Understanding the pay-out of your advertising is the holy grail for all brand marketers. In a world where this topic still baffles most, commerce media has the golden ticket.
Media in-store and in proximity to store can be easily and robustly analysed through a control versus test methodology. And yet, the vast majority of retailers today still aren’t set up to provide robust, consistent, transparent and detailed campaign analysis. Reporting is often late or absent; evaluation methodologies are often inconsistent; and analysis of media performance can be biased – especially in cases where media is handled by an entrenched team within retailers or indeed the retailers themselves.
Such observations into the inherent challenges faced by the commerce media industry lie behind the establishment of Lobster, a technology, and data analytics business whose core tool Plan-Apps works to streamline the planning, management, budgeting, and evaluation of commerce marketing activity. Formed in the UK five years ago, Lobster has now evaluated more than £80m of commerce investment and has successfully used this insight to increase returns for its UK partners which include industry heavyweights such as Ferrero, J&J, Accolade Wines and more.
“Brands need to understand what is working for them and what isn’t,” says Lobster’s business director Leanne Naughton. “Lobster is a data-first business, working independently to deliver media analysis brands can trust, compare, learn and act on.”
The genesis of Lobster highlights issues in commerce media that have become ubiquitous in the UK retail media industry, with many of the same pressures affecting FMCGs in Australia.
“In the UK, as with Australia, the commerce media market is disjointed and challenging for brands to navigate. There are six major grocers each with an in-store and e-commerce media inventory that brands can engage with. By retailer, media inventory varies and is managed partly by that retailer, an entrenched team, and independent media owners. Competition for investment is therefore rife, yet it can be highly challenging for brands to know how best to maximise their spend versus their objectives.
“Having a reliable and consistent approach to media analysis is paramount,” says Naughton. “At Lobster, we use standardised evaluation methodologies to ensure accurate and fair media performance comparisons. Through our analysis, we can independently advise brands on category-specific investment strategies that will work hard for them to deliver a positive and increasing ROI over time.”
She adds: “What is particularly exciting is that by embedding media performance understanding across our proprietary technology and giving brands direct access to anonymised trend data as a result, Plan-Apps acts almost like an exclusive club, where forward-thinking FMCGs can work together to understand the market much quicker than they would alone. Working to unlock maximum investment into this space.”
“As you can imagine, we’re excited about transferring our data and capabilities across the Australian market.”
To understand more about how Lobster can provide clarity on media performance in Australia, visit the company’s website www.lobster.team and/or email hello@lobster.team.
