Omnicom's new supply chain tool adjusts media spend based on inventory

Dive Brief:

Omincom’s media services division Omnicom Media Group (OMG) has launched the Supply Chain IQ Score to help marketers better connect media spend to product availability, according to a press release.
The Supply Chain IQ Score, which OMG claims is the industry's first supply-chain based media activation tool, allows media planners to view physical, digital and in-transit SKU inventory data and shift media investment accordingly. The tool was created with open retail data platform Crisp, which sends data from more than 80% of top U.S. retailers and distributors, including Target, Amazon, UNFI and CVS, into the Omni platform that supports all Omnicom agencies.
The tool looks to allow marketers to adjust media investment to better reflect product inventories that have been affected by a supply chain crisis that is persisting even as the pandemic subsides. The launch comes as agencies bolster their offerings around commerce.

Dive Insight:

OMG's launch of the Supply Chain IQ Score arrives as marketers contend with a supply chain crisis that is expected to outlast the coronavirus pandemic. The tool looks to help brands see inventory levels — whether in physical stores, digital shelves or in transit — and use the data to better optimize their media spend.

Shifts to media spend sometimes happen after customers had been sent to empty shelves, negatively affecting brand performance. The Supply Chain IQ Score promises a way for marketers to intervene early and shift spend toward items that have high repeat purchase behavior, healthy inventory and sales correlation to low inventory items.

"[The Supply Chain IQ Score] flips the historic response to supply chain disruption from 'pull the spend back' to 'push the spend toward' — increasing media ROI and helping our clients meet performance goals despite supply constraints," Marc Rossen, senior vice president of investment and activation analytics for OMG North America, said in a statement.

The tool also has additional uses beyond managing for low inventory, including geotargeting ad delivery, measuring sales lift in real time, local store campaigns, supporting new product launches and connecting promotion to reduce spoilage and waste, per John Schorr, OMG managing director for commerce.

The Supply Chain IQ Score is the latest commerce-focused launch by Omnicom, which saw its commerce and brand consulting practice report 13.8% organic growth in Q1 2022, outstripping its overall 11.9% growth rate. Along with a partnership with livestream commerce platform Firework and a programmatic marketplace for point-of-purchase screens, Omnicom acquired digital experience consultancy TA Digital to expand its digital transformation, content management, commerce and customer experience capabilities.

Similarly, competing agency holding company WPP in April launched Everymile, a first-in-class, end-to-end solution that manages the entire e-commerce process — including supply chain — an uncommon move that could pit it against e-commerce providers like Shopify.