EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE

Jonathan Hopkins is the Co-Founder of Sonder, an independent owned media valuation and software business, which in the past 10 years has unlocked over $12Bn in owned media value across 14 industry sectors, in 22 different countries. Jonathan is an experienced media and marketing executive with over 25 years’ experience at media agencies, media owners and marketing roles. Jonathan was previously CMO for music platform VEVO and Managing Director of strategic media agency, Razor. Over several continents Jonathan has led businesses and brands on a mission to disrupt, innovate and challenge category norms. His contribution has been acknowledged by the industry, being previously recognised as one of marketing’s 40 under 40.

A new report from independent owned media experts Sonder has sized the global market at $573Bn. Yet many senior marketers still don’t appreciate the potential leverage of models in both marketing and the commercial arena.

While the trade press focuses on retail and commerce media leverage models, there are, in fact, multiple use cases to leverage owned media channels:

1. Reduce paid media spend: Organizations can make owned media a strategic priority, drastically reducing spend in paid media by an average of 20%. For example, banks have branches with externally-facing digital screens or posters which can be used as a strategic substitution for paid advertising in the same location
2. Leverage partnership deals: driving indirect revenue by recognizing the dollar value of owned media support in sponsorship deals and loyalty reward partner brands. For example, Amex Offers, where media support for merchant partners is significant on the Amex media ecosystem.
3. Generate third-party advertising revenue: this is the retail/commerce media model, selling owned and operated media placements to partners for up to 90% profit. Multiple examples like Walmart, CVS, Best Buy, United, Chase and the hero of the sector, Amazon.

Businesses Are Leaving Huge Value on the Table
In addition to missing a trick on leverage models, CMOs are also under-leveraging their channels. Physical media represents 21% of the global owned media opportunity, yet it drives less than 1% of US media ad revenues. Website display (the channel everyone focuses on), represents only 29% of the total commercial potential of owned media.

The report shows for omnichannel retailers, in-store (30%) and email (27%) were the biggest drivers, whereas for grocery & liquor it was in-store (38%) and publishing (27%), while fuel & convenience had the biggest overall skew toward in-store (54%). 

Not My Responsibility
CMOs are increasingly having whole-business responsibilities as they move towards Chief Customer Officer roles and are tasked with thinking commercially as well as thinking brand. With that comes a responsibility for all customer messages, not just those coming from their own business, but also from partners, suppliers and vendors.

Owned media leverage might touch multiple departments within a business (merchandise, loyalty, category management, sales) but all roads ultimately lead to marketing as the custodians of owned channels and the messages communicated with their customers.

Many CMOs might think it is not theirs to worry about, but savvy marketers have realised that leveraging their own media is a smart way to shift the marketing function from a cost centre to a revenue-positive powerhouse.

The savviest players aren't just building another digital retail media network. They're valuing and leveraging their entire owned media footprint — from in-store media, to email, to custom magazines, to apps and websites.

Brands like Chase, T-Mobile, and United aren't buying in because it's trendy, they understand that owned media — properly valued and managed — delivers higher margins and better attribution than any paid channel.

For the complimentary full, in-depth, 36-page report, DOWNLOAD HERE