Instacart Ads invests $1m in support of women-led CPG brands
Next month, Instacart will invest $1m to empower emerging women-owned brands. The new campaign is an extension of Instacart Ads’ ongoing effort to provide a competitive boost to brands owned by members of historically marginalized groups.
Instacart Ads aims to empower women-owned CPG brands
In observation of Women’s History Month, Instacart Ads – Instacart’s marketing solutions arm – has launched a new campaign aimed at empowering women-owned consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands. Beginning in April, the company will invest up to $1m to boost consumer engagement and advertising opportunities for qualifying brands on its digital platform.
The new campaign is being positioned as the latest chapter of the ongoing Instacart Ads Initiative, which launched last summer. In its first phase the program was geared toward the empowerment of Black-owned businesses on Instacart. With this second round of funding, the company will broaden the Initiative to support up-and-coming women-owned CPG brands within the Instacart Marketplace. Qualifying women-owned brands will be given credits to launch campaigns via the company’s sponsored product ads offering through the end of 2022. That sponsored product ads offering provides a suite of options for brands looking to expand their reach and customer engagement on Instacart.
Instacart has already kicked off partnerships with Sweet Loren’s, Three Wishes Cereal and TWRL Milk Tea.
“At Three Wishes, we’re huge fans of Instacart – the way their ad platform helps drive movement and supports our retail business has proved to be invaluable,” says Margaret Wishingrad, founder of Three Wishes Cereal. “When they asked us to be part of this program, we were honored and couldn’t be more thrilled. We’re touched by Instacart’s commitment to lifting up promising brands by supporting women-owned businesses, and can’t wait to be a part of this new initiative.”
In the past, physical marketplaces have often made it difficult for small brands to stand out. Big, established brands were often given prime shelf space, and up-and-coming brands tended to have little to no say in determining where their products were placed. It was a classic vicious cycle of capitalism: big brands became more visible, while smaller brands were relegated further and further into the corner. But the advent of online retail, accelerated by the pandemic, has created a new paradigm. Today, platforms such as Instacart can exert subtle tweaks that can give emerging brands the competitive edge that they’ve historically lacked.
And that, by all appearances, is precisely what the Instacart Ads Initiative intends to do. “The digital curation of these options can be really helpful in a world where you aren’t going to be able to secure the same sort of shelf placement as a really large established brand,” says Ali Miller, senior director of product management at Instacart Ads. “It’s tough to be a small business.” But through Instacart Ads, she says, brands can access the tools that they need to boldly bring their business to the next level. “By providing that boost, we can help to take that first leap of faith with them.”
According to Instacart Ads, the overarching goal of the ongoing initiative is “to democratize the grocery store,” making it easier for brands owned by members of historically marginalized groups to stand out and gain a foothold in a busy and competitive marketplace. “[We’re] empowering emerging brands to grow,” Miller says. “That’s what I love about this business.”