0:00

Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio.

0:03

There is so much room for higher

0:06

quality competition that I

0:08

think retail media is driving right into

0:10

that opening. Hi,

0:17

I'm Michael Casson. Welcome to Good

0:19

Company, where I'll explore how marketing,

0:21

media, entertainment and tech are intersecting,

0:24

transforming our lives and the way we do business

0:26

at a breakneck speed. I'll be joined

0:29

by some of the greatest business minds at strongest

0:31

leaders who will share how they build companies from

0:33

the ground up or transform them from the inside

0:36

out. My bed is you'll pick up a lesson

0:38

or two along the way. It's all good.

0:44

It is truly a pleasure today to welcome

0:46

Christie Argalin. Christy is currently

0:49

the senior vice president of Retail

0:51

Media, charged with really leading

0:53

the expansion of Albertson's retail

0:56

media offering. But more importantly,

0:59

Christie is a long time friend and

1:01

colleague who I've had the pleasure of

1:04

working with in many different aspects

1:06

of her life. And I think,

1:08

Christie, it's fair to say, not

1:10

to embarrass you, but you have you

1:13

have the moves and the moves

1:15

I talked about between

1:18

being a buyer and a seller. You know,

1:20

I've always said that people who have worked on both

1:22

sides of that equation the move

1:24

I talked about his body language.

1:27

Buyers tend to lean back, Sellers

1:31

tend to lead in. And I

1:33

always kidded with Cheryl Sandberg when she

1:35

wrote the book Lean In, that I

1:37

take precedent on that because I always

1:39

talked about it as as you know, that

1:41

nuance of how you lean in or you lean back.

1:44

You've leaned in and you've leaned back. You've been a

1:46

buyer and a seller. When we first met, you

1:48

were on the agency side, working

1:50

in technology, and then when

1:52

as we continue to engage, you went to the brand

1:54

side and you know, work together

1:57

a target and other things. But here

1:59

we are in the basics. Here

2:02

we are in the supermarket business.

2:04

And uh, you know, I mean

2:06

to let you know, I'm going to shut

2:08

up. But my first proper job other

2:10

than a paper route was working

2:13

as a bad boy in a supermarket.

2:15

So I got my beginnings in a supermarket

2:19

as well. That was my actually

2:21

my family's business when I was young. I

2:23

had an experience or two.

2:26

So I feel like it's full circle for me.

2:28

But but Christie, let me go back

2:30

to welcoming you and thank you for joining

2:33

me, well, thank you for having me, Michael.

2:35

It's just a privilege and a joy to be able to

2:37

sit with you today and have a conversation

2:40

about the journey because I've

2:42

definitely seen all sides of

2:44

the business, which you know, it's

2:46

been really satisfying for me

2:49

and why I stay with it. Well,

2:51

and as you talk about that journey, Christie,

2:54

I think you find yourself now at

2:57

one of the most interesting points on the journey.

2:59

And when we at mediately give

3:02

the presentations that you've listened to over

3:04

the years what we call our state of the state, one

3:06

of the areas that we focus on is an

3:09

incredibly important area in the business

3:11

today is the advent and

3:13

really the growth and importance of retail

3:15

media and what that all means. And

3:18

you know, you've been involved in this now for a while.

3:20

You're a veteran for sure, in

3:23

this new fangled thing and it's not

3:25

so new anymore called retail media. What

3:27

I'd love you to really talk

3:29

about is, you know, to kick us

3:31

off, is how would you define that

3:34

Retailers have been in the media

3:36

business for a very long time, but

3:38

a lot of the was the

3:41

wall of TVs at the back of one

3:43

of the big box stores, or the

3:45

signage that was sitting at the

3:48

end of a shelf on the aisles to

3:50

advertise and market a product, or

3:54

the coupons that spit out on the on

3:56

your receipt at the end of your shopping trap.

3:59

Retail media networks

4:01

really started to pop up when

4:05

retailers started to understand

4:08

they are uniquely positioned to

4:11

really know customers and

4:13

most adult US customers,

4:16

retailers see them more than a

4:18

lot of other other companies do. And

4:21

not only do we see them and know them,

4:23

but we also understand what

4:25

things they prefer um, so

4:27

we have insight into true

4:31

actions the groups of

4:33

customers are taking. That is

4:35

an incredibly important insight

4:37

into customer behaviors that

4:40

a lot of other company have. If

4:42

you even look at a Google or Facebook, they

4:45

don't really know that a sale have um

4:47

what retailers do. And so

4:50

the idea of marrying the

4:52

database that we sit on top of the audiences

4:55

that we can build, to marry that with

4:57

all of the now the digital media

5:00

properties at retailer's own, and

5:03

then even more so to apply those audiences

5:05

to other media platforms

5:07

that exist. It's just offering

5:09

a really unique media option

5:12

in the marketplace, and in the marketplace

5:14

it needs a little bit more diversification

5:16

at it well, and Christy,

5:19

you talked about it without actually saying

5:21

it, but you're talking about that first party

5:23

data, that that that information and

5:26

and that's the goal, right. I mean, at the end

5:28

of the day, you and I know this,

5:30

my friend, and I think you know Rashot

5:33

well or certainly have interacted over

5:35

the years. We were shot to Baccarola

5:37

and I give him credit for this all the time, and

5:39

my team tires of hearing it. But

5:41

he was one of the people who really crystallized

5:44

for me when we were working on a financial

5:47

services account together. He talked

5:49

about data and likened it to oil and

5:52

said data is like oil, and

5:54

it's in the ground. It's not worth anything. It's

5:56

when you take it out of the ground and refine

5:58

it it is worth something. And data

6:01

is the same kind of a

6:03

commodity, if you will. If the data

6:05

doesn't lead to insights, then it's just kind

6:08

of what we used to say, junk in your trunk.

6:10

It doesn't really matter. You're in a position

6:13

whereas a retailer at the

6:15

level and scope and size of Albertson's

6:18

and the experience you had a target as well.

6:20

You know, you've got enormous data,

6:23

and the ability to refine that

6:25

data with the marketer and understand

6:28

how that's going to play out is critically

6:31

important, right, I mean, isn't that part of the holy

6:33

Grail? I mean, that's the

6:36

fundamental reason. And the if

6:38

you consider the scale, so the

6:41

largest retailers know at

6:43

least half of the adult US population

6:46

and what their purchase behaviors are, and

6:50

that scaled database,

6:52

and that to have it be that high quality,

6:54

of that high fidelity is

6:57

unusual in the marketplace, and

7:00

retailers have come to understand the importance

7:02

of that also the importance of

7:04

using their customers better

7:07

and to make sure that they are doing that within

7:10

the relationship

7:12

they have with their customers, to do it within their

7:14

preferences for privacy

7:17

and all of the other pieces that go along with

7:19

that. And and and Christie, let me ask

7:21

a question, because you talked about, you

7:23

know, the in store marketing that it always

7:25

existed. You know, we would have referred to that

7:28

in the old days, I mean about a month ago. I'm

7:30

kidding, but shopper

7:33

marketing, Yes, in

7:35

some fashion, and that was always a separate budget.

7:38

You know consumer package goods

7:40

companies, and you know any of the players

7:42

at retail that shopper marketing

7:45

was a separate budget. Is that where this money

7:47

is coming from? Is that where the

7:49

retail media network revenue

7:52

model comes from? Effectively, from

7:54

your perspective, that's

7:56

only part of it. What we

7:59

consistently see is that the

8:01

shopper marketing budgets and marketing budgets

8:03

of brand marketing budgets tend to be about

8:05

the same size,

8:08

and so there's plenty of revenue

8:10

to be gathered through shopper marketing budgets,

8:12

and those budgets are going more and more,

8:15

actually they've gone digital. Um

8:17

in the mix of things that are non

8:20

digital has remains

8:22

steady your rear, well, the

8:24

amount of money that gets invested in digital

8:26

as well. It's the

8:29

other piece though, is that as

8:31

data privacy puts pressure on but

8:34

effectually called drifters

8:36

and a lot of that third

8:38

ring lower quality data that's

8:40

coming out of the marketplace, marketers

8:44

are far more aware of the quality

8:46

of the data that they had been transacting

8:48

off of it and are looking for better

8:50

data sources and better media options

8:53

that tie better to real

8:57

people taking real actions.

8:59

Um, what do we call it? Customers? Not cookies?

9:02

Um, So it's real. It's like real

9:04

people doing real things. Naturally,

9:06

the results are going to be stronger, and so marketers

9:10

are understanding the importance of what

9:12

retail media networks can bring as

9:14

well, and so we're seeing more

9:16

marketing brand marketing dollars

9:18

move towards retail media networks. We're

9:21

also seeing, though, organization

9:24

by organization, many are combining

9:26

those budgets because of the discipline

9:29

and what you need to prove for our oy s.

9:31

The say and we've talked,

9:33

you know, and this is a word that that resonates

9:36

with me more than most because I was a

9:38

featured player in it. But there was a book

9:40

written a couple of years ago you might remember, called

9:42

Frenemies, and it talked about the unusual

9:45

relationship that the marketplace

9:47

had with people who were both friends and enemies

9:50

giving credit work credits to He didn't

9:52

make up the word, but he was the person, Sir

9:54

Martin Soil, who kind of coined it

9:57

in our industry. Relative to looking at

9:59

primary early in those days, Google and Facebook

10:02

as being both the friend of the agencies

10:05

and the enemy of the agencies in that there

10:07

was a fear they were disintermediating

10:10

the role of the agency. And you know, when you

10:12

and I met, you were on the agency side. So you certainly

10:15

understand that. My

10:17

question here is we've created a

10:19

real unusual, new kind of freenemies

10:21

approach here because some of the largest

10:24

marketers in the world. Albertson's

10:26

is a very large marketer as a

10:28

buyer of media from other sources,

10:31

you know, advertising, your product,

10:34

your your retail capabilities,

10:37

and now you're also competing in

10:39

a very real fashion. So you know, the

10:42

days of you just buying from

10:44

you know, whether it's NBC or ABC

10:46

or you know, Paramount or you

10:48

know, the general publishing marketplace,

10:51

you're also competing with them because you're going after

10:53

the same dollars that they are. It's created

10:55

a new dynamic. I mean, you understand

10:58

it because you've been on the media buying

11:00

side and now you're

11:03

kind of really more on the media selling side.

11:05

Yeah, I mean, you

11:08

kind of twisted that. My frontal lobe of my

11:10

brain is you're laying all of that

11:12

out. I mean absolutely,

11:15

But they also benefit from us

11:17

um and so if

11:20

you look at a partner like Google or

11:22

pinterest, and they want to figure

11:24

out how to grow the revenue

11:26

that they get from a company like an Albertson's.

11:30

Most marketing budgets are not growing

11:32

at significant jumps year over

11:34

year, but the media

11:37

that we would buy in service

11:39

of a retail medium network in the partners that

11:41

we're building programs for will

11:44

grow in the double digits. Here

11:46

are some of these publishers

11:48

and so if they can

11:50

operate in a transparent and in a true

11:53

partnership, they benefit

11:55

as well. Um, so there is a

11:57

been there for everybody. The

12:00

other piece too, But Michael, I'm the other side

12:02

of that, and this is where the enemy part

12:05

of friend of Me comes from. In a

12:07

world where Amazon, Google and Facebook

12:10

commands sixty five of

12:12

the digital media spend that happens in the

12:14

US, there's some room

12:17

for diversidication in there. And

12:19

even if we I only need to capture two

12:21

percent of that in order to blow through

12:23

my goal. So, um, you

12:26

know that there is so much room

12:28

for higher quality

12:30

competition in the place,

12:33

and I think that the data privacy and

12:35

the new practices of Google

12:38

and Apple are accelerating

12:40

the need for the marketplace to really show

12:42

up in a better, more transparent,

12:45

more accountable sort of way. And I think retail

12:47

media is driving right into that opening. You

12:50

hit on my button, and my

12:52

button is the issues that our industry

12:55

is transforming on right now, we're pivoting

12:57

on and they're all the words that begin with

12:59

the letter TE. Those words

13:01

are trust, transparency, technology,

13:04

talent, and transformation. They roll

13:06

off my tongue because I've been saying until I move

13:08

face, but I haven't had a conversation

13:12

lately where it doesn't involve one of those

13:14

words. You just talked about,

13:16

a transparency or accountability,

13:19

trust in the numbers, nobody

13:21

grading their own homework, all the things that we've

13:24

talked about at you know, ad infinitum,

13:27

you knows as friends and colleagues,

13:29

and particularly now, those

13:32

are critical words because with

13:35

the deprecation of cookies and and

13:37

the privacy issues and all the things

13:39

we've dealt with over the last year or so,

13:42

the value proposition is

13:44

clear. And you did mention

13:47

you know what we used to call the du appoly, But you

13:49

couldn't take now in a

13:51

fair statement and say it was a duoppoly because

13:54

you have to put Amazon in that equation. Because

13:56

I think the number I read last year was that they

13:59

or this year that they at thirty one billion dollars

14:01

in advertising? That's right, yeah,

14:03

and that's no longer a side business.

14:05

That's a I don't care how big, I don't

14:07

care what your revenue is. You

14:10

know, there was a famous quote

14:12

years ago from a

14:15

senator from Illinois, Evert

14:17

Dirkson, who famously said, a billion here,

14:20

a billion there. Pretty soon you're talking real money.

14:22

You know, thirty one billion dollars gets people's

14:24

attention as an advertising

14:28

You know, it's interesting because retailers study Amazon

14:30

so much. Retailers hustle,

14:33

right, and they're not completely

14:36

you know, they're not in the they're in some other

14:38

business yet to be exact side

14:42

hustle, even by my standards. But

14:45

you know, Christie, I think you've said

14:47

it, but I want to ask the question again, where

14:49

do you think that money is coming from

14:52

your targets create x amount of

14:54

you know, billions? You want to see the

14:57

you know, we've

14:59

certainly got Walmart and Kroger

15:02

and Walgreen's

15:04

and CBS and Lows

15:06

and Home Depot and Macy's and

15:09

you know everybody's got their retail media

15:11

network. Now where do you think the

15:13

majority of that money is coming from

15:16

I would say, especially for the middle hotail,

15:19

but even for some of the top five players.

15:22

If you follow them closely, you'll see

15:24

the kind of this fast between we

15:27

are just here for the endemic products

15:29

that we sell in our stores and

15:31

online, and then the next year

15:33

there were a media company and then it's

15:35

back to we're here for our endemic partners.

15:38

So um, the bulk of the money,

15:40

especially for the middle of the montail is still

15:42

coming from what you would typically

15:44

call shopper marketing it. But

15:47

the real opportunity sits in those

15:49

national add dollars and

15:52

how you're able to attached

15:56

and return on investment to those

15:58

dollars in ways that a

16:00

lot of brand dollars can. And let

16:02

me ask you a more provocative question,

16:05

perhaps, Christie. Not unlike search

16:08

and when search became and still

16:10

is an important, you know, tool in the

16:12

toolkit for anybody trying

16:15

to sell goods or services. We had

16:17

an industry that spawned called s e

16:19

O Search engine optimization in

16:22

the retail media environment. Do

16:24

you think that the marketplace, the

16:26

agency community, again you come from

16:28

that side originally, have they

16:31

risen to the occasion to understand

16:34

how to navigate and optimize

16:36

you know, the brand's position and the retail media

16:39

environment as much as they should. I mean, I think,

16:41

you know, selfishly, because I do still

16:43

have a rooting interest. Essential

16:45

have done a really good job of that. Do you think the

16:47

agencies in general understand

16:50

this market well enough or they are they

16:52

still on a learning book? Yeah,

16:54

I think they're still on a learning term. But we've

16:56

been seeing some pretty big steps in that direction.

17:00

And you know, you'll recall it started

17:02

with everybody creating their Amazon

17:04

Specialist team UM. Now

17:06

those same teams are retail media. Yes,

17:09

So they're expanding the definition

17:12

and they're thinking about it more broadly, and

17:14

they are dedicating the staff to understand

17:17

it. And then if you look at a publicist

17:19

who bought Citrus add that's

17:21

a pretty big statement too in terms of how

17:23

they're leading into retail media. So

17:26

we are seeing these UM

17:28

centers of excellence starting to emerge.

17:30

There's still a long way to go because

17:32

what they're trying to do is take a different

17:36

kind of accountability model and

17:38

plug it into traditional ways

17:40

of looking at our o I UM

17:42

and plugging it into bigger

17:45

marketing mixed modeling capabilities

17:47

that are you know, kind of templated UM,

17:49

so pulling it all the way through and

17:52

thinking about how to incorporate

17:55

those channels that can trually do close

17:57

with recording versus media

18:00

metrics, I think is where the challenge

18:02

still hits. And I don't think they'll fully

18:05

understand the benefit of a retail media

18:07

network until it can get pulled all the way through to how

18:09

they measure UM. That's why

18:11

I'm in retail media is the

18:13

mechanics of it are fascinating.

18:16

The opportunity is really interesting

18:18

to me. So I've worked both sides of the

18:20

industry, all signs of the industry

18:23

almost and there

18:25

are gaps in the marketplace, there are

18:27

opportunities to have a better offering.

18:30

Is another choice. I'm

18:32

not saying that retail media should be the only choice,

18:34

but it is a different and improved

18:37

choice versus where we've beend as

18:39

a media marketplace. And so it's super

18:41

interesting to me to understand

18:44

how the money flows, how

18:46

things are measured, all of the components

18:48

that go into being

18:51

an effective media option

18:53

UM and I just find it fascinating

18:55

to be able to get into the strategy

18:58

of it all, Like what's the advantage to a retailer

19:00

to be in this business all the way

19:02

down to now, how do I

19:05

set up relationships that are based on

19:07

trust and transparency and where we

19:09

both win, not one has to win at the

19:11

expense of the other um but

19:13

also the mechanics of being able to

19:15

prove the effectiveness. And that's where

19:18

this category is still so Mason, because

19:21

we can measure the effectiveness of a campaign,

19:24

but how we get plugged into broader

19:26

marketing mixed measurement I next

19:29

big frontier for us as a category

19:31

to start to crack well, because you

19:33

and I both know a marketing mixed model

19:35

that doesn't have the right data inputs isn't

19:38

going to be worth much at the other end of it.

19:40

And to the degree you can refine what you

19:42

put in, you're going to get a better result coming

19:44

out. I mean, it's funny how

19:47

that works in all aspects of our life. Christie,

19:49

let me ask another question, you know,

19:52

and I said this a lot. At the beginning of the pandemic,

19:55

the heroes in our worlds

19:57

became different people. The heroes

20:00

were the frontline people. And you know,

20:02

retail, the supermarket

20:05

where people get their food and sustenance

20:08

is about as frontline as

20:10

you could be. During you know, the

20:12

only place I went, as so

20:15

many people could say, the only place I actually

20:17

went for a few months, was to the supermarket.

20:19

I mean, there wasn't any place else you were going if

20:22

you if you could avoid it. But we also

20:25

witnessed that extraordinary

20:27

moment where things that would have taken five years

20:29

took five days, and you were

20:31

you were still you know, in retail, not

20:34

in a supermarket at that point, but in in

20:36

you were a target at the beginning of the

20:39

pandemic. And so uh. In

20:41

fact, I remember sitting with you in

20:44

January when none of us

20:46

expected the world was gonna change

20:48

in you know, sixty days after I saw you in

20:50

Las Vegas in January,

20:53

and you know, we

20:55

all experienced it. And here we are at the other

20:57

maybe hopefully at the other end. Although I

21:00

would go to the Dorothy

21:02

Channel and Pavilion last night for the

21:04

Alvin Ailey Dancers opening, which

21:06

was extraordinary and if I had never

21:08

seen them, and I will tell you a

21:11

plug if you've never seen them, I've seen

21:13

them on television, but I've never seen them in person.

21:15

There extraordinary, But yet everyone

21:18

was still wearing a mask at the Dorothy Channel and pavilion

21:20

and here we are in April of two,

21:22

so um, you

21:25

know we still are. We're there. You

21:27

know, those those heroes, those people, those

21:29

frontline workers. You're at the forefront.

21:31

What does that feel like? I mean, you know, you're

21:33

not in the store, but you are. You're in the retails,

21:36

you're in the digital store. Yeah.

21:38

Yeah. I mean a couple of things.

21:41

The store team members that show up in the

21:43

store every day and

21:46

are willing to show up

21:48

in the stores every day to be able to serve their

21:50

customers, to feed their own families. You

21:52

know, I don't think we could appreciate

21:54

them enough for the fact that they

21:56

really kept all of us fed, and

21:59

you know, the price

22:01

and then made to all of us

22:04

UM is something that I think we will be forever

22:07

grateful for. The other thing

22:09

that just has been really fascinating to

22:11

me is that this the pandemic

22:13

has taken some very general companies

22:15

and taught them how to read

22:18

themselves and to bring

22:21

themselves to the marketplace as quickly as

22:23

possible in completely different ways.

22:25

And yet they're still able to

22:28

um show up quarterly

22:30

with really great earnings reports

22:33

because they've been able to manage it. And I know

22:35

that sales changed and you know, customers

22:38

shopped in a very different way, and

22:41

they moved so fast and serve customer

22:43

needs so well. Um, and those that

22:45

did are the ones that have really come out

22:48

on the other side a better company,

22:51

a better community member, a better employer.

22:54

UM. What I love about Albertson's

22:57

is that it has really this leader

22:59

should team that the Beck has called together. It

23:02

really knows how to operate fast. I

23:05

have never seen an executive team

23:07

that can make decisions and solve problems

23:10

within an hour meeting versus you

23:12

months of analysis. Like they just move

23:15

quick. Their instincts are strong, and

23:17

they know how to get things done

23:19

that really just their customers. So

23:22

information from in store and in

23:24

digital has been really

23:26

something to behold as you as you know, Christie,

23:29

I'm I'm close personal friends with

23:31

with somebody who was the majority

23:33

owner of Albertson's, uh you know,

23:36

not so long ago. And I've

23:38

had the pleasure of visiting in Boise

23:40

and and you're right, Look,

23:42

nothing is faster than retail. I

23:45

learned that in the beginning of my days in the media

23:47

business, because we did when I was

23:49

running a media agency in the nineties. We bought

23:52

more supermarket media than anyone in the world.

23:54

So I understood retail at

23:56

the earliest stage, and look, I applied

23:58

it to the entertainment and just tree back then because

24:01

we also worked for the Walt Disney Company, and

24:03

I said, moving marketing is

24:05

about as retail as it gets, except

24:08

supermarket is really retail

24:10

because it's it's real time

24:12

all the time. Movie marketing

24:15

wasn't that dissimilar because you were issuing

24:17

a new movie every week. You're issuing

24:19

a new product every week, and you'd

24:21

have to you know, build that retail

24:24

demand, you know, to get butts

24:26

and seats, you know, as you were opening a

24:28

movie for that first weekend

24:31

right you know, it was

24:33

that magical first week then. But you

24:36

know, the best way to learn I've

24:38

always felt the best way to learn media

24:41

and and the need for speed was working

24:43

with retail. And you know, it

24:46

goes back to what what what we talked about

24:48

is, you know, you're at the core. But

24:51

on that level at the core,

24:53

there's also a place where you know,

24:55

we hear it more in the auto manufacturing business

24:58

right now, but the supply chain issues that

25:00

we're dealing with as a as a country

25:02

right now you know, has had

25:04

impact a retail I mean, you know,

25:07

a couple of months ago you were seeing those pictures of empty

25:09

shelves in the supermarkets because you couldn't

25:12

get the products there fast enough. Have

25:14

we have we gotten to a better place in that

25:16

regard a retail

25:18

or? Are you seeing that we're still

25:20

pretty acute? Yeah?

25:23

You know, it's still an issue all of

25:25

us to deal with, and how we manage

25:27

inventory, how we negotiate

25:30

inventory with our partners, all those things

25:32

matter for all of us. What's interesting

25:35

now is to watch again as these container

25:37

ships finally get to arrive in port

25:40

to now watch the imbalance. So now there's

25:42

too much stuff. In fact, I called a

25:44

girlfriend the other day, I'm like, I think we need to go to

25:46

t J Max. I'll bet we've got some good

25:48

stuff on their shelves right now. Um,

25:51

So you know, I think we're gonna see this

25:53

too much, too little kind of adjustment

25:56

that we're all going to have to manage through going

25:58

forward. And you know, manning to inventory

26:01

and also making sure that pricing and promotion

26:04

are meeting customer needs

26:06

right now are two areas that you know

26:08

you really focused on, as is the rest of the

26:11

ends well and

26:13

and and you know, look, Albertson's,

26:16

I think you're the help me on ranking

26:19

number two or three largest food

26:21

retailer to right. And

26:24

and my friend who used to be a

26:26

significant owner of Albertson's

26:29

told me it was based on doors. The amount

26:31

of doors you have, you know, a

26:35

lot, You've got thousands of doors, thousands

26:39

of doors. Um. But as

26:42

the second largest food retailer in

26:44

the world, I guess, or certainly in the

26:46

country, the prognosis and obviously

26:48

the market's been good to you because

26:52

you know, food didn't go out of style and

26:55

the ability to rise to the occasion.

26:57

Albertson's has done it. As you said, hats

27:00

off to Vivec who came

27:02

over from Pepsi as I remember when he's

27:05

Albertson's. So he came over from the

27:07

product side to the you know, to the

27:09

distribution and retail side. But

27:11

but he came with a with a mission because

27:14

he's done such an amazing job in

27:17

really you know, pushing the company forward.

27:20

Tell me from your perspective, Christie,

27:24

if we were here a year from now, you

27:26

know, what would be the top thing on your agenda

27:28

that's different today than today.

27:30

Yeah, I think, Um, you

27:33

know, obviously, right now we're focused

27:35

on the launch we launched just a couple of weeks

27:37

ago. UM. Stabilizing

27:40

the business sector the launch and driving

27:42

momentum is key for us. A

27:45

year from now, I really want

27:47

to be leaning way into

27:49

different ways to bring audiences

27:52

to the market, a

27:55

fresh way to truly integrate

27:57

the measurement of what we do into some

28:01

more standard marketing, mixed modeling that

28:03

goes on UM to

28:05

watch the evolution of the importance

28:07

of DSPs versus SSPs,

28:09

Like where in the marketplace,

28:12

how do you tap into that instead of supply?

28:15

And I'm also very curious about

28:17

these publishers who don't have

28:20

a really strong data foundation to

28:22

operate off of. Once cookies

28:25

and everything else gets pulled out of the market and

28:27

that so we have

28:29

strict your privacy laws and we have cookies

28:31

going away. So it's gonna be

28:34

a fascinating week. Week.

28:37

Yeah, thatthing else I week,

28:41

Christie. Let me ask you one final question.

28:43

Most sentences today in

28:46

certainly commerce begin

28:49

with the word content. You hear it now constantly,

28:51

content and commerce, content and commerce.

28:54

I hear it all the time, and I hearkened

28:56

back to twenty two years ago when I

28:58

did the very very first panel that I'd

29:00

ever done in the marketing media business

29:03

where I was a moderate, not a moderator,

29:05

but a panelist. And the topic,

29:08

believe it or not, it was Variety Magazine

29:10

and the n y U Stern School of Business sponsoring

29:13

a panel conversation and

29:15

it was entitled content and Commerce.

29:18

So it's not a new affectation,

29:20

It's been around for a while. But do you

29:22

see the importance of content and

29:24

I mean that in the content creation and

29:27

you know how we're driving commerce through content?

29:30

Absolutely? Um That to

29:32

me is kind of a foregone conclusion that we

29:34

will get deeper and deeper into

29:36

that space. And it is such an

29:38

easy application. When you think of food

29:40

and the role that food plays in our lives and

29:42

how we come together with family and friends,

29:44

it's like so central to what

29:47

we do. And the more that we can insert

29:49

that kind of food and entertainment

29:51

content into the shopping

29:53

experience, the more

29:56

we will inspire, the better will serve

29:58

our customers. Um. So that it's

30:00

a absolutely we will be

30:02

leaning and we already are as

30:05

a marketing group, as a digital

30:07

group, and that's a big part of

30:09

the strategy. The other thing too

30:11

that is going to come in kind of the back

30:13

door is it in store as

30:16

it becomes more digital is going to

30:18

suddenly become hot again too. So this marriage

30:21

of content, physical and digital

30:24

all converging, and that that absolutely

30:26

is something that we'll be talking about over the next year.

30:29

Well, and and Christie, you

30:31

know, as I said, this is such a

30:34

hot topic, but some a topic

30:36

that I'm so interested in, and I know our audiences.

30:39

I want to invite you back for a second

30:41

chat, but you know, sadly

30:43

we have to come to an end now, but I want

30:45

to just say thank you. You know,

30:47

we've had hundreds of conversations

30:50

over the years, but you

30:52

know, very few as enlightening as this

30:55

relative to the area. That is the

30:58

good fortune of you having skied to where

31:00

the puck is, as Gretzky once

31:02

said, because I think you've found

31:04

yourself in a position now over these last

31:07

few years, but particularly now with this launch

31:10

at the center of the fire. And you

31:12

know what, it's

31:14

a good place for Christy Argeland to be. I

31:17

like I get bored

31:19

of Christy.

31:23

Thank you for joining me on good Company today.

31:25

I know our audience will leave this

31:28

conversation more intelligent

31:30

than they entered it. Well. Thank you, Michael.

31:33

It has been a pleasure to spend time with Eve and I

31:35

appreciate you invited me. I'm

31:39

Michael Casson. Thanks for listening to Good

31:41

Company. Good

31:43

Company is a production of I Heart Radio

31:46

Special Thanks to Lena Peterson, Chief Brand

31:48

Officer and Managing Director, for

31:50

her vision I'm Good Company, and to Jen Seely,

31:52

Vice President Marketing Communications Immediately

31:55

for programming amazing talent and content.

32:00

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