United Airlines is bringing retail media to the skies with the launch of Kinective Media, which will market to consumers who are traveling by using the video network based on airplanes.
Utilizing United’s first-party data, the platform, called Kinective Media, will generate anonymized audience segments that can be accessed via the airline’s mobile app, in-flight entertainment systems, and other touchpoints.
Later this month, Kinective will make its official debut at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity. United has already partnered with companies and brands on the network, including Norwegian Cruise Line, Macy’s, Chase United Co-Brand Credit Cards, TelevisaUnivision, IHG Hotels & Resorts, and Dentus.
Over the past few years, retail media has emerged as one of the most popular marketing channels as businesses like Target, Amazon, Instacart, and Ebay use their massive first-party data and captive checkout audiences to entice customers right at the point of purchase. United sees a chance to cash in on the 3.5 hours of captive screen time every trip and over 100 million app sessions per month, along with analytics into travelers.
“Unlike some commerce media platforms, United gives brands across a wide range of industries the ability to reach engaged customers throughout the entire marketing funnel – from brand consideration to conversion – in a way that’s highly personalized and relevant, and we’re already seeing impressive results,” said Richard Nunn, CEO of MileagePlus, in a statement. “There has been a huge strategic shift within this high growth sector in the past five years where advertisers and brands have come together to determine how best to connect with consumers in a way that’s valuable, effective and personalized.”
Companies in the retail, luxury goods, financial services, media, and tourism sectors are of particular interest to United. According to United, customers can choose at any moment not to have their data utilized by the system, and the company will anonymize the information gathered to support Kinective Media.
According to WARC’s latest “Future of Digital Commerce” research, based on the channels’ growing sophistication in using data for offsite campaigns, global marketing investments in retail media will rise 13.7% to $153.3 billion this year. However, when advertisers hit the limitations of their expenditures, the research group predicted a slowdown in the upcoming year.