Retail Media Breakfast Club

After taking a few weeks completely offline, I'm back! And surprisingly, being out of the loop has been one of the best things I could have done. In this episode, I share why disconnecting from retail media, AI headlines, LinkedIn, and industry news gave me a fresh perspective on both my work and the consumers we're all trying to serve.
I also give you a personal update on my family's move back to Australia, what's ahead for Retail Media Breakfast Club this season, the projects I'm most excited about, and why I'm doubling down on what's already working instead of chasing every shiny new opportunity. If you've ever felt like our industry moves faster than reality, I think you'll enjoy this episode.
This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:00] What I learned by completely unplugging.
[01:09] Why being "out of the loop" reminded me that industry urgency often isn't real life.
[02:15] Reconnecting with the mindset of the everyday consumer and why that's so important for retail media.
[05:45] An update on my family's move back to Perth, Australia, and settling into our new chapter.
[06:45] Why I'm avoiding shiny object syndrome and focusing on sustainable growth for the rest of the year.
[07:46] The projects I'm most excited about, including funny industry videos, GrowthLoop, Basket Case, and rediscovering Australian retail.
Links & Resources
Broadsign and Mirakl Ads partner to help retailers deliver a more unified shopper experience
Grocery Dive: Albertsons turns to microdramas for new retail media offering
Read my related articles:When Sam's Club "Connects" With Walmart, What Actually Connects?
Cannes Field Notes: stock tracking, creator networks & a Dollar General DOOH first
PayPal Ads had nothing to announce at Cannes. That was the point.
Cannes Confessionals #1: Where are all the brands?

I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn
The Books
When dreaming of my European vacation I only had one vision in mind: park my butt on various beaches, eat great food, and read a fat stack of novels. On these metrics, the vacation was a huge success. I didn’t have any luggage space for souvenirs, but I gained some souvenir weight (!!) and made a solid contribution to my Goodreads “read” list. Here are my faves:
Rosie and Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott. Somehow I missed that this is a 3-part series and skipped the second book. No matter. Both books were gripping portrayals of the ups and downs of family life and are able to stand alone.
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Never got around to watching the film, and I’m really glad I didn’t because the book was excellent. A master feat of taking a very unsavory and unlikeable protagonist and somehow making you want them to succeed.
The Calloway Tetralogy by Jay McInerney. Poignant but entertaining (and at times very funny) character study of a yuppie couple living in New York City, set over several decades. Another example of anti-heroes that you grow to love. Told across four novels which again somehow, I failed to read in order.

Every year, Cannes Lions promises to bring the advertising world together. But if you work in retail media, you've probably noticed that our corner of the industry heads home long before the festival's biggest creative awards are handed out. After hosting an invite-only breakfast with Mirakl Ads on Thursday morning, I wanted to share the conversations that stuck with me before everyone scattered back home.
In this episode, I unpack why the gap between commerce and creativity still exists, where I saw genuine progress this year, and why in-store retail media, measurement, and creative storytelling dominated the discussion. From Dollar General's approach to bringing leadership into the conversation, to Albertsons' bold experiment with original branded content, there are signs that retail media is evolving: but not necessarily in the ways many expected.

This episode is sponsored by Mirakl Ads

Timeline
[00:00] Why the commerce crowd leaves Cannes before the festival's biggest creative moments.
[02:14] My biggest takeaway from this year's Cannes: fewer retailers, stronger side conversations, and why the divide still exists.
[03:15] Why Dollar General Media Network's decision to bring its CMO could signal an important shift for retail media leadership.
[04:30] The real challenge with in-store retail media: why not every screen is actually valuable advertising inventory.
[06:41] Mirakl Ads and Broadsign announce a partnership aimed at unifying online and in-store retail media campaigns (and the measurement questions that remain).
[07:21] Albertsons and P&G's scripted series Rico's Tacos offers a glimpse into how retail media data could shape creative work from the very beginning.

Links & Resources
Broadsign and Mirakl Ads partner to help retailers deliver a more unified shopper experience
Grocery Dive: Albertsons turns to microdramas for new retail media offering
Read my related articles:When Sam's Club "Connects" With Walmart, What Actually Connects?
Cannes Field Notes: stock tracking, creator networks & a Dollar General DOOH first
PayPal Ads had nothing to announce at Cannes. That was the point.
Cannes Confessionals #1: Where are all the brands?

I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

Fresh from Cannes Lions, I'm unpacking one of the biggest themes that kept surfacing across analyst discussions: retail media's greatest obstacles aren't external — they're internal. While everyone is focused on AI, tariffs, and the next wave of disruption, the conversations I heard pointed somewhere much closer to home. Misaligned organizations, inconsistent measurement, and teams speaking the same language but meaning completely different things may be holding retail media back more than any emerging technology.
I also share highlights from an analyst panel featuring Sarah Marzano, Andrew Lipsman, Debbie Aho Williamson and myself. We debated "dark search," AI-assisted shopping, attribution, and whether generative AI is fundamentally changing commerce, or simply accelerating trends that were already underway. If you're trying to understand where retail media is headed next, this episode connects the dots.

This episode is sponsored by Mirakl Ads

Timeline
[01:00] eMarketer's forecast: Retail media surpasses $100 billion, and why slower growth could actually signal maturity.
[02:16] The "same words, different forks" analogy explains why brands, retailers, and media teams keep talking past one another.
[03:49] I share my perspective on "dark search" and how AI assistants are quietly reshaping product discovery before shoppers ever reach a retailer.
[05:25] Andrew Lipsman challenges the "dark search" narrative, arguing the real issue is attribution, not visibility.
[07:09] Our debate turns to agentic commerce: Is AI changing shopping behavior or simply improving search?
[08:30] Debbie Aho Williamson shares real-world ChatGPT shopping examples and early advertising data that could reshape how retailers think about discovery.

Links & Resources
Thanks to Sensor Tower for inviting me to speak at this event. You can check out their retail media insghts offering here.
US retail media passes $100 billion by 2029
eMarketer's survey of RMN leaders, run with Bain
Reality Check(mate), Andrew Lipsman's most recent volley
Sensor Tower numbers on early ChatGPT advertising
Read my related articles:The Demons Inside Retail Media, Part 1: GROWTH
Does 'Dark Search' Help or Harm Retail Media?

I am sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

When I sat down with Harvey Ma at Cannes Lions this week, I wanted to understand what was really happening behind Walmart’s announcement that it was bringing Walmart Connect, Walmart Connect International, and Sam’s Club’s retail media business into closer alignment. On the surface, it looks like a straightforward consolidation storY. But as Harvey explained, the reality is much more nuanced.
In this episode, I unpack what the new Sam’s Club Connect brand means for advertisers, how Walmart and Sam’s Club plan to share technology and measurement capabilities, and why maintaining distinct shopper experiences may be more important than achieving scale. I also explore the surprising differences between Walmart shoppers and Sam’s Club members, and what this tells us about the future of retail media consolidation.

This episode is sponsored by Mirakl Ads

Timeline
00:24 – Walmart announces a major restructuring of its global advertising business, bringing Walmart Connect and Sam’s Club closer together.
02:05 – What the launch of Sam’s Club Connect actually means and why “operate separately, increasingly aligned” is the key phrase to understand.
03:31 – Harvey explains how Sam’s Club’s deterministic member data creates a unique measurement advantage that can benefit Walmart.
04:10 – How Sam’s Club’s experiential retail media expertise—from demos to sampling—could influence Walmart’s broader strategy.
06:19 – Harvey shares why the overlap between Walmart shoppers and Sam’s Club members may be much smaller than advertisers assume.
07:57 – The biggest misconception about the announcement: why Walmart isn’t trying to create “one blob” of retail media.
09:05 – What the Sam’s Club Connect rebrand reveals about retail media consolidation, commerce media networks, and the limits of scale.

Links & Resources
Follow Harvey Ma, VP & GM, Sam’s Club Connect Retail Media, on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:'Not A Tax': How Sam's Club Is Fixing Retail Media's Trust Problem (Forbes)
Sam's Club Cracked the Code on In-Store Retail Media—Here's How They Did It
Sam's Club Bets Big on 'Experiential' Retail Media
What if there really are too many commerce media networks?

I am sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

I’m coming to you once again from Cannes, this time from the PayPal Ads Café on the Croisette. It’s been a whirlwind few days here, not just in terms of meetings and panels, but also the unexpected number of conversations I’m having about my upcoming move from the U.S. back to Australia. Let’s just say the global retail media community has opinions.
In today’s dispatch, I’m sharing early signals from Cannes around agentic media buying, retail data infrastructure, and the evolving intersection of creators and retail media. From Walmart’s latest moves with Sam’s Club Connect, to how CPGs are thinking about data lakes and in-store stock accuracy, to the rise of hyper-local creative and 3D digital out-of-home, there’s a lot shaping what comes next for retail media.

This episode is sponsored by Mirakl Ads

Timeline
[00:00] Kicking off from Cannes: reflections from the PayPal Ads Café and the unexpected reactions to my move back to Australia.
[00:45] A preview of tomorrow’s conversation with Harvey Ma from Sam’s Club Connect and Walmart’s broader retail media rebrand and strategy shift.
[01:27] Early CPG thinking on agentic media buying, including using data lakes for in-store stock tracking before even applying it to advertising use cases.
[03:15] The rise of creator-led retail media strategies: how major retailers like Walmart, Amazon, Target, and Kroger are building creator networks and evolving affiliate models.
[06:15] Nestlé, Dollar General, and Big Happy showcase how hyper-local creative, dynamic optimization, and 3D digital out-of-home are reshaping retail media execution.
[09:00] Final reflections from Cannes and what I’ll be digging into next, including upcoming interviews and behind-the-scenes conversations.

Links & Resources
Recent Big Happy announcement on Adweek: Big Happy Launches Dynamic Creative Optimization for 3D DOOH
Subscribe to The CPG Guys podcast on Apple Podcasts
Follow Nicole Lesinski, Director, eCommerce Strategy @ Nestlé on LinkedIn
Follow Tony Rogers, CMO @ Dollar General Media Network, on LinkedIn 
Follow Gabby Stoller, CRO @ Big Happy, on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:The Last Mile of America: Inside Austin Leonard's Plan For Dollar General Media Network
Everyone's Going Gaga Over Creators. I Had Some Questions.
Agentic Shopping Might Seem Crazy. So Did Self-Service Supermarkets.

I am sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Catch me at Cannes 2026, check out all my Events
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn