This week IAB Canada celebrated Retail Media (RM) with its annual conference dedicated to the explosive growth of the channel in Canada and around the world. With some of the brightest minds in the space, we spent an afternoon to unpack the state of ecommerce, the pursuit of purchase intenders and the enormous opportunities that exist onsite, offsite and in-feed to capture the hearts, minds, and transactions of Canadian shoppers. 

Here are some quick and favourite takeaways from our leadership discussions. 

• RM offers omnichannel access to specialized audiences at the point of sale and allows brands and agencies to get closer to attribution. 

• RM works the entire funnel – while its initial draw may be bottom level activity, the capabilities of higher funnel activity are clear and available. 

• Ad inventory is rich and continues to expand – OOH, audio, video and display are all available to advertisers. Specialized offerings designed for the in-store experience are gaining a lot of traction as inventory ramps up and retailers can better package their omni-channel programming. 

• Measurement and standards are key and while IAB has released measurement guidelines, there is much work to do in this space. Categorically, the opportunity in RM is being defined as a separate class that may require a different lens to evaluate performance. 

• Non-endemic advertising is having a moment with RM networks – our panelists made a strong case for connecting periphery or mid-tail products to their stores of first party intelligence to drive smart and privacy-protected campaigns. 

• “Flyers are Dead – Long Live the Flyer” – some of our members are bullish about the power of 1:1 digital flyers with little love lost on the print versions. Some are convinced they are done all together. 

• Feeds, reels, and the power of real friends in the new product discovery process. How authenticity and real people are behind the enormous movement towards leveraging social shopping channels. 

• Unleashing AI to optimize ads – we witnessed the making of an ad developed in minutes. We’ve landed the plane of multi-variant, dynamic ad optimization at a scale that gets much closer to matching the impressions available.  

• Bonus take-away -What a time to be in advertising! 

IAB Canada would like to thank the immensely the talented thought leaders that took the stage this week. Our Retail Media Committee continues to grow and this week exhibited the bench strength we have in Canada on this rapidly evolving channel. We would also like to thank all of the sponsors who helped bring the event to life: Elite Sponsors Amazon Ads, Google, Globe Media Group, Samsung Ads, and The Trade Desk. Industry Sponsors Stingray and TikTok. Topic Sponsor Triangle Retail Media, Coffee Corner sponsor Walmart Connect and Technology Sponsor AdButler. 

To get involved please reach out to committees@iabcanada.com 

Portions of the event will be made available on-demand in the coming weeks.