When Netflix cozies up to Amazon and Google holds hands with Criteo, it’s clear that retail media has entered its “it’s complicated” era. This week, TWIRM celebrates 40 episodes by musing over two high-profile industry couplings that defy traditional matchmaking logic.
TWIRM, as every savvy retail media maven knows, is the This Week in Retail Media podcast, where Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, and Jonathan Rosen, STRATACACHE’s Global EVP of Retail Media Strategy, reach across the pond to discuss three retail media stories that intrigue them, excite them and, sometimes, even make them ask, “Say what now?”
This week’s TWIRM is puzzling out two widely reported deals set to shake up the advertising ecosystem of who can buy what, where and how. Streaming giant Netflix is opening its premium ad inventory to programmatic buyers via Amazon’s DSP, while Google is teaming up with Criteo to bring retail media assets into its Search Ads 360 platform.
What’s behind these erstwhile competitors becoming cozy collaborators? For Jonathan, the Netflix-Amazon hook-up “means that retail media and streaming are converging in a much deeper way,” while Kate sees the Criteo-Google partnership as a sign that “retail media is just media now.”
From unpacking these unlikely couplings, Kate and Jonathan take stock of Sam’s Club’s ambitious retail media maneuvers as it expands both its retail footprint and digital presence. Lastly, they suit up to discuss the brand implications of Ralph Lauren’s AI-powered styling assistant that makes fashion recommendations through natural language prompts.
Click here to listen to Kate and Jonathan size up the latest retail media couplings—and to bop along with TWIRM’s new AI-composed theme music. Say “Amen”!
