Mars United’s Commerce Media team provide a few thoughts on the unification of retail media, insights, and loyalty marketing services at the nation’s largest grocer.
Kroger last week formally unveiled the unification of its Kroger Precision Marketing retail media network and 84.51° analytics business through a corporate announcement that generated substantial media coverage across the industry.
First announced in February, the move unites Kroger’s retail media, insights, and loyalty marketing services into a single division under the KPM brand and is designed “to help brand marketers grow across every stage of the brand lifecycle — from product innovation to campaign activation,” according to the announcement.
The new KPM team will also work more closely with Kroger’s merchandising group to develop cross-enterprise marketing programs with brand partners.
The news follows the recent promotion of Christine Foster (at right) to SVP of Strategy and Operations to replace former KPM leader Cara Pratt, who left this spring to join Circana as President, Global Retail and Media.
“Today’s marketers are held accountable for more than media performance — they’re responsible for brand growth,” said Foster. “This new structure is designed for exactly that. Our team helps brands translate purchase data into actions across every part of their organization.”
Among other key roles Nick Hamilton will continue overseeing KPM’s innovation as SVP of Commercial Technology, while newly promoted Vice Presidents of Commercial Sales Jenny Holleran and Sam Walston will lead the integrated client teams handling Grocery/Agency and HBC, respectively.
What it Means for Brands
KPM’s account teams are now aligned under one of two core objectives: “Grow the Business” and “Run the Business.” The “Grow” side will be connected with Kroger merchandising teams to influence longer-term business outcomes while continuing to pursue media opportunities with the brand teams of CPG partners. The “Run” side will strategically advise the CPG’s omni-shopper teams on how to best support their businesses through the alignment of insights, incentives, and media.
Brands are being encouraged to leverage the Stratum self-service analytics platform directly to mine business insights while the KPM teams focus on developing insights-driven media plans.
To date, retail media networks have haven’t had much success in trying to integrate with their merchandising counterparts. With this move, Kroger is endeavoring to be the first network to successfully facilitate holistic, enterprise-wide conversations and true joint business planning.
With the first round of 2026 JBPs/Upfronts/Supplier Funding Commitments expected later this summer, brands and theiragency partners should prepare by establishing cross-functional planning teams and ways of working.
“As brands demand faster insights, flexible media capabilities, and broader growth strategies enabled with data science, KPM is stepping into a bigger leadership role — offering marketers what they’ve been asking for: simplicity, accountability, and business results,” concluded the company’s announcement. “This [new] structure sets a [higher] bar for future collaboration — and reimagines how brands and retailers will grow together.”
