Loading summary
Transcript54 lines
- [00:01]
Peter V. S Bond
Hey, it's pvsb with the CPG guys. Sri and I are going to be in Las Vegas, Nevada January 6th through the 9th for the 2025 CES conference. Monday evening we'll be hosting an invite only party at the Aria. On Wednesday morning, we'll be emceeing a Breakfast briefing on 2025 retail media investments that's sponsored by CVS Media Exchange. That's over at the Park MGM Tuesday, appearing over at the OMG Commerce Experience at the Cosmopolitan. And we'll be seen mostly around the area space. Expect to see us going into a lot of the area sky suites for individual meetings. We'll even be recording some content there. If you see us, stop by, say hello, take a selfie, whatever you want. We love speaking with people. We look forward to seeing you in January. Happy holidays, everyone.
- [01:07]
Sriraja Gopalan
Welcome to the CPG Guys Podcast.
- [01:11]
Peter V. S Bond
Your hosts, Sriraja Gopalan and Peter V. S Bond explore how brands and retailers engage consumers in an increasingly digitally driven world. And now, here are the CPG guys.
- [01:26]
Sriraja Gopalan
Hello and welcome to the CPG Guys Podcast. I'm pvsb. Your co host SRI is not with me today. He is tending to some other business on the left coast, but I'm sure that we will miss him terribly. But marshal on in our effort because it's a big. It's a big episode for us. We're recording this in Austin, Texas. We're starting tomorrow. Amazon will be hosting its unboxed event and we're going to learn a lot more about it. It's one of my favorite events of the year. I can't wait to talk to our guests today because they are experts in this and it's going to be a really thoughtful conversation around the future of retail media and digital advertising. So what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to welcome our guests. I'm going to dispense with the usual pleasantries where I talk about baseball. By the way, the Dodgers did win the first game of the nlcs and my Dodgers are on their way to the World Series victory where they will crush the New York Yankees and SRI will cry like a little baby. Sorry. Okay, I did have to throw a little bit of that in, but that's how I roll. I want to introduce two great guests. They're here today to talk about the future of retail media and particularly around streaming advertising. Returning to the podcast for her second visit is our dear friend, Nancy Winet. And joining her for her first appearance or maiden voyage on the SSCPG Guys is Jenny Burke. Nancy, Jenny. Hey, how you doing?
- [02:57]
Nancy Winet
Hello. Or should we say howdy?
- [02:59]
Sriraja Gopalan
Howdy. Now, for those of us, if you're listening, you gotta go onto LinkedIn. Check out the CBG guys feed because you're gonna see pictures of us. We're all sporting cowboy hats, and I may have a really funky CPG guys unboxed Hawaiian shirt. Not quite cowboyish, but hey, I'm down in Austin. I can, you know what they say, keep Austin weird. So I'm living the dream here. Aren't I looking good? I know. Well, thank you for that. So we've got a lot of great questions. Thank you so much for joining us today. I can't wait to continue our conversation into where streaming is going. But before we do that, Nancy, why don't you dimensionalize for our audience what is Unboxed? Like, who comes to this? How many people are going to be here? What are the takeaways they should get? Like, why is someone coming to unbox?
- [03:47]
Nancy Winet
Awesome question. Unbox is our flagship advertising event. It's across two days. We have over 2,000 attendees. It's in Austin for our first time, which is why we're. We're wearing our hats.
- [04:00]
Sriraja Gopalan
It's been New York the last two years. This is a big change.
- [04:03]
Nancy Winet
It's a big change, really. And it's one of the reasons why we moved down here because it's really a great center for content creation, innovation, music. Right. And so it's just the perfect place for us to have this event where we can have so many creators, innovators, share what Amazon is planning to make over the next few years. So it's a super exciting two days.
- [04:27]
Sriraja Gopalan
That is great. So, Nancy, why don't you tell us a little bit about your role at Amazon?
- [04:32]
Nancy Winet
Happy to. So I've been at Amazon for over 10 years, which is crazy to say, but it's been a great decade and I currently lead the US Grocery business. So that includes our brand products, which Jenny's going to talk to a number of our video products, but also performance media across Amazon.com Whole Foods and Fresh.
- [04:53]
Sriraja Gopalan
So your team is working with brand advertisers that are traditionally kind of grocery centric, food and beverage and associated types of brands. That makes sense.
- [05:04]
Nancy Winet
Absolutely. If you eat it, then we want to help you grow your brand.
- [05:07]
Sriraja Gopalan
Okay, I like that. That's a worthwhile objective. So, Jenny, welcome to the podcast. Tell us a little bit about your remit at Amazon because it's a little bit different.
- [05:17]
Jenny Burke
It is. It's great to be here. So, yes, My role at Amazon is I lead the global video strategy and go to market market team within Amazon ads. So working very closely with Nancy and all of her colleagues who lead each of the verticals, my team's job is working across our portfolio of video assets. So Prime Video, freebie, Twitch, Fire tv, all of our video supply and how we turn that into the best solutions for marketers. Whether that's, you know, big branded sponsorships in content to, you know, innovative ad formats across the portfolio.
- [05:53]
Sriraja Gopalan
That is great. So that's a good foundation for what your backgrounds are. So the questions I have are going to be perfect for your areas of expertise. So Jenny, earlier this year I had the pleasure of heading into Manhattan for the very first Amazon upfront. My dear friend, Jeff Cohen. It ushered me up to the front row where I got to sit and my CEO at Flywheel, Duncan Paytr, walked by and he looked at me. How did you get this good a seat? I'm like Duncan, you gotta be in the know here. And so he sat about seven or eight rows back. We won't, we won't mention that too much but in any event you were showcasing, I mean I was amazed at the people who came up on stage, but you were really showcasing entertainment content and innovation across Amazon ad solutions and tools. What was this all about? It's your first time doing it? Yeah. What's the gig?
- [06:42]
Jenny Burke
Yeah, it was a really big coming out party for us. It was May 14th and kudos to you for getting that great seat. It was a packed house and it was really on the backs of the launch of ads in Prime Video that we did in January. So we wanted to ensure marketers really understood the investment and content we have across the board. So it was a showstopper. We had the likes of Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Roger Federer. Alicia Keys started with an incredible set and the list goes on. And I think big kudos to our studios team. We own Amazon MGM Studios, which is a hundred year old stor studio for the relationships that we have with talent. And Hollywood has really gotten used to coming to Amazon for big content projects and that was what it was all about. We didn't stop there. It really was also to shine a spotlight on the foundation of which this big premium content is sitting on top of. And that's our ad tech and measurement solutions and closed loop attribution solutions that really differentiate us versus the rest of the market place. It was really fun.
- [07:50]
Sriraja Gopalan
Oh, it absolutely was. I caught some of Alicia on Video sent it to my wife. Her response back to me were three words. You're not worthy. I think I was. But of course, Reese doing the classic bend and snap. Oh, that was so good. And as I told you before we started recording, I love the Summer I Turned Pretty gift towel that I got in my bag, and my wife immediately absconded with that. And I've never seen it since. We were obsessed. We binge watched the first two seasons, literally as they came out on season three next summer. Oh, can't wait. Can't wait. All right, let me turn to Nancy. Nancy. Obviously, reaching younger audiences is pretty important, particularly for brand advertisers. Gen Z Millennials. Right now, they're navigating a very fragmented media landscape. Right. I cut the cord a number of years ago. I haven't had cable television in my house. Everything I do is streaming. But I also find that I watch a lot more content that's disparate. It's the big three. The era of the big three networks is long, long gone. How is Amazon ads helping brands cut through the noise to effectively reach. Reach being a very important word, and engage these consumers?
- [09:11]
Nancy Winet
That's a great question. So we want to help grocery brands really future proof their brands, and we're doing that a lot through content. A lot of the content that, you know, Jenny, we just talked about. Summer I Turned Pretty, that's a great show. Right. And it has a huge appeal with younger audiences. But that's not our only one, right? We are investing in really authentic, genuine content, whether it's fallout or cooking shows like the Pasta Queen, that where she incorporates her entire family, you know, into each of the cooking episodes. But we're building out genuine content that appeals to younger audiences, and that's really what's driving so much of our growth and helping us drive growth for brands on average. I've recently heard an interesting data point that because of the shows that we've built out over the last few years, that we're reaching about 1.8 times more younger audiences compared to other streaming providers, which I think is a really big number. And I attribute that due to the type of content that we're creating.
- [10:21]
Sriraja Gopalan
Well, you know, it's so much harder to find someone who doesn't have Amazon on their device than it is to find someone who does, because the fact is, it's fairly ubiquitous at this point. It really is quite amazing. So, Jenny, back to you. How is Amazon ads helping brands move beyond linear television? Because I think people are still very hooked on it. Gives me that big, massive national reach. I so relied on it for years. But the goal here is to be able to move beyond connect to younger audiences, but also be able to measure that connection. How's Amazon ads really helping that kind of transition to the world of life after Linear?
- [11:09]
Jenny Burke
Yeah, well, you know, just to your point, streaming is pervasive and the households reached via pay TV just are not what they used to be, you know, to the tune of nearly half of what it was even, you know, just years ago. So that big reach is harder to get with tv. And you know, what we're proud of, and I think you talked a little bit about, you know, the prime video audience. The reason we're reaching 115 million AD supported monthly active users is because most people are prime members. Right. There's a lot that comes along with your prime membership and Prime Video is one of those. So first it's, you know, big reach, which is what, you know, traditionally has been a great opportunity. With linear television, though, that's in decline. So we have that big reach. And then I think the second piece is the audience composition is really strong. Right. So on, you know, Prime Video, you can reach 4x the amount of adult Gen Z and Millennials as linear television. That's a big statement. So you can't just look at the total reach. We need to look at what are the audiences that each marketer is looking to reach.
- [12:16]
Sriraja Gopalan
So if they use the consumption data that's available to target audiences, they can get exactly who they want, the most efficient audience. But it's still so sizable that they can actually move the needle and measure performance. That's the real secret of the sauce behind this. It's not just linear television in another format. It is truly performance marketing measurement.
- [12:41]
Jenny Burke
That's right. And you know, the measurement piece is a big call out to not only do kind of performance measurement, but big brand building measurement as well. Right. So finding those audiences is one big piece. But then we were talking about some of the big, you know, titles coming to the service this fall. We're really excited. In addition to Pasta Queen, we have Are you smarter than a slight with Travis Kelce, we have Pop Culture Jeopardy with Colin Jose. These names that young adults recognize. And the list goes on next summer. Really excited about a title called the Runarounds, which is from the showrunner of Outer Banks. So kind of the list goes on in terms of these big titles that allow for brand integration, sponsorship, while surrounding it with that audience kind of composition, or finding those audiences with the signals that are really unique.
- [13:28]
Sriraja Gopalan
To Amazon background, they've got Amazon marketing cloud that allows them to measure key performance indicators like new to brand or customer long term value. That really is what they've been looking to get for years and years. So that's really powerful. Nancy, let's talk about full funnel ad strategy because Amazon obviously started mid lower funnel, it was on site advertising, but it's gotten to be so much more than it was when when it originally launched. How is full funnel ad strategies including video helping grocery brands? The people you call on, the brands you call on, how's that helping them drive sales growth?
- [14:05]
Nancy Winet
So video has been critical in terms of driving incremental growth for our grocery brands. Video is one of the top vehicles that drives new to brand because that is when the customer is really engaged in actually watching the ad. On average, we see a lot of streaming networks showing multiple ads throughout the program. We really try to lessen our ad load. It's roughly 50% less compared to the competition. And so when they're watching Prime Video with ads, they can enjoy their favorite show and they'll see an ad maybe at the beginning, perhaps the middle at the end, but they'll watch the ad because it's not disruptive. It's not disruptive to their show. So they're actually watching the grocery advertiser's branded advertisement and then we can retarget that audience, whether it's younger audience, whether it's a new to the category audience, but we can retarget that audience for that particular show and then close the sale through search. So it truly is end to end regardless of what they're watching.
- [15:17]
Sriraja Gopalan
Again, so you're touching the consumer at different points in the journey, connecting those all together and really being able to understand what it took to drive that conversion.
- [15:25]
Nancy Winet
Absolutely.
- [15:26]
Sriraja Gopalan
On the back end. That's really powerful. Jenny, from your perspective, what do you think the grocery brands that Nancy's team support should expect from the future of ad supported streams?
- [15:39]
Jenny Burke
Yeah, I mean, just to start this year alone, we just launched ads on Prime Video nine months ago. We've had our third season of Thursday Night Football and this quarter alone, you know, we're enabling interactive video ads across the board for Thursday Night Football. It's been, it's the first fully interactive live sports broadcast. And what we mean by that is that your video formats can have an interactive overlay on top of it. And you know, we've offered in the past QR codes, but we've moved beyond that to interactivity with the remote. And consumers that are using Prime Video Fire tv. They're very used to using the remote with one click purchasing capabilities. So whether it's add to cart or learn more, that is pervasive and a capability for all grocery brands, you know, right now. So that's step one question, does that.
- [16:28]
Sriraja Gopalan
Mean that QR codes have kind of outlive their usefulness and you found better ways? Your consumers have told you, we like engaging via the remote or is there still room for QR codes in the future? What's kind of like the direction you're going?
- [16:42]
Jenny Burke
We're finding that the remote is more user friendly and there's more interaction with it. You know, in some cases, I think QR code will serve a purpose, but I think we're planning more towards the remote capability.
- [16:54]
Sriraja Gopalan
Brilliant.
- [16:55]
Nancy Winet
Brilliant.
- [16:55]
Sriraja Gopalan
So, I'm sorry.
- [16:56]
Jenny Burke
Yeah, so I think just like where we're going, going and where, you know, grocery brands can really kind of partner is using those interactive video capabilities Nancy talked about remarketing. You know, the signals of Amazon are very powerful. And then to think about your big brand building moments with us, whether that's a certain, you know, title or audience you're going after. We really love to dive in with our brands and talk about, you know, what are your goals and what content aligns. And then we, my team and I work closely with our studios team to get integrations into the show or build out big sponsorships, custom content, and then really leverage the entirety of Amazon Canvas, which includes freebie Twitch, Amazon Music, and the list goes on the store, of course. So from big brand building to truly kind of conversion with those interactive video ads, we have a lot to offer.
- [17:51]
Sriraja Gopalan
Tying it into even some of the physical store activities you have at Whole Foods and now and certainly Amazon Fresh and the announcement that Amazon Fresh is pushing pause off and starting to expand out its footprint of physical stores. So that's really exciting. All right, let's talk a little bit about innovation.
- [18:11]
Jenny Burke
Sure.
- [18:12]
Sriraja Gopalan
Where are you focused from an innovation standpoint that you think streaming space really needs some additional muscle that can help brands engage and convert shoppers?
- [18:27]
Jenny Burke
Sure. I'll talk first. Just serving relevant ads is step one. Right. And a stat I saw the other day is that over 80% of streaming viewers believe they see too much of the same ad. So again, our signals allow us to ensure we're serving relevant ads at the right frequency. So that's kind of baseline. Then it's really driving interactivity. And if there's one place or one streamer that should own shoppable tv, it's Amazon. Our Connection and ability to pull products into interactive video ads to compare and contrast and add to cart. It's exciting. We're already there and we're only nine months in, so that's second. And then where we're going is we're really testing and learning around uninterruptive ads. So the pause ad, for instance, is a user initiated pause, meaning that ads aren't jumping in between a piece of content when the consumer isn't ready for it. That's one that's been in market for a while, but we've made it interactive. We're now looking ahead to what's next. How do we really surround movies and films in an uninterrupted way? Maybe it's something like know sports where there's, you know, an L bar or you know, dual screen coverage. Right. So lots of innovation to come and this year alone we're already out of the gate with a lot. So excited to do more.
- [19:48]
Sriraja Gopalan
You guys are unrivaled in this, in this market. Nobody, nobody has come close to being able to deliver the kind of shoppable experience that Amazon has. You have a very big head start, but you're not resting on your laurels is what I hear you saying.
- [20:01]
Jenny Burke
That is right. Much more to come.
- [20:02]
Sriraja Gopalan
That's great. Nancy, thoughts on what Jenny just shared and things you really want our audience to walk away from. Not only the people listening to this podcast, but what the people at Amazon Unboxed are going to hear this week. What are some of the things that you really want to make sure everybody understands?
- [20:21]
Nancy Winet
I think the biggest takeaways for us over the next few days is that Amazon's a brand builder. Right? I mean, we've spent the last, not just probably 10 years, but 20 years investing in the road to brand building. And we've come a long way, not just from the acquisition of mgm, but with the types of content that we're building out that's truly going to future proof Amazon and the brands that partner with us for the next years to come. And that's the biggest takeaway, I think. Also the measurement piece. We've talked a little bit about the measurement P but it's such a differentiating factor for us, the fact that you can measure your results whether it's streaming or mid funnel or lower funnel, real time through amc and that's a unique benefit for Amazon. So I think those are the key takeaways.
- [21:10]
Sriraja Gopalan
Yeah, I absolutely agree. Amazon marketing cloud is a clean room and the ability to measure performance. Brands can also bring some of Their own first party data to mingle in in a privacy safe environment to build even more refined targets. And it really gets at the classic John Wanamaker quote as I know I'm wasting 50% of my advertising, but I just don't know which half. Well, you're really helping them identify exactly which half is not working and which is working. I think that's really, that's, that's really laudable. Before we go, I'll just ask you one last question. Anything in particular you're looking to do do while you're in Austin? I'm going to go to the Greetings to Austin mural postcard mural and take my, my selfie because I love doing that. Anything in particular you're looking to do while you're here in Austin?
- [21:59]
Nancy Winet
I am super excited. Tomorrow night after Amazon's concert, I'm going to do a little two stepping. Oh, it's happening. So we're super excited. There's a crew via center.
- [22:10]
Sriraja Gopalan
I. I've got it. I gotta find my way there with a video camera, the streaming video camera. Jenny, how about you?
- [22:19]
Jenny Burke
I'm joining you. I need to wear this cowboy hat.
- [22:22]
Nancy Winet
Absolutely.
- [22:23]
Sriraja Gopalan
I love this. This is exciting. Anything exciting in, you know, voodoo donuts in the morning? Anything that's just reaching out.
- [22:30]
Jenny Burke
I have a happy hour at Caroline's tonight, so I guess that's next on my list.
- [22:35]
Sriraja Gopalan
Well, I'm going to the Flywheel party at Lambert. I can't wait to see so many of my friends in the industry, so many of my friends at Amazon. Nancy, Jenny, thank you so much for taking time in advance of tomorrow's kickoff to sit down and talk to the CPG Guys. Appreciate your time. Thank you.
- [22:52]
Jenny Burke
Thanks for having us.
- [22:53]
Sriraja Gopalan
And to our audience, thanks for joining us. Hopefully you found this to be both educational and entertaining. That's what we strive to do. Shree. You missed a good one here. And good luck to your Yankees. They're going to need it against the Tigers, but we'll see how that goes. I mean, the Guardians, actually they're playing Cleveland. See, I already got it wrong. I've already ruled out the Yankees because let's just face it, they're playing the Dodgers are going to win the World Series. But anyhow, thanks everybody and we look forward to speaking with you on the next episode of the CPG Guys podcast. Goodbye.
- [23:38]
Unknown
The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPG Guys, LLC where the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGuys LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own, and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. The views expressed by CPT Guys, LLC do not represent the views of their employers or the entity they represent. CPT Guys LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we present in this podcast.