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- [00:00]
Sree Rajagopalan
Retail media is rapidly becoming the go to channel for brands, aiming to engage consumers with measurable performance along the path to purchase. Retailers are increasingly empowering brands to accurately target meaningful audiences based on their longitudinal purchasing behaviors and execute media impressions across on site, off site and in store channels throughout the entire marketing funnel. For brand marketers, effectively incorporating retail media into their marketing budgets is essential for growth in today's omnichannel landscape. To address this critical need, Cornell University has partnered with the CPG Guys, along with leading industry executives and visionaries from around the world to launch the first ever Retail Media Strategy Executive Education program. This immersive four day program at Cornell Tech May 5th to the 8th, 2025 brings together industry thought leaders and renowned faculty to share best practices for building compelling retail media platforms. You'll discover how to collaborate on creating best in class tech stacks, measure performance to ensure brands Access the necessary KPIs based on Campaign objectives and establish strong partnerships between brands and retailers. In addition, the program covers optimizing brand strategies using AI driven campaign design at scale to achieve marketing goals. By the end of the Retail Media Strategy program, you'll have gained a deep understanding of the retail media ecosystem and how both brands and retailers can accelerate organizational transformation to thrive in the future of performance marketing. See the link in the digital liner note to this episode to learn more about the Retail Media Strategy Executive Education Program at Cornell Tech May 5th through the 8th, 2025.
- [01:40]
Emma Helslot
Hi, I'm Emma Helslot.
- [01:42]
Alen Alvara Sain
And I'm Alen Alvara Sain from the Women in Retail Media Collective. You're listening to the CPG Guys Podcast.
- [01:51]
Sree Rajagopalan
Welcome to the CPG Guys Podcast. Your host Shree Rajagopalan and Peter V. S Bond explore how brands and retailers engage consumers in an increasingly digitally driven world. And now, here are the CPG Guys. Hello and welcome to the CPG Guys Podcast. I'm PVSB co host and co Founder. I also serve is head of Industry and Client Engagement at Flywheel, the E Commerce accelerator division of Omnicom. Joining me in the hosting duties for today's episode, as always, is of course my co founder of this growing media platform. He's the Chief Revenue Officer at Think Blue Consulting and patriarch of the Raj family media empire with his performing artist daughters Laura Rea and his wife and fellow podcaster Kavita. Most recently he served as the Chief Customer Officer at a tiny little consumer packaged goods companies called General Mills. He's the man known as Sri Sri Greetings in Atlanta. How's the Commerce Media Brand Summit going.
- [02:57]
Peter V. S Bond
So far Great, Peter. It was awesome to be here be amongst the retail media and commerce media discussions in the industry. It's pretty clear one thing stands out and it's what we gathered at Cagney, right? The importance of retail media, commerce media and the fact that standards and measurement still haven't established themselves in the industry. And it's ripe for the anybody who creates a tool that can truly set standards and have like an ideal scorecard that measures commerce media, not just retail media, all of commerce media is going to emerge a huge, huge, huge winner. It was great to host dinner last night with Recess, our friend Jack Shannon. And here we are, day two. And it's great to see Emma and Laura on this podcast. We're going to actually discuss and highlight of course what the Women Retail Media collective. We can't wait to do that. So let's get it going, man.
- [03:52]
Sree Rajagopalan
Thanks, Sree. Absolutely. Before we get to our guests, a few housekeeping details, Please make sure you're subscribing to our podcast on your favorite platform by clicking on the Follow option. And if you listen to us, particularly on Apple or Spotify, please scroll down and leave us a rating because it'll help feed the algorithm that makes our podcast more discoverable by other industry contemporaries of yours. And while you do that, also leave us a review so that we can tailor the content to the interest that you have. And we'll remind you that today's episode is part of our Women's Month series where each guest this month is an accomplished leader in our industry who just happens to be female. So let's get to our special guest today. Over the last five years, retail media has been the fastest growing channel within the media industry. Seemingly every week we see a new RMN launched, offering brands more ways to connect with consumers in a closed loop marketing system. While many women work in retail media, their presence at the highest levels of leadership is somewhat lacking here on the cpt guys. We've done our best to feature inspiring female leaders in retail media, particularly during our annual Women's Month series, but frankly, we don't think that's enough. Late last year, our guests decided to form a new group dedicated to advancing the leadership opportunities for women in the retail media sector. The stated mission of the Women in Retail Media Collective is to connect, grow and lead the empowerment of women to shape the future of retail media. In fact, Women in Retail Media Collective is actually co hosting our Shop Talk kickoff party along with us and the FMCG guys here to share with us how WRMC is accelerating Their mission are their two founders. Please join us in welcoming to the podcast Emma Helslot and Anna Laura Zane. Ladies, welcome. How you doing?
- [05:42]
Alen Alvara Sain
Thank you for having us.
- [05:44]
Emma Helslot
We're super excited to be here. Thanks so much for having us.
- [05:47]
Sree Rajagopalan
We're going to get to the details of what's behind all this and we'll tell our audience that in the digital liner notes of this episode we're going to have links to your LinkedIn profiles, to the Women in Retail Media Collective LinkedIn page and to your website so they can learn more about this. They can join this incredible group of pioneering leaders. And it's not just women, men, we need allies in this, right? It's not just about women, it's about all of us making the industry hospitable and opportunities for advancement for people of all genders. So let's just get right into the conversation because I love the proverbial meet cute stories, right? How you guys got to know each other. So let's start with that. How did you come to know each other and what involvement do you both have in your day jobs in the retail media landscape?
- [06:45]
Alen Alvara Sain
I think I can go first. So basically I worked in ad tech my entire career in marketing. So I worked at companies like comscore for instance, or the programmatic industry app Nexus which was then acquired by Microsoft. And I always led marketing teams. Most recently I started working for Pentalib. So kind of like always on the tech side of things. And with Pentalib I'm the CMO and I met Emma last year. We're going to tell the story on how we actually ended up developing this idea. But we met and then yeah, we kind of like decided to kick things off especially because it's a very interesting marketing and sales relationship that we have. So yeah, I'm currently kind of like the woman and Ritomia collective as most people know is a passion project for us. So yeah, we both work at Pentalink.
- [07:45]
Emma Helslot
Besides that, I, I started my career in software sales and then joined Albert Hein biggest supermarkets in the Netherlands. Part of Alto has so worked there at the retail media department, selling to CPG branch and launching new retail media propositions in the markets. And yeah, I really love working in the retail media and then wanted to work for an international startup environment. So I took that experience to the leading edtech server Pentalib and there I'm responsible for the sales. Animea and I joined the company in the summer of 2024, then met Anna Laura and yeah, we had an instant connection in sales and marketing collaboration. And then we decided next to our full time careers to take on a passion project.
- [08:34]
Peter V. S Bond
Thank you for that. That's actually awesome that you all decided to convert a passion to something real that can benefit not just women, but can benefit the whole industry. But as Peter and I look around, we get to a lot of conferences. We get to talk to brands, we get to talk to retailers, we get to talk to service providers. They come on the show. We notice that there are pockets of female leaders in retail media, but generally it's very few, it's isolated and we don't see a lot. What are you seeing?
- [09:05]
Alen Alvara Sain
Yeah, it's very interesting because we've been talking about this and especially now that we have over, I think 600 members, we do have a good kind of view of how things are set up in different markets as well. Well, which is very interesting. So specifically in the US I think is where we see most of the on the kind of like head of retail media roles is where we see most of the women that are also really representing us in a very good way. I think it's great to see Cara Pratt, the Home Depot ladies, which are super strong and powerful, including Stephanie Katanner. There are a lot of other women that are always kind of like attending events and speaking at panel sessions. So I think that's great because we were also discussing how important is to have women speaking on stage to inspire other women to also join and follow that path. Germany is the other market where we see that changing slightly. So Heike Larry from Zalando is one of the leaders that we've been working with as well. Patricia from ob, Jessica Wagner, you probably heard from her as well. She's from Douglas and in the ad tech space. I think one of the women that I actually look up to is Melanie Zimmerman from Critio. She's the one actually that built the Macy's Ritomia network and also Melissa Burgood from Paviu for instance. That doesn't mean that there's, you know, it's like the environment is very balanced per se. We know that based on some stats collected by Curie Masters, which is one of our friends, some members as well of the collective, about 30% of leadership roles in retail media. So head of retail media are held by women worldwide. So there's a lot of opportunity for to change this. I think there's a big opportunity to change this. And because of the traction that we're gaining with the collective, I think it's the perfect time to actually try to change that. And I think something I haven't mentioned to you before, but perhaps we have discussed it with Emma said it's very kind of like easy to just get together and network and there are plenty of organizations for that and we really appreciate that. But I think it's very important as well to make sure we give more opportunities for women working not only at a leadership level but any other level to actually expose their knowledge and what they know as well about retail media. Because there are a lot of experts out there. So if we can help with that and give it that platform for us, it will be amazing and we'll consider it a good job.
- [12:00]
Sree Rajagopalan
So yeah, thank you for that. Ana Laura, I absolutely agree with you. It's not just about women at the highest level of leadership because the way they get there is they are fostered and encouraged and mentored and sponsored throughout their career, even from the earliest level. So we have to make sure that everyone is presented with that, that kind of an opportunity. So here at the CPG guys, we are very much about the data. Would love to hear from you some cool industry data points about women in commerce that you really want to highlight to our audience to kind of help illustrate how important it is that your organization exists and its mission succeeds.
- [12:40]
Emma Helslot
Yeah, I think what you especially exactly what you mentioned earlier, Peter, the read to media sector is exploding currently and even more growth is predicted in the coming two years. But at the same time, women's voices are still underrepresented and there are male only panels at industry events. There are industry reports with 90% male contributors. And what Ana Laura just mentioned, from all the retail media networks, only 30% are led by a woman. So there's really a huge opportunity to shape the future of the growing industry. And that's why we started the collective and some other stats that we're seeing women drive 70 to 80% of all consumer spending, yet they're so underrepresented in the leadership roles in commerce and retail media. And we're, we're really on a mission to change that and we really want to, we're going to touch upon our goals later as well. But we really want to make women more represented at those industry events in panels on stage and really let their voices be heard. But in order to change it, we need to understand why they are underrepresented. So why are they not participating as much as men in panels? So we actually started to survey. We also love data, so we really want to understand who, what are the reasons that women aren't represented well enough. So, yeah, we're running the survey currently for both women and men to really understand why. Yeah. What are the reasons behind it in order to change it?
- [14:16]
Sree Rajagopalan
Yeah. We'll make sure to include a link to that survey and the digital liner notes this episode so that more people can take. You can gather more data.
- [14:25]
Emma Helslot
Exactly. Amazing.
- [14:26]
Peter V. S Bond
Well, that's awesome. So clearly the numbers and stats that you've already quoted indicates we've got a gap and as an industry, we need to pay attention first before we fix it. And hopefully the survey will give us the quantitative data we need to actually pay attention so we indeed do fix it. That said, right at the beginning of this podcast, Anna, you had said, I will tell you later how we both met and how we started the collective. So let's get to that. The numbers are obvious. We're going to have even more data coming out of the survey. They'll stare at us in the face. We'll see where we need to fix it. But for both of you, how do you decide to create a community for women in retail media? And what were the goals you established on day one for the collective? I mean, you're talking about a pretty large member base, so surely there must be a bunch of goals.
- [15:19]
Alen Alvara Sain
Yeah, well, I. I think some people already heard the story, but it's good to remind everyone. In January last year, we hosted a dinner with Pentalip and it was around NRF. So we had, I think we had 17 people attending. The dinner went great. Our CEO was very happy. But then he did say, well, we have a problem, because he just sent the picture of the dinner. And I was like, wow, it's very interesting. There were literally no women at that table. And as you can imagine, there were leaders on that dinner from most retail media networks. So it was very disappointing for everybody. So it was a very cool discussion I had with my CEO. And I think that's very important also to say, because it's having the support from a company leader that is an ally is very important because otherwise we wouldn't be able to do this as a passion project as well and feel empowered to do it. Right. But, yeah, that's how everything started. So I started having conversations with people about this idea. And it's also something that I've experienced myself as a woman usually in the ad tech world. I was most of the times like the only woman in certain discussions with leadership as well. So I think there is a big opportunity to change that. And then what happened was that Emma joined pentalip we met, we discussed this potential idea of doing something. We didn't know what it was, but doing something to change this. And then this is how everything kind of like started. And Emma can tell you more about.
- [17:11]
Emma Helslot
In a different situation than an Alora, but it was also something I was missing myself. So I already. We both had some kind of idea in our mind that we wanted to do something with this, with women in Reits Media. And for me, really the idea behind it came from something I was missing. So when I was working at Albert Hein before I joined Panzer Leap, I started looking for a new role. I wanted to work in a more international environment and I really love networking and I had quite a good network, but I was missing the international connections to better understand the industry or its opportunities. So retail media in the Netherlands is still growing compared to markets like the UK or Germany. So I just started reaching out to people on LinkedIn to learn more about it. And what really stood out to me that mostly it was mostly women that supported me and by sharing knowledge, either giving advice or connecting me to companies or opportunities. And yeah, that really made me realize how women can lift each other up in this space. So at that time something like the women in Reads media collective would have been so helpful. And now with Reads and media growing so fast, it really feels like the right time to build it and yeah, really create a space where women can exchange ideas and support each other and we can really highlight women in the industry. Yeah. So when we met those two ideas came together and we started thinking about it doing something and then we decided we should really do something about it and not only talk about it. And then yeah, last November we were just crazy enough to launch this initiative as a passion project next to our full time jobs.
- [18:58]
Peter V. S Bond
As you one follow up I had for you is as you build the collective. A lot of organizations start very centrally and everything is managed and executed by the center. Are you all going to be organization that runs WRMC from the center or is it really based on local communities?
- [19:16]
Emma Helslot
Yeah, we want to have both a global reach like we want to, we want to make our impact needs to be as big as possible. So we really want to reach as many people, women and men as possible. But at the same time we really want to foster local connections and really create a local community. So we also work with local community collectors. We're both based in Europe and the collective is global. So for example in the U.S. in Minneapolis, we have some women helping us. There's a very strong local community there. So we're kind of the center, but then we're working with this local collective, Connectors that we're currently setting up. Also, because it's getting a lot bigger than expected.
- [20:03]
Sree Rajagopalan
When we launched, let me remind our audience that SRI and I have the distinct pleasure during Women's Month to speak with Emma Helslet and Anna Laura Zane. They are the co founders of the Women in Retail Media Collective. All right, so for the people who are interested in understanding the value proposition of joining this collective, what are the primary resources or benefits that you're hoping to offer your members? And we also understand, because I've read a couple of them, you've established a blog on your site. So, like, what are you doing outward from. Kind of, you said you're going to focus on some regional stuff, but from a centralized perspective, what are you trying to offer those that seek to join the collective?
- [20:45]
Emma Helslot
Yeah, we're really creating a space based on three pillars where women can connect, grow and lead. And what we're doing, what we're giving to our members, is always based on those three pillars. So we're really building a strong international network where women can support each other. And it's based on either content or networking events and industry partnerships. So with our website, our blog, the Collective's journal, we're really creating a platform for women to publish their insights, share their stories, and really highlight their expertise. So we're going to publish 50 thought leadership pieces authored by a woman. And we organize networking events, both local and international, to really help women build those meaningful connections and lift each other up. What I just mentioned, Minneapolis, is a great example of Megan, where Megan and Carol are helping us in creating these local events for the community there. But also we just had a very successful first event in Europe in Berlin at Zalando with Heike. And there we really bring the people together. Yeah. On a local event. And next to that, we're really setting up industry partnerships. We're working with organizations like nrf, stratakash and CPG guys and FMG guys to really create an opportunity for women to speak at events. So we partner with event organizers and we propose our members for panel sessions or. Or stage time.
- [22:25]
Peter V. S Bond
That is fabulous. I heard you refer to 30 pieces of insights or thought leadership being published. Can you tell us more about what to expect in those. Are those going to be in and around retail media? Very specific. And how are you also sourcing the 30 pieces of thought leadership?
- [22:45]
Emma Helslot
Yeah, it's going to be. We, at the beginning of this year at nrf, we committed Our committed to our goals that by the end of 2026 we want 50 of all people speaking at an industry event to be a woman. So that's the, the 50 and then we're gonna publish 50 articles by the end of 2026 of those thought leaders to really make their voices heard. And it can be women from all sides of the of the retail media industry. Actually they can come from a retailer, from a brand at working in ad tech. Any woman that's shaping the industry and yeah really want to shine a light.
- [23:23]
Alen Alvara Sain
On their efforts and in terms of how we, how we source them because I think sri, you asked that question. We do have our database, we email them regularly and we have this opportunity for them to pitch for the Journal. So we had a lot of members interested and we also because we're sometimes when they join, you know, if time allows, we have conversations with new members as well. So that's where we mentioned hey, you know, we have the Journal. There's so many opportunities for collaboration and that's where we see a lot of women pitching amazing ideas. So for me particularly it will be. It was very interesting to be able to talk more to the brand side because I'm with my job, I'm very close to the retail media network or like publisher side. So from a kind of like content perspective, being able to talk to one of the journalists is with a woman leading Coca Cola Euro Pacific Partners. So for instance that for me was very eye opening because I usually don't get to spend time with the brands as well. So yeah, it's, it's cool because a lot of actually a lot of women want to share ideas and be featured on the Journal as well.
- [24:39]
Peter V. S Bond
I am 100% sure a lot of people want to be featured on the Journal and here on the CPG guys as and when you get these thought leadership pieces, if you want to publish them, you are always welcome to send them to us and we'll highlight the amazing women who are going to write and be featured on this as well. And they're also the brands or retailers. They're also welcome to come on the show and do a podcast with us. So now let me flip the coin to the other side. Peter had referred to it much earlier on the show that men need to be allies. It's an important piece of his journey for WRMC to be successful. So how do men fit in from the equation? You know, listening to Anna, it was your one of your leaders that actually pointed out that it needs to be fixed, which is fabulous. That the person took a moment to notice the picture, notice what was missing in the picture, and talk to you about it. But how do men fit into the picture in the WRMC and in this community? Have you designed it in the first place to be inclusive with men?
- [25:43]
Alen Alvara Sain
Yeah, well, I mean, I was going to say something a bit controversial, but I think what is interesting is that for some reason when we started this and especially at nrf, when we were on stage for one second, I felt this massive imposter syndrome. And I was like, what am I going to tell all these people here? Which were kind of like 80% men in the audience. This Latina woman coming from Europe is going to tell them that there needs to be more room for women in leadership roles. And will they think that this is actually, this means, you know, oh, there's less opportunities for men. Right. So I think we all understand that. And thanks God that imposter syndrome disappeared right away. And I was able to share my ideas. But I think these being here today, this is exactly the type of, I wouldn't say like, necessarily help, but the type of support that we need. And we appreciate the fact that you both reach out to us. So did Daniel from the FMCG guys and a lot of other people saying, hey, you know what, I actually really care about this mission and I would love to be able to help. And that was something that also happened right after NRF with Emma. We were just like amazed by the amount of people that we actually got to meet in person because of that talk and people, men coming to us and saying, hey, we really care about this. How can we help? So, yeah, opportunities for exposure, especially event organizers that also have reached out to us to see if they can get women to speak at their events or if they could tap into the network as well. So these are the things that are actually extremely helpful. So, yeah, very inclusive, I would say.
- [27:46]
Sree Rajagopalan
So a couple things. One, sri, you know, I was looking through their corporate website for women retail media collective and they made mention of our dear friend Daniel at FMCG Guys. I noticed the FMCG Guys logo on there. Maybe after today's episode we can cajole these two into adding the CPG Guys logo to their website as a formal sponsors. But my mute cute story with the two of them was actually back at NRF in January and I invited them up. I wore my WRMC T shirt that sri, you know, we had some custom made for us and I wore it and took a picture. I took a picture of myself on the floor of NRF wearing the shirt saying, hey, I'm wearing your shirt. Maybe you guys should come find me today and we can do a selfie. And we ended up at a party that our friend, our Omnicom friends at Leap Point were hosting on the top floor of Hudson Yards with a beautiful view of Lower Manhattan. And that's where I got to meet these. These two, these two incredible entrepreneurs and get to know a little bit more about their business. So we're really excited about this.
- [28:52]
Emma Helslot
I think there wasn't a better place or a more beautiful place to meet at that time. Really was.
- [28:58]
Sree Rajagopalan
Yeah, it was wonderful. It was wonderful. I'm glad you guys rearranged your schedule to come up and join me there.
- [29:04]
Emma Helslot
It was definitely worth it.
- [29:06]
Peter V. S Bond
One other thing I want to add, Peter. Here in the United States, we very focused just on the US Market, and we don't take time to learn the international market outside the U.S. to me, the news section of the website and the thought leadership that was referred to by Anna and Laura is a great way for those who are actually in global roles or work for companies that are global to actually know what's going on with that. There's an article on Tesco that's already out there on the retail media journey by Julie Giancolas. There's the Collective Journal from Anna Arfan from Coca Cola Euro Pacific, which talks about the Europe market. And then I noticed a third one which talks about Europe's frontline. So if you just want to keep in touch internationally with what's going on in retail media, well, all of a sudden we have a source now above and beyond just the Women in Retail Media Collective.
- [30:00]
Sree Rajagopalan
Thanks for that, sri. So my last question for you now. Shree will have one more after me. But my final question for you is how are you making yourselves known to the industry? And what channels are you leveraging to connect with potential members?
- [30:12]
Alen Alvara Sain
Well, I'll take that because I'm a marketer. So our digital channels, of course, LinkedIn, where we have a newsletter as well the website, as you mentioned, and we also send emails to our members, also the partnerships that we've established from very early on. So not only partnering with associations, but also other vendors, we cannot really say now, but we have big plans for Cannes. So we're very excited about that. Anyone that would like to partner for events or content, we're very happy to join forces. Of course, the speaking engagements, as we mentioned, and events and networking, I think one of the most valuable things for me and that I actually am very grateful for is Megan Stevens from Best Buy and Care Peers. They are leading the Minneapolis chapter. And as Emma said earlier, and we have, if I'm not wrong, I think we have one event per month. So it's. The list of attendees is outstanding. I did not know there were so many women and rich media networks based out of Minneapolis. So that's a good example as well on how, you know, there's more women and more people knowing about our efforts because of these local initiatives as well.
- [31:37]
Sree Rajagopalan
You know why Minneapolis is so filled with people in this industry? It's the legacy of Roundel. Target Media was basically the OG of this business next to Amazon. And if you look out across the reach of various retail media networks and ad techplace, you've got Claire Wyatt at the trade desk, you've got Evan Hovorka at Albertsons Media Collective, you have Christy Arjun running Uber Advertising, you have Allison Soderbergh running sales and client service at Alta UB Media. So it's a whole bunch of people. Harvey Ma, who's at Sam's Club, they're all people that came from Target and they are now all over the industry. I say the same thing when it comes to loyalty. If you do a DNA test on most people in loyalty, you will find that everyone is somehow related to Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby, the founders of Dunn Humby. I say that jokingly, but there's a little measure of truth to that.
- [32:43]
Peter V. S Bond
I was going to say, Peter, for a minute there, I did take a step back and like, what's going on with Minneapolis? And then it was pretty obvious that of course it's Roundel and who's who in retail media has actually been born from Roundel because it was one of the first, you know, that we had Amazon ads and you had. Roundel was the first real kind of mass merchandiser with scaled stores to get into the retail media business, which certainly.
- [33:11]
Sree Rajagopalan
From an omnichannel perspective, sri, right?
- [33:13]
Peter V. S Bond
Oh, totally, Peter. And they have actually embraced digital from day one. Right. Like Target has been in the digital game, digital business, omnichannel for a decade and a half when most are still learning, learning to the day. Right. And that was a clear indication why many are from Minneapolis. I wonder now, with the women in retail media Collective, what the next center is going to be. Hopefully New York City, Chicago, where ad agencies, and they're the hotbeds of advertising. Maybe it'll be Austin, Dallas, maybe even Los Angeles. And maybe if it's Los Angeles, you know who, you know who would love to Help.
- [33:49]
Sree Rajagopalan
So Sri, you know, if they come out to la, we can take them to a Dodgers game, a World Series champion LA Dodgers game. What do you think about that?
- [33:58]
Peter V. S Bond
Eight times World Series champion needs to play catch up big time to be up top.
- [34:02]
Sree Rajagopalan
You understand, we have this running baseball feud going between us, so pay no attention to us ladies.
- [34:06]
Peter V. S Bond
So let me flip over to the actual goals of the first year, right? We're about two and a half months into the calendar year already. Talk to us about what your very near term, very specific goals are for 2025.
- [34:21]
Emma Helslot
Yeah, we, when we launched this, we were really looking at the. The industry that is exploding in the coming two years. And nrf, we committed to the goal of that by the end of 2026, we want 50% of all people speaking at industry events to be a woman. So that's our very ambitious and bold goal. But we're really working.
- [34:45]
Sree Rajagopalan
But achievable. But achievable if we work hard at it.
- [34:49]
Emma Helslot
We think it's achievable if the whole industry wants to work with us on that goal. And really, that's also where the partnerships come in. We really need the event organizers. We really need everyone to participate in order to make this happen. But we committed ourselves to it, so we're really, really excited to make it happen. So we really want to shine a light on the women in the industry, make their voices be heard both on stage and virtually by the content we publish. So that's why we publish the 50 articles by the end of 2026.
- [35:23]
Peter V. S Bond
And Peter, when those 50 articles, you know, one by one, as I mentioned earlier, as they're published, we'd be happy to post links to them on the CPG guys. So make sure you do. Let us know as and when they're published.
- [35:34]
Sree Rajagopalan
All right, now, before I say goodbye to you, I'll. I'll turn it back to Emma and just ask you to remind everybody how can they get involved in wrmc?
- [35:43]
Emma Helslot
Yeah, we really invite everyone who's listening to get involved. If you're a woman in Reta Media, please join us. Sign up via the website wrmcollective.com if you're an ally. Help us create opportunities and invite women to speak at your events, share our mission and be like the CPG guys, partner with us and follow us on LinkedIn. Women in routine Media collective attend our events and contribute to the conversation.
- [36:09]
Sree Rajagopalan
And Laura, anything to add to that?
- [36:11]
Alen Alvara Sain
No, she said it perfectly well.
- [36:13]
Sree Rajagopalan
Perfect. Perfect. All right, well, listen, Emma and Alora, we are so grateful for Having you join us today, sri. We're going to have to email them a high res version of our logo. Maybe we can get them to put it on their website. What do you think? We'll twist our arm a little bit.
- [36:28]
Alen Alvara Sain
But we'll think about it.
- [36:30]
Sree Rajagopalan
All right, so thank you for joining us, ladies.
- [36:33]
Emma Helslot
Thank you so much for having us. It's really an honor and it's been a pleasure to talk with you again.
- [36:39]
Sree Rajagopalan
The honor is all ours. And to our audience, all of the links you'll find in the digital liner notes of this episode. So, Cherie, what a great conversation with Emma and Anna. Laura, from Women in Retail Media Collective, what were your thoughts?
- [36:50]
Peter V. S Bond
Couple things that stood out in my mind, Peter. First, they had done a pretty good job of knowing the numbers, right. Why we have 30% representation versus close to 50, I do not know. But obviously that needs to be fixed and I think the way they're going about is very surgical. Hey, let's get a survey out, put goals out. Let's do 50 thought leaderships. It'll highlight 50 different people, hopefully and also recruit members to join and be a collective voice. I like the approach of how they're doing that. That's why they already have 6, 700 members already enrolled in Women in Retail Media Collective. But when you have very concrete goals and you chase them, you declare them and you chase them, you're going to be successful. The part where I think the industry needs to pay attention and step up is the allyship part. This can only be fixed if we men make the effort to understand the situation and make sure we contribute in a meaningful way to get it to 50 50, as Anna referred to right at the beginning of the program. Your thoughts?
- [37:59]
Sree Rajagopalan
I agree, Sri, it's our job to help advance this cause. It's the right thing to do. As girl dads, you and I, you and I are committed to this. We have been since we launched this podcast and we're only redoubling our efforts. I think it's important that all people, regardless of their background, be presented with the opportunity to advance on their merits and we have to help encourage that in the industry. So I'm really excited about what they're creating. I know you and I are going to be more engaged with them, sponsoring events they have and making sure we highlight what they're doing. So I thank you for taking the time today to speak with them along with me about this.
- [38:41]
Peter V. S Bond
The one other thing, Peter, I want to add is it takes courage when you're working full time to start something. My hat's off to these two women, Anna and Emma, for having the courage and patience. It's going to be perseverance. It's going to be tenacity. Those are all virtues that are not easy to display on a every single day and these two women have certainly started with the right intent and certainly displaying that. As you mentioned, Peter, we will be showcasing the Women in Retail Media Collective often here on the CPG Guys, so I look forward to that. But I also want to wish the both of them in their career journeys as well as in the growth of Women in Retail Media Collective. When this episode is released, we will be at or near the kickoff party at Shoptalk. Watch out and look out folks for the QR code on the display banner. As Peter has mentioned earlier, by a simple scan with your smartphone, you will be able to learn more about the Women in Retail Media Collective and we encourage you to join.
- [39:46]
Sree Rajagopalan
Yeah, or just use the link that's in the liner notes of Digital Liner notes of this episode. Shree as always, thank you for joining. If you're listening, don't forget, follow us on your favorite platform, Apple or Spotify. Give us a rating. That helps make our podcast more findable and we look forward to speaking with you on the next episode of the CPG Guys Podcast. Goodbye. 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 CPGuys, 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 CPTGuys 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.