Interview with Raoul Zenon of OMG, part 2: Unleashing innovation with retail media

In the second half of this two-part interview series (see part 1 here), Raoul Zenon, General Manager for OMG MENA, dives deeper into how brands can integrate retail media within their broader business strategy and use it to harness innovation.

When we talk about a holistic approach to retail media, we’re really talking about breaking down silos. This means ensuring that your retail media efforts aren’t operating in isolation but are instead working in harmony with everything else you’re doing.

Imagine this: A customer sees a pair of sneakers in an ad on their favorite shopping site, then gets an email from the brand with a special offer, and finally sees the same product prominently displayed when they walk into the store. This kind of cross-channel synergy is the result of careful planning and integration. The goal is to create a seamless experience that guides the customer from discovery to purchase.

To make this work, you need unified key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure success across all channels to understand how each touchpoint contributes to the overall customer journey. This ensures that your retail media efforts are aligned with your broader business objectives, and that you can make data-driven decisions that optimize performance. Brands, agencies, and retail media networks (RMNs) need to work together, sharing insights and aligning on goals. When everyone is on the same page, the result is a more efficient and effective marketing strategy that drives better outcomes.

At its core, retail media should not be treated as just another channel or a one-off tactic—it needs to be fully embedded into every stage of the marketing funnel, from awareness to consideration to purchase. For instance, promotions and offers communicated through retail media should be synchronized with in-store promotions, ensuring that customers have a seamless experience whether they shop online or offline. In a similar vein, the creatives used in retail media should be optimized for the specific audiences and contexts in which they’ll appear, while still being consistent with your brand’s tone and style.

Retail media, when integrated into a holistic marketing plan, can be a powerful engine for business growth. By leveraging the deep customer insights offered by RMNs, brands can create campaigns that are more relevant to their audiences and put their marketing dollars where they’ll have the most impact.

The role of retail media extends beyond the marketing department and can be seen as a strategic pillar within the overall business model. This means that the success of retail media campaigns should not only be measured by immediate sales, but also by how they contribute to long-term business goals, such as customer lifetime value, market share growth, and brand loyalty.

Retail media should also be integrated into your product development and merchandising strategies, as the insights derived can inform product innovation and assortment planning. And importantly, these insights should be shared across departments and business functions, including sales, operations, and finance, to drive cohesive decision-making.

Moreover, retail media should play a role in your partnership and collaboration strategies. By working closely with agency partners and RMNs, such as Amazon Ads, brands can gain additional insights that further strengthen their business strategy. In particular, this can lead to more effective joint business plans (JBPs) that align both brand and retail objectives.

Unilever is a great example of a brand we work with that has taken this integrated approach. They leverage extensive data analytics from RMNs to inform everything from product development to localized marketing campaigns. And they don’t just use retail media as a channel; they use it as a strategic tool to drive both immediate sales and long-term brand growth. As a result, Unilever is able to remain agile, respond to market changes in real time, and continuously optimize their efforts for maximum impact.

To effectively embrace innovation and experimentation in retail media within the GCC/MENA region, it's essential to approach the task with a structured framework that addresses the unique characteristics of this marketplace. Innovation in this context isn't just about adopting the latest technologies, it's about understanding the market dynamics, audience behaviors, and the competitive landscape to drive change.

OMG’s framework for Retail Media Innovation serves as a guide for brands looking to innovate in this space. It helps brands navigate the complexities of the GCC/MENA market, offering a clear path from the identification of opportunities to the scaling of successful strategies.

By following this framework, brands can help ensure that their retail media efforts are strategically aligned with their broader business objectives. This approach is particularly relevant given the projected growth in e-commerce within the region, which is expected to reach 11.5% from 2023 to 2027. As the market evolves, the need for innovation in retail media will only become more critical.