It’s the way of the retail media world: Some RMNs soar, while others sink. This week TWIRM asks why Shell’s EV-centric retail media network ran out of juice—literally.
TWIRM, of course, is the This Week in Retail Media podcast, where Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, and Jonathan Rosen, STRATACACHE’s Global EVP of Retail Media Strategy at PRN, reach across the Atlantic to discuss three retail media news stories that intrigue them, excite them and, even sometimes, charge their proverbial “batteries.”
This week, Kate and Jonathan first plug into a story from AdExchanger about Shell officially pulling the plug on Volta Inc’s electric vehicle charging and media division. A pioneer in combining EV infrastructure with digital advertising, the high-visibility media screens at Volta’s more than 2,000 charging stations will go dark this year—after reportedly losing Shell more than $140 million annually.
For Jonathan, the demise of the once-hyped EV-retail media venture is unsurprising. “This idea that somehow those little screens were going to be the thing people would look at while charging was ludicrous,” he notes. “It’s not a one-to-one environment—there’s no reason to stay glued to it.”
Kate zeroes in on proof-of-concept as Volta’s fatal flaw. “This is the one failure we’ve talked about since episode one,” she notes. “There are things to be learned from testing first rather than going wide with hope as a central tenet of success.”
From Volta’s dimmed screens, Kate and Jonathan look on the brighter side at Yelp’s innovative new pilot program where national brands like Pepsi will share the spotlight with local businesses. Lastly, they take a gander at NYX Professional Makeup’s takeover of Roblox’s Bayside High, marking the first beauty brand to fully integrate into the platform’s virtual high school environment.
Click to hear Kate and Jonathan discuss why Shell pulled the plug on Volta, and why proof-of-concept testing trumps hope in retail media.
