Brussels, Belgium, 24th January, 2024 - IAB Europe has welcomed its first Chair and Vice-Chair of the Retail Media Committee, to help lead and drive integral work and pan-European standardisation and education in this rapidly growing digital advertising space.
Jason Wescott, Global Head of Commerce Solutions at GroupM Nexus was elected as Chair of IAB Europe’s Retail Media Committee, alongside Patricia Grundmann, Chairwoman of Retail Media Circle, Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V. and Vice President Media & Retail Media, Managing Director OBI First Media Group, who was elected as the Vice-Chair, on the 18th January during the first Committee meeting of 2024.
Standing as the first Chairs of the Committee, Jason and Patricia were elected to lead the committee’s work to help increase understanding of the Digital Retail Media advertising ecosystem, enable cross-stakeholder initiatives, and develop standards to enable Retail Media to scale and thrive across Europe.
Jason has been an active member of IAB Europe’s Retail Media work track since the multi-stakeholder working group was first launched in October 2022. Commenting on his newly appointed role, and sharing his expertise and vision for the committee, Jason said, “Retail Media has had a stellar year, claiming the accolade of fastest growing major ad revenue channel within digital for Europe and Central Asia in 2023. The digital ad landscape will continue to evolve at an exhilarating pace, driven by developments in data capabilities, technology, commercial opportunity, and digital consumer trends.
With great change comes great responsibility. Recognising the growing impact, influence, and sheer scale of Digital Retail Media, it’s no surprise that IAB Europe has made it a larger focus; with one resource being a Retail Media Committee. This multi-stakeholder group helps increase understanding of the region’s Digital Retail Media ecosystem through industry definitions, guidelines, standards, market intelligence, and thought leadership. I’m tremendously proud to be a member of this collective, which brought together many of the region’s most influential (Retail Media) leaders - who’ve collaborated to produce valuable insights that provide enormous benefits. It’s an incredible honour to receive the vote of confidence from this group, and I look forward to supporting more in my role as IAB Europe Retail Media Committee Chair, for the next two years.”
Commenting on her role as Vice-Chair of the committee and her vision for supporting and leading the work alongside Jason, Patricia said “Only a shared understanding of the market enables an efficient, cross-party planning and implementation of retail media campaigns. I am looking forward to significantly increasing the market importance of retail media on a European level and establishing uniform European market standards and metrics to create more transparency for all parties.“
The Committee brings together retailers, including Ahold Delhaize, Bol, Douglas, MediaMarkt Saturn, Schwarz Media and Ocado alongside leading Retail Media businesses in Europe to advance and shape the future of this exciting digital advertising space and has already produced valuable resources including pan-European definitions, the first-ever industry association-led Retailer Digital Advertising Capability Map a Retail Media Glossary. You can find all of these resources and more on IAB Europe’s Retail Media Hub here. To find out more about the committee’s work and how you can get involved please contact IAB Europe’s Marketing & Insights Director, Marie-Clare Puffett here.
