As advertisers demand clearer evidence of campaign effectiveness, retail media networks (RMNs) are investing in advanced attribution tools.

Loblaw Advance, the retail media network of Canadian retailer Loblaw Companies Limited, is taking this step with its new multi-touch attribution (MTA) solution.

• The tool is built on Loblaw Advance’s data pool, which includes 16 million active loyalty program members, over a billion transactions annually, and 2,400 stores across Canada, according to the retailer.
• That data, combined with offsite and onsite digital activity, provides the foundation for attribution.

“Omnichannel has always been a core pillar of what we’re doing at Loblaw Advance,” said Jamie Armstrong, general manager, media intelligence at Loblaw Advance. “So this really now fully links together this off-site, on-site, and in-store in one sort of common language.”

A better model

Many advertisers still use last-touch or channel-specific models, which can obscure how shoppers actually move through the purchase journey.

“That’s just not how people shop, how they interact with brands,” said Armstrong. “We think MTA is a critical piece … understanding the role of different measurement capabilities, different tools, MTA and media mix modeling, they play a role in maximizing your performance. They come together to deliver.”

With MTA, Loblaw Advance links ad exposures across channels within a 14-day window, attributing value to each interaction.

• The approach informs campaign planning and allows near real-time adjustments, said Armstrong.
• “The nice thing is that MTA provides deeper insights at each juncture of the campaign life cycle,” he said. “Initially informing the budget allocation with knowledge on historical campaigns … but it’s also real time, which allows that sort of agile adjustment throughout the campaigns.”

But putting those insights into action requires trust and collaboration with clients.

“We either ask for complete flexibility from the client to make changes on the fly, or we’ll come back and say 'How about this change? Are you okay with this?' Which builds trust,” said Armstrong.

The more comfortable brands get with RMNs taking the reins, the closer they get to a continuous optimization loop, according to Armstrong.

What’s next

Loblaw Advance hopes to evolve its measurement approach from explaining past results to anticipating future performance and guiding strategic decisions.

• “The foundation that we’re building on this sort of descriptive and diagnostic component. Now the next step [is] the predictive and the prescriptive,” said Armstrong.
• The network is also focusing on experimentation and identifying successful ways to leverage AI in the marketing workflow.
• AI can be used for everything from analyzing consumer behavior to optimizing campaigns in-flight, “making that experience easier for our hands on keyboard, all the way up to our CMO client,” said Armstrong.

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