Dominic Carter

What a day! Yesterday Thinkbox Vision’s event saw many marketeers gather to explore the TV industry and the role advertising continues to play.   Our Chief Commercial Officer, Rak Patel was amongst the industry experts reflecting on the current state of play, speaking on a panel alongside commercial leads from Sky Media UK, ITV and Disney to discuss where TV is going and how it will better serve brands.   Key takeaways from the session include: - Reach, Trust & Effectiveness: TV remains a trusted platform, delivering reach and reliable results for brands in a fast-changing environment. - Industry Collaboration: Initiatives like Project Lantern are driving progress, creating universal measurement standards and increasing accessibility—especially for SMEs. - Positive Regulation: Governance and oversight provide brands with the confidence to invest in TV, knowing their campaigns are in a safe and effective space.   Attendees then got to hear the latest news from Project Lantern, a joint measurement initiative between Sky, ITV and Channel 4. As well as insights into the Educating Yorkshire series with Mr Burton sitting down with Twofour’s David Clews and AJ Odudu.

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🗞 What’s been happening this week? ·      Retail sales saw a modest uplift in sales in July, however volumes remain below pre‑pandemic levels. Great to share insights with The Telegraph, This Is Money's Angharad Carrick, InternetRetailing's Amanda Whyte and others. Read more from me on the delayed figures from the Office for National Statistics through the link in the comments below. ·      Fantastic to attend the John Lewis Partnership breakfast briefing on Wednesday, with Peter Ruis, Vikki Kavanagh and Michelle Wilson discussing John Lewis & Partners’ hopes to attract nostalgic middle-aged and younger shoppers through a new partnership with TOPSHOP TOPMAN. This will see the debut of Topshop in 32 John Lewis stores and online from February 2026, with Topman in six locations. Ruis says it will “exemplify the new John Lewis” under Rachel Morgans’ fashion direction. ·      Personalisation is a key battleground in retail, but an execution gap exists in segmentation according to Retail Economics and beBettor research shared with Retail Week. Read more on how to close this gap through the link in my comments below. ·      Aldi UK rolled out InPost UK parcel lockers across 536 stores, enabling customers to collect and return parcels, with plans to expand to 600 locations by 2026. Over 115 million retail parcels are now delivered or returned through lockers, representing 7% of online orders and 12% of returns, according to our latest Retail Economics research with InPost – further details are linked in the comments. ·      Oxford Street will be traffic-free on 21 September from Orchard Street to Oxford Circus to demonstrate potential pedestrianisation plans. ·      Primark opened its first standalone homeware store in Great Britain, spanning 12,000 sq ft in Manchester. The concept forms part of a wider investment including refurbishments of Market Street and Trafford Palazzo. ·      Holland & Barrett trialled a revamped beauty category in six stores between June and August, reporting a 7% sales uplift compared with control sites. The format mixes topical products, ingestible supplements and expert advice, with rollout to larger city stores planned for 2026. ·      Currys plc announced a £50m share buyback after posting a 3% rise in like-for-like sales in UK & Ireland during the 17 weeks to 30 August. Growth was driven by B2B, gaming, AI computing and services. ·      In a trading update, Watches of Switzerland Group PLC recorded “strong trading” in the 18 weeks to 31 August, particularly in the US despite new tariffs on Swiss imports. UK growth remained stable.   🚨 🚨 🚨 This is just a selection of news this week. If you want to hear more, subscribe to our free weekly podcast below, covering all major retail news every Monday at 6am ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eZNDVfZ7   ____________________________________ ⤴ Follow me for weekly retail, consumer and economic insights. ____________________________________

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Retail media is growing up, but the roots matter. I had a brilliant conversation with Tom Limongello and Todd Sawicki on The Middlemen Podcast. We covered a lot, but a few things stuck: 🔄In the UK, retail media started in-store. Tesco. Loyalty cards. Coupons at checkout. That foundation still shapes how we think at SMG: holistic campaigns that enhance the shopper experience, not channel-by-channel plans. 🎯The best campaigns don’t start with "We want *insert media channel*." They start with KPIs, "We need to drive penetration," or "This SKU isn’t getting picked up enough." And then we use every tool in the kit: media, promo, price, etc. to make it work. 🧠Merchandising and media must move together. If they’re misaligned, one of two things happens: either nothing moves, or the wrong metric does. ✈️ And travel retail? Hugely underutilized (for now). SMG North America is proud to power WHSmith North America Media Network to unlock the value of high-intent, high-spend airport shoppers. No e-commerce. No endless scroll. Just real-world attention for brands. It’s always refreshing to step outside the echo chamber and have an honest chat about what’s working (and what’s not). Link to the podcast episode in the comments below! Would love to hear what you think. Cheers to Tom and Todd for the invite. #retailmedia #themiddlemen #thoughtleadership

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