Retail media has spent the last few years as advertising’s fastest-growing channel – but that era of explosive, uncontested growth is over, according to Alexia Nakad, General Manager, EMEA West at AppsFlyer, who sat down for a fireside chat with Retail Media Age at MadFest to map out where the channel goes next.
Retail media is one of advertising’s fastest-growing channels with investment continuing to accelerate. The focus of professional marketers is now shifting beyond audience targeting and measurement towards a more fundamental question: what does great creative look like in a retail media environment? This was the central theme of a recent panel discussion staged at MAD//Fest London 2026, hosted by Retail Media Age Editor Rebecca Sentance.
Alex Knapman leads retail media at Halfords, where he has spent the past eighteen months building an in-house function from scratch. Retail Media Age caught up with him in a fireside chat at MadFest to talk trust, creativity and the future of the channel.
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.
At a recent MAD//Fest London 2026 panel discussion hosted by Rebecca Sentance, Editor of Retail Media Age, representatives from John Lewis Partnership, Arla Foods, Omnicom OMD, Tripadvisor and LiveRamp argued that the next phase of growth will be defined less by retail media networks themselves and instead by connected commerce, AI-powered discovery and a more integrated view of media investment.