The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Making Retail Media Work Inside and Outside of JBPs

In this continuation of the Show Me the Money special, Viv Craske and Colin Lewis tackle one of the toughest challenges facing brands today: extracting real value from retail media spend locked inside Joint Business Plans (JBPs).

From FMCG vs CPG debates to Beatles metaphors (John, Paul, George & Ringo = marketing, shopper, digital & ecommerce teams), the episode unpacks why retail media budgets are fragmented, hard to track, and often inefficient.

Viv and Colin explore how brands can regain control, align media spend to business objectives, and negotiate smarter retail media agreements that go beyond “promised spend” toward measurable impact.

This episode is a practical guide for brand, sales, and marketing leaders navigating the tension between commercial commitments and media effectiveness.

Key topics covered:

• Why JBPs are one of the hardest places to unlock retail media value
• The “four Beatles” problem: fragmented media budget ownership
• Why brands often don’t know who is spending what—and where
• The tension between commercial teams committing media and marketers needing flexibility
• A simple 3-part retail media budgeting framework:
• Goal-driven budgeting
• Spending effectively (incrementality & measurement)
• Being “always on”
• How brands can negotiate flexibility, transparency, and insights from retailers
• The rise of joint marketing agreements and retail media-specific JBPs
• Why marketing teams must be in the room - not just sales

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