What does it mean to be media aware?
Editor’s note: In this series, we’re diving into what it means to have measurement that is media and retail aware. In this first post, we’re exploring what it means to be media aware.
At Incremental, we say this a lot: a consumer’s journey doesn’t necessarily begin and end on Amazon (or any other retailer’s website). Today, retail media investments are heavily weighted toward on-site search on retailer websites. But that may not actually be what’s driving sales.
As retail media buyers are keenly aware, the customer purchase journey is often viewed as a funnel, with awareness at the top and purchase at the bottom. Examining the entire funnel—from awareness efforts to conversion—is the only way to get a clear picture of what drives sales. That requires a much broader lens on media outside of what is defined as retail media.
Non-retail media—such as search, social, online video, and display ads—all fall along that consumer’s journey, and interact with investments in retail media. For example, a Meta ad may build awareness which is later converted by a Sponsored Product Ad on Amazon or Walmart.
To accurately measure retail media we must understand how these non-retail media investments interact with them. Here, we explain the nuances of these four media types.
Non-retail search
Google and other search engines play an important role in the purchase journey. Say you, as an advertiser, are investing in Google or other search engines and driving traffic to Amazon while simultaneously investing in Amazon. A measurement platform that is media aware of non-retail search means that it understands how search engines impact the performance of retailer search—for example, how Google search impacts Amazon search.
Social media
Brands often consider social media a key place to drive product discovery and awareness. Mid- to upper-funnel campaigns on social media play an important role in building that brand awareness, making potential customers aware of your products, and eventually building purchase intent. Down the funnel, a customer with this social media–driven awareness may purchase on Amazon, but a measurement platform must understand that that earlier touchpoint was critical for the sale to happen.
A measurement platform that is aware of social media is not just looking at retail media in a bubble, but instead pays attention to and connects the dots from the important, full-funnel role that social media plays on the path to purchase. With this understanding, brands can better optimize for the bottom of the funnel (say, on Amazon) based on a clear picture of the upper funnel (say, on Instagram).
Online video
Online video, whether it's a pre-roll ad on YouTube or a 30-second advertising slot on connected television (CTV), is probably the biggest medium for upper-funnel investment, which means a measurement platform has to understand how it interacts with efforts lower down the funnel to drive sales.
Take this example: A potential customer sees an ad for your product while watching a YouTube channel one night. They are distracted and only half-watching. A week goes by. But then they see another ad for your product on Amazon when they are already actively shopping and they buy it.
Effective retail media measurement must account for that first touchpoint from YouTube earlier. As retail media begins to move off-site into formats like online video, measurement platforms need to ensure that the bottom of the funnel doesn’t get false credit for the upper funnel’s work.
Display
While offsite-display is already a growing category within retail media, traditional programmatic display in the open web has long been a mainstay of mid- to lower-funnel advertising such as retargeting. Shoppers who visited your direct-to-consumer (DTC) store may already be served retargeting displays for a product before eventually buying it on Amazon. Being media aware of display ads means knowing where to attribute that final sale. Was the sale due to the display ad from DTC retargeting or a search on Amazon?
