Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
Quotient (NYSE: QUOT), a leading digital media and promotions technology company, together with Place Exchange, the leading supply side platform (SSP) for programmatic out-of-home and place-based media, last week announced access to the largest network of digital in-store audio messaging in the US, InStore Audio Network, which reaches over 100 million shoppers each week in over 16,000 stores nationwide.
Steven Boal, CEO and Founder at Quotient told us “This announcement marks Quotient’s entry into a new channel in our expansive omnichannel offering. Audio can deliver lower-funnel, high-impact messages targeted to the right consumers as they are making buying decisions. Reaching shoppers with captivating audio while actively purchasing at grocery and drug stores is a development we are all very excited about”.
Place Exchange now enables Quotient’s retailer and advertiser clients to reach these consumers at the point of purchase through InStore Audio Network’s digital audio program across major grocery chains, including Albertsons, Safeway, Southeastern Grocers, Schnucks, Ahold Delhaize and major drug stores such as CVS and Rite Aid.
Ari Buchalter, CEO at Place Exchange told us “We are thrilled to expand into the audio out-of-home space by being the first to offer programmatic access to the largest in-store audio publisher. Programmatic buying gives advertisers ease, flexibility and automation which is especially powerful with a digital out-of-home channel like audio, since it delivers messaging at the precise moments before purchases are made, creating immediate impact for brands.”
While 95% of shoppers visit a grocery store or pharmacy at least once a week, there have traditionally been limited opportunities to reach these shoppers across every aisle of the store, when they are actively making purchase decisions. This breakthrough integration gives marketers the opportunity to reach consumers at the point of purchase while they are making their buying decisions in a ubiquitous manner.
Gary Seem, President and CEO at InStore Audio Network said “As the largest in-store audio network in the U.S., we reach over 100 million shoppers each week with digital audio messaging delivered right at the point-of-purchase,” said “By allowing advertisers to access and purchase our inventory programmatically, audio advertising can be a highly effective, easy-to-manage tool in the marketer’s digital toolbox.”
Audio OOH is described as providing unique benefits to advertisers. It is highly complementary to other omnichannel media used to reach consumers before and during visits to grocery and drug stores. It also allows advertisers to educate, influence and direct a captive shopping audience in every aisle of the store. Audio OOH media can be targeted with Quotient’s exclusive and proprietary data and measured alongside other digital media channels. Available measurement includes total attributable sales, average brand spend per impression, and return on ad spend.
Quotient partners with leading advertisers and retailers, including Clorox, Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Unilever, CVS, Dollar General and Peapod Digital Labs, a company of Ahold Delhaize USA. Quotient is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT and has offices in California, Cincinnati, New York, Bangalore, Paris, London and Tel Aviv.
The InStore Audio Network is the largest in-store audio advertising provider in the United States and delivers commercial audio messages to shoppers in over 16,000 grocery, drug, and convenience stores. The InStore Audio Network provides music programming and equipment, retail specific messaging and third party branded messaging ad sales to retailers such as CVS, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Safeway, Southeastern Grocers, Ahold, Tops Markets, Weis Market and Brookshires. By reaching consumers at the point-of-purchase in a captive media environment with a compelling audio message, the InStore Audio Network delivers over 460 million impressions a month and delivers proven sales lift for participating advertisers. The InStore Audio Network has corporate offices in Princeton, NJ and is headed by Jeffrey Shapiro, Chairman and Gary Seem, President/CEO.
November 14th, 2021 at 22:51 @993
Meh – Anyone in the CPG business who has wanted to buy from IAN (or as it was known way back IBN) directly or programmatically can and doesn’t. Adding Quotient to the mix won’t do anything but add another hand in the till for a burdened model (How many vigs here? Retailer, IAN, Place Exchange, Quotient – can there be enough for all of them?) Quotient laid off a bunch of staff in October, and who really is left at IAN. There is zero differentiation in offering bad inventory in more places from more sellers. It does not magically make more of it sell. That is what the programmatic apostles need to realize.
November 15th, 2021 at 15:25 @684
Nothing Burgher: Good for you to have a memory of in-store audio going back to 2012 or before on IBN. They never executed any programmatic buying and we acquired them in 2012 because they had a good footprint and a business model that they couldn’t deliver on. InStore Audio Network now has the technology — which has been fully tested and rolled out — that facilitates near-real time buying and scheduling to allow for full optimization in stores where we have our devices deployed. Nobody else in our space has figured out how to do this yet. Place Exchange is the ideal programmatic partner to execute this cool tactic for CPG brands — and Quotient is a leader in targeted retail marketing options. The food chain in programmatic buying has multiple steps or “vigs” as you call it along the process. Any different than the rest of the media buying world with planning agencies who feed into buying agencies who feed into programmatic execution who then turn to a creative agency. It always has been a multi-step process… not something we created. And we have our own sales team and a direct buying model here if “the middle man” is so distasteful to you — but that is without a programmatic overlay. You buy a guaranteed schedule customized down to the retailer, if needed. At the end of the day, think about the value of hearing a digital audio ad right in the store, in a captive media environment, right before you make a purchase decision. That has to have some value to a CPG brand over a digital banner ad on in a smart phone while you check the weather — or a TV ad during Sixty Minutes or a football game that is far from the purchase cycle.
Gary Seem
InStore Audio Network