Post by MetaRouter

Eleven years ago, our own Dom Burch came to Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity representing Asda Walmart, on a panel next to eBay and Triad Retail Media (RIP). The debates back then: programmatic, viewability, ad fraud, and whether agencies would survive Google and Facebook. Fast forward to 2026 — and in his latest piece for The Drum, Dom argues the buzzwords have changed but the real question has gotten sharper: Who controls the infrastructure behind modern commerce? A few signals from the Croisette that stuck with him: → Criteo's Michael Komasinski shared a stat worth sitting with — more than 80% of ad-driven ChatGPT traffic comes from new customers. For two decades, marketing helped people find what they were already looking for. AI is flipping that. → Shoppers aren't typing "best running shoes" anymore. They're asking an assistant what someone like them should buy. The battle isn't for the click — it's to become the trusted answer. → Asda became the first retailer outside the US to deploy Amazon Retail Ad Service. Old rivalries matter less than the ability to assemble the best components, wherever they come from. The thread connecting all of it: the winners won't be whoever builds the biggest platform. They'll be whoever builds the most useful infrastructure — composable, customer-led, and built to give retailers and brands real control over their own data and audiences. That's the future we're building toward. 👇 https://lnkd.in/eP-ZZBdw #CannesLions #RetailMedia #CommerceMedia #CustomerContextInfrastructure