Getting Her Start: From Nielsen Diaries to Walmart Connect
Dave Feinleib: So great to be back with everyone on Beyond the Shelf. Today we’re joined by Diana Finster, Head of Agency, Media and Tech Partnerships at Walmart Connect. Diana is helping lead the charge as Walmart Connect expands the possibilities of retail media — bridging the gap between physical and digital, and between media and the in-store experience.
With a background spanning agency, brand, and platform leadership, she now helps partners unlock performance across the full funnel, combining Walmart’s robust scale with powerful targeting and omnichannel measurement. In this episode, we’re diving into the future of retail media — from balancing scale and precision, to what makes Walmart’s shopper insights uniquely actionable, to the innovation happening across onsite display. With Cannes just around the corner, we’ll also get Diana’s take on creativity. Where it fits, how it performs, and what great retail storytelling looks like.
Diana, welcome to the show.
Diana Finster: Thank you so much for having me. So excited to be here.
Dave Feinleib: Take us back, How’d you get your start in the space?
Diana Finster: Oh my goodness. I started many, many moons ago actually reading Nielsen TV Diaries, when folks would still write on paper what they were watching on TV and was doing marketing research at the time for Disney. Then I progressed, tried a little bit of everything from marketing to product, strategy and now I’ve been looking after partnerships for a while. So, a little bit of everything.
Dave Feinleib: It’s amazing. Tell us about your current role. What does the day-to-day look like? What are you working on?
Diana Finster: I have the opportunity to work across many different partnerships on the agency side. Media partnerships, which is basically everything that extends beyond our owned and operated; and then our tech providers, who plug into our APIs, and I get to work with them to help understand how we can build more innovative solutions for our customers. I also work with our internal teams to help advocate for what our partners need, and hear from our customers about what they need from both our partners and our internal tools. So it’s a great trifecta of working across all of those different sides to help deliver better solutions for everyone.
Dave Feinleib: It’s a great ecosystem — we’ve been thrilled to work with you in this partnership and this whole ecosystem you’ve built. Tell us a little about Walmart Connect. What’s the opportunity, if I’m an advertiser?
Inside Walmart Connect: First-Party Data at Scale
Diana Finster: Walmart Connect has a huge opportunity, specifically on our insights side. We have first-party data that really sets our insights apart. Unlike a lot of other retail media networks, who rely heavily on third-party data or anonymous traffic, Walmart Connect has the opportunity to leverage first-party omnichannel data, which means we can understand customer behavior not just online, but in-store as well. That’s a huge differentiator. As most folks know, we’re the number one omnichannel retailer, and we serve approximately 150 million customers in Walmart stores and online in the US every single week. This translates to a huge volume of unique first-party data collected across our website, our apps, and our stores, and it makes Walmart one of the leaders in first-party omnichannel data. Having this much access to such granular insights across a shopper’s online and in-store browsing and purchasing behavior really allows us to power personalized ad campaigns.
Dave Feinleib: For our listeners who might not be as familiar with some of the terms, will you give us first-party data 101? What does that mean when you say first-party data?
First-Party Data, Explained
Diana Finster: It means that we’re able to see it ourselves. We’re connecting those dots directly, rather than leveraging somebody else’s information. We can look at what customers are doing on our sites and in our stores ourselves, versus relying on someone else’s data, where you’re sort of removed from that.
Dave Feinleib: Got it, thank you for that. And with that opportunity in mind, how do you think about balancing scale and precision in Walmart’s retail media strategy?
Balancing Scale and Precision
Diana Finster: I think it’s honestly a strategic advantage that we have, as I mentioned. Our scale is truly unique. We serve millions of customers in our stores and online in the US every single week, and we offer advertisers the opportunity to reach our customers throughout the entire shopping journey. What makes our scale and reach truly valuable is the ability to pair that with precision through our rich first-party data, and closed-loop measurement, which lets us measure all the way through the process. You get the precision and targeting of digital ads with the massive reach that traditional advertising offers, and then you can target ads based on purchase behavior and attribute it back to sales, back to media spend. So it’s not just about reaching a lot of customers, it’s about reaching the right customers at the right time, with measurable impact, which is so important, especially now, when advertisers are trying to stretch their budgets as far as possible. I see this balance as essential to driving both brand growth and performance outcomes for our advertisers.
Dave Feinleib: This is so great. Speaking of measurement, will you tell us a little about that? We’re all familiar with ROI, but what are some of the great capabilities Walmart and Walmart Connect offer when it comes to measuring ROI?
Three Pillars of Omnichannel Measurement
Diana Finster: Measurement is such a key area for Walmart Connect that we’re really investing in, especially this year. We’re looking at how we can redefine how brands think about measuring success across the full shopper journey, as a leader in omnichannel. Our approach to omnichannel measurement, across in-store and online, is really rooted in three key pillars.
The first is closed-loop measurement. We offer closed-loop omnichannel measurement that directly attributes media spend, both in-store and online. Meaning advertisers can see exactly how their campaigns are driving purchases across Walmart’s ecosystem, not just clicks and impressions, but actual sales outcomes, which is pretty impressive and really unique in the industry. And if you think about how many purchases are still made in-store, it’s incredibly important for brands to have that visibility and be able to connect those dots. That level of transparency is super important for brands looking to maximize their return on ad spend and justify media investment.
The second pillar is real-time optimization, an area we’re investing in more and more. Optimizing the digital shelf will always be fundamental for advertisers to achieve their performance goals, and what we’ve done here is release dynamic bidding. Our platform adjusts the cost per click up or down in real time, based on the likelihood that a customer is going to purchase the item when the ad appears in their search results. We’ve continued to iterate on this, and just in April we launched Target ROAS, Target Return on Ad Spend, the latest release in our growing suite of AI-powered bid optimization strategies. Using an AI-powered algorithm, our solution calculates the optimal bids needed to help achieve the ROAS goals set by advertisers leveraging the newest technology alongside advertiser goals, to help optimize and make things easier for advertisers.
The last pillar is actionable insights, or new metrics. Here we’re trying to evolve how we define success. Continuing to provide advertisers with meaningful measurement, expanding deeper insights across the shopper journey, and going beyond traditional return on ad spend, total sales, and attributed units. We’ve introduced new metrics like store attribution for sponsored search, for first-party suppliers. With store attribution, advertisers can better understand the role their search ads play in driving in-store sales. These insights enable better optimization strategies and understanding of the omnichannel impact of their search investment. We’re starting to provide attribution for store sales tied to search ads that shoppers clicked on. These insights are helping empower smarter targeting and more strategic planning for what, in some cases, is the largest part of their advertising budget.
Dave Feinleib: Let me just say, from personal experience, the speed you’ve been introducing new capabilities in this space is amazing. It’s phenomenal. I want to give a quick shout-out to your whole team for the way they approach the space, and the release schedules. Nothing short of amazing.
Diana Finster: We’re talking about a hundred product releases every single year. It’s pretty impressive what the product team is able to do, listening to partners and listening to customers. I definitely agree, it’s pretty impressive.
The Display Advertising API and the It’sRapid Partnership
Dave Feinleib: It’s been incredible. Now, we were fortunate at It’sRapid to be one of Walmart Connect’s early beta partners for the display advertising API. Will you talk about how Walmart Connect has transformed onsite display, and what this API unlocks for advertisers?
Diana Finster: We’re so excited about the launch of our display advertising API, and thrilled that It’sRapid is among the early beta partners for this launch. For those who don’t know, onsite display ads are visual ads designed to help accelerate discovery, attract high-intent buyers, and create awareness and demand. These ads play a key role in driving connections across the entire shopper journey. In February we launched the display advertising API, to help partners like It’sRapid expand their Walmart Connect portfolio with onsite display, and to make it easier for advertisers of all sizes to tap into display advertising.
The launch of the display advertising API was the latest in a series of offerings we’ve introduced to transform our display advertising solutions, like new programmatic buying models with auction pricing. These new offerings are helping advertisers reach new audiences, enhance optimizations, access faster and easier campaign launches and management, and have greater price control. Combined with last year’s launch of the display reporting API, which laid the foundation, and the Campaign API that launched this year, this has helped establish a new foundation for how our partners access onsite display capabilities and support our shared advertisers.
So now advertisers of all sizes can combine partner expertise with Walmart onsite display advertising to launch new or manage existing display campaigns, and really get the most out of their display investment. They’re able to unlock the value of full-funnel marketing approaches that complement sponsored search activities, help reach new audiences on Walmart’s site and app, and help drive results. So we’re really able to fully extend and leverage partners like yourselves in these exciting new areas.
Dave Feinleib: Thank you for the partnership. It’s great having this combination of analytics to measure, and this delivery mechanism through the API. Really excited about this API capability, this integration, and everything it unlocks. Now, on the horizon, coming up right around the corner, we’ve got Cannes. How do you see creativity playing a role in driving effectiveness in retail media?
Why Creative Is the Secret Weapon in Retail Media
Diana Finster: Ad creative plays such a critical role in campaign effectiveness, you guys know that probably better than anyone. But especially as the space becomes more performance-driven and competitive, it becomes even more important. Retail media, I think, in general mostly focuses on targeting and measurement or getting the right product in front of the right person at the right time, which is obviously super important, as we talked about earlier. But to help brands really stand out on the digital shelf and engage shoppers more meaningfully, creative can help turn that visibility into impact.
In retail media, creativity isn’t just about being flashy or having pretty visuals, it’s about creating a personalized, compelling ad that speaks to a shopper’s intent and mindset in that moment, whether through dynamic creative optimization on connected TV, branded experiences on product detail pages, or immersive storytelling through onsite display ads. Combining data with design can really help you stand out and drive success for brands.
Dave Feinleib: I love it. So creativity is such an instrumental part of display. What is it that makes great retail creative campaigns? What’s that special factor where you see a creative campaign and go, yeah, that’s it?
Three Keys to Standout Retail Creative
Diana Finster: I think creative is your secret weapon to instantly and authentically connect with your customers. There are a couple of data points that help prove this: 41% of customers click on ads they find relatable, 30% click on ads that tell a story, and 32% click on ads they find exciting. So impactful creative can help you stand out, be a more relatable and impactful storyteller, and create excitement around your products.
To help create ads that stand out, we recommend focusing on three key areas. First, nail the basics. Lay a solid foundation for all your creative, and include the top elements that grab Walmart customers’ attention. For example, it’s important to have a strong savings message in your creative. You can also create hype around new products and build buzz with exciting launch moments, but for Walmart customers in general, that savings message is really important.
Next, captivate customers. Create ads with your customer’s context in mind, which will help maximize the impact. For example, tap into the Walmart customer’s discovery mindset and serve up inspiration; leverage the power of social discovery and target your customers whether they’re scrolling or shopping.
The last area is focus on innovative ideas. Brand innovation is so important to keep customers engaged and help build brand loyalty. Visual storytelling gives your brand an opportunity to shine and creates a richer experience for your customers. We definitely understand that compelling ad creative, and getting support for it, can sometimes be harder, especially for self-service advertisers and smaller businesses. Challenges might be around creating content, iterating creative based on performance, or just understanding best practices for Walmart customers. That’s why creative tech partners like It’sRapid can really help increase advertiser growth at Walmart, by optimizing ad creative to connect with customers wherever they are in the shopping journey, and helping them move forward.
Rapid Rundown
Dave Feinleib: Very exciting. Lots of great developments in the ecosystem, an amazing pace of innovation from you and the team. We’ve got a quick section here called the Rapid Rundown — a few fast-paced questions, just give us your quick thoughts. First off, what’s your favorite aisle to shop in, whether digital or physical?
Diana Finster: I’d have to say toys or beauty. I think they’re the most fun, and somewhat inspiring. Both online and in-store, I tend to like those, probably because I have young kiddos, so I usually get pulled to the toy section.
Dave Feinleib: A hundred percent, those are great. After a week of media strategy and partnership calls, what’s your go-to way to recharge?
Diana Finster: Spending time with my family. But outside of that, I do half Ironmans.
Dave Feinleib: Wow, no kidding! Is there one coming up?
Diana Finster: Yeah, in September.
Dave Feinleib: Incredible.
Diana Finster: Yeah, so you’ll find me swimming in the ocean or running on the coast. I don’t have a bike there, so I won’t be biking. But yeah, a lot of exercising is how I spend my time, whether I’m traveling or at home.
Dave Feinleib: That’s amazing, a great spot for the event, and to be preparing for your next half Ironman. And as we prepare for Cannes, what opportunities are you most focused on?
Diana Finster: Cannes is such a productive, incredible opportunity to connect with customers and partners. We’re really focused on having thoughtful discussions with key partners and customers, identifying net-new opportunities for the next year, and touching base on where we are, making sure we have the right prioritization and strategic alignment so we can focus moving forward. That’s what we’re trying to close out in the last two weeks leading up to the event, but I’m looking forward to a whole host of meetings and productive conversations going into the week.
Dave Feinleib: Incredible. Well, thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with me here on Beyond the Shelf. I learned a ton, and I’m just so impressed that you’re going to be doing a half Ironman. You’ve got all this ground you’re covering, both personally and professionally. It’s such a pleasure working with you and the team. Hope you’ll come back soon and chat with us again on the show.
Diana Finster: Thank you.