Pete Robins, Founder, Project5 and a London-based media leader who has worked with media agencies since the mid 90s and specifically with adtech led media looks beyond the buy to the shifting focus to strategic retail media planning
We all know that Retail Media has quickly become one of the most talked-about media options for brand advertiser. The size and growth of the market tells us this.
Retailers are packaging media inventory and actively pointing out what brands and agencies can now buy.
However, much of the focus is still on activation and ad-ops – the ‘what.’ For some success is often measured in getting something live, then reporting a few surface-level results.
That’s no longer enough.
If advertisers want Retail (and Commerce) Media to deliver worthwhile business outcomes, rather than just another line on the media plan, the emphasis will need to shift toward next-generation media planning.
The initial question for media isn’t “what can I buy?” but “why should I buy it?”.
Take just one example of OOH/DOOH options linked to a retailer:
- near-store screens
- at-store placements
- in-store displays
- in-aisle digital panels.
Each is a fixed location with a variable audience. Which ad impression matters most and when? The one before the store, the one at the entrance, or the one right at the shelf? Or some weighted mix? How does that differ by category, store cluster, or shopper behaviour?
Answering these questions requires planning – the less you plan, the more you guess the more you risk. It also requires linking Retail Media with other media as no media works in isolation.
Perhaps the most effective Retail Media approach doesn’t begin in-tore at all, but on a TV the night before, or on a mobile feed while somebody is planning a shop. Planning defines how the parts work together and ensures budgets are applied to the moments that actually shift behaviour.
Easy to say, hard to do
The wider media industry has already gone through this transformation. For a long time agencies thrived by selling labour, rate negotiation and priority access.
Today the landscape is shaped by tech-driven buying systems, data, software skills — and increasingly AI.
Around 80% of all media is already delivered through some form of technology. Yet only a minority of practitioners — both agency and client side — have truly kept pace. Many still rely on outdated models, weak “cheap reach” tactics, or the false comfort of oversimplification.
Retail Media is intrinsically built differently. As retailers can track sales with precision, opinions matter less as brands can run structured experiments, and planners can use data engineering and AI to model scenarios, test hypotheses and codify rules of investment.
Done right, this creates repeatable blueprints that drive business outcomes, not just media outputs. Hypothesise, run the media, learn, repeat and do it again and again.
The challenge is that media planning has been sidelined in favour of other easier things, or speed and convenience.
Wastage is unaffordable
However, that’s changing. For the majority of brands, wastage is unaffordable. With three time more ads per person than 20 years ago and maybe rising, brands need to stand out, resonate, and deliver measurable value. That’s what next-gen planning does — it connects media investment to results, sets the rules technology follows, and makes sense of the data.
Simply put, Retail Media without advanced planning risks being a wasted opportunity. Retail Media with next-gen planning becomes a growth engine. For advertisers determined to win, the choice is non-negotiable.
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GUEST COMMENT Why next-gen media planning matters in Retail Media
Colin Lewis
Pete Robins, Founder, Project5 and a London-based media leader who has worked with media agencies since the mid 90s and specifically with adtech led media looks beyond the buy to the shifting focus to strategic retail media planning
We all know that Retail Media has quickly become one of the most talked-about media options for brand advertiser. The size and growth of the market tells us this.
Retailers are packaging media inventory and actively pointing out what brands and agencies can now buy.
However, much of the focus is still on activation and ad-ops – the ‘what.’ For some success is often measured in getting something live, then reporting a few surface-level results.
That’s no longer enough.
If advertisers want Retail (and Commerce) Media to deliver worthwhile business outcomes, rather than just another line on the media plan, the emphasis will need to shift toward next-generation media planning.
The initial question for media isn’t “what can I buy?” but “why should I buy it?”.
Take just one example of OOH/DOOH options linked to a retailer:
Each is a fixed location with a variable audience. Which ad impression matters most and when? The one before the store, the one at the entrance, or the one right at the shelf? Or some weighted mix? How does that differ by category, store cluster, or shopper behaviour?
Answering these questions requires planning – the less you plan, the more you guess the more you risk. It also requires linking Retail Media with other media as no media works in isolation.
Perhaps the most effective Retail Media approach doesn’t begin in-tore at all, but on a TV the night before, or on a mobile feed while somebody is planning a shop. Planning defines how the parts work together and ensures budgets are applied to the moments that actually shift behaviour.
Easy to say, hard to do
The wider media industry has already gone through this transformation. For a long time agencies thrived by selling labour, rate negotiation and priority access.
Today the landscape is shaped by tech-driven buying systems, data, software skills — and increasingly AI.
Around 80% of all media is already delivered through some form of technology. Yet only a minority of practitioners — both agency and client side — have truly kept pace. Many still rely on outdated models, weak “cheap reach” tactics, or the false comfort of oversimplification.
Retail Media is intrinsically built differently. As retailers can track sales with precision, opinions matter less as brands can run structured experiments, and planners can use data engineering and AI to model scenarios, test hypotheses and codify rules of investment.
Done right, this creates repeatable blueprints that drive business outcomes, not just media outputs. Hypothesise, run the media, learn, repeat and do it again and again.
The challenge is that media planning has been sidelined in favour of other easier things, or speed and convenience.
Wastage is unaffordable
However, that’s changing. For the majority of brands, wastage is unaffordable. With three time more ads per person than 20 years ago and maybe rising, brands need to stand out, resonate, and deliver measurable value. That’s what next-gen planning does — it connects media investment to results, sets the rules technology follows, and makes sense of the data.
Simply put, Retail Media without advanced planning risks being a wasted opportunity. Retail Media with next-gen planning becomes a growth engine. For advertisers determined to win, the choice is non-negotiable.
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