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A Rethink Retail webinar recap featuring Lauren Bolles (Tesco Media) and Matt Nitzberg (Advantage Group International).
Every retail media network is chasing the same goal: turning ad inventory into a bigger share of a brand's marketing budget.
Getting there depends less on inventory and more on what happens between a retailer and the brands funding it. Ad dollars are discretionary in a way trade dollars never were. A brand team that feels well served renews and expands. A brand team that feels billed rather than partnered with quietly reallocates, and rarely explains why.That gap, between selling a campaign and earning the next one, is what this conversation is about. Lauren Bolles runs one of Europe's leading retail media businesses at Tesco. Matt Nitzberg brings the advertiser-side view from Advantage Group's global supplier research: the most collaborative retailers grow revenue 4.6%, while less collaborative peers decline 1.2%.
In retail media, that same dynamic decides whether a network plateaus at search ads and endcaps, or becomes a line item in a brand's national marketing plan. Here's a quick look at what came up, and where to watch the full conversation.
Four Takeaways from the Conversation
1. Brand marketing teams hold the budgets you haven't tapped yet
Most retail media revenue still comes from shopper marketing and trade budgets. The real growth sits one door over, with brand marketing teams who buy on reach, equity and full-funnel performance, not just ROAS. Lauren Bolles explains what it takes to get in the room.
2. Ad buys are transactional. Partnerships are ongoing investments.
A transactional network re-sells the same campaign every quarter. A partnership gets joint planning, a consistent point of contact and a shared view of success before the campaign is built. Matt Nitzberg breaks down why that shift changes who at the brand can say yes.
3. Advertiser relationships are the leading indicator of ad spend
The strongest predictor of next year's ad spend isn't performance data, it's the health of the relationship. Advertiser sentiment moves ahead of revenue, which is exactly what Advantage Group's Voice of Retail Media program is built to measure.
4. Transparency from day one is what earns the second year
Brands aren't asking for a perfect number, they're asking to see the same number the retailer sees, from day one. Lauren Bolles on why open reporting, not a mature product, is what earns the second year of budget.
Watch the full conversation. Lauren Bolles and Matt Nitzberg go deeper on all four of these, with the data and specifics we couldn't fit here. Watch the full session on demand: https://www.advantagegroup.com/beyond-the-transaction
