Prioritizing Value: Mars’s Core Criteria
In the competitive retail media landscape, Mars concentrates its spending on three primary value drivers. First, Mars aims to drive growth with specific retailers where its brands perform strongly and there is clear potential for incremental sales. Second, the company leverages the power of first-party data collected through retail media networks to better understand consumer behavior and create more targeted campaigns. Third, Mars invests in building top-of-mind awareness for key brands, ensuring they remain visible to consumers across various touchpoints.
Strategic Partner Selection and Channel Allocation
Mars adopts a flexible approach in selecting retail media partners, recognizing the value smaller and more agile networks can provide alongside large established players. Investment decisions between in-store and e-commerce advertising depend on the retailer’s capabilities and audience reach. Mars prioritizes partners who can deliver measurable outcomes aligned with its business goals, ensuring the allocation of media dollars optimizes both online and offline shopper engagement.
The Measurement Imperative
A significant challenge Mars identifies in retail media is inconsistent measurement across different channels. Without unified metrics, it becomes difficult to assess the true impact of campaigns on sales and brand health. Mars is focused on developing comprehensive models that integrate data across all consumer touchpoints, including digital, in-store, and omnichannel interactions. This approach aims to provide clarity on return on investment and supports more precise budget allocation decisions, helping to maximize incremental growth.
As retail media continues to evolve, Mars’s approach underlines the importance of a tailored, data-driven strategy. Understanding each partner’s unique value and pushing for standardized measurement are essential in driving sustained success in this complex environment. Brands and retailers alike must recognize the need for category-specific insights to inform retail media investment for the future.
