Rapid-Round Congress Q&A: Kiesse Lamour, Global Head of Media for our Commerce and Technology division at Wunderman Thompson

The ongoing pursuit of new revenue sources has led many magazine publishers and media companies to look once again at the potential of retail-based commerce opportunities.

Over the next few years, we expect to see an explosion in the number of Retail Media Networks (RMNs) driven by the promises of high margins for retailers, access to deep first-party data and closed-loop measurement for advertisers.

Yet how important will they be in helping to plug the gap for publishers created by the decline of third-party-based advertising?

It is a topic close to the heart of Kiesse Lamour, Global Head of Media for the Commerce and Technology division at Wunderman Thompson

In this interview Kiesse talks about:

How retail media could potentially deliver tremendous opportunities to publishers
And how publishers can capitalise on these emerging revenue sources.

At FIPP World Media Congress in Cascais, Portugal, on 6-8 June, Kiesse will be going into greater depth exploring the retail media opportunity.

For specially discounted tickets click here.

Here she responds to our rapid-round questions.

Who are you? And what is your role in the media/publishing?

My name is Kiesse Lamour. I am the Global Head of Media for our Commerce and Technology division at Wunderman Thompson. At a very high level, my mandate is to establish and scale the business’ commerce media practice and operations globally, as well as embed new capabilities and processes across various regions.

What have been the highlights of your career in media/publishing so far?

Whilst at Omnicom Media Group UK:

Building our Programmatic Audio capability from the ground up
Leading our offshoring programme
Spearheading our brand safety, fraud prevention and viewability approach

So far at Wunderman Thompson:

Building our UK Retail Media practice from the ground up.
And currently building our APAC Amazon CoE from the ground up

What do you see as the three key trends in the media?

In the context of our business:

Retail Media Networks (RMNs) will continue to proliferate driven by the promises of high margins for retailers, access to deep first-party data and closed-loop measurement for advertisers, and a macro-economic environment that increases scrutiny on every penny spent on marketing/advertising.
Ad networks are dead, long live the ad networks. With the proliferation of RMNs, there is also a sense of deja-vu for those that have been long enough in the industry. And we will have to navigate a period of deep fragmentation before seeing some level of consolidation and standardisation.
As CTV is another area of digital media that is popping right now, it’s just a matter of time before the worlds of TV and Commerce collide to expand shopper’s experiences beyond live commerce.

Why are these trends important and how will they change media/publishing?

Given the predominant profile of attendees, I’d like to look at it from a publisher’s perspective. The double whammy of 3rd party cookie deprecation and the promise of closed-loop measurement by RMNs might feel like publishers are about to experience the disruptions they went through when programmatic joined the party, all over again.

But retail media does not need to be looked at as a zero-sum game and I believe that many publishers will still be able to deliver tremendous value to advertisers, simply because users don’t spend 100% of their time in retail environments and a true full-funnel and omnichannel strategy should bear that in mind.

At a very top-level retail media offers opportunities that ‘traditional/mainstream’ publishers can tap into:

They can partner with retailers for their offsite programmes by enabling retailers to curate high-quality inventory for programmatic campaigns that they offer on a managed-service to brands.
They can partner with retailers to offer branded content or advertorial that leads people back to the retailer’s website to convert. Imagine for example content about an alcohol brand with a cocktail ingredient list that leads back to a supermarket’s website.
They can partner with brands to host highly publicised live commerce events on their websites.
Some publishers may even consider moving toward commerce by incorporating e-commerce capabilities on their websites and apps. This could be very targeted around specifically curated products that align with their audience base.

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About Congress

The FIPP World Media Congress is a must-attend event for anyone in leadership positions in the media. Delegates can hear from an incredible range of media thought leaders and influencers while networking with their peers in the resort’s stunning venues and hotels.

For specially discounted tickets click here.