Unlocking Retail Media

James Avery sits down with Andrew Connell, Chief Growth Officer at dunnhumby, to unpack one of the most ambitious structural moves in retail media right now: the dunnhumby network alliance. Built in partnership with Kevel and anchored by Tesco, the alliance brings together competing retailers including Waitrose, John Lewis, B&Q, and Screwfix into a single platform for shared audiences, unified campaign execution, and closed-loop measurement across multiple retailers at once. Andrew and James dig into why brand fragmentation is reaching a breaking point (CPGs are now rebuilding their retail media strategy up to 20 times for different networks), why retailers who don't act risk ceding their data advantage to Amazon, Google, or The Trade Desk, and how the network alliance gives mid-size grocers a path to compete for brand and performance dollars they're not capturing today. The conversation also covers the untapped potential of cross-category retail journeys, how EV charging stations are becoming the next frontier of in-store media, why property portals like Zillow could be the perfect non-endemic retail media partner, and how the model is already drawing interest from retailers in the US, Europe, Australasia, and the Middle East. If you're a retailer trying to figure out where retail media goes after the JBP, this episode is essential listening.

What is Unlocking Retail Media?

Unlocking Retail Media is the essential podcast for leaders and marketers navigating the rapidly evolving world of retail advertising. We move beyond day-to-day operations to explore the strategic future of the industry, covering major investment trends, the shift to hybrid marketplace models, and the existential disruption posed by Agentic Commerce. Host James Avery brings in top industry veterans and visionary founders to analyze how ground-breaking technology is transforming customer journeys, influencing product catalogs, and forcing retailers to rethink on-site, in-store, and digital media strategies to remain competitive in the modern age.