Acadia CEO Jared Belsky and head of Retail Marketplaces Strategy Kiri Masters contributed their perspectives in this Digiday article published on January 2, 2024. This is an excerpt from the original article.
As more and more retailers open their data troves to find new ways to monetize them, media agencies (notably the holding companies) have scrambled to assemble commerce or retail media units to help clients navigate this path…
One independent agency formed by 360i veteran Jared Belsky, Acadia, aims to ply the middle market of retail media, having set up specialty retail units for Chewy but is now launching with Kroger Precision Marketing and Ulta. Belsky said he plans to launch with six more retailers in 2024. In essence, Acadia is creating a long tail of sorts for the retail media network space.
Why is Acadia going after the middle market? Marketers (especially the middle-market brands that form Acadia’s sweet spot) need growth platforms where they matter. That will require navigating myriad options to pick the right vertical platforms. They need to master the long tail of retail media, so they need a lot of help.
“For too many, retail media has been synonymous with just Amazon — and indeed, Amazon is a huge story as the largest of the marketplaces,” said Belsky, whose Acadia purchased Bobsled Marketing, which specializes in retail media work, in 2021. “So there’s a truth in it. But, the truth has gone too far, to the point where it’s not in the industry’s or the clients’ best interest to see retail media as Amazon alone. Knowing how to help a client through Chewy is different than helping a client through Walmart, and different helping a client through Instacart.”
Belsky further argues that the first dollar into a specialty marketplace will be far more effective than the last dollar you spend on one of the big guys, and said he’s seen this in search for years. Agencies will tell clients they don’t need Bing, but incremental spending on Google doesn’t give them comparable lift; by contrast, their initial investments with Bing pay off handsomely. “The last dollar into Amazon is always worse than the first next new dollar into Walmart or Instacart.”
Acadia has assembled a global 90-person team led by Kiri Masters, who formed Bobsled Marketing eight years ago and is now head of retail marketplace strategy for Acadia. Masters infused Acadia’s approach with the idea that performance requires a lot of work beyond the buy which can only be done if one is steeped in the mechanics of a client’s business and a platform’s operations.
For example, client Good Wipes, a flushable wipes maker, has been trying to expand in Walmart, but the brick-and-mortar stores have very limited space. “”Even if they had an incredible budget, Walmart [stores are] just too small,” said Masters. “They cannot literally spend trade dollars in the store and get it to go somewhere. But on walmart.com they’re able to invest in brand messaging and media and things like that,” with which Acadia guides the client.”
Tom Spaven, formerly Good Wipes vp of marketing, who’s just left to take a job with Reduce, said the savings achieved by working with Acadia as well as the greater impact with what the brand spends has left him hoping to work with the agency again.