Amir Rasekh, Managing Director of Nectar360, joins That’s What I Call Marketing to discuss customer insight, retail media, AI-powered measurement and how agentic commerce could change the way people shop.
This episode explains how retail media has evolved from loyalty data, targeted coupons and direct mail into a sophisticated, measurable channel spanning in-store, onsite and offsite media.
In this episode, we cover:
– Why customer insight remains the foundation of effective retail media
– How Nectar360 connects loyalty, insight and retail media in one customer-focused system
– Why brands hold retail media to a higher measurement standard than traditional channels
– How Nectar360 measures incrementality and multi-touch attribution across omnichannel campaigns
– How its AI-powered Pollen platform makes campaign planning, creative production and measurement faster
– What agentic commerce could mean for retailers, marketers and customer decision-making
– Why AI should support better human relationships rather than remove the people involved
Amir also shares early results from Pollen, including 2.5 times more incremental sales from omnichannel campaigns and evidence that retail media can influence the middle and upper parts of the marketing funnel, rather than acting only as a conversion channel.
The conversation also explores an important tension for marketers: technology can make retail media simpler, faster and more measurable, but clients still expect strong relationships, expertise and human judgement. A useful listen for marketers interested in customer insight, retail media, marketing measurement, AI in marketing, incrementality, omnichannel strategy and the future of commerce.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:27 Amir Rasekh’s career in retail and Sainsbury’s
04:34 Building an insight-led culture
05:00 What Nectar360 does today
06:06 Why retail media suddenly became so prominent
07:18 The fundamentals of retail media
08:52 Why measurement expectations are increasing
10:28 Introducing Nectar360’s Pollen platform
12:15 Are marketers rigorous enough when testing campaigns?
13:33 How AI accelerated retail media technology
14:21 AI audience building, creative scoring and production
14:38 Cutting creative production from weeks to 90 seconds
14:59 Early results from omnichannel retail media
16:10 Retail media as a brand-building channel
17:05 How customer shopping behaviour is changing
18:00 What agentic commerce means for retail
20:03 Will consumers shop through ChatGPT and AI agents?
22:16 Why physical stores still matter
24:00 How Nectar360’s teams are using AI
25:16 Building AI literacy across an organisation
25:47 Why clients do not want technology to replace people
26:04 Closing thoughts
That’s What I Call Marketing is the podcast for marketers who care about brand, B2B, creativity, effectiveness and the future of the profession.
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Find more episodes at: https://www.thatswhaticallmarketing.com
This Cannes Sessions episode is produced in partnership with The Digital Voice.
Find out more at: https://www.thedigitalvoice.co.uk
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