All Episodes
My RampUp Notes: Why Data Collaboration Is Winning Ad Budgets
Last week I shared some of the hallway chatter from the RampUp conference. And in this episode, I’m emptying the rest of my notebook. One theme kept surfacing everywhe...
How Nestlé Decides Which Retail Media Networks Get Budget (And Why They Compare Them to Google & Meta)
Last week at the LiveRamp RampUp conference, I moderated a panel with DoorDash Ads’ Peter Giordano and Nestlé’s Nicole Lesinski. The conversation revealed something th...
PDP the New Homepage? How AI Shopping Is Reshaping Retail Media & Ecommerce [Agentic Commerce Expert Series Part 2 of 4]
In episode 2 of this four-part Agentic Commerce Expert Series (sponsored by Mirakl Ads), we explore how AI is quietly reshaping the way consumers shop online, and why ...
Dirty Secrets of Retail Media: 5 Ethical Dilemmas Brands Need to Know
Today I'm recapping a recent article I published on The Drum and digging into some of the ethical dilemmas emerging inside the retail media industry. The conversation ...
AI, Retail Media & First-Party Data: What Everyone Is Really Saying After RampUp 2026
I just got back from LiveRamp’s RampUp conference, one of the most interesting gatherings in commerce media right now. If you work in retail media, data collaboration,...
Why Retail Media Can’t Unlock Brand Budgets (Until Brands Fix This One Thing)
Retail media networks want brand dollars — that part isn’t new. But what is new (and honestly, under-discussed) is the uncomfortable reality that many brands are struc...
AI Shopping Is Here: How LLMs Are Rewriting Retail Discovery [Agentic Commerce Expert Series Part 1 of 4]
LLMs aren’t just answering questions anymore: they’re becoming the very first step of the shopping journey. In the kickoff episode of this four-part Agentic Commerce E...
US vs EU Retail Media: The 5 Structural Barriers Reshaping In-Store Advertising
I wasn’t expecting a transatlantic debate when I published a piece about Sam's Club’s in-store retail media success. But what followed was a lively pushback from Europ...
Retail Media 3.0: Why AI & Agentic Commerce Could Spark the Golden Era of Advertising
Tom I’m sharing highlights from a conversation I had on the Retailgentic podcast with Scot Wingo, one of the sharpest thinkers tracking agentic commerce and how AI is ...
ROAS Refuses to Die: The Retail Media Measurement Problem No One Wants to Fix
Every parent has drawn a line in the sand and declared war on screen time… until 5:00 PM hits and the iPad comes flying in to remedy a meltdown so you can make dinner....
AI Won’t Kill Advertising: The Bull Case
Last week, a viral report predicting an AI-driven economic collapse rattled financial markets. And honestly, I understand why it spread so fast. The 2028 Global Intell...
Dark Search & Broken Retail Media Signals: How AI Shopping Is Reshaping the Future of Commerce
Every major disruption in retail follows the same pattern: a constraint gets removed, customers win, and the incumbent’s profit engine breaks. In this episode, I conne...
Retail Media Standards Showdown: Why Brands Want Them (And Why Retailers Push Back)
Today I’m diving into one of the biggest debates in retail media right now: brands are demanding standardization, and retailers are saying it’s not that simple. So… do...
AI Is Already Disrupting Retail Media Via 'Dark Search' Traffic
I’ve been ringing the bell about AI disrupting retail media for a while now. The pushback I keep hearing is, “Show me the traffic.” And yes, when you look at last-clic...
AI Is Stealing the Browse: How Retail Media Wins the Data War in the Age of ChatGPT
A year ago, just 7% of website referrals to U.S. retailer sites came from ChatGPT. By October 2025, that number had more than doubled to 16%. And it’s not just ecommer...
Why Top Brands Are Building Their Own Retail Media Operating Systems (And Winning in 2026)
Here’s a riddle for you: what’s ugly, chaotic, color-coded, constantly changing but absolutely essential? If you guessed the family calendar, you’re correct. But I’m a...
OpenAI Ads Inside ChatGPT: What It Means for Retail Media, Trust & the Future of AI Advertising
I really, really hoped that ads in AI wouldn’t suck. And now… we’re starting to find out.In this episode, I break down what we’ve learned about how ads are actually sh...
In-Store Experiential Retail Media: The 3X Sales Lift Brands Can’t Agree on Who Should Fund
When in-store retail media is done right, it can deliver something digital ads simply can’t: a multisensory brand experience that drives immediate sales and long-term ...