Melanie Babcock, who’s been with the home improvement retailer for over a decade, leads the media network as vice president of Orange Apron Media and monetization.
This year, the company focused on expanding advertising opportunities for brands that don’t sell products in Home Depot stores. Those advertisers can buy in-store ad placements or ecommerce ads. Home Depot is also building out in-store digital and audio formats and has inked partnerships with The Trade Desk and TelevisaUnivision.
JPMorgan Chase
Executive: Rich Muhlstock, president of Chase Media Solutions
Financial giant JPMorgan Chase has loads of data about what people buy and wants to help brands use it to reach specific audiences.
Rich Muhlstock is president of Chase Media Solutions, the ad business that Chase launched in April. The ad business is the result of Chase’s 2022 acquisition of marketing firm Figg. Muhlstock is also head of offers and ecommerce for Chase.
Before running the ad business, Muhlstock worked in marketing-related product innovations at Chase and helped develop tools including Chase Offers as well as financial health tools. Before joining Chase in 2018, Muhlstock held marketing roles at Hippo, E*Trade, and agencies including WPP-owned Taxi.
The group sells targeted promotions and offers to brands based on the financial institution’s 80 million customers. The ads are part of the Chase Offers program that offers members discounts within Chase’s mobile app and website. Air Canada, Whataburger, and Blue Bottle Coffee are a few brands that have worked with Chase. For Whataburger, ads for the burger chain’s cash-back program were targeted to new customers by zeroing in on people who hadn’t visited in the past year. The tactic netted a 12% increase in average order for new customers compared to loyal customers, according to Chase. All told, the campaign ran for 31 days and generated $3.8 million in Whataburger sales, according to Chase.
Lowe’s
Executive: John Storms, general manager and head of Lowe’s Media Network
