Morrisons reveals retail media network and dedicated internal agency
The supermarket follows its competitors by creating new internal agency team Morrisons Media Group.
Morrisons has launched a retail media network
Morrisons is the last of the top four UK grocers to reveal a retail media network that will develop and deliver marketing campaigns for brands.
Rivals Asda, Sainsbury’s and most recently Tesco have all invested heavily in creating a retail media offering for advertisers in the past two years in the hopes of attracting the burgeoning spend from brands. GroupM predicts global retail media spend will reach $101bn this year – a 15% increase in just one year.
Later to the goldrush, the supermarket has created a new internal agency team – the Morrisons Media Group – which will work with advertisers to create ad campaigns based on customer insight derived from its MyMorrisons loyalty scheme and e-commerce data.
The group will also help brands access Morrisons-owned media channels, as well as inventory with external media partners, through one central function.
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“We want to work more closely with our suppliers on targeted, high-performing campaigns that will benefit both their businesses and our customers,” said Rachel Eyre, Morrisons’ chief customer and marketing officer. “The new dedicated internal agency team at Morrisons Media Group will do just that.”
It’s one of Eyre’s most significant launches at Morrisons since she joined the retailer from Sainsbury’s last year.
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It launched the new division to suppliers at a conference today (September 22), but has yet to reveal the full suite of media space it has to offer.
However, it said it’s upping its digital inventory across its stores – including main estate supermarkets, as well as a growing number of convenience stores – to allow advertisers to run ads on a store-by-store basis. The retailer has 497 stores across the UK and over 300 petrol stations.
It will also ramp up its inventory on newer online shopping channels such as Morrisons on Amazon and with rapid delivery partners including Deliveroo, which launched its own advertising platform earlier this year.
Like its rivals, at the heart of the big pitch to brands is the promise of targeting bespoke audiences with personalized ads and – crucially – better linking of media spend back to sales.