The Trends Reshaping Retail Advertising with Advertising Week’s Ruth Mortimer

0:00My Instagram feed, whatever the algorithm is, they know me, they know my back hurts, they know I will spend any amount of money on mascara. I'm like, oh my god, this is terrible. You know, you could clone me just from this. But that's why I like it, because it feels like genuinely it knows me and it tends to not serve me too much stuff that is kind of like stuff I like, but isn't quite right. But I think the next step of personalization is not just knowing who you are, but what you're trying to accomplish at that moment.

0:38Welcome back to Retail Remix. I'm your host, Kate Robertson, Editor-in-Chief at Retail Touchpoints. Today we're talking about advertising with Ruth Mortimer, the global president at Advertising Week. Advertising Week New York is coming up on October 5th, and there is a ton of programming for retail marketers. In addition to the massive growth of retail media networks and the powerful way content creators are shaping tastes and desires, Ruth gave us a sneak peek into what's new and cool and exciting at the show this year. She also served up sharp opinions on where the smart money's moving and who's actually winning attention in 2026, which has been an awfully dynamic and challenging year, wouldn't you say?

1:23Let's get into it.

1:28Ruth, it's so nice to have you on Retail Remix. Thanks so much for having me. Tell us more about your career trajectory. How did you come to lead Advertising Week? So I think my career trajectory you'd probably call unusual because I started out not in large scale festivals and events, but as an archaeologist in the Middle East, digging up things. And I think this is the only common thread for my career is I've always loved stories and finding things out and discovering things. I'm a very, very curious person. So I started out as an archaeologist, and I ended up actually focusing on the writing element and became a journalist after that.

2:08And then while I was a journalist, I ended up working on lots of things where there was a requirement to make money out of content and I discovered I actually loved this side of the business that I thought if you could get someone to pay you for a brilliant idea and to make it real that was such a kind of exciting opportunity for me so that's really how I ended up doing what I'm doing now at Advertising Week which is a series of events that run around the world in New York, London, Mexico City and Tokyo. We have about 20 ,000 people in New York It's really telling those stories on a big scale.

2:48That's really how I ended up here. That's so interesting. What kind of journalism did you do? So I started out in journalism writing about politics, which I found wasn't especially friendly for young women. And I ended up moving into kind of writing about finance, writing about business. And then I ended up writing really about the creative sectors, about marketing, advertising, digital. all. And that was really where I kind of found my place. And I thought this is so interesting, because this is really the combination of culture that makes the world go round and commerce, which also makes the world go round.

3:23And you need to be at the cutting edge of it. So that was what got me really hooked. Fascinating. Tell me more, as we are headed into Advertising Week New York, of course, in October, from where you're sitting, what are the biggest retail marketing trends that have defined 2026 so far? So I think some of the retail trends that have been really big this year, I think for us, something really interesting, we've lent hugely into the creator economy. And I would say there's been a really interesting trend we've seen where the creator economy is coming together with commerce and commerce media, really where sort of creators are starting to be the last kind of mile of commerce strategies.

4:08So you see retailers like Sephora or Target have these programs where effectively they're using commerce media strategies to attract in people at a mass scale. And then they're using creators for that last kind of more targeted kind of outreach, getting people who are not necessarily huge creators, but quite niche creators under 5 million and getting them to really connect them to the audience in a quite different way than anything I think we've seen before. So I definitely think creators plus commerce media is a big one. And then probably the things that everyone would talk about is really AI and particularly, you know, agentic search and GEO as well.

4:54I think we've seen so much in terms of how brands are having to think differently about their strategy. Retailers are having to think how people will find them in a different world where Google is not anymore just the default. For sure. We have done so much work on how to become discoverable, whether that's, you know, tweaking the way your data is connected, doing more, you know, monitoring of how people are talking about you on Reddit. The other thing that I think is so interesting is how AI is really being embraced by some companies when it comes to generating their marketing campaign. So I can't remember if it was this year or last year, but like Monkler did a whole incredible, it looked amazing.

5:45TV ad and likely a digital ad that was entirely AI generated. Are there any campaigns that have caught your attention when it comes to that kind of AI in marketing? I think more than even individual campaigns, I think a big trend we're seeing is that marketers aren't sure where to use AI and when not to use AI. And I think it's almost as important to know when not to use AI. So the Montclair campaign, I think you're thinking of, which was this beautiful where the dresses open up. Is that the one? That's right. Yeah, which is beautiful. I think that's a clever use of AI because I think where AI can allow you to do something creative that is beyond what you would have been able to do otherwise.

6:31That's really interesting. I think where it's tricky is that really branding is about being distinctive. And I think where you've seen lots of retailers use AI to generate copy or brand materials that feel incredibly generic, or even people and faces that look incredibly generic, this is sort of the opposite of everything you're taught that marketing should do. So I think I would say what we're spotting more than individual your campaigns is an industry going, how do we get this right? Where do we use AI and where do we not use AI? For sure. And also, there are so many questions too around transparency.

7:12It sounds like people just, if there is AI being used, they definitely want to know about it and feel like they're in on the creative side in a way that perhaps they would not have demanded to know in the past. I agree. I think it's all about being transparent. And also, I think advertising, people like advertising that's useful for them, right? Then it doesn't feel intrusive. Whereas advertising that isn't useful, isn't for you, does feel intrusive. So I think where companies eat AI in clever ways, like I've seen quite a lot of what Walmart's doing with Sparky to build baskets. I think if that's how you shop, and actually you'd like help building that basket and you look at reviews, you want product information on the way.

7:59That's an example of where for the right person, that's a really useful tool. So I think I'm more interested in those brands that are using AI to go, how could we actually make this something better than it could ever be without AI? For sure. I also did a story about PetSmart recently that was about how they used AI for their email marketing campaigns and A-B testing and all kinds of great behind the scenes applications. Have you been noticing that? And do any particularly interesting use cases jump out? Yeah, I think what we're seeing in terms of there's huge leaps forward in terms of kind of particularly like with search.

8:45So I think like dynamic merchandising, being able to manage inventory much better, delivering personalized creative. I was talking to an agency the other day and they previewed their new tool, which allows you to kind of completely personalize creative in a way that was truly impressive and different and enhanced the shopping experience. And they could do everything. They could change the pricing and promotions, product recommendations. The steps they were building in was then allowing you to see the correct creators that appealed to you using the products. So it was every step of the kind of buying journey, they'd cleverly thought about how you could use AI behind the scenes to just make it a bit better.

9:30Yeah, the personalization thing I think is so interesting. And the way I often think about it, rightly or wrongly, is sort of, you know, how well my Instagram algorithm knows me, like it really knows what will make me laugh. It really knows what I'm shopping for these days. it knows exactly what I want to send to my husband to give him a giggle. And it's a bit spooky. And so when I think about how we're entering an era where commerce will also digitally know me, you know, it's a bit scary, but it is kind of exciting. I'm kind of into it. Look, I think personalization is good when it truly feels personal.

10:10So I agree with you, my Instagram feed, whatever the algorithm is, they know me, they know my back hurts, they know I will spend any amount of money on mascara. I'm like, oh my God, this is terrible. You know, you could clone me just from this. But that's why I like it, because it feels like genuinely it knows me and it tends to not serve me too much stuff that is kind of like stuff I like, but isn't quite right. But I think the next step of personalization is not just knowing who you are, but what you're trying to accomplish at that moment. Like if you remember the world of retargeting where you saw a pair of pants, you'd be like, I like those pants.

10:51You bought them and then they still followed you around the internet for about three weeks. For sure. And you were like, but I bought them. I don't want more. I think now we're past that stage. Now I think they're going to be able to much more cleverly know what mindset you're in. When it comes to that personalization side, it seems like that could be intention with efficiency. You know, tailoring these personalized experiences to every single customer could put some pressure on efficiency. Can you think of any brands or retailers that seem to be really striking that balance well right now? I can't think of any individual retailers that are striking that balance.

11:33What I do think is that this is where I'm seeing AI gives retailers such an ability to get there. So you could think, Ruth, you know my age, you know what I'm doing. I'm in your segment, segment 17 in your database. But instead, I find that often brands, they go like, I've got two children. And they're like, oh, she's a mother. And you're like, no, when I'm looking to buy fashion, I'm absolutely not a mother. I couldn't care less about my children lovingly. And so I think what I'm seeing retailers talk about is the ability to much more closely map to people's need states, that actually your segments are becoming much more sophisticated because AI can process so much more data than you ever could, where you're building individual segments that is now building individual real people into them.

12:26let's talk about holiday and I feel like back to school also comes into play with this planning your holiday marketing campaigns you know it just seems to be starting earlier and earlier and those campaigns stretch longer I always feel like I get a bit of a jolt I mean I still get pangs this time of year because I'm haunted by back to school even though I'm not I haven't gone back to school in a very long time, but I always still feel that sense of doom easing into September. And holidays too, you know, when you see that first holiday catalog appear at your door or see that first holiday ad, it always feels like, wow, are we already doing this?

13:12How are retailers rethinking that marketing cadence for that extra long season? So I think now the journey looks slightly different. Like I think instead of it being, okay, we're coming up, it's Halloween, we're going to put out an ad, please buy. I think now people, it starts like this, like you start off seeing creators looking at things. They're like, oh, I'm thinking about what decorations I'm going to buy. You think, ah, it's only August, isn't it? But then you think to yourself, maybe I'm behind, I should buy something. So you start seeing creators, you start doing research in both AI, you know, and in traditional search engines, you start to visit the retailer online to see who's got the best decorations.

14:00You go into the store, you're then retargeted by these things online. And then eventually, probably you do end up purchasing. And I think what has happened is that retailers are expecting to see the attribution of these journeys becoming much longer and more complicated. And I think that's just the way that modern marketing is now. It's not that simple, short funnel. It's a really long, complicated funnel. For sure. The other very unique thing I feel like we're grappling with this holiday season is just all of the economic pressures that are on consumers these days, whether it's expensive gas, inflation, Everything is so expensive.

14:47How are you seeing this impacting marketers this year? I think this is a very interesting question because we're a global business. We've seen different impacts around the world for really the last five years. So in Europe, you've had things like the Ukraine war and the price of energy. You know, in the U.S., you've had tariffs. You've had lots of different elements that are affecting these. I think what retailers are telling us they've seen most is that people are again using kind of, I'd say, agents, agentic, find me the best version of this for under 50. People are setting up and, you know, my mother has set up like, find me this product when it's this price.

15:30Wow. And I'm thinking if people, you know, if people in their late 70s are able to set up those searches because we've made it so easy for them, I think what we're going to see is what would have one day been coupon clipping. This is the modern equivalent. And I think that is going to become incredibly, you know, prevalent. I have so many, you know, let me know when this is on sale. Let me know when this is at its best price. this is going to become the normal way people shop or I think slightly further down the way your agents shop which is please just buy this for me when this reaches x price because you feel okay with that and I think that is what retailers are facing is actually this is just being automated at a scale we've never seen before.

16:14Wow yeah that promotional environment can be a tough one How is a retailer supposed to navigate that? I think it's just about communicating value for money at every opportunity. Yeah, I think also retailers need to think about, I think lots of retailers, you know, Walmart was a big proponent of this for, you know, back in the day, 20, 30 years ago was, you know, have that everyday kind of low price rather than a price that constantly fluctuates with discounts because then all that happens is people get used to hanging on and waiting for the discount. So I'd be interested to see if more retailers actually balances out some of that major waves of discounting because otherwise it's just unmanageable for people to run campaigns because you just have so many people hanging on for that one moment.

17:08Let's talk about Advertising week, which is bringing together marketers across brand, media, tech, and culture. What are the themes that you expect will dominate conversations in New York this October? So I think the big ones will be creator economy for sure. And the reason we're really interested in this was I'd say last year we started to see creators attending advertising week as delegates on a large scale. So we had about 1 ,000 creators with creator tickets last year. We're expecting at least double that this year. And we appointed our first chief creator officer this year, which is Darman.

17:48He's the Forbes number two creator in the world. He has an audience of 170 million. And we have a joint ambition together, which is during advertising week, those four days will kick off in the next 12 months, around 170 million in creator brand deals. because we believe that over those four days we'll have enough relationship building conversations that real business will get done. So I think creators are very interesting. They occupy a unique position in the industry because they are both kind of creative agencies in one sense, making content. And they're also kind of distribution channels more like traditional media.

18:30and we haven't really had something that fills both those positions at the same time in the same way. So I think that's really interesting and the creator economy is going to continue to be a huge trend. I think commerce media, again, is going to be huge. You know, I think retail was really the first place that discovered this. Really, if you have lots of people coming to your website, you really understand how people are behaving. You can use that data to create an advertising business. Now everybody's discovered that. So if you're an airline, if you're a transport hub, if you have a lot of eyeballs on your site, you're going, we could be a media site too.

19:10So I think there's a very interesting phenomenon we're seeing at Advertising Week where you have traditional media companies, commerce media companies, and then you also have social platforms who are moving into the commerce and retail space. So I'd say there's an interesting trend where almost everybody is trying to move into a business sector that didn't used to be theirs, which makes it quite interesting. And then some of the things I mentioned earlier where you have kind of creators and commerce media sort of coming together for the first time. I think these are the areas where we're going to see some really interesting conversations.

19:45And who are you most excited about speaking at the show this fall? I think the thing I love about Advertising Week is this idea of bringing kind of business and culture together. Because back to my early career days, I always think if you're at the forefront of both business and culture, that's just such an exciting place to be. You can see trends before other people. So some of the people I'm most interested in, I think on the kind of more celebrity side, we have actor Kerry Washington. We have Trevor Noah. We have John Legend. So we have some people who are really there to talk about the creative process from an inspiring point of view.

20:26But then probably the people who I think will be most interesting and valuable are some of those people who are CMOs of really interesting companies. So whether it's we have the CMO and CEO of Ulta Beauty, who are doing some very interesting things right now. We have the chair of Estee Lauder. we have a huge amount of particularly like sports brands, I'd say are really big. So we have a lot of the CMOs of those big sports teams, which is a fast growing business. The great thing about advertising week is it's kind of 32 days of content. We have 32 tracks of content over four days, kind of go it's a month of content in a week.

21:07So whatever you're interested in, you can definitely find it. Amazing. Yes. Alta is so interesting. I have to weasel my way into that beauty show they do one of these days. What is new or especially important about Advertising Week New York that you think retail marketers should make time for? I think the thing that's really valuable for retail marketers, I always think it's really interesting to come and learn from other industries. And there's a huge amount there, whether it's we have a farmer summit, we have a gaming summit, whether you're learning from more traditional media that could teach you interesting things for your commerce media strategy.

21:46I think partly it's about learning from other industries because it's a very efficient way to do a lot of learning very quickly from industries who otherwise wouldn't necessarily have a viewpoint in. I think it's great for talking and meeting both people in your industry and outside. One of the things that people always tell us is that it's great to be able to network with the other people in your industry. There aren't actually these days where lots of people work remotely. It's quite hard to all be in the same place. So, you know, being together at something like Advertising Week, attending a commerce roundtable where you share strategies and ideas, those things to me are really, really valuable.

22:26And so I think it's partly that. And then it's doing it all in a way that hopefully feels fun. We always say Advertising Week is ultimately about making you better at your job. It's got to be about education networking business generation but we want you not to be bored while it's happening we want you to have a good time and I think retail is a lot about theater as well so I think there's a lot for retailers to learn about the live experience as well at any live event absolutely well I'm really looking forward to it I will be there if anyone wants to meet up and say hi and yeah Ruth thank Thank you so much for joining us today.

23:05Thank you so much, Kate. I really appreciate it. Thanks for joining us for another episode of Retail Remix. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a future episode. You can find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or your favorite podcast app. Until next time, keep mixing it up.