Retail Media Technology: Market Structure, Ecosystem Anatomy & Strategic Positioning

Home Depot Names Retail Media Leader; More Mall Ads Incoming

Adweek reports that The Home Depot has appointed Christine Foster as general manager and VP of Orange Apron Media, effective Sept. 8; she joins from Kroger Precision Marketing and will oversee the retailer’s retail media business across its 2,300+ stores and ecommerce, including managed-service and self-serve offerings. The retail-focused roundup also notes hires at companies including Dentsu, a rumored Perion acquisition in retail media circles, Dollar General expanding its relationship with DoorDash, and Amazon bringing brands into its back-to-school marketing push. The piece is a commerce-focused newsletter-style roundup by Jessie Dowd covering multiple recent moves in retail media and commerce marketing.

ProSieben Reshuffles Monday Sitcom Lineup

ProSieben will change its Monday evening sitcom schedule effective 14 September after three weeks of weak ratings. The broadcaster will air four consecutive Germany-premiere episodes of Georgie & Mandy, pushing Ted roughly 55 minutes later to about 22:05 (with a new-season episode followed by a season-1 repeat). St. Denis Medical will move to a later 23:15 slot with back-to-back episodes airing as Free-TV premieres. The changes follow disappointing audience figures since the August 10 schedule rollout: Georgie & Mandy averaged 6.6% in the key 14–49 demo (with wide fluctuation), Ted’s new episodes peaked at 4.3%, and St. Denis Medical averaged just above 2%, hitting a low of 0.5% (approx. 60,000 total viewers) in the demo.

Retail Media Is Not Brand Building

The article argues that retail media — exemplified by Walmart Connect and other retailers’ ad arms — is a highly profitable, fast-growing, bottom-of-funnel channel that should not be conflated with brand-building. It cites Walmart’s recent ad revenue gains and the wider retail media boom (Target, Instacart, DoorDash, Amazon) while warning about inconsistent ROI measurement across retailers and the fact that much retail media spending is reallocated from existing brand budgets rather than being incremental. The author recommends treating retail media as a defensive, trade-type investment that secures distribution, not as a substitute for broad brand-awareness investment.