Building the One-Stop Ad Shop: Bobby Watts, Ahold Delhaize USA

Описание: Bobby Watts has seen every stage of retail media — from outsourced networks to full in-house ad-tech. As Head of AD Retail Media USA (Ahold Delhaize USA), he’s leading one of the most ambitious transformations in grocery advertising.

In this conversation, Tom Limongello and Todd Sawicki explore how Edge, their new ad platform, will connect sponsored products, onsite display, in-store screens, and offsite channels through an agentic, AI-driven orchestration layer.

We cover:
• The evolution from Criteo → Quotient → Epsilon → in-house
• Building ad tech “by grocers, for grocery”
• How real-time and predictive audiences replace stale loyalty data
• Connecting trade, shopper, and retail media through “two-in-a-box” planning
• Why in-store media is the next major frontier

Bobby Watts is the Head of Retail Media leads AD Retail Media US, the in-house retail media network for Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. banners including Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant, and Hannaford. With more than 30 years in grocery retail, Bobby has built teams across operations, merchandising, and digital commerce. Today he’s focused on bringing together technology, data science, and omnichannel activation to create a unified customer-engagement platform.

Bobby on LinkedIn   / bobby-watts-48571b74  

Chapters
00:00 – Intro: Time zones, candy, and context
01:27 – Ahold Delhaize’s East Coast footprint
03:44 – Bobby Watts joins: from operations to retail media
07:49 – The pandemic pivot to in-house media
10:14 – From Criteo to Quotient to Epsilon to Edge
14:43 – Re-branding Peapod → Stop & Shop Direct and Giant Direct
18:00 – Grocery margins and omnichannel economics
21:31 – Global ad-tech alignment: one code base, two continents
24:00 – Why build an ad stack for grocery
27:00 – Relevancy, algorithms, and data science
30:32 – The One-Stop Ad Shop vision
33:29 – Trade + Media: “Two-in-a-box” planning
36:00 – Consumer management vs. category management
41:42 – Connecting enterprise marketing and loyalty
45:11 – CTV and upper-funnel retail media
46:13 – Digitizing the store and the connected journey
50:00 – In-store creative: ESLs, screens, and new formats
53:26 – Wrap-up: 2026 and beyond