Time For A Reset Marketing Podcast: Insights from Global Brand Marketers · Overline

Episode 77 - The Retail Media Reality in UK vs. US: AI, Collaboration, and Innovation., Insights from Leaders at Boots., Tesco, Nectar360, and Ocado Retail

·36 min·2 clips

Tesco is moving from 'pick and mix inventory types' to connected full-funnel campaigns.

1. Time For A Reset Marketing Podcast Episode 77 focuses on retail media in the UK versus the US, with MadFest 2024 as the setting. 2. Paul Frampton-Colero hosts Tash Whitmey, Olly Shaler, Ben O'Mahoney, and Amir Rasek, who lead Tesco Retail Media, Boots UK, Ocado Retail, and Nectar 360. 3. The episode asks what retail media is for when growth, AI, collaboration, and customer experience all pull in different directions. 4. Tash Whitmey says the US retail media market is highly dynamic, has about 50 networks, and is dominated by Amazon, Kroger, Target, and Walmart. 5. Whitmey contrasts that with the UK, where Tesco still has at least 17 million customers doing most of their shopping in store. 6. Olly Shaler says the US has huge scale, including 120 million loyalty card customers and 9,000 stores, which makes audience activation fast but not simple. 7. Shaler argues that the UK advantage is consumer-insight-driven customer engagement and integrated campaigns across multiple touchpoints. 8. Ben O'Mahoney says US self-serve and omnichannel activation are influencing UK expectations because advertisers want more control. 9. Amir Rasek says the US scale is useful for inspiration, but chasing the size of the market can distract from what retail media needs to do for customers and clients. 10. Whitmey says Tesco is shifting from 'pick and mix inventory types' to connected campaigns that run through the full funnel. 11. She links that shift to three outcomes: better customer experience, retail and brand growth, and revenue for the media business. 12. Whitmey also says creativity is often forgotten in retail media, even though it matters for scaled evolution. 13. Rasek says the industry has moved from hype to reality and that trust now depends on measurement that shows returns. 14. He says Boots has moved from proving return to measuring purchase cycles, new-to-brand impact, and online versus offline effects. 15. Rasek says standardization around measurement would be a major step forward for the UK market. 16. He also says Nectar 360 tests placements through a Nectar panel and switches off placements when engagement is weak. 17. The panel treats AI as a practical tool for querying audiences, making platforms more accessible, and speeding up data-driven decisions. 18. Shaler says AI will also matter for creative generation, rapid testing, and predictive performance during campaigns. 19. The discussion is interview-based and panel-led, with a practical, collaborative tone rather than a debate format. 20. Listeners interested in UK retail media, omnichannel strategy, and ad tech will get the most from it; listeners wanting a pure consumer-brand case study may skip it.

As heard by us

A grounded look at retail media growth, where customer experience still sets the limits.

The panel treats retail media as a business discipline, and it is clear that the category now depends on keeping the customer experience additive. Senior UK retail media leaders keep the focus on a practical question: how to grow revenue without losing sight of the shopper.

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Why you'd press play

You want the practical reality behind retail media growth.

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