Emily Latham is a digital capability coach and consultant. In a career spanning 20 years, her previous roles have included Head of Marketing Technology at Carwow and Head of Digital Marketing and Martech at Channel 4. We asked what led her to retail media.
What is your role and what does it entail?
I am an independent digital capability coach and consultant, working side by side with in‑house marketing and sales teams to help them extract value from their first‑party data. Typical projects include martech and adtech audits, service blueprints, and capability maturity assessments across people, process, tools and data; target experience and North Star vision setting; and programme and roadmap creation.
The outcomes usually focus on improving marketing effectiveness, enabling teams to identify and execute high‑impact omnichannel personalised customer experiences, or helping emerging retail media teams establish and build both on‑site and off‑site capability.
How did you first become interested in retail media and move into it?
I grew up in marketing, so working with audiences and insight to drive more relevant experiences is second nature to me. While at Channel 4, I was given a once‑in‑a‑lifetime opportunity to lead the design, implementation and rollout of a new data‑driven martech capability.
This work brought me close to the powerful first‑party data proposition within C4’s ad sales team at the advent of the retail media revolution. It gave me a front‑row seat to the art of the possible and allowed me to collaborate with world‑class vendors to architect advanced data‑driven marketing capabilities. Since then, first‑party data ecosystems and capability building have become the core of what I do.
What most excites you about the industry today, and what might happen next in RM?
Having spent the past year working with TV, automotive, property and insurance brands—all with incredibly rich data sets—I’m energised by the potential for deeper collaboration across brands with overlapping customer cohorts.
I’m excited to see how the market will mature to support genuinely rich, rewarding and personalised cross‑brand experiences.
Who is your biggest inspiration in the retail media sector and why?
Alexandra Wright and the wider adtech team at Channel 4 taught me everything I know and introduced me to this space.
What one retail media campaign or strategy you’ve been involved in are you proudest of?
I’m particularly proud of working with the Carwow ad sales and engineering teams to help codify what an automotive commerce media proposition could look like.
Together, we built a world‑class tech stack and brokered the hugely successful and impactful Auto Match deal, enabling Carwow data to be monetised off‑site across ITV and DV360—firmly establishing their commerce media proposition.
