More than one partnership announcement has gone live in the past few weeks with a clear creative component; is this a by-product of retail media’s increased focus on creative importance?
A sunny afternoon in mid-July saw specialists from across Manchester’s retail media industry gather for insights, networking, and discussion at the second Retail Media Age community lunch.
It’s hard to believe it’s already been a week since our fantastic RMA lunch in Manchester, where we enjoyed bringing together a brilliant group of retail, agency, and tech professionals for a thoroughly memorable afternoon.
In a major people move within the UK’s retail media space, home improvement retailer B&Q has appointed Laura Karsunky as its new Director of Retail Media. Meanwhile, following two and a half years with Asda’s retail media and insights commercialisation business, LS Eleven, John Beill has announced that he is stepping down as Director.
Steph Thomas is the Director of Retail & Experience at integrated agency VCCP and the latest interviewee to feature in our ‘Agency Views’ series. She unpacks how VCCP’s campaigns are combining performance with cultural impact, the approach the agency takes to breaking down internal client silos, and why she’d love to bust the myth that retail media has to be about working with black box algorithms.
Retail media offers brands an opportunity to be visible in front of shoppers who are close to the point of purchase: one that goes beyond what other channels can provide. But does this opportunity benefit established brands and smaller challengers alike? This was the question posed by Ian Maskell, CEO of Pecorino Group, during a fireside discussion on MAD//Fest’s Retail Media Evolved stage.
RMA Editor Rebecca Sentance is returning to reality after three jam-packed days at MAD//Fest London – days spent either typing frantically in the audience or on stage with brilliant guests at the Retail Media Evolved stage; navigating the venue in the blazing sunshine (after trying to decipher maps where everything is strangely hexagonal); and connecting with familiar faces as well as new acquaintances.
Emily McCue, Senior Product Manager at Spectrio, explains the unique challenges that retail media messaging presents in physical environments and how advertisers can address them – as well as how they can lean into its strengths to deliver advertising that resonates.
Amazon has revealed that its conversational assistant, Rufus, is being replaced with Alexa for Shopping – but far from putting Amazon’s conversational advertising ambitions to bed, the move is only amplifying them.
Toby Espinosa, Vice President, DoorDash Ads, describes himself as the “steward” of DoorDash’s global ad organisation. He discusses how retail media creative enables brand storytelling, whether the customer funnel has really collapsed, and what excites him about the present moment in retail media.
Following a hugely successful event in London at the start of the year, Retail Media Age will once again be bringing together professionals from across the retail media space for a community lunch on Thursday 16th July, this time in the bright, welcoming surroundings of Gina D’Acampo Manchester.
At the IAB UK’s Retail Media Growth Summit, one theme of the day emerged very quickly, as IAB UK Head of Retail Media Olivia McCullagh posed the question in her opening keynote: “Should it still be called ‘retail media’?”