Google’s third-party is (finally) crumbling. At the same time, the way shoppers search for information has expanded beyond Google, into TikTok, Amazon and other retail platforms. It’s made for a booming retail media networks business that brands like Tropicana are increasingly relying on to target shoppers.
For the last five years or so, the juice brand has been steadily shifting its media spend away from broadcast television commercials to follow cord-cutting shoppers where they are online. To home in on said shoppers, customer insights from a mix of retail partners is becoming increasingly more crucial, according to James Spalding, vp and general manager of Tropicana at Tropicana Brands Group. (He declined to detail Tropicana’s ad spend or retail partners.)
“While we can’t share specifics, there is strong return on investment in terms of the wealth of insights we’re able to gather,” he said in an email. “And as retailer platforms become more robust, there is an increased opportunity to use the data throughout the [marketing] funnel.”
WIth more than 75 years in business, Tropicana’s current priority is driving broader awareness and affinity for the next generation of shoppers, especially in the crowded marketplace of food and beverage. Meaning, data-informed, targeted digital advertising in places, whether it be TikTok or streaming ads, is a key part of the brand’s media mix, per Spalding.
From January through October of last year, Tropicana spent nearly $29 million on advertising, according to Vivvix, including paid social data from Pathmatics. That figure is significantly higher than the nearly $17 million the brand spent that same time frame in 2022. In total, Tropicana spent about $26 million on media in 2022.
As Google’s cookie deprecation gets underway, retailers stand to profit from peddling their own first-party data to brands like Tropicana. (A look at how agencies are handling the smorgasbord of retail media networks here.) True, Google and other tech companies have historically been known for their data capabilities. But when it comes to food and beverage industries, retailers like Kroger, Walmart, Target and Costco “have the amount of data that would make your head spin,” Spalding said.
Retail media has been growing its share of total U.S. ad spend, raking in 13% of digital ad spend last year and expected to increase to 15.2% this year, according to Insider Intelligence.