Hitting Your “Target” Audience with Roundel Retail Media Network
There are a number of words and phrases that quickly became part of our everyday vocabulary throughout 2020, from “social distancing” and “flattening the curve,” to “TikTok” and “Tiger King.” But a phrase those outside the digital marketing world might not be as familiar with played a major role in 2020’s vast number of online purchases – retail media. And its impact is only slated to grow.
In this article we explore the expansive retail media advertising opportunities available through Target, with native sponsored listings powered by Criteo, and display placements powered by Roundel™. But first, let’s dive into a high level overview of what retail media is, and how it works.
What is Retail Media?
Retail media is a type of advertising where the ads themselves are showcased within a partnering retail site or app. These native and display ads are served to customers that have progressed to the point of purchase, are near the point of purchase, or are in the comparison and consideration stage for the brand or product they’ve searched.
What are Retail Media Networks?
Retail media networks enable brands to increase visibility by advertising their goods or services to shoppers that have met the criteria outlined above. These ads can be thought of as the digital version of the physical endcaps and prominently placed displays you’d find when meandering around stores like Target. With so many shoppers across the globe minimizing – or eliminating – in-person shopping, many brands looking to boost their digital presence to stand out in the now-busier online space turned to retail media, or amplified their existing retail media marketing efforts.
Retail media itself is not a new marketing channel, but was already top-of-mind for many brands hungry for the first party data insights and impressive attribution capabilities it offers even before the pandemic took hold last winter, accelerating its growth even further. Add to that interest the rapidly expanding options available in retail media, and you have a channel that many brands can’t afford to ignore.
What is Target Roundel?
Formerly known as “Target Media Network,” Roundel is Target’s rebranded internal retail media agency, currently boasting “nearly 1,000 partners,” including household names like Coca-Cola, Disney, and Unilever. Audience targeting strategies enable partners to reach shoppers based on purchase-based, behavioral, demographic, or spend-alike and predictive models.
Roundel provides these brands with an impressive array of managed and self-service advertising options on Target.com and “150 brand-safe channels, like Pinterest, PopSugar, NBCU, and others.” They refer to this curated network as the Bullseye Network. These display, audio, and video opportunities help you reach the eyes and ears of potential customers through a variety of placement and targeting opportunities:
Available Placements
- Standard Display
- High Impact
- Homepage
- Native
- Audio
- In-Stream & Out-Stream Video
Available Targeting
- 1st Party
- Browser Audience
- Content Channel
- Geo-targeting
As for the name “Roundel” itself? According to officials, that name – meaning circular disc – “provides a “wink” at the Target bulls-eye.”
Target Sponsored Ad Types
Sponsored Product Listings & Search
Target offers two products to support brands looking for additional exposure through search ads across Target.com, Target properties, and Google – Target Product Ads by Roundel™ and Search Ads by Roundel™.
Target Product Ads by Roundel™
- What are they? Native, cost-per-click ads served on Target.com and the Target App
- Where are they placed?
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- Target.com Placements
- Product Detail Pages (PDPs)
- Category/Browse Pages
- Search Pages
- Dynamic Landing Pages
- Product Landing Pages (PLPs)
- Product Recommendations
- Aisle Pages
- Target App Placements
- Search Pages
- Dynamic Landing Pages
- Target.com Placements
- What do they do? Drive sales through increased visibility and discoverability with top shelf digital placements, while helping advertisers leverage the strategies that work best through reporting and attribution insights
- How are they activated? Through partner Criteo Retail Media
Search Ads by Roundel™
What are they?
Shopping result ads designed to capture high-intent Google.com searchers looking for products like yours, directing them to Target.com, the Target App, or a Target store to purchase. These are products that Target sends via product feed, and manages internally. As a value add, when Target includes your product in their feed, their local product feed also factors into the equation—this includes local store information, and inventory, so shoppers have immediate insight into whether a given product is available at their nearest Target.
What is the cornerstone of their value?
Maximized exposure for your brand on and off Target that harnesses Target’s invaluable first-party data to help reach audiences that are more likely to convert
Programmatic by Roundel™
Reach custom, proprietary audiences of real people, built from Target’s opted-in purchase and behavior-tracking first-party data. Programmatic ads can be purchased through your preferred DSP or via the Roundel team.
- Audience-First Private Marketplace: Display and video inventory in your choice of standard or high-impact sizes is shown on Target.com, as well as across Target’s premium publisher marketplace
- Contextual Private Marketplace: Shoppers can be reached at all stages of the buyer journey, including within specific categories, such as electronics, beauty, and more
Display by Roundel™
Reach relevant, interested shoppers across Target.com through on-site display placements, as well as Target’s carefully curated marketplace of 150+ publishers through display banners, programmatically.
Target.com Display Available Placements
- Product Listing Pages (PLPs)
- Product Detail Pages (PDPs)
- Category Pages
- Registry
- Empty Cart
- Store Locator
- Thank You Page
- Home Page Takeover
- Home Page Megaboard
- Home Page Leaderboard
Available Targeting: First party, browser audience, contextual category, geo-targeting
Display Banner Available Placements (Purchasable through Roundel™ Managed Service or programmatically through your own DSP)
- Standard Display
- High-Impact Home Page
- Native
Available Targeting: First party, browser audience, content channel, geo-targeting
Social by Roundel™
Utilizing first party targeting or geo-targeting, there are two Facebook News Feed ad options available for desktop, mobile, app, and omnichannel placement – Facebook Image and Carousel Ads, and Facebook Video
With 48% of respondents in a 2018 survey saying they use Pinterest when finding or shopping for products (note the next highest social platform used for this purpose came in at just 14%), Pinterest presents itself as a desirable location for your brand to be front and center. Target Roundel’s options are robust, including 5 distinct advertising options:
- Pinterest Promoted Pins
- Pinterest Carousel Pins
- Pinterest Video Pins
- Pinterest Performance – Promoted Pins (Keyword)
- Pinterest Performance – Shopping Pins
Snapchat
Roundel’s Single Image or Video Snap Ads help you tap into a predominantly young Millennial and Gen Z audience of 249 million daily active users
Target Circle
Launched in October 2019 in place of Target’s previous Cartwheel savings tool, Target Circle is a loyalty program with benefits that include personalized offers and savings crafted to meet the known interests of individual shoppers. By November 2020, Target Circle boasted “nearly 80 million members,” which translated to “nearly $2 billion in savings” for members.
Target Circle gives advertisers the flexibility to create 3 distinct offer types:
- Circle Mass Offer – Available to all shoppers
- Circle Personalized – Offers for relevant shoppers based on their purchase history and buyer behavior
- Digital Manufacturer Coupon (DMC) & Digital Manufacturer Rebates (Adult Beverages)
Putting the ‘Target’ in Targeting: Circle Audience Examples
- Demographic (age, gender, household income, and more)
- Location-Based (state, DMA, zip code)
- Behavioral (search and browsing history)
- Re-Targeting (pixel-based)
- Spend-Alike
Circle Programmatic Audiences
- Purchase Based Targeting: Reach all Target shoppers who have made a purchase within a set time frame from myriad categories and sub-categories, such as any piece of women’s apparel, any home décor item, or any pet food or pet care product
- Seasonal Targeting: Reach shoppers who shopped at Target during ‘seasons’ that are related to your product lineup, which might include Back to School, the winter holiday season, or those who purchased candy or Halloween costumes last October, to provide just a few examples
- Demographic Targeting: Reach female shoppers, male shoppers, or shoppers who have identified that there are children in their household
Category Search Sponsorship
Want to reach shoppers in the consideration stage who are searching at the category level to see what’s available? Roundel gives brands the opportunity to capture 100% share of voice for non-branded category term searches (ie. headphones).
Brand Search Sponsorship
For targeting guests that are actively seeking out your brand specifically, brand search sponsorships provide exceptional visibility with native, top-of-page ad placements. These placements enable you to own 100% share of voice for branded terms, driving high engagement at a monthly spend.
Custom Brand Experience
The next best thing to an eye-catching physical endcap in a store, Target’s custom brand experience arms brands with the ability to create a custom brand page highlighting their products and how to best use them, their benefits, and more. Target’s design team helps to craft this brand page working with your assets. Please note that brand page activation requires investment in a brand search sponsorship as well.
Target Sponsored Ad Examples
Want to see what your retail media placements would look like on Target.com? Let’s explore a few examples…
Tinuiti & Target: Experience and Execution
When exploring any new advertising opportunity, the best results are typically realized when partnering with experts who understand 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 and Criteo, 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 take a bite out of the bullseye? Reach out to us today!
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