1. How prepared is your organization to shift a portion of its digital ad spend from traditional search platforms (e.g., Google, Bing) to AI-native environments (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini)? 

Intellibright is more than prepared—we’re already executing. We’ve partnered with Nexad, the market’s first end-to-end AI-native advertising platform, to pioneer this shift for our clients. As AI-native environments like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini emerge as meaningful traffic and conversion sources, we're evolving our strategy and tracking capabilities in parallel.

Our proprietary ROAS-focused reporting is built to adapt quickly, and we’ve already integrated AI-native sources as distinct channels within our client dashboards. This ensures full visibility into performance and spend, whether it's coming from Google or from the next generation of conversational AI platforms.

2. What internal or external capabilities (e.g., campaign management, creative optimization, AI expertise) would your organization need to adopt AI-native advertising at scale? 

Intellibright already has the internal capabilities in place to scale AI-native advertising. Our team actively uses more than a dozen advanced AI models across campaign strategy, creative development, audience targeting, and performance optimization. From prompt engineering to real-time creative testing, AI is already embedded in how we operate.

As AI-native advertising platforms mature, we’re well-positioned to scale with them. Our agile structure, deep technical expertise, and performance-first approach allow us to adapt quickly and execute effectively—ensuring our clients stay ahead as this next wave of digital advertising unfolds.

3. Would you be open to piloting managed AI-driven advertising services if performance reporting and optimization tools were comparable to current platforms like Google Ads or Meta? 

We’re not just open to it—we’re already doing it. Intellibright has partnered with Nexad, the first end-to-end AI-native advertising solution, and is actively running campaigns in AI-driven environments. Our team has integrated these channels into our proprietary ROAS reporting system, allowing clients to track performance from AI-native sources like ChatGPT and Claude alongside traditional platforms like Google and Meta.

We’re committed to helping clients invest where performance justifies the spend, and AI-native environments are already earning their place in that mix.

4. Do you see first-mover advantage in AI-integrated ad ecosystems as a strategic priority for your brand or business unit?

Absolutely. At Intellibright, we view first-mover advantage in AI-integrated advertising as a key strategic priority. Our partnership with Nexad positions us at the forefront of this emerging ecosystem, ensuring we’re ready to activate as these platforms evolve.

In parallel, our SEO strategies are already adapting to the rise of zero-click search experiences driven by AI. We’re optimizing for visibility and engagement within AI-generated results across platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity—so our clients stay relevant even when traditional search clicks decline.

Being early means we’re learning, adapting, and preparing our clients to win in what’s next—not just what’s now.

5. Given sectors (e.g., e-commerce, financial services, travel, B2B tech), how relevant is hyper-personalized, AI-native advertising to your customer engagement and acquisition goals? 

Hyper-personalized, AI-native advertising is highly relevant to our customer engagement and acquisition strategy—especially as it expands across sectors like financial services, B2B, and e-commerce. While current AI-native ad inventory is limited, we’re prepared to scale as new opportunities emerge.

In the meantime, we’re already incorporating hyper-personalized AI experiences through advanced website chat deployments—both on our own site and for select clients. These are powered by a highly sophisticated AI chatbot developed over several years by a long-standing international partner, now launching in the U.S. through our exclusive collaboration. It’s a first step in delivering real-time, tailored engagement at scale—and it aligns directly with our commitment to data-driven performance.

6. Are AI-native advertising solutions currently part of your digital transformation roadmap or media planning discussions? Why or why not?

Yes—AI-native advertising is already part of our digital transformation roadmap and a growing part of our media planning conversations. As platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity evolve from experimental to performance-ready, we’re preparing our clients to engage early and effectively.

Our partnership with Nexad ensures we’re aligned with the first wave of scalable, AI-native media solutions. And internally, we’ve built the infrastructure—from ROAS tracking to creative workflows—to seamlessly integrate these channels as they mature. It’s not a question of if AI-native advertising becomes a meaningful part of media planning—it’s when. And we’re making sure we’re ready.

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"Why Small Businesses Deserve a Smarter CRM: How Nimble Is Solving the $25,000 Tech Stack Problem"

Jon Ferrara, founder of Nimble and GoldMine, explains why consolidating CRM, email marketing, and sales automation into one intelligent platform is the key to meaningful growth for small businesses.

1. How does the convergence of email marketing into CRM systems enhance customer engagement for small businesses?

For small businesses, siloed tools create fragmented relationships. You capture leads in one app, nurture them in another, and hand them off to sales in yet another—wasting time and money, and often losing the thread of the relationship along the way.

The convergence of email marketing and CRM into one platform, like we’ve done at Nimble, eliminates that fragmentation. You can now capture leads via web forms, nurture them with automated email campaigns, and seamlessly transition to sales engagement—all within the same tool and contact record.

With Nimble’s unified email marketing and CRM platform, engagement becomes more timely, relevant, and relationship-focused. You see who opened, clicked, replied—and follow up with personalized, tracked outreach that builds trust and accelerates conversion.

2. How can small businesses maintain authentic customer interactions while utilizing automated CRM features?

Small businesses thrive on personal connections. The challenge is keeping those connections authentic at scale, especially when juggling dozens of tools.

At Nimble, automation is designed to enhance human interaction, not replace it. We streamline the busywork—data entry, contact enrichment, follow-up reminders—so small teams can focus on what they do best: building relationships.

With Nimble, every contact is auto-enriched with social and business insights, every email is tracked, and every follow-up can be automated—yet feels personal. Our sequences mimic one-to-one outreach and adapt based on engagement, ensuring relevance and empathy in every touchpoint.

3. What strategies are effective for CRM platforms to stand out and cater specifically to small business needs?

The key is simplicity, affordability, and full-funnel functionality. Most CRMs stop at contact management. Nimble goes further—integrating email marketing, outreach automation, web lead forms, social prospecting, and enrichment—all at a fraction of the typical SMB tech stack cost.

Where competitors stitch together $500–$1,000/month per user worth of tools, Nimble delivers an integrated platform for less than $30/user. This eliminates the need for Salesforce, Outreach.io, Apollo.io, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator—all of which can nickel-and-dime small businesses into unsustainable tech stacks.

Our strategy? Replace the bloated stack with one streamlined platform that helps small teams do more with less.

5. How can CRM platforms deliver value without compromising on essential features?

Most small businesses don’t need more tools—they need better integration. The true value of a CRM comes from how well it ties essential functions together: lead capture, nurturing, enrichment, outreach, deal tracking, and reporting.

Nimble delivers all of that, with zero bloat. Our base plan includes smart prospecting, LinkedIn scraping, pipeline templates, task workflows, and 1:1-style outreach sequences. Add-ons like group email campaigns and embedded web forms are company-wide (not per user), making the total cost of ownership radically lower than piecing together point solutions.

Essential features should be included—not upsold. That’s how we deliver value without compromise.

6. How can small businesses utilize CRM tools to support growth and expansion strategies?

Growth today isn’t about spray-and-pray tactics—it’s about building meaningful connections across the customer journey. Nimble empowers small businesses to do just that by centralizing every touchpoint in a single platform.

Start with Nimble Forms to capture leads. Nurture them with automated email campaigns. Qualify with enriched insights and sales sequences. Close deals via visual pipelines. Then keep the relationship going with targeted outreach—all without leaving Nimble.

Instead of managing disconnected tools and spreadsheets, teams can focus on engaging smarter and scaling faster—with a clear, contextual view of every relationship.

7. As customer expectations evolve, how can CRM systems adapt to meet the changing demands of small business clients?

Today’s customers expect personalization, speed, and continuity across touchpoints—and small businesses need tools that help them deliver on that promise without hiring a full-stack RevOps team.

Nimble adapts to these expectations by offering intelligent simplicity. We bring together CRM, email marketing, social prospecting, and sales automation in one place—with smart signals, enriched profiles, and automated workflows that guide action.

As AI evolves, we’re integrating even deeper intelligence into Nimble to surface the right contact, right message, and right moment—so businesses can act with confidence and humanity.

The platforms that thrive won’t be the most complex—they’ll be the ones that help people connect with more purpose and less friction.

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1. What criteria do you use to select a sales outsourcing partner that aligns with your company's values and objectives?

We aim to partner with companies that both compliment our service offering and improve the overall customer experience. We value transparency, ethical standards, a strong focus on client success, and collaboration to ensure consistent service delivery and brand integrity.

2. What leadership strategies are in place to foster a culture of value-based selling within your sales teams? 

We promote a culture of value-based selling through our structured S.O.L.D.™ Methodology, which tailors sales strategies to each client’s unique needs. Leadership emphasizes continuous training and development to ensure sales teams are equipped to engage in consultative, client-centric selling. Regular coaching and mentorship reinforce the importance of long-term relationship building and delivering measurable value. We also align sales performance metrics with client success, encouraging teams to focus on outcomes over quotas. To support this culture, we hire sales-experienced leaders who align with our process-driven approach and are committed to operational excellence and team development.

3. What measures are in place to ensure that AI-driven sales tools enhance, rather than hinder, the customer experience?

We work to maintain a balance between technology and the personal side of sales by training our teams to use AI as a support system rather than a substitute for relationship-building. This approach enables our teams to deliver a smarter, more responsive, and customer-focused sales experience.

4. How does your organization incorporate feedback from sales teams to improve sales strategies and processes? 

We take feedback from our teams seriously and use that feedback to refine and enhance sales strategies and processes. We foster a culture of communication with an open-door policy from leadership as well as allowing team members to share insights on effective practices and areas needing improvement in weekly team meetings. This proactive approach not only addresses challenges promptly but also empowers employees by involving them in decision-making processes. Regular check-ins and quarterly reviews are conducted to ensure continuous dialogue between management and sales representatives, facilitating positive and constructive feedback.

5. How does your organization facilitate knowledge transfer between internal teams and outsourced sales partners?

Each of our Alliance Partners is assigned one of our Business Development Managers to manage the strategic partnership and maintain consistent communication. They act as liaisons, ensuring that partners are well-integrated into our processes and can effectively contribute to shared objectives. By combining dedicated managerial support with collaborative frameworks, knowledge transfer is seamless, effective, and conducive to achieving shared success.

6. What role does AI currently play in your sales processes, and how do you envision its role evolving in the future?

At Sales Focus, we use AI to automate time-consuming tasks like lead generation, data entry, and initial outreach, allowing sales representatives to dedicate more time to meaningful conversations with prospects and clients. Through our partnership with HubSpot, we leverage AI-driven automation to streamline sales operations, personalize outreach, and access real-time analytics for refining sales strategies. This ensures faster response times and more efficient pipeline management. Looking ahead, we envision expanding our use of AI to further enhance sales productivity, customer engagement, and predictive analytics. As AI technologies continue to evolve, SFI aims to integrate them further into the sales cycle to optimize decision-making, shorten sales cycles, and improve targeting accuracy—all while maintaining the human connection that drives trust and client success.

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1. How do you integrate video advertising technologies to align with business objectives such as revenue growth and brand visibility? 

The ecosystem of AdPlayer.Pro’s solutions is designed to facilitate digital ad companies in their specific business needs. Namely, when it comes to revenue growth, we empower our partners to unlock new monetization opportunities and new revenue streams by supporting programmatic Demand integrations, including Prebid.js support, alongside the standard Google IMA, VAST / VPAID / SIMID and direct deals with premium advertisers, hence helping them maximize fill rates and revenue outcomes across all platforms.

In addition to supporting a variety of ad waterfall options (parallel, sequential and performance-based), AdPlayer.Pro enables customers to use our video header bidding solution with Prebid.js support, taking advantage of this ad inventory sale approach when needed. 

In this respect, we have also recently released our featured Video Header Bidding Module for Prebid.js, specifically designed for tech-savvy publishers, working with Prebid Demand partners, to help them set up video campaigns as effortlessly as possible. 

As for the brand visibility aspect, the AdPlayer.Pro ad-enabled video player is fully customizable, both when it comes to its performance specifications and the brand stylistics, helping our partners to configure all of it, according to their brand guidelines. 

More importantly, being committed to driving innovation and equipping our business partners with high-end quality advertising tech, fully-compliant with all major standards, we’ve also ensured support of Open Measurement SDK for Web Video (OMID) in our products, enabling their access to the more precise ad visibility verification and invalid traffic (IVT, SIVT) detection tools. 

2. How do you address operational complexities related to configuring and launching video ad campaigns across multiple platforms? 

One of the core benefits of our ad-enabled video player is its absolute compatibility with the third-party ad servers; it’s server-agnostic, so to speak, and its ultimate simplicity of integration across all platforms and screens, from desktop and mobile web, to mobile apps, CTV and AMP pages. 

The only thing required is to configure all player features, either via the platform dashboard or the player JS code, then add the player code to the publisher’s digital properties. 

Notably, publishers working with Prebid Demand vendors won’t need to take any extra steps, i.e. integrate Prebid.js into their websites beforehand, since the AdPlayer.Pro player initiates Prebid.js for them.

3. How do you stay informed about evolving video advertising trends to ensure your organization remains competitive in customer engagement strategies? 

AdPlayer.Pro has become an active member of industry-specific bodies and organizations, like Prebid.org, hence contributing to the development of next-gen ad tech solutions and helping to improve the global digital ad ecosystem. 

In addition, our team members have been continuously taking part in a wide variety of digital advertising expos & conferences, being able to exchange our outlooks on the industry evolution and expand our expertise in the market-specific enhancements. 

Non-surprisingly, though, the scope of sources of knowledge in the current digital realities is, certainly, endless, and also includes our ongoing communication and expertise exchange with other industry leaders, digital ad analysts, premium ad customers, and much more. 

And, certainly, we are committed to a customer-centered approach, meaning that it's our business clients who shape the course of our product evolution. 

4. How does your organization maintain transparency with customers regarding data collection and usage for video ad personalization purposes? 

Even though, as an ad tech provider AdPlayer.Pro doesn’t collect any End User Personal Data, our flagship products are compliant with all data privacy requirements, including IAB’s TCP and CPRA-specific regulations.

More importantly, the AdPlayer.Pro platform allows integrating a broad range of End User consent features, fully customizable, based on the customer’s particular business needs. 

5. How are you adapting to the phasing out of third-party cookies and the shift towards first-party data in video advertising? 

From the very beginning, our team has designed the AdPlayer.Pro digital ad technologies with the primary focus on our customers’ requirements. 

In this respect, when it comes to cookies and the use of our partners’ first-party data, it’s absolutely effortless to configure a vast array of targeting capabilities for each specific ad placement, likewise as apply any custom audience targeting preferences, either by integrating a custom targeting script into Demand Tags or on an Ad Placement (Player Code) level. 

6. What investments are being made to enhance your organization's video advertising infrastructure and capabilities?

The AdPlayer.Pro team has always been focused on the continued development and enhancement of our flagship products, aiming to help our business partners maximize their revenue results. 

Namely, over the past months, we’ve centered our efforts on the upgrade of our available programmatic ad capabilities and Prebid-centered functions in order to meet our partners’ current demands. 

In addition, our ad-enabled video player also undergoes continuous upgrades, so that it’s compliant & compatible with all video ad standards and formats and ensures the flawless video ad delivery across all platforms and screens.   

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1. How does your organization use influencer marketing and social media management to drive revenue growth in the current digital landscape?

At Later, we work with brands like ESPN, L’Oréal, Adobe, and General Mills to run and scale influencer and social campaigns that drive measurable business outcomes. Our platform helps teams manage these programs end-to-end, or gives them the tools and data to run them in-house. We analyze billions of data points across social posts, creator activations, and conversions to understand what drives revenue—not just impressions or engagement. This helps brands move from experimental influencer campaigns to systematic, performance-driven programs. Internally, influencer marketing is also proving to be one of our most efficient growth channels. We’ve seen it outperform traditional paid channels and improve downstream performance when creator content is used across email, organic, and web.

2. What challenges have you encountered in adopting platforms that combine influencer campaign management, social media publishing, and analytics?

The real challenge isn’t with the platform—it’s with changing how teams operate. Marketers are used to managing influencer campaigns, publishing, and analytics across multiple disconnected tools. That patchwork has become the norm.

Adopting an integrated system streamlines the work, but it often requires teams to rethink their workflows and how they collaborate.

3. In what ways are you utilizing creator content to enhance customer engagement and build brand loyalty?

We help brands use creator content to drive deeper engagement and long-term loyalty—not just awareness. It works because it feels personal and trusted: 92% of consumers trust influencers more than traditional ads, and that jumps to 94% for Gen Z.

By integrating influencer and affiliate programs, brands can turn creators into ongoing advocates—building trust across the funnel, from discovery to repeat purchase.

4. How does your organization attribute revenue generated from social media channels to specific marketing activities?

We use cross-platform analytics to show how social and creator campaigns drive results throughout the funnel—from first touch to purchase. Since acquiring Mavely, we’ve expanded our capabilities at the bottom of the funnel, helping brands connect content to conversion with greater clarity.

As of 2024, this approach has contributed to Mavely reaching a $1.4B GMV run rate, reflecting significant growth in sales driven by creator-led campaigns.

5. What strategies are employed to ensure cross-functional collaboration in executing social revenue initiatives?

We foster collaboration by aligning teams around shared goals and performance data. From there, we connect top-of-funnel social metrics—like impressions and engagement—with bottom-of-funnel outcomes such as e-commerce sales. The key is measuring ROCS (Return on Creator Spend) and comparing it to other marketing channels. In other words, how much would we need to spend on paid social to drive the same results? Ideally, for every dollar invested in creator marketing, we generate more revenue than we would through traditional paid channels.

6. What plans are in place to stay ahead of emerging trends in the creator economy and social commerce?

Later is already built to power the creator economy end to end for both brands and creators. With the acquisition of Mavely, we’ve expanded further into performance and affiliate, enabling full-funnel, revenue-driven creator programs.

We’re also heavily investing in AI to streamline key workflows such as creator discovery, campaign setup, and performance optimization. The goal is to help brands and creators scale faster with less manual effort. We’ll have a lot more to share more with you on this soon.

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1. How is your organization adapting its data security strategies to incorporate zero-trust principles, especially in the context with Google Workspace?

Zero-trust isn't just a buzzword for us—it’s a foundational principle. At Qanapi, we've embraced zero-trust principles by ensuring that robust security is enforced at the most granular level—applying our three core principles of encryption, policy and identity at the data object level. Our Key Management Service integrates with Google Workspace to enable Client-Side Encryption (CSE), empowering organizations to maintain exclusive control over their encryption keys, ensuring that sensitive data remains protected even from the platform provider. This approach aligns with zero-trust by verifying every access request, thereby enhancing overall data security. 

2. How are you leveraging solutions to enhance control over data encryption and meet regulatory requirements such as GDPR, and CMMC? 

We started by asking, “What’s the point of encrypting your data if you don’t know who has access to the keys?” That question drives everything we do at Qanapi. Our platform is built to give organizations full control over where their encryption keys reside and how they’re governed—helping organizations ensure data sovereignty and meet compliance requirements across diverse sectors. Our Key Management Service, which enables Google Workspace Client-Side Encryption, enhances organizations' security posture and compliance. That separation of keys from data is crucial for meeting frameworks like GDPR, HIPAA, and CMMC. Our granular level access permissions and policies ensure only authorized users have access to sensitive data, and our auditing and monitoring capabilities allow real-time visibility into who is accessing what data and when. It’s also now available within ATX Defense’s CMMC Space certified environment, extending our support for defense contractors handling Controlled Unclassified Information.

3. What technologies are currently employed to manage encryption keys, and how do they integrate with your existing cloud infrastructure?

Our Key Management Service is built to give organizations full control over their encryption keys—without slowing anything down. It’s FIPS-validated, cloud-agnostic, and integrates directly with Google Workspace Client-Side Encryption, so data gets encrypted before it even hits Google’s servers. Designed for simplicity and scale, our KMS integrates smoothly into the native Google Workspace experience—supporting Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Meet, and Calendar—so users can keep working without disruption, while security and compliance teams maintain complete visibility and control.

4. In what ways are you streamlining the deployment of encryption solutions to improve efficiency and reduce operational bottlenecks?

One of the biggest challenges with encryption has always been the complexity. We’ve worked hard to remove that. With Qanapi, teams can integrate data-level encryption and key management using just a few lines of code—it’s quick to deploy and doesn’t require reworking existing systems. We’ve also made sure it fits into the environments our customers are already using, whether that’s in the cloud or on-prem. And from a user perspective, it’s designed to run in the background. People can keep using the tools they know, while security and compliance teams maintain full control under the hood. It’s about making strong encryption easy to adopt—not something that slows everything down.

5. How are you ensuring that your encryption and key management approaches remain adaptable to changes in technology and regulatory landscapes?

We designed our API to be crypto-agile and library-agnostic. We support popularly used frameworks in cyber security like AES-256 or RSA-2048 and are ready for the post quantum world with FIPS-140-2 and quantum resistant encryption formats, so organizations can apply their choice of encryption standards to new and legacy data as threats and regulatory frameworks evolve.  

6. How is your organization preparing for emerging trends in data security, such as quantum-resistant encryption and advanced key management solutions? 

Quantum computing will break a lot of the encryption we rely on today—it’s not a question of if, but when. At Qanapi, we’re helping advance with NIST compliant, quantum-hardened FIPS validated algorithms. We’re also tackling the “store now, decrypt later” threat imposed by malicious actors by building infrastructure that supports cryptographic agility, empowering organizations to apply the latest NIST-recommended encryption standards to both new and legacy data. We’re also focused on securing data in the era of AI. Our technology allows organizations to innovate safely—protecting against AI exposure and data poisoning without slowing progress. 

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1. How can brands foster more emotional bonds with customers, and why is it so important to do so?

Emotional bonds aren't just "important" for businesses anymore — they're make or break. I think as consumers ourselves, we all understand that pretty well. I mean, when I connect with a brand personally, I don't just shop there occasionally…I become their unofficial ambassador.

The challenge is that building a brand customers love has typically been limited to delivering great products and great customer service. Because, let's face it, it was always much harder to achieve that with truly great marketing. Highly personalized, contextual marketing has been too hard for brands to achieve with the tools and technologies they had available to them.

AI is shattering these limitations – not incrementally, but completely. We're witnessing a radical shift where every single customer touchpoint can be uniquely tailored to each customer’s needs and context. When we use AI to personalize at human scale – making every email, push notification, or interaction feel like it came from someone who deeply understands you – customers don't just feel satisfied, they feel a genuine emotional connection.

2. How does a shift from transactional incentives to emotional drivers in marketing influence brands’ approach to customer loyalty?

We all know that coupon shoppers aren't loyal shoppers. They may provide a quick hit to your quarterly KPI, but they won't help you build a lasting brand. True loyalty only emerges when your brand means something deeper than the price tag.

And you really can’t make your brand mean something to a customer if you don’t understand your customer. So at the heart of the shift from transactional incentives to emotional drivers is a deep, connected understanding of customer data. Not siloed data living in disconnected systems, but a unified view that reveals who customers truly are and what genuinely motivates them.

3. What role does post-purchase engagement play in converting customers into brand advocates?

The post-purchase experience is where advocacy either solidifies or dies, but it’s really common for marketing teams to underestimate its importance! We obsess over acquisition but then revert to generic communication after purchase.

Of course, there are a lot of customer service-related actions that play a role in driving post-purchase loyalty… easy returns, for example (in a similar vein, our loyalty report with EMARKETER found that services like available customer support and free delivery are key to customer retention).

But don’t overlook the impact that genuine emotional connections and deep personalization can have in post-purchase, too. Personalized recommendations and follow up communications, reminding customers when it might be time for a product refill… these post-purchase, personalized touches can play a huge role in helping brands strengthen their relationship with customers.

4. How can brands ensure consistency in emotional engagement across various customer touchpoints and channels?

The fragmented, channel-by-channel approach to emotional engagement isn't just ineffective—it's actively damaging the connections we're trying to build with customers. When Monday's email feels deeply personal but Tuesday's push notification screams "generic discount," we're not just missing an opportunity; we're eroding trust.

This is where AI really makes a difference, particularly now as agentic AI is making marketing more autonomous. Brands can leverage agents to create this kind of message consistency across every channel —  from email and SMS to social media and in-app notifications — and can do that at scale for every customer. It lessens the manual burden of trying to create this kind of experience, and unlocks a level of scale that really hasn’t been possible until now. With AI, you can ensure that every customer is receiving a personalized, consistent experience with your brand, attuned to the emotional drivers they actually care about.

5. How can organizations address potential trust issues that may arise from negative customer experiences or brand missteps?

Trust isn't built through perfect execution. It’s built through authentic human response when things inevitably go wrong. It's how you handle the stumbles that defines your brand's emotional connection with customers. When missteps happen (and they will), transparency isn't just the ethical choice; it's the only strategy that preserves the emotional bonds we work so hard to create.

Along with that transparency, there needs to be clear value creation. If customers don't believe that sharing their data results in genuinely better experiences that matter to them personally, you’ll never build a strong relationship. We need to fundamentally reimagine the value exchange between brands and customers — transforming data collection from a transaction into a partnership where both sides clearly benefit from deeper, more meaningful connections.

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1. How is your organization adapting its retail media strategy to capitalize on the projected growth of in-store retail media spending, expected to exceed $1 billion by 2028? 

Yes, in-store growth is largely driven by the rise of brick and mortar stores becoming more and more digital. While 99% of retail media ad dollars are allocated to digital, 83.7% of retail sales still occur in brick-and-mortar stores (source). 

We’re approaching in-store media the same way we approached on-site, off-site, and social. Our goal is to act as the orchestration layer that allows RMNs to both monetize effectively, and to manage in-house initiatives with third-party messaging. In-store inventory management allows retailers to execute across the full workflow required to support advertiser expectations and their own ad sales business. 

“The projected $1 billion in-store retail media opportunity reflects how fast physical retail is becoming part of the digital ad ecosystem,” said Evan Bowen, chief business officer at Placements.io. “We’re helping Retail Media Networks unify their in-store and digital efforts with our technology as the orchestration layer. We’re streamlining workflows, aligning messaging, and enabling smarter monetization at every touchpoint.” 

2. What challenges have you encountered in integrating platforms with in-store digital signage systems to streamline ad sales and campaign management? 

Integrating with in-store digital signage introduces complexity, especially when systems vary widely across retailers. Advertisers are demanding the same level of visibility and attribution they expect from digital channels, including performance metrics tied directly to sales outcomes.

We recently completed an integration with Vistar Media to help standardize these experiences. Our focus is on normalizing data flows and creating a seamless orchestration layer that helps retailers deliver campaign results with confidence and clarity.

“As in-store media matures, advertisers expect digital-level performance and accountability in their physical –not just digital– environments, too,” said Evan Bowen, chief business officer at Placements.io. “Our integration with Vistar Media is helping close that gap. By unifying reporting, attribution, and campaign management, we help retailers deliver the metrics advertisers want and the operational efficiency they need.”

3. How do you balance the introduction of in-store advertising with maintaining a positive and non-intrusive customer shopping experience? 

It's important to note that despite the surge in digital ads, brick-and-mortar stores remain dominant in retail sales, accounting for approximately 83.7% of U.S. retail sales as of 2024 (Fit Small Business). This shows the significance of in-store environments in influencing purchase decisions.

“Despite the digital boom, brick-and-mortar still dominates the retail landscape,” said Bowen. “That’s why retailers are investing in the full in-store journey, from pre-visit inspiration to on-site signage and checkout. In-store media is no longer a silo, it’s a measurable, attributable part of the marketing stack.”

Successful retailers own their customer journey using loyalty and omni-channel content experiences, and they know their audiences inceptionally well. The in-store experience involves pre-store, in-store, and checkout customer journey, all pieces owned by the retailer in a trusted customer relationship. 

In-store signage fits neatly into the customer journey, where measurement, engagement and conversion can be attributed for the sale like all other touchpoints. Placements enables retailers to integrate in-store into their marketing stack for optimal customer experience and attribution.

4. How is your organization leveraging data from in-store media interactions to personalize advertising content and improve targeting accuracy? 

“Placements.io is focused on enabling retailers to process and activate performance data from multiple channels, including in-store, to achieve campaign optimization,” said Bowen. “Placements’ orchestration of media, customer data signals, and ad serving options make this achievable for retailers.” 

5. What metrics are used to assess the impact of in-store digital advertising on customer behavior and sales performance? 

Nearly a third (31.5%) of shoppers make immediate purchases after in-store discovery, compared to 19.1% who do so after online discovery.

The big question is did a customer see, while in-store, the signage messaging? Some technology is in place to achieve these measures, however the ‘exposed vs not-exposed’ measure has a high margin of error. The next measure is did a customer, or customers, purchase the products advertised on in-store screens while they were shopping? Product sales data shows the lift % in each store, for each product and product category, versus a holdout control basis. 

Other metrics include dwell time, interaction times with touchscreen formats, basket size and propensity to buy. Capturing this success metric with attribution to in-store signage messaging varies by partner and retailer category. 

“Yes, nearly one in three shoppers make an immediate purchase after in-store discovery, but proving causality requires more than sales lift,” said Bowen. “We look at dwell time, basket size, and touchscreen interactions, but also whether advertised products move faster in exposed stores versus control groups. Bringing these disparate signals together gives retailers a clearer picture of what’s working and why, so they can optimize for real ROAS, not just impressions.”  

6. What plans are in place to expand your in-store retail media capabilities to adapt to emerging technologies? 

“Our first step was to work with a market leader like Vistar Media working within our AdSalesOS platform to drive data and product innovation based on requirements,” said Bowen. “Our roster of retail customers have been driving our product suite with their vendor partners and advertisers, while integrating analytics into their ad decision-making and measurement.”

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