Pilgrim’s Europe wants to sell more sausages. The FMCG company is midway through an awareness-boosting campaign for its Richmond brand, investing across linear TV, video on-demand (VOD), paid social, out-of-home (OOH) — and retail media.The firm has allocated budget across the retail media networks of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons for the campaign, according to Chris Doe, FMCG marketing director at Pilgrim’s.
Though the U.S. leads in retail media spending, capabilities and complexity, European and British brands are adjusting their spend to catch up to, and learn from, their American counterparts.
AA/WARC estimates published earlier this month suggest that retail media grew 17.5% year on year in 2025 to £3.7 billion, just shy of 10% of the U.K.’s overall £40 billion digital ad market. It’s the country’s third fastest-growing channel after social media and addressable TV.
The catch is that much of that spending still goes toward traditional shopper marketing activations, such as in-store display or digital search inventory, rather than focusing on off-site targeting increasingly favored by retail media players across the pond.
“[The Richmond campaign] is probably biased more towards classic shopper marketing, largely because it’s a really high penetration category and the aisle we operate in has high footfall. As a result, the challenge is how you stand out in the shopper journey,” Doe said, without providing a breakdown of the campaign’s budget.
