Kroger Adds SKU-Level Attribution for YouTube Ads
Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) is partnering with Google's Display & Video 360 (DV360) to make it easier for brands to reach precise audiences on the video and social media platform while also enabling SKU-level retail conversion reporting through DV360.
Brands can use KPM's signals across YouTube to reach known brand buyers, competitive buyers or lapsed buyers. They can also have a schedule focused solely on reaching new households by suppressing reach from the most loyal shoppers, Christine Foster, KPM group VP, told the Path to Purchase Institute, a CGT sister brand.
"With this new capability, marketers can better harmonize how their brand and performance budgets work together," Foster said. "It changes the conversation from budgets to outcomes."
With Google's Commerce Media Suite, advertisers can now use KPM's retail purchase signals to reach relevant audiences across YouTube and third-party inventory, including YouTube TV, Google Search, display and CTV.
The move comes at a time when retail media is growing while mobile and at-home streaming continues to rise. The average U.S. household will spend more than 45 minutes daily watching YouTube this year, according to eMarketer.
"Brands don't need to sacrifice retail performance to run streaming video campaigns," Foster said. "Our collaboration with Display & Video 360 proves that brand-building and sales-performance can co-exist in one campaign."
The capability taps the preferred tools advertising managers already use. Campaigns are built and measured directly in DV360, with no additional set-up required, according to KPM.
The integration will make it easier for brands to have true cross-channel orchestration, Foster said.
"Nearly every CPG brand already advertises through Google with a DV360 account," she said. "Now they can apply our Kroger audiences and measurements in those same tools. There are no new platforms to learn."
The Power of Retail Purchase Signals
Consumer preferences change quickly, but retail purchase signals can predict trends, interests and lifestyles. The Google collaboration builds on KPM's success in using these insights to build strong brands.
Foster said that consumers expect brands to meet them where they are, and that in today’s world people are defined by what they buy, making purchase-based audiences a way for brands to build stronger emotional connections while also driving sales impact.
Working with Google demonstrates Kroger's commitment to empowering their brand suppliers with the same performance tools used at the retailer, she noted.
"Now, our advertisers can apply those tools to how they measure and optimize YouTube advertising," she said. "Everybody wins. Our suppliers win new households and our shoppers discover new products."
