IAB UK, the prominent trade body for digital advertising, covers the entire spectrum of the digital advertising industry, from platforms and media owners to adtech companies, agencies, and advertisers.
James Chandler, the organisation’s CMO, recently sat down with Daniel Dwyer Torres, the host of The FMCG Guys podcast, at Retail Media Summit UK, to delve into the role of the IAB in retail media, the significance of standardisation, and the challenges facing the sector's growth.
Q: What’s the role of the IAB?
James Chandler: The unique aspect of what we do is bringing all the diverse parts of the industry together to achieve things they might not accomplish individually. We emphasise the importance of collaboration between the sales side, buyers, and advertisers. It's rare to see platforms like TikTok, Meta, and Google agreeing to collaborate, but the IAB fosters such alliances.
Q: The word of the day is standardization. What does it mean, and why is it important?
JC: In the early days of digital advertising, portals like AOL, Yahoo, and Microsoft had various-sized ad banners, hindering scalability. Standardization emerged as the solution, aligning banner sizes and NPUs. Today, standards go beyond banner sizes; they involve terminology, metrics, and definitions. We've seen this in mobile and podcasts. Collaborative efforts and time are needed to establish standards, but once in place, scalability follows. With retail media, we aim to learn from past experiences, leveraging existing standards and avoiding reinvention.
Q: What are the main barriers to making this happen?
JC: Retailers, natural competitors outside digital advertising, must collaborate for sector growth. Identifying the right stakeholders in agencies and among advertisers poses a challenge. The practicality of execution is more challenging than the excitement on paper. Beyond the initial buzz, practical considerations arise: Who in the agency should be approached? Who among advertisers is the right contact? Navigating ad tech can be daunting. Overcoming these challenges is a positive endeavor.
Q: And you guys are releasing a capability report soon?
JC: We'll present a lumascape outlining the key players in retail media, showcasing their capabilities. This tool will enable users to define their objectives, such as driving awareness and utilising specific data types, and receive recommendations on potential collaborators. Clarity in communication and consistent terminology is crucial for the success of such tools.
James provided valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of retail media, emphasising the need for collaboration, standardised language, and practical solutions to propel the sector forward. Stay tuned for the forthcoming capability report, a valuable resource for navigating the evolving landscape of retail media.
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This year's Retail Media Summit UK, the "Retail Media event of the year," brought together industry professionals from both the UK and the US. It provided insights into the value of retail media for both retailers and brands. Next year's Summit, co-hosted with the Path to Purchase Institute (P2PI), promises to be even more dynamic.
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