AdExchanger and AdMonsters named the recipients of the 2022 Top Women in Media and Ad Tech Awards for leaders who have made a lasting impact on their brands, organizations, and markets, including Kroger Precision Marketing’s Senior Vice President Cara Pratt and Director of Data Science and Research Lauren Littlejohn. Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) powered by AC Group is the retail media business of the Kroger Co., America’s largest grocery retailer.
Pratt was selected as the recipient of the 2022 Catalyst Award, which recognizes an individual who has driven a tremendous amount of growth for her business and team over the past year.
In 2017, Pratt led the launch of Kroger Precision Marketing with one mission: to make advertising more transparent and accountable. Four and a half years later, she has grown the business into one of the top retail media networks with nearly 2,000 participating brands. The retail media network has expanded its capabilities to include advanced TV advertising through Roku, a programmatic private marketplace, and a partnership with ad-management platforms to optimize product listing ad inventory.
Under Pratt’s leadership, Kroger was rated #1 for ROI measurement (Kantar/Catalyst State of Ecommerce 2021). In the Path to Purchase IQ, Jan/Feb 2022 Trends Report, KPM received the highest ratings from CPG marketing executives for measurement capabilities and targeting effectiveness among the top national retailers. KPM was also the first retail media platform to reach Platinum certification by the Trustworthy Accountability Group.
“Cara Pratt is truly a catalyst in the growing field of retail media,” said Milen Mahadevan, President of AC Group. “Both in her role as leader of KPM and as a nationally recognized speaker in the media industry, she has become a leading force for driving accountability across the digital advertising ecosystem. She enthusiastically advocates for marketers to embrace meaningful metrics, transparent systems, and consumer-first practices.”
Littlejohn was chosen for the Data Demystifiers Award, highlighting women with expertise in data science or analytics, using their prowess to inform decision-making, prove out business cases, or test new ideas.
Littlejohn leads the data science and research team behind Kroger Precision Marketing’s longitudinal data science, which powers audience recommendations across the media ecosystem. She drives advanced artificial intelligence and machine-learning techniques that produce industry-leading advertising solutions. KPM’s powerful data science uses machine learning to explore 3,000+ variables to identify the most relevant households for each campaign’s parameters.
“Lauren and her team constantly innovate through advanced science to maintain KPM’s position as leaders in targeting effectiveness,” said Anthony Kilili, Data Science Leader for Kroger Precision Marketing. “Lauren takes her people-leadership role seriously and has mentored and built a highly motivated team of data scientists. Additionally, she brings the entire organization along the journey through data-education and in-depth case studies.”
The awards will be presented at an event on June 6 in New York City “to recognize, celebrate, inspire, and bring together the women who are making an impact in the greater digital media and advertising technology community,” according to the organizers.
Each year, the Top Women in Media and Ad Tech Awards program spotlights the industry’s diversity and progress, shining a light on leaders, innovators, disruptors, risk takers, visionaries, and rising stars.
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