Marketing firm Dentsu is integrating “real-world attention data” drawn from a shopper eye-tracking study in Co-op stores into its media planning tools.
The move – which Dentsu said marked “a pivotal shift in how brands engage with consumers” – means brand users of Dentsu’s tools can quantify the “volume of attention” generated by different in-store advertising formats, to more effectively spend their marketing budget.
The findings of the eye tracking research – conducted by Lumen Research on behalf of the Co-op Media Network – were published in February, concluding that convenience store retail media offers twice the visibility, and garners triple the attention and quadruple the brand recall compared with campaigns in larger stores.
The “supercharged” effectiveness of retail media campaigns in convenience stores versus supermarkets was chiefly due to shopper frequency and the typical layout of smaller stores.
According to Dentsu: “These insights disrupt the outdated perception that in-store media lacks the impact of major advertising channels such as social media and out-of-home advertising.”
Integrating these findings into Dentsu’s media planning tools would give brands “deeper audience insights and enable precedented accuracy in media planning” the company said.
“Retail media is rapidly evolving into one of the most influential advertising channels. Historically, it has been viewed as tactical rather than strategic, but this research and integration proves otherwise,” said Katie Hartley, managing director – product and innovation at Dentsu. “We’re proud to collaborate with Co-op Media Network and Lumen to bring this game-changing data to market – reshaping how brands approach in-store advertising, both in the UK and globally.”
The original research saw shoppers wearing eye-tracking glasses navigate different-sized Co-op stores: one of 2,106 sq ft and a larger 14,687 sq ft store “that more closely resembles a supermarket”. The shoppers were given a BBQ shopping mission – a list featuring protein, produce, frozen, ambient and BWS, while the glasses monitored what the shoppers were viewing, the duration of their gaze and retinal movements.
The use of the glasses “provided precise insights into what the shoppers were observing”, as well as the ads that “were within their peripheral vision” and when ads “could have been seen without direct focus”. Following their shopping trips, participants were tested on brand recall and completed brand choice surveys.
“By bringing Co-op’s in-store attention data into Dentsu’s planning tool, convenience media now sits alongside mainstream channels in the planning process,” said Dean Harris, head of Co-op Media Network. “It’s no longer a bolt-on or an afterthought – it’s right where it belongs.”
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