Hi friends,

I’m going to a sound bath tonight, to get the muck and stress of a long week chimed and gonged out of me. Have you tried this before? Let me know in the comments.

Now, onto the stories and highlights from this week..

Retailers, here’s how your media network can still thrive in an AI-shopping era

ChatGPT referrals to US retailer websites more than doubled year-over-year. In this piece for The Drum, I argue that this shift demands a new playbook from retailers, grounded in their inherent data advantage. Read here

ChatGPT Ads Are Here. I’m Not Panicking.

The conventional wisdom says consumers will hate ads in their AI assistants. I’m not so sure. I was thrilled to be a guest on Mike Shields’ brilliant Next In Media podcast, where we explored the bull case for LLM ads —and where the real competitive threat to retail media might be hiding (hint: it’s not just the onsite SPA business). Read here

The Retail Media Buffet Has Gotten A Lot Less Enticing

I dig into the P2PI’s new 2026 Retail Media Ratings data showing that brand enthusiasm for retail media is cooling. Budget increases are slowing, skepticism is rising, and the share who view retail media as “just a money grab” has more than doubled. The doom loop is real. Read here

Should Your Industry Advertise in AI Media in 2026?

I’m thrilled to feature a guest post for the first time in the newsletter. This one is from Debra Aho Williamson, who brings her EMARKETER rigor to the question of which industries should be investing in AI media right now. Using search ad spending data and consumer AI usage patterns, she identifies four categories that should put AI media on the front burner: retail, travel, healthcare/pharma, and technology/electronics. Read here

Costco Reveals Its Entire Tech Stack

Costco’s Mark Williamson did something remarkable at an industry event: he showed the entire advertising tech stack—vendors, infrastructure, everything. For an industry that treats tech choices like classified information, this was a powerful signal. I break down why Costco’s merchant-first approach drove this transparency and what it means for other retailers. Read here

Events

In-store retail media. This week I did aa LinkedIn Live with Jordan Witmer from the agency Salt XC diving into more immersive, experiential examples of in-store retail media. If you missed the LIVE, you can watch the replay 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.