Publicis-owned ad-tech company Epsilon has launched its own retail media infrastructure, focused on bringing people identifiers.
Just-announced Epsilon Retail Media applies its CORE AI artificial intelligence and its CORE ID person-first identity in the ad server, aiming to support identification both within retail media environments and off-site.
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Jaclyn Nix, EVP, Brand Sales, Epsilon Retail Media explains the move.
Navigating a Cookieless Future with Person-Based Identity
“We are the first retail media solution to pair AI with person-based identity, all with closed loop attribution,” Nix says.
This trifecta is designed to trim the fat in advertising budgets, push performance boundaries, and offer advertisers a verified measurement framework.
According to Epsilon:
“Armed with rich, person-level insights, 5,000+ decisions are evaluated in the milliseconds before a bid must be placed, drastically improving outcomes.”
As the digital landscape evolves away from third-party cookies, Epsilon’s strategy remains steadfast. Nix explains, “Epsilon has always been a cookieless platform… as the third party is deprecated, these walled gardens, retail media networks are increasingly becoming the focus.”
This approach matches online and offline indicators to track individuals across the web, a critical component as Nix illustrates with a compelling case study: “Only one out of three impressions were actually reaching that intended audience… They drove 93% of the conversions for the campaign.”
AI: The New Workhorse of Retail Media
When it comes to integrating artificial intelligence, Epsilon is not new to the game. “Epsilon’s been working with AI for over 10 years,” Nix says, detailing how predictive AI has been instrumental in their operations.
The company leverages AI to ensure that the right consumer is targeted with the right message in the right environment. But it’s not just predictive AI that’s making waves; generative AI is playing a role in creative and campaign management, too.
“The other opportunity is really with generative AI… with clean rooms and more complex data products where AI can really help the fingers on keyboards, people, the agencies,” Nix asserts, indicating the transformative potential of AI in handling intricate data sets.
The Crucial Role of Standardized Measurement
Measurement, a perennial hot topic in the industry, is another area where Epsilon is making progress. “It is highly fragmented. It is not standardized,” Nix admits, signaling a market in disarray.
However, she also points out that there’s a push for standardization and argues for the importance of evolving beyond return on ad spend (ROAS) metrics, which can be manipulated, to metrics that genuinely reflect a brand’s market influence and sales lift.
You’re watching “Retail Media: Let’s Talk Shop,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series at Shoptalk 2024, presented by Epsilon. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
