Podcast
Retail Media Vibes
Hosted by Brandon Viveiros · EN
Retail Media Vibes is your marketing lens on the world of shopping, commerce, and culture. Each episode brings fresh conversations with industry insiders who break down the stories driving how brands reach shoppers and how shoppers connect with brands. From big retail moments to the latest shifts in digital media, it’s your front-row seat to the strategies shaping the future of commerce.
We keep it smart, energetic, and actionable, mixing sharp analysis with good vibes so you walk away informed and inspired. Whether you’re a retail pro, a marketer looking for an edge, or simply curious about where the industry is headed, this podcast is made for you.
Join the vibe and stay ahead in retail media.
18episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Ep. 15 - Scraping Explained: Data Secrets for E-Commerce with Blake Taylor
Mar 2801:01:31Tap to summarizeThe “easy” part of e-commerce ended years ago. Now brands are expected to deliver perfect product content, navigate an increasingly crowded digital shelf, and prove performance across retail media while the rules keep changing underneath them. I’m joined by retail commerce expert Blake Taylor to break down what’s actually working right now and what’s quietly becoming non-negotiable for the next wave of digital commerce.We talk through why content is still the foundation of e-commerce success, not just to answer shopper questions on the product detail page, but to feed the systems that increasingly shape visibility. That leads into scraping, data availability, and why retailers’ first-party data and clean room capabilities are changing how brands plan and measure. We also dig into Walmart-specific shifts like Scintilla insights moving closer to the store level and what that could mean for availability, assortment, and conversion when online demand meets in-store reality.From there, we get honest about the state of the digital shelf: more sponsored placements, more competition for premium real estate, and a growing “retail media tax” that forces brands to pay to be seen. Blake shares practical guidance on building a real Walmart Connect strategy instead of dumping budget and hoping for magic, plus why chasing first-time buyers can beat obsessing over ROAS alone. We close by exploring AI’s role in commerce, from personalization and data orchestration to AEO and GEO, and even a bold prediction about whether search grids survive the agentic shopping era.If this conversation helps you rethink your e-commerce strategy or retail media approach, subscribe, share it with someone on your team, and leave a review so more people can find the show.
Transcribe →Ep. 14 - Extra Vibes: AI Influencers, Shopper Psychology, and Retail Media Strategy
Mar 1401:08:28Tap to summarizeRetail media is moving so fast that it’s easy to lose the plot, so I stitched together the strongest moments from recent conversations with Emma Curry, Aaron Campbell, Lindsay Hamm, Sarah Gillmer, and Toby Willse. The throughline is simple: new tools like AI and new channels like connected TV are powerful, but they only work when shoppers trust the message and teams inside the business stop working at cross purposes.We dig into AI influencers and why they’re tempting for brands that want speed, brand safety, and consistent talking points. Then we get practical about influencer marketing in the retail media ecosystem: how to create evergreen creator content, build the right mix of video and still assets, and extend social creative into retailer placements. One of my favorite examples crosses into the physical store, proving omnichannel is real when creators show up beyond the feed.From there, we zoom out to shopper psychology in the attention economy: multitasking, media overload, and the fight for meaning. That’s where nostalgia marketing, the analog comeback, and even “traditional media” re-enter the chat, not as throwbacks but as intentional ways to earn focus. We also hit the big retail media themes of 2025: full-funnel planning, measurement progress, and where CTV fits when conversion isn’t the only job to be done.We close with the operational truth: retail media networks and platforms don’t fix silos on their own. Align brand teams, commerce teams, and sales teams, automate the repetitive work with AI, and let humans do the strategy and storytelling. Subscribe for more Retail Media Vibes, share this recap with a teammate, and leave a review with the one idea you’re going to try next.
Transcribe →Ep. 13 - Trust vs. Sales: The New Retail Rule with Amanda Danish-Wineland
Feb 2800:58:40Tap to summarizeWhat if smarter shopping isn’t about zero friction, but the right friction? We sit down with Amanda Danish-Wineland, SVP of Strategic Planning at Mars United, to unpack how AI and shopper psychology can actually make commerce feel more human. From Super Bowl ads that nailed the brief to the hidden driver of decision-making; risk. We trace the path from choice overload to real confidence, and why co-creating with agents beats handing over the keys.We start with the timeless why behind purchases; discovery, security, identity, and reveal how the changing how across channels rewires expectations. Amanda breaks down the power of micro frictions: small, intentional checkpoints that signal care, reduce regret, and keep control with the shopper. We explore where automation helps (repeat decisions, clear constraints) and where it hurts (assumptions, opaque pushes), then dive into trust: transparent trade-offs, clear sources, and a conversational advisor tone that explains the “why” behind each recommendation.For brands and retailers, this is a call to move beyond rank-chasing. Performance still matters, but trust compounds. We map a shopper-first approach: define who you truly serve, articulate the job your product does, and engineer backward so agents can recommend for the person, not the push. We also draw a sharp line between strategy and planning, evidence framing versus creative leverage, and show how AI is a force multiplier: cleaning data, accelerating synthesis, and even arguing with our assumptions so humans can push into sharper insights and braver ideas.If you care about agentic commerce, retail media, or just making buying easier without losing agency, this conversation is a field guide. Hit play, then tell us: where do you want advice, and where do you want full control? Subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help more curious listeners find the show.
Transcribe →Ep. 12 - CEO to Reset: Jessica Hendrix on Leadership and Letting Go
Feb 1401:03:52Tap to summarizeLeadership isn’t a title; it’s a set of choices you make when the ground won’t stop moving. That’s the through line of our conversation with Jessica Hendrix, former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi X and a leader who’s navigated retail, agencies, and a CMO seat while keeping culture and clarity front and center.We trace Jessica’s path from selling phones at a mall cart to guiding a global agency inside Publicis. She breaks down how she set vision in shifting markets using a simple framework, business, work, people, and why choosing fewer goals with more intention can actually accelerate results. We dig into the evolution from “shopper marketing” to commerce, the rise of retail media, and how Gen Z now steers family purchases from a phone. Her take is practical: the channels changed, the job didn’t: meet people in the moments that move them to buy, reduce friction, and measure what matters.Culture comes alive in the details. Jessica talks transparency with limits, vulnerability that builds trust, and the power of authenticity to unlock talent. We go deep on the Enneagram, her Two, wing Three wiring, and how leaders can pair high performance with high humanity without burning out. She shares real boundaries that worked, two-night travel caps, morning school walks, quarterly solo resets, and the grace-and-accountability balance that keeps teams healthy and productive.There’s a raw, important chapter here, too: a year of breast cancer, skin cancer, and spinal surgery that ended with a clean bill of health. Jessica’s lessons are urgent and universal, keep the checkups, design for recovery, accept help, and they reinforce her central message: take care of your people by taking care of yourself. Today she’s consulting and coaching, helping leaders set cleaner goals, build resilient cultures, and navigate AI-era change without losing their center.If this conversation sparked something for you, follow the show, share it with a colleague who leads teams, and leave a review with one takeaway you’ll act on this week. Your note helps others find the podcast and keeps these stories flowing.
Transcribe →Ep. 11 - Breaking Silos, Building Retail Wins | With Toby Willse
Jan 3101:01:16Tap to summarizeThe most expensive mistake in retail media isn’t bad targeting, it’s planning in silos. We sit down with media leader Toby Willse to map how the field evolved from banner buys to agentic commerce, why teams still talk past each other, and what it takes to turn retailer-specific wins into brand-level growth. From his design roots to ad tech tours through AOL and Millennial Media, Toby explains how creative strategy, data access, and relationship management shape outcomes more than any single tactic.We unpack the headliners from CES and NRF, including Google’s momentum in AI shopping, retailer partnerships, and the coming wave of sponsored prompts. Expect smart provocation on the “collapsed funnel” narrative: CTV with QR codes lowers friction, but it doesn’t magically become a conversion channel. Instead, think of new side doors to the bottom of the funnel and measure accordingly. We lay out a realistic framework for attribution that pairs platform signals with retail POS and modeled incrementality, while admitting there’s no silver bullet and AMC is a powerful slice, not the whole pie.This conversation also goes human. Retail media teams juggle overlapping retailers, expanding JBPs, and constant change. We share practical ways to fight burnout, from using AI agents for repetitive work to establishing daily learning habits and grounding decisions with store and site walks. And if we could fix one systemic issue? Tear down the walled gardens to enable privacy-safe, interoperable measurement and smarter creative orchestration across channels.If you care about better KPIs, cleaner alignment between brand and sales, and making AI work for your team instead of against it, you’ll find plenty to steal here. Follow the show, share it with a teammate who’s buried in dashboards, and leave a quick review to tell us your number-one retail media headache.
Transcribe →Ep. 10 - Agentic Shopping Takes Over
Jan 1700:56:50Tap to summarizeThe year retail media stopped living on the product page and started shaping the whole journey came with growing pains, and big wins. We dig into what really changed in 2025: retail media going full-funnel with connected TV, social integrations, and creator programs, while brand and commerce teams finally learned to plan together. CTV’s role gets a sober look, yes, it’s premium and powerful, but it sits higher in the funnel for retailers and needs smarter targeting and frequency. The conversation then shifts to agentic shopping, where AI agents help with discovery and routine reorders but haven’t fully earned the right to “press buy” for most shoppers. We unpack the signals these systems read, from product data to price and availability, and how to prepare content and assortments for a world beyond classic SEO.Commerce media also takes center stage as industries like travel and fintech monetize their first-party data. That expansion creates more options and more complexity, so we share a practical approach: anchor to the shopper, choose fewer but better-fitting networks, and orchestrate messages across touch points. In-store media returns as a meaningful lever when paired with aligned digital creative and measured with lift, traffic, and market tests rather than one-to-one attribution. And because no strategy survives bad metrics, we tackle measurement head-on: ROAS as a useful indicator, incrementality as the proof brands want, and the need for clearer standards on item sets and attribution windows.We wrap with our retail media word of the year, agentic, and a round of bold 2026 predictions on creative vs targeting, AI’s share of ad production, and where standardization might finally land. If you enjoyed this deep dive into the trends shaping retail and commerce media, subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show.
Transcribe →Ep. 9 - When Ads Tap the Heartstrings
Jan 300:49:55Tap to summarizeNostalgia doesn’t just sell; it sticks. We sat down with Sarah Gillmer to explore how memory, family ritual, and pop culture can turn everyday products into emotional anchors, and why that approach still beats a thousand loud impressions. From Barbie’s cross-generational comeback to Nike’s retro magic and McDonald’s adult Happy Meal, we map when heritage fuels love and when brands risk costume-playing a past they never owned.We also tackle the elephant in the media room: is traditional media dead? Not quite. Print catalogs with QR stickers are back on kitchen counters, local radio still drives action, and the right billboard can outwork a dozen forgettable banner ads. The smartest plans now pair tactile, trusted channels with digital precision. We talk about how to choose moments where analog wins; regional launches, community trust, and high-frequency routes, and how to keep the art in marketing without ignoring the numbers.In quick hits, we react to Instacart’s variable pricing controversy and the transparency gap it exposes. Then we look ahead as Google signals ads inside Gemini AI chat, debating what “useful” looks like in an answer-first interface. Finally, we swap campaigns we love: Chevy’s memory-rich family spot that sells without shouting, and Dunkin’s munchkin tale that turns a donut hole into a holiday hero. If you care about brand building, media mix strategy, and the next wave of ad experiences, this one’s for you.Enjoyed the conversation? Follow and share the show, and leave a review so more curious marketers can find us.
Transcribe →Extra Vibes: Live Shopping In 2025
Dec 2700:11:09Tap to summarizeLive shopping is booming, just not equally everywhere. We tackle why China’s live commerce machine towers over the U.S. and what has to change for 2025: cultural expectations, seamless payments, and the invisible tech that makes “watch, want, buy” feel effortless. From the early QVC playbook to TikTok Shops, Amazon Live, and Whatnot, we break down where the channel wins, where it stumbles, and how to design streams that people actually want to watch, and buy from.We dig into the power of story over category, showing why beauty, fashion, cooking, home improvement, and collector communities respond when the format teaches and entertains rather than hard‑sells. You’ll hear why hybrid models, creator‑led on camera, retailer‑led on operations- consistently outperform, and how the best hosts turn chat into real conversion. We share a creator‑driven haircare stream that outpaced expectations, then list the practical fixes that move the needle: one‑tap wallets, persistent carts, clean variant selection, bundles that simplify choices, and rehearsal that stress‑tests every link.To keep things fun, we also spotlight Crocs x T‑Pain’s “boots with the fur” moment, a playful, meme‑friendly collab that shows how cultural resonance drives attention and action. If you’re building a live commerce strategy for the year ahead, consider this your checklist: lead with narrative, pair the right host with the right platform, and make checkout disappear. Subscribe, share this with your team, and drop a review telling us which category you think is primed to break out next.
Transcribe →