Loading summary
Transcript8 lines
- [00:02]
A
Hello, it's January 13th, 2026. Welcome to episode 17 of the Commerce Rift with the CPG guys. Weekly short segments snackable 10 minutes of content, audio and video. We hope you enjoy our curated stories. I'm of course your co host pbsb. I'm joined by Paparaj, the father of Pop stars, Co founder and CEO of Think Blue Consulting. Happy New Year Sree. How's it going?
- [00:23]
B
It's going great Peter. Wild start to 2026. We were at CES. Our party was over subscribed by over 150 people and then NRF this past weekend. FMI is next. I haven't been home in weeks Peter.
- [00:37]
A
And you got another week of travel going on. This going on for you Cherise. So savor the moment you get home before you head out to FMI. A reminder once more that 2025 was another banner year for the CPG guys. We delivered over 5,000 minutes of commerce insights across 115 plus episodes. Our most downloaded episode. Well that was of course Diana Marshall from Sam's Club recorded live at ces in early 2025. Now let's talk about our learnings from CES 2026. Announcements made by Retail Media Networks. The first one is Albertsons Media Collective. We actually interviewed Liz Roche while we were on site there earlier in the week. In store media is always operated at a disadvantage compared to online and app based channels. There is no login, no cookie, no deterministic user identity. As a result, many measurement approaches rely on proxy signals or post purchase correlations that inevitably overstate impact. Albertson's Media Collective's new approach adopts a matched market methodology at store level. Test stores running in store campaigns are compared against a carefully matched set of control stores with no media exposure. The difference in performance between the two groups represents the incremental lift attributable solely to to advertising. The framework reportedly uses nearly 60 variables for store matching, reducing bias and statistical noise and allowing the model to estimate a robust counterfactual which would have happened without media. The result is a causal measurement of incremental sales orders and unit lift, not just attribution credit. This is not entirely new in theory, but it's still rare to see it applied consistently at scale in physical retail, especially across diverse grocery formats and in store touchpoints such as deli or pharmacy screens. The Broader Retail Media Strategy this announcement addresses a long standing credibility gap. While on site and off site retail media has rapidly adopted incrementality models, in store media has lagged behind, largely because measurement is operationally complex and requires strong infrastructure.
- [02:50]
B
Sri over to you well, Megan Pagliucca, chief product officer at Omnicom Media Group, described how the agency is reshaping its product strategy in response to fundamental shifts in consumer behavior from how people discover information, ask questions to how they engage with content and shop. According to her, the future media effectiveness depends on tightly connecting live content, AI powered search signals, influencer marketing and retail media to a single, accountable system. Speaking with David Kaplan, Pagluca explained that Omnicom's approach starts with identifying major changes in consumer behavior and market structure, then co developing scale solutions with leading platforms and publishers. Live television is very much one of the clearest examples. After making live media a strategic priority in 2025, Omnicom partnered with Disney to enable programmatic buying within live TV environments. This allows advertisers to bid on live inventory while leveraging high attention signals tied to specific moments such as key plays during live sports. The objective, she says, is to continue the addressability and accountability of programmatic buying with the unique impact of live content. That same focus on measurement drove Omnicom's work with Amazon on Thursday Night Football, where the agency helped extend customer lifetime value look backs to better understand the downstream impact of live sports exposure. Search behavior is evolving just as quickly as consumers move from keyword searches to asking full questions. Omnicom announced a new collaboration with Google to co develop a Consumer Prompt Insights agent. The tool analyzes question based searches within Gemini, categorizes them by funnel stage and applies those insights across paid search and influencer marketing, proving discoverability and relevance within AI powered search experiences. And then on the measurement front, Omnicom unveiled new integrations with Roku and Amazon, bringing Roku viewership data into Amazon's clean room. Building on Omnicom's Omni framework, the capability provides a more holistic view of reach, frequency and outcomes across linear tv. Connected tv, live and on demand streaming, commerce and influencer marketing are converging as well. Through partnerships with Pinterest, Meta and Walmart, Omnicom is integrating retailer purchase insights and platform trend data into creative discovery and measurement, shifting influencer selection from follow accounts to actual buyer behavior and sales impact. That's quite a bit going on from the Omnicom side. What do you have next?
- [05:09]
A
Indeed, Sree Walmart Inc. And Google have announced plans to introduce a new AI powered shopping experience that brings Walmart and Sam's Club directly into Google's Gemini platform. By combining Gemini's intelligence with Walmart's unmatched assortment, value and convenience, the collaboration aims to make shopping more intuitive, reliable and seamlessly integrated into everyday life. Built by Walmart and accessible within Gemini through the Universal Commerce Protocol, the new experience is designed to address several core customer needs. Gemini will automatically surface relevant Walmart and Sam's Club products both online and in store when shoppers seek advice or inspiration. For example, a customer asking Gemini for camping recommendations will be shown relevant products from Walmart's extensive inventory. Because Gemini supports conversational back and forth interactions, customers can continue refining their needs and discovering products naturally through the dialogue. Personalization is another key pillar of the experience. When customers choose to link their Walmart Sam's Club accounts, they can move from inspiration to actual purchase within a trusted and familiar environment. Walmart will recommend complimentary items based on past online and in store purchases, allow customers to combine Gemini discovered products with existing cart items and extend the full benefits of Walmart plus and Sam's Club memberships. Speed and convenience round out the experience. Customers will be able to receive locally curated products exactly when and where they want them, with delivery available in under three hours and as fast as 30 minutes in many markets. Quote the transition from traditional web or app search to agent led commerce represents the next great evolution in retail, said John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart US and the incoming president and CEO of Walmart Inc. Partnering with Google to bring the Walmart experience directly into Gemini is another step toward creating shopper experiences that are more intuitive and personal than ever, said Ferner Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. Added Quote AI can improve every step of the consumer journey from discovery to delivery. We're excited to partner with Walmart on an open standard that makes agentic commerce a reality. Sri what's going on with this little device around my finger?
- [07:26]
B
Yeah, Aura is accelerating its investment in Target's retail media network following a strong holiday performance with the retailer, according to Jeremiah Linder, VP of retail at Aura, who spoke at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. The wearable health brand on your finger, Peter, better known for its smart rings Attract Sleep, Heart and Metabolic health, has experienced rapid growth in recent years and credits part of that momentum to increase retail visibility as well as media activation. Aura reached $1 billion in sales in 2025, up from 500 million the prior year, and is projecting over a billion and a half in revenue for 26, Linda said. A key driver that growth has been expanding brand awareness across the roughly 40 global retail locations where the products are sol Target playing a central role. After launching At Target in April 24, Aura leverage Target's retail media network Roundel, to support board discovery and conversion. By end of 25, sales through Target had grown nearly 90% year over year, with approximately half of that volume generated during the critical November and December holiday period. We've seen a lot more people focused on self care and looking for solutions, linder said, noting that Target was at the center of their holiday success. That growth was fueled in part by increased marketing spend within Roundel, which enables brands to advertise across product detail pages, search results and other high intent placements, typically what a retail media network does. Aura has also benefited from Roundel's newer capabilities, including Precision Plus, a tool that integrates Target's first party data with platforms such as Meta, Google and Pinterest, the Trade Desk and TikTok. The integration allows ARA to target audiences at scale by combining retailer purchase behavior with social and digital engagement signals, reinforcing retail media's growing role in driving both brand awareness and sales performance.
- [09:12]
A
Speaking of Target, Sree, a quick shout out to our friend Jenny Holloran, who's been named head of ad sales at Roundel, the retail media arm of Target. As we wrap up, a reminder to catch up with our recently released episodes. There's some really good ones out there. Sarah Marzano for me, marketer Chris Riegel of stratacash on In Store Retail Media, my colleague Sarah Cunningham from Flywheel, and of course our dear friend Marta Bowles from Nielsen iq. All right folks, so that's our take on relevant commerce happenings from so many announcements this past week. There were a lot to choose from. Shree. I don't know how we were able to narrow it down to four, but we thought these were the most meaningful. Could not be passed on for the riff. We hope you enjoyed it. Please do click like our posts on all platforms and follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and now YouTube. Mike Feldman don't think you're coming after me for impressions this year. Goliath is staying Goliath. That's all I have to say. See y' all next week.
- [10:13]
C
The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPG Guys, LLC or the individual author, hosts or guests. Nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGuys LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. The views expressed by CPGuys LLC do not represent the views of their employers or the entity they represent. CPTGuys LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we present in this podcast.