The trend: Retail media, once seen as purely a performance channel, is now emerging ahead of Cannes Lions 2025 as a broader force shaping brand equity, innovation, and retail operations.

• Victoria Usher, CEO of PR consultancy GingerMay, described retail media as central to this year’s Cannes agenda, noting it will be examined alongside in-store experiences and how effectively campaigns influence consumers.
• Jim Kane, VP of Sales at retail media platform Zitcha, highlighted that retailers are beginning to use their retail media data for more than monetization. “There’s so much to unpack around the wider benefits of retail media within the industry,” he said, calling attention to how brands are leveraging these insights across the full customer journey.
• According to Fabric Media co-founder and CEO Jason Damata, retail media isn’t just growing—it’s “the new black,” reshaping how data is activated and driving tighter integration across platforms like CTV, programmatic PMPs, and search.

New data reinforces this shift: 41% of US retail media/brand professionals say retail media’s top use is reaching high-intent audiences. But a third of respondents also cite lookalike audience building, suppression list targeting, and remarketing—proof that brands are viewing these platforms as tools for segmentation, not just conversions.

Why it matters:

• With signal loss disrupting targeting and attribution, marketers are turning to first-party data ecosystems for scale, precision, and measurable impact. Retail media delivers on that need—powering creative, surfacing real-time consumer insights, and guiding planning well beyond owned channels.
• Features like self-service onboarding, privacy compliance, and automated campaign delivery top the list of desired platform capabilities, suggesting that usability, governance, and operational integration across commerce systems is where retail media is heading.
• At the same time, marketers still face barriers. A recent report from Koddi identifies transparency in measurement, cost, and in-store execution as top retail media frustrations, suggesting the industry’s next frontier may be standardization—not just expansion.

Our take: Retail media’s growth signals a shift in power. Retailers are now media owners and data partners, offering brands both insight and execution. At Cannes, expect focus to shift from attribution to how retail media drives storytelling and sustained engagement. Success will hinge on better reporting, cross-platform integration, and seamless execution.