Christina Brandeberry

Excited to head to the 2024 Snowflake Summit in San Francisco this week! 🏙️ I can't wait to share insights on how retailers are leveraging Snowflake and Vantage to launch and accelerate their Retail Media Networks. 🚀 If you’re attending or in SF, let’s connect and discuss the future of retail tech. What are you most excited about at the summit? Drop your thoughts below! 👇 #SnowflakeSummit #RetailTech #Innovation

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Wow, huge news from AiFi Inc. this week! Curious if we'll see more deals of this size over the next few years. In short: while AiFi announced in March 2023 that they were selected as Intuit Dome's autonomous checkout vendor, what they're really doing is deploying 40+ stores including a few that use RFID for merchandise. This goes to show what a great fit the technology is for stadiums, but it's also impressive since it demonstrates deployment speed and the ability to scale. I've seen some companies in this space take about a year from their initial press release to the opening of just *one store*. That's too slow. It sounds like in this case it'll be about a year and a half from their press release to the opening of 40+ stores. And it also means that Intuit Dome is the first stadium to use autonomous checkout for virtually every concession stand. More from Paul Kapustka and Stadium Tech Report 👇 https://lnkd.in/gW2WfYNN

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𝐀 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞... Two years ago, I embarked on a new chapter in my career as Vice President for Business Strategy and Operations at Adobe. After an amazing learning experience, I’ve decide to leave Adobe. In this role, I gained invaluable insights and hands on experience on how to run a successful large scale business ($15B in ARR, billion in MAU, 10K employees). I also got to contribute to beloved flagship brands such as Photoshop and Acrobat, and help grow new ones such as Express and GenAI Firefly. My responsibilities spanned strategic planning, operational excellence, and spearheading business growth. As part of that, I’m proud of what I achieved together with many amazing folks. From driving OKR adoption, to re-architecting the operating model, the crazy ride of leading the Figma acquisition diligence, creating a Metrics that Matter program, making Strat Planning more agile and connected and many more. Lastly, I want to thank the leadership team at Adobe for giving me such a wonderful opportunity, and my team and cross-functional partners for your dedication and partnership. I learned so much from you and enjoyed our time together. Thank you for the support and the learnings from this chapter. I look forward to what the future holds for you all. As I step into my next career phase, I’m excited to share more about my new adventure: ➡ 𝐋𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐎𝐎 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: Focused on helping startups / mid-sized companies with their business strategy, operations scaling, and investment & portfolio growth. ➡ 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: Offering my expertise and network through coaching Business and Ops professionals in tech. Here’s to new beginnings! -Alfredog

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Wow, an actual retailer is making Retail Media Network headlines today. 🤣 After a few weeks of non Retailers making headlines launching RMNs (PayPal, United Airlines) and actual retailer is ramping up their right to win🏆 **2 noteworthy points:** 1️⃣ **Omni-channel**: Costco Wholesale is leveraging their membership model to create an effective omni-channel advertising opportunity that targets consumers online & offline at their physical stores. 📱🛒 2️⃣ **Creating Consumer Value**: Costco plans to use the high profit margins of their advertising network to offset shipping costs and keep prices low, like their famous $4.99 rotisserie chicken. 🍗💸 This strategy is likely to significantly boost Costco’s nascent RMN revenue by 4✖️ according to Mark Williamson BMO Capital Markets estimates their current nascent RMN revenue to be around $225 Million. $900 million at 90% gross profit margins should provide management with many strategic investment opportunities that go far beyond the immediate value the healthy advertising profit margins will provide. 💼📈 Well done Costco Wholesale 💪🏻👏🏻

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Walmart Embraces the Metaverse to Captivate Gen Z Shoppers #walmart #amazon #retail #metaverse To attract younger shoppers, Walmart has launched Walmart Realm – a new digital shopping experience. It features virtual stores created with popular social media personalities. The goal is to appeal to Gen Z, who use social media for shopping ideas. The three virtual environments on Walmartrealm (.) com showcase fashion and beauty products. This shows that Walmart is committed to embracing the virtual world and creating engaging e-commerce experiences. Research shows that 68% of Gen Z consumers look for products on social media, and 22% of them end up buying something—the highest rate across all generations. Moreover, 3 out of 4 Gen Z consumers plan to make purchases on social media, compared to less than half of the overall sample. Additionally, nearly 40% of Gen Z consumers use TikTok and Instagram to discover products instead of using traditional search engines like Google. Walmart's Chief Marketing Officer, William White, says, "We're embracing innovation at Walmart with e-commerce experiences designed for the virtual world." This places Walmart at the forefront in retail, using social media influencers and digital experiences to attract and keep the attention of Gen Z. As Walmart and Amazon compete for the spending of younger shoppers, we will see how other large retailers respond. Walmart Realm's success could set a new standard for attracting Gen Z consumers in the digital age. It will be exciting to see how the retail landscape continues to change in the years to come.

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🌟 DON’T MISS OUT! Join us TODAY as we dive deep into the future of retail with AI in our insightful #cnwebinar, "Silent Signals: How AI Hears What Customers Don’t Say" @ 2pm ET // 11am PT!, discover how AI is transforming consumer product discovery and purchasing. 🎉 Secure your spot here: https://hubs.ly/Q02y7sjX0 Learn how behavioral AI creates real-time experiences based on actions, not just profiles. You will explore current AI applications, strategies for authentic connection with all visitors, and how real-time AI boosts revenue and performance. Learn from our panel of experts about new strategies for authentic engagement with all website visitors. Don't miss it! SPEAKERS: • Julie Evans, VP & CMO, Omaha Steaks • Jane-E Yamamoto J., Senior Director, Ecommerce, Forever 21 • Michael Challinger, CEO, Houzer • Jason Seeba, CMO, Session AI • Moderated by: Scott Silverman, Co-Founder, CommerceNext #cnwebinars #customerloyalty #ecommerce #retail #growth #AI #BehavioralAI

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As the AI platform shift accelerates it feels to me like we’re living in a modern day Renaissance. New ideas, new advancements in technology and new tools to help us make AI helpful for everyone. #GoogleIO last week & #GML24 (Google Marketing Live) this week brought this to life. Here’s a mash up of my 3 takeaways from both #GoogleIO & #GML: 👉 Multi-modal everywhere. It’s not just about text, it’s voice, it’s video, it’s multi-modal. I’m excited to have a conversational experience with Ask Photos to search memories in a deeper way & also to ask questions with video - very helpful for questions that are hard to articulate. 🎨 Creativity unleashed. What excites me most about the AI era is the potential to unlock creativity. From Veo video tool to virtual try on and visual storytelling in our Ads products these tools are an assist to unlock more creativity in us all. 📗 Productivity unlocked & results for businesses around the world. Google Workspace features like summarize my email, trip planning in Gemini Advanced and other productivity hacks that will help save time and get things done more quickly. Check out Philipp Schindler’s demo Project Astra, a helpful universal AI agent. I love your Yoda Philipp Schindler (& I think GBO is awesome too)! From the ‘power pair’ of Search + PMax to AI powered creative tools to new ways to measure, businesses across the globe are growing their business in new ways, powered by Google AI. All of these innovations are underpinned by huge advancements in primary research, technology and application + bold and responsible practices. It’s a very exciting time! Here’s a 10 min Google IO summary:   https://lnkd.in/gG5BhR9T Heres a 7 minute overview of the GML keynote: https://lnkd.in/g-d2JgZM What were your favourites?

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The HR and talent tech market often falls short, largely due to the complexities surrounding people related processes, diverse company procedures, and unique team hiring rituals. I’ve encountered very few products that truly address the biggest challenges in hiring. BrightHire is one of the few that solve meaningful customer problems! Their AI functionality is game-changing, revolutionizing traditional recruiting habits and bringing transparency to hiring. We're excited to partner with Brighthire and leveraging such innovative technology to enhance our hiring processes. #rollthetape #TalentTech #Innovation #HRTech Rokt are hiring; https://lnkd.in/e9-p2biE

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ICYMI. Check out the top 5 most engaging posts on my feed last week, including two featured on Linkedin News. Amazon Prime results, the AP getting into eCommerce, Levi Strauss and Co.'s financial results, Walmarche, Google, and D2C news round out the most engaging posts. 1️⃣ Prime day is off to a fantastic start. 🏆 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 🏆 https://buff.ly/3YciGRL 2️⃣ The Associated Press (AP) is entering the e-commerce space with AP Buyline, powered by Taboola. This exciting new venture marks a significant shift in AP's revenue strategy. https://buff.ly/3YbJzFv 3️⃣ Levi Strauss & Co. faced challenges in Q2 earnings but remains optimistic about its digital transformation and direct-to-consumer strategy. 🏆 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗻 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 🏆 https://buff.ly/3zK55He 4️⃣ I recently discovered Walmart's Walmarche concept and am eager to see how it performs. https://buff.ly/4f95u6m 5️⃣ D2C eCommerce gets a reality check. https://buff.ly/4fcwfHa Honorable mention: eCommerce success has always alluded Google, but you have to hand it to them for trying. https://buff.ly/4drXqMz

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This is an incredibly big deal for Zeta Global. At A’Maison: The House of Amazon @ Cannes Lions 2024, we announced our partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to advance generative AI by integrating AWS foundation models into the Zeta Marketing Platform. This powerful combination will bring easy access to omnichannel marketing capabilities for businesses. Check out this Forbes article to learn more about the impact of this product. 🌟 #CannesLions #GenAI #MarketingInnovation https://lnkd.in/gExkusms

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At Uber’s 2024 Go-Get product showcase, held May 15 in New York City, the theme was “togetherness,” as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi emphasized in his opening remarks. “The power of being together is more important than ever,” noted Khosrowshahi, adding a little later that “togetherness has a direct benefit on our happiness.” With its latest services, San Francisco-based Uber is aiming to enable closer relationships among people – including through groceries. One new service, introduced at Go-Get by Head of Global Membership Danielle Sheridan, offers half-price Uber One memberships for college students – just $4.99 a month – with no delivery fee and up to 10% off orders. Uber has entered into partnerships with Domino’s, Taco Bell and Starbucks to provide special discounts for students, who can also make use of their Uber One membership to purchase groceries. The service is launching across the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as other countries. Khosrowshahi was also pumped about the partnership with Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco Wholesale, observing, “There simply is no better place to stock up.” | Progressive Grocer https://lnkd.in/eqAfBq2D #retail #supermarkets #grocery #clubstores #retailer #groceries

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Check out this insightful assessment by Dan Berthiaume on the state of Just-Walk-Out/Grab-and-Go models. Rich McMahon and I came to similar conclusions in a recent LinkedIn discussion. With years of experience in the industry, we see things not just as they are, but as they can and should be. Keep up with the latest developments in the industry by following our posts. #JustWalkOut #GrabAndGo #RetailTech

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Instacart isn’t the secret it used to be. It’s helped grow some real brand giants: Liquid Death, Chomps, Good Culture, Applegate… But Instacart isn’t the only show in town. DoorDash is making a run for retail delivery. And it’s Ad platform is starting to catch fire. Here’s how each platform shakes out for brand growth. INSTACART. Pros: -> Sophisticated analytics. -> Allows for customer retargeting. -> Growing rapidly across *all retailer types*. -> Advanced placement and targeting methods. -> Largest share of Delivery, 3rd in Online Grocery. -> You can “back into” some retailer specific targeting. Cons: -> Competition is slowly increasing. -> No retailer-specific sales reporting. -> Can’t negate poor performing search terms. -> Campaign AI is inefficient (like most ad platforms). DOORDASH. Pros: -> Ultra high intent platform. -> Extremely low brand competition. -> Much larger share of c-store delivery. -> Massive potential from restaurant customer base. Cons: -> Less sophisticated analytics. -> Fewer available Ad Placement Types. -> Only 10% of Grocery Delivery Market. -> Can’t negate poor performing search terms. So which platform is best for growing retail velocity? This is another case of “it depends”. For most brands, it’s probably Instacart. But retail media is not a one-solution game. We work with a brand that is using nine retail media platforms. And they’re the fastest growing brand in their category. The question is less, “what’s your retail media platform?” The question is, “what’s your retail media stack?” ——— 🔹Driving shelf turn in Kroger, Whole Foods, Albertsons, Costco, Walmart, Sprouts, and More 🔹DM me or book an appointment for help. #ecommerce #retailmedia #retailgrowth #retailvelocity #cpg #cpgbrands #instacart #tradespend #retailbuyers #categoryreview

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🌟 Welcoming a Legend: Craig Saunders joins Builder.ai as VP of AI to give Natasha wings! Dearest Craig, ❤️ Thank you so much for choosing Builder.ai as your next home, your next family, and personally, thank you for trusting me to learn from your incredible experience. 🙉 Over the past days, I’ve thought deeply about how to introduce you, what to say, and how to give you the respect you so richly deserve given your extraordinary career and how to explain just how much we had to wait to get you to finally come from Amazon! 🏁 This has been the hardest role we have had to hire for and we have gone through many hundreds of CVs to find the right leader; who can take Natasha and Builder.ai to the next frontier. 🧠 Craig joins us from Amazon, where he spent 7 transformative years, most recently as a director in the AGI org. His journey there was nothing short of groundbreaking. Craig’s leadership was pivotal in building Knowledge Graphs for Alexa’s Q&A, pioneering the FEVER (Fact Extraction and Verification) challenges, and developing the first large seq2seq models for Alexa. He played a crucial role in federating multiple Alexa Q&A systems, ensuring seamless integration and enhanced user experiences. 💻 In 2022, Craig led the development of next-gen textual Large Language Models and significantly improved personalization for Alexa. Before his remarkable tenure at Amazon, Craig was at Xerox, delivering machine learning solutions across industries such as Customer Care, Transportation, Healthcare, and Finance. With a PhD in Machine Learning from the University of London and over 70 published papers, his contributions to the field are unparalleled. 🤗 Beyond his professional achievements, Craig’s humility and dedication to his personal passions shine through. He enjoys spending quality time with his two daughters, playing the guitar, and maintaining a marine fish tank. 😇 The fact that you decided on us so swiftly, agreeing to bring your expertise and vision, is a testament to the decisive and courageous leader we have brought into Builder.ai. Your work on foundational models, conversational assistants, and organizing world knowledge reflects the ambitious and innovative spirit we value here. I’d probably 😀 need to write a book to reflect all your achievements, so instead, I am just ecstatic that you’re here to help me and Builder.ai deliver the digital dreams of customers across the world and of-course to give Natasha Wings! In advance, thank you for being so patient as I make mistakes; I will make a ton, and so will Builder.ai. Welcome to the family. Yours truly, CW Ps Thank you Matt Stravitz from Riviera Partners #WelcomeCraig #BuilderAI #Innovation #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning

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B2B is evolving   ~90% of B2B deals are influenced by recommendations  ~84% of deals begin from referrals within networks Yet, for some reason we’re still looking to build and scale alone Nearbound is taking partnerships deeper Gain intel, influence and intros “Hey Partner – I’m reaching out to X account next week. I understand you received buy-in from a stakeholder on a particular initiative and closed. Any chance we can exchange notes on this account, so I’m best aligned to their business needs? I’m happy to help with opps I have as well.” There's partnerships Then there's the tactical approach And it’s hard to argue with data: • 60% lower CAC • 41% higher win rates • 20% higher retention rates Startups have the option to build alone Or build bridges and tap existing ecosystems Go deeper, or miss real opportunities Nearbound.

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Shares of Pinterest traded up ~21% on Wednesday after the company reported first-quarter earnings, including an acceleration in revenue growth from 11% to 23% year-over-year, surpassing Wall Street expectations by 6%. Management emphasized broad-based advertiser demand for Pinterest's ad tools, monetization of third-party ad demand via Amazon and Google, and increased engagement from a younger demographic cohort. With 480 million users, cost, performance, support, and security are critical- that’s why this year alone Pinterest moved 17% of their compute to Graviton chips from AWS. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gaWPMWmV Tagging our amazing Amazon ads team and the infrastructure gurus. Great job!!!! Melanie Stewart Meghan Joseph Abhijeet Patil

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Costco is entering the rapidly expanding world of retail media networks. Costco, the third-largest retailer in the United States, is preparing to launch its own retail media network (RMN) to tap into its extensive loyalty membership program and shopper data. Costco's RMN will allow the company and advertisers to deliver targeted ads to its 74.5 million paid household members based on purchasing behavior. As Mark Williamson, Costco's Assistant Vice-President of retail media, stated, "We will not only help you reach a Costco member, but we will help you reach the right members in the right context based on past behavior." Retail media networks have become one of the fastest-growing ad-supported media channels, with eMarketer estimating global ad spending for RMNs to reach $140 billion in 2024. While Costco's entry into this market is later compared to competitors like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, it presents a significant opportunity for advertisers to reach Costco's loyal customer base. Nich Weinheimer, Executive Vice-President of Strategy at Skai, expressed excitement about Costco's RMN, stating that it "offers a unique advantage: the ability to effectively target buyers through membership retail media networks. Costco's extensive data on purchase behavior is nearly unmatched, allowing ads to target loyal shoppers based on their recent purchases, behaviors, demographics, cart sizes, and more." Although Costco is a latecomer to the RMN market, with Amazon holding a 77% share of U.S. retail media ad spend, Costco's large customer base and first-party data provide a significant opportunity for advertisers in the travel, telecom, and other service sectors to reach new, targeted audiences. As Costco continues to develop its RMN, it must collaborate with data companies to create a programmatic ad-buying platform and manage its shopper data and targeting capabilities. #costco #amazon #retailmedianetwork https://buff.ly/3L5PKDs

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Good interview with Apple’s Tim Cook. Love that Marques asked him to rank his top 5 Apple products (no, he didn’t actually rank them). This interview doesn’t come off as over-prepared or too corporate, and Tim is relaxed and forthcoming. Here are some takeaways from the conversation: — Privacy is a fundamental human right and it’s a key tenet at Apple. — Your data will never be sent to OpenAI without your consent. You decide about your data when using Apple products/services. — Everything we talk about is how our products benefit our customers. (I remember this from when I led sales training for iPhone and iPad — we never discussed tech specs with customers — we always talked about what a customer wanted to DO and then showed them how to do that with our devices). — Marques asked about our “addiction” to devices. Tim replied that, “Apple’s model doesn’t need constant engagement on devices to succeed. We provide tools so you can do incredible things. With Apple Intelligence, you’ll actually have an opportunity to spend less time on your devices.” — Half of the Fortune 500 are buying or exploring Vision Pro for enterprise use. — Marques asked about his legacy as CEO. “I don’t think about that. Legacy is defined by other people looking at you. I typically focus on the forward, not the rear-view mirror, which is a characteristic of Apple. You won’t find a museum at Apple. We don’t reminisce.”

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I have to talk more about the Walmart Roblox physical marketplace powered by Sawhorse Productions Nic Hill As you know since 2009 I have being in the space of immersive technologies, and the promise of connected products was out there since then. But enabling the right infrastructure is never easy - specially thinking of mass adoption. Innovation becomes utility when it solves a problem for many, and it is adopted by a multitude with the minimum friction possible. Walmart Discovered phygital marketplace is a bespoke use case where a powerful retail giant take the lead in using games to empower communities, and eventually create a path for physical products consumption. It is straight forward experience, part of the world of Gen-alphas on Roblox. Some personal take aways from this launch: • games are major tool for comms with next gen • bring your product inside a tool your customers like •leverage your community power •expand e-commerce behind the scrolling 2D standards •make it fun! Well done to all involved and once again, special kudos to Justin Breton 🌸

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