In this episode, Ollie Shayer, fresh to his role as SMG’s senior director of global strategy and innovation talks to Colin Lewis from Internet Retailing about the tension between agility and scale in retail media – and the opportunities it can present. 

Many larger, omnichannel retailers enjoy massive shopper reach but can face legacy and structural barriers to innovation. Smaller, more agile pureplays can be more flexible, but lack the scale. Ollie unpacks what these contrasting models mean for media innovation, customer experience and brand partnerships, as well as the white spaces to explore and what brands should expect from an agile versus scaled RMN. 

Colin Lewis from Internet Retailing is joined by Marie-Clare Puffett, Industry Development & Insights Director, IAB Europe and Bianca Hall, senior insight director at SMG to explore why ROAS alone isn’t enough to capture the full impact of retail media. 

Delving into the importance of measuring incremental sales and long-term brand-building efforts, our podcasters explore what other KPIs need to be measured, how customer lifetime value (CLV) should be considered in the broader strategy for growing brand loyalty and consumer retention – and how the time is now for retail media to be considered part of the wider media mix for marketers.

Retail media is rewriting the rules of brand engagement -– and agencies that fail to evolve risk irrelevance. In this episode, Colin Lewis from Internet Retailing is joined by Prateek Gupta, MD ecommerce and retail media at Omnicom Media Group and Uche Ofili, director of agency relationships at SMG who issue a clear call to action: agencies must move beyond traditional media buying and embed themselves in the commerce-driven future. 

Together they explore why many agencies are lagging behind, the consequences of staying passive and how those who invest in retail media capabilities – from measurement to creative to tech and omnichannel implementation are gaining a strategic edge. This is a frank look at the fork in the road: lead the retail media.

In this episode, Jack Johnson, head of retail media and data at Ocado and Katie Streeter Hurle, SMG’s chief strategy officer, join Colin Lewis from Internet Retailing to uncover how AI and automation continue to transform the retail media ecosystem – from campaign delivery to personalisation at scale and beyond. 

With Ocado leading as a digital-first retailer and SMG powering data-driven media strategies across the UK’s leading grocery environments, the pair share insights on the evolution of tech-led advertising and its implications for brands, retailers and media planners alike. They discuss real-world applications of automation, the growing demand for operational efficiency and how smarter technology is enabling media to be not only faster, but more effective.

In this episode, Colin Lewis is joined by Michele Dainty, shopper marketing director UK&I, Pladis Global and Helen Johnson, managing director of Capture, to look at how retail media presents a powerful, compliant opportunity for high fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) brands to remain visible, relevant and strategically positioned in the shopper journey ahead of HFSS ad rule changes on 1 October 2025. 

The discussion covers how to drive brand impact without traditional channels, how retailers are adapting their ecosystems and why smarter audience targeting and owned media partnerships may be the key to success in the HFSS era.

In this episode, COOP’s Dean Harris and SMG’s Sam Knights unpack the evolving role of instore media within the broader Retail Media Network (RMN) ecosystem with Colin Lewis from Internet Retailing. 

Drawing on findings from COOP’s Lumen attention study, they explore how in-store environments offer unmatched contextual relevance and shopper engagement. Together they debate whether success lies in doubling down on contextual targeting – particularly in high-intent, real-world settings like convenience – and how this can unlock both brand impact and incremental growth, as well as addressing what retailers are getting right and what they are getting wrong with instore in 2025.

Jon Beill, Chief Growth Officer at LS Eleven, Asda’s loyalty and retail media business, and Sam Knights, CEO at SMG discuss how Asda is bringing its loyalty and media operations together to create a power retail media network, outlining how its offering to brands differs from its competitors, the digitisation of Asda stores and how SMG’s team works with the company to make it all happen

Discussion points:

• Why now is the right time for Asda to create a retail media business

• What LS Eleven offers brands

• How the Asda x SMG partnership works in practice

• What Asda’s first party data tells us about shopper habits

• How those shopper habits are shaping the next steps in retail media

Behind the mic:

• Jon Beill, Chief Growth Officer at LS Eleven

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gettoknow-jonbeill/

• Sam Knights, CEO, SMG

https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuel-knights-a093222/

• Paul Skeldon, editor InternetRetailing

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulskeldon/

Paul Skeldon is joined by Jayesh Rajdev, Controller of Advanced Advertising at ITV and Kate Hopkinson, Media Director at SMG to uncover how streaming TV has a key role to play in the retail media ecosystem and what ITV – the UK’s largest streaming platform – brings to the party.

Discussion points:

• The role of CTV in the retail media landscape – and how to navigate the complex network of retailers, brands and platforms to get the most out of it

• A view of some of the brands ITV works with in retail media and advanced advertising

• How ITV can add a regional angle to marketing

• What the future holds for CTV and the wider retail media landscape

Behind the mic:

• Jayesh Rajdev, Controller of Advanced Advertising at ITV

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayrajdev/

• Kate Hopkinson, Media Director at SMG

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-hopkinson-8147a9117/

• Paul Skeldon, editor InternetRetailing

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulskeldon/

Jessica Cooke, Head of Media & Loyalty from Stonegate Group & Emma Dean COO at SMG join Paul Skeldon to talk about the role of retail media outside of traditional retail, taking a look at how it works across Stonegate’s portfolio of more than 4,500 sites including Be at One, Slug & Lettuce, Popworld and Walkabout.

Discussion points:

• How Stonegate Group uses its outlets to deliver an exception retail media service

• How it orchestrates on-site, off-site, on-app and physical media as one offering

• The creation and use of its Mixr app

• The key ingredients in building such an extensive retail media network

• What the future holds for the group

Behind the mic:

• Jessica Cooke, Head of Media & Loyalty, Stonegate Group

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jesscooke/

• Emma Dean COO at SMG

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-dean-5b241a24/

• Paul Skeldon, editor InternetRetailing

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulskeldon/

Dean Harris, Head of Co-op Media Network and Rosie Houston, Managing Director of UK Partnerships at SMG outline how convenience retailers have a key role to play in retail media and how that differs from what is seen across the rest of the grocery sector.

Discussion points:

• How co-op has put retail media front and centre of its business

• What marks convenience out from the grocery crowd when it comes to retail media

• Integrating SMG’s team into the Co-op way of working – and what results it has delivered

• The specific challenges of digitising the convenience store

• What’s next for Co-op Media Group

Behind the mic:

• Dean Harris, Head of Co-op Media Network

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-harris-85654216/

• Rosie Houston, Managing Director of UK Partnerships at SMG

https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosie-houston-1581879a/

• Paul Skeldon, editor InternetRetailing

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulskeldon/