Uber has appointed Kristi Argyilan, a key architect of retail media networks at companies like Albertsons and Target, as global head of Uber Advertising, according to news shared with Marketing Dive. In her new role, which went into effect Dec. 18, Argyilan will scale Uber’s existing ad products and introduce new formats, along with broadening the unit’s geographic coverage and advertiser pool. On the latter front, the executive is tasked with bringing more non-endemic advertisers, or companies outside of Uber’s ride-hailing vertical, into the fold.
“Uber Advertising has reimagined what advertising can look like — pioneering mobility media, a new way of connecting with consumers, and unlocking the ability to bring together upper funnel and lower funnel tactics in one place,” said Argyilan in a statement shared over email. “Bringing together a massive engaged audience, global scale, and the power of mobility, the business is an especially formidable force and I’m thrilled to be part of driving the momentum forward.”
Argyilan also posted about the move on her personal LinkedIn page. She will report to Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, senior vice president of delivery for Uber.
Argyilan is a well-known retail media network maven, having previously helped launch Target’s Roundel arm and Albertsons Media Collective, where she most recently worked for three years. The executive is making the jump to Uber following the collapse of a planned merger between Kroger and Albertsons that was expected to expand the grocers’ advertising offerings to position them to better compete with giants like Walmart and Amazon, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The deal, which was blocked over antitrust concerns, has had a messy fallout, with Albertsons suing Kroger, alleging the supermarket giant breached their merger contract.
Uber was an early mover in the ride-hailing space to establish a media network, a term first coined by retailers that refers to leveraging a company’s first-party customer data to help brands better target and measure ads. For Uber, that has meant running ad campaigns within its app and through in-car assets like tablet screens as users hitch a ride or place an order for food delivery via Uber Eats. Uber Advertising this year has ramped up its programmatic advertising capabilities through partnerships with Google, The Trade Desk and Yahoo.
Uber Advertising, which is two years in operation, is expected by the company to surpass $1 billion in revenue this year, speaking to marketers’ growing appetites for alternative avenues to reach consumers. Lyft, Uber’s chief rival, albeit a smaller platform, also stood up a media business in 2022 that it has steadily built out.
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