The Cannes Lions 2025 festival highlights significant shifts in the advertising industry, including agency consolidations, the rise of retail media, and the increasing influence of AI and data-driven marketing, amid ongoing industry upheaval and changing consumer media habits.
Advertisers are increasingly shifting their spending from traditional TV to retail media networks like those of Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger, which are expected to see ad spending more than double by 2027. This shift is driven by the valuable first-party data these retailers provide and the decline in traditional TV viewership. Retail media networks offer a new frontier for reaching consumers directly at points of sale, leveraging digital screens, websites, and apps to optimize ad exposure and effectiveness.
JPMorgan Chase is launching Chase Media Solutions, a retail media platform that allows brands to target its 80 million customers based on their spending habits, using transaction data owned by the bank. The platform aims to provide personalized offers and incentives to customers, leveraging insights from its large customer base and 6 million small business customers. This move follows the acquisition of card-linked marketing platform Figg and reflects the bank's efforts to build a two-sided commerce platform. Retail media networks like Chase Media Solutions are part of a rapidly growing $61 billion industry, with Chase joining major players like Amazon Advertising and Walmart Connect. The bank piloted the platform with Air Canada, Blue Bottle, Whataburger, and Solo Stove, seeing significant traction in driving sales and new customer growth.