Lionwise, Commerce Day, report of the first Lionwise event on Jan 19th, organized by Publicis Groupe

The event was animated by Sascha Van der Borght – CMO Publicis Groupe and we invited in – house and external experts.

Lionwise is about unlocking opportunities and gathers thought-leadership on topics that occupy a marketeer’s mind. ‘Sharing knowledge, chasing clarity’ is the official baseline of the content platform that can take many forms: an event, a podcast, a webinar, a debate or a white paper. Whatever format, the take-out will always be guidance in the chaos of the fast-changing communication industry and focus on the opportunities that lie within.  

‘Change and obstacles offer opportunities. Whole businesses have been built on them. And so we should embrace this New Normal and be inspired by the complexity. Lionwise intends to bring clarity by inviting leading experts to discuss with inhouse Publicis Groupe specialists about a new perspective on change and unlocking opportunities,’ says Sascha Van Der Borght, Chief Marketing Officer.

An agency with the network and size of Publicis Groupe Belgium has access to a wide range of content when it comes to detecting and describing changes in business. The range of topics discussed will be as wide as the marketeer’s reality and the marketing communication perimeter: dynamic creativity, Web 3.0 and Automation, to name a few. How will they impact your business? How do they affect operations and results? Partners and brands of the agency will be invited to make the answers as rich and concrete as possible.

Lionwise aims to involve all players to enable a new level of networking and cross fertilization in the Belgian market.  

To kick off the series, Lionwise held a first event on January 19^th.

“The Future of Commerce Media: Unlocking Opportunities”. Speakers included Amazon, Carrefour, Bol.com and  Mondelez and speakers from Publicis Groupe.

The age of Commerce – Matthias Langenaeker – Strategic Intelligence Lead Publicis Groupe

One of the main tasks of marketers has always been to ensure that their brands were easy to buy, and communications are increasingly impactful in this space. Digital channels have unlocked new opportunities to sell products and services to people directly or through 3^rd parties, while also allowing for the director of traffic to these platforms through advertising. On top of that, depending on the category, consumers have become more active in navigating and researching their choices, challenging the information asymmetry that brands thrive upon.

This does not mean however, that digitalization of media makes everything less complex. Through fragmentation and personalization of media consumption we see a volume inflation of commercial messages, as being part of the incentives for more profitable advertising for all. All, except the people being exposed them. On top of that, the very core of the digital advertising ecosystem is challenged by the depreciation of third-party cookies, which also impacts measurement. And thus, we have arrived at the long overdue end of Attribution Modelling the way we know it. A method that always had two fundamental flaws: it cannot account for the weak theory of advertising influence, and it does not establish whether conversions or sales would have happened without the ad contact.

This leads to a dual force framework for campaign planning that can be deployed from the strategical to the very tactical level. Leaving us with important reflections to consider when it comes to activating any commerce channel, summarized in 4 main themes:

1. Which category entry points are important for your offering and where can you play to your brand’s strengths?
2. How do digital and physical availability complement each other, whether it is on a product/SKU-level, target audience or more?
3. Are you thinking about this as an experience instead of a journey? People do not all act the same and have different, but similar, paths to the same conclusion.
4. Do you have the best measurement framework and methods in place for identifying the incremental impact of your media activities? Do you activate MMM and how do they blend with brand health data, Test & Control-experiments and more?

A Retail Media Revolution Belgium – Rutmer Faber – Lead Marketplaces and retail media Publicis Groupe

Retail Media is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years and become more and more important as a marketing channel for retailers, brands and agencies. With the growth of retail media it becomes more and more important to integrate the channel in the total media mix for brands and experiment with new Retail Media tools that are arising.

But what is Retail Media exactly? Retail media in general consists of retailer-owned inventory that allows brands to market to consumers near the point of purchase, either online or in-store. Secondly, it is also retailer-owned inventory outside the online retailer environment when making use of first party data from the retailer. On the retailer platforms of retailers Retail Media tools examples are sponsored products and display ads online or DOOH screens in the stores. Outside the retailer platform it can be a retailer’s social media, video ads on YouTube or other tools as long as the first party data of the retailer is used. 

According to predictions of IAB Europe the European Retail Media ad spend will outgrow TV ad spend in 2026 in Europe and also outperform growth of other media channels such as Search and social in the coming years. This growth is thriving on three overarching trends in the marketing industry:

1. Decline of linear TV viewing time, making it harder to reach consumers,
2. Future depreciation of third-party cookies, making it harder to reach consumers without first party data,
3. More relevant touchpoints to reach consumers within Retail Media such as for instance DOOH in retailer stores, increasing the retail media footprint 

Another important factor is the increased transparency that comes with the launch of self-service platforms where brands and agencies can set-up, manage and see results of their campaigns across retailer inventory in real time.  In markets around Belgium self-service platforms are becoming a standard and multiple retailers have launched or are launching such platforms. For the Belgium market it is expected that this will happen as well in 2023 and Amazon announced just after the Lionwise event that it has launched their sponsored ads and brand stores in Belgium. This rise of Retail Media and self-service platforms also means that the media landscape becomes more fragmented and technical. Agencies such as Publicis Groupe have the experience and services to help brands advertising in retail media and navigate the rapidly changing media landscape.

The future of shopping is set for a social revolution – Maarten Van Herck – Experience Lead

These days, we need to deserve attention as people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Commerce is shifting from mass audiences over hyper personalization, back to niche communities that influence and are influenced by culture. Creating a human experience is crucial in this economy and it is our task to make sure that we tap into the culture of our customers at every step. Selling a story throughout the entire journey with continuity in-between all chapters to give them the best possible experience. Commerce is the practice of connecting all the pieces of the funnel to create a captivating and rewarding shopping experience. 

But the way we do this is also shifting as modern consumers want to be seen creative, innovative, and entrepreneurial. They will favor brands and products that allow them to behave in this way and provide tools that allow them to express their identity. This creativity is the new status symbol for the digital era and brands & media need to be in service of this generation. You’re no longer creating content, products and services that people consume but you’re creating content, products and services that people then can create with. building Creator Currency. 

Key takeaways  

• Commerce is a human experience
• It’s all about cultural & community commerce 
• Leverage the creator currency