Podcast Summary: AdExchanger Talks

Episode: ROAS? Nah. The Home Depot’s All About ROMO
Date: August 26, 2025
Host: Allison Schiff
Guest: Melanie Babcock Brown, VP of Media and Monetization, Orange Apron Media (The Home Depot RMN)

Overview

This episode features a deep dive into The Home Depot’s retail media network (RMN), Orange Apron Media, and its evolution, audience strategy, and approach to measurement. Melanie Babcock Brown, a long-term Home Depot executive, shares insights on building an in-house RMN, the shift from ROAS to ROMO (Return on Marketing Objective), the value of first-party data, and the current RMN landscape.

Guest Background: Melanie Babcock Brown

[02:11]

• Melanie has been with The Home Depot for nearly 12 years, holding multiple leadership roles across social media, agile marketing, integrated marketing, and now VP of Media and Monetization.
• Personal tidbit: Outside of work, she supports her daughters as they pursue the prestigious Girl Scout Gold Award, highlighting the importance of achieving challenging goals and community impact.

Notable Quote:

"They're pretty significant awards. They require a big impact on the community, tons of hours to drive that project."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [02:18]

Home Depot’s Marketing Journey & RMN Foundation

Building a Modern Marketing Approach

[04:47-10:14]

• Melanie described her "ladder journey" at Home Depot, starting with pioneering social commerce as social media evolved from communication to sales.
• Early engagement with platforms like Facebook and Pinterest helped shape retail-oriented products.
• By shifting to "Agile marketing" (now "audience marketing"), focus turned to using first-party data for personalization rather than classic event-based MarCom tactics.
  • Example: Moving away from promoting lawnmowers in May to customers currently undertaking a bathroom renovation.
• The power of Home Depot’s first-party data enabled predictive audience segmentation, supporting both marketing and company-wide decisions.

Notable Quote:

"That was wasting money and time with our customer... The initiation of really understanding the power of our first-party data."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [07:11]

RMN Emergence and Growth

[10:14-12:12]

• Melanie was instrumental in launching retail media as a side project in 2018-2019, which then accelerated in 2020 as RMNs became critical in the retail and advertising landscape.
• Core success stemmed from deep partnerships with major digital platforms and leveraging Home Depot’s audience data.

Notable Quote:

"Retail media is kind of the summation, I think, of all of my experience..."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [09:43]

Audience Strategy: Intent, Projects & Personalization

[10:27-15:38]

• Home Depot's strategy prioritizes customer intent and project-based targeting over traditional demographics.
  • A "bathroom project" customer can have a wildly different demographic from another, but their intent signals unify them as a high-value segment.
• Data science and behavioral signals (purchase frequency, website interactions, etc.) inform predictive modeling for project readiness and customer needs.
  • For break-and-fix projects like a refrigerator, timing is critical (48-hour conversion window).
  • Other examples: Washer/dryer purchases have a longer funnel (7-14 days).
• Audience segmentation is dynamic, adapting to shifts between major and minor project upticks.

Notable Quote:

"People don't shop for vanities for fun. It's not something people do on the weekend... So we started to have to look at all these different signals we were receiving from customers and look at predictive analysis..."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [11:45]

Value Proposition for Advertisers & Suppliers

[15:38-18:27]

• Home Depot calls its advertisers "suppliers"; the RMN gives suppliers customer insights previously unavailable, enabling cross-sell opportunities (e.g., vanity and paint).
• Orange Apron Media bridges in-app, on-site, and in-store experiences for brands by helping them deliver more personalized, intent-driven messaging.

Approach to Non-Endemic Advertisers

[17:52-21:50]

• Home Depot is early in its strategy for non-endemic advertisers (insurance, telecom, auto, quick-serve restaurants).
• Key to success: Ensuring relevance for core shoppers, integrating non-endemic partnerships (e.g., State Farm around moving tips content).
• The process is measured, favoring quality, context, and customer value over scale for its own sake.

Notable Quote:

"We want to make sure that the ad that they see is relevant to them as a homeowner or as a small business owner."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [20:41]

The Retail Media Landscape & RMN Competition

[22:12-28:37]

• The boom in RMNs (even Chuck E. Cheese!) prompted a discussion of sector oversaturation and the likelihood of consolidation.
• Long-term survival will depend on innovation, scale, value to suppliers, and leveraging robust first-party data.
• Building and running a RMN is significant work—requiring constant tech, operational, and people investment.

Notable Quote:

"If there's 10 [RMNs] to remain, we will be on that list. So how do we continue to innovate and deliver really great results and build a network that competes in this ever-changing market?"
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [23:38]

Evolution of Orange Apron Media: Rebrand & Technology

[28:37-35:40]

• The original RMN was called Retail Media Plus; rebranded to Orange Apron Media to align more closely with Home Depot’s core brand and set itself apart from the wave of "plus"-named networks.
• Major overhaul of their tech stack: moved to a "buy and build" model for ad server tech; operationalized for scale and efficiency.
• Launched Orange Access (Jan 2025): a unified self-serve platform for on-site and off-site ad buying plus measurement, reducing fragmentation for advertisers.

Notable Quote:

"We just launched a unified ad buying platform in January... you could buy both our on site and off site ads through one platform and get your measurement all in one platform."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [32:51]

Measurement: From ROAS to ROMO

[35:40-39:10]

• Home Depot champions ROMO, "Return On Marketing Objective": A measurement framework that accounts for both direct and indirect campaign outcomes across a long and complex customer journey—especially important in home improvement, where decisions can stretch over months.
  • ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is still provided for cross-network comparability but is considered less sophisticated for long-funnel products.
• Ongoing industry-level efforts toward measurement standardization (IAB, MMA Global, etc.) are important to keep RMNs comparable and maximize supplier value.

Notable Quote:

"It's creating a relationship with that customer who's in the process of making those decisions about those bigger projects in their home. And ROMO makes more sense for us as a result."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [37:19]

"We need to be a highly valued partner to our suppliers, but not so unique and bespoke that they have a hard time understanding their investments with us versus with others."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [37:52]

RMNs, Data & The Future: Walled Gardens and Interoperability

[39:10-42:13]

• Most RMNs are currently "walled gardens," keeping first-party data proprietary—but there are questions about how this will hold up with the advancement of AI and calls for greater interoperability in the sector.
• Melanie predicts a continued push for interoperability as supplier/advertiser needs evolve.

Notable Quote:

"AI is looking for data to feed the models... I don't know, do we remain that way going forward?... I'm sure we're going to have to adjust."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [40:25]

Lighthearted Close: Home Improvement Hacks

[42:15-end]

• Favorite home improvement hack: Use a stud finder for hanging pictures—a universal first project in any home.
• Melanie highlights tech-enabled products: e.g., automatic bathroom fan controllers, leak detectors that connect to your phone.
• Top moving advice: purge unused items for a fresher start.

Memorable Quote:

"My biggest hack is, man, if you just moved in, throw away all the stuff you haven't used in a year."
— Melanie Babcock Brown, [44:34]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:11] – Melanie’s background & Girl Scout story
• [04:47] – How Home Depot’s marketing evolved & leveraging first-party data
• [10:27] – Audience strategy and intent-based marketing
• [15:48] – The value proposition for suppliers & advertisers
• [17:52] – Non-endemic advertisers: approach & examples
• [22:12] – State of the retail media network market
• [28:37] – Evolution & rebranding to Orange Apron Media
• [32:51] – Launch of Orange Access unified platform
• [35:40] – Measurement: transition from ROAS to ROMO
• [39:10] – Industry standardization & walled gardens
• [42:15] – Home improvement hacks and closing chat

Tone & Final Thoughts

The conversation is collegial, candid, and a little nerdy—a blend of marketing strategy deep-dives and practical, real-world reflections from an industry veteran. Melanie’s blend of humility, data-driven thinking, and commitment to customer experience shines throughout. The big takeaway: Building a successful, future-proof RMN is a marathon, not a sprint, and Home Depot is committed to continual reinvention, with measurement maturity, meaningful data, and customer-centric thinking at its core.