Branded Ingredient Units and May We Suggest Ad Products

Project Overview

Two innovative native advertising products that leverage the Cross-Retailer Product Database to deliver hyper-relevant, shoppable ads directly within recipe content. By aligning retailer products with editorial ingredients and complementary pairings, these units create highly contextual, purchase-ready ad experiences for users at scale.

Business Challenge

Recipe content across the company’s brands generates 100M+ monthly views. However, existing ad formats were not contextually tied to the meal planning mindset, missing a major opportunity to connect users with retailer products at the exact moment of purchase intent. Advertisers needed native, relevant formats that went beyond traditional display ads.

My Role

As Senior Technical Product Manager, I partnered with engineering, ad sales, and retailer clients to design and launch these units. I defined requirements for contextual targeting, data integration with the retailer product API, and real-time eligibility checks to ensure accuracy and scalability. I also worked closely with stakeholders to validate the ad experience and secure adoption from high-spend retail clients.

Solution

We created two ad units powered by the Cross-Retailer Product Database API:

1. Branded Ingredient Units – Inline ads that appear directly within a recipe’s ingredient list, substituting relevant retailer products that are locally available for the user.
   
   

2. May We Suggest Units – Carousel ads within the recipe that recommend complementary products (e.g., wine pairings, desserts, sides) tied to the recipe context and local availability.
   
   

How it works:

• Recipe ingredients from the page are passed into the Product Database API.
  
  

• The API checks if eligible retailer products are available at local stores in the user’s zip code.
  
  

• Matching products are dynamically returned and rendered in ad placements within the recipe experience.
  
  

Business Impact

• Reached users during high-intent moments (“ready to buy” while meal planning).
  
  

• Delivered contextual and shoppable ad units that advertisers valued as premium placements.
  
  

• Created differentiated ad inventory for $25M+ retailer clients, deepening partnerships.
  
  

• Opened new revenue streams by transforming editorial recipe content into a scalable commerce-driven ad channel.
  
  

Technical Highlights

• Real-time API calls passing recipe ingredient context and user location.
  
  

• Integration with the Cross-Retailer Product Database for product availability and eligibility.
  
  

• Scalable ad delivery system supporting 100M+ monthly recipe page views.
  
  

• Flexible unit design enabling multiple use cases (direct ingredient replacement, complementary pairing suggestions).