Direct Connect

Concept | Last updated: 9/17/2025 | Learn about Direct Connect

About Direct Connect

Direct Connect is built to provide you with more control, flexibility, and transparency. You can use Direct Connect to increase the effectiveness of your Offsite Media strategies by leveraging the power of Kroger's first-party purchase data and enable real-time optimization / measurement for Online and In-Store sales. You'll know exactly how much of your Media investment is allocated to inventory versus audience versus measurement.

Direct Connect lets advertisers use their own supply rates and preferred inventory in real time. As a result, Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) can NOT guarantee cost changes shifting to Direct Connect. The all-in cost will depend on the media purchased.

Direct Connect helps you reach your most valuable audiences and measure your media’s impact on sales by:

  • Creating custom Kroger purchase-based Audience Segments with closed-loop sales measurement.

  • Accessing Audience Segments in The Trade Desk (TTD) or Yahoo audience builder.

  • Activating Audience Segments on Campaign Costs in your TTD or Yahoo seat.

  • Applying your desired quality controls including verification and brand safety tagging and rail setting.

  • Optimizing and measuring with verified Kroger sales data.

Direct Connect Campaigns

Direct Connect allows you to have agency over your Campaign quality controls. You can activate custom-built, Kroger purchase-based and pre-built audiences mitigating risk of wasted advertising spend by reaching the right consumers. Moreover, these audiences can be activated in an Advertiser or Agency DSP A system that allows buyers of digital advertising inventory to manage multiple ad exchange and data exchange accounts through one interface seat (like TTD or Yahoo). Lastly, Direct Connect works in concert with the KPM measurement solution to measure ad effectiveness.

Any Campaigns for Direct Connect Meta must be activated and managed via the Kroger Ad Platform.

To learn more, see Direct Connect Meta in the Kroger Ad Platform Learning Center.

If you don't have access, contact your Account Management team.

There is about a two (2) week turnaround from the time you complete the intake form(s) to the time Audience Segments appear in your DSP seat.

Terms and Conditions must also be signed at least six (6) business days prior to launch.

Task

Responsible party / parties

Description

Submit intake form(s)

Buyer / Client

Create and/or select audiences

  • Creates desired Audience Segments in 84.51° Prism

  • Selects Kroger Pre-built Segments from Audience Library

    To learn more, see Audience Library.

Select UPCs Universal Product Codes for closed-loop attribution

Buyer / Client

Select which product UPCs you would like to measure

Audience Segments pushed for onboarding / matching

Pushes Audience Segments to LiveRamp (usually takes two (2) to three (3) business days) for data onboarding, matching, and anonymization

Audience Segments pushed to DSP

Pushes Audience Segments to DSP seat (TTD or Yahoo) once IDs are matched

Activate Campaign with Audience Segments

Buyer / Client

  • Set up the Campaign in your DSP seat

  • Apply Audience Segments to your Campaign

  • Append the KPM measurement tag to enable measurement billing and log delivery

  • Set Campaign to live

Run the Campaign​

Buyer / Client

  • Run your Campaign (minimum flight length is two (2) weeks; maximum flight length is 12 weeks)

  • Manage pacing and optimizations

Monitor performance via Report Center

Buyer / Client

  • Access daily sales attribution reporting

  • Analyze Campaign performance and Audience Segments

To learn how, see View Campaign performance.

Reporting

To see how your Direct Connect Campaigns are performing, you can view measurement data in the Report Center within 72-96 hours of launch. This reporting continues up to two (2) weeks after your Campaign ends.

The report includes, but is not limited to, the following metrics:​

Related topics

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