Brands often separate trade marketing and retail media budgets, creating strategic gaps. This mirrors the early days of programmatic advertising, where direct sales and automated ad teams were siloed. The solution requires a holistic approach to workflows and relationships, not just reallocating funds between competing P&Ls.

To get C-suite buy-in for long-term brand investment, marketers should run small, ring-fenced test campaigns. By isolating a market segment and layering brand tactics on top of demand generation, you can demonstrably prove superior growth compared to a control group, de-risking a larger investment.

Instead of siloing brand and demand, view them as a unified function on a spectrum. The only difference is the scale of the audience, from mass market (brand) to a targeted market (demand). This reframes the relationship and encourages integrated thinking rather than creating separate camps.

Stop planning creative and media buys simultaneously. Instead, post creative organically first. Then, exclusively allocate media spend to amplify the content that has already demonstrated strong consumer engagement, forcing creative to be effective on its own merit before receiving paid support.

In a resource-constrained environment, growth is found by improving and connecting existing channels, not by launching new ones. Re-architect your current marketing activities—like paid ads and field events—to work together to create a unified customer journey, rather than chasing the next shiny object.

While inconsistent measurement across retail media networks is a problem, brands shouldn't wait for an industry standard. Instead, they should define their own measurement methodology and bring it to RMN partners. This allows brands to leverage proprietary consumer insights for a competitive advantage, rather than leveling the playing field with a universal standard.

Advanced retailers are moving beyond treating retail media as an ad channel for short-term sales. They integrate it with loyalty programs to deliver personalized value, which strengthens long-term customer relationships and retention, making it a strategic lever for growth.

Marketing teams often mistake demand programs for campaign strategy. A true campaign strategy is a higher-level "canvas" that orchestrates all efforts—reputation, demand creation, and enablement—against a specific audience, ensuring a consistent customer experience rather than disjointed tactical execution.

The first step in aligning brand and ABX is not tactical planning but narrative alignment. Bring sales, marketing, and brand leaders together and ask: 'If a buying group engages with us, will they hear one story or three?' Only when the answer is 'one story' are you ready to integrate efforts.