Interview with Sarah Sensibaugh the Director of Product Management By: Suzy Silliman

Suzy: NRS is proud to be a Place-Based-Media-Partner with Catalina. I sat down with Sarah Sensibaugh the NRS project manager, to discuss what this relationship means for Catalina, and its clients, and the Industry.

Suzy: Sarah, how would you describe your role in the NRS Partnership:
Sarah: I own the day-to-day NRS partner relationship for Catalina and help our sales teams and clients understand the unique value out of home media in small format provides as a part of their overall media strategy. This requires that I work closely with NRS to build innovative solutions that enable our CPG brand clients to fulfill their needs for advertising in small format / c-store. I also spend a lot of my time working directly with our sales team and clients, listening to their challenges and pain points, so I can adapt those solutions to evolving market needs.

Suzy: What excites you the most about this Partnership and what it brings to your clients and the marketplace?
Sarah: It’s been incredible to work so closely with – and learn from – leaders in the small format portion of the OOH industry. Our sales team members and I have benefited from the constant stream of knowledge flowing from NRS to build winning strategies and tactics that are enabling our CPG clients to meet their brand objectives and drive revenue. I get excited about helping our clients understand and tap into solutions that create new opportunities to grow their brands.

Suzy: What are the one or two things that every Consumer Goods Brand should know about Catalina’s Place-Based-Media Offering?
Sarah: Small format Out of Home media works, and we can measure it. Through our partnership with NRS we provide our CPG clients the ability to deliver messaging beyond our in-store network to influence shoppers’ buying decisions on their path-to-purchase and in-transaction at C-stores. Consumer brands that advertise through the NRS digital out-of-home network can measure the effectiveness and impact of their campaigns through analytics that leverage NRS’s point-of-sale scanner data, while also measuring the halo effect that occurs within retailers outside of the NRS network. By leveraging mobile location data to create exposure files we can anonymously match customers who were exposed to the advertisements within the NRS network but purchased a product within the Catalina network.

Suzy: How has marketplace response been to this offering?
Sarah: We find that NRS meets a unique need for our customers. NRS has a distinct geography and demographics that are outside of the Catalina footprint. The small format offering within C-Stores is additive to our network and provides our customers with a solution they may not have had access to before … or they may not have realized how the format could create value for their brand.

Suzy: As companies are beginning their FY 2022 budget planning cycle – how would you suggest they plan to leverage Catalina’s ability to influence the shopper’s path to purchase in small format outlets through the NRS partnership?
Sarah: Catalina and NRS are here to help CPG brands and agencies optimize every stage of media planning, execution, and measurement. NRS expands Catalina’s reach into convenience stores, allowing our CPG brand partners to engage and deliver value to consumers whenever and wherever they shop. We want our clients to be thinking about how Catalina’s partnership can help drive awareness when there are package changes, new product features, or when it’s time to introduce a new product in the market. We are here to help drive penetration and reduce competitive threat in locations with strong visibility to the advertisement and near the point of purchase.