A Safe Bet
Mohegan, the casino and resorts company, is betting on retail media with the launch of what it and its partner LiveRamp refer to as a “casino media network,” Business Insider reports.
Pretty much every company with a large enough logged-in customer base and even a sliver of ad inventory has launched a retail media network because it’s relatively cheap to scale and the profit margins are high – for traditional retail, at least.
So the business rationale is sound. But shouldn’t there be at least some concern about the potentially unholy union of data-driven gambling and programmatic?
Not to put that all on Mohegan. The new casino ad network only targets users of Mohegan’s app, members of its loyalty program and screens located in its real-world properties (think slot machines, kiosks and digital signage). Advertisers can’t use the data to target audiences elsewhere, which is when things get hairy.
LiveRamp touts similar partnerships with United Airlines and Albertsons. But targeting loyal Kraft Heinz customers is quite different than targeting gamblers. People might say they’re “addicted to travel,” but it doesn’t become a social problem when United uses its ad network, Kinective Media, to create frequent fliers.
Stay safe out there, folks.
The French Connection
Criteo has selected Michael Komasinski as successor to CEO Megan Clarken.
Clarken took the job in 2019 when Criteo’s shares traded at $17.50. The year before, Criteo was the most shorted stock on the Nasdaq exchange. Today, shares trade at roughly $37.
Turnaround done. Ready for the next step.
Komasinski is leaving his job as Dentsu’s CEO for the Americas. He was formerly CEO of Merkle and COO of Razorfish before that.
On the surface, Komasinski’s agency pedigree may seem out of place for Criteo, but he’s not its first high-profile agency hire. Brian Gleason, Criteo’s CRO and president of retail media, came from GroupM.
Criteo’s retail media network relies on agencies far more than its retargeting business did. Agencies control shopper marketing budgets and have longstanding direct retailer deals. Criteo must insert itself into this equation.
During an earnings call over the summer, Clarken noted that Commerce Max, Criteo’s retail network product, experienced more than 50% year-over-year growth from holdco agencies.
Criteo’s main independent challenger, CitrusAd, is owned by Publicis. The other holdcos don’t like that.
Meanwhile, Criteo must also contend with Amazon Ads, which just this month announced its version of, well, Criteo.
Within this tangle of competitive relationships, Criteo must keep its pitch to the agencies as fresh as possible.
Leo-nited
Consolidation continues among the big agency holding companies.
Publicis Groupe is combining its Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide agency networks into one massive new creative network called Leo, Adweek reports.
The Leo network comprises 15,000 employees across 130 agencies in 90 countries. It’s now the largest creative agency under the Publicis umbrella. Publicis Groupe execs Marco Venturelli and Agathe Bousquet will helm Leo as co-presidents.
Publicis insists it won’t cut jobs as it consolidates all these different groups. It will, however, phase out its Publicis Worldwide branding – except for in certain markets, including France.
This consolidation echoes WPP’s 2023 merger of Wunderman Thompson and VMLY&R into one entity known as VML. It also follows in the wake of Omnicom’s planned merger with IPG, announced last month.
Publicis claims its Leo launch has been in the works since long before the Omnicom/IPG news broke. Still, the fact that Publicis is emphasizing Leo’s creative capabilities sheds some light on its strategy for keeping pace with its evolving holdco peers.
“We needed to boost our creative formula,” says Carla Serrano, global chief strategy officer of Publicis Groupe. “These two powerhouses coming together is a formidable global force and a new model for today’s times.”
But Wait! There’s More
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into Google’s dominant position in search and search advertising services. [release]
Mark Zuckerberg’s bro-ification aside, why don’t more men use Facebook? [Business Insider]
OpenAI’s o1 model will sometimes randomly generate Chinese characters, and nobody knows why. [TechCrunch]
Emarketer picks Meta, Google and CTV as the likeliest beneficiaries of a US TikTok ban. [Axios]
TikTok refugees are now flooding into another Chinese social app, RedNote. [The Verge]
You’re Hired
Creative data company Vidmob hires GARM’s co-founder, Rob Rakowitz, as head of marketing. [release]
Mobile growth platform SplitMetrics hires Eoin Hallahan as CRO. [release]
Australian retail media network Zitcha appoints Debra Berman and Jonathan Waecker to senior advisory positions. [release]
