The media business is changing fast – and it might not seem obvious that a grocery store brand originally founded in 1939 would be seen as one of the industry’s biggest innovators. But that’s exactly what the Boise, ID-headquartered Albertsons is doing with its two-year-old Albertsons Media Collective. Albertsons, the parent company of regional grocery chains like Safeway, Shaw’s, and Vons in addition to its eponymous stores, has become one of the most-talked-about names in retail media – and with over 2,000 stores and 30 million weekly customers, it certainly brings scale to the table.

But how does a legacy retail company become a pioneer in a new sector of advertising? Through a commitment to values, high standards, and putting the customer first. At Advertising Week New York, Infillion CMO Laurel Rossi sat down for a fireside chat with Michelle Weiskittel, senior director of retail media network media, creative, and operations at Albertsons Media Collective to discuss just that.

“We’re a late mover in the retail media space,” Weiskittel explained, citing that Albertsons was not a digitally native retailer – and that she sees that as an advantage because it could build new digital systems and datasets rather than needing to adapt existing ones. “We really want to take advantage of that late move and build solutions that work for everyone. We can use our voice in that process and build something that takes advantage of where we are now in the digital ecosystem versus where we were.”

That ability to build agile, future-forward systems is key when one of the biggest challenges in the world of retail media networks (RMNs) is standardization. “We know RMNs are an important media vehicle in the space, but there are a lot of them, and in order to make that efficient for the buyers you have to think about standardization,” Weiskittel said. “If everyone’s measuring differently then…let’s have the conversation together and focus on standardization and transparency.”

On that note of transparency, Weiskittel emphasized that it’s a key value for Albertsons Media Collective in dealing both with their customers as well as the consumers who shop at their stores. After all, grocery stores are some of the most hyperlocal businesses out there, and shoppers want to know that their data is being respected. “Grocery is a localized experience in itself, so we have to pull all of that together and really think about the customer and what the customer is going to react to,” she said.

That deeply personal relationship that consumers have with their local grocery store also underpins Albertsons’ commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Food is the center of most people’s lives,” Weiskittel said. “Our shoppers are diverse. If we don’t carry that through in our strategies, then that’s a miss and we’re not relating back to our shoppers and our customers.” That extends to the internal culture at Albertsons Media Collective, where leadership hosts “listening sessions” with employees about events and issues both inside and outside the company, and where mentoring is a central part of the employee experience.

Michelle Weiskittel and Laurel Rossi were sharing the stage as part of Advertising Week’s “Future is Female” track, which celebrates trailblazing women within the advertising industry. That’s especially key for the retail sector. As Rossi underscored in their fireside chat, women are responsible for 80% of household purchases – and that rises to 93% for food purchases. Recognizing and centering this is what helps a nearly century-old brand like Albertsons continue to be a mover and shaker as the industry evolves both in terms of tech innovation and on a cultural inclusion front.

“When you’ve been in this industry so long, like us, you’re motivated by the change and the desire to push yourself forward,” Weiskittel said. “What keeps me going is that constant rate of change.”

Want to learn more about being at the forefront of advertising, retail, and shopping trends? Follow Infillion on LinkedIn for our latest research and insights.

In 2020, in the middle of the strictest COVID-19 lockdowns, Home Depot unveiled a particularly unusual new product: a Halloween lawn ornament in the form of a 12-foot-tall skeleton with glowing eyes. While the product had been in development since pre-COVID, its irreverence and absurdity made it a runaway hit in an otherwise serious and stressful year. Three years later, the product fans have nicknamed “Skelly” continues to sell out.

Since its debut, “Skelly” – and Home Depot’s broader portfolio of outlandish Halloween decorations – have fascinated the marketing world. What does a brand best known for a practical selection of home and garden fixtures gain by selling a skeleton so enormous that it can peek into second-story windows?

The answer: The giant skeleton gets the right kind of hard-to-capture attention, and Home Depot backs that attention up with a savvy strategy to keep it while respecting consumers’ time. And marketers can learn from this success, whether it’s “spooky season” or not. Here are a few of the key lessons.

Don’t exploit consumers’ attention with overexposure.

One key tactic that Home Depot has maintained for the four years since it debuted the 12-foot-tall skeleton is that it doesn’t manufacture – or sell – very many of them. The company has intentionally kept quantities limited, even when it likely knows it could sell far more. As a result, “Skelly” still sells out in minutes whenever its inventory is refreshed, including when it’s nowhere near October, and even with buyers’ purchases limited to just one skeleton.

There’s an important lesson here when it comes to human attention. Imagine if, when you drove to work in the month of October, every third house on the drive had a 12-foot-tall skeleton on its lawn. You’d probably find that irritating, and likely quite disruptive to your attention. It might even give you a negative brand perception of the company responsible for selling so many skeletons. Instead, with “Skelly” sales kept scarce, seeing one in a neighbor’s lawn or along your work commute is a fun, attention-grabbing novelty.

Along the same lines, seeing an ad too many times can make consumers less likely to purchase the item. Attention is the core of marketing, but marketers need to make sure they don’t exploit it once they have it.

Know when and how to stay current.

Many people, including many advertising professionals, are surprised to hear that Home Depot has never put any paid advertising spend behind its Halloween decorations. Instead, the company works with Trade School, a digital agency based in its hometown of Atlanta, to create content for platforms like Instagram and TikTok that can be ultra-relevant at any time of the year. In July, for example, the company tapped into the fan and brand mania surrounding the Barbie movie by putting one of its skeletons into Barbie’s iconic packaging.

This kind of flexible creative strategy allows Home Depot to easily adapt “Skelly” messaging to tap into current trends and social media conversations in a way that’s able to be far more relevant than traditional paid planning would allow. It’s also helped Home Depot cement the skeleton as a year-round cult favorite at the company rather than a seasonal decoration.

But paid media can now take advantage of this, too. New ad formats, next-generation targeting, AI-driven real-time campaign insights, and dynamic creative can bring digital advertising into the realm of up-to-the-minute relevance. That way, brands can ensure they aren’t just part of a conversation, but part of the right conversation. (Don’t believe us? Drop us a line at Infillion.)

Know how to turn attention into a purchase – even if it’s not a direct one.

The 12-foot-tall skeleton is great at turning heads, but not only is it kept in intentionally scarce quantities, it’s also expensive – priced at $300, and even more on the secondary market. Plus, you need somewhere to put it, which rules out most apartment dwellers. In other words, there are a lot of people who might love to have an enormous skeleton to display every Halloween, but they aren’t customers for one reason or another. For this reason, Home Depot carefully positions “Skelly” as part of a broader curation of Halloween decor, much of which is far less pricey. This year, its “Boo on a Budget” rundown offers ideas for how to create a whole spooky porch display using Home Depot products for under $100.

The lesson for marketers here is that when you capture someone’s attention (and the skeleton certainly does), not everyone whose attention gets grabbed is going to instantly become a buyer. For advertisers, offering interactive creative with product explorations can give them a look at a brand’s products beyond the most eye-catching “shiny objects.”

Creating brand advocates is the most powerful form of marketing.

With no paid advertising spend, Home Depot lets “Skelly” speak for itself – or rather, it lets Skelly’s fans do the talking. When it comes to a brand’s back-end strategy, attention to detail and relevance is key – but when it comes to what consumers see directly from a brand, often less is more. 

The skeleton’s runaway success has led to a cult following of skeleton fans; there’s even a sizable cadre of giant skeleton owners who keep them up year-round, often dressing them up in costumes for Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, the Super Bowl, and more. But Home Depot’s never released any accessories for “Skelly,” instead letting fans take the lead and show off their creativity. Hearing from a brand is one thing; hearing from that brand’s fans is another. Infillion’s recent research about the changing customer journey, in which shopping is an always-on state for today’s consumers, underscores this. Buying a product is no longer the end of the customer journey; becoming an advocate for it and influencing others takes that journey one step further.

The bonus: The zany subculture around “Skelly” gets consumers more invested in the Home Depot brand and makes them feel like they can be a part of it. Whether that translates to more kitchen backsplash, vinyl flooring, and weed whacker purchases during the rest of the year remains to be seen – but it certainly can’t hurt.

Spooky season may end in November, but Infillion’s takes on what’s new and what’s next in marketing are year-round. Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest.

The media, marketing, advertising and adtech industries are at an important inflection point. They’re facing a difficult choice: to innovate and self-regulate their way out of growing regulation or spend countless dollars fighting it.

It’s no secret that the data collected from consumers is the fuel that enables seamless engagement, personalization, and the consumer demand we desire. And many people are willing to share their information—or have it used—in exchange for value and convenience. But mounting privacy concerns have cast a shadow over the data-marketing industry.

Over time the flow of data might be substantially curtailed in the name of consumer privacy, which is why it’s important for company leaders to come together and demonstrate how andwhy anonymous data collection benefits consumers and companies alike—and also why self- regulation is the way forward. (The advertising industry has been self-regulated for five decades.) This moment in time harks back to the days when television was nascent and the grab for attention across a mere three networks was fierce—more fierce, in fact, than what we’re likely to see in a digital economy with unlimited opportunities to attract consumer
interest.

Self-regulation should look more like consumer protection than “table stakes” compliance. The approach we take is to expand the benefits of a pervasive value exchange—and to assume that we can delight consumers with more than they expect through the use of engaging ad formats, opt-in data, and insightful targeting whenever they click, view, or scan. Connections are what’s most important to an industry of communicators, if we want more than 10% app usage rates, better than 40% customer satisfaction and 32% active viewing of streaming ads. But how can we make those all-important connections?

Ensure that consumers understand how their data is used and what they gain from sharing it.

Marketers, web platforms, and media companies shouldn’t be afraid to use more attention-grabbing means to make consumers aware of how their data is used, how individuals benefit, and what steps are taken to keep personally identifiable data private. Overexplaining shouldn’t be a concern. We ought to be able to apply our communication skills and the technology we are using to underscore how data improves consumers’ digital experiences and helps businesses thrive. At the same time, consumer privacy has to be respected. We constantly challenge ourselves to keep consumers’ privacy at top of mind in product development, disclosures, and our data collection policies.

Become better marketers by prioritizing the value exchange.

Consumers are right to expect marketers to be courteous and respectful of their time and attention. This means shifting away from interruptive ads and hyper-targeting—and toward more contextualized experiences that provide demonstrable benefits. Consumers want to know: “In exchange for the data I give you, what do I get back?” Bethany Evans, Vice President, Media and Channel Marketing for The North Face, noted onstage at IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting that North Face now directly tells people why it’s asking for their data and how it will be used. As we make data and value exchanges more transparent and consistent as an industry, brands will reap the benefits of consumer attention and connection—the technology we wield has the power to go beyond mere observation to true facilitation and helpfulness.

Give consumers more interesting choices and control.

Consumers need control over how their data is collected and used, anywhere and everywhere. The more interesting we make data collection (e.g., via voice, video, or open-ended conversations that can be codified via AI), the more informative data we’ll collect. More interesting inputs signal to consumers that we are truly listening for their input and desires, not just trolling for clicks and sales voyeuristically. We’re setting a new standard for how consumer data is collected.

We are working closely with our partners at Airship, who are experts at innovating how consumers interact with the 900 million apps at their fingertips by providing insightful opt-in data.

All marketers and adtech firms have the technology to add significant value—and it can be done while continuing to respect boundaries. Fortunately, taking proactive steps, finding creative ways to improve the customer’s experience via technology (and not just waiting for more regulation) is what this industry is best at—and the best way to build a bridge to the continued growth that the digitization of media and explosion of content promises.