Retail Media 3.0

This year’s IAB UK Media Upfronts brought together some of the biggest players in media for two days of fresh ideas and future-focused thinking. One thing was clear: retail media is officially entering its next chapter.

Retail media is accelerating – from its roots in loyalty and traditional shopper marketing to a leading role in the future of retail advertising. At IAB UK Media Upfronts, Nectar360’s Director of Client Services Tom Priestman shared how we are driving the evolution with our new platform Nectar360 Pollen.

Retail media is at a pivotal inflection point, spearheading an omnichannel digital ecosystem. Historically a complex industry, hindered by fragmented systems and siloed processes, we designed Nectar360 Pollen to make retail media simpler, smarter and more effective.

As we lead at the forefront of Retail Media 3.0, our purpose remains clear: creating valuable relationships between customers and their favourite brands. Everything we do starts with the customer. Through deep customer insight, we ensure retail media is not only effective but also additive to the customer experience.

We understand how our 24 million Nectar customers shop. Sometimes they know exactly what they want, other times they’re seeking inspiration, open to subtle nudges. We don’t all shop in a linear way, and this provides new opportunities to meaningfully engage with consumers. And that’s where Pollen comes in.

Powered by customer insight and AI, Nectar360 Pollen will revolutionise how brands and agencies run omnichannel retail media campaigns at scale.

Pollen unifies campaign planning, activation, and measurement in one intuitive platform, so brands can easily reach customers across every channel. With rapid insights, GenAI capabilities, flexible self-serve options, and market-leading measurement, brands and agencies can create more impactful campaigns and drive stronger results.

With its relentless focus on ease of use, we have built Nectar360 Pollen to be the easiest retail media platform in the market and our dedicated client teams provide hands-on support at every stage. Meanwhile, through seamless integration into our increasingly digitised in-store environments, and by taking measurement to the next level, Nectar360 Pollen paves the way for the future.

As Robert Yule, Nectar360’s Director of Operations, put it: “Pollen serves as the backbone for future transformation, long-term innovation, and connectivity across retail media.”

Over the past few years, we’ve been transforming Sainsbury’s and Argos stores with digital connectivity and personalised offers to reach in-store customers more effectively.

And we’re building the UK’s most connected in-store digital screen network, engaging customers across their in-store journey, in line with their shopping habits. By next year, this network will reach 2,500 screens, fully integrated with Nectar360 Pollen to deliver hyper-relevant, dynamic content across the whole network.

As retail media matures, so must the way we measure. Moving beyond ROAS, Pollen’s multi-touch attribution model will focus on iROAS boasting a unified, always-on reporting suite, providing brands with a holistic view of what worked and what didn’t. And we’re continuing to innovate our retail media offering, taking steps towards deeper collaboration in measurement including MMM integration and pushing the industry standards, as well as providing more insight than ever before on the likes of campaign strategy automation and creative testing.

For Nectar360, this is just the beginning. The future of retail media starts with the customer and ends with results. Pollen will make this happen like never before.