Observed Signal · Sep 1, 2026 · Analysis · Source: Adweek · Impact: 3/5 · Sentiment: Positive
Retail Media Can Build Brands—Including Ways Other Media Can’t
This opinion column argues that retail media, often dismissed as performance-only, is a powerful brand-building channel. It challenges Mark Ritson's critique by citing research from Binet & Fields and Ebiquity that brand building should account for 55-60% of ad spend, while most budgets go to performance. The author claims retail media offers reach, mental availability, and higher ROI, citing Emarketer data showing its share across formats. P&G's off-site retail media investment reportedly doubled in a year. The piece advises shifting budgets from low-performing performance channels and black-box AI tools to retail media, emphasizing causal modeling over MMM to reveal its true value. It positions retail media as a complement to TV, not a threat.
High-profile industry debate on retail media's brand-building potential, with concrete data and advertiser examples, influencing budget allocation discussions.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Emarketer data shows retail media constitutes 29% of search, 11% of programmatic display/video, 6% of social, 16% of CTV, and 15% of DOOH ad spend.
- Sensor Tower data indicates Procter & Gamble's off-site retail media investment more than doubled in the past year.
- According to the article, 70% of marketers say their marketing mix models do not account for retail media.
- Binet and Fields recommend 55-60% of ad budget be allocated to brand building.
- Causal modeling consistently ranks retail media networks among the highest ROI channels.
Connected Companies & Entities
6 Entities mapped“Marketing effectiveness research from Binet and Fields and Ebiquity establish that brand building should account for 55% to 60% of ad spend.”
“According to Emarketer, retail media constitutes a meaningful percentage of every major pool of ad spending...”
“Sensor Tower data indicates that P&G’s off-site retail media investment has more than doubled in the past year...”
“And especially from black box AI tools like Google’s Performance Max...”
“and Meta’s Advantage+.”
Ontology Mapping & Concepts
Related Market Signals & Shifts
Recent verified developments and strategic activity across this market segment.
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.
Retail Media 3.0: The Shelf Now Decides
The article argues that Retail Media has evolved from a tactical commerce tool into a strategic, full-fledged media channel—'Retail Media 3.0'—driven by retailers' first-party purchase data and improved measurement. It highlights the growing importance of Retail Media Networks (RMNs), the rise of in-store digital media at the point of sale, and the efficacy of combining OOH/DOOH branding with retail activation to drive measurable sales. The author recommends CMOs prioritise data infrastructure (including clean rooms), integrate organisation silos (e‑commerce, trade marketing, brand and media), and form deep partnerships with a limited set of high-performing RMNs while employing standardised metrics to compare Retail Media with other channels.
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