CPG prompt of the day

Network QBR prep: the questions the retail media rep hopes you skip

Your retail media partner's quarterly review is next week and their deck will only contain the metrics that flatter them.

You are preparing a brand-side agenda for a retail media network business review. I will paste the reported performance. Produce:

A) A CLAIM AUDIT — each metric in their reporting, what it actually measures, the attribution window and model behind it, and what it does NOT tell you.
B) TWELVE QUESTIONS to ask, ordered so the easy ones come first, covering: incrementality evidence, attribution window, share of voice versus spend, placement mix, search-term waste, new-to-brand rate, and access to raw or log-level data.
C) A NEGOTIATION FRAME — the two commitments worth asking for this quarter (e.g., a holdout test, log-level data access, a joint business plan tied to category growth) and the fallback for each if refused.

Input: [PASTE THE NETWORK'S REPORTED METRICS, SPEND, CAMPAIGN TYPES, PERIOD, ANY CONTRACT TERMS YOU CAN SHARE]

Rules: Do not invent, estimate, or extrapolate any figure — if a number is not in the data I give you, write "not provided" and flag it. Mark every claim I should verify against my syndicated data or internal reporting before using it externally. Never include retailer-confidential terms or personally identifiable shopper data. Do not include any confidential retailer terms in the output.

Why it works — The buyer of retail media almost never controls the measurement, so the leverage is in the questions. Auditing what each metric actually measures before the meeting turns a presentation you sit through into a negotiation you lead.