Retail Media Breakfast Club

A couple of years ago, two neighborhood cats started visiting our house. We fed them, they kept coming back, and then one day they turned up wearing collars that said, “Do not feed unless starving.” It turned out we weren't the only ones feeding them: and nobody really knew who was feeding them, how often, or how much.
Brands have their own version of this problem. When they add up all the attributed sales from every retail media network they spend with, somehow the total can come out bigger than their actual sales. So when Albertsons and Best Buy launched new multi-touch attribution (MTA) capabilities within a week of each other, I wanted to understand what problem they were actually trying to solve. Are brands really asking for MTA? Why did MTA fall out of favor in broader marketing? And has retail media simply never moved beyond last-click attribution? 
In this episode, I expand upon my recent article for The Drum, and dig into what brands, consultants and the retailers themselves are saying. I also set up the bigger question I'll tackle in Part 2: even if retailer-operated MTA is in the retailers' interests, can it still be useful and credible for brands?

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:43] - Why retail media attribution can add up to more sales than brands actually have
[01:50] - Albertsons and Best Buy launch new multi-touch attribution capabilities
[03:22] - Why brands may be turning to media mix modeling and cross-network measurement instead
[04:15] - How privacy restrictions and ecosystem fragmentation helped push MTA out of favor
[07:47] - A CPG perspective on why MTA may not answer the incrementality question brands actually care about
[10:04] - What SharkNinja, EOS and other advertisers say they need from commerce media measurement
[11:00] - Why Best Buy and Albertsons say advertisers are asking for MTA

Links & Resources
On 17 September 2026, Albertsons Media Collective announced Retail Media Incrementality-Based Multi-Touch Attribution, built with LiveRamp and piloted by PepsiCo.
My article for The Drum: Why retail media networks are resurrecting multi-touch attribution
Skye Frontier, executive vice-president at Incremental, gave a valuable lesson about marketing mix models and MTA on the Measure Up podcast last year.
Follow Skye Frontier on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:This Agency Abandoned MTA, Here's Why
Retail Media's Measurement Problem: It's Not Just the Retailers
'Not 100% altruistic': ad measurement veteran on what retail media is really optimizing for
The Other Side of the Story: Why Retailers Struggle with Media Measurement & Standardization

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
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

I’m revisiting one of my most popular episodes from last year: the retail media doom loop. The basic idea is pretty simple — a retailer sees the ad revenue being generated by Amazon and Walmart, launches a retail media network, and quickly grows by moving existing trade and shopper marketing dollars onto a media line. But what happens when that easy growth runs out?
In this episode, I look at what the latest data and conversations with retail media leaders suggest about where the industry is actually headed in 2026 and beyond. I dig into why sponsored search and on-site display remain the backbone of retail media, why some of the industry’s newer “sparkly” offerings are struggling to gain adoption, and why the unglamorous work of fixing ad tech may matter far more than the flashy announcements getting all the attention.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:59] - What the latest eMarketer and Bain research says about retail media growth expectations in 2026
[01:52] - Why sponsored search and on-site display still dominate retail media ad spending
[03:04] - The “add sparkles” phase of the retail media doom loop — and why shiny new formats can distract from core problems
[04:00] - How a legacy ad server created major forecasting problems for one mid-sized retail media network
[05:15] - The hidden cost of manual retail media operations and the potential for missed seven-figure ad opportunities
[06:43] - Why creators and off-site media are struggling to gain adoption among some brands
[08:41] - What consolidation could mean for the future of commerce media

Links & Resources
Sarah Marzano, principal analyst for retail and commerce media at EMARKETER, presented findings from work with Bain at Groceryshop last week.
Follow Sarah Marzano on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:The Retail Media Doom Loop
Why Good Retailers Make Bad Ad Tech Decisions (The Drum)
The Hallucination Is That Everything Is Just Fine As It Is
Are RMNs finally getting the hang of this collaboration thing?

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
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

AI is becoming part of how we shop, but how much do consumers actually trust what an AI assistant recommends? In this episode, I’m digging into two new research studies — one from Acosta Group, and one I conducted with Bazaarvoice — to explore what shoppers really think about AI-powered shopping recommendations, advertising, brand discovery, and trust.
I’ll walk through what happens when shoppers encounter ads inside AI tools, why consumers are increasingly taking a “trust but verify” approach, and how AI is changing the way people research products both online and inside physical stores. I’ll also look at what all of this means for challenger brands, established brands, and retailers as AI increasingly becomes part of the shopping journey.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[02:13] - Why shoppers are concerned that advertising could influence AI recommendations
[05:23] - The rise of “trust but verify” as consumers increasingly use AI for shopping research
[07:18] - How AI is becoming a second opinion for shoppers right in the store aisle
[10:22] - Why AI could make consumers more willing to discover and switch to unfamiliar brands
[13:15] - The opportunity for challenger brands — and why reviews and other proof points matter
[14:42] - Why established brands’ first-click advantage may only be temporary
[15:03] - The changing role of retailers as shoppers use AI to validate prices, products, availability, and reviews

Links & Resources
Here's the link to download the full Bazaarvoice consumer study that I co-authored: What Is a Brand Worth When AI Does the Shopping
Don't miss my October 6, 2026 webinar with Bazaarvoice CMO Doug Straton, where we'll present highlights of the research. It's short, sharp and built for brands of all sizes and categories. Register here.
Learn about Bazaarvoice, a platform that collects, syndicates, and optimizes UGC across retailers, all in one place.
New research from Acosta Group: AI-Driven Shopping Evolves. Fielded May 15–21, 2026 among 1,271 US shoppers of at least one retail channel in the prior three months. 
Check out WPP: Who owns the learning? by Ad industry veteran John Ebbert, who founded AdExchanger and now writes the tipsheet.ai newsletter.
Read my related articles:Shoppers think that AI's answers are for sale
Maybe Ads in AI Don't Have To Suck?
I Really, Really Hoped That Ads in AI Wouldn't Suck. Now We Find Out.
AI Makes Shopping Easier. But Shoppers Still Check The Receipts.

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
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

Retail media is a creative wasteland. That’s the catchy line coming out of Ipsos’ new Creativity Over Clicks research. And honestly, my first reaction was to get my hackles up. But once I slowed down and looked at what the data was actually saying, I realized the report was confirming something many retail media practitioners have known for a long time: the creative looks the way it does for some very rational reasons.
In this episode, I unpack what Ipsos’ research tells us about retail media creative, shopper mindset, measurement, and the tension between brand building and bottom-of-funnel performance. I also look at where I think retail media has an opportunity to go further, particularly when it comes to video, premium formats, and reaching shoppers who aren't already in market. 
Is retail media really a creative wasteland? Or have we simply been optimizing for what the channel can measure?

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:00] - Why the “creative wasteland” framing initially got my hackles up
[01:11] - Why retail media attracts a more data-driven, performance-focused mindset
[02:06] - Why retail media ads are 47% less likely to be remembered, and how shopper mindset explains it
[03:07] - How measurement shapes creative choices and keeps retail media focused on the bottom of the funnel
[04:22] - Why video outperforms display across key brand metrics
[06:18] - The surprising impact of creative quality on undecided and out-of-market shoppers
[07:17] - Why retail media shouldn't simply copy the “best practices” of traditional media

Links & Resources
Ipsos' new retail media research: Creativity over Clicks
Subscribe to Andrew Lipsman's newsletter Media, Ads + Commerce
Read my related articles:Why Do Brand Marketers Love To Hate On Retail Media?
The ‘How Brands Grow’ Dogma Wants To Have A Word With Retail Media
Challenger Brands: Being Heavy On Sponsored Products Is a Feature, Not a Bug

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

I recently spent a week in Poland on a family trip, and while I didn't have nearly as much time for retail media recon as I would have liked, I came away with a few observations that I found genuinely fascinating. From the country's enormous network of parcel lockers being turned into advertising surfaces, to the surprising density of Żabka convenience stores, there is a lot happening in Polish retail and commerce media.
In this episode, I walk through four things that caught my attention on the ground: the emergence of parcel lockers as an out-of-home media network, what I observed about connected TV and retail destinations, Żabka's rapidly expanding in-store digital network, and Rossmann's huge footprint of digital screens. I also dig into how differences in privacy regulation between Europe and the US can shape the media opportunities available to retailers and advertisers.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[01:24] - Discovering Poland's extraordinary network of 73,000 parcel lockers
[03:00] - How parcel lockers accidentally became a new out-of-home advertising surface
[04:09] - Seeing P&G CTV ads with Polish retail destinations like Allegro and Media Expert
[06:01] - How GDPR and US privacy regulations create different retail media dynamics
[08:01] - Why Żabka has more than 13,000 stores — and what I noticed about its growing in-store media network
[10:00] - Exploring Żabka's digital screens and the early stages of its third-party advertising business
[11:26] - Rossmann's 6,000 screens and its move toward programmatic in-store media

Links & Resources
Read the blog version of this piece for photos of the retail media activations I saw in Poland
Read my related articles:Trip Report: Retail & Commerce Media Activations in Australia
The UK Takes A Run At Retail Media Aggregation
In-Store Retail Media Evolved Differently in Europe. Here's Why.

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
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