Gary Head.
AI platform CART Index, designed to test and optimise retail media creative, has launched in Australia.
Creative drives up to 70% of campaign performance, yet fewer than half of marketers test creative and in retail media testing is almost non-existent, according to research by Analytic Partners.
"Time and again, I'd see two campaigns with similar products and similar media plans deliver vastly different ROI," said Gary Head, founder of CART Index AI.
"The missing variable was creative. You can optimise every media metric under the sun, but if the asset that meets the shopper isn't creatively effective, you're leaving sales on the table and driving down your ROAS. CART Index helps fix that."
Head previously served as general manager of omnichannel at Mars United Commerce ANZ (Publicis Groupe) and company secretary of industry body Shop! ANZ.
He helped grow XPO Brands from a three-person start-up into one of ANZ's most awarded independents before its acquisition by The Mars Agency.
The platform evaluates creative across four shopper-centric dimensions: attention attraction, message clarity, brand recognition and trigger power. Marketers upload an asset and receive a CART Index score out of 100, simulated shopper heatmaps and AI-generated recommendations.
Early adopters include Sanitarium, maker of Weet-Bix, UP&GO and So Good, which is testing creative across Australia and New Zealand. Creative agency Connecting Plots also uses the platform to review campaign assets.
"Retail media isn't just another ad channel, it's one of the few places left where attention is captive," said Dave Jansen, executive creative director at agency Connecting Plots.
"Shoppers aren't doom-scrolling; they're in decision mode, carts open, wallets out. That's gold. And when the creativity's good? It doesn't just 'show up on shelf.' It changes behaviour at the shelf. That's the power of CART Index. We've finally got a shared language between creative and media."
Traditional pre-testing methods are slow and expensive, while CART Index delivers evidence-based feedback in minutes.
"Having CART Index as a third-party validation tool takes all the subjectivity out of creative and provides a clear rationale to defend and optimise our shopper centric execution," said Helen Vacher, senior shopper marketing manager at Sanitarium.
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