In this special live episode of Unlocking Retail Media, recorded on stage at the Retail Media FC Summit in São Paulo, Brazil, James Avery sits down with Sam James, VP of Ads at iFood — the dominant food and grocery delivery platform commanding roughly 80% market share in Brazil. Sam breaks down how iFood scaled from basic seller ads to a full-funnel retail media powerhouse, why Brazil is the fastest-growing retail media market globally, and how iFood's fragmented retail landscape is actually creating a massive consolidation opportunity. The conversation covers iFood's offsite media expansion through its acquisition of AI-native ad tech company Advolve, a groundbreaking co-bidding model where iFood matches brand ad spend to drive closed-loop ROAS, the untapped potential of data-driven product sampling, and how AI agents are reshaping the entire ads operation — including a live Databricks-Claude integration that turns week-long analyses into 20-minute insights. Whether you're building a retail media network, a CPG brand navigating LATAM, or an agency trying to capture emerging commerce media budgets, this episode is packed with actionable strategy from one of the most innovative retail media stories in the world.

James Avery sits down with Grant Steadman, retail expert and former President of North America at dunnhumby, to explore the profound impact of Artificial Intelligence and generative shopping on the commerce landscape. Drawing on his extensive 16-year tenure at dunnhumby—the data science pioneer behind Tesco's Clubcard and early loyalty frameworks—Grant offers a rare look at the data-led history of the industry before bridging it directly into the modern era of agentic commerce. They break down exclusive findings from Astra Works AI’s Agentic Commerce Capability Index, outlining how market leaders like Amazon (Rufus) and Walmart (Sparky) are rewriting the rules of consumer discovery. Grant explains why the transition to AI assistants is not an overnight replacement for physical grocery store aisles or traditional e-commerce portals, but a powerful new channel requiring retailers to urgently address the organizational, technical, and change-management challenges of an AI transformation. From moving away from basic keyword-based search to navigating how brand signals are shared across large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, this episode serves as a strategic roadmap for networks aiming to scale their intelligence layers and protect their data moats.

James Avery sits down with Austin Leonard, VP and General Manager of DG Media Network, to break down how Dollar General is transforming America’s general store into a retail media juggernaut. With more than 21,000 physical locations deeply embedded in rural and suburban communities, Dollar General reaches a critical shopper base that traditional digital platforms often miss. Austin shares the inside story of building the network from a strong foundation of traditional shopper marketing and offsite tactics to a rapidly growing, omnichannel digital business driven by a massive rollout of same-day delivery. The conversation covers DG Media Network's pioneering first-of-its-kind partnership with The Trade Desk to seamlessly unify onsite and offsite programmatic buying, their major expansion into AI-powered in-store audio with QSIC, and why providing outcome-based measurement and true incrementality is the ultimate key to unlocking national media dollars. Austin challenges the industry's default playbooks, explaining why successful retail networks must ditch copy-paste roadmaps, start directly with customer behavior, and scale specialized tools that protect both the shopper experience and brand yield.

James Avery sits down with Andrew Lipsman, independent analyst and former eMarketer principal, to challenge the industry's dangerous obsession with "magical black boxes" and short-term KPIs. Andrew explains why ROAS is a fundamentally flawed metric that often rewards "cookie stuffing" and branded search rather than true business growth, urging brands and retailers to graduate toward incrementality (iROAS) and market share. The conversation dives into the "nightmare" of over-optimization, the cautionary tale of Nike’s recent brand erosion, and why the future of retail media lies in upper-funnel high-quality channels like performance TV and digitized in-store media. Whether you are a retailer building a network or a brand marketer looking to avoid the "AI hand-wave," this episode provides a blunt, data-driven reality check on what actually drives long-term advertising effectiveness.

James Avery sits down with Paulo Cunha, Kevel’s VP of Product, to explore the historical convergence of data infrastructure and ad tech. Drawing from his journey as the founder of Shift Forward (later Velocity), Paulo recounts the early days of building foundational first-party data tools in Europe and how his team’s expertise in real-time segmentation and forecasting became the backbone of Kevel’s audience product. The conversation dives into the strategic nuances of the European market, the "API-first" mandate, and why the cultural alignment between their two engineering-heavy organizations led to an incredibly successful post-acquisition integration. Paulo also provides a unique lens on GDPR as a competitive advantage and how global retailers can leverage rapid, first-party data activation to outpace traditional marketing cycles and drive higher yield. 

James Avery welcomes Sean Cheyney, EVP of Global Business Development at QSIC, to discuss the untapped potential of the physical store as a high-performance media channel. Drawing on his deep background at Triad and CitrusAd, Sean explains how modern AI-driven in-store audio is solving legacy pain points by providing closed-loop measurement, incremental ROAS, and hyper-localized creative that can be deployed in minutes. The conversation highlights the "omnichannel" future where audio, digital screens, and on-site media work together to surround the consumer, and Sean makes a bold prediction that 2026 will be the breakout year for retailers globally to integrate audio into their retail media programs

James Avery sits down with Michael Schuh, Global Head of Media at dunnhumby, to explore the evolution of one of the most sophisticated retail media ecosystems in the world. Drawing on his extensive experience building Kroger Precision Marketing, Michael discusses the shift from off-site and loyalty-driven data to the current surge in digitized in-store media. The conversation delves into the strategic necessity of maintaining a "customer-first" focus, the role of measurement standards in building brand trust, and why retailers must move beyond the "noise" of the industry to build bespoke solutions that align with their unique core value propositions. Michael also provides a forward-looking perspective on the impact of agentic commerce and how physical stores can serve as a "competitive moat" for retailers in an increasingly AI-driven landscape.

James Avery is joined by Melissa Burdick, Co-founder and President of Pacvue, to discuss the complex, multi-touchpoint journey of the modern consumer. Melissa breaks down the three pillars of commerce media: discovery, retail media, and the emerging world of agentic commerce. She also explains why brands are shifting their focus from basic ROAS to sophisticated incrementality (iROAS) models. The conversation highlights the technical necessity of an "API-first" strategy for retailers to attract top-tier brand spend and explores how tools like Amazon’s Rufus and AI-powered assistants are reshaping discovery and increasing basket sizes.

James Avery sits down with Andrew Covato, founder of Growth by Science, to demystify the complex world of advertising measurement. With a career spanning leadership roles at Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Snap, Andrew explains why traditional attribution is no longer enough and why sophisticated brands are moving toward incrementality (iROAS) and Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM).

James Avery talks with James Borow, advisor and lead for Universal Ads at Comcast, about the convergence of premium TV and digital self-serve advertising. Borow discusses how Universal Ads is making TV inventory approachable for brands of all sizes by removing traditional barriers like high minimum spends and complex creative requirements. The conversation covers the shift toward incrementality in measurement, the "halo effect" TV has on social media performance, and how retailers can leverage their first-party data for high-performance CTV reach extension. They also dive into the future of agentic commerce and "vibe coding," exploring how AI-driven tools are rapidly expanding digital consumption and creating a new "golden age" for personalized advertising.