Overview
Matthew Fantazier, VP of Data Partnerships at The Trade Desk, joined James Avery on Kevel’s Unlocking Retail Media podcast to discuss a first-of-its-kind partnership between Kevel, Dollar General, and The Trade Desk. The initiative connects on-site and off-site retail media into a single coordinated campaign framework.
What Is the Partnership?
The collaboration enables brands to run a unified advertising campaign that reaches consumers both:
- On the open internet (off-site media)
- Within Dollar General’s owned digital properties (on-site media)
Instead of managing separate buys, advertisers can use shared identity, measurement, and campaign coordination across both environments.
Key Insights from Matthew Fantazier
1. Retail Media Fragmentation Is a Major Industry Challenge
Fantazier explained that brands often have to manage hundreds of retail media networks and numerous platforms, creating complexity around:
- Audience management
- Frequency control
- Attribution
- Campaign optimization
The new partnership aims to simplify that fragmented ecosystem.
2. Unified Measurement Matters
A central benefit of the partnership is unified measurement across on-site and off-site campaigns. Advertisers can gain a more complete view of performance throughout the customer journey instead of analyzing disconnected datasets.
3. Share of Category Is More Important Than ROAS
Fantazier argued that brands should focus less on Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and more on:
- Incrementality
- New-to-brand customers
- Market share
- Share of category
According to him, these metrics provide a better indication of whether a brand is actually winning against competitors.
4. Connected TV Plays a Critical Role
Fantazier highlighted Connected TV (CTV) as one of the most influential touchpoints in the consumer journey, helping brands build awareness before purchase decisions occur.
Why This Partnership Is Significant
The initiative is described as the industry’s first solution bringing on-site and off-site retail media inventory together within a single workflow. Benefits include:
- Coordinated audience targeting
- Consistent campaign measurement
- Better visibility across the purchase journey
- Easier activation of retail media data
- Full-funnel marketing capabilities
Future of Retail Media
Fantazier made a notable prediction during the discussion: the term “retail media” may disappear within the next five years as media, commerce, data, inventory, and measurement become part of a unified advertising ecosystem.
Key Takeaway
The partnership between Kevel, Dollar General, and The Trade Desk represents an effort to solve one of retail media’s biggest challenges: the separation of on-site and off-site advertising. By creating a unified system with shared measurement and activation, brands can better connect media investment to business outcomes while reducing operational complexity.