Retail Media Vibes
Retail Media Vibes is your marketing lens on the world of shopping, commerce, and culture. Each episode brings fresh conversations with industry insiders who break down the stories driving how brands reach shoppers and how shoppers connect with brands. From big retail moments to the latest shifts in digital media, it’s your front-row seat to the strategies shaping the future of commerce.
We keep it smart, energetic, and actionable, mixing sharp analysis with good vibes so you walk away informed and inspired. Whether you’re a retail pro, a marketer looking for an edge, or simply curious about where the industry is headed, this podcast is made for you.
Join the vibe and stay ahead in retail media.
Retail Media Vibes
Ep. 14 - Extra Vibes: AI Influencers, Shopper Psychology, and Retail Media Strategy
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Retail media is moving so fast that it’s easy to lose the plot, so I stitched together the strongest moments from recent conversations with Emma Curry, Aaron Campbell, Lindsay Hamm, Sarah Gillmer, and Toby Willse. The throughline is simple: new tools like AI and new channels like connected TV are powerful, but they only work when shoppers trust the message and teams inside the business stop working at cross purposes.
We dig into AI influencers and why they’re tempting for brands that want speed, brand safety, and consistent talking points. Then we get practical about influencer marketing in the retail media ecosystem: how to create evergreen creator content, build the right mix of video and still assets, and extend social creative into retailer placements. One of my favorite examples crosses into the physical store, proving omnichannel is real when creators show up beyond the feed.
From there, we zoom out to shopper psychology in the attention economy: multitasking, media overload, and the fight for meaning. That’s where nostalgia marketing, the analog comeback, and even “traditional media” re-enter the chat, not as throwbacks but as intentional ways to earn focus. We also hit the big retail media themes of 2025: full-funnel planning, measurement progress, and where CTV fits when conversion isn’t the only job to be done.
We close with the operational truth: retail media networks and platforms don’t fix silos on their own. Align brand teams, commerce teams, and sales teams, automate the repetitive work with AI, and let humans do the strategy and storytelling. Subscribe for more Retail Media Vibes, share this recap with a teammate, and leave a review with the one idea you’re going to try next.
What's
Welcome And Highlight Reel Setup
SPEAKER_01up, party people? BV here. Welcome to another episode of Retail Media Vibes, a doing business in Bentonville podcast. Today we're gonna do something a little bit different. I'm going to run it back with some of the best moments from episodes 7 through 11 and have had some amazing moments with some amazing guests. I've been so fortunate with the guests I've been able to have on the show. With Emma Curry, where we've talked about influencer marketing, with Aaron Campbell, where we talked a lot about shopper psychology. Lindsay, where we really recapped 2025 and there were so many amazing moments from the past year around retail media. Sarah Gilmer, where we talked about nostalgia and you know the impact of traditional marketing along with nostalgia. And Toby Wilsey, where we talked about the power of AI and helping employees get back to higher value work. With all that out of the way, we're going to go ahead and kick it off with Emma Curry. All right.
AI Influencers Pros Cons And Trust
SPEAKER_01So our first main topic is we're going to talk about AI influencers. Right. So this seems like a loaded topic, right? Because you have the influencer space, which people have some strong opinions about. You have AI, which people have some strong opinions about. And we're bringing those two together and really trying to unpack like what is up with AI influencers, right? So influencers that aren't real human beings is not anything new, right? So I think the uh one of the more popular ones is um Lil' Miguela, um, and you know, how there was you know an Instagram account that was created around her persona and actually even got brand deals. And so like there's been a lot of these, you know, you can even call them like digital avatars, but you know, the idea is this is not a real human being, right? And you know, and then you also have on the other side influencer space where influencer and content creation has been a huge growth area for marketers, right? And so you have these authentic voices that are you know really talking about your product, talking about your brand, right? That you're you're leveraging the credibility uh from to uh that person's audience or the what they the credibility they have in order to reach their audience and help them or and and teach them about a specific product or or brand, right? But then on the other side, now with all of the AI tools that you have, and it's really easy to create an AI version of a human being and make that into something, right? You can take characteristics and you can take attributes of you know that you want to amplify through AI and you can you can create this persona um as well. And so I you know, personally I've always thought, okay, wouldn't it be cool if you had a suite of these AI influencers that fit different categories of people that you want to want to reach and you know, and leverage them in order to communicate about your you know your your products and brands. You know, obviously when you work with something like an AI tech uh format for an influencer, they're always gonna get the brand message right. You know, they're always gonna say what you want them to say. So you can you have some of those challenges on the human side when you have a human influencer to get them to say exactly what you want to say in the authentic voice that they hold, right? So that's always a tough balance. And so it really looks like there's some opportunities, but also some challenges in that because there's also a lot of pushback around AI, right, in a lot of ways. And so, you know, in your world, have you have you had conversations? Have you uh have you thought about what role AI influencers can play in a in an influencer company?
SPEAKER_05I think there's again pros and cons to all of it, right? And um, something that really intrigues me about the AI influencer space is that one, think about how quickly a brand could react, engage in trends and things like that with an AI influencer versus a human. In the human element, you have to go and recruit somebody and go through all the the steps to contract and all those things.
SPEAKER_01Even if they're already a brand ambassador, yeah.
SPEAKER_05There's still there's still limitations there. And so the speed at which you could also engage, plus some of the other things you're saying, like always you're always gonna hit the the required talking points. You're always going to be brand safe because you have those guardrails. So I think that's another um positive that that brings to light too. Um what's kind of on the other side is Cheer Point, the the authenticity and the community that is cultivated by the human, the human connection. That's that's where we want to engage. Um, and I think you you lose a little bit of that, right? So it's really hard. I do think the same way with everything AI, it can certainly be a great tool, even if you're not publicly facing with an AI influencer, yeah. Is thinking about that as um, you know, like a pressure test. Like give the AI influencers a brief. If they can't hit the brief, maybe the human, the human influencers are gonna struggle with it too. Um, or maybe it's actually I like that idea.
SPEAKER_01Like it's almost like you're you're setting up an influencer um test, you know, a test case, right? And so, you know, if you have some, if you have this AI influencer uh and you can run your brief through them and see what they do with it can also help you inform how you might work with a human influencer. I like I do like that idea.
SPEAKER_05Um I think too, one of the other elements of that is how much AI are the the true influencers using now? I mean, that's a talking point that it's still pretty split 50-50 of like how heavy brands are asking or putting requirements around that. Like, are they using it to draft up concepts or to do any automatic editing, even using the native platform AI tools? So there's AI elements probably in a lot of the influencer content that we don't necessarily all see or know about.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what but what level of transparency is required in that situation, right?
SPEAKER_05I mean, all of it, you know, should. It's always the should. And um, you know, there are harder uh regulations that you have to follow, right? I mean, the same way you have to disclose it's a partnership. You're also supposed to disclose if if you've used AI tools, um, all of the platforms, TikTok Meta, they have a a tool that will just kind of mark it at the bottom that you've used it. Um and that's transparency is key in all of it. I think whether you're an influencer that's used tools to generate your content, or you're an actual AI influencer that the brand has cultivated and created is that transparency. And I think that's what drives the connection in influence in the influencer and social media space, no matter if you're disclosing a partnership or you're disclosing an AI tool.
Turning Creator Content Into Retail Assets
SPEAKER_01We're gonna talk about influencer content, right? That's an area you know really well, right? And so one of the things that has evolved with influencer content is a lot of times influencer content was looked at as a brand building exercise, right? And so influencers would go and they work with a brand and they would talk about a brand. But now, and it's not like it's never been this way, but it seems to be more and more opportunity to take that influencer content and make it work at retail, right? So, you know, you have a few things. You have this idea that you have this influencer content that you've created and you want to maximize the value of this influencer created content or content creation. And then you have the side of, well, I need so many new assets and and you know, to my my buyer is asking for more, and I want to create content that works specifically for that retailer, right? And so you've just had this explosion of content needs, right? So, how in your in your world and the way you look at influencer content, what are things that you really think can help make that content extend its value and work well for retail?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, one of the simplest things we do is vary the types of content we're getting. We we get a mix of things of both video, still content. Um, and we also work with um creators to maybe work in a way that can be more evergreen. Um, so you know, majority of the content is centered around the product, but maybe beginning or end or you know, just a finite section is dedicated to like the retailer conversion driving that call to action. We also tend to do a mix of elements within the still imagery. You know, let's make sure we get a good variety of the product and the retailer and then just the product. Um, make sure the lifestyle is what really shines through. And we know that a lot of the retailers reward and want more lifestyle type imagery used in in their um placements and things that you can buy. And and so we do work really closely with creators to to do a variation there and make sure we have have some ways we can optimize it on and off um retailer sites or or other buys.
SPEAKER_01Do you typically work with creators that have already worked with retail in the past so to make that process more streamlined, right? Because I would imagine, like, you know, if you're working with a a creator that has never worked with retail before, they're not going to understand really the requirements, right?
SPEAKER_05We definitely lean into more um retail affinity-based uh creators when we're working with with you know a more shopper marketing focus and and tend to work with those that have worked with those specific retailers. But if they haven't worked with that one, most have a very similar expectation or style. Right. Um and and definitely lean into them to have some expertise and then also sometimes push us a bit because they're also consumers. They're they're type of marketer, but they're also a consumer. So it's kind of nice that we get somebody that knows the drill, but also pushes pushes the envelope a little bit.
SPEAKER_01So what has
When Influencer Content Goes In Store
SPEAKER_01been like the most creative way that you've seen some of this content used in a retail media ecosystem?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I think the most creative is when we don't just move it from, you know, influencer social to retail media social or or or website. I think when it crosses a threshold into store, it really on paper, that doesn't sound super creative. But when you think about a social influencer in store, that's huge. Um, one of my, it was also a favorite. Very first, one of my very first campaigns was an original song. Um really. What? Um, maybe you maybe you've heard it. Um it was a holiday song. And so we pushed and did an in-store cut of the song, and so it played on in-store radio. So that's probably not something you would bring to the table at a first idea client, right? Like that's a a different variation, but I think there's other ways we haven't even begun to think about using in-store.
SPEAKER_01Just so just to narrow that down for the people that are listening so they they under follow that. So you worked with a creator, and that creator made a custom song for a campaign.
SPEAKER_06Yes.
SPEAKER_01And that campaign was for a specific retailer, right?
SPEAKER_05Yes, yes, it was um, I think we can say it Walmart. Yes, um so um we we used that song across the campaign more broadly. We integrated into other influencers' content as well. So that song spanned um the the campaign holistically. But then yes, we we made the song specific to that retailer and they loved it and played it on in-store radio during the holidays, which is a prime, I mean, prime real estate, prime time um to have brand exposure and even to have that that musical artist's music reaching new masses.
SPEAKER_01And one of the things I've always thought was always a smart idea is to give a retailer the opportunity to have a creator that is dedicated to them, right? So make that unique. So if you have a specific program and you're running it across multiple retailers, you know, have a different creator for each retailer and have them create content that is bespoke to that retailer and that retailer's messaging and that retailer's shopper, right? And so when you can do that, and when you have something that is a valuable asset, like a song, right? Determining what are the best ways to distribute that asset throughout that ecosystem. And so, like a lot of times, you know, retailers like Walmart, they're not creating songs specifically for a CPG category, right? Why would they do that? Right. But if it's somebody that's in CPG, a brand in CPG, want to create a song, and then, oh, well, by the way, Walmart, you can use this in your own, you know, through your own channels. I mean, it just extends the value of that content. You, you know, it's you know, brands have invested a significant amount of money in the in that space. And so it's really about getting that value. And then of course, you know, you're you're earning credibility with your merchant at the same time, right? Oh, this is fun, this is cool, this is specifically to this category. So it really feels like that's that's one really a really good unlock is content that is unique and bespoke to that specific retailer that can be reused in per across multiple purposes.
SPEAKER_05Now, so what do you think? I mean, I'm drawn to diapers because I'm still in that world, but does it shine for you?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think you know, having uh a reason to take time off from work to watch sports is a good reason to do anything. And so I would say that yeah, I think, you know, I think it's it's smart. Um and it it does, it does, it is definitely very, very cheeky and it kind of fits into you know the right cultural, you know, timing of things. So um, yeah, I mean, obviously there's a lot of people we love the World Cup and will be glued to TV for that. And so, you know, why not kind of pair those things together? So that's that's really cool.
SPEAKER_05Hey, as someone that was on maternity leave during March Madness, which is like, my holy grail, I get it. Take the time and enjoy if if that's that's one of your loves.
Walmart Who Knewville And Nostalgia
SPEAKER_01All right. So my campaign, Emma, is Walmart with their Who Knewville holiday campaign. So Who Knew has been Walmart's platform uh for uh several months, you know, maybe it's the full year at this point, around you know, introducing people to uh to Walmart, like almost reintroducing Walmart to consumers again. Uh, because I think you know, there are perceptions or have been perceptions about Walmart, and this is reintroducing what what those perceptions could be. Um, and Walmart does offer way more than I think what people expected. So I think it's a great uh platform campaign campaign. But you know, a person like myself, I love nostalgia. And so this one really leans into for the holiday season, leans into you know, Dr. Seuss's inspired type of of world and in Hooville and really it makes it very imaginative and really kind of brings together, you know, the best of you know what Walmart is introducing with this nostalgia and the season, uh, the holiday season and bringing all of that uh together, you know. And so, you know, it's it's it's been something that I've I've found to be really interesting and the way they've approached it and and brought that to light. So that that's you know, my campaign is Who Knew Bill?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that honestly, I love it. They've been leaning just so well into that nostalgia space. And just I think about the back to school mean girls when that launched, that was such a big moment. Um, so I really I love that. Like it really is that's kind of been their their vibe, if you will, the last few years. They've really leaned well into some of those type of storytelling moments too. Cool.
SPEAKER_01Emma helped us think about content. Aaron and I get into a deep conversation about attention and how we have so much digital overload and really what impact that really has in how shoppers think. So with that, over to Aaron. All right. Our
Shopper Attention Collapse And Overload
SPEAKER_01first main topic, we're gonna talk about shoppers, right? And I and I've really had this fascination with like changes in behavior. And honestly, like I learned that when I was at Sachi and working with you honestly about the you know shopper behavior and motivations and you know how uh those behaviors impact how we work, how we communicate and market and advertise to shoppers, but there's been a lot of change. Um, I mean, I guess there's been a lot of change over the last 10 years or or in but a lot of change even over the last two years. You know, COVID was a lot of change, but you know, I would say that overall, like shoppers today are overwhelmed, they're distracted, and they're moving faster and faster. It feels like this things keep continuing to accelerate, accelerate, accelerate. And their attention, you know, jumps between screens and micromoments, right? And so they're you know, they're on their tablets, they're on a TV, they've got their phone in their hands, they're you know, engaging in so many different, you know, digital and physical experiences of floating in between, you know, all of those all the time. Uh, and now we've included now AI, right? So AI is a whole nother layer of you know ways that you know are going to pull attention away from shoppers, right? And really have obviously an impact on behavior, right? There's there's no no doubt about that, right? It used to be so simple back in the day, right? So I always sometimes I think about oh, what was it like in the 50s, 60s, 70s, um, as an advertiser? You have it was so simple.
SPEAKER_03It's hard, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Right? Yeah, a TV, yeah, yeah, prints, maybe a billboard, maybe some advertising in the store, depending on you know, depending on how how the how it went. But it was so simple, right? And as an advertiser and a marketer, you had those channels, you learn those channels. Now you've got like 52,000 different channels, all these micro moments, multiple social net media networks. You know, people are spending time in gaming, people are spending time on social, they're watching TV, they have their phones in their hands, right? So it's like uh even it overwhelms me just thinking about, I can only imagine with the shopper, shopper, uh, how they're feeling. Um, but can US according to McKinsey, US consumers now spend 13 hours a day with media. That's that's a lot of hours per day. And a lot of times it's multitasking, right? It's not just you know a single, a single form of media. And their average screen attention, now this one blew me away, actually, has dropped from over over the last few years, has dropped from two and a half minutes to 47 seconds, right? So that is that is a very significant decline in attention span. And yeah, I mean I'm self-professed ADD. I I know my attention span bounces around quite a bit. Uh and so I can only you know imagine. So it's really have a like a huge impact, you know, I think in you know how an advertiser can reach this audience and the expectations around reaching this audience. I think things are so fragmented now. How do you even plan to reach and actually make that you know behavior change, right? That's that's what shopper marketing is all about, is behavior change. How can you even do that? And then when people are spending very little time when they are spending time on something and they're switching around, context switching like constantly, it's just you know, it's like I said before, it's it's really overwhelming. But you know, how many media channels do you think you engage with on a on a daily basis just to start it off?
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's a really great question. I probably don't even know. But I mean, anything from a podcast to a recipe blog that I linked on through Pinterest, um, to short YouTube's and trying to learn how to pronounce fancy um designer names for the Apple sock, um to maybe a reading an email newsletter from my select few kind of thought leaders that I really respect, and then kind of you know, deselecting all the rest from Doom Scrolling, TikTok. Um, and then even just driving around and and seeing what's around us. So I I can't even imagine how many.
SPEAKER_01Right. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I I would I would say, you know, you know, for me, you know, on my phone, social, you know, more, you know, work on my laptop, you know, YouTube, a lot. I see you know, you to, you know, YouTube is is big for me for sure. You know. So it's but it's also happening all the time. I'll have the TV on watching the football game or something, or my wife will have Wicked on, and I'll be on my phone watching a YouTube video at the same time. So it's like, where am I really spending my attention? And if I'm an advertiser, where do I put that ad if I'm trying to reach that individual? And it's just it's just so overwhelming. Do you ever get to that point of sufficiency where you're actually making that behavioral impact that you intend to make? Can you only do that in big moments, like you know, like a Super Bowl commercial where everybody's paying attention, everybody's locked in? And there's still probably multitasking going on, but it's still most of the attention is being paid to one place. It's just, it just seems like it's more difficult, obviously more difficult than ever to really to really drive behavior change. If you were a brand, let's say, you know, your brand, your new brand, and you are trying to, you know, reach this fragmented, distracted, you know, shopper, you know, what would be some things you would try to consider to make the impact that you intend to do with with advertising?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's a really good question. Because I think all of the tools that we have as marketers, as far as tactics and media placement, they're so prolific that they have re have left us with a very overstimulated, cognitively deficient, decision-fatigued shopper. And their brains are really good at deselecting out all of the noise and coming up with some shortcut behaviors that aren't necessarily good for business. And and so I always when we have conversations with brands about this, most often brands want to come in and say, okay, what is the magical formula or combination of tactics that is going to um decrease my CAC and increase my um my revenue? And the the tools are the tools. Every brand, every marketer has access to the same tools. And I always say if someone's selling you the perfect formula, they're lying and run as fast as you can. But where you have a real opportunity to connect with this new consumer who is looking for less noise, they're looking for more meaning in their life, more connection, more community. They're looking ways to express kind of the human condition is so much less in the tactics, but it's really before that. It's one knowing who your audience is, you know, and I'm not talking from a demographic side. I'm talking from a heart and soul side. What are their values? What do they care about? What keeps them up at night? Who are they?
SPEAKER_06Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes. And and you want to and you want to authentically connect the heart and soul of your brand in areas and ways that they already intrinsically care about. And that's not a list of functional benefits. So it's understanding who you are as a brand at a higher order. If your brand had a soul, if your brand had a heart, if your brand could shortcut why this product was created, what problem does it relieve for your audience? Then that is where the meaning and the connection happens with your niche audience that cares about the same thing.
SPEAKER_01Uh,
The Analog Comeback And Meaning
SPEAKER_01the analog comeback.
SPEAKER_03So excited for this one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I again, you know, nostalgia is important to me. And I think, you know, we we we talked a lot about so much time being spent on the digital side that you know some of these analog experiences have um have become more enriching, I believe, right? And so um shoppers are finding comfort in things that they feel physical and intentional, like uh records are vinyl, film cameras, print books. We were talking about that a little bit ago, stationary, you know, that like actually taking out the and writing an actual note in her stuff. I mean, you know that that's one I struggle with a bit, but I I I understand people who like to do that, like all that stuff is surging, especially even with younger shoppers, not that's right, not old folks like me necessarily, but definitely younger shoppers. And then you throw AI into it, and now AI is like we've got all of this content being created via AI, and it's just inundating people with all of these, all these, all this digital content. And so it's like taking that step back and like reclaiming the physical world, reclaiming your your mental state, you know, potentially, you know. Um, and so this it's so cool to see some of these things that I grew up with are now making that that that comeback. Um even you know, even tapes and records. Absolutely, even CDs for those that are a little bit old, like some of that stuff uh it has has come back for sure. Um, and so like all of this stuff is really kind of coming around. And you know, is it going to is are we gonna go back in time and do it all? No, of course not. But I think there is definitely a a group or a growing trend in this area that I think people are kind of using as almost like escapism to a certain degree from all of the other stuff that's that's going on. Um, and people are paying big bucks for art as well, you know, and especially fencing art. Yeah, yeah, physical art. Like, you know, just not too long ago, I felt like we were talking about these NFTs and people buying bored ape NFTs for millions of dollars. And now they're now that's pretty much gone away, and those obviously don't don't value as much as they used to, but and now people are spending, you know, you know, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars on a piece of uh on a piece of art. So it's like it's definitely coming back. Um, what do you what do you really feel like are the drivers of of this? I know I've touched on a few, but if you had other thoughts.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, I think you you're really you're circling what the driver is. I mean, first of all, we're the over the overdigital consumption, the the constant AI, the massive time we're spending on our screens, and you partner that with kind of the mental health crisis. Yeah. And so obviously, our obsession as brands and retailers and marketers of creating what uh will be we consider a frictionless, um, seamless, hyper convenience environment uh is is maybe that's what the shoppers thought that they wanted, but it's not necessarily delivering the relief or the intrinsic value that they thought. And so now if it's not frictionless, maybe it's intentional friction that will give you purpose and value. And again, it goes back to that new consumer and what they want, that new shopper, what they want. They want less noise, they want more meaning, and they want a uniquely human experience. An analog, do that beautifully. Right. And it allows you to refocus your brain. And I mean, you know, it's all about brain rot. So what if this is about unrotting your brain? Unrotting. Yes, I actually tried to get the domain www.unrotyourbrain.com, a Portuguese company. So if if you wanna if you want to sell it to me, let me know. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it.
SPEAKER_01But
Doug McMillon Legacy At Walmart
SPEAKER_01yeah, let's talk about Doug McMillan stepping down. Uh, he's retiring, I think I believe it's February of 2026. And so he's been in that role as CEO of Walmart for, I mean, basically as long as I've been in shopper marketing.
SPEAKER_03It's 2014, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So just about as long as I've been in it. And it's like, you know, what do you what are some of the things you'll remember about you know Doug's tenure as CEO?
SPEAKER_03First, um I don't think it's a surprise to us. I think the the man deserves hopefully a really good vacation after this. And I, but I am I am sad because if you it took me, it gave me a moment to kind of reflect back on his tenure with Walmart. And when I think he took over, it it was at a really make or break pivot point for for Walmart. I mean, of course it was successful, but it had the risk of really becoming the next Kmart or Sears, right? Becoming a dinosaur. And uh Doug took the opportunity to kind of punk the brakes, pause, and really build a strategy that would take them into relevancy in for decades to come. And he had to do that by telling the board and then ultimately telling Wall Street that they were going to make significant investments and the stock price would take a hit. And we know Wall Street does not like um short-term pain, but he stepped up and said, it we need to invest in our digital, in our tech infrastructure. We need to invest in our people, and this will deliver a legacy of Walmart that is gonna withstand the encroachment of Amazon. And he's successfully done that. And so I think you see a really balanced leader that can manage for the short term effectively because he's a high humanity leader. He's incredibly approachable, he is charismatic and welcoming and kind and able to communicate the why when it doesn't always make sense on the short-term business numbers. And then he has successfully brought Walmart in to 2025 and handing off a very different business than he was handed to John Ferner that really is going to just accelerate then into the automation and AI revolution.
SPEAKER_01Right. Had a great time with Lindsay Ham reviewing the year that was in 2025. And with that, over to Lindsay. We're gonna
2025 Retail Media Goes Full Funnel
SPEAKER_01go ahead and get into our main stories today. Do it. Um, how are you feeling?
SPEAKER_02I feel so good. I've been I've been excited about this. So it's chat.
SPEAKER_01All right. So we're what we're gonna do today is something a little bit different. We're going to discuss the best stories that, in our opinion, anyway, she she and I have collaborated a little bit on this. The best retail media stories from this past year, right? So this has been the year of retail media, I would say. Yes, right. And I mean, hence why we have a podcast called Retail Media Vibes. But, you know, story number one is all about retail media going full funnel, right? And, you know, one of the things that I've observed uh through retail media, and it's it started last year, so it's not like it all happened this year, is like what is now classified as as retail media has continued to explode. Yeah, right. Grow. It it's growing. And so, you know, and how those how those dollars are flowing from brand to retailer, what tactics now fall into retail media. It's like anything, you know, anything that's tied to a retailer feels like is is is retail media. And it's just such an interesting time, right? Because everybody talked used to talk about brand dollars and brand media, and now you know, retail media, now we've got connected TV. We're even creators, you know, influencers and creators are somewhat in that in that retail media ecosystem.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh offsite media, you know, and some of the kind of it's all coming together. So, you know, why do you think like this full funnel retail media is really happening in 2025? And we saw a lot of acceleration there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I think I think first and foremost, we are starting to see better integration between brand teams and commerce teams, both in-house and on the agency side. I think that's been a space that's been a little bit of an unknown for some time. Um, I think part of its technology, the capabilities being offered by retail media networks is vastly superior than it was even just a couple of years ago. We've seen just massive growth there. But I think the other piece is we're able to tell a stronger story, and that's due to measurement. So I think the improvement of measurement within the retail media networks. And I know that there's still some measurement methodology and things that are being improved. We'll talk more about that later.
SPEAKER_01You've got a couple of time, a couple of opportunities to talk about.
SPEAKER_02But I think we're telling a stronger story from a retail media network perspective. And I think the value is there. And I think brand teams are understanding the value that a retail media network can bring to their holistic solution. And so it's measurement and its capability set kind of converging to create this really unique synergy.
SPEAKER_01So do you think that brands are really starting to understand retail? Because, you know, when I was in the mix, there was this contention of, you know, brand doesn't really get retail. Yeah. And there's obviously some nuances in retail specifically, and then obviously the application of retail media, and you know, brands didn't really understand that. So when you would talk to them, you know, it's almost like you were talking a different language.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I think a lot of those objectives were misaligned, right?
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. And I think their education is still happening and still needs to happen. I I mean, I think there's still a gap that's being closed in terms of understanding that speaking the same language. You're right. And that the KPIs that are used by a brand focused sort of upper funnel team are not the same as a commerce team, as a you know, blow-the-line team. And I think that's part of the challenge is we aren't always speaking the same language, but we are seeing that convergence with the launch of CTV, with the launch of more social capabilities in-house within the networks. I think we're starting to speak the same language a little bit better than we used to. And in doing that, we're able to build stronger strategic plans together.
SPEAKER_01Right. How
CTV Inside Retail Media Strategy
SPEAKER_01do you see CTV evolving? Because CTV is still a very expensive medium, no matter if you're doing it at the brand level or retail.
SPEAKER_02And you are going to pay a premium at the, you know, within the retail media network, you're paying a premium to reach a more specific, tailored audience within that shopper pool. So it does need to be used strategically to your point. I mean, I think, you know, from a brand perspective, CTV has fun been this broader awareness tactic. It's been a way to get your brand out there. It still is. I think even within the retail media networks, you still have to consider CTV to be more of a higher funnel awareness driver.
SPEAKER_01But it is like the funnel within the funnel.
SPEAKER_02The funnel within the funnel, exactly. And I think that CTV is just going to fill this very unique space. And I don't think most sort of shopper teams are going to want to have day-to-day ownership of it because it's not going to drive conversion at the scale of like on-site or search. But at the same time, it's a necessary component that just helps you nudge shoppers down funnel.
SPEAKER_01Agentic shopping will grow, but nowhere near as much as everyone is predicting.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I think it's going to grow in different ways than people are predicting. I think we still have that barrier to actual purchase that AgenTech has to overcome. And I think that could slow things down on the purchase front, but I think it's going to evolve in other ways that we can't yet predict.
SPEAKER_01Okay. All right. The next one AI will generate at least 50% of all ads.
SPEAKER_02Uh yes. I think and maybe not next year, but I think I think we will get there eventually. I think it's what percentage you would you put on like Oh, I'm going to go with a very specific number of 34%.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I like 34% as a all right. Last one. This is probably the most important one of all seven.
SPEAKER_02Ready.
SPEAKER_01Taylor Swift.
SPEAKER_02Oh my.
SPEAKER_01Taylor Swift will televise her wedding and it will be bigger than the Super Bowl. So whether it's on a streaming service or whatever, but she will find a way to have her wedding out there for people to watch and it will have more viewers than the Super Bowl.
SPEAKER_02You know, if she televised her wedding, I think she absolutely would have more viewers to the Super Bowl. But you know, I'm not as I'm not as big of a Swifty. I I appreciate her music, but I'm not I haven't followed her the way some have. My Swifty friends, I think, would tell me that there's no way, there's no way she'd televise it. All right. As much as we'd all enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01Okay, all right, awesome. Well, nice, nice job, Lindsay. So I spent time with Sarah Gilmer and we really kind of took things back a bit. So with that, over to Sarah.
Nostalgia Marketing That Actually Works
SPEAKER_01All right. So the the first main story that we're going to talk about today is the power of nostalgia marketing. Nostalgia can be one of those really emotional ways to tap into, you know, tap into the consumer. Um and it's it just you know, shopping, a lot of it is about psychology, right? You were talking about early on in your introduction, like you, you like the psychology of a lot of things and uh and the emotional side of that. And you know, to me, you know, having this conversation with you about you know, nostalgia is like it just fits fits so well. And you know, when I think about some of the emotional connections that you know brands can have with consumers, and I think also about hype marketing, right? Hype marketing is not like nostalgia marketing because hype marketing is about like building excitement, building a lot of energy, you know. Um, and nostalgia is more of that feeling of familiarity. And I think you know, nostalgia works really well when you take something that was you know from the past or gives you a nostalgic feeling and you pull it forward and you reintroduce it, like as a parent, for example, for for me, right? You know, I grew up, you know, Star Wars, right? Star Wars, right? And love Star Wars. And you know, when Star Wars, when they re-release new toys or a new movie, you know, that brings that nostalgia uh to me. And then I want to share that with my kid. Yes, then they get involved, right? And so then that brand, you know, um, in this case Star Wars, has a new, you know, cohort of people that they can market to in the future. And then they bring a nostalgia. So it's almost like it's it can like build upon it itself. Yeah. And so I I think it's you know really about just ensuring that like connecting in that emotional way of feelings and and thoughts of of the past in order to, you know, get shoppers, consumers to look at your product in a in a in a certain light and get that familiarity as well. You know, from from you know, from your standpoint, like what what is how does nostalgia marketing really you know work for you or how do you how do you see that working in the in the space that we work in on a daily basis?
SPEAKER_04There's something so incredibly powerful about um tradition and story. The amount of times that my kids will ask me a story about, tell me about when you were younger that the nostalgia marketing plays into. And so when you talk about feeling, it is the feeling, right? It is it whether that's you know, it's baking something that brings you back to that time frame or using something. So I think it it's a really powerful tool when it's used in the right way, right? When it fits the brand or it fits the overall story really well, versus a lot of people jumping on on the bandwagon that may not have a clear tie either to the thing, the entity that's pulling into to nostalgia, which nostalgia is usually some kind of pop culture, right? Yeah, something of that manner, and and uh and some kind of medium of media that brings you into it. Um and so if somebody if something or a brand can can sync in with that and that aligns well with them, um then it works.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, when I was thinking about this conversation, you know, I was thinking about okay, who does it really well? I think Barbie does it the best. Oh, that's interesting. Uh you know, because Barbie is obviously a a legacy, you know, a legacy toy, right? Legacy brand, right? That's been around for years. And then there's always, you know, that that mom that introduces you know Barbie to their child at some point. And then most recently, right, they had the Barbie movie, right? And so it exposed Barbie to a whole new and then it like reinvigorates the excitement, the interest, the love, you know, and because it is an emotional thing, the love for a particular brand. So I think Barbie does a does a really, really great job of that. Um you know, from from your standpoint, like you know, you can you think of other other brands that actually do do a good job of that?
SPEAKER_04Well, when you said Barbie, what I immediately counterthought through that was um or Hot Wheels, only because like even when you talk about Barbie and Hot Wheels, like my parents kept those for my brother and I. So like at you know, it was it's great to introduce, like, pull out Barbies that were mine and let my daughter play with them, or son, or you know, from from that case.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I did the same as Star Wars.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for from a Star Wars standpoint. In terms of other brands that do it really well, what comes to mind, although I'm trying to think of like a specific example. I kind of go back to some of the serial brands that capitalize on a lot of those things because they've been around for a long time.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, there's a certain legacy that's a lot of things.
SPEAKER_04There's legacies with it.
SPEAKER_01So we're gonna talk about traditional media.
Traditional Media Value In A Digital Age
SPEAKER_01Is traditional media dead? I always feel like in my world that I've I've worked in over time, the word tran traditional media has a bias to it. When you bring it up in a conversation, hey, let's put together a marketing marketing plan. And you know, a form of traditional media comes up. There's usually some sort of bias or I don't want to say a visceral reaction because it's but I do think it gets it gets pushed aside pretty quickly. And and just to be clear on when we're talking about traditional media, we're talking about print, radio, broadcast TV, and out of hall.
SPEAKER_06I don't think.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So those are the those are the four I I think there's going to be a new wave of a different type of traditional media, but we'll we'll get to that in the in the future. But I think you know, you get the get the the same same ideas. All of these things are outdated in some way. And some of them have come along, right? Come along for the ride. Some of them have morphed into something a little bit different, like of course, like TV, you know, from broadcast TV to more, you know, streaming and and connected TV and podcasting with radio. And like a lot of these kind kind of evolved into these new wave, new age um digital, digital formats in some way. But there is something to be said for some of these mediums when done at in a certain way, right? Under certain circumstances. You know, is do you want to have a print ad uh in a magazine for every single campaign that you run moving forward? No, probably not. But in the right case, it might. But it is funny though. Like you if you went to a market, modern marketer today and said you were gonna do a print, you know, you're gonna do a print ad in a magazine, but just as an example.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You'd probably not even get in front of the client because some somebody, a leader, would probably stop you and say, get that off the plan immediately. But you know, there could be some white space there that you're not tapping into and in right. And the whole idea of omnichannel is multi-channel, right?
SPEAKER_06Exactly.
SPEAKER_01You know, are there are there really the right times and places and situations where some of these forms of traditional media could exist and be smart? You know, um, I've said in a previous podcast, sometimes I like to zig when people are zagging, right? So when when you know ever there's so much push into digital, one form or another. Can you go into one of these traditional media channels and make a splash because everybody else's attention is somewhere else, right? So, you know, from from your standpoint, you know, where do you see the usage of traditional media and and the value it can bring to a marketing plan?
SPEAKER_04Consumers are looking for some of these traditional options for that. And also the younger generation. So, like my daughter, a couple years ago for Christmas, my sister gave her a subscription to a travel magazine because she loves to travel.
SPEAKER_01Awesome.
SPEAKER_04She still has those magazines, she still goes through when this subscription and flips through them because she's looking for things or she looks for average, you know, what to wear. Like I every time I get a magazine, a clothing magazine, she's always like, Don't throw that out. Because you can look through it and touch and feel like she's not seeing that, right? You know, anywhere else. So I think that there is power in that. There's power in having something that you can that's not just digital, but that's something that you can touch and feel and take with you and um leave by your bed. Um, or you know, going home every time I go to see my parents, they live in a small town um in northern Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01All right, we're gonna wrap the show with campaigns we love.
Campaigns We Love And Why
SPEAKER_01Uh so Sarah and I are gonna talk about campaigns or ads that we have seen out in the world and we are digging right now. And uh I obviously part of this show was talking about nostalgia. And I understand, Sarah, you've got an amazing example in that in that realm.
SPEAKER_04I do. So we're we're coming off holiday, and so the one thing the the ad that just tugs on my own heartstring was was Chevy's ad this year with the family. Um, and it just shows all the memories that they've captured while driving their suburban um over the years. Um and it kind of shows the legacy of having, you know, obviously a car that will last. Um but if you think about just driving in the amazing discussions that I've had in my own vehicle with friends and family, it captures all of that um beautifully well. Um it does what I think is really brilliant marketing because it sells without overtly selling. There was no part of that ad that was like, go to your local Chevrolet dealership right now. And it is truly about enjoy the memory of what this time brings.
SPEAKER_01And that is like powerful brand building, you know, using nostalgia. And I think, you know, some of the things that we talked about earlier about, you know, mm having the family involved there, right? Is it brings that brings that level of emotion and storytelling. I think sometimes, you know, we we don't get enough, we don't do enough of the storytelling, you know, to really kind of build that, build that platform. And obviously, you know, seems like they told that story in a really compelling way. Yeah. All right. So my campaign I love um is is around a Duncan Munchkin. So I am a huge Dunkin donuts, Duncan fan. Um, I absolutely love. And so there is uh an ad right now um around a Duncan Munchkin is a brand's unlikely festive holiday hero. And so it's uh narrated by Mindy Kaling. And what I also love about it is like I love when brands like do a 360 where they also include merchandise along with their storytelling. And so you can really buy into the full, you know, into the full story. And so this this is actually a children's book, right? And they they've uh actually even made it into a spot. Um, but it's it's really centered around a a Duncan munchkin, which is their their donut hole, if those of you that don't know. Yeah um and it's a a journey of belonging. So the character, our little, our little powdered uh munchkin uh feels discarded and and and forgotten because all of his compadres that are inside the uh inside the munchkin box are getting selected uh by people. Um and he's the the last the last one left. Um and then a a child scoops in and uh grabs that last munchkin, and it's the most special best bite of all. So it's it's kind of so here's how I feel about it.
SPEAKER_04Tell me how you feel because I have feelings too, baby.
SPEAKER_01I have I have some feelings on this, but uh so I love Duncan, I love what they did, I love the children's book, I totally understand what they're trying to do with the story.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And then finally we wrap things up with Toby. So with that, over to Toby.
SPEAKER_00You
Retail Media Silos And Team Alignment
SPEAKER_00know, my my general POV on retail media uh is really the expansion of advertising capability throughout the different platforms and the very intelligent aggregation of some of those platforms into unique tech providers. I think that retail media as a whole is going to continue to grow pretty rapidly. Um, but I do think that there's a lot of headwinds that it faces um with a lot of tailwinds as well. Uh, you know, for me, when I think about the way that it all comes together and what I think is is success within the digital media and retail media landscape is being able to understand, which is a very challenging right now for so many brands and agencies, where all of these things intrinsically click together and where silos need to be removed. I think it's the probably one of the biggest uh blockers today for retail media is a lot of the that siloed nature within the space, both within agencies and brands, and it prevents what could be a much more personalized um user experience for the consumer, but also for the brand and creating much more efficiency. So I get a lot of energy helping brands understand where they need to adjust their retail media strategies to be much more thoughtful with their ad dollars and be less myopic to how do I make ex retailers succeed and more big picture of how do I make my brand succeed.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's very interesting too, because as you know, retail media budgets have continued to expand, you know, brands obviously want to have a lot more control over how that money is spent. And obviously, there's you know a lot of discussion. We'll talk about measurement a little bit later on, but there's a lot about measurement and and so forth. But it is it is interesting to me because you know, retail media has been around for a while. You know, you know, there's been you know we've had you know triad retail media that used to do advertising, you know, on be, you know, with with Walmart Connect, or well, it's not Walmart, it wasn't Walmart Connect at the time, but they were doing it for the yeah. Walmart Media Group back then, I do believe. They might not have had a few iterations uh for sure. And then Amazon, like everybody's had media, right? But the but the budgets and what people were spending and like nobody really cared too much. But now there's this you know proliferation of all these different tactics and spends continue. And I was like, oh, wait a second, this is impacting my budget now because a lot of these dollars. And so like the conversations that I've had quite a bit recently recently, or we'll say over the last year or so, is really about trying to get the customer teams or the retail teams on the same page with the brand teams. And there's, you know, there's seems to be not necessarily friction, but a lot of times misunderstanding of of what it takes to perform on retail. What has your experience been on, and I know you you said you know you you you really enjoy trying to get brands under understanding the space, but like what have you what have you seen and heard from your experience that really helps get everyone on the same page on on what the true opportunities are?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh it's a great question. And I'm I'm very curious of your perspective of this. The um the way that I find that in my experience that brands and sales have been able to get in into a better rhythm, and it's not always perfect, uh, tends to be a greater understanding of the space and what it means to be in store versus on the digital shelf, and what are the levers that can be pulled to help juice that particular impact and the relationships necessary. Often the two teams tend to disagree or have that friction because there's two different focus points relationship and sales growth. And one team is very focused on I need to grow my sales for very particular items or for my portfolio. The other team is very focused on I need to maintain my relationship with these merchants and this retailer. I need to ensure that I'm driving the right traffic to this retailer and it's our premier channel. Often that is driven by the siloed natures of uh brand setup. Brands set up their teams to be focused on particular retailers or particular advertising avenues. And unfortunately, that creates artificial silos when they're not speaking. Many of these brands rely on large agencies, holding companies, et cetera, to do that for them and find the menagerie and help them create that justification. Unfortunately, that that doesn't often work as well as they'd like. And we've seen that. That's why this model's existed for so long. And it's why the space is continuing to evolve. It wouldn't be evolving on how teams work together and how agencies interact if it was perfected. Uh, right. So that is where I've seen brands succeed and where I've seen agencies succeed is removing the person X will handle this for me and saying we need to figure out the crux of the issue and bring these teams together and still offer and allow the capability for these different brands and these different team members to be able to focus on their core competencies or their core responsibilities, but understand that camaraderie and teamwork is needed here to ensure that the communication streams are consistent and that these different individual teams are operating holistically versus singularity. And then you come to a bottle of the funnel where everything starts to crowd together, and now you have uh, you know, disjointed strategies and what effectively becomes very inefficient ad spend and often creative visuals. How do you feel about it? Have you seen being somewhat similar?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think it's, I mean, it's just I think it's one of those things where you know cover conversations have to continue and in everybody, it takes time, right? It takes time to absorb, you know, the true opportunity. Plus, you know, you're trying to get your arms around something that's growing immensely, and and the demands are are increasing, you know, the JPP commitments are continuing to increase, they're wanting more. And I think you hit on something early on in your response, where which is really important because there's there's sales and there's a relationship, right? There is, you know, return, you know, a return that drives the business from a numbers perspective, and then there's a drives the business because of a relationship, right? So there's, you know, and that we used to call that return on relationship. The challenge is it's hard to quantify return on relationship, but to be honest, that might be the most impactful way that you drive your business. If you are building the right relationship with, you know, your merchant and you are, you know, doing the things that the retailer needs you to do. And obviously, there's got to be a give and take. So I'm not saying you just say okay to everything, but there's a lot of give and take and you have a lot of good communication. I think that that goes a long way to things that aren't always as clear as I saw an ad, and I since I saw that ad, I resulted in this sale at this retailer at this moment, right? So, but everybody loves that, right? And that's why everybody loves retail media because the the idea is that's you can measure all of that, which again we'll talk about measurement later on, but that that's that's obviously not always the case. So, you know, it is it is still, I think, a work in progress. I think as brands understand and they get more involved in the space and they have uh an understanding. And I would also encourage brands that may not necessarily have access to a specific retailer because of their location or whatever, to go and visit that retailer and go on a store walk with somebody and at least you know, and I understand we talk a lot about e-commerce, but I think you can get a lot of perspective about e-commerce by walking the store. And so, because it is a multi-channel experience for most shoppers, right? Omnichannel, right? So it's a multi-channel experience. So you have to understand the store. You have to even do a sidewalk, right? So do a site walk and which is probably a little more convenient than finding a store and going there if you, if it's not in your area. But I think you know, having that, having some of those experiences definitely will, you know, help that understanding between brand and customer team or brand and retail team in order to really drive some of the opportunities because those are the things that happen in the margins, right? It's like these are the things because we feel good and we work together, we trust each other, we all all trying to be on the same page. Those are the things that come come together because of some of these other activities like site walks and store walks and you know, having conversations, having lunch, talking about these things. And so it's still a very relational business, even if we, you know, we're talking about dollars or ones and zeros, right?
SPEAKER_00Couldn't agree more. And I think that, you know, when you think about that, like the other side of the spectrum is for, you know, that's that's um, you know, as you go to the more of the sales team and you think about uh and the you know e-commerce teams, depending on the the company you're talking about, oftentimes one of the things that's also really good to put yourself in, particularly for a brand team, take one step back and think to yourself, particularly if you're in charge of certain retailers or segments, what is actually gonna drive a consumer to purchase? And again, not looking myopically to the retailer, but thinking greater scheme of your brand, what is gonna drive a consumer to purchase and where is their channel overlap? You know, all of us shop at multiple stores, right?
SPEAKER_01My you know, my question to you is like in in this world where there is all this pressure around retail media, um, you know, what your experiences have been and you know, when how have you advised people who have worked worked with you or worked for you on how to handle some of the the pressures from the speed of retail?
SPEAKER_00Yeah,
Handling Speed Pressure And Using AI
SPEAKER_00it's a it's a really good question. You know, one of my um one of my favorite parts about the job is is being a mentor and helping train individuals. You know, I was very lucky that I had a lot of good mentors um throughout my career. And what I try to tell anybody, whether they be someone directly under me and on my team or um, you know, someone in the space that I know, or even don't know when they just reach out and want to talk, is it's almost like being a doctor at this point. And I know that's such a weird comparison point because we're not saving lives. We certainly are not.
SPEAKER_01But we are just needing to remind my team of that quite often.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, but what we do have to do constantly is keep up with it. If you're a doctor and you don't keep up with medical releases, medical journals, et cetera, in five years, you won't even be able to keep your license. You will, you'll, you will lose it. You will lose your ability to practice medicine because it evolves so rapidly. And I would say that that's very similar to advertising, unfortunately, for us in the digital space is that you have to stay on top of it, or you will become outdated very quickly. And that's hard. It's really hard, especially because when you think about if you're a social commerce advertiser, you have a very myopic focus. It's social. It is whether it be the content creation side, the influencer side, the marketing side, it's it's social, right? Same thing with national media. It's it's consistently been the same thing for years. While it's evolving, what you can do with national media, the concept is the same. You are working within it. Retail media is this weird spider web. It now touches everything. It needs to play nice with national. It needs to play nice with social. Social needs to be able to drive to retailers where you need to have your retail media ready to capture that consumer when they get there. So all of a sudden, if you work in the retail media space, you have to kind of know it all and do it all, at least lightly, or you're going to fail. And that makes it undeniably difficult. And so for anybody out there who's in that position, it's all about taking a step back and saying, I am a human. I can only do so much. My job is to be the smartest I possibly can be at this and focus on the retail media aspects and make sure I understand the greater ecosystem. But I don't need to be an expert in it. I just need to understand it. How do they all play together? For leaders in the agency space and in the brand space who have these people on their teams and have, of course, high expectations. It's remembering again that they are human and that you need to create automation processes. You need to use this is where AI is going to be the most helpful, in my opinion, in this year, is going to be how can AI help retail media in particular and e-commerce be able to become much more of a systemized process and speak to the other avenues of advertising, social, national, et cetera, out of home and be able to do that in a more automated fashion so that your team members, your strategists can focus on what really matters, which is how do these marry together? What is my strategy for retail media? And how do I communicate that appropriately, but in a more automated approach with my peers? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. For me, you know, for me, you know, um, you know, with the individuals that I've I've worked with, you know, it's about for me, it's about been about empathy, um, you know, having having uh an empathetic conversation with them, under trying to understand what their struggles are and trying to, you know, to do the best you can in order to to to solve those those you know challenges. And I think that's you know, that's sometimes that's that's helpful, right? But at the end of the day, too, it's also, you know, you have to figure out ways to to take action. I do think, you know, not to say that AI is the answer for everything, but I do think that um AI can definitely help with reduction of the mental low to give you more space to do, you know, other things or think deeply or continue to research. So I I do think there's some some opportunity to reduce the uh the overwhelm with AI. And I think that's you know what a lot of people are are actually you know hoping for and looking for in the promise of of a of the AI to come for sure. So good good stuff. I appreciate you chase you sharing your your uh your perspective on on that.
SPEAKER_00So of course, yeah, and I I couldn't agree with you more. I think any the anyone who's like scared of AI, it's it's right to be a little fearful of it. But I do think that it will naturally actually help our jobs be easier as advertisers and as marketers, uh, versus replacing you. I I think it it could arguably replace more of the transactional lever pulling, but that doesn't replace the human, it just upscales the human into a different role.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yep, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely.
Bold Takes On AI And Retail Media
SPEAKER_01So, Toby, I know you haven't played bold vibes before, but uh basically this is how it goes. I'm gonna throw out some bold statements about retail media, some marketing, and just some other stuff as well. You're gonna have to give me your gut reaction to these statements. I have eight statements. Today. Um, I want you know just quick answers, uh, no overthinking, just like what are you what are your thoughts? All right. Okay. All right. Are you ready? Yeah. Let's do it. Okay. All right. First one. The CD AOL used to get people to sign up for internet was the best marketing ever. Agree. Agree. All right. CES is the best conference for the retail media industry because of timing, location, and attendees.
SPEAKER_00I disagree. I hate that it's at the beginning of the year.
SPEAKER_01Chat GPT will be more popular for new product discovery than TikTok. Ooh. Uh I disagree. LLMs will make more money from affiliate fees than from advertising this year.
SPEAKER_00Agree.
SPEAKER_01More retail media networks will be shut down than are created this year. Uh agree. Unfortunately, I agree with that. Man, I'm bringing the heat. I'm telling you. All right. AI-generated ads will become more prevalent and no one will care.
SPEAKER_00Also agree. Yeah, I think people will care in the beginning. I think within a year, no one won't give a crap.
SPEAKER_01All right. AI will have a bigger financial impact for retailers in the supply chain than retail media.
SPEAKER_00I also uh agree with that. Very much agree.
SPEAKER_01And finally, the last one retail media vibes will be nominated for a golden globe this this coming season. Oh, 100%. Easiest question of the bunch. Easiest question. Good job.
Thanks Email And Sign Off
SPEAKER_01That's a wrap on this episode of Retail Media Vibes. Huge thanks go out to my guests, Emma Curry, Sarah Gilmer, Lindsey Ham, Aaron Campbell, and Toby Wilson. I really appreciate them coming on and sharing their vibes and their insights in those shows. If you have any input for retail media vibes, you can always email me at retailmedia vibes at gmail.com. So with that, we're going to wrap the show. And as always, I promise to do better next time. Be the outfit.