News Briefs

7-Eleven kicked off the month of August by rolling out its fall coffee flavors to stores earlier than ever this year. 

From Aug. 1 through Oct. 31, the convenience store giant will sell to-go pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin coffee and pumpkin-flavored syrup at participating 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes stores across the country.

"We know our customers wait all year long for their favorite fall flavors … so we decided to break out the pumpkin a little bit early this year," Dennis Phelps, 7-Eleven's senior vice president, merchandising (vault & proprietary beverages), said in a media release. "It may not quite feel like fall outside yet, but it sure can taste like fall as we enjoy the first pumpkin spice latte of the season."

7-Eleven also teased more “fall surprises” to come as the season approaches, including the rollout of its pumpkin muffin later in August.

Integral Ad Science (IAS), a global media measurement platform, has partnered with digital advertising company Criteo to offer a product for measuring onsite quality metrics for retail media.

Criteo's Commerce Media Platform solutions, powered by the company’s predictive AI, enables retailers and brands to reach shoppers throughout their journey. The solutions execute on both unique retail media inventory from retailers and “scaled, open web supply,” while offering real-time, closed-loop sales measurement, per the release.

IAS says its software provides “comprehensive and enriched” data that ensures ads are seen by real people in safe and suitable environments.

Through an integration between the two partners, IAS will be able to enable viewability and invalid traffic (IVT) measurement for Criteo's network of retail media partners, ensuring that marketers are reaching real users and maximizing engagement, according to a media release.

"As more industry players come to realize the tremendous opportunity that is retail media, we remain committed to standardization that reconciles media spend with performance and building an ecosystem that drives marketers' and retailers' business forward,” Brian Gleason, chief revenue officer at Criteo, said in the release.

"Through our upcoming integration with Criteo, we can enable marketers to maximize their return on ad spend through third-party measurement across the powerful retail media networks working with Criteo,” added Yannis Dosios, Chief Commercial Officer, IAS.

Boston-based Breaktime Media has hired industry veteran Jake Morrisroe as director of promotions.

Morrisroe previously served as a digital producer at Meta and director of program operations at Gratsy. Before those roles, he was director, operations and account management, for Snipp Interactive. He also was a senior producer, team lead – client solutions at HelloWorld.

Breaktime continues to add experience to its teams following hires last year of shopper marketing vets such as Sean Lange and Alex Harrison.

Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO), an out-of-home (OOH) media company, has teamed up with Aqfer, a data marketing company, to enhance secure data collaboration capabilities through data clean rooms. Aqfer's solutions enable CCO to securely leverage a brand's first-party data for OOH campaign planning, measurement and optimization, according to a media release.

Data clean rooms have gained in popularity in recent years as advertisers seek to adhere to regulatory and consumer privacy demands.

By layering in Aqfer's capabilities into CCO’s audience insights platform (dubbed RADAR), CCO now provides an interoperable clean room framework. Brands and their agency partners can collaborate with CCO on audience targeting and campaign amplification with improved audience behavior analysis, regardless of where the underlying data is stored. This means brands will not have to be locked into a singular provider's ecosystem in order to leverage RADAR and securely access insights from sensitive data without sacrificing security, privacy or performance.

"More and more data-driven brands and advertisers are recognizing the power of OOH to deliver their message to the right audience segments with measurable impact and at scale," Jeremy Flynn, senior vice president, data products and strategy, Clear Channel Outdoor, said in the release. "Aqfer is helping us accelerate the adoption of OOH in the media mix by powering an interoperable DCR solution without compromising privacy, security, or the hassles of data transfers among multiple cloud providers."

"Facilitating data clean rooms is a natural evolution of our technology that Clear Channel  Outdoor utilizes in the partnership with Aqfer for their RADAR suite of solutions,” Marc Sabatini, chief strategy officer at Aqfer, added.

Aqfer is a marketing data platform-as-a-service helping clients streamline their marketing data management processes and facilitate real-time insights in a privacy-first world.

CCO’s OOH platform connects advertisers with consumers every month with its 500,000-some print and digital displays in 21 countries.

 

7-Eleven is calling on innovative and emerging CPG brands to apply to the retailer's fifth annual Brands with Heart program, which gives brands the opportunity to have their products added to the shelves of 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes stores across the U.S. The application process is live at 7-emerging.com and will remain open through the end of July.

The retailer is looking for items across categories that meet the needs of its on-the-go customers, including snacks, beverages, alcoholic beverages and better-for-you products, according to a media release.

Whether the product is ready to hit the shelves or still in the development stages, all emerging brands are encouraged to apply. Submissions will be reviewed throughout the month of August. Standout products will be invited to attend the Brands with Heart showcase Nov. 1-3 in Irving, Texas. There brands will present to company employees and meet with merchandising teams for coaching and mentoring.

Following the showcase, select brands will be invited to participate in an in-store test at select 7-Eleven, Speedway and Stripes stores across the U.S.

"7-Eleven has a legacy of innovation — from to-go coffee to self-serve soda fountains — and Brands with Heart is just another example of how we're innovating to meet customers' needs," Nikki Boyers, vice president of private brands at 7‑Eleven, said in the release. "The Brands with Heart showcase allows us to scout for the best new products for our customers, while also giving smaller brands the chance to shine."

"We look forward to the Brands with Heart showcase every year," added Adam Franks, director of private and emerging brands at 7-Eleven. "We love helping these up-and-coming brands grow and thrive. In fact, Elite Donuts is an alum of the Brands with Heart program, which is sold in many of our stores today across the country."

 

Target promoted 17-year company veteran Lisa Roath (pictured) to executive vice president and chief marketing officer in July. She now leads Target’s core marketing functions, including creative, guest marketing strategy, retail brand experience, social media, paid media strategy and marketing strategy and operations.

Roath reports to Cara Sylvester, EVP and chief guest experience officer.  

“Marketing plays such an important role in Target’s guest experience and brings to life the inspiration, care and connection people feel when they shop with us,” Sylvester said in a media release. “[Roath’s] detailed understanding of the retail landscape, her experience leading teams to deliver strong business results and her deep knowledge of and empathy for our guests make her the ideal candidate to steward Target’s brand and grow our relationship with guests.” 

During her tenure at Target, Roath most recently served as senior vice president of food and beverage merchandising. She led the team through a period of “explosive growth” as Target increased its annual food and beverage sales by more than $5 billion since 2019, according to the release. During that time, Roath also helped quadruple the number of emerging brands in its assortment. Prior to that, she held a variety of leadership roles across the company, including on the pricing and promotions and merchandising teams.   

In another mass merchant personnel move, Insite AI, an AI-enabled category and revenue growth partner for large CPGs, hired Walmart’s former vice president of merchandising, Kristine Joji, as EVP of strategy consulting. During her more than 20 years at Walmart, Joji worked with executives at top CPGs in dry goods and consumables. In her new role, she will leverage her extensive experience in driving merchandising strategies to help Insite AI’s CPG clients further elevate their retail partnerships.