How retail media’s identity crisis is fueling a talent crunch

Retail media networks were supposed to be the ad industry’s silver bullet, offering highly targeted ad opportunities with first-party retailer data. But cracks are starting to form in the illusion, as marketers take a closer look at the $62 billion business in the U.S. And those cracks are trickling all the way down to the way agencies and retailers themselves hire retail media strategists, buyers and experts.

Retail media is expected to be one of the fastest-growing ad channels this year, according to eMarketer. Still, it’s unclear who exactly controls retail media spend on the brand advertising side, how those deals should be brokered and how campaigns should be measured, as there’s no one standard yet.

Retail media networks are continuing to scale up. According to Parbinder Dhariwal, vp and general manager at CVS Media Exchange, or CMX, CVS’s retail media network, the company is aiming to increase their workforce by 25% to 30%, especially around product roles, after going into the business five years ago. Agencies are also on the hunt for retail media talent.

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How Google is using the cloud to pitch creative AI tools

Google built its empire on media dollars. Now, it’s eyeing the other side of the equation — creativity — with AI as its way in.

The signs have been piling up over the last 18 months but the clearest signal yet came last week at the annual Google Cloud Next.

In Las Vegas, the giant unveiled an expanded suite of content creation tools: Veo 2 for video, Imagen 3 for images, Lyria for music and the Chirp 3 model for custom voice tech, all designed to turn minimal input into maximum output. Execs did this throughout the event not just by talking about the technical capabilities of the tools but also showcasing how brands and agencies are already adopting them to create and scale multimedia content.

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