News Briefs

NexChapter, an advisory firm for the convenience and grocery sectors, has enticed Jeff Baskin, former chief revenue officer at Upshop and Radius Networks (Flybuy), to join the organization as a partner. 

Baskin will work closely with both retailers and tech providers to enhance omnichannel experiences and maximize returns on investments, according to a NexChapter statement.

With more than 25 years of experience in retail technology, Baskin has helped drive partnerships and digital initiatives for top retailers including Kroger, Giant Eagle, Hy-Vee and Circle K. 

"Omnichannel is no longer just a strategy — it's a consumer expectation," Baskin said in the statement. "Retailers who embrace it see their omnichannel shoppers spend 2-4 times more than in-store-only customers. This makes investments in technologies like e-commerce, order management, fulfillment, and inventory management critical to long-term growth. I’m excited to bring my experience to NexChapter and help retailers navigate this digital transformation."

"[Baskin’s] track record in building innovative, high impact omnichannel programs is well-known across the industry,” added Art Sebastian, founder and CEO of NexChapter. “His deep understanding of both the retailer and technology landscapes is a valuable asset, and we are thrilled to have him on board to further our mission of driving growth and solving complex challenges for our clients."

"Joining [Sebastian] and the team at NexChapter is a great opportunity for me,” Baskin added. “I’ve spent my career advising some of the world’s most forward-thinking retailers as they enhance customer experiences and improve operational efficiency. I’m eager to continue that work at NexChapter, collaborating with our clients to help them thrive in today’s evolving digital landscape."

Vibenomics, a Mood Media Company and in-store digital advertising provider, has appointed Brendan Carey as group director of retail media, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), marking the company's strategic expansion into the European-focused markets. 

This hire will leverage Mood Media's EMEA footprint, allowing Vibenomics to bring its in-store media solutions to a broader international audience, according to a statement from the company.

Carey will use his experience in the ad tech and retail media sectors to spearhead Vibenomics' EMEA expansion and lead efforts to replicate the company’s U.S. success across key EMEA markets.

"Our expansion into EMEA represents a pivotal moment for Vibenomics and the retail media industry as a whole,” Paul Brenner, senior vice president, global retail media and partnerships, Vibenomics, said in the statement. "[Carey's] deep understanding of the EMEA retail landscape, proven track record in ad tech and his overall retail media knowledge make him the ideal leader to help retailers monetize their physical spaces more effectively while providing brands with unparalleled access to shoppers at the point of decision."

The Vibenomics platform hosts both audio and digital screen capabilities and offers an impressions-based measurement model. As part of its EMEA strategy, Vibenomics is actively building strategic relationships with key industry players, including the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and media agencies.

[Also Read: Two P2PI Member Companies Team Up to Improve In-Store Measurement]

The company is currently in talks with several EMEA retail media networks and agencies to establish commercial partnerships, furthering its mission to digitize in-store media across the region.

"Vibenomics' move into EMEA is a natural progression of our global vision," added Malcolm McRoberts, CEO of Mood Media. "By leveraging Mood Media's extensive international presence and Vibenomics' cutting-edge technology, we're poised to lead a global shift in how brands connect with consumers in physical retail environments and transform the retail media landscape across these vital markets."

Vanguard Cos., a Kansas City, Missouri-based marketing and merchandising solutions provider, has appointed Pete Coulborn as national account manager. Coulborn joins Vanguard from Illinois-based packaging company Green Bay Packaging, where he spent the last four years. 

Vanguard, founded in 1975, specializes in designing and manufacturing P-O-P displays, signage, packaging, digital printing, fulfillment services and program management capabilities.

"We are excited to welcome [Coulborn] to Vanguard Companies, where his industry insight, retail expertise and passion will help drive new growth opportunities," Chris Cummings, executive vice president of sales, said in a company statement. "Working with our creative services, marketing and regional sales teams, he will be responsible for expanding our presence across national channels, as well as developing our corrugated merchandising solutions and graphic packaging offerings in targeted market segments." 

Coulborn will be tasked with developing new opportunities, nurturing existing relationships with established accounts to increase revenue, and maintaining a “high level of integrity and accountability,” the company said. 

Coulborn brings extensive experience in national account management and new business development in the corrugated packaging and P-O-P display industry, including at Green Bay Packaging and printing company Meyers. He has led sales initiatives, implemented new strategies and customized solutions that have generated new business opportunities with major brands and retailers. 

"Vanguard is thrilled to have [Coulborn] join our sales team," added James Beard, CEO. "I am looking forward to seeing him extend the Vanguard brand while building and deepening key relationships." 

Consumer Edge, a company that provides data-driven consumer insights, has launched Basketview, a comprehensive data offering that provides clients a detailed view into specific items purchased by consumers. Basketview highlights SKU-level details from in-store purchases, email receipts, online account connections and point-of-sale data, according to a media release.

"Basketview will help our customers dig deeper — beyond merchant-level insights — to see the specific items being purchased by consumers," Bill Pecoriello, CEO, Consumer Edge, said in the release. "Having access to retailer and SKU-level product information will help our customers gain a more complete picture of a shopper's journey. They will observe product switching, understand the path to customer loyalty and be able determine the effectiveness of pricing and promotional activities."

Basketview is currently available in the company's prime row-level format, which covers more than 1,250 merchants, 160,000 product manufacturers and 400,000 brands and is made up of 13 million SKUs with over 100,000 individual store locations tagged. Consumer demographics will also be included in the dataset.

The initial tagging is heavily focused on consumer product goods and home improvement items, with plans to tag additional SKUs across thousands more brands in the coming weeks. Consumer Edge said Basketview data includes 100% of connected users' Amazon, Walmart and Instacart accounts and will also allow wholesale spend by manufacturers to be segmented by specific merchants (e.g., insight into purchases of over 40 million SKUs on Amazon or Adidas sales at Adidas stores vs. third-party retailers). 

Additionally, Basketview is available on Snowflake, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Services.

The Home Depot’s retailer media network, Orange Apron Media, has partnered with retail media technology company Pentaleap Inc. to enhance its sponsored products strategy.

Orange Apron Media has incorporated Pentaleap's retail media technology to deliver more relevant, timely ads that align closely with shopper needs during their shopping journey, according to a media release. 

Pentaleap’s Fluid Relevancy Engine, which utilizes an algorithm that processes extensive contextual data, helps Orange Apron Media dynamically position ads to the right customers at the right time.

"By integrating sponsored products with the intelligence that powers our site's relevancy, we ensure our advertisements are tailored to our shoppers,” Babcock added. “This approach boosts both customer satisfaction and advertiser experience.”

Advertisers have already been leveraging these enhanced sponsored ads, and Home Depot says it has already observed a “notable uptick” in returns on ad spend.

Pentaleap’s Retail Media Platform

This news coincided with Pentaleap unveiling its modular retail media platform, which creates an “open, efficient ecosystem” for advertisers and RMNs, including existing partners Staples, THG, Casio America and Pague Menos, according to a company statement. 

For RMNs, the Publisher Manager portal gives “full control over site monetization” with tools like the Fluid Ad Server, SSP and yield management, designed to drive additional revenue without sacrificing relevancy, per the statement. 

For advertisers, the Campaign Manager streamlines campaign creation, allowing them to tailor bids to priority terms, products and audiences with dynamic pacing, suggested bids and real-time reporting.

"We believe retailers should have the freedom to connect with any demand partners, fostering more open, efficient bid auctions," said Andreas Reiffen, CEO of Pentaleap. "Our goal is to make retail media accessible to all brands while ensuring seamless purchasing experiences. By promoting non-exclusive partnerships, we're committed to helping retailers thrive and compete with giants like Amazon."

"Amazon and Walmart have set a high bar for search ad coverage, consistently leading the way in showcasing sponsored products,” added Andrew Lipsman, independent analyst & consultant at Media, Ads + Commerce. “By closing the gap, other RMNs can accelerate their monetization simply by unlocking the potential from their existing inventory."

Pentaleap is currently in contract discussions with emerging RMNs in North America, South America, Australia and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Market research firm Circana has entered into definitive agreements to acquire NCSolutions (NCS), the joint venture between Nielsen and Catalina designed to improve advertising effectiveness, as well as Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) business.

Nielsen’s MMM business enables the CPG ecosystem to assess the impact of their investments, understand what’s working and optimize marketing budgets accordingly. NCS is a purchase-based ad targeting and measurement firm serving the CPG industry.

With these two acquisitions, Circana will expand its media measurement capabilities while also increasing its marketing mix modeling, unified measurement solutions and footprint, according to a joint statement. As a result, clients of all three organizations will gain broader access to audience targeting, media measurement, in-flight optimization and clean room solutions. 

Both businesses eventually will be integrated into Circana’s media team, which works with advertisers and their agency partners to plan, target, activate, measure and optimize media spend. Its media solutions portfolio is built on an enterprise technology platform with CPG and general merchandise shopper, sales and causal data sets, and advanced analytics. 

The transactions are expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2024.

“We are excited to welcome NCSolutions and Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling business to Circana to expand and enhance our media capabilities for our clients,” Kirk Perry, president and CEO of Circana, said in the statement. “Both businesses have incredible expertise, solutions and clients that, when combined with Circana’s data and technology assets, will fuel clients’ growth.”

“NCSolutions and Nielsen’s Marketing Mix Modeling are strong businesses that deliver spectacular value for clients,” added Karthik Rao, CEO of Nielsen. “As Nielsen focuses on expanding its leadership position in audience measurement and content data, we’re thrilled that the tremendous leadership and passionate teams at NCS and MMM can continue to accelerate their growth through synergies within Circana.”