In this week’s TWIRM, we set our sights on both the sunny future of in-store data measurement and the sun-kissed French Riviera.

TWIRM, of course, is the This Week in Retail Media podcast, and this week Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, chats with a very special guest, the smart and savvy Sarah Marzano, Principal Analyst at EMARKETER. 

Before Sarah packs her bags for her first-ever Cannes Lions, she helps us unpack the retail media and commerce trends that are front of mind ahead of the festival, which is taking place at the Palais de des Congrès from June 16 to 20. The 2025 edition is expected to draw more than 15,000 attendees, including brand executives, agency leaders, and media and technology professionals from more than 97 countries, all eager to mix, mingle and explore the ever-expanding retail media landscape.

One exciting trend that has caught Sarah’s eye is how technology is unlocking the “black box” of in-store data measurement and how that might impact retail media spending. “We know the majority of consumer spending still takes place in-store,” she notes, “but that doesn’t mean that advertisers are able to make budget materialize overnight. There’s so much potential for physical stores to act as full-funnel campaign environments, but the measurement piece is going to be quite complex.”

And Sarah will be diving deep into those complexities on the Croisette at STRATACACHE’s VIP Retail Media Measurement Breakfast on Wednesday, June 18. She’ll be moderating a discussion of the current state of in-store advertising measurement and analytics with brand leaders and industry experts, including Collin Colburn of IAB, Liz Roche of Albertsons, Kristen DiCorleto of CVS, and Ben Reynolds of Walkbase.

“We have such a great lineup of panelists,” Sarah shares. “I’m really excited because we’re going to hear firsthand from folks who are embedded in retailer organizations and thinking through how to make in-store retail media work within their vast footprints.”

Click here to listen in on Kate and Sarah’s pre-Cannes discussion.