Omnicom Media Group Sets Up Industry’s First Programmatic Private Marketplace

The Omnicom Media Group has launched the first programmatic private marketplace for point-of-purchase screens in the US, covering approximately 80,000 screens nationwide. Those screens are located across multiple points along with the in-store and to-the-store journey, including in-aisle cold case doors, check-out screens, entrance and open-air kiosks, EV charging stations, and gas pump screens. 

Even though the pandemic of the last two years kept many people from going shopping, retailers and a host of place-based media companies have been investing millions in screens that are found in and near stores. OMG points to PWC research indicating that 48% of consumers still make purchases inside a physical store once a week and even 45% of most digitally-native consumers – Gen Z –  were likely to shop in-store.

OMG’s new private marketplace went live on April 8 and includes inventory from retail vendors and networks. Companies like GSTV, Screenvwerse, Volta, Cooler Screens, Lightbox, NRS Digital Media, and Grocery TV continue to expand their network of screens, providing content and advertising to consumers. The company’s outdoor media group negotiated partnerships for OMG’s point-of-sale screen programmatic marketplace. OMG North America Chief Activation Officer Megan Pagliuca said,

“With this first-mover marketplace, we’re bringing the benefits of programmatic to the rapidly growing, highly effective and uniquely measurable environment of point-of-purchase screens. The positive impact will be seen at all stages of investment, from planning to content development to activation and measurement.”

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Know the end-to-end impact

– This programmatic private marketplace enables OMG clients to have more control over which screens are next to their products in stores, rather than buying directly from the networks, which doesn’t guarantee proximity.

– OMG’s new marketplace provides its clients with a competitive advantage in leveraging the new and evolving formats being offered by retailers like Walgreens, CVS, Whole Foods, and many others. 

– With the ability to reach these highly actionable consumer touchpoints programmatically, OMG clients can support the discovery of new and existing products and maximize contextual opportunities to ignite screen-level decisioning that drives incremental sales at a lower cost.

– OMG’s PMP for point-of-purchase screens will be incorporated into the inventory graph and activated within the Omni open orchestration platform that underpins all Omnicom agencies. As quoted by Digiday, Pagliuca said,

“The benefits of programmatic around measurement, targeting, ease of testing, etc., creates this massive opportunity for brands to be able to drive ROI by reaching consumers, right when they’re about to purchase and when they’re near the product in the store.”

From Last Mile to Last Aisle: Partner Perspectives

Digiday reported that the media agency network has 90-day exclusive access to programmatic inventory with Cooler Screens, 90-day “first-priority access” to Volta, and “first-priority access” to native content with Grocery TV, along with non-exclusive access to programmatic inventory from GSTV, Lightbox, NRS Digital Media, Velocity, Screenverse, and Starlite. The media partners in the deal with OMG believe they do solve some of those issues.

“The partnership between Cooler Screens and OMG provides a unique trifecta where all parties benefit,” said Cooler Screens co-founder and CEO Arsen Avakian. 

“Consumers receive contextually relevant content while they are in a shopping mindset in-store, empowering them to make better decisions. Retailers are able to modernize and activate their in-store experience and increase sales.  Brands now have the opportunity to connect digitally and programmatically with consumers in-store when it matters most while also being able to measure online to offline performance.”

Looking at the opportunity specifically through the grocery category lens, Grocery TV Director of Ad Partnerships Nolan Johnson said,

 “We recently surveyed grocery shoppers and discovered that 95% of them are still regularly going into physical stores to get their groceries. OMG’s new marketplace provides both endemic and non-endemic brands with the opportunity to bridge the gap between online and in-person retail media and capture attention in the real world.” 

President Jill Schnitt also added,

“Working with the best technology enabled place-based inventory, we have an unprecedented opportunity to prove the impact of last mile/last aisle messaging on decisioning.”

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