Rethink Retail forms retail media club to survive the AI transition

Unanimity has never been a strength of the retail media industry, but one body is trying to bring the people who actually build and run retail media networks together.

RETHINK Retail has launched Media in Retail (MiR), a network that aims to develop the next generation of retail media talent and bring structure to an industry that has grown faster than anyone anticipated. Emarketer projects that US advertisers will spend $71.09 billion in 2026 on retail media, according to a December 2025 forecast.

The founding cohort includes top executives from Costco, Ulta, The Home Depot, Dollar General, Sainsbury’s, and Tesco. The MiR network is chaired by Drew Cashmore, chief strategy officer at Vantage, the operating system for commerce and retail media.

“Retail media has grown faster than the structures around it,” Marie Chevrier Schwartz, CEO of Rethink Retail, wrote in a statement. “MiR is focused on providing a platform to help mature its foundational business discipline.”

The new group includes Mark Williamson, AVP retail media at Costco; Alyson Soderberg, senior director of UB Media at Ulta; Stephenie Cattonar, senior director of strategy at The Home Depot’s retail media arm Orange Apron Media; and Lauren Bolles, COO of Tesco Media.

Cashmore said in a statement that retail media “needs a place to develop the next generation of talent and steady the conversation during a moment of rapid change.”

“MiR is being built by the leaders driving that change for the purpose of elevating an entire industry,” he said.

Retail media as a marketing channel sprung up with the rise of Amazon’s ads platform in 2012, and changed the game for digital advertising on retail websites. But the industry has been dealing with existential challenges like measurement, organization design, and fragmentation, making in-store ads work thanks in large part to AI agents and agentic commerce. Still, retail media’s appeal lies in its effectiveness and ability to drive sales.

While retail media has exploded over the last few years, and nearly every major retailer now has a media network, the infrastructure, the talent pipelines, and the governance frameworks haven’t quite caught up. Rethink Retail’s plan is to expand MiR beyond retailers to include brands, agencies, and technology providers, making it a full ecosystem play rather than just a retailer-focused group.

The group will host its inaugural Media in Retail Summit at NRF’s Big Show week in January 2027.