Colin Lewis is joined by three members of the Douglas Marketing Solutions team for an in-depth look at the beauty and health care giant's approach to retail media.

Heike Schneider, Lena Schütze and Nesma Abdel-Hamid explain the trends, innovation and agility of this inspirational sector. This episode stresses why "data is the engine" of retail media campaigns, and the move from the science of retail media to the art of it.

Joe Cano, SVP of digital ecommerce at Lowe's dropped by the Mirakl Cabana to speak to Colin Lewis, providing insight into the company's strategic initiatives to become the "total home solution" for customers.

Cano, with 25 years in retail and ecommerce, highlights Lowe's focus on customer experience and convenience, particularly through the expansion of their online marketplace. This marketplace dramatically increases product assortment, offering everything from basic screws to high-end saunas and trampolines, aiming to save customers time by providing a single destination for all home improvement needs.

This episode also covers innovation such as the integration of AI tools, including the Milo companion app for store associates and the customer-facing Milo website assistant. Hear how it is designed to reduce friction in the shopping journey by offering tailored product recommendations and DIY advice. Lowe's also demonstrates a commitment to the "pro" or trade customer through dedicated support and training programmes, reinforcing their position as a trusted resource.

Andrew Lipsman is an independent analyst and consultant at Media, Ads + Commerce. His industry coverage specialises in retail media—which he is known for anointing as “digital advertising’s third big wave”— and other areas of the digital media, advertising, and commerce ecosystem. He is also a founding advisor and strategist at retail media consultancy, Colosseum Strategy.

In this episode Lipsman argued that the future of retail media is, in essence, the future of all media. Lipsman stresses that transactional and retail data will become the foundational mechanism for targeting and measurement in the advertising landscape, moving beyond less reliable behavioural data. He elaborates on how retail media networks are evolving from lower-funnel performance to include upper-funnel formats and extend across various retail channels.

Lipsman further contends that retail media will redefine search, display, and even TV advertising by leveraging high-fidelity transaction data to prove true incrementality of sales and brand building, ultimately challenging traditional marketing metrics like Return on Ad Spend.

Roger Dunn, Global Lead for Retail Media at Diageo joins Colin Lewis to explore the multifaceted world of retail media within the alcoholic beverage sector, highlighting Dunn's extensive experience across agency, platform, and brand perspectives.

Key themes in this episode include the diverse challenges and opportunities in various global markets due to differing regulations and consumer purchasing habits, such as the distinction between "on-trade" (consumption at venues) and "off-trade" (retail purchases).

The conversation also touches on emerging trends like quick commerce and the strategic use of data in retail media, concluding with a light-hearted segment about Dunn's viral "meme lord" persona within the industry.

In a special episode, Colin Lewis collates the key lessons from Cannes Lions speaking with guests from Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Forrester, Rakuten and Symbiosys.

Recorded live at Mirakl Mornings event in Cabana 13 on Majestic Beach, Cannes, this episode features exclusive interviews conducted by Colin as well as soundbites from each of the speakers' presentations. Hear from Bashar Kachachi, founder and CEO of Symbiosys; Kristina Raptovaia
head of partnerships & advertising, Retail Media Lead at Rakuten France; Daniel Gospodinov, partner, EMEA Retail Media Lead at BCG; and Nikhil Lai principal analyst, performance marketing for Forrester.

This podcast episode sees Paul Stafford, Head of Retail Media at Superdrug, join Colin Lewis to detail their journey building a retail media network.

The discussion between Colin and Paul covers the internal complexities of establishing a new business unit within a large organisation, highlighting the need to engage various teams like finance, legal, IT, and HR, and crucially, bring trading teams on board.

It also explores the external facing challenges, including selecting ad tech partners, building a sales proposition, and understanding the diverse needs and structures of brand suppliers and media agencies. Stafford emphasises the importance of viewing retail media as a form of change management that requires tailoring approaches to different partners and constantly evolving the offering, including considering future expansions like marketplace and in-store screens.

This podcast episode sees Colin Lewis and Yara Daher delving into the evolution of retail media. Yara, an early figure in the field from her time at Hooklogic, shares how the industry began with sponsored products on retail sites and the challenges of convincing traditional retailers to adopt this new approach and attract media agency budgets.

The conversation then shifts to the current state of retail media, highlighting the need for the industry to "grow up" through standardisation and breaking down silos, before focusing on the critical topic of measurement and incrementality, as defined by the IAB Europe's measurement funnel.

Ekow Mensah, VP Retail Media at Secret Sales joins Colin Lewis to cover the necessity of aligning retail media strategy with a company's overall trade and product teams, rather than operating in isolation, likening it to building a "second business within the business".

Mensah shares his extensive experience, including launching eBay's international sponsored advertising product, and details the strategic approach to building a retail media business at Secret Sales, an off-price fashion and beauty marketplace.

A key focus is the importance of understanding seller needs, differentiating communication based on whether you're dealing with large brands or smaller owner-operators, and crucially, analysing data to demonstrate the tangible impact of advertising on GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) and margin contribution. Mensah also highlights the significance of seasonality.