Casey’s is expanding its retail media capabilities on the forecourt through a new partnership with GSTV, in which GSTV will provide Casey’s retail media offering, Casey’s Access, with a branded digital video solution across their fuel dispenser media, the companies said in a statement. The program will begin rolling out this fall.

“We continue to see a massive explosion of retail media, but at the same time, we understand the challenges in navigating the complexity that our fuel and convenience retail partners face in order to truly take advantage of the retail media wave,” said Dan Trotzer, EVP, industry, GSTV.

The companies noted that the new solution provides Casey’s with a fully turnkey and customized option, designed to be an extension of their retail media network. Casey’s will direct any non-advertising content displayed on the screens that reinforces their brand’s value and messaging to provide a differentiated consumer experience, according to GSTV. The partnership will include:

• White-labeled video broadcast displayed on forecourt screens customizable to align with and extend the retailer's brand.
• Premium family-friendly content built to capture customer attention.
• A dedicated account manager to oversee the complex media management process end-to-end for an effortless, zero-resource solution.
• Access to GSTV’s media sales team to facilitate national brand ads.
• Access to marketing and creative services through GSTV’s in-house video production team, IGNITE.

“Our retail media journey began in 2023 with the launch of Casey’s Access, and we’ve been strategically expanding our ad inventory ever since,” said Justin Coaldrake, senior director of omnichannel guest experience and media at Casey’s. “We’re thrilled to partner with GSTV to unlock a powerful and differentiated advertising channel that’s unique to our industry. With more than 2,900 locations across 19 states, we offer advertisers unmatched scale and access to unique audiences. By combining this new GSTV partnership with our existing in-store offerings, we’ll have over 30,000 digital screens across our ecosystem.”

NACS Daily spoke with Coaldrake and Sean McCaffrey, president & CEO at GSTV, to learn more about the partnership.

What retail media does Casey’s already have in place, and how does the new forecourt video capability fit into its existing strategy? 
Coaldrake: Today Casey’s Access offers a range of traditional retail media inventory including onsite, offsite and in-store placements. Adding forecourt video to the mix will expand our existing offerings and unlock a new way to communicate with our guests. We see this as a powerful lever for our supplier partners and our internal teams to communicate our best in class assortment, promotional plans and prepared food offerings in a relevant and meaningful way. We are confident extending our existing campaigns to this new touchpoint will drive higher returns for our Casey’s Access partners. 

What power and impact does forecourt media have for consumers?
McCaffrey: Forecourt media provides a powerful platform to capture consumers just steps away from the convenience store leveraging hardware that is already in place and essential to a retailer’s operations. With 67% of GSTV viewers entering the c-store after fueling, a retailer’s forecourt can work harder by providing a media platform to drive in-store foot traffic—and ultimately sales. Forecourt media also improves consumer experience by providing them with valuable information and promotions inside the store. From a study that we conducted with Lumen Research, we found that ads on GSTV screens deliver 95% eyes to screen—that's an incredibly high attention rate from customers, and an important moment for retailers and advertisers to engage consumers primed to make their next purchase decision.

What current trends or market factors are influencing how consumers shop, and how is Casey’s leveraging its retail media network to attract customers and build baskets?
Coaldrake: At Casey’s, we continue to drive positive same store sales and fuel gallons. Our best in class prepared food offerings are a key point of differentiation that is resonating with guests in today's market. We see Casey’s Access as a way for suppliers to connect with the Casey’s guests and drive engagement on products and categories that are important to both Casey's and our suppliers. Leveraging Casey's Access to communicate value offerings and differentiated assortment helps us bring guests into our stores and build bigger baskets while they are there. We appreciate the support from our suppliers and are excited to continue driving incremental sales for our partners.

You say this is an “easy button.” Can you elaborate on how this program benefits retailers?
McCaffrey: One of the biggest challenges retailers face when it comes to retail media, especially in the convenience channel which can provide a unique set of challenges and complexities, is simply getting started. Casey’s turned to GSTV to give them the infrastructure they need to get started with an expanded forecourt retail media solution, at scale.

With our white label media solution, we offer retailers a robust, turnkey and easy-to-manage solution that can start to serve media quickly, and not something that they would need to build from scratch which, could take years to build in-house expertise and hire a team of technology, ad operations, content creatives, media sales pros and more to run a robust forecourt video network. Our solution is an easy-to-deploy, branded media experience that drives in-store sales and foot traffic and builds customer loyalty fueled by GSTV’s team of sales, media and technology experts.

What challenges with retail media can a partnership like this help retailers overcome?
McCaffrey: This partnership provides scale and forecourt media expertise to Casey’s by tapping into GSTV’s long-standing expertise in the space and removing operational friction. Casey’s has built an impressive retail media operation with Casey’s Access for in-store and digital touchpoints, and a complementary partnership with GSTV brings scale both from GSTV’s ad operations and technology, and the strength of GSTV’s sales force and relationships with national and regional advertisers. GSTV’s team will manage all the ad serving for both teams to get content on the network in an efficient and timely manner.

On the sales side, the partnership provides complementary non-endemic business for Casey’s and an efficient, consolidated convenience media network for our advertisers. We have relationships with national and regional advertisers with products sold in Casey’s stores and beyond who are eager to have placements on Casey’s screens, while also accessing the scale of GSTV’s national network across 29,000 fuel and convenience retailers all with one media buy.

What’s next on the horizon for retail media networks? Why should retailers be thinking about retail media as both a current and future strategy?
McCaffrey: Retail media can often be thought of as a solution for major national retailers, like Walmart. However, there is a growing retail media opportunity for convenience retailers as this sector of retail continues to thrive. Scale will be key to the success of convenience retail media. The channel is fragmented with retailers of all sizes, however in the U.S., the scale of the channel as a whole and the sales that it drives rivals the very top retailer chains. More and more, we see CPG advertisers tap into the power of this scale, and we continue to provide these important media opportunities for both our advertisers and our retailer network.