What’s actually worth attending, what’s being talked about, and where the industry’s heading next.
It’s event season and the Vudoo team has been everywhere from POSSIBLE Miami to Crocodile Cairns and the Ascendant Retail Media Network Council.
So, in this episode of Commerce Media Matters Podcast, Nick Morgan, Paul Blackburn, Andrea Hill and Sarah Lawson Johnston unpack what’s really happening across the industry event circuit right now — which events are driving meaningful conversations, where brands, retailers and adtech vendors are actually investing their time, and whether these events are still delivering real value.
From RMN fragmentation and AI pressure, to measurement, standardisation and ecosystem complexity, the team explores the biggest themes surfacing across retail media and commerce media globally — and why the conversation has shifted from hype and future-gazing toward tangible business outcomes and practical execution.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
What stood out at POSSIBLE Miami, Crocodile Cairns & Ascendant Network Boot Camp
The team unpacks how each event differed — from the tactical, adtech-heavy conversations at POSSIBLE, to the more relationship-driven atmosphere at Crocodiles, through to the candid, closed-door discussions happening at the Ascendant Retail Media Network Council.
Whether industry events are still worth the investment
With tighter budgets and increasing pressure on ROI, the episode explores why companies are becoming more selective about where they show up — and which events are still delivering meaningful value and conversations.
The common themes emerging across regions
Across Europe, Australia and the US, the same conversations kept surfacing — tighter budgets, AI pressure, fragmented ecosystems, standardisation challenges, and growing demand for tangible business outcomes over hype.
Why retail media networks are still navigating growing pains
Across every event, one consistent theme kept surfacing: RMNs are still navigating internal structures, data strategy, standardisation, inventory management, and how to work with an increasingly crowded ecosystem.
The big conversations everyone’s having around AI and commerce
From AI-readiness and metadata, to agentic commerce and changing discovery behaviours, the team unpacks how rapidly the conversation is shifting across retailers, brands, agencies and adtech vendors.
About the hosts:
- Nick Morgan: Nick is an entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in digital marketing and eCommerce. He founded Vudoo in 2018, a platform that enables in-stream content commerce across articles, videos, and images. Nick's work transforms every ad impression into a potential shop front, offering a seamless eCommerce experience.
- Paul Blackburn: Paul is a digital media innovator with over 20 years of experience. At News Corp Australia, he launched the "Intent Connect" data platform and led innovation in shoppable video and the "Total Commerce" framework. Now as Chief Growth Officer at Vudoo, he helps brands, publishers, and agencies unlock new ways to monetise content through immersive, commerce-enabled experiences.
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