Analyzing What Brands Expect from their Retail Media Managers

September 7, 2022

A few years ago, Amazon Advertising was essentially the only platform a brand had to focus on when it came to retail media.

But the pandemic helped push digital innovation at every omnichannel retailer, including the launch and development of retail media offerings. Importantly, these retailers expect their big brand partners to invest significant amounts.

Yet, big questions exist for brands when it comes to “doing” retail media:

• Who should run it?
• What should their team look like?
• Should they report into sales or marketing?
• How should retail media be integrated into the marketing mix?

An increasingly common way brands are answering these questions is by hiring staff specifically dedicated to retail media.

A challenge though is that there is no agreed-upon definition of retail media.

Brands define retail media in different ways. A few variations I’ve heard recently:

• Retail media consists of all closed loop media.
• Retail media is any media fueled by retailer’s first party data.
• Retail media is whatever media reaches the consumer at the point of purchase.

Another challenge is a lack of clarity on the role retail media should play in a brands marketing mix. While “performance” is the north star for all of media nowadays, some finance teams strictly classify retail media as “trade”, while others allocate spend to retail media as an afterthought, regardless of its potential performance contribution.

All the above could be summarized by saying it’s very much day one in retail media.

This begs the question, how the heck do brands know what they’re looking for when hiring for retail media roles?

That question led me to analyze nine job openings from large CPG brands looking for retail media managers and associates.

These openings were posted on LinkedIn and found by using search terms like “Retail Media”.

The takeaways illuminate insights on the current state of retail media while also providing practical information for hiring managers and executives as they seek to define the roles and responsibilities for these new hires and attract top talent.