The IAB Weighs In On When Influence Starts to Feel Manufactured | Reimagining Retail

Suzy Davidkhanian (0:00)

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Hi, everyone. Today is Wednesday, October 7th. Welcome to EMARKETER's weekly retail show, Reimagining Retail, an EMARKETER podcast made possible by Atmosphere TV. This is the show where we talk about how retail collides with every part of our lives. I'm your host, Suzy Davidkhanian. On today's episode, we're talking about what happens when retail media's data machine meets influencer marketing, whose power really comes from feeling human. Joining me are EMARKETER analyst, Sarah Marzano. Hey, Sarah.

Collin Colburn (0:56)

Hey, Suzy.

Sarah Marzano (0:56)

Thanks for having me.

Suzy Davidkhanian (0:57)

Thanks for joining us and Collin Colburn, Vice President of Commerce and Retail Media at IAB. Hey, Collin.

Collin Colburn (1:03)

Hey, Suzy. Hey, Sarah. Thank you guys for having me.

Suzy Davidkhanian (1:06)

We're so excited you're here, but before we even get started, let's do a speed intro in 30 seconds or less. Collin, tell us, what do you do?

Collin Colburn (1:16)

I lead the Commerce and Retail Media Center of Excellence here at the IAB. Essentially, what we do is we set industry standards, guidelines and best practices in the retail media industry. Cool.

Suzy Davidkhanian (1:28)

The right person to have on with us. We're so excited. Tell us, what's your favorite book at the moment? Well, book, podcast, TV show.

Collin Colburn (1:37)

I'm going to go with book. I love to read.

I'm a history nerd too. Sarah might know this, but since 2018, I've been on this journey of reading at least one biography on each of the US presidents in chronological order.

Suzy Davidkhanian (1:52)

That's cool.

Collin Colburn (1:54)

I'm on Teddy Roosevelt, and the book that I'm reading right now is excellent. I think it'd be good for anyone who, my wife is not a biography person at all, but I think even she would find this interesting. It's called Mornings on Horseback, and it's by the very well-known David McCullough.

Sarah Marzano (2:10)

What a cool project. I love that.

Collin Colburn (2:13)

Sarah, as you might imagine, kids have slowed me down. I started in 2018 and we had our first kid in 2021, and I cranked through the first couple of years, and now it's just been like, I do maybe one or two a year.

Sarah Marzano (2:25)

I know. It's strategic. You have to like, there's like phases. I read a lot during bedtime now, which takes forever. So I'm actually getting a lot of reading done.

Collin Colburn (2:33)

By then, I'm too tired.

Sarah Marzano (2:34)

I get it. I get it.

Suzy Davidkhanian (2:36)

I'm very impressed.

Collin Colburn (2:37)

That was a long answer to a very easy question.

Sarah Marzano (2:39)

No, but I want to copy that. I love the like sort of project nature of that and the way you can kind of track your progress through it.

Collin Colburn (2:45)

It says a lot about me as a person.

Suzy Davidkhanian (2:48)

I don't want to say it because I feel like-

Sarah Marzano (2:49)

Oh, you're at the right job.

Suzy Davidkhanian (2:51)

Sarah, do you have a book or pod or something?

Sarah Marzano (2:54)

Oh my gosh, no. You didn't tell me to prepare anything.

Suzy Davidkhanian (2:57)

That's so funny. I normally don't ask, but yesterday Marcus asked, so now I'm asking.

Sarah Marzano (3:01)

So I'm big on novels and I've been, I just read The Paper Palace, which isn't new. It's from a couple of years ago, I think, but I thought it was incredible and finished it really quickly.

Suzy Davidkhanian (3:12)

Oh, I'm going to add that to my list too. Probably before Roosevelt, sorry.

Collin Colburn (3:17)

Okay, no offense taken.

Suzy Davidkhanian (3:18)

So back to retail media. So we know that retail media and influencer marketing are bringing very different strengths to the table. Retail media has this rich shopping data and sits much closer to the transaction, but influencers can introduce us to products we didn't even know we wanted. So bringing the two together sounds like it could be a natural fit. Better data can help brands find the right creators, reach the right audiences, and even better understand what actually works, but can you have too much of a good thing? If we use data to optimize the creator, the audience, the product, and even the message, at what point does that influence start to feel manufactured? So today, we're going to talk about how brands and retailers can bring these two worlds together, where the opportunities are, and how we can use all that data without losing the trust that made influencer marketing work in the first place. But before we get started, I wanted to ask each of you also a surprise question. What's the last thing a creator influenced you to buy or at least look into? I will start since you guys are thinking about it. There is this influencer that started off as like dating and like what to do during COVID that my cousins, who are not so little anymore, went to school with. So I started following her. And I think every Friday, she posts a bunch of things with her little link, because obviously, that's how she's getting some money. And I always check some of the things that she does. And the last one was sneakers from New Balance in a colorway that I didn't know existed. I didn't buy them yet, but they're on the top of my list.