Cara Pratt led pioneering effort in retail media

When Cara Pratt launched Kroger Precision Marketing in 2017, retail media was in its relative infancy. Now, as all sorts of retailers pile into the space and brands find new value in shopper data amid the disappearance of digital identifiers, she couldn’t be in a much better place as senior VP overseeing the business. KPM, with nearly 2,000 participating brands, was rated as providing the top return on investment measurement among retail media providers last year by Kantar. Pratt leads a team of data scientists using 45 machine-learning models tapping purchase data from 60 million households. And they’ve delivered an average 25%-30% household penetration lift and 35%-40% sales lift on campaigns, according to Kroger’s analyses. See all of Ad Age's 2022 Leading Women here. All the added competition “just reinforces and motivates me personally,” said Pratt, a veteran of Nielsen and Kroger’s Dunnhumby (now 84.51) data and analytics business. “I’ve had an opportunity to influence our work not just at Kroger but also with advertisers and investment choices with brands as retail and media are starting to converge.” What advice would you give your younger self? One is pause and reflect on the journey often, and in doing so don't ride the highs too high or the lows too low. The other is that you're capable of well more than you naturally give yourself credit for. So lean into opportunities with passion. What's the biggest risk you've ever taken? Professionally, it was early in my career when I left an established well-known organization [Nielsen] for a small company with no guarantees but expanded responsibility [Dunnhumby]. Reflecting now, it doesn't feel like much of a risk, but when you're in your early 20s and you're just starting out in your career and you're establishing yourself, it was. Personally, I did jump out of a perfectly good airplane to skydive when I was studying abroad in Australia. If you weren't doing your current job, what would you be doing and why? This is also a fun one to think about. Ever since I was a kid I was intrigued with what the life of a detective would be. I've always been a curious person with a passion to solve problems. What should the industry do to encourage more women and people of color into its ranks? In my mind, I think it's less about what the industry should do and more about what we as humans should do early and often—and it transcends industries. Give one another chances. Lift one another up. Celebrate successes. Show support in difficult times. Be ultra cognizant of biases and create the kind of diverse boards so you have that experience. See all of Ad Age's 2022 Leading Women here. What's the biggest lesson you've taken away from the pandemic? I think the pandemic taught us that nothing's impossible. We're able to adapt. We're able to deliver incredible things when we're faced with change and we work together.

Cara Pratt led pioneering effort in retail media

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