Jason Wescott is Global Head of Commerce Solutions at WPP Media and a member of the RMA Advisory Board. We asked him how he found himself working in the retail media industry.
What is your role and what does it entail?
I’m the Global Head of Commerce Solutions for WPP Media, WPP’s global media collective.
When I joined, my mission was clear: bring a commerce lens to media channels that have traditionally been brand-led — think video, connected TV, and even digital out-of-home. It’s about proving that these channels can do more than build awareness; they can drive tangible business outcomes like sales, store visits, and basket size.
I still remember one of my first projects in the role — we ran a beautifully crafted Advanced TV (our CTV Solution) campaign for a client, and for the first time, we were able to directly connect it to incremental store sales. It was one of those “why haven’t we been doing this all along?” moments. Suddenly, the gap between brand storytelling and commerce results didn’t feel like a gap at all — it felt like a bridge we could build again and again.
Now, my remit spans both the established digital channels, and the exciting innovations happening in retail and commerce media. In short: I help make sure that media investment isn’t just a cost of doing business — it’s a growth engine. And I get to do it on a global scale, which means there’s never a dull moment… or a shortage of time zones in my calendar. At this point, I’m fluent in GMT, EST, and “whatever time it is in Singapore right now.”
How/why did you first become interested in retail media and move into it?
My route into retail media wasn’t exactly a straight line — more like a winding path with a few very fun detours. I started out in B2B sales before moving into ecommerce at Hasbro, who at the time were the world’s largest toy manufacturer. So yes, my day job involved brands like Transformers, NERF, My Little Pony, and Monopoly — and yes, it was every bit as fun as it sounds. (Monopoly, by the way, taught me a lot about strategy… and occasionally about losing gracefully.)
I was running the ecommerce function across Europe, mainly working with Amazon, at a time when Hasbro was still very much geared towards selling to brick-and-mortar retailers. It was a fascinating transformation — taking a business built for physical shelves and helping it thrive on the digital shelf. I loved the problem-solving side of it: figuring out everything from how to optimise product pages to understanding why an ecommerce pure player raises purchase orders in a completely different way to the country’s biggest grocery chain.
It was during this time that I started working closely with our digital shopper marketing team. Amazon’s ads proposition was still in its relative infancy, but I could see how e-commerce and retail media were starting to work hand in hand. That’s when the penny dropped — this was a new and exciting category of advertising, and I had a unique angle to bring to it. I didn’t come from a traditional marketing background; I came from sales, which meant I was always laser-focused on the commercial outcome.
From there, I moved into agency life — first at WPP-owned Wavemaker, where I created a marketplace consulting function mainly focused on Amazon, then to Publicis Commerce as Head of Online Marketplaces. Eventually, I wanted to take on a truly global role, which brought me back to WPP in my current position.
Along the way, I’ve stayed deeply involved in the industry’s development — including serving as Chair of IAB Europe’s Retail and Commerce Media Committee for the past year and a half. It’s been amazing to see retail media evolve from a niche capability into one of the most exciting growth areas in advertising. And to think… it all started with toys.
What most excites you about the industry today and what might happen next in retail media?
What excites me most about retail media right now is the power of retailer first-party data. It’s the golden ticket — not just for building highly relevant audiences, but for mapping media delivery directly to outcomes like purchases or even early purchase intent signals. That ability to connect the dots between an ad impression and a real-world sale is still pretty unique in advertising, and it’s what makes retail media such a game-changer.
At the moment, retail media is still largely driven by on-site formats — and those are important. They’re functional, they work, and they’re often the first step for brands entering the space. But what really gets me excited is the format expansion into off-site retail media, powered by intelligent use of that same first-party data. It’s a bit like taking your shop window on the road — or letting your best salesperson work outside the store. Suddenly, you’re not just talking to shoppers when they’re already in the aisle; you’re reaching them in all kinds of moments that can influence their path to purchase.
From an industry perspective, we’re entering a fascinating phase. We’re starting to see partnerships between players you might never have imagined working together (Amazon and Macy’s, for example) — all in the pursuit of advertising revenue growth. The next five years are set for strong growth across the board (our This Year Next Year Midyear 2025 report forecasts retail media revenue will reach $252.1 BN globally in 2030, at a five-year CAGR of 8.2%), but I think the real incremental gains will come from this format expansion and from retailers deciding just how ambitious they want to be.
Some will carve out a comfortable niche and keep things close to home. Others will be willing to collaborate, standardise, and create more scalable buying options for advertisers. Those are the ones who will really unlock the full potential of retail media — and I’m excited to be working right in the middle of that transformation.
Who is your biggest inspiration in the retail media sector and why?
One of the things I love most about the retail and commerce media industry is that it genuinely feels like a community. It’s a rapidly growing, fast-evolving category of media, and for many of us, it feels like we’re all on this exciting journey together — navigating the twists and turns of the road to growth side by side.
Because of that, I draw inspiration from a lot of different people, and it would be impossible to single out just one. From an industry expert perspective, I have a lot of time for Colin Lewis — he has a huge depth of knowledge, but more importantly, he’s generous in sharing it with others. He’s approachable, insightful, and has that Irish charm that guarantees any conversation will be both enlightening and entertaining (with a few laughs along the way).
I also really admire Kiri Masters, who is a prolific writer with her finger firmly on the pulse of the industry. She consistently shares sharp, well-informed points of view that spark new thinking.
From an industry perspective, Marie-Clare Puffett from IAB Europe is a big inspiration. She does a lot for the industry, knows how to get things done, and is a fellow member of the Retail Media Age advisory board — so I’m lucky enough to work with her in that capacity too.
And closer to home, many of my WPP Media colleagues inspire me daily. I don’t mind embarrassing a few of them with a public shout-out: Samantha Bukowski, Jeff Malmad, Dave Fieldhouse, Larisa Dumitru, Aisha Khan and Nic Lewis — all game changers in their own right, and people who push me to raise the bar in my own role.
In short, my inspiration comes from the collective energy, expertise, and generosity of this industry. It’s hard not to be inspired when you’re surrounded by people who are not only shaping the future of retail media, but doing it with passion, creativity, and a real sense of camaraderie.
What one retail media campaign or strategy you’ve been involved in are you proudest of?
A lot of the campaigns and strategies I’m proudest of are, unfortunately, the ones I can’t talk about — partly because of client confidentiality, and partly because I work so far at the front end of innovation that sharing would give too much away. I’m often designing solutions that our teams then take to market, so my fingerprints are on a lot of exciting things that have to stay behind the curtain.
That said, one recent project I can talk about is our new partnership with Criteo to scale commerce intelligence into Connected TV (CTV). This was announced in July 2025, and it’s something I’m genuinely excited about because it brings together two worlds that haven’t always spoken the same language: brand-building CTV and performance-driven commerce media.
In simple terms, we combined WPP Media’s Open Intelligence platform with Criteo’s real-time commerce signals. The result? Advertisers can now reach high-intent shoppers across premium CTV inventory, and do it in any DSP they choose, while still being able to measure commerce outcomes, like sales.
For me, the magic here is in the convergence. Traditionally, CTV has been about reach and frequency — great for brand awareness, but harder to tie directly to sales. Retail media, on the other hand, has been laser-focused on measurable outcomes. This partnership blends the two, creating a full-funnel, performance-driven approach to CTV.
It’s a big step forward for the industry, because it shows that retail media principles — precision targeting, first-party data, outcome measurement — can be applied to channels well beyond the retailer’s own environment. And for me personally, it’s a perfect example of why I love this space: it’s about taking something established, adding a new layer of intelligence, and unlocking possibilities that didn’t exist before.
In a way, it felt a bit like introducing two friends who didn’t know they’d get along so well — CTV and retail media. Now they’re not just getting along; they’re working together to drive results neither could have achieved alone.
