For its 97 million daily users, Reddit is a safe space to share pointed opinions and private concerns, even about their health. This week, TWIRM asks if Redditors’ at times very personal posts are fair game for targeted personalized ads.
TWIRM, as always, is the This Week in Retail Media podcast, where Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, and Jonathan Rosen, PRN’s Global EVP of Retail Media Strategy, dig deep into three retail media news stories that intrigue them, excite them and even, sometimes, make them go “hmm.”
One story making Kate and Jonathan go “hmm” this week is the announcement of CVS Health and Reddit joining forces to target ads to specific users among the platform’s active health and wellness communities. It will bring together CVS’s wealth of data about the shopping behaviors of its 74 million-plus Extra Care loyalty program members with Reddit users’ anonymous online discussions.
Potential downside? Jonathan acknowledges health data privacy concerns, asking, “Is the so-called ‘clean room’ (of third-party data scrubbing) really clean enough?” But, he adds, “on the flip side, it’s exciting for both Reddit and CVS because these micro communities are where people really reveal themselves.”
From Reddit’s freewheeling social platform, Kate and Jonathan roll into the aisles of grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger, both of which announced new digital in-store ad partnerships at Cannes. Then they stroll down one last aisle, that of perennial TWIRM favorite David’s Bridal, to discuss its planned beta testing of an AI wedding planner.
Click here to listen to Kate and Jonathan’s discussion of the potential payoff and pitfalls of CVS’ foray into Reddit’s forums.
