Roundel Media Studio: What to Expect From Target’s New Self-Service Platform
Roundel™ Media Studio (RMS) has arrived, revolutionizing Target’s advertising game. This self-service platform offers seamless activation, management, and analysis of Target Product Ads, with more solutions on the horizon.
Powered by first-party data from both in-store and online shoppers, RMS provides new audience insights. Coupled with Target’s new loyalty program, Circle 360, advertisers gain precision targeting like never before.
But Target isn’t stopping there. With the rollout of a paid membership program on April 7th, bundling Target Circle, the Circle Card, and Shipt delivery, Target is elevating its media and membership offerings to rival the likes of Walmart and Amazon.
Curious to learn more? We sat down with our experts at Tinuiti to dive deeper into the potential implications of this platform for brands and advertisers alike.
What is Roundel Media Studio?
Roundel™ Media Studio is an integrated platform that consolidates various solutions and tools offered by Roundel™. At its core, it kicks off with our sponsored product ads, known as Target Product Ads by Roundel™.
Image Source: Target.com
This comprehensive platform grants access to the complete range of Target Product Ad placements, featuring tailored slots like “More to Consider” and “Frequently Bought Together” to enhance relevance and personalization.
Moreover, Roundel™ Media Studio operates without any DSP or access fees for Target Product Ads, ensuring that your media budget is optimized to deliver greater efficiency, more clicks, and ultimately, increased sales.
“One of the larger benefits of the transition is that advertisers have an opportunity to capitalize on the additional dollars saved by switching to RMS. Without the 20% fee, brands can re-invest those funds to scale campaigns or optimize budgets, all without having to allocate more funds which drives better results. Roundel™ is putting more control in the hands of advertisers by introducing this new self-service platform.”
– Averie Lynch, Specialist, Strategic Services at Tinuiti
To summarize, key benefits of using RMS include:
- No Access or DSP Fees
- All Target Product Ads Inventory
- 1st Price Auction with Existing Floor Prices
- Closed Loop Sales & Attribution
- Billing via Criteo Insertion Order
- Access Using Partners Online
How to access Roundel Media Studio
According to Target, there’s 3 steps to access Roundel™ Media Studio:
Step 1. Check that you have a Partners Online (POL) account for access. Don’t have one? Reach out to your POL admin to get set up with an account (reach out if you need help locating your organization’s admin).
Step 2. Once you have gotten access to POL, reach out to your Roundel representative who will grant you access to the platform.
Step 3. Users can access Roundel™ Media Studio in 2 ways:
- Via the Partners Online login page and then searching for Roundel™ Media Studio via the Apps & Reports page
- Directly via the Roundel Media Studio UI
Roundel Media Studio Best Practices
Target offers a variety of tips on how to best leverage their latest offering to drive performance.
Let’s take a look at the latest best practices for strategies such as maximizing efficiency or driving sales revenue.
Recommended bidding tactics for maximizing efficiency:
- Set your line-item optimizer to Revenue for the highest return on ad spend (ROAS) or to Conversions for the lowest Cost per Order (CPO).
- Since the Revenue and Conversions optimizers modulate the CPC you enter to maximize performance, it is useful to set a CPC cap to make sure that your bid will not exceed the maximum amount you wish to pay. The CPC cap should always remain at least 30% above the bid you enter to allow the engine to optimize effectively.
- Set your bids competitively to balance scale and performance (ROAS or CPO) targets.
- Optimize bids with respect to your CPO targets: lower CPCs slightly to increase efficiency, or raise them to increase scale
Recommended bidding tactics for maximizing sales revenue:
- Set the line-item optimizer to Revenue.
- Set bids to maximize scale and competitiveness while staying above KPI thresholds. Since the Revenue optimizer modulates the CPC you enter to maximize performance, it is useful to set a CPC cap to make sure that your bid will not exceed the maximum amount you wish to pay.
- Adjust your bids progressively and preferably at the product level: filter the top products by Spend and then slightly reduce any bids that have a ROAS below your threshold.
- In general, slightly lower CPC to increase efficiency or raise CPC to increase win rates and therefore increase sell-through.
Takeaways & Next Steps
This is just the start for RMS. In the future, Tinuiti will continue its partnership with Roundel to refine features and introduce additional ad types and functionalities.
When exploring any new advertising opportunity, the best results are typically realized when partnering with a performance marketing agency that understands the unique landscape. Our team boasts years of hands-on experience advertising in new and established marketplaces, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target. Working directly with Roundel, we ensure our clients’ ads harness the full functionality and features Target has to offer, with results-oriented scalability baked in.
Ready to learn more about how we can help your brand? Reach out to us today!