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CHICAGO, IL – Peapod Digital Labs, the digital, e-commerce and commercial company of Ahold Delhaize USA, on Wednesday announced plans to grow its media network – AD Retail Media – by building an end-to-end, in-house retail media business. AD Retail Media will harness Ahold Delhaize USA brands’ market presence and close customer connections to help consumer packaged goods (CPG) partners meaningfully engage a significant East Coast omnichannel customer base. Together, the brands of Ahold Delhaize USA operate more than 2,000 stores, process more than 23 million transactions per week, have nearly 24 million active loyalty card users and total more than $51 billion in annual sales.
“Retail media is already a sizable percentage of total advertising spend – with forecasts showing it will continue to grow significantly,” said JJ Fleeman, President, Peapod Digital Labs. “By bringing AD Retail Media inhouse, we will create a connected go-to-market offering for CPGs, grounded in new capabilities, simplicity and value generation. As the space continues to grow, we’re proud to invest in retail media to continue to propel our companies – and our CPG partners – forward.”
With this move, Peapod Digital Labs will aim to drive key advancements in AD Retail Media through new strategic partnerships and expanded capabilities, including:
• Launching a unified on-site and off-site platform to deliver a single point of activation and measurement;
• Leveraging proprietary data to create more targeted ads and improve returns on ad spend;
• Enabling one dashboard for transparently measured campaign results spanning transactions made on-site and across the web; and
• Enhancing self-serve control to reach customers in a simple, targeted way.
AD Retail Media will expand to an in-house digital media agency and grow its retail media team. Publicis Groupe’s CitrusAd, Epsilon and Publicis Sapient will support the stand-up and scaling of the new team.
“This is a great example of Publicis Groupe’s “Power of One” retail media strategy, with Epsilon, CitrusAd and Publicis Sapient all involved helping AD Retail media transform with new talent, expertise and capabilities,” said Thibault Hennion, Managing Director of International Operations at Epsilon.
AD Retail Media will transition to CitrusAd, powered by Epsilon, becoming the first major retailer to launch a unified onsite/offsite platform with Epsilon’s unrivaled accuracy and reach.
“The integration with Peapod Digital Labs will allow us to work efficiently together to achieve the goals of driving sales growth, reaching more customers with relevant content, and investing in customer value proposition,” said David Haase, CEO of CitrusAd Americas.
In addition, AD Retail Media will partner with LiveRamp Safe Haven as a data collaboration solution.
“Data collaboration has become an absolute necessity for CPG brands seeking a competitive edge. By leveraging Safe Haven technology, AD Retail Media will empower CPGs partners to transform both their business outcomes and customers’ experiences,” said Warren Jenson, President at LiveRamp.
Quotient will continue to serve as AD Retail Media’s digital coupon provider.
“These new partnerships are the beginning of many new capabilities that AD Retail Media will bring to market in 2023 and beyond,” added Fleeman. “Through the enhanced network, we expect our partners will be able to create more relevant, measurable, real-time campaigns that produce greater ROI both for the CPG and the customer.”
