I’m late on this week’s recap, but I have someone to blame.
It’s Claude.
I have started, very slowly, experimenting with Claude Cowork. A couple of weeks ago I successfully got Claude to import all my newsletters fro the past week into a Notion database where I archive all my content, from where I could easily create my summary of the past week’s content and send it to you. The first time Claude did this for me, it felt miraculous. Due to limitations of my email service provider, I was never able to automate this before.
But today, it just didn’t work. After hours of cajoling and coaxing and trying workarounds, Claude told me there’s a known bug already in Github for this. no workaround is working, at this time.
Of course it would have taken me about 7 minutes to copy and paste all this week’s content into Notion, but I had told myself that the upfront work required to delegate a task is always worth it! Just like hiring an assistant or a new team member that you have to train, the initial time investment is high, but then they take over that process and you’re liberated from it.
In my early explorations with Cowork, I’m sadly not finding the same rule to be true.
And so, it’s not really Claude’s fault, it is mine. So the excuses end, I admit my managerial ineptitude, and now I continue onto this week’s stories.
‘The Biggest Change in My Lifetime’ — Marketecture CSO on AI Shopping
A rare moment of candor from someone inside ad tech: the pressure is already here, and a lot of people are trying to pretend it is not. The core point is not that retail media disappears, but that AI changes where consumers research and how intent forms, which directly threatens the “signal and surface area” retail media has been built on.
Rufus Is Already Reshaping How Amazon Shoppers Decide
New Sensor Tower data suggests AI-assisted shopping on Amazon has moved from novelty to default behavior in a meaningful share of sessions. The headline conversion delta is eye-popping, but the bigger takeaway is behavioral: Rufus is showing up at multiple decision points (getting unstuck in search, late-funnel reassurance, deep research loops). That matters because it hints at a future where the monetizable unit shifts from “placement on a results page” to “inclusion inside an assistant’s answers.”
Why OpenAI’s Ad Network Should Concern RMNs
If OpenAI is serious about ads, it is not just nibbling at the edges of sponsored listings. It is stepping directly into the high-margin moments that used to live on retailer-owned surfaces. The more important (and less discussed) risk is what happens if AI platforms accumulate cross-retailer shopping behavior and then turn that into an offsite audience business. That is where a lot of retail media’s defensibility has lived.
Who’s Signing the Check For Experiential In-Store Media?
A practical, near-term budget problem hiding in plain sight: experiential in-store activations can deliver both brand building and immediate sales lift, but they keep getting stranded between brand and shopper teams. The conversation with Jordan Witmer puts sharper edges on it, with examples of “unmissable” in-store done right. The punchline is that in-store may be one of the more defensible retail media surfaces in an AI-mediated world, but the funding model has to catch up first.
The critical differences in US and EU retail media operations you need to understand
In this column for The Drum, I examine why American and European retail media networks evolved so differently and why understanding these distinctions matters more than ever.
Events
When RMNs Come Calling for Your Brand Marketing Budget. Retail media networks have exhausted the "easy money" of trade and shopper marketing budgets. Now they're knocking on the door of brand marketing. How should brands handle these ‘asks’? Join me and Jordan Witmer (Salt XC) where we’ll be talking LIVE on Feb 19. Sign up here
Atlanta Happy Hour. Join us on Feb 25th for a relaxed, Happy Hour where the focus is on conversation, camaraderie, and real connections. Whether you’re new to the industry, a seasoned expert, or working remotely and craving IRL banter, this meetup is your chance to be part of Atlanta’s growing retail media community. This time, our happy hour sponsor Growthloop is picking up the tab! Register here
That’s it for this week!
PS: if you want to see my work first thing at 6AM ET Monday - Thursday instead of waiting for this recap at the end of the week, please reply to let me know and I’ll update your email preferences.
