In this episode of Next in Media, Mike Shields interviews Ann Harrell, Head of Product Enablement at Pacvue, about the evolving landscape of retail media. Harrell explains the challenges of data availability and cross-channel attribution in retail media, highlighting the role of data clean rooms and the blurring lines between retail, social, and traditional search as all become channels for commerce.

💡Takeaways:

• The Challenge of Cross-Platform Attribution: While closed-loop attribution is effective within single retail platforms, the major challenge lies in attributing performance across various retail media channels and broader marketing channels due to data silos and retailers' reluctance to share data outside their own networks.
• 🔒 Data Clean Rooms as a Solution: Data clean rooms are emerging as a key tool to overcome data availability challenges. 
• 💰 Cross-Channel Measurement Drives Budgets: Demonstrating cross-channel measurement to retailers is crucial because it often leads to increased and sustained budgets for brands. 
• 🛍️ Evolution of Social Shopping: Social platforms like TikTok are actively integrating commerce features, moving beyond organic social strategy to offer "shop ads" that link creative content directly to products. 
• 🌐 Building Retailer Ecosystems: Major retailers like Walmart are building comprehensive ecosystems that span various media touchpoints, including on-site display, off-site programmatic (e.g., through Trade Desk), and connected TV (CTV) via partnerships like Vizio. 
• 🎯 Custom Incrementality Models: A one-size-fits-all approach to incrementality modeling is ineffective due to varying data and attribution capabilities across retailers. 

🎙 Guest: Anne Harrell

🎤 Host: Mike Shields

📺 Sponsor: Walmart Connect

🎬 Producer: FEL Creative