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Retail Media Therapy
EP37 – Adam Smith, Iceland Retail Media – the hard work to make screens awesome
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Iceland Retail Media’s 5,000 Screen Rollout & The Future of Measurable In-Store Media
This week on Retail Media Therapy, Viv Craske and Colin Lewis sit down with Adam Smith from Iceland Retail Media to unpack one of the most ambitious in-store retail media projects in the UK.
Iceland isn’t just refreshing its network - it’s rolling out up to 5,000 in-store screens across in under a year. And they’re not just adding screens - they’re transforming measurement.
What You’ll LearnResetting a Retail Media Network
- Iceland Retail Media relaunched in 2025 after restructuring its agency model.
- Screens have been part of the business for years - but this rollout takes them to an entirely new level.
- A fast-moving, privately owned business means rapid execution.
- Every major UK retailer is investing in in-store screens - the question is how well they measure.
- Iceland chose to double down on screens as a core channel of its retail media strategy.
- The rollout could become one of the largest non-London-centric in-store networks in the UK.
Adam describes the ambition as bringing “clickstream media to bricks and mortar.”
Key elements include:
- Real-time in-store impression measurement
- Dwell time tracking
- Viewable impression data
- Closed-loop attribution linking media exposure to EPOS sales
The goal? Prove that £1 spent in-store can outperform £1 spent elsewhere.
Instead of cameras or facial recognition:
- Iceland is using millimetre-wave sensors
- Tracking is based on water-content scanning
- Each shopper is anonymised via temporary RFID tagging
- Fully GDPR compliant
- No personal identification or ongoing tracking
This approach delivers measurable impressions without compromising shopper trust.
The data doesn’t just power media measurement. It also enables:
- Live footfall tracking
- Customer flow mapping
- Hotspot identification
- Smarter merchandising decisions
- Better labour planning
Retail media becomes infrastructure - not just advertising.
A standout example with McCormick:
- AB test: stores with screens vs. without
- Non-promoted EDLP product
- 10% sales uplift
- Category share increase
- Clear link between impressions and sales
And this isn’t just a one-off - this level of reporting is now standard for Iceland suppliers.
Installing thousands of screens is no small task:
- Overnight installations in live retail environments
- Infrastructure challenges
- Store team coordination
Retail media isn’t just marketing - it’s operations.
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EP36 – Savvy Diageo, Greedy ChatGPT, bad AI traffic
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