How Kimberly-Clark leverages retail data for audience-first campaigns
New consumers are essential for brand growth. Retail data equips brands with key insights on which households to reach – but activating the data across complex organizations and media channels can be difficult. Typically, brand marketers handle national media and customer marketing teams manage retail media. But this siloed approach makes it difficult to effectively leverage powerful datasets to drive growth. In a recent fireside chat at the ANA Media Conference, Jeff Daniel from Kimberly-Clark revealed the company’s innovative approach of activating retail purchase data in an integrated team.
A unified planning process
Kimberly-Clark addressed the challenges of siloed planning by creating an "Advanced Marketing Collective" team. This group consists of subject matter experts, including enterprise-level and integrated media strategists. They work together to:
Develop a holistic media plan that considers both national and retail objectives.
Leverage audience insights from retail purchase data across the full purchase funnel.
Foster transparency by allowing team members to see how media dollars are allocated.
“This team acts as the glue - embedded within the brand marketing organization and partnering with omnichannel teams - to have a conversation about holistic media,” Daniel said.
Kimberly-Clark has also adopted a new agency model with a single team responsible for planning both national and retail media together. This ensures a unified approach and facilitates collaboration with partners like Kroger.
The power of audience-first planning
A key advantage of Kimberly-Clark’s approach is that it enables audience-first planning. “If we are trying to turn business around or accelerate tailwinds at a retailer like Kroger, we need to ask ourselves: What are the data signals and audiences that are going to best allow us to do so?” Daniel said.
He walked through Kimberly-Clark’s steps for their audience-first media plans:
Define objectives: Clearly define the joint goals of the campaign (e.g., brand awareness, sales lift).
Identify audiences: Leverage retail data to understand where new households exist – like lapsed buyers, related category shoppers, or competitive buyers.
Develop a data matrix: Create a framework that maps audience segments to relevant data sources (zero-party, first-party, third-party data).
Channel selection: Choose the optimal channels (including CTV) to reach the target audience based on the data insights.
Technology integration: Utilize a DSP (Demand-Side Platform) to activate audience data and measure campaign performance.
Case study: Reinvigorating the training pants category
Daniel presented a recent success story as an example of using retail purchase data to optimize CTV campaigns for better reach and impact. Kimberly-Clark partnered with Kroger to address a decline in the pull-ups training pants category.
“Based on the data signals, we realized there was really a full-funnel opportunity here,” Daniel said. The brand was already investing heavily in on-site search and display advertising. “If we're trying to drive household penetration and digital share, we need to stop just fishing where the fish are swimming—let's bring in new fish.”
The brand decided to bring CTV and offsite display advertising into the fold to complement their current on-site and search campaigns. Then, they used de-duplicated retail purchase signals to reach net-new households for the brand. “We were able to stitch it all together,” he said. By thinking differently about the problem of a declining category and using retail data and audience-first planning, they achieved the following results:
Increased reach to new households.
Improved cost efficiency compared to traditional national media.
Achieved higher digital share of voice and incremental sales.
Key takeaways
Kimberly-Clark’s strategic approach offers valuable insights for brands looking to optimize their marketing efforts in the age of CTV:
Integrated planning requires integrated teams. Kimberly Clark’s Advanced Marketing Collective team has goals that are aligned against both brand and retail outcomes.
Audience strategy and media strategy are inseparable. Start with the audience-first, then choose the right channel.
Technology is the backbone of enablement. Kimberly Clark leverages their tech stack to de-duplicate audiences and build incremental reach.
By following these steps, brands can achieve greater success with their CTV advertising and deliver a more targeted and impactful experience for their audiences.
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