Phil Collins is a Retail Media Consultant and Founder of thirdSHELF, former Retail Marketing Lead at Mondelez International, and ex-Retail Media Lead EMEA at WHSmith. We asked him how he found himself working in the retail media industry.
What is your role and what does it entail?
I run thirdSHELF, an independent consultancy that helps challenger FMCG brands navigate the world of retail media, understanding where it fits in their wider marketing mix, and how to turn investment into real shopper impact. With so many channels and networks now available, it’s tough for brands to know where to focus or how to connect their brand comms all the way through to the moment of purchase. I bridge that gap – helping brands get retail-ready, align their messaging across touchpoints, and make confident, insight-led investment decisions that drive growth.
How/why did you first become interested in retail media and move into it?
My first roles were all about the ‘last few feet’ in retail – printed cardboard, POS displays, and shopper activations. Then, at Mondelez International, I headed up activations for brands like Philadelphia and Dairylea, before moving across to the snacking brands like Cadbury & Oreo, leading across Tesco and the indies channel. It was around this time that retail media was beginning to evolve from isolated POS and web banner executions into a serious strategic lever, connecting brand campaigns and shopper behaviour in a more data-driven way.
I then moved to WHSmith to head-up retail media for their international business, working with challenger brands to whom retail media and instore marketing was a new thing – and that’s when it clicked. Challenger brands had such a big gap in understanding what retail media could do for them, how to integrate it into their wider comms mix, and how to maximise their spend. I saw huge potential to translate the big-brand principles into a more agile, pragmatic model for smaller brands, so I went freelance and launched thirdSHELF to do exactly that.
What most excites you about the industry today and what might happen next in retail media?
It feels like we’ve gone from the ‘gold rush’ to saturation, with every retailer launching a network and every platform promising reach and results. Now, we’re entering the consolidation phase, where the strongest players will stand out by proving true shopper impact, better creative standards, and transparent measurement.
What really excites me, though, is how AI is starting to optimise everything; from audience segmentation to creative personalisation, and even predictive analytics that inform where budgets should go before a campaign even starts. It’s turning retail media into a precision tool rather than a placement exercise. For challenger brands, that means smarter, more targeted investment, and better proof that their money’s working harder.
Who is your biggest inspiration in the retail media sector and why?
For a long time, I’ve admired SMG and how they’ve taken their media buying arm, Capture, and evaluations platform, PlanApps, into one of the driving forces behind retail media in the UK. They emerged at a time when shopper marketing budgets were under heavy scrutiny, and they quickly realised that a data-led approach could help brands unlock investment by proving the commercial impact of activity at shelf. They were among the first (that I was aware of) to do this in market, and they’ve since scaled that model to power the RMNs for some of the UK’s biggest retailers. They’ve set the benchmark for what good looks like in UK retail media – data-driven, accountable, and commercially sharp. It’s a reminder that when you lead with insight and discipline, scale follows naturally.
What one retail media campaign or strategy you’ve been involved in are you proudest of?
Earlier this year, I worked in partnership with Eat17 to co-found Shelf Shock – a retail media platform built specifically for challenger and local-hero brands. It’s a project I’m incredibly proud of because it flips the traditional model on its head, moving away from standard pack-and-price ads toward storytelling that genuinely connects with shoppers at the point of decision.
We created a platform that helps smaller brands show up in the right places, in the right way, and for the right reasons. Through short-form video and audio, we spotlight the people and purpose behind each brand – giving shoppers something to engage with in the retail environment. Launched as a pilot in East London, the ambition is to prove that visibility doesn’t have to come with a corporate price tag, and that meaningful storytelling can drive commercial impact too.
