This article was based on the interview with Dave Simon, President of In-Store Marketplace (ISM) by Greg Kihlström, AI and MarTech keynote speaker for The Agile Brand with Greg Kihlström podcast. Listen to the original episode here:
Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are no longer the new kid on the block; they are a multi-billion-dollar line item on nearly every CPG P&L. The promise was alluring: leverage rich, first-party shopper data to reach consumers at the point of purchase. Yet, for many seasoned marketing leaders, the reality has been more complicated.
The initial gold rush has given way to a sobering awareness that the digital advertising playbook we perfected over the last decade doesn’t translate neatly into the complex world of retail. The tools are different, the data is walled off, and the internal politics between trade and media teams feel like a throwback to a bygone era.
The friction is palpable. We’re attempting to graft high-speed programmatic workflows onto an ecosystem built on decades of handshake deals and trade promotions. We’re chasing ROAS figures from different networks that measure success in wildly different ways, making apples-to-apples comparisons nearly impossible. And we’re being sold the dream of AI-driven optimization while struggling with the foundational challenge of data access and standardization. The path forward isn’t about finding a better DSP or a slicker dashboard. It requires a fundamental rethinking of strategy, a willingness to challenge internal structures, and a pragmatic approach to technology. It’s time to move beyond the tactics and build a truly integrated retail media strategy.
The War Over Budgets: Unifying a Fractured Strategy
One of the most significant—and frankly, frustrating—hurdles for brands is the internal chasm between trade marketing and the burgeoning retail media teams. These groups often operate with different budgets, different KPIs, and different organizational philosophies. This isn’t just an accounting issue; it’s a strategic blind spot. Applying a simple programmatic approach to RMNs without addressing this core conflict is like trying to upgrade a car’s engine without connecting it to the transmission. As Dave Simon, who saw a similar evolution during the early days of web advertising, explains, the current approach is often tactical and disconnected from broader business objectives.
“What we haven’t seen yet is a brand come up with a strategy that says, okay, I have a new product packaging, I have a new KPI, I have a new sales objective. How do I achieve that objective across the entire set of products that these retail media networks have? …The fact is that there’s no unified sitdown to say, how do I achieve your objectives? And part of that is because the retail media networks don’t really know how well each of their products perform.”
Simon’s point highlights a critical gap. Brands are buying RMN inventory as another line item—a performant one, perhaps—but not as an integrated component of a holistic sales strategy. The solution isn’t necessarily a massive, painful reorganization to merge trade and media overnight. A more pragmatic starting point is to identify a single, high-stakes “tentpole” initiative—a major product launch or a seasonal campaign like the Olympics—and mandate a unified strategy. By defining a clear, overarching business goal that neither team can achieve in isolation, you force collaboration. This approach allows a brand to test a new operating model, prove its value on a contained project, and build the business case for a more permanent structural alignment. The onus is on brand leadership to define the mission that transcends the silos.
Seizing Control of the Measurement Narrative
For leaders accustomed to standardized metrics, the measurement landscape in retail media can feel like the Wild West. Each network presents its own version of the truth, with proprietary methodologies for calculating key metrics like Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). This lack of standardization makes it impossible to conduct a true portfolio analysis, leaving brands to make significant investment decisions based on inconsistent and opaque data. The instinct may be to wait for an industry body to impose order, but that is a passive and ultimately ineffective stance. The power to create clarity lies with the brands themselves.
“If you buy from three different retail media networks…the methodology for determining ROAS is different by each three of those. And by the way, none of those three line up to your own internal measurement scheme… I think somebody has to take the leap of faith to unmask what’s going on…from my perspective, the brand is the one that should say, okay, guys, here’s how I’m measuring you. Here’s exactly how it works.”
This is a call to action. Instead of being passive recipients of disparate reports, brand leaders must become the arbiters of measurement. This means defining your own framework for success, whether it’s developed in-house or with a trusted third-party partner, and requiring your RMN partners to report against it. It involves asking tough questions about their methodologies: What’s the attribution window? Are you using a test and control group? How do you account for incrementality? By dictating the terms of measurement, you shift the dynamic from tactical vendor to strategic partner. You use the leverage of your budget not just to buy impressions, but to demand the transparency needed to make intelligent, cross-platform investment decisions.
AI’s Real Job: From Buzzword to Business Utility
The term “AI” is thrown around so liberally in MarTech that it has lost much of its meaning. In the context of retail media, it’s often presented as a black-box solution for campaign optimization. A more grounded perspective, however, sees AI not as a magic wand but as a powerful tool for solving specific, foundational business problems. Before AI can optimize media spend, it must first help organize the chaotic data streams that define the retail environment.
“I don’t know what AI in retail media means. I think it’s going to mean a dozen different things. And so what I’m looking for and what I’ve seen so far are individual use cases being solved… The AI system that connects point of sale to media execution, that’s where the real lift and sales volume can happen. And that’s a unique thing that e-commerce can’t really do the same way that that in store can.”
Simon’s pragmatic view is a necessary corrective to the industry hype. The most potent applications of AI in retail today aren’t in bidding algorithms alone, but in connecting operational data to marketing execution. Consider the challenge of inventory management. An AI system can process point-of-sale, loyalty card, and supply chain data to predict when shelves need restocking. Once that data infrastructure is in place, connecting it to the ad platform becomes the next logical step. Imagine being able to automatically trigger in-store audio ads or digital endcap promotions for a product that is overstocked, using media not just for brand building, but as a real-time lever to manage inventory and drive sales volume. This is where the true power lies: using AI to build a nervous system that links supply, demand, and messaging in a self-reinforcing loop.
The journey to RMN maturity will be a multi-year evolution, not an overnight transformation. It took the better part of two decades for the industry to navigate the transition from traditional television to programmatic CTV; we are only a few years into the retail media revolution. The path forward requires patience, but more importantly, it demands a change in posture from brand leaders. We must move from being tactical buyers of a new media channel to being strategic architects of a new, integrated sales ecosystem. This means actively breaking down internal silos, taking ownership of the measurement framework, and deploying technology to solve concrete business challenges.
Ultimately, a mature retail media network is defined not by its scale, but by its predictability. The end state is a partnership where a brand can confidently invest a dollar and know, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the sales volume it will generate across the retailer’s entire footprint—on-site, off-site, and critically, in-store. This is the holy grail: closing the loop between media exposure and a product moving off a physical shelf. For all the focus on digital, we must not forget that for most CPGs, over 80% of sales still happen in a brick-and-mortar environment. The true opportunity of retail media lies in finally connecting our sophisticated digital marketing capabilities to that last, most important mile of the customer journey.
