Publicis and Carrefour to create retail media joint venture

Publicis Groupe and multinational retailer Carrefour Group are starting a joint retail media venture across continental Europe and Latin America.

Carrefour and Publicis are aiming to bring to Europe the same scale and connectivity that is pushing retail media growth in the US. The partnership will combine Publicis’ ‘CitrusAd powered by Epsilon’ technologies, the product of its acquisition of Epsilon and CitrusAd, with Carrefour Links’ retail media expertise, to build a media player to address the entire retail media value chain.

The joint venture will be held 51% by Carrefour and 49% by Publicis Groupe and is expected to launch in the first half of 2023.

Alexandre Bompard, Chairman and CEO of Carrefour Group, said: “We are going to create an alliance with an industry expert, the Publicis Groupe, to change three things: first, we will put tech at the heart of our model, second, we will go up in the value chain, by creating retail media solutions by ourselves, and third, we will conquer new markets, both in continental Europe and in Brazil. With this alliance, our digital transformation takes on a new dimension and allows us to access a new market with tremendous growth.”

Rally new retailers

The joint venture aims torally multiple new retailers to build a network of inventories and accelerate retail media in Europe and Latin America.

Its ultimate goal is for any company with direct customer touchpoints and first-party data to join the platform, to monetise their assets and partner with advertisers to build more efficient marketing strategies, and boost their business.

Arthur Sadoun, Chairman of the Management Board of Publicis Groupe, said: “After the digital media revolution in the 2000’s and the social media revolution in the 2010’s, retail media is revolutionising once again established hierarchies and opening up new opportunities for marketers. Until now, the fragmentation of the market in Europe and Latin America has made it difficult for brands to fully unlock its potential. This is why we are acting today.

“By joining forces with Carrefour, a clear leader in this domain across Europe and Latin America, we will be able to provide clients with unparalleled customer understanding, and direct access to premium inventories, the ones that generate the highest conversion rates and return on ad spend for advertisers. This is a critical milestone to help marketers take back control of their customer relationships, accelerate their readiness for a cookie-less world and deliver a successful media strategy.”