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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It’s the return of the Retail Media Therapy podcast Celebrity Deathmatch Live edition – this time, live from NRF in New York.

The Retail Media Therapy podcast Celebrity Deathmatch is brought to you by Grace & Co - the marketing and commerce consultancy, alongside event sponsors QSIC and Zitcha.

It's a rowdy Oxford style debate with 3 rounds, where one of our fighters will be for the motion and one will be against the motion – they have to make their point and trash their opposing fighter.

Our fighters are:

Colin ‘The Crusher’ Lewis

Of Retail Media Therapy Podcast and consultant at Grace & Co

Claire ‘Whiplash’ Wyatt

from The Trade Desk

Kiri ‘The Killer’ Masters

Host of the Retail Media Breakfast Club

Sarah ‘The Mauler’ Marzano

from EMarketer

Your judges are:

Steve Biddle from Zitcha

Mark Walkin from QSIC

And your host is:

Viv Craske

host of the Retail Media Therapy Podcast and consultant at Grace & Co

Are you ready to do battle?

Round 1 - Colin vs Claire

USA Vs the rest of the world. The USA sucks at Retail Media

Round 2 - Sarah vs Kiri

Agentic commerce: friend or foe to retail media?

The Grand Final - TBC vs TBC

Apocalypse Now: is retail media doomed?

Join the rowdiest, most debauched and most brutally honest event at NRF, and see who wins the debates and survives the insults.

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Welcome to EP33 of the Retail Media Therapy podcast with Viv Craske and Colin Lewis. Retail Media Therapy comes from Grace & Co - the marketing and commerce consultancy.

In this episode of Retail Media Therapy, the focus is on the intricacies of building a successful retail media sales team and effective strategies for maximizing revenue. The discussion reveals:

• The importance of mastering the basics

• Creating compelling sales presentations,

• The benefits of selling media packages to manage margins and simplify decision-making for clients.

The conversation also covers the critical role of sales team management, including motivation, tiering clients, and the crucial distinction between hunters and farmers in sales roles.

Stay tuned for the next episode, which will shift the focus to the buy side and the navigation of JBPs by CPGs and suppliers.

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