Podean's WOAS (Waste Of Ad Spend) helps brands optimize retail media by identifying inefficiencies, improving budgets, and maximizing performance.
NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, April 15, 2025 /
EINPresswire.com/ -- Global headlines tout the growth of retail media and retail media networks, but as the spend grows, so has the mismanagement of brands’ budgets, as witnessed by award-winning marketplace marketing agency, Podean.
"Too often, brands unknowingly pour money into retail ad spend that isn’t driving meaningful results. Over the past years, we have seen the industry’s spend on retail media grow substantially, but at the same time, we’ve seen the quality of retail media management decline. Huge brands are understandably concerned that their sales are not maximized, but the leading publishers are equally frustrated - they see poor performance impacting brand sales, and slowing the flow of more budget to their platforms”, observed Mark Power, Founder and CEO of Podean.
Podean is addressing this challenge head-on with the launch of its innovative new metric: “
WOAS” (Waste Of Ad Spend). WOAS provides brands with a clear, quantifiable understanding of their retail media efficacy. This proprietary “scorecard” evaluates a brand’s media management strategy and execution across more than 30 weighted criteria to pinpoint opportunities to optimize ad budgets and improve overall sales.
A few examples we’ve seen causing waste on repeat:
- Ineffective targeting where campaigns are overly broad or lack precision - and therefore dilutes media impact.
- Unoptimized budgets & bids, where the dynamic nature is ignored, misallocating across campaigns or platforms.
- Lack of holistic alignment, where media buying isn't integrated with business goals, misprioritized media to drive sales for the wrong products.
Beyond what we see for the actual management of campaigns, often the waste is structural - media management within agencies is relegated to a siloed team without access to important catalog, retail, and merchandising information from the brand. Marketplace media management has complexities that require intimate knowledge beyond media metrics, and a lack of dedicated expertise leads to wasted spend. Brands consolidating marketplace media management with their broader marketing agency or internal team can be problematic due to a lack of in-depth knowledge and not employing specific tools and tech. Conversely, an over-reliance on managed service or tech automation can also lead to waste. While automation offers efficiency, it alone lacks the strategic oversight, nuanced adjustments, and human intuition necessary to capitalize on the dynamic nature of marketplaces.
“By applying the WOAS framework to the work of agencies and their clients, we can identify inefficiencies, optimize ad budgets, use the right tactics, and ensure their media investments are working as hard as possible to deliver on overall sales. While RPM (Retail Powered Media) has been Podean’s core optimization framework since 2020, it appears the industry is lagging behind and undermining the performance potential of retail media. By launching WOAS we’re aiming to bring the industry’s attention to poor performance and encourage greater accountability”, said Travis Johnson, Global CEO of Podean.
The development of WOAS reflects Podean’s deep understanding of the complexities of retail media and our commitment to being accountable stewards of our clients’ budgets on marketplaces.
Podean is launching this industry initiative with a series of cheeky and entertaining videos on LinkedIn to highlight some of the greatest areas of retail ads mismanagement. The hope is that industry attention will improve the performance and reputation of all agencies that plan, buy, and optimize retail media.
Brands can request their WOAS calculation at podean.com/woas.
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For more information, please contact us at contact@podean.com.
About Podean:
Podean is the largest independent marketplace marketing specialist agency. With 180 retail experts based on five continents, the agency works with brands including Mattel, Colgate, Under Armour, AB Inbev, De’Longhi, Revolution Beauty, Shure and Wella. Podean leads with strategy, impeccable execution, and innovation to service clients on over 100 global marketplaces. Amazon exclusively awarded Podean their Global Expansion Award for 2023.
Mark Power
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