the U.S. educational system blatantly apparent. Between at-home schooling, childcare and disruptions to the education system, families truly haven’t known which challenges to tackle fi rst. In 2021, General Mills’ Box Tops program partnered with Walmart and the LeBron James Family Foundation on a two-phase campaign to deliver a message of empowerment through education, while supporting Walmart back-to-school seasonal shoppers looking for meal and snack solutions and driving conversion for Box Tops for Education brands.

A three-episode video content series, “Empowering Equity,” hosted by James in partnership with Box Tops, awarded $200,000 in teacher loan forgiveness checks. The series premiered on Walmart’s YouTube, TikTok and Instagram accounts, and drove viewers to the Walmart.com brand page, highlighting how consumers could use the Box Tops app to donate their earned box tops to schools in need.

Local support at Walmart stores included a Walmart Prep Rally seasonal parking lot event through which General Mills awarded a local school $25,000. The Box Tops for Education national partnership stories of the Black Men Teach organization were amplified through paid media, scaling their local-impact message. In stores, ads on self-checkout screens encouraged shoppers to download the Box Tops for Education app to make a difference, while Walmart’s new print-ondemand capability leveraged first-party sales data to print custom boxes for back-to-school shoppers’ delivery orders.

“The Best Year Starts Here” lifted sales by 7.5% across the General Mills portfolio and increased basket size by 2.9%.

Case Study

Category Management Tracking for a GlobalBeverage Company

Category Management teams at a major carbonated soft drink company needed to ensure their key accounts were giving a high share of shelf to their big bets. Yet they lacked independent datafrom inside stores to verify correct execution.

Premise was able to track share of facings on a monthly basis across 1,000 modern trade stores in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Premise contributors visited the outlets to take photos, which were then analyzed manually and via artificial intelligence to produce both store by store and market-wide analytics. This enabled the customer to track their category strategies across LATAM through a single partner while having the flexibility to adapt their analytics to each market’s exact requirements.

Premise is an on-demand insights platform. Our technology mobilizes communities of global smartphone users to source actionable data in real-time, cost-effectively, and with the visibility needed. In more than 135 countries and 37 languages, we find Data for Every Decision™

INTEGRATED PATH TO PURCHASE ACTIVATION

Campaign: Plant a Tree with HP

Brand: HP with The Jane Goodall Institute, The Arbor Day Foundation and Rebel Wilson

Retail Partners: Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Costco, Staples and Office Depot

Agency/Solution Providers: Arc Worldwide, Edelman

Campaign: 2021 Coors Light Summer Made to Chill

Brand: Coors Light (Molson Coors Beverage Co.)

HP’s research showed that although 85% of PC and printer shoppers are extremely or somewhat concerned for the environment, only 25% would pay even a slight price premium for sustainable products. To overcome this “Green Gap,” HP wanted to make it easy for shoppers to be environmentally conscious by building a green value proposition into their purchases.

“Plant a Tree with HP” created an authentic brand story around the personal relationship between HP CEO Enrique Lores and renowned environmentalist Dr. Jane Goodall. As the promotional centerpiece, a portion of profits from HP PC, printer and ink/toner purchases from April through June 2022 would go to The Jane Goodall Institute to plant a million trees globally.

A 30-second promo video with Goodall was the launching point for an omnichannel campaign, supported by retailer media, that ran across social networking sites and HP/retailer websites. Amazon featured an HP weekend homepage takeover, while Costco ran the promo video on TV walls and Walmart developed a print ad with HP in USA Today. National media amplification came in the form of a “forest bathing” video conversation about sustainability challenges between Goodall and Australian actress Rebel Wilson that ran on YouTube and the campaign landing page at HP.com/PlantATree.

Initial campaign results were positive on both brand preference and attributable sales/ROAS. In April alone, Walmart generated $5.8 million in sales attributed to the campaign, $60.79 ROAS and 55.5% were new buyers.

Everyone needs the occasional respite from the summer heat. Thus, Coors Light created a program to drive volume and in-store display during the critical summer selling period by making the connection to summer chill with a virtual experience enabled by thermographic sunglasses on limitededition packaging.

Users activated the signature “blue mountains” and word “Chill” by using the Coors Light sunglasses on packaging and POS to scan a QR code that generated brief videos of summer, pool or lake occasions. Participants also provided their emails and entered into sweepstakes registration to win Ray-Ban sunglasses and branded merchandise.

The program was amplified on social media through consumers’ Facebook and Instagram feeds, while shoppers were greeted by the QR codes on in-store displays. On premise, Coors Light engaged bar patrons at their tables through POS with QR codes and branded barware. Campaign ads ran across TV and online video platforms, while retailer media ads drove purchase at key retailers. Packaging was localized on high-traffic billboards with headlines like “How California “Chills” and “Asi nos gusta Chill.”

Despite overall declines as compared with pandemicinduced spikes during the previous year, Coors Light showed positive dollar sales growth among the target group, including 21- to 34-year-old consumers (up 6%) and in the key markets of Pacific Northwest (4.8%), Arizona/Las Vegas (4.4%), Wisconsin/Minnesota/North Dakota (2.6%) and Illinois/Iowa (3.3%). In addition, on-premise sales were up an impressive 68.9%.

Photo:

BY ERIKA FLYNN

The Path to Purchase Institute’s Women of Excellence Awards program recognizes female brand marketers, retailers, agency executives and solution providers for their achievements in influencing shoppers along the path to purchase. The 2022 honorees were revealed Oct. 18 at an awards ceremony during P2PI LIVE in Chicago.

This year’s 36 winners hail from brands, retailers, agencies and solution providers — and we honor them here on the following pages, showcasing their impressive contributions to their organizations, teams and the industry at large. Congratulations to these inspiring Women of Excellence!

The 2022 Honorees are:

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR (page 43)

Amy Lanzi, Publicis Commerce

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE (page 44)

Amy Andrews, The Mars Agency

Chrissy Arsenault , Church & Dwight

Kelly Burt , Quad

Milagros Cabrera , The Retail Group

Heather Collins, Arc Worldwide

Katie Hollimon, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.

Anne Martin , Mondelez International

Cassie Ross, Henkel North America

Honorable Mentions:

Manjari Mehrotra , Albertsons Cos.

Ann Paradise, Merrell

Katie Schiavone, PepsiCo

Mara Sirhal, Bed Bath & Beyond

INDUSTRY IMPACT (page 50)

Melissa Baldwin , Google

Jennifer Fowler, Henkel

Beth Ann Kaminkow, VMLY&R Commerce

Amy Lanzi, Publicis Commerce

Jessamine McLellan , Campari Academy

Allisha Watkins, Paradox

Honorable Mention:

Yolanda Angulo, Mondelez International

INNOVATOR (page 54)

Michelle Baumann , VMLY&R Commerce

Valerie Bernstein , Advantage

Unified Commerce

Charlene Charles, DG Media Network

Kina Demirel, Mimeda

Alex Falconi, Arc Worldwide

Julia Miller, The Mars Agency

Honorable Mention: Cassandra Ericson , Diageo

MENTORSHIP (page 58)

Abby Beaston , Phoenix Creative Co.

Margaux Logan , Publicis Commerce

Anne Louise Marquis, Campari America

Jennifer Mason , Mondelez International

Bev Sampson , Niven Marketing Group

Laura Wallace, Chicory

TECHNOLOGY (page 60)

Chelsea Carroll, Vestcom

Risa Crandall, Aki Technologies, an Inmar Intelligence Company

Joy Jentes, Kimberly-Clark

Nadya Kohl, Volta Charging

THANKS TO OUR JUDGES!

Kate Clarke

E-Commerce Merchandising Manager III, Giant Food

Jennifer Hale

Manager, Connected Commerce, The Coca-Cola Co.

Elizabeth Harris

Chief Strategy Officer, Arc Worldwide

Sarah Hofstetter

President, Profitero

Surabhi Pokhriyal

Chief Digital Growth Officer, Church & Dwight Caron Sanders

Global Support HRBP Director, Ahold Delhaize

Mary Tarczynski

Omni-Channel Marketing Leadership for CPG and Retail, Parabolic

Jennifer Tinker

SVP - Omnicommerce Client Leadership, The Mars Agency

EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

AMY LANZI Chief Operating Officer Publicis Commerce

Amy Lanzi has a passion for innovation along with a commitment to transform the commerce space. As chief operating officer at Publicis Commerce, she is at the helm of an agency of more than 10,000 commerce experts worldwide.

She thrives on connecting commerce practitioners across the Publicis Groupe network and fi nding new ways of working that drive maximum client outcomes. By accelerating Publicis’ commerce product and capabilities to enable “Power of One” client-centric solutions, she also delivers high-performance strategies for the organization’s largest clients.

Lanzi joined Publicis in January 2020, and that same year launched a Commerce Advisory Board that has more than 20 client members across 19 brands. Her vision was to create a connected commerce community where members can test, learn and share. It has proven to be a successful forum, with valued partners sharing relevant product updates, research and new insights. It’s an effective way for Lanzi and her team to better understand how they can help their clients continually deliver modern commerce experiences for their consumers.

The driving force in two of Publicis Groupe’s most notable acquisitions, Lanzi spearheaded the acquisition of SaaS global e-commerce intelligence platform Profitero, as well as CitrusAd, which in combination with Epsilon’s CORE ID created the fi rst retail media offering based on identity. The latter also enabled this year’s launch of the industry’s fi rst unified on-site and off-site retail media platform — CitrusAd, powered by Epsilon.

Lanzi says the platform allows Publicis Groupe to lead a new generation of identity-led media networks, with a full funnel and integrated approach. “The combination of CitrusAd with Epsilon’s existing retail media network creates the only holistic one-stop shop that combines bestin-class, on-site, off-site and in-store advertising data,” she says. “Retailers achieve scale and outcomes, brands exceed performance expectations and build trust, and consumers enjoy personalized experiences.”

Lanzi also led some of the agency’s largest new business wins, including AB InBev, Walmart, Unilever and others, and was a key driver behind its strategic partnership with TikTok. As TikTok’s founding commerce agency partner, Publicis

Lanzi

provides clients with early access to test new commerce products, capabilities and creative solutions on the platform, as well as engage in exclusive or fi rst-to-market research or training opportunities.

Publicis Groupe is an early alpha tester of Kroger’s Private Marketplace, with Lanzi’s help, which enables clients to activate campaigns with greater addressability across platforms. “Kroger’s Private Marketplace allows agencies and brands to better reach consumers by applying Kroger’s unique audience data — inclusive of in-store and loyalty data — to programmatic campaigns within their preferred ad-buying platform,” she says. “Kroger’s existing scale gives marketers a flexible solution to tap into their robust first-party data, reduce ad waste and optimize their performance against actual retail sales.”

Lanzi has spearheaded proprietary research on the topics of social commerce and the role augmented reality plays in the shopping experience. More recently, she oversaw the release of Publicis Media and Twitter’s latest study exploring the power of brand social conversations, and their role as the “new review,” with 92% of respondents saying they actively seek out comments about brands, products or services on social media.

Prior to Publicis, Lanzi spent more than 20 years at Omnicom’s retail marketing agency, TPN. As one of its original employees, she helped it grow from a team of 30 to 350 and expanded its presence to include offices in Chicago, San Francisco, London and Bentonville, Arkansas.

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

AMY ANDREWS Senior Vice President, Client Leadership

The Mars Agency

In the past year alone, Amy Andrews has made her mark at The Mars Agency, guiding client Tillamook and its team to “vendor of the year” honors at Target and leading integrated omnichannel marketing for all of Campbell Soup Co.’s brands across retailer customers.

Andrews has been a leader from both the brand and agency side throughout her career. After a two-year stint at Starcom MediaVest Group, she joined The Mars Agency in 2007 as a strategic planner in Bentonville, Arkansas, working with two CPG accounts while also managing Walmart as a client. She moved to Ubisoft in 2012 to lead its shopper marketing and insights team through its fi rst shopper segmentation study, developing its fi rst national shopper promotion and helping accelerate its e-commerce business.

After returning to The Mars Agency in 2015, she co-founded an in-house strategic consultancy, helping open its fi rst international office in London, assisting with initial inroads into Latin America and launching its Seattle office while also driving exponential growth for a then-budding e-commerce practice.

Andrews also serves on a core peer group at Chief, a private membership network dedicated to connecting and supporting women executives. She helped launch a DEI Council at The Mars Agency, for which she co-wrote the agency’s core values to reinforce its commitment to inclusivity.

CHRISSY ARSENAULT Brand Manager Church & Dwight

Prior to assuming her current role earlier this year, Chrissy Arsenault was Church & Dwight’s e-commerce brand manager for health and well-being. In that role, she led the growth of the brands under this umbrella by 24.9% versus 2020 and achieved gross sales targets. She led two e-commerce exclusive launches for Trojan and First Response, as well as the first portfolio basket-building campaign, and saw the Trojan Bareskin Raw become the No. 3 best-selling condom in Q4 2021.

As a classically trained CPG brand manager, Arsenault has held various roles within shopper marketing/sales strategy, brand management, innovations and e-commerce. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutritional sciences from Cornell University and an MBA in marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.

Now, as brand manager for Vitafusion, she leads a team of five direct reports and manages the P&L for the brand.

Beyond her brand management responsibilities, she mentors underprivileged youth through the Starfish Project and has served in various board member positions for local dietetics associations. She is passionate about DEI initiatives as an immigrant to the United States, and mentors young women, especially those of color, to realize their full potential.

KELLY BURT Vice President of Sales and Business Development Quad

Kelly Burt approaches every new project or customer with a consultative, problemsolving approach, understanding clients’ brand essence, business drivers, needs and pain points — then leads the development of client-specific solutions that capitalize on Quad’s unique integrated marketing platform. Burt assumed her current post in 2019 and has consistently guided doubledigit growth ever since.

As vice president of sales and business development for Quad’s In-Store Division, she has expanded its client portfolio from mainly big-box retail companies to other industry verticals, including specialty retail, pharmacy and grocery. She was instrumental in developing a holistic solutions approach that shortens production times, reduces in-store labor costs, cuts waste, centralizes marketing operations, offsets carbon impacts by reducing the number of kits shipping to each store location, and eliminates obsolete inventory through strategic fulfi llment solutions.

Burt’s leadership was essential to this year’s launch of the InVision suite of offerings, which allows the company to create virtual store environments from concepting and testing, flow in various concepts for outfitting a store with a focus on eye tracking, and optimize creative messaging/display format to increase conversion rates. She also helped lead the formulation of the In-Store Division’s approach to operate more sustainably in support of the company’s environmental, social and governance strategy and commitments.

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR VERY OWN Woman of Excellence

women

Heather Collins

Dream business lead with the brains and brawn it takes to solve problems and drive growth.

Operations alchemist who makes Arc a pretty darn efficient (and great) place to work.

You make Arc better, which makes all of us better, and we thank you. Learn more at arcww.com/news

Alex Falconi

MILAGROS CABRERA

CEO

The Retail Group

As the founder and owner of the largest merchandising services provider in Puerto Rico, Milagros Cabrera made her childhood vision of becoming an entrepreneur come true. She now leads an organization of more than 1,000 employees between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, works with more than 2,000 products in all consumer categories, and covers 600 retail establishments on the island, working with brands such as Colgate-Palmolive, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson Wax, Nestle, Bayer and others.

From an early age, she knew she wanted to run a business, but also contribute to making the world a better place. Her fi rst entrepreneurial experience was as owner/partner of Pretzel Zone, which opened in a Walmart facility in Isabela, Puerto Rico. Next, she went to a water bottling company and closed deals with major supermarket chains to deliver their private label under Food Club Bottled Water. She also launched the fi rst 3-in-1 gallon package, still sold in the local bottled water market.

In her 22 years in the industry, she has become an extension of her clients’ business and has a strong voice in their marketing strategies. Cabrera is active in many professional associations, and five years ago expanded her knowledge and expertise to the Dominican Republic market with an average annual growth of 30% above the previous year’s plans.

HEATHER COLLINS Executive Vice President, Account Director Arc Worldwide

Heather Collins rejoined the Publicis Groupe in April 2021, charged with leading the Unilever account at Arc Worldwide. She had spent the past decade on the agency side at Catapult, Epsilon and, most recently, iCrossing, after an equally long tenure at Sara Lee Foods/Hillshire Brands. Tapped to help build “a commerce model of the future” as executive vice president of business leadership, she now leads a team of more than 130 people across Publicis Groupe’s Arc, Epsilon and Hawkeye agencies.

Together, the team has managed the creation and execution of more than 2,500 shopper programs since earning Unilever’s U.S. retail, e-commerce and shopper marketing business. Today, Collins is focused on building out “The Hive,” Arc’s proprietary shopper intelligence hub that helps her team understand shoppers and prospects as unique individuals. Backed by Publicis Groupe’s No. 1 identity platform, Epsilon, in conjunction with Unilever’s fi rst-party data, the platform spans across five categories, more than 30 brands and 40 projects focusing on how shopper strategy meets activation through the power of data.

As a leader, Collins prioritizes career mapping and teaching good shopper marketing practices to her team in an effort to retain talent and encourage career growth, while helping Unilever navigate the ever-evolving nature of commerce and CPG.

KATIE HOLLIMON

Omnichannel Marketing Manager – Lowe’s, Ace & Farm Channel

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Co.

Katie Hollimon joined Scotts Miracle-Gro in 2020, charged with leading shopper marketing across multiple strategic retail partners. In her first two years, she transformed the shopper ecosystem within the hardware and home improvement channels.

Hollimon is directly responsible for increasing and securing priority placement on key retailer platforms and channels, which leads to an increase in share of voice by high double digits year over year. She also developed and sold in a new initiative within the hardware distributor channel that resulted in a 600% increase in local digital media, allowing the company to have a greater impact on how co-op funds were spent.

Hollimon launched the company’s backyard OACEIS - Shopper Campaign, its fi rst-ever, cross-category partnership for Scotts, with Ace and Weber. She leveraged key shopper and consumer insights to build a program that inspired and engaged shoppers and drove strong sales results. The program delivered a total omni-campaign, resulting in maintaining sales against a massive growth year.

Prior to Scotts, Hollimon had more than 11 years of experience across brand and agency roles where she led strategy, planning and innovation for iconic brands such as Dairy Queen, Land O’Lakes & Stainmaster.

BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

ANNE MARTIN Director, National Accounts Mondelez

During her tenure at Mondelez, Anne Martin has built a strong partnership with Albertsons Cos., often being recognized as a best-in-class partner and helping the retail giant drive incremental and sustaining category growth. A veteran of the agency side — having served in account management positions at both Upshot and Geometry Global in her early career — she moved to Mondelez in 2016.

In her role as customer director, shopper marketing, Martin contributed to the unprecedented growth Mondelez and its snack portfolio experienced post-COVID. In 2021, she was responsible for the shopper marketing activities for Albertsons corporate as well as all 13 divisions. Her work with the retailer has seen the Mondelez cookie/cracker share move from 54% to 59%, representing one of the highest share growths in the country over the past five years.

Martin’s work has also produced some of the highest ROI programming, measured via The Mars Agency’s Marilyn tool across $100 million of spending and 15 customers. Additionally, Albertsons commerce programming has averaged a 64% higher ROI than the average for all other Mondelez customers over the past four years.

In April 2022, she was tapped to lead all commerce marketing activities across Kroger, Albertsons and Target, and assumed the role of director of national accounts at Mondelez.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

MANJARI MEHROTRA

CASSIE ROSS Senior Customer Marketing Manager

Cassie Ross knows how to drive brand growth at Walmart. Over the past 15 years, she has watched the industry evolve from customer marketing to shopper marketing and now connected commerce — while aligning the goals of sales and brand teams to develop business-driving programs that deliver category growth for Walmart and Sam’s Club.

Ross joined Henkel Consumer Brands in 2014 as national account manager for Walmart before becoming national business manager at Sam’s Club, where she developed and executed incremental shopper marketing programs for its All, Persil and Snuggle brands.

Last fall, she assumed her current role as senior customer marketing manager for Walmart, charged with leading Henkel’s beauty brands in addition to the laundry and home care portfolio. The company’s “We Speak Laundry” — a fi rstof-its-kind shopper marketing program designed to deliver incremental sales across Henkel’s entire laundry portfolio while driving category growth for Walmart — broke the mold for marketing in the laundry category and earned a Reggie Award last spring.

Ross has also worked at the Kellogg Co. in business planning and development and at Merck Consumer Care (now Bayer), where she led go-to-market strategies for portfolio sales on Walmart.com, ensuring that brands were positioned for success at a time when many CPGs were still only exploring e-commerce.

ANN PARADISE Senior Marketing Manager

Mehrotra is passionate about ensuring that her team’s marketing efforts deliver value and impact across all of Albertsons’ banners and regions, through a highly analytical and data-driven approach. Her dedication to continuous improvement and optimization has grown partnerships with her external partners, bringing robust learning agendas and delivering strong results. As a result, the Albertsons business has continued to transform. Mehrotra has helped drive share gains within core target markets and younger consumer segments, while always identifying areas of opportunity to provide more value for shoppers.

Ann Paradise leads the U.S. customer marketing efforts at Merrell. Working with key accounts like Dick’s Sporting Goods, Zappos and DSW, she is a trusted partner focused on innovating and driving creative marketing solutions. The 2020 Merrell x Zappos Adaptive program, a fi rst-of-its-kind effort for a brand in the outdoor industry, enabled people with disabilities — including amputees and shoppers with unevenly sized feet — to buy only one Merrell shoe. In 2021, Paradise launched the “Take a Hike” program with Dick’s Sporting Goods that established a new athletic hike category for the retailer. The program drove significant growth.

International

Senior Director, Performance Marketing Albertsons

Henkel

Merrell

HONORABLE MENTIONS

KATIE SCHIAVONE Senior Director, Commercial Strategy

PepsiCo

Katie Schiavone leads commercial planning for the central division of PepsiCo Beverages North America, tasked with driving the execution of its annual operating plan and the brand plan development, while also acting as the joint business planning lead for key customers, overseeing the innovation agenda and leading the perfect store team. Schiavone spearheaded an effort with her retail and marketing partners to create an exclusive flavor for Mountain Dew. Their work resulted in helping to launch Mountain Dew Overdrive, which is part of a two-year exclusive partnership between the brand and Casey’s General Stores that is estimated to bring in more than $3.5 million in 2022 alone for the business, performing as the No. 2 20-ounce soda at Casey’s.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

MELISSA BALDWIN

Retail Media Account Executive & Strategic Partner Lead

Google

Melissa Baldwin joined Google in mid-2020 and has led its big-box relationships for the retail media team since then. She has more than 10 years of experience in the field and continues to elevate the importance of retail media in the larger advertising ecosystem. She became a trusted advisor to retail leaders across North America, including Walmart, Best Buy, Roundel, Nordstrom and others. She’s an advocate for the strengthening of relationships between retailers and brands through transparency and using technology to enable data sophistication, audience development, and best-in-class reporting and optimization.

She began her career at Liberty Media, Kohl’s and Westfield Malls, working across key stakeholders to build out retail media businesses. When the concept of a retailer becoming a media business gained momentum, her teams demonstrated to brands the value of investing in retailers’ fi rst-party data and site traffic through media.

In 2019, Baldwin shifted gears to supporting retailers via the tech/media side of the retail media ecosystem. As senior director of retail media at Criteo, she led the North American sales team, owning relationships with more than 40 retailers and delivering double-digit growth for her division.

SIRHAL

Executive Vice President, Brand President

Bath & Beyond and

Health & Beauty

Mara Sirhal most recently served as chief merchandising officer for Bed, Bath & Beyond and general manager for Harmon Beauty. In September 2022, she assumed the role of executive vice president, brand president, with full P&L ownership for both retail banners and responsible for merchandising, planning, stores, brand marketing and site merchandising verticals. She also leads end-to-end customer experience across all channels. Sirhal is bringing her experience in fragrance and beauty to the Harmon’s store chain. Her mission is to build a new destination for beauty, wellness and value, creating a store experience that is inclusive and dynamic, while making beauty and wellness available to everybody.

JENNIFER FOWLER Director, Shopper Solutions Henkel

Jennifer Fowler has a talent for uncovering opportunities that grow product categories and drive results. Her innovative work on “We Speak Laundry,” a first-of-its-kind shopper marketing program designed specifically for Walmart, attracted 37.8% new buyers to Henkel brands, which resulted in a 12.8% incremental sales lift.

As a team leader, Fowler has guided the development of industry-leading proprietary research. In a study called “Loads of Opportunity,” she and her team discovered new category insights that laid the foundation for innovative goto-market solutions that have since reshaped the way in which people shop for and purchase laundry products.

She strives to lead her team to reimagine marketing in the laundry category, while creating award-winning campaigns. In 2021, the insight that 55% of parents consider laundry a chore led Henkel to partner with The Mars Agency to position its All detergent as a brand that can help shoppers “Put life before laundry.”

Fowler began her career as a brand design coordinator at Kimberly-Clark before taking on consumer and shopper insights roles at Pactiv. In 2011, she joined Henkel, focusing on insights, and now is the director of shopper solutions.

MARA

Bed,

Harmon

INDUSTRY IMPACT

BETH ANN KAMINKOW Global CEO and New York CEO VMLY&R Commerce

Beth Ann Kaminkow has a proven track record of reimagining commerce strategies at the intersection of physical, digital and mobile. She is passionate about driving the elevation of commerce as central to brand and customer experience, and she believes creative commerce holds the most untapped creative potential to grow brands and people. As global CEO of VMLY&R Commerce, and New York CEO of VMLY&R, she oversees 1,000 creatives, strategists, data scientists and analysts from across the agency’s companies and brands.

Kaminkow has touched every aspect of marketing with both client and agency side experience during her more than two decades in the industry. She served as TracyLocke’s fi rst president and CEO in the agency’s 100-year history, went on to be the fi rst global chief marketing officer of Westfield, CEO for Kantar Consulting Americas, and global CEO at Geometry Global, where she oversaw the launch of the industry’s most sophisticated connected commerce platform and led the integration to VMLY&R.

She was named jury president by the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in 2022 for its fi rst-ever Creative Commerce Lions, an evolution from e-commerce that she instigated to recognize the disruptive power of commerce channels in driving real business growth. Instead of “above the line” and “below the line” work, it signals a movement toward a further blurring between sales and marketing roles across organizations.

JESSAMINE MCLELLAN Lead – Campari Academy Campari America

As a certified sommelier with a science degree, Jessamine McLellan has helped bring various new spirits products to the U.S. and global marketplace. She is a co-founder and educational lead of Campari Academy, Campari Group’s educational center of excellence that is a state-of-the-art facility for training suppliers, distributors and hospitality professionals.

McLellan has created more than 10,000 hours of digital content, all of which can be accessed by professionals across all three tiers of the beverage alcohol business. She joined the company four years ago and has since trained more than 5,000 distributor sales representatives to continue to raise industry standards on spirits and cocktail training throughout the country.

McLellan’s team operates the four bars inside Campari America’s headquarters and hosts weekly events that showcase mixology mastery for professionals both inside and outside the industry. She designs and oversees events for clients, and also serves as the lead of an internal consultancy that helps the global team develop and launch new and innovative spirits into the marketplace.

As a partner to the faculty at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business Hotel School, she has taught seminars on menu and drink development, spirits history, and hospitality and service. She has been recognized for her work mentoring graduate students on their independent projects.

ALLISHA WATKINS Co-Founder and Chief Sales Officer Paradox

Creating new opportunities has always been in Allisha Watkins’ DNA. She and Amanda Whittaker co-founded women-owned and women-certified marketing agency Paradox nearly four years ago. Watkins now serves as its chief sales officer.

The company’s growth has been fueled by her ability to foster long-term client agreements, establish strong partnerships in the market with service providers and develop strategic growth plans that deliver more sales for clients. Its revenue and team size doubled in 2020 amidst the pandemic, and the company expanded its capabilities across all retail channels (the team also opened a physical office).

Watkins began her marketing career as a national account leader for Procter & Gamble at Marketing Drive, with marketing responsibility for the launches of Prilosec OTC, Always, Tampax and Vicks. She then led Kellogg’s brands through innovation, partnerships and breakthrough platforms, while still at Marketing Drive. She was also a senior consultant at C-Space, where she developed and led a multimillion-dollar internal proprietary research program for Walmart Global Customer Insights, ultimately executing more than 600 research projects that have shaped the Walmart business today.

She went on to be a team lead for shopper marketing at Mars Inc. and led major global brand platforms, including a multiyear partnership with the NFL’s Super Bowl, NASCAR and other entertainment properties. She and her team earned the firstever Mars Effie and Reggie awards as well as its National Sales Achievement Award before she founded Connected Commerce and started her own consulting journey.

Solving Big Problems, Inspiring Bold Ideas

EnsembleIQ is a premier business intelligence resource that believes in Solving Big Problems and Inspiring Bold Ideas. Our brands work in harmony to inform, connect, and provide predictive analysis for retailers, consumer goods manufacturers, technology vendors, marketing agencies and service providers.

HONORABLE MENTION INDUSTRY IMPACT

YOLANDA ANGULO Director, Customer Marketing

Mondelez International

Yolanda Angulo has been in the industry for 30 years at Nabisco, Kraft Foods and Mondelez. She began working in consumer promotions and customer marketing at Nabisco, and then moved to Kraft to lead all multicultural go-to-market strategy for five years before leading its shopper marketing business and honing her shopper marketing and media expertise. From there, she joined Mondelez to head its shopper marketing efforts for East Coast customers.

Today, she leads the retail media, e-commerce integration, brand connectivity and test-and-learn projects for Mondelez. She is a well-respected voice in the industry and has done a number of speaking engagements with different partners over the past two years, bringing knowledge, expertise and authenticity to her discussions.

INNOVATOR

MICHELLE BAUMANN Chief Strategy Officer VMLY&R Commerce

When WPP introduced VMLY&R Commerce, the end-to-end creative commerce company that was born out of the merger of Geometry Global and VMLY&R in early 2021, Michelle Baumann played a key role in the transition. And she continues to drive the business toward growth with the creation of a next-gen strategy team, uniting the agency’s brand experience and marketing sciences teams under a single capability — a collaborative, holistic insights team.

VMLY&R Commerce strives to help modern brands grow by unifying marketing strategies around commerce. Most recently, the agency’s executive vice president of marketing science, Baumann was named chief strategy officer in June. Her role brings research and data-driven rigor across category, brand, shopper and retail insights to optimize its strategic process and media activation delivery across touchpoints for clients.

Prior to assuming her current post, she spearheaded VMLY&R Commerce’s Strategic “X-Drive” Process, the agency’s consultative approach to AI-driven demand mining, opportunity sizing and moments mapping, and guided the technology team on the Connected Commerce platform. She also led the marketing sciences team to deliver industryleading omnichannel dashboards and proprietary ROAS models that integrate planning KPIs and measurement performance across budgeting, retail media, retail sales and shopper behavior data at scale across thousands of programs.

Baumann started her career at Kantar Retail. She then transitioned to IRI before joining Geometry Global.

When Advantage Solutions set out to reorganize its 26 marketing agencies to keep pace in the industry, it brought together its award-winning agencies IN Connected, Edge Marketing, Sage Tree, Beekeeper Marketing and eShopportunity in what became Advantage Unified Commerce. With that brought not only their shopper, e-commerce and media strengths in one place, but also Valerie Bernstein, who was tapped as executive vice president, business development and marketing.

With more than 20 years of commerce experience across IN Connected and Edge, Bernstein has proven success leading business development and net new growth year over year, but the addition of marketing signaled the fi rst time the agency had dedicated a role to this effort. Since assuming the post in January 2022, she has been tasked with building its offering across shopper, retail media, e-commerce, search and content with the spine of data, tech and analytics that support it all.

But her path wasn’t just about launching a new story, capabilities, website, social channels and paid media plan. With a group of key creators within the agency, she began setting a strategic foundation for the new concept of unified commerce that brings together shopper, search, content, commerce media and trade. It goes beyond only consumerfacing activation to provide total integration with sales and supply chain.

VALERIE BERNSTEIN

Executive Vice President, Business Development and Marketing Advantage Unified Commerce

For show information: Messe Düsseldorf North America Tel. (312) 781-5180 _ info@mdna.com www.mdna.com

For

CHARLENE CHARLES

Head of DG Media Network Operations

DG Media Network

Dollar General announced the evolution of its media network (called DGMN) in June, and Charlene Charles was a key component to the innovation. DGMN, which initially debuted in 2018, was created to unlock the next generation of growth for the retailer’s advertising partners. With DGMN, the discount retailer provides access to real-time data with trusted brands to help them serve its customer base, delivering more than 2 billion transactions annually.

Charles has been the innovator behind the scenes. She joined the team in 2021 and began supporting the mission of DGMN: to better serve the often overlooked and underserved rural customer. DG’s first-party data addresses this gap, allowing brands to tap into their unduplicated, extensive and accelerating reach.

With previous experience in both digital media, CPG and retail media, Charles manages the overall operations for DGMN. She established the nuts and bolts needed for a successful media network early on and a leadership that ensured the launch of DGMN was seamless.

Today, Charles is focused on the overall roadmap for DGMN, ensuring new products that are introduced align with the values of DGMN and allow advertising partners to see closed-loop sales attribution with their media dollar investments. She understands the advertiser’s needs and works to ensure the operational structure keeps that in mind, while focusing on the best ways to reach the Dollar General customer.

KINA DEMIREL Managing Director Mimeda

Kina Demirel has been a shining demonstration of what women can achieve in a male-dominated industry and region. A well-known voice in CRM and retail media topics on a global scale, she was charged with heading the fi rst-ever retail media company in Turkey in June 2021.

A longtime veteran of Migros Group, where she held a variety of CRM and marketing communications roles, she became the managing director of Mimeda, which sits under the Migros & Anadolu Group umbrella and connects brands with the right consumers through the right channels via the enormous bank of data that Migros Group owns.

In her previous roles at Migros, she contributed to strengthen Migros’s shopper loyalty through data-driven and innovative CRM strategies. She initiated the establishment of Mimeda, using a startup mindset to build the new organization in a short timeframe and creating significant awareness in Turkey’s retail sector about the importance of retail media topics.

Based out of Istanbul, she is guiding companies about how to fi nd success using Mimeda’s marketing and communication channels, such as in-store digital screens, store entrance sensors and checkout areas, online retail areas, personalized advertising areas and new digital platforms, such as Migros TV.

ALEX FALCONI Executive Vice President, Director, Client Operations Arc Worldwide

Alex Falconi joined Arc Worldwide with one mission: to create an agile shopper agency of the future. In four short years, she has built an operational model that is apropos for the agency’s “Irresistible Commerce” position and brand.

Falconi’s experience in project management, client services and shopper marketing at TracyLocke, Momentum Worldwide, Geometry Global and elsewhere gave her a good understanding of all the complex facets of shopper marketing from the client, retailer and agency vantage points. Her goal for innovation, therefore, is always the same: simple solutions.

Falconi headed up the creation of Arc’s track system — a foundational element to the agency’s operating system. It provides a consistent methodology to scope clients’ businesses and to build staff plans fit for any budget, with the different tracks driving the development of Arc’s creative and strategic products and services.

Falconi also spearheaded the client operations team after Arc won the Unilever account in 2021. She recognized the need for an internal client-facing operational team to support each client’s success going forward and will continue to build out this team.

Her change management plan helped the agency win Colgate’s shopper business earlier this year. With a Publicis Groupe approach, she tailored it to the needs of a shopper client. Her templated approach has successfully onboarded key anchor accounts for the agency and continues to serve as a point of differentiation during the pitch process.

HONORABLE MENTION

INNOVATOR

JULIA MILLER

Group

Vice President,

Commerce Media The Mars Agency

Julia Miller’s role for The Mars Agency centers on strategic planning for commerce media programs. She also leads the agency’s development of the metaverse and Web3 as a shopper engagement tool, and she’s exploring ways for clients to activate through these rapidly emerging platforms.

Miller’s natural inclination to explore new tools and technologies that can inform and improve this foundational work for clients has put her at the forefront of the agency’s broader innovation initiatives. Case in point: M&M’S Music Lounge, a program created for client Mars Wrigley that her team brought to life in both the real (through an interactive showcase at summer music festivals) and virtual (with an immersive augmented reality experience) worlds.

Last Halloween, Miller led efforts that paired Mars Wrigley with SnapChat and DoorDash to create a “virtual vending machine” that let holiday shoppers order candy for home delivery in less than one hour.

While Miller has served as the primary planner for the Mars Wrigley business since assuming her current role in early 2022, she now also leads half of The Mars Agency’s media strategy team, directing all national consumer promotion work.

Before joining the agency in 2015, she spent 10 years at Benjamin Moore, where she led both strategy and implementation for the company’s entry into direct-to-consumer e-commerce. She started her professional career on Wall Street.

MENTORSHIP

ABBY BEASTON Director of Shopper Marketing Phoenix Creative Co.

CASSANDRA ERICSON Manager, On-Premise Channel Marketing

Diageo

Cassandra Ericson spearheads the U.S. installment of Diageo Bar Academy, a global B2B community ecosystem that uses education and inspiration to elevate the quality of the on-premise trade with three pillars: training/development, community and inspiration.

The ecosystem continues to grow, now with more than 1 million global website users and 121 million people reached on social media. Ericson is credited with its success for the past three years, with Diageo Bar Academy being voted one of the best bartending schools online.

She also heads up the sponsorship of the United States Bartenders’ Guild (USBG) World Class events. The educational platform leads to a global bartending competition and all competition challenges are inspired by the latest industry trends and backed by Diageo.

Abby Beaston has mastered the art of mentoring, both internally at Phoenix Creative as well as externally with clients. She joined the agency in late 2014, and just less than two years later was promoted to account manager focusing on Mondelez International. It was then that she began to coach and mentor new account hires, sharing with them the shopper marketing insights she gained during her fi rst years at the agency.

She leads her team with tools to understand retailers’ core shoppers and showcases how to best translate client requests into creative direction that the agency’s designers, writers and art producers can work with. Through her mentoring, two of her direct reports earned promotions, further accelerating their individual careers while shoring up the strength of the agency.

Through her understanding of client roles, Beaston has also mentored new clients, helping them to understand the intricacies of their positions by leading them through retailer and vendor internal processes and broader team dynamics. She helped one midsize company launch its fi rst national shopper marketing campaign. While a marketing success, the effort boosted the client’s success and garnered her internal recognition.

Beaston now serves as the director of shopper marketing and has helped the agency expand from 22 to 52 employees while nurturing the success and, by extension, careers of several clients.

MARGAUX LOGAN

Senior Vice President, Head of Omnichannel and Emerging Marketplaces - Americas Publicis Commerce

Margaux Logan has extensive client-side experience in B2C brand marketing, product development and communications.

In her current post, she leads all Publicis Commerce agencies in helping their clients navigate the world of commerce marketplaces.

A veteran of Amazon, she was in analytics and media management before managing product marketing for Amazon Web Services and leading the charge in building the AI/ML and IOT businesses. Her career has also included eight years at Unilever working across food and beauty, and prior to that five years at AT&T, where she helped launch AT&T Worldnet Service (the answer to AOL).

At Amazon and now Publicis, Logan has helped build new and emerging teams from their infancy. She has watched them grow into successful commerce entities driving their respective businesses. She has also been instrumental in developing teams and cultivating the next generation of talent. Logan is an invaluable mentor and champion of female leadership, and she’s taken an active role in spearheading all commerce education across the Publicis network.

She is also the co-creator of the Amazon eCommerce Acceleration Program (EAP) at the agency, an education initiative designed in partnership with Amazon that provides training for more than 150 commerce practitioners and delivers key insights and learnings on how best to utilize the Amazon platform for retail and media brand opportunities.

ANNE LOUISE MARQUIS

National Portfolio Brand Ambassador Campari America

In her role at Campari America, Anne Louise Marquis acts as a mentor for its growing brand ambassador team, supporting members in their professional growth. She has also done extensive community-building and mentorship work outside the company, particularly with female bartenders.

For the past five years, she has been the face and voice of Campari America to the hospitality industry. She manages a personal network of thousands of industry members of the Campari Community through a variety of channels, including a monthly email newsletter, Instagram and Facebook, personalized mailers to influential individuals, and hosting live and virtual education events.

Marquis leverages these initiatives to recruit the trade to Campari America’s education and engagement programs, with the goal of driving advocacy by creating passionate fans of its brands. She was named “best brand ambassador” at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards in 2018, the year she started the Campari Community Day of Service, a nationwide volunteer day for bartenders that takes place in more than 50 cities and engages more than 500 people.

She hosts seminars on career development and public speaking for bartenders, and has served as a teacher and mentor for numerous industry groups and events. She is an active member of “Women of the Vine and Spirits,” providing resources to other women in the industry.

JENNIFER MASON

Director, Shopper Marketing, Growth Channels

Mondelez International

A five-year veteran of Mondelez, Jennifer Mason has served as a lead mentor the past three years in the company’s M2A Multi-Gen Alliance program, which is working to bridge the gap between generations to inspire opportunity and inclusivity. Mason is also an active member of the Mondelez Women’s Sales Council. This year, she collaborated to create and institute the Mondelez Women’s Sales Leadership Network for the DXC (Demand Acceleration Center). The goal of the network is to provide programs to support women, both personally and professionally, with a focus on two key areas: connection and education. She helps lead the connection focus area with its two components; networking with its “snack chat” program and 1:1 mentoring.

Also, beyond her role as director of shopper marketing for growth channels, Mason was selected to be part of the E-Commerce Champions Group. She was also charged with educating the marketing organization at Mondelez’s annual marketing retreat on keys to developing great omni-programming and how to better integrate with its brand and retail partners and, more recently, was a “buddy” for a new hire on the Kroger business.

Outside of Mondelez, Mason has worn numerous hats at the NEXT UP (formerly the Network of Executive Women) Twin Cities chapter.

MENTORSHIP

BEV SAMPSON Vice President, Client Services Niven Marketing Group

Bev Sampson has spent nearly her entire career at Niven Marketing Group. In her current role, she helps manage clients’ complex merchandising programs from concept to completion.

Sampson has conducted 1:1 coaching and mentoring of her direct reports for many years, soliciting feedback from employees outside of her department that recognizes their accomplishments and suggests ways to improve. She leads her employees in various team-building activities and encourages them to read relevant books and articles related to the industry or professional growth.

Sampson has also been a member of a Vistage Key Executive peer group, where she listens to her peers’ issues and opportunities, asking relevant and probing questions, and offering insightful and compassionate advice. There have been numerous times her cross-industry peers have commented on her helpfulness in gaining clarity on their issues and providing suggestions for potential actions.

Her leadership within her own group has inspired Sampson’s peer managers at Niven to do similar mentorship and development, including company-wide learning and sharing about personality styles that help all employees communicate better with their fellow employees, their clients and vendors, and their families.

TECHNOLOGY

CHELSEA CARROLL Director, Data Strategy & Insights Vestcom

LAURA WALLACE Director of Marketing Chicory

As part of Chicory’s B2B marketing strategy, Laura Wallace leads marketers who specialize in key areas of the marketing funnel, including product and customer marketing, content, public relations, digital and operations. She mentors each marketer and continually encourages their development through iterative learning and innovative projects. Together the team has propelled the company forward, contributing to an overall revenue growth of more than 35% in 2021.

Under her guidance, the team has developed paid, earned and owned marketing plans that contributed to a 28% increase in demand and more than doubled organic leads. She has also led the team’s production of 11 consumer surveys that tackled topics such as omnichannel shopping, inflation and cooking at home, with content featured in several industry publications. The team’s work earned 454 total media mentions in 2021, an increase of 17.5% year over year. The team also refined positioning to connect with industry evolution, and successfully revamped the website, sales materials, branded content and more.

In addition to growing her group’s professional experiences, Wallace is focused on creating a positive team dynamic that emanates the company principles. This includes creating a culture of feedback through mutual team values and building connections on both the project and a personal level.

Chelsea Carroll has been instrumental in key projects during her first year at Vestcom. She enabled databased pricing modification for client Walgreens by revising a set of rigorous measurements to inform its go-to-market sales pricing strategy and drive stronger incremental return on ad spend for the retailer’s CPG partners, and has been a driving force in engaging key client contacts to implement Vestcom’s enhanced best-in-class methodology.

Carroll is the director of data strategy and insights. She owns the data analytics and insight delivery for shelfAdz media campaigns across Walgreens and Kroger. She works to strengthen client partnerships by providing strategic, data-driven insights throughout the client engagement lifecycle, helping to design campaigns that maximize results based on each client’s objectives while ensuring that post-event assessments deliver measurable outcomes to prove value and optimize future campaigns. She has also implemented a quality-control procedure for incoming data to ensure retailer feeds are accurate and consistent, and a halo reporting capability to ensure full campaign impact is captured.

She began her career at Nielsen, providing clients with actionable insights through the integration of various Nielsen data points, including online and offl ine metrics. She later moved on to the strategy and insights department at Quotient, where she created and measured cohesive shopper marketing plans for CPG manufacturers, including programmatic display, digital coupons, social and retailer on-site.

JOY JENTES Shopper Insights Team Lead Kimberly-Clark

RISA CRANDALL Senior Vice President, Strategy + Sales Aki Technologies, an Inmar Intelligence Company

Described as an inventive strategist, Risa Crandall thrives on tackling the challenges — or finding the opportunities — that lie in white space when working with CPG clients. In her world, it’s no longer about click-through rate, but rather the “add to cart” rate. She and her team make recommendations from a strategy, data and personalization standpoint, striving to be strategic and entrepreneurial at the same time.

Crandall is a trusted and respected part ner who builds and nurtures relationships with stakeholders, clients, colleagues and creatives alike. She is a thought leader by nature and approach, and an advocate of diversity. She is always seeking new tech nology and empowers her clients as brands, helping them solve problems with a collab orative approach.

Crandall partners with marketers and the national sales team to create solutions that drive revenue-leveraging personalization at scale, powered by proprietary moments. Since she assumed her current role in January 2021, the company has seen growth of more than 87% in year-over-year revenue and an 80% renewal rate with its top 100 clients. She and her team drove business of more than 300 new programs and developed more than 65 new clients in 2021, and were selected by PepsiCo Digital Labs as an innovation partner.

Joy Jentes has held a broad range of roles focusing on data and analytics within Kimberly-Clark (K-C) over her more than 20-year tenure at the company. She is committed to driving superior insights and analytics to help its brand portfolio live out the company’s purpose of “Better Care for a Better World.”

Jentes played a key role in developing the analytics function, and has worked on every K-C brand, from Kleenex to Kotex to Huggies and everything in between. She has also held several cross-functional roles, from brand insights and category management to sales and shopper insights. She has collaborated within the brand sales organization, as a category manager on the Walmart team, a shopper insights leader on the brand side, and has led the field shopper insights team, with responsibility for all of K-C’s retail partners.

She consistently champions new data and analytical tools. Jentes led the partnership as an early adopter with Numerator, and has been instrumental in the exploration of new Nielsen tools including Connect. She has pushed the company to pilot new insights and analytics tools and platforms, all while building strategic partnerships, internally and with suppliers and retailers.

NADYA KOHL Former Chief Marketing Officer Volta Charging

As the chief marketing officer of electric vehicle (EV) charging and media network Volta, Nadya Kohl was charged with accelerating Volta’s data-driven focus on understanding and influencing the seismic behavioral shift around consumer fueling habits. The company’s EV charging network — which features large digital displays in many retail, grocery and entertainment venues — is predicated on the transportation shift of “fueling where you go” and the infrastructure needed as the world moves toward more sustainable sources of mobility.

Kohl built Volta’s first consumer data analysis capability, helping the company further understand and anticipate shifting driver behavior as it delivers EV charging solutions that fit seamlessly into people’s daily routines. She joined Volta in August 2020, and brought rapid data maturation to the company, executing a strategic plan that drove its goal of developing a behaviorally driven network.

Tasked with underpinning Volta’s ad tech capabilities with the data capabilities to launch the Volta Media Network, she positioned it as a national and local platform that brands can leverage to reach scaled audiences. Advertisers on average have seen an 83% lift in consideration, a 45% lift in awareness and a 65% increase in purchase intent.

Kohl has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, data and technology. She left Volta in September and is undertaking advisory roles with data-related, early- and later-stage companies in a variety of spaces. Currently, she’s a member of Qonsent’s advisory board.

SPECIAL REPORT

The Impact of Visual Content

BY JENNY REBHOLZ

Apicture is worth a thousand words, or more, but words do still matter. And marketers must fi nd the balance that connects with today’s complex audience, a multigenerational and diverse consumer base.

In the inflation-stressed consumer world, it is not surprising that eyes are drawn to price fi rst. Furthermore, our social media-driven culture means people’s opinions also matter.

With the importance of words — i.e., price and popular opinion — clearly understood, images still have a critical ranking in the visual hierarchy. Image carousels, videos and 360-degree images have the power to tap into consumer emotions.

How can brands and retailers effectively curate all of these visual elements and leverage visual content to foster and deepen consumer relationships and ultimately convert to sales?

This special report shares insights on the impact of visual content based on the responses of 1,226 shoppers between the ages of 18-65, who self-reported shopping online at least once a month in one or more select categories. With Amazon and retailer websites topping the list for online shopping across categories, this report highlights how visual content on

these shopping platforms is influencing the path to purchase and opportunities for brands and retailers to catch consumers’ eyes — and then deliver an experience they buy into.

Shopping on Amazon

When it comes to online shopping, consumers look to Amazon to support a variety of category needs. Forty-nine percent of respondents use Amazon for food/grocery items or non-alcoholic beverages, and 68% consider Amazon a primary choice for non-grocery item shopping.

As shoppers navigate Amazon search results, product images are in direct view, guiding the way, and approximately one-quarter of Amazon shoppers highlight the appealing product or packaging images as attention grabbers. Other motivators for clicking on a particular item include a low price, ratings, and “Best Seller” or

Our proprietary research shows how consumers are interacting with images on Amazon, other retailer websites and social media as marketers try to foster relationships and drive sales.

“Amazon’s Choice” badges (price is prioritized by older Gen X and Baby Boomer shoppers, while ratings and badges have a greater influence on younger Gen Z consumers).

For those who say appealing images catch their attention, 67% are most often drawn to images that show relevant product features, while 58% are looking at visuals that depict the product quantity or size of packaging. Gen Z and Millennials (56%) more often note the influence of appealing stylized images compared to Gen Z and Baby Boomers (39%). And 50% of men are more likely to be interested in product packaging compared to 36% of women.

Brands committed to a deep understanding of their target audiences and investing in shopper analytics will be able to make more informed image selections or be inspired to test creative solutions for image curation.

As consumers dig deeper into a product’s detail page, visual content in the form of carousel images and product videos, as well as reviews with images and videos, are valued by shoppers.

When evaluating the types of visuals, including image carousels, videos and 360-degree images, over half of the respondents referenced viewing all three types of images whether shopping for everyday, lower-priced items or higher-priced

What Makes an Image Appealing on Amazon?

Product packaging is appealing 67% 48% 58% 40% 39%

Clearly depicts the product quantity or size of packaging

Stylized image with the product being used

Shows a color option I am interested in

Q. You said that seeing an appealing product image in Amazon’s search results catches your attention. What makes an image appealing or interesting to you? (Select up to three)

Source: Path to Purchase Institute Visual Content Impact Study, August 2022

products. If they are available, shoppers often look at both 360-degree images and product videos. This is especially true for higher-priced items, such as electronic or home decor products.

While drawn in by price and other product details, shoppers are spending time exploring all of the available images and video offerings as they weigh their buying decisions.

Amazon Image Carousels: How Many Images

Do

Special Report

Yes, I will view 360-degree images only

Amazon 360-Degree Images and Product Videos: Do You View Them?

Yes, I will look at product videos only

Yes, I will look at both No, I do not look at either

Yes, I will view 360-degree images only

Yes, I will look at product videos only

Yes, I will look at both No, I do not look at either

Q. Do you typically view 360-degree images or product videos if they are available on a product’s detail page for a lower-priced item (like food or personal care items)? What about on a product’s detail page for a higher-priced item (like electronics or home decor)?

Source: Path to Purchase Institute Visual Content Impact Study, August 2022

highlights features and benefits (50%), and many want the ability to zoom in to get a better look at the product (42%). Images are also considered important for helping shoppers evaluate the size and color of a product (39%). And similar to the validation of peer reviews, consumers are influenced by images of real-life customers using the product (36%). For Gen Z and Millennial shoppers, product packaging and stylized images of the product being used are also of particular interest.

The visual hierarchy for higher-priced products is similar to lower-priced items, but emphasized by a higher percentage of respondents. Sixty-one percent are looking at the specific features of the higher-priced items, and 50% are interested in zoom-in options. Product size and color (42%) as well as reallife customers using the product (40%) follow in ranking. Eye-catching advertising on Amazon presents a significant opportunity for brands to reach shoppers. Three-quarters

Amazon Image Carousel: What Are You Looking For?

Lower-priced items

Higher-priced items

Q. What are you typically looking to see when viewing the image carousel for a lower-priced product on Amazon (like a food or personal care item)? What details are usually most important to you when deciding whether to purchase a product? (Select up to three)

Q. What are you typically looking to see when viewing the image carousel for a higher-priced product on Amazon (like electronics or home decor)? What details are usually most important to you when deciding whether to purchase a product? (Select up to three)

Amazon Product Ads: Do You Notice Them? How Appealing Are They?

Very appealing or interesting Somewhat appealing or interesting

of respondents admit that they regularly notice ads while shopping on the Amazon website or app. However, only about a quarter of shoppers find the ads “very appealing or interesting.”

Ads that feature a discount or promotion grab consumer attention (41%), while 36% are drawn to an eye-catching image or video. If the ad is for a product the shopper was already searching for, then that reinforces their path to purchase (36%). Respondents were also receptive to ads that introduce them to a new or unique product (32%) or ads personalized to their browsing/shopping history (31%).

When asked about ways to improve ads on Amazon, 25% of respondents wanted to see ads that are personally relevant. This highlights the importance

Retailer Website: What Makes an Image Appealing?

Somewhat unappealing or uninteresting

Very unappealing or uninteresting

of marketing teams implementing visual analytics to better understand their audience. They have to stay informed and nimble to curate content that speaks directly to and emotionally connects with consumers.

Shopping on Retailers’ Websites

For those shopping on retailer websites, price is again the top priority (51%) when they are viewing search results. One-quarter of respondents identified appealing product and packaging images that are eye-catching, which is slightly higher than shoppers on Amazon. Men ranked appealing product and packaging images higher than women, 37% compared to 21%. Men are also more likely to be influenced by the number of product reviews and “Best Seller” or “Sponsored” badges.

When asked to eliminate price from the decision-making equation, shoppers looking at search results on retailers’ websites leaned in on product/brand familiarity, availability in-store and appealing product or packaging images.

Consumers said they often are looking for images that depict the product quantity or size of packaging (73%), appealing packaging (59%) or relevant product features (59%). Gen Z and Millennials more often refer to stylized images as appealing.

As shoppers continue on their path to purchase on a product’s detail page, the price will again influence the purchasing decision (52%). Respondents are also interested in product

Source:

The Product Image Opportunity

UPGRADE IMAGERY TO OVERCOME CHALLENGES IN PERSONALIZING THE SHOPPING JOURNEY.

BY JEHAN

What are you doing to drive conversions on the digital shelf? For many e-commerce and commerce marketing teams, the answer is a complex mixture of tactics and technologies aimed at delivering maximum traffic to product detail pages (PDPs) with the hope of that traffic turning into sales.

But I’m willing to bet that very few of these efforts and resources are devoted to measuring whether the images on those PDPs and retail media ads are actually motivating specific audiences to buy. That’s the first mistake.

Images are the first and most effective way of getting a consumer’s attention on the visually crowded path to purchase, and they add even more value along the shopping journey. Whether in ads, on product description pages or on physical packaging, the images you use convey important messages about your brand and product. They also offer an untapped avenue for emotional connections and increased conversions.

how that product will fit into their lives and enhance their lifestyle. That’s why stylized images of the product being used and images of real customers using the product both ranked as important visuals for shoppers. Although it’s not the personalization most marketers think of, it’s a one-tomany tactic to humanize the shopping experience.

Unfortunately, images are often relegated to an afterthought in the personalization process, with the bulk of resources directed elsewhere. Not only are teams not optimizing images, but they also aren’t measuring the effectiveness of their visuals at all. This is mistake No. 3.

Brands are blind without industry benchmarks or a formal competitor analysis that’s updated and refreshed in real time. Traditional testing is time-consuming and expensive, and until recently there hasn’t been technology capable of applying different audience preferences to image selection. The result is marketing and e-commerce teams leaving one of the most critical components of PDPs and conversions to gut instinct and chance.

The Vizit and Path to Purchase Institute’s survey, “Impact of Imagery on Consumer Purchasing Decisions,” confirmed that consumers want some level of personalization in product images. This isn’t a whim: According to a McKinsey study, 71% of consumers today expect personalization across their marketing interactions, and 76% of those consumers get frustrated when brands and businesses don’t deliver personalized experiences.

What does personalization mean for the digital shelf? We’ve seen clothing retailers deploy augmented reality-based shopping experiences and furniture brands offer 3D looks at what redesigned spaces could be — but few have taken steps to truly personalize something as ubiquitous as product images. That’s the second mistake.

According to our survey, more than half of Amazon shoppers said they look at all of a product’s carousel images. We know they’re relying on those PDP images to understand product features, color options, quantity and size. But they’re also seeking validation for their purchase — they want to know precisely

If you’re making these three common mistakes — most brands and retailers are — there’s a huge opportunity to upgrade your imagery and increase conversions. As you’re striving to achieve ambitious goals, cut through the noise and get the most out of first-party, data-rich retail media targeting, consider the impact your visual content has on your efforts. Small, strategic changes in how you’re presenting your products and brand can have a significant impact.

About the Author

Jehan Hamedi is the founder and CEO of Vizit. He has more than a decade of experience in computational social science and artificial intelligence. His innovations have led to important advances in AI and computer vision, consumer insights and e-commerce, resulting in eight patents and an award-winning software platform. Before launching Vizit, Hamedi led growth and innovation for Crimson Hexagon (acquired by Brandwatch), working with leading global brands, retailers, technology and media companies, including Google, Twitter, Walgreens, Toyota and Paramount Pictures.

HAMEDI Unfortunately, images are often relegated to an afterthought in the personalization process, with the bulk of resources directed elsewhere.

Website Image Carousels: How Many Images Do You View?

descriptions, brand familiarity and local availability.

Imagery — whether images carousels, video or 360-degree images — plays a role in conveying important product information. When commenting on the use of image carousels on retailer sites, more than half of the respondents said they look at all of the images. This includes lower-priced and higher-priced items.

Additionally, 360-degree images and product videos are enticing to shoppers. When shopping for lower-priced items, 36% of respondents will look at both, and the percentage increases to 51% when considering higher-priced

looking for images that highlight specific product features (49%). From nutritional labels (42%) and zoomed-in options (38%) to size and color (38%), shoppers are digging into the details. Gen Z and Millennials are more interested in seeing images depicting the product used. This includes real-life customers as well as stylized images.

When it comes to shopping for higher-value items, images that showcase specific features are even more important, as prioritized by 65% of respondents. Zoomed-in images (49%) and real-life customers using the product (41%) were also emphasized. The real-life and stylized imagery again ranks higher with younger Gen Z and Millennial shoppers.

Retailer Website Image Carousel: What Are You Looking For?

Lower-priced items

Higher-priced items

Specific features of the product

Nutritional labels

Zoomed-in image to better see the product

Product size or color

Real-life customers using the product

Product packaging

Badging or certifications

Stylized images of the product being used

Specific features of the product

Zoomed-in image to better see the product

Real-life customers using the product

Product size or color

Stylized images of the product being used

Badging or certifications

Product packaging

Q. What are you typically looking to see when viewing a retailer’s image carousel for a lower-priced product on a retailer’s website (like a food or personal care item)? (Select up to three)

Q. What are you typically looking to see when viewing a retailer’s image carousel for a higher-priced product on a retailer’s website (like electronics or home decor)? (Select up to three)

Similar to those shopping on Amazon, these responses demonstrate that images and videos play a key role in communicating important product information, as well as deepening the emotional connection between shoppers and the brands and products being considered.

Likewise, respondents’ reactions to advertising on retailer websites were similar to ads on Amazon, presenting an opportunity to gain greater shopper attention. Shoppers admit to noticing product ads, but only a quarter of them find the ads “very appealing or interesting.”

There are a variety of reasons consumers click on an ad to learn more about a product, with a discount or promotional offer

ranking highest for 44% of the people surveyed. Eye-catching images or videos (35%), brand familiarity (35%), a product already being searched for (34%) as well as an introduction to a new or unique product (31%) also work to grab the attention needed to convert to a click.

For retailers looking for ways to enhance the appeal of their advertising, there is plenty of room for improvement. Only 3% of respondents said retailers’ ads are good as-is. From featuring discounts and promotions (according to 17%) to making ads more engaging (16%) and relevant (13%) to offering better images and videos (11%), retailers have opportunities for creativity and experimentation.

Source: Path to Purchase Institute Visual Content Impact Study, August 2022

Online Product Images/Videos: What’s Most Important?

Images showing available sizes and colors

Images depicting relevant product features

Product packaging

Images from real-life customers using the product

Videos from real-life customers using the product

Stylized images of the product being used

Video depicting relevant product features

360-degree images

How-to videos about the product

Images depicting relevant product features

Images showing available sizes and colors

360-degree images

How-to videos about the product

Images from real-life customers using the product Videos from real-life customers using the product

Video depicting relevant product features

Stylized images of the product being used Product packaging

Q. When thinking about the images or videos available for products when shopping online, which are most important to you when making a decision to purchase a product? Please think about what is most important to you when shopping for a lower-priced product (such as a food or personal care item). (Select up to three)

Q. When thinking about the images or videos available for products when shopping online, which are most important to you when making a decision to purchase a product? Please think about what is most important to you when shopping for a higher-priced product (such as an electronic or home decor item). (Select up to three)

Shopping Online and Social Media Habits

Consumer attention is in high demand. From social media to online shopping, people are bombarded with visual stimulation. So what is drawing and capturing their attention? For perspective, consider that respondents estimate spending up to five hours a day consuming videos or images across social media platforms. The amount of time spent increases significantly among younger generations. These Gen Z and Millennial consumers are most active on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Pinterest. Across all generations of shoppers, YouTube (80%), Facebook (79%), Instagram (59%) and TikTok (54%) are the social platforms used most, with more than half saying they use the platforms at least 2-4 times per week.

This social media activity and focus on visual content influences overall online shopping behavior, and can inform brand and retailer visual content curation. When faced with the decision of where to purchase a product that is available in multiple places online, shoppers are looking for the site that offers the most detailed information. This includes product descriptions (47%), star ratings (39%) and reviews (39%).

High-quality images on product detail and search results pages — as well as videos or 360-degree images and the number of images available — are also important. Whether shopping for lower- or higher-priced items, images depicting product features and the available sizes and colors are considered the most important, but a variety of imagery and video content is influential.

How brands and retailers carefully curate all of this information can capture shopper attention and provide them with the decision-making details they need to complete a purchase. The more brands and retailers know about their target audience, the better choices they can make regarding videos, stylized content and access to images of real-life customers using the product.

Products marketed to a broad consumer base have to deliver the important

details in multiple ways, while those with a very targeted demographic — such as Gen Z and Millennials — can leverage the visual content these shoppers prioritize. Consumer preference data is more important than ever to guide e-commerce strategy, so marketers can curate product information in an engaging yet efficient way.

Health & Wellness

As health and wellness shoppers’ needs and purchasing patterns evolve, the category has grown substantially — as has what is considered a health and wellness purchase, including more non-traditional items and alternative medicines, food options and personal care items. With that in mind, CPG brands and retailers are taking an attribute-driven approach to deliver what’s important to their target consumers, from clean labels to cruelty-free, vegan ingredients and beyond.

BY JACQUELINE BARBA

1GSK ran an “All for Wellness” campaign at Target this spring, uniting its Advil, Emergen-C, Tums and Sensodyne brands for a cause effort touting an unspecified contribution GSK made to Remote Area Medical (a nonprofit providing healthcare to underserved communities). In stores, shelf trays stocked SKUs on a dedicated endcap outfitted with a header depicting an image of multiple hands in a range of skin colors. A QR code on the signage linked to a related promotional page within Target.com that touted the effort.

2Baby and mother care brand Frida promoted its postpartum products for mothers on Amazon through sponsored display ads under related search results and product detail pages on Amazon.com. Under searches for “postpartum,” the brand ran ads promoting “Recovery Essentials” from its Frida Mom line, including its hospital packing kit, and linked to its Amazon brand shop.

3Ahold Delhaize’s Giant Food has dedicated a permanent spot in its weekly circular to promote plant-based food options on the “Natural & Organic” page. Near the top of the page, a small, outlined ad spot depicts a “Try Plant-Based” message around two different products from national and/ or private-label brands accompanied with a special deal for loyalty members, such as $2 off.

4Welly Health PBC in August deepened its relationship with Target , expanding its lineup from first-aid band aids to medicine and dietary supplements, including SKUs for pain and fever, digestive issues, allergy, cough and cold, sleep and mood — available exclusively at the mass merchant. In stores, the new items enjoyed secondary merchandising space on a dedicated endcap display that promoted how the SKUs are free from artificial flavors, synthetic dyes, parabens and talc. A home page carousel ad on GetWelly.com and multiple Facebook, TikTok and Instagram updates from Welly promote the brand extension at Target.

5Unilever partnered with actor Mindy Kaling to create a self-care-focused, limited-edition collection for its Walmart-exclusive Find Your Happy Place line. Available June through August, the collection included bubble bath, scented candles and body mist. In stores, the collection had prime secondary merchandising space on a colorful, dedicated endcap outfitted with shelf trays. A carousel ad within the “Bath & Body” category page of Walmart.com promoted the collection, linking to a brand

6showcase hosting multiple promotional videos starring Kaling.

6Haleon (owned by Pfizer and GSK ) and CVS Pharmacy this fall promoted a decked-out hub, called “The Haleon Shop for Women’s Health,” within CVS.com as part of the retailer’s ongoing commitment to women’s health. The shop spotlights and details the benefits of multiple products and brands from the manufacturer, including Centrum, Advil, Nexium, Voltaren and Sensodyne, while also listing pages of related products. Various display ads scattered throughout CVS.com linked to the shop, using “Take on change” and “Embrace the ever-evolving you” messages.

Walmart united probiotic products from brands such as Fortify, Procter & Gamble’s Align and Amerifit Brands’ Culturelle on a dedicated endcap display outfitted in educational signage to help shoppers decide if they should take

probiotics and which ones are right for them. The vertical signage affixed to the display asked a series of questions, such as “Why should I use probiotics?” and “How should I use [them]?,” followed with brief explanations.

8At the Sephora at Kohl’s store-within-a-store concept, Hum Nutrition recently received a dedicated endcap display with branded signage positioning the vitamin and supplement brand also as a beauty product with clinically proven ingredients for skin, hair, body and mood. Shelf signage highlighted product benefits under each related product, including boosting collagen, managing stress, reducing bloating and strengthening hair.

9Walmart’s website became the exclusive retail partner of socially conscious medicine brand Betr Remedies back in 2021. This year, it rolled out the full line to 2,000 stores in the U.S. In addition to a dedicated brand shop on the website, the digitally native brand co-founded by actress Ellen Pompeo is merchandised on a colorful endcap display boasting a cause program and a “Medicine on a Mission” message. Wrapped in what Betr calls “design-forward packaging,” the brand aimed to stand out in the cluttered supplement category.

Tech Tools

WE COVER WHAT’S DRIVING CONSUMER UNDERSTANDING, ENGAGEMENT AND CONVERSION ALONG THE PATH TO PURCHASE.

BY BILL SCHOBER

In late October, Klarna announced a partnership with the NBA’s Chicago Bulls. Fans can use the Klarna shopping and payments app to purchase Bulls gear from the team’s stadium store and have it delivered to their seat during a game. It also uses Klarna’s signature “Pay-in-4 method,” which splits purchases into four interest-free payments. Bulls player Zach Lavine is a Klarna brand ambassador, and a curated collection of his apparel is also available for purchase in the app.

This fall, San Jose, California-based Olyns and Mars Wrigley launched the “Sweet Rewards Challenge” at a handful of Bay-area locations, including Safeway. When consumers first sign into the Olyns app and then deposit qualifying candy containers into Olyns’ “Cubes,” the video display starts spinning three symbols that — depending on how they line up — offer prizes of up to $100. Each Cube can compress thousands of plastic, aluminum and glass containers, and also serves as a retail media network.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based LLENA (AI) Health Solutions recently began working with Walmart to provide personalized diabetesmanagement grocery purchasing recommendations on its platform. LLENA (which means “Learn to Love Eating Nutritiously Always”) has an AI-driven “Cook it Yourself” module that creates individualized glycemicindex-value meal suggestions based on blood sugar, blood pressure and other indicators. Users can then either pick up or receive delivery of their groceries from Walmart.

Boston-based Pointr recently announced the “world’s largest indoor mapping deployment” without identifying the retailer. (Hint: Pointr’s site features The Home Depot’s new store-mapping TV commercials.) The company digitized 2,000 stores across 280 million square feet using AI technology that retrieved all existing maps and converted them into interactive indoor maps that are updateable in seconds. Pointr also noted that 78% of the top 50 U.S. retailers offer a “store mode” on their apps, but only 19% are actually activated as in-store maps.

More Online

Access bonus content from this month’s full Solutions & Innovations roundup on P2PI.com.

Clif Bar’s Petco Exclusive

THE BRAND ENTERS A NEW CATEGORY AFTER ITS INCUBATOR DEVELOPS PLANT-BASED JERKY TREATS FOR DOGS.

BY SAMANTHA NELSON

Clif Bar & Co. partnered with Petco to bring treats for both pets and humans to stores this past summer. The manufacturer launched Clif Pet plantbased jerky treats for dogs exclusively at the retailer — and also secured merchandising for its flagship brand bars for people.

It is the very fi rst venture of Clif’s Trailblazers Incubator, which works on developing disruptive innovation and sustainable business ventures. Clif — which allows employees to bring their dogs to work — has been considering entering the pet category for a long time, jumping in now to take advantage of the 11 million new households that added pets during the last 18 months, according to the American Pet Products Association’s “COVID-19 Pulse Study.”

“The Incubator identified the pet category as an area of growth due to the dramatic increase in pet ownership coupled with the emerging demand for human-grade pet food,” says Greg Lok, head of Clif Bar’s Incubator. “Our employees are passionate about dogs, making this effort a real win-win.”

The Clif Pet line comprises three recipes — sweet potato and blueberry, pumpkin and apple, and butternut squash and cranberry — sold in 5- or 12-ounce bags for $8.99 or $16.99, respectively.

In stores, the pet and human products were stocked on an account-specific floorstand that positioned the bars as “for you” and the jerky as “for your dog.” The Clif Bar products for people were only sold in Petco stores as part of the displays while supplies lasted.

“A couple relevant trends and insights helped inform this launch,” says Shari White, senior vice president of merchandising, food and treats at Petco. “The fi rst trend, pet humanization, involves the growing interest in giving pets the same level of care, including high-quality nutrition, that pet parents seek for themselves. The second is that pet parents are increasingly looking for products that deliver on their values around sustainability. Sustainable, plant-based offerings continue to be important to our guests, and Clif Pet fits squarely in this space.”

The rollout received support from a brand showcase within Petco.com, experiential marketing, promotions and work with social media influencers.

Petco hosted internal events and samplings to engage Petco employees. The retailer also activated its sponsorship of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres by giving away Clif Pet products on Aug. 1 during “Bark in the Park,” a dog-friendly game at Petco Park stadium.

“This partnership is a great fit, because Petco shares a similar mission of improving the health and overall lives of both people and pets,” Lok says. “Committed to leading the category in pet nutrition standards, Petco is the fi rst and only national retailer to no longer sell food and treats containing artificial colors, flavors and preservatives for dogs and cats, making them an ideal partner from a values perspective.”

White says Petco is measuring the launch’s success by tracking sales, household growth and retention along with PR and social media placements, impressions and engagements.

“The consumer response to the differentiated Clif Pet collection has been highly positive, and we’re excited to continue to collaborate with Clif in the future,” she says.

she says.

Clif in the future,”

The Incubator identified the pet category as an area of growth due to the dramatic increase in pet ownership coupled with the emerging demand for human-grade pet food.

— Greg Lok , head of Clif Bar’s incubator

Featuring special retailer guests in each episode, join us for a dialogue about current trends and strategies that are driving innovation for the next era of retail. In partnership with Great Northern Instore, the Path to Purchase Institute invites you to listen in to a discussion with executives from today’s leading retail chains, emerging brands and parallel industries as we dive into the issues impacting the evolution of retail.