David’s Bridal is taking the next step toward fully integrating its ecommerce and store operations as it moves into a tech-driven, asset-light retail model. The biggest customer-facing change will be the introduction of an endless aisle experience in select stores, delivered via full-scale digital touchscreens powered by Shopify that will allow shoppers to access the retailer’s entire inventory, enabling them to purchase items at the store’s point-of-sale and have them shipped them directly to their home.
The retailer’s digital transformation also include the implementation of Shopify’s next-generation POS system in the new tech-driven “Diamonds & Pearls by David’s” store format that was introduced in May 2025, with Deloitte Digital providing implementation, consulting and strategic advice for the initiative.
“At David’s, we’re not just evolving — we’re reimagining the entire bridal journey from inspiration to purchase, all through an AI, digital, asset-light lens,” said Kelly Cook, CEO of David’s Bridal in a statement. “By integrating with Shopify, we’re delivering unmatched, real-time access to our full selection of bridal and special occasion offerings through true commerce fluidity, resulting in a more seamless customer shopping experience.”
Other benefits of the Shopify integration include:
Enhanced checkout experiences, including flexible payment options and seamless online-to-offline cart integration;
Real-time inventory visibility across stores and online;
A centralized hub for catalog, pricing, promotions and inventory;
Automatic feature updates and built-in compliance, meaning no on-premise servers or manual patching are required; and
Improved associate experience, with an intuitive backend that empowers staff with faster onboarding, real-time customer insights and more efficient returns and exchanges.
“Shopify gives brands the tools to build the future of commerce on their own terms,” said Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify in a statement. “David’s Bridal is using our technology and a deep understanding of their customer to reimagine the bridal shopping experience — whether online, in-store or anywhere in between.”
Earlier this month, David’s Bridal partnered with MyRegistry.com to create a universal gifting registry platform. Retail media became an important part of the David’s Bridal business with the December 2024 launch of Pearl Media.
There has been an increasing intersection of marketing and technology, particularly in relation to data privacy, in recent years. Your martech stack is now being regulated by a multitude of laws that govern consumer data across various jurisdictions. Marketers must navigate the use of data-driven technologies while still meeting the fast-paced demands of evolving legal regulations.
Privacy laws are being increasingly extended globally, with a considerable impact on how your martech systems gather, manipulate, and retain customer data. Complications compounding the stakes only get higher as individual markets demand more; otherwise, marketing departments must create compliant first strategies for every specific demand.
Your martech strategy must effectively consider privacy as part of its design thinking from conception, not a well-worn box-ticking exercise.
Essential Compliance Requirements for Marketing Technology
Understanding the primary privacy regulations that impact martech deployment will enable you to plan for compliance effectively. The regulatory picture includes a few key frameworks:
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Rule of thumb is that if you are on a martech system processing data of EU residents, you must obtain explicit consent, and they must have control over that personal information.
The California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act make similar protections available to California residents, including the right to opt out of the sale of data.
Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) will provide consumers with the right to access, correct, and delete their personal data that is processed by marketing technology (martech) platforms.
The Brazilian General Data Protection Law (LGPD) imposes extensive requirements for martech systems to handle data on Brazilian citizens.
Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) applies to commercial activities when it comes to personal information.
Building Privacy-Compliant Marketing Technology Systems
Data mapping is the cornerstone of any successful martech compliance program. This includes mapping the flow of data between your marketing technology stack – understanding what data comes into your systems, how it passes from one tool to another, where it is kept, and when it will leave your control.
Comprehensive data mapping enables informed decisions about compliance requirements across your entire martech stack. Building privacy into your martech infrastructure requires several key actions:
Implementing consent management platforms that integrate with your martech tools
Adopting data minimization principles across marketing systems
Establishing data retention policies for marketing information
Creating processes for honoring data subject access requests
Developing incident response procedures for data breaches
Conducting regular privacy impact assessments on martech implementations
Consent Management in Your MarTech Ecosystem
Modern consent management platforms integrate directly with your martech stack to ensure compliance across all customer touchpoints. These specialized tools maintain comprehensive records of user consent decisions, providing crucial documentation for regulatory requirements.
Your martech systems must respect these consent signals when determining appropriate data processing activities for each individual. The implementation of consent management within martech systems requires attention to several factors:
Granular consent options that allow users to make specific choices about different data uses
Clear, non-technical language explaining how martech tools will process information
Mechanisms for users to easily modify consent decisions across martech platforms
Persistent storage of consent records for compliance documentation
Seamless integration with analytics and marketing automation systems
Assessing Privacy Compliance in Marketing Technology Partners
Vendor assessment represents a crucial component of martech governance. Before integrating new tools into your stack, conduct thorough privacy evaluations to understand their compliance posture. Your assessment should examine how these martech providers handle data transfers, implement security measures, and respond to regulatory requirements across relevant jurisdictions.
Creating standardized privacy questionnaires for potential martech vendors
Reviewing vendors’ data processing agreements for compliance requirements
Verifying appropriate technical and organizational security measures
Establishing clear responsibilities for data protection in vendor contracts
Implementing ongoing monitoring procedures for martech partners
Developing contingency plans for vendor compliance failures
Remember that your organization remains ultimately responsible for compliance, even when using external martech providers. This reality necessitates careful oversight of how vendors interact with your customer data.
Balancing Marketing Performance and Privacy Compliance
First-party data strategies have emerged as powerful solutions in privacy-conscious martech environments. By focusing on information gathered directly through owned channels, your marketing team can build robust customer profiles while minimizing compliance risks associated with third-party data sources.
This approach requires investing in martech tools that excel at capturing and activating first-party information. Privacy-enhancing technologies provide additional options for balancing martech performance and compliance:
Data clean rooms allow secure analysis without raw data exposure
Advanced analytics using aggregated rather than individual-level information
Differential privacy techniques introducing calculated noise into datasets
Federated learning approaches keeping data on user devices
Enhanced contextual targeting reducing reliance on personal information
Building Adaptable Marketing Technology for Evolving Compliance
Modularity provides significant advantages when designing privacy-conscious martech architectures. By constructing systems with interchangeable components rather than monolithic platforms, your team can swap out specific elements as compliance requirements change.
This approach minimizes disruption when regulations evolve, allowing targeted modifications rather than complete system overhauls. Additional strategies for future-proofing your martech include:
Implementing comprehensive data governance frameworks
Adopting privacy-enhancing technologies that exceed current requirements
Building internal privacy expertise focused on marketing technology
Participating in industry privacy working groups and standards organizations
Final Words
Compliance with privacy is more than a legal requirement for your martech stack — it’s a real competitive advantage. Consumers are more and more willing to vote with their wallets for brands that respect their data privacy. By building strong privacy practices into your martech ecosystem, you earn customer trust and mitigate regulatory risk.
Loblaws is expanding its partnership with DoorDash by allowing members of the retailer’s PC Optimum loyalty program to earn points with their DoorDash purchases, whether they are made at Loblaws supermarkets or at restaurants or other merchants’ stores.
Program members can earn five PC Optimum points for each dollar spent on eligible orders, but for the first three months, members will earn 10 points for each dollar spent, along with a 25,000-point bonus for members who are entirely new to DoorDash. The bonus points are awarded after the customer completes three eligible orders worth $20 or more. Current DoorDash users will earn 5,000 PC Optimum points for linking with DoorDash.
“By partnering with DoorDash, we’re extending the value of our program beyond our stores and into even more moments of everyday life,” said Lauren Steinberg, EVP and Chief Digital Officer at Loblaws in a statement. “Whether it’s groceries, everyday essentials, pharmacy or now your favorite restaurant meals, we’re making it easier to earn rewards wherever and however you choose to eat.”
Members can earn points by shopping at participating Loblaws banner stores including Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills, Shoppers Drug Mart, Maxi, Real Atlantic Superstore and PC Express Rapid Delivery locations through DoorDash.
“Connecting customers with the best of their neighborhoods is our bread and butter, whether that’s by ordering a delicious restaurant meal, a weekly supply of groceries or a last-minute beauty haul,” said Kyra Huntington, Head of Strategy and Operations at DoorDash Canada in a statement.
Loblaws said it would invest $2 billion (Canadian) in its stores and supply chain in April 2023, and the retailer introduced its limited-assortment “No Name” banner in August 2024. In February 2025 Loblaws announced plans to open 80 new stores this year, with approximately 50 stores being designated as “hard discount” locations. DoorDash has partnered with Loblaws for delivery services since June 2023.
The 31st gathering of industry-leading retailers was an immense success
The 31stAnnual Customer Relationship Management Conference (CRMC) took place from June 4 to 6 in Chicago. The event was well attended by over 700 persons and the presenting brands represented the business landscape from “A-Z” including Bealls, Big 5, Bombas, Carter’s, Gap, Great Clips, Hilton, Liverpool, Lowe’s, McDonalds, Omni, PepsiCo, Petsmart, Pizza Hut, Sephora, Subway, The Home Depot, Ticketmaster, Top Golf, Tyson Foods and Wendy’s. You can read a quick CRMC Recap here.
Event C-Chairs Chad Nikola, American Eagle, and Jenna O’Connor, GNC, summarized the conference theme of “balance,” reminding us that Loyalty IS humanity and that the power of human-centered loyalty will propel the industry into the future.
To kickoff the first afternoon, we were reminded that empathy is still the ultimate differentiator from Nicole Phillips Bernhardt at Lowe’s Companies, Inc. She went on to describe the Loyalty Ecosystem created at Lowe’s, consisting of shared rewards, experience, technology, and credit integration.
Keynote Neil Pasricha followed with a fascinating story of how his bestselling book grew from a daily blog he had kept for many years. He shared thoughts on his learned approach to happiness and intentional living, while leaving behind three 2-minute practices that he suggested anyone could adopt to create more order and happiness in their lives.
The content throughout the event was well prepared, well-presented, and delivered value to attendees. Several brands shared their view of current trends in consumer purchase behavior, with these points as examples that echoed throughout the talks:
The “Amazon Effect” has a heavy influence on customer expectations. People expect convenient shopping and fast, free shipping.
The majority of customers purchase both online and in-store, meaning the experience should be consistent and easy to navigate across channels.
In-store shopping needs to be more than a pickup destination for convenience; it needs to deliver an experience unto itself.
Sustainability is a compelling added benefit to the customer journey, especially among younger consumer groups. The number of retailers entering the “resale” market is indicative of this trend.
For Gen Z, nearly half begin their product searches on TikTok or Instagram.
The multi-cultural consumer segment continues to grow and is expected to represent a majority of consumers over the next decade.
There was lots of talk about the future of customer loyalty, with continued shifting emphasis across the spectrum from transactions to experiences. The role of branding was forecast to expand as a customer engagement tool to foster emotional connections, while better personalization efforts were touted as key to value creation for customers. Experiences will continue to emerge as the highest-ranking benefit to develop long-term customer relationships.
Other content highlights (we couldn’t get them all) included:
Kevin Brughelli dove into how AI is driving smarter, more profitable loyalty for anonymous and known shoppers alike at Bealls, Inc., and how it can do the same for you.
Michelle DeStein, Bombas, reminded us that the journey from first purchase to superfan doesn’t start with a sale—it starts with storytelling that matters.
Heidi Cullen GAP, and Sean Claessen shared the story of GAP’s transformative journey in building iconic customer loyalty by uniting brand storytelling and data-driven personalization to redefine customer engagement.
CRMC will be moving to Texas in 2026, and Lindsay Eichten sparked excitement for next year’s destination, taking place at the Omni Resort in Texas, as she shared Omni Hotels & Resorts‘ powerful personalization strategies and attention to customer satisfaction.
Thursday Keynote Riaz Meghji offered powerful words about making human connections through stronger and more effective conversations, urging the crowd to drop the small talk and lead with authenticity. He left us with this riveting quote: “If we prioritize connection, we can out-care the competition.”
On the final morning, keynote speaker Shabnam Mogharabi wrapped up the conference by framing out the art of EPIC storytelling.
Talking with attendees, most agreed the event was all about connections, and validated that every conversation counts:
Sydney Shapiro, Baesman, summed up what many other believed to be true about this year’s CRMC, saying “this event continues to be one of my favorites—not only for the insightful sessions, but for the opportunity to reconnect with industry friends and meet so many new faces who are passionate about transforming customer experiences.”
Jeannie Amerson, W. Capra shared that this week’s CRMC, her first, was a “marketing girl’s dream”.
Megan Fiorendino, Capillary emphasized the value of “real conversations with loyalty leaders from around the world, insightful lounge sessions that sparked fresh thinking, and powerful 1:1 exchanges that left us inspired.
Wise Marketer was again the event media partner, and we wanted to acknowledge and give thanks to Devon Wylie, Melissa Simpson, MBA, and Craig Wood for all the hard work they put in behind the scenes and on the main stage to make it happen. We look forward to this conference partnership each year as we have the opportunity to work in a high-quality environment with great people.
Amazon has doubled 2025’s Prime Day event to four days, offering 96 hours of deals and special offers from July 8-11. New this year will be Today’s Big Deals, themed daily drops of deals for brands including Samsung, Kiehl’s and Levi’s that will be available exclusively to Prime members. Amazon also has sweetened the Prime for Young Adults membership offer for customers aged 18 to 24.
Prime Day was a two-day event in 2024 that generated record-breaking sales, contributing to $14.2 billion in ecommerce sales, an 11% increase year over year, according to Adobe Analytics.
This year, LeBron James replaces Megan Thee Stallion as the Prime Day spokesperson, starring in an ad that shows Amazon providing the gear for whatever comes next for the basketball superstar — from cooking at a Benihana-style restaurant to crooning (off-key) in a nightclub to facing off with hungry raccoons as he leads a camping trip.
Prime Day is generally seen as the kickoff to the back-to-school shopping season. Amazon’s Back to School and Off to College Shops help organize school supplies, which will be available for up to 40% off during the event. Early deals on Amazon Brands and devices will begin July 1.
Wooing Young Adults with Prime Membership Discounts
Amazon also is refreshing Prime for Young Adults, offering 18- to 24-year-olds enhanced memberships for $7.49 per month or $69 per year. (The normal Prime membership fee is $14.99 per month or $139 annually.) Benefits include everyday 5% cash back on favorite items, which will be doubled to 10% cash back on popular categories during Prime Day, as well as exclusive drops. Eligible new members can try Prime for Young Adults for six months for $0.
“Whether someone is beginning their first job, moving into their first apartment or college dorm or taking time to decide what’s next, the new Prime for Young Adults membership helps members save money, save time and make the most of this important life stage,” said Jamil Ghani, Worldwide VP of Amazon Prime in a statement.
Today on Manhattan’s West side, thousands of people are funneling into the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center for a trade-focused gathering. Not an unusual occurrence at Javits, but the expo taking place today and tomorrow is unusual in a number of ways. Bild Expo is put on by iconic Manhattan-based electronics retailer B&H, but despite the fact that the show is being run by a merchant, the goal of the event is not to sell products — or in fact to make money at all.
Bild Expo launched in 2023 to celebrate B&H’s 50th anniversary. At the time, the company wasn’t even sure if it would do another one, but that first show was such a success that B&H has brought it back two years later for two days — June 17 and 18, 2025.
“We were coming up on our 50th anniversary and we wanted to mark it, both with the industry and with our customers,” said Jeff Gerstel, Chief Marketing Officer at B&H Photo in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “The whole idea was to bring the B&H brand to life for a two-day celebration of what we do. Rule number one was it had to be free [for attendees]. We weren’t there to sell anything; we weren’t there to make money. We wanted to create an event for the benefit of the attendees, with one simple goal — that they leave having learned something, been inspired by something or someone and gotten access to the brands they love and the creators they follow in a very humble, low-key and intimate setting.”
B&H’s Signature Focus on Customer Experience, Translated into an Expo
Most trade shows are profit-making endeavors, so to understand the community-over-money mentality of Bild Expo, you have to understand a little bit about B&H.
The name, Bild, is a subtle nod to the heritage of B&H and its founders in the Orthodox Jewish community: “bild” means “image” in Yiddish. Since its founding in 1973 as a small camera shop, B&H has placed a premium on open-handed expertise. And that approach hasn’t changed over the past 50 years, even as technology has become more complex and interwoven in day-to-day life.
“B&H has an extremely high-touch, old school approach to taking care of customers,” explained Gerstel. “A lot of what we sell is expensive, complicated gear, and [our focus is on] helping people make the right decisions for them. In some ways it’s a throwback to something that I don’t know even exists anymore. It’s a very much a long-term view — we’re interested in customers for their lifetime, not to make a sale today. Nobody’s on commission. If people leave without buying something, that’s fine, no one has sales targets. It’s all about, how do we take care of the customer? It’s very easy to say, but very hard to do.”
This attitude is the reason generations of professionals and hobbyists have returned again and again to B&H’s Manhattan superstore despite ample opportunity to buy their electronics elsewhere. And given this, it’s perhaps not so surprising after all that the company would choose to host an expensive, multi-day event dedicated to the art supported by the tools it sells, an event for which the only financial goal is to hopefully cover costs.
“If we can more or less cover our costs, that’d be nice, but again, the approach for all these years has been, if we do the right thing, people will come back,” said Gerstel. “Maybe [the show ends up] costing money to produce, but over the long term it’ll create benefits for the brand and for the exhibitors who participated.”
A Chance to Help Customers ‘Unlock Their Creativity’
Exhibitors at the event — which this year includes more than 250 brands such as Canon, Sony, Nikon, DJI, Kodak and Fujifilm — pay to participate, but they clearly also see the value. Not only has the number of exhibitors increased from the 2023 show, but many returning exhibitors also have increased the size of their presence this year.
A full crowd for one of the conference sessions at the 2023 Bild Expo. (Image courtesy B&H)
“This is a chance for the industry to show what we can do,” said Gerstel. “We’re all actively competing — people have limited budgets, and we’re not selling anything, for the most part, that people need to survive. But we feel that if the industry bands together and puts its best foot forward to this audience, it really creates magical outcomes. So part of the goal [of Bild] is to kind of reframe the job and the objective [to show] that the competition isn’t the people at the next table. The purpose here is to unlock the creativity of the audience and by doing so, we lift all ships and the industry prospers.”
Nurturing a New Kind of B&H Customer: The Content Creator
Filmmaker and content creator Adrian Per speaking at the 2023 Bild Expo. (Image courtesy B&H)
That industry has seen a big boost in the past decade thanks to the rise of online content creators, and Bild Expo, while still nurturing B&H’s core photography clientele, is also dedicated to this primarily younger consumer set.
About one-third of the more than 100 conference sessions at this year’s show are dedicated to content creation, with presenters from major platforms such as YouTube and Snapchat as well as a full roster of successful creators sharing insights. These sessions are set alongside a range of workshops and immersive experiences on everything from AI editing to photo lighting, production quality and more.
“One of the big surprises in 2023 was how young the audience was,” said Gerstel. “Content creation has brought a whole new tsunami of customers into the industry. So this year I would say 40% to 50% of attendees at the show will be under 40 years old. [The industry] has been really successful at broadening the tent and welcoming people in who have a big desire to learn more and get better. For Bild, how to balance the traditional still photography world with this emerging, very different animal and have the two coexist has been a big part of the fun.”
‘Making a Large Industry Feel Small for a Couple of Days’
B&H executives also will appear on stage, but the primary way the company shows up at the event is with more than 300 employees on the show floor helping to run different experience areas. “Mostly, it’s a chance for us to interact with the many attendees on a one-on-one basis and help them grow their talent,” explained Gerstel.
Attendees at the event also will have ample opportunity to test out new gear — and buy it if they want. In fact, one of the big draws for attendees is specials on the gear being showcased, although whether or not they buy it at the show, online or decide to walk a few blocks to buy it at the B&H store, is inconsequential to the B&H team.
What’s more important to Gerstel and his team is recreating the sense of community that attendees experienced at the 2023 event. “I remember one comment from an attendee [in 2023] who said, ‘It was like an ocean of photographers, and I was one of them,’” shared Gerstel. “It’s just this group of people getting together and enjoying each other’s company.”
Gerstel doesn’t want to commit to a regular cadence for the event, partly because he and his team don’t want it to “become a routine thing” like other trade shows, and also because putting on a trade show is a lot of work, especially for a company where that’s not the core business. “As magical as the event was [in 2023], it really stretched us; everyone here has a day job,” he said.
“We create this atmosphere where a large industry feels very small for a couple of days,” Gerstel added. “It’s about the love of the craft; that’s what gets celebrated. I remember speaking to one of our founders, and he said, ‘Look, our business approach is very simple. If we do the right thing, people will come back. It’s literally as simple as that.’ There’s a belief that the commercial side will take care of itself if we do a great job on the customer side, and that’s the story of this event and this company.”
Kurt Donnell, CEO at Freestar chats about the changing world of adtech and ad monetization in this MarTechSeries catch-up:
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Hi Kurt, take us through your adtech journey and time at Freestar so far?
I began my career as an M&A lawyer but realized pretty quickly that it wasn’t for me. I moved into digital media at SHE Media, where I took on various roles in business development, audience growth, corporate development, and eventually landed in a COO-like position. I then briefly stepped away from ad tech to help take a yoga company public, thinking I’d trade chaos for meditation. But it didn’t take long for me to realize I missed the fast-paced, problem-solving nature of our industry.
In 2019, I joined Freestar as its first CEO. The company was already growing quickly. But it needed more structure to achieve its long-term vision. So when I joined, I focused on formalizing operations, hiring key leaders, and transitioning to a remote-first model. The shift helped us tap into global talent while maintaining a strong culture.
Since then, we’ve scaled from 25 to 185 team members across 15 countries, grown revenue 7x, and kept ourselves on the Inc. 5000 list every year after debuting at No. 1 in 2019. Strategic acquisitions like Triple13 and Sortable expanded our tech and market presence. What really keeps me here is the constant evolution of our industry and our second-to-none team. I love it. Every month (sometimes, even every week) brings a new challenge that no one’s faced before, and I thrive on that.
In what ways are you seeing the world of adtech evolve today, top adtech features and trends you’d like to discuss here?
One of the most encouraging evolutions I’m seeing right now is a clear flight to quality. I think this is driven by a maturing market and a growing intolerance for bad actors. Over the past year, we’ve seen some solid progress in cleaning up issues that have plagued the industry for too long—arbitrage sites, cluttered pages, and low-value inventory. Consolidation across the space and increased scrutiny have helped spotlight these types of problems, pushing the entire ecosystem to raise its standards.
We’re also seeing smarter buying behavior. Instead of broad decisions like “we like this company” or “we don’t like that one,” DSPs are now evaluating inventory at a more granular level, using better tools to pinpoint where the real value lies. This precision helps us as a publisher monetization partner to deliver cleaner, higher-quality experiences.
Anecdotally, we’ve seen multiple instances where reducing ad footprint actually increased revenue via increased CPMs. This is contrary to the old “more is more” mentality, which just doesn’t hold anymore. We’re seeing that less can be more, or at the very least equally as effective. As both a user and someone in the space, I always prefer fewer, better ads if it means a more meaningful touchpoint with audiences. It’s a no-brainer. This evolution is making the industry better as a whole.
How do you expect to see AI play a significant role in how the publisher and ad revenue model will change in future?
We know AI will play a critical role in evolving the publisher and ad revenue model by streamlining operations, uncovering actionable insights, and enabling more personalized, data-driven decision-making. It’s undeniable. AI can optimize ad placements, improve yield strategies, and automate routine tasks. This will continue to allow publishers to move faster and smarter.
But while the technology is powerful, it’s the human element that will ultimately differentiate how successfully (or not) companies use AI. Innovation alone isn’t enough today. It has to be rooted in values, customer needs, and thoughtful execution. That’s where trust is built and long-term value is created.
The most effective AI strategies will enhance human potential, not replace it. Freestar’s approach is to leverage AI for what it does best so that our people can focus on what they do best. Ultimately, it’s our team members who are solving complex problems, building relationships, and delivering a high-touch service. The future of the ad model will belong to those who find the sweet spot —that balance between technological and human connection.
What about today’s ad monetization tactics should end users and providers be more focused on understanding better?
Both end users and providers need to better understand that ad monetization isn’t one-size-fits-all—it’s really dependent on the advertiser’s objective. The industry has evolved beyond basic metrics like clickthrough rates or even viewability. Today, what really matters is aligning tactics with desired outcomes.
For direct response or performance-based advertisers, conversion rates and placement, like checkout pages, are critical. But for brand advertisers, it’s more about attention, engagement, and long-term impact. Metrics will continue to evolve, and the focus should shift to understanding the intent behind the ad spend.
I think at this point everyone knows that cookies are sticking around–for now anyway. So we’re not facing another wave of fundamental change to the ad tech plumbing. That stability makes space to concentrate on what really matters: What drives results for advertisers, and how do we deliver it in a way that respects users and supports publishers?
Ultimately, it’s about understanding the medium and adapting strategies accordingly.
When it comes to ad monetization in today’s ecosystem: what should brands keep foremost in mind to gain more traction?
Brands looking to gain more traction in today’s ecosystem should keep one thing top of mind: quality. The quality of where the ads are appearing and the quality of the viewer. Real users who intentionally visit a site are much more valuable than accidental clicks from someone who’s just trying to navigate somewhere else. Engaged audiences are what drive outcomes.
That means being thoughtful with allow and block lists. We’re seeing a growing problem with over-blocking, especially with quality editorial content like news. Yes, news can be unpredictable, but that doesn’t mean it’s unsafe or ineffective. In fact, breaking news environments often attract highly engaged, loyal users. With better sentiment analysis tools available, brands can now distinguish between truly harmful content and valuable journalism.
This circles back to my previous point of “flight to quality.” It’s about aligning with trusted, human-created content and not being overly focused on avoiding all risks. Bottom line: focus on context, real users, and quality editorial environments. Brands that over-sanitize their placements can end up in bland environments that don’t deliver true value while skipping over high-performing, high-integrity content.
Five concluding tips you’d share with everyone in adtech and martech before we wrap up?
Prioritize quality over quantity – More impressions don’t equal more value. Focus on meaningful, high-intent user engagement to drive meaningful results.
Use AI where it actually adds value – Lean into AI for tasks like data collection and optimization. But don’t over-use it where it doesn’t belong and makes the outcome worse. It needs to be the frosting on the cupcake, not the sprinkles.
Also, please stop calling machine learning AI. There is a difference. Haha!
Get comfortable being uncomfortable – This industry changes so quickly you rarely have a minute to get comfortable. So embrace the inevitable chaos as part of the fun. Something deemed “catastrophic” happens every year now. Don’t let fear cause overreactions. Watch things play out. Stay vigilant, be thoughtful, and avoid knee-jerk reactions.
Look upstream and downstream – Understand the entire supply chain. Better efficiency and performance generally come from better alignment, not more spending.
Play the long game – This industry presents an awful lot of opportunities to play in grey areas and make a quick buck. In fact, many companies have made millions of dollars in those grey areas, but very rarely do they stick around in the long run as every loophole does eventually get closed and access to information about what is really happening is only increasing every day. Accordingly, I highly recommend setting on a path to sustainable, profitable long-term growth, even if it means having to watch some other companies print some cash in shady ways. I promise it will help you sleep better at night knowing you are doing the right thing.
Freestar helps publishers increase revenue, decrease costs, and eliminate the complexity and stress of programmatic advertising. With the most comprehensive monetization platform and the best customer service in the industry, Freestar tailors scalable and transparent solutions to meet the unique needs of the world’s leading publishers.
Kurt Donnell has served as President and CEO of Freestar, an advertising technology partner for digital media publishers, since 2019. During his tenure, Freestar has grown from a 25 person U.S.-based team to a team of 200+ in 10 countries, has increased revenue more than 500% and was named the fastest growing private company in the U.S. in the Inc. 5000 rankings. Prior to Freestar, Kurt was EVP, Corporate Development and General Counsel for YogaWorks where he saw the company through its IPO.
This summer, Albertsons Media Collective will deploy in-store digital display networks in stores located in two regions that are key for the supermarket giant. The large-format premium displays, designed to increase customer engagement at the point of decision, will be placed in high-traffic areas such as store entry and the produce department, and Mondelēz will be the kickoff brand partner.
Albertsons Media has partnered with Stratacache on the display network, which will include advanced measurement capabilities for advertisers, delivering data such as proof of play, direct sales attribution and sales lift. For immersive storewide “takeovers,” advertisers can leverage in-store audio and promotional offers along with the digital displays, and also can coordinate their physical and digital campaigns with CTV, offsite displays and social video campaigns.
“At Albertsons Companies, we’ve identified a significant opportunity to enhance our in-store customers’ shopping experience by delivering relevant and impactful messaging at the point of purchase,” said Jennifer Saenz, Chief Commercial Officer at Albertsons in a statement. “Our partnership with Stratacache enables brand partners to engage directly with our shoppers at this key moment, providing them with compelling offers, meal inspiration and timely information.”
“Stratacache’s technology foundation for closed-loop measurement was a significant factor in our decision to partner with them,” said Liz Roche, VP of Media and Measurement at Albertsons Media Collective in a statement. “Being able to reach customers through compelling brand messaging at the point of purchase and then understand performance helps us fully realize the potential of the in-store channel. We’re especially excited to enhance our measurement offerings as the fleet of digital screens is rolled out.”
Albertsons Media Collective incorporated the Fetch rewards app in October 2024 and expanded its CollectiveTV offering across NBCUniversal’s channels and publishing partners in November 2024.
Nordstrom will open its third Nordstrom Local store in the New York City area later this month, debuting a 3,000-square-foot neighborhood service hub in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The location will serve as a pickup and returns point for online Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack orders and will accept donations of used clothing and beauty packaging, the latter through the Nordstrom Beautycycle program.
“New York is one of our largest markets and we’re looking forward to opening Nordstrom Local Williamsburg to offer Brooklyn customers even more opportunities to engage with our services closer to where they live and work,” said Fanya Chandler, President of Nordstrom stores in a statement. “We’ve learned a lot from our existing locations in the market and are excited to offer customers more convenience and personalized service.”
Customers also will be able to get alterations and gift wrapping services at the new Nordstrom Local, as well as at existing Local stores in Manhattan’s West Village and Upper East Side.
Nordstrom went private in December 2024 in a $6.25 billion deal engineered by members of the Nordstrom family and Mexican retailer Liverpool.
Catch the latest in martech from Infobip’s new AI enhancements to InMobi Advertising’s new curation platform in this MarTech Series highlight:
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Marketing and Marketing Tech Quote-of-the-Week!
Set granular, flexible rules based on real-time performance signals, then let automation handle the adjustments. Second, monitor cross-platform performance and automate orchestrated budget shifts between direct and programmatic where margins dictate. These practices allow advertisers and publishers to react faster than human teams ever could.
There are some fundamental trends that span decades that drive the market movements we see more clearly. The biggest one I see is the democratization of technology. Very sophisticated technology is now easily accessible by the mid-market. AI is the obvious example, but cloud tech has so far had greater effects, as well as SAAS business models for virtually every aspect of the enterprise. The other big trend is how digital touchpoints abound– email, sites, apps, text messages, ecomm, etc. There are so many data points and marketing opportunities.
