Helena Hinton, Partnership Director at Very Media Group (VMG), outlines how getting the creative right is the key to making retail media work for brands – but there is more to it than you’d think
When you walk into a physical store, you’re instantly immersed in a curated brand experience. From the lighting and layout to shelf displays and promotional signage, the retailer has full control over the creative environment. It’s this in-store magic that does a lot of the creative heavy lifting, helping shoppers connect with products in a meaningful and intuitive way.
But when retail shifts online, everything changes.
For digital-first or e-commerce-focused retailers, creativity isn’t just important — it’s essential. Without the physical cues of a store, it’s the creative that shapes the shopper experience. And simply dumping brand assets across a retailer’s homepage won’t cut it. It needs to be tailored, not just to the brand, but to the retailer’s unique identity and their specific shopper.
Tailoring creative to the retailer’s DNA
Each online retailer has a distinct tone and aesthetic, and creative must align with that. A creative asset designed for a global audience of one specific brand is unlikely to work at a local retailer level, just as much as a single creative asset is unlikely to work cross retailer. The John Lewis website requires entirely different creative assets to the Very website, even when working with the same brand. If the creative is not adapted, this can kill shopper engagement, undermining both the brand and retailer’s integrity in the shopper’s eyes.
Creative must complement the shopper journey, reinforcing the brand while seamlessly fitting within the retailer’s ecosystem. That balance is delicate but crucial.
From national campaigns to RMNs
Before retail media exploded onto the scene, brands invested the bulk of their budget on national campaigns: TV, billboards, print ads etc. Shopper marketing was often an afterthought, receiving just a slice of the pie.
That model has flipped. With the rise of retail media networks (RMNs) and the treasure trove of first-party data they offer, brands are reallocating budgets toward retail media. What was once reserved for big-budget national campaigns is now being invested into retail partnerships – making creative execution at the retailer level more important than ever.
When it comes to creative in retail media, this can span anything from full-scale productions with model shoots at styled locations through to smaller, strategic tweaks to a well-placed tagline, a subtle visual overlay, or adapting global brand assets to better suit local market tastes. All of these things can make a big difference when it comes to relevance and impact.
Influencers also play a part in this creative mix. When done right, influencer content can feel real and relatable and can hit just as hard as a multi-million-pound campaign, with the added bonus of authenticity.
This is why retailers should now view themselves as brand guardians. And RMNs must therefore think and act more like creative agencies, treating each brand as a true client. It’s not enough to drop a product image into a house template, the brand’s DNA has to shine through in a way that works for the brand, the retailer, and importantly meets the shopper’s expectations.
Personalisation: where data meets design
Creativity becomes exponentially more powerful when paired with data. Retailers today can tailor creative, including messaging, based on hyper-specific audience segments. For example, a hayfever relief brand may choose to partner with a retailer to deploy a campaign that uses live data to adjust creative content based on the pollen count in specific areas. The same can be done with fashion/clothing brands adjusted in real-time to match the weather forecast in a shopper’s location.
Even financial data can drive creative decisions, for example showing different product tiers based on a shopper’s credit threshold. It’s not just personalisation for the sake of it; it’s personalisation that speaks directly to the shopper’s needs, context, and buying power.
Customer data can also be used to provide a deeper understanding of consumer behaviours and major events in peoples’ lives such as moving home, having their first child, their child starting school etc. Creative can be tailored to match these significant events as they occur in an individual’s life patterns through personalised product recommendations.
This kind of dynamic, data-driven creativity can live across every touchpoint: email, social media, web – anywhere retail media extends its reach.
The power of cross-category creative
Retailers are often tasked with pairing products from differing categories to make one cohesive shopping narrative for the shopper, such as pairing a workout outfit with a fitness watch, or bundling a TV, wall art and set of candles in a Home campaign. This is where creative becomes a storytelling tool.
The goal is to tell the shopper instantly, through visuals, what the campaign is about and why these items go together. You can’t just stitch together assets from different brands and expect them to work. The creative needs to unify disparate products into a cohesive, intuitive narrative – and it has to be bespoke. The visual storytelling must be purpose-built, and tell the story at a glance, or the shopper will scroll right past.
HelloStudio: The creative agency within
At The Very Group we recently launched HelloStudio – a dedicated in-house creative arm that delivers eye-catching creative campaigns for brands, powered by Very’s rich customer data. From quick taglines that resonate with Very shoppers to high-production shoots with models and location scouting, HelloStudio provides reassurance to brands that their creative will be treated with the same rigour and respect as a national campaign – only with a laser focus on the Very shopper.
This type of bespoke service is becoming the gold standard in retail media, giving brands confidence that their creative won’t be watered down.
Viewing creative as a strategy
In-store, the creative is supported by the physical environment. Online, the creative is the environment – it needs to grab attention, tell a story, represent the brand and be reflective of the retailer.
Retail media is no longer just about placing products in front of shoppers – it’s about curating a rich, engaging, and differentiated experience. And creativity is what brings that experience to life.
The better the creative, the better the connection—and ultimately, the better the conversion.
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GUEST COMMENT Why creative is the secret sauce in retail media, according to Very Media Group
Paul Skeldon
Helena Hinton, Partnership Director at Very Media Group (VMG), outlines how getting the creative right is the key to making retail media work for brands – but there is more to it than you’d think
When you walk into a physical store, you’re instantly immersed in a curated brand experience. From the lighting and layout to shelf displays and promotional signage, the retailer has full control over the creative environment. It’s this in-store magic that does a lot of the creative heavy lifting, helping shoppers connect with products in a meaningful and intuitive way.
But when retail shifts online, everything changes.
For digital-first or e-commerce-focused retailers, creativity isn’t just important — it’s essential. Without the physical cues of a store, it’s the creative that shapes the shopper experience. And simply dumping brand assets across a retailer’s homepage won’t cut it. It needs to be tailored, not just to the brand, but to the retailer’s unique identity and their specific shopper.
Tailoring creative to the retailer’s DNA
Each online retailer has a distinct tone and aesthetic, and creative must align with that. A creative asset designed for a global audience of one specific brand is unlikely to work at a local retailer level, just as much as a single creative asset is unlikely to work cross retailer. The John Lewis website requires entirely different creative assets to the Very website, even when working with the same brand. If the creative is not adapted, this can kill shopper engagement, undermining both the brand and retailer’s integrity in the shopper’s eyes.
Creative must complement the shopper journey, reinforcing the brand while seamlessly fitting within the retailer’s ecosystem. That balance is delicate but crucial.
From national campaigns to RMNs
Before retail media exploded onto the scene, brands invested the bulk of their budget on national campaigns: TV, billboards, print ads etc. Shopper marketing was often an afterthought, receiving just a slice of the pie.
That model has flipped. With the rise of retail media networks (RMNs) and the treasure trove of first-party data they offer, brands are reallocating budgets toward retail media. What was once reserved for big-budget national campaigns is now being invested into retail partnerships – making creative execution at the retailer level more important than ever.
When it comes to creative in retail media, this can span anything from full-scale productions with model shoots at styled locations through to smaller, strategic tweaks to a well-placed tagline, a subtle visual overlay, or adapting global brand assets to better suit local market tastes. All of these things can make a big difference when it comes to relevance and impact.
Influencers also play a part in this creative mix. When done right, influencer content can feel real and relatable and can hit just as hard as a multi-million-pound campaign, with the added bonus of authenticity.
This is why retailers should now view themselves as brand guardians. And RMNs must therefore think and act more like creative agencies, treating each brand as a true client. It’s not enough to drop a product image into a house template, the brand’s DNA has to shine through in a way that works for the brand, the retailer, and importantly meets the shopper’s expectations.
Personalisation: where data meets design
Creativity becomes exponentially more powerful when paired with data. Retailers today can tailor creative, including messaging, based on hyper-specific audience segments. For example, a hayfever relief brand may choose to partner with a retailer to deploy a campaign that uses live data to adjust creative content based on the pollen count in specific areas. The same can be done with fashion/clothing brands adjusted in real-time to match the weather forecast in a shopper’s location.
Even financial data can drive creative decisions, for example showing different product tiers based on a shopper’s credit threshold. It’s not just personalisation for the sake of it; it’s personalisation that speaks directly to the shopper’s needs, context, and buying power.
Customer data can also be used to provide a deeper understanding of consumer behaviours and major events in peoples’ lives such as moving home, having their first child, their child starting school etc. Creative can be tailored to match these significant events as they occur in an individual’s life patterns through personalised product recommendations.
This kind of dynamic, data-driven creativity can live across every touchpoint: email, social media, web – anywhere retail media extends its reach.
The power of cross-category creative
Retailers are often tasked with pairing products from differing categories to make one cohesive shopping narrative for the shopper, such as pairing a workout outfit with a fitness watch, or bundling a TV, wall art and set of candles in a Home campaign. This is where creative becomes a storytelling tool.
The goal is to tell the shopper instantly, through visuals, what the campaign is about and why these items go together. You can’t just stitch together assets from different brands and expect them to work. The creative needs to unify disparate products into a cohesive, intuitive narrative – and it has to be bespoke. The visual storytelling must be purpose-built, and tell the story at a glance, or the shopper will scroll right past.
HelloStudio: The creative agency within
At The Very Group we recently launched HelloStudio – a dedicated in-house creative arm that delivers eye-catching creative campaigns for brands, powered by Very’s rich customer data. From quick taglines that resonate with Very shoppers to high-production shoots with models and location scouting, HelloStudio provides reassurance to brands that their creative will be treated with the same rigour and respect as a national campaign – only with a laser focus on the Very shopper.
This type of bespoke service is becoming the gold standard in retail media, giving brands confidence that their creative won’t be watered down.
Viewing creative as a strategy
In-store, the creative is supported by the physical environment. Online, the creative is the environment – it needs to grab attention, tell a story, represent the brand and be reflective of the retailer.
Retail media is no longer just about placing products in front of shoppers – it’s about curating a rich, engaging, and differentiated experience. And creativity is what brings that experience to life.
The better the creative, the better the connection—and ultimately, the better the conversion.
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