Retail media doesn’t need more ads; it needs smarter creativity
Opinion
When GenAI is applied thoughtfully, grounded in insight, governed by compliance and guided by human creativity, it delivers both short-term performance and long-term impact, says Tesco Media’s Stacy Gratz.
The advertising industry is at a crossroads. Audiences are saturated, formats are multiplying, and attention is the scarcest commodity in media.
In this environment, the solution isn’t more advertising. It’s smarter creativity. Retail media has the opportunity to lead this next chapter by blending insights, context and technology to make ads not only faster to produce, but more meaningful to audiences.
The future of creativity lies where human insight meets machine intelligence. It’s about using generative AI (GenAI) to help brands create advertising that connects – not just converts.
From automation to imagination
Across the industry, the role of GenAI in creative work is shifting from novelty to necessity.
Coca-Cola’s Masterpiece campaign used AI-generated art to merge classic and modern storytelling. In the film, a bottle of Coca-Cola travels from contemporary to classic paintings, using AI to illustrate how art can inspire genuine human connection.
Other brands have followed suit: Cadbury India used GenAI to personalise thousands of video ads featuring a digital avatar of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan for small retailers, enabling localised targeting, customisation by category, and affordable access to scale.
These examples prove one thing: when used well, AI doesn’t replace creativity. It accelerates it and gives suppliers at multiple levels the opportunity to engage in the storytelling process.
By handling the repetitive production work, GenAI gives marketers and agencies the freedom to focus on the ideas that make advertising memorable.
Creativity that keeps pace with commerce
In retail, just like comedy, timing is everything. Tesco Media and MTM’s recent research into shopper need states shows that mindsets are fluid, constantly changing, and that creativity needs to evolve just as fast. Given this, marketers have an opportunity to turn every moment into one of discovery and something memorable.
Brands need to keep up without compromising quality. GenAI offers a solution by streamlining production workflows and enabling creatives to evolve in near real time.
The real benefit isn’t automation for its own sake. It’s the ability to act quickly on insights – producing content that is relevant to the customer, personalised to the moment and aligned with brand values.
Brands like Nike have harnessed generative AI to create personalised digital experiences that resonate with individual customers.
For example, the brand’s ‘Nike By You’ platform allows customers to design their own shoes, tailoring aspects such as colour, material and style, all powered by AI algorithms.
Now imagine a shopping app enabling you to tailor your basket, select discounts and offers before you even get to the supermarket, all in real time with accurate information. Brands can appear on this journey, specific to the consumer, and add new value to their shopping experience.
When applied thoughtfully, AI allows brands to focus on strategic decisions and storytelling rather than being bogged down by operational complexity.
Making creativity accessible at scale
Another important development in the media landscape is democratisation. Large brands have long had access to sophisticated creative teams, production budgets and multichannel capabilities. SMEs often don’t.
GenAI is changing that dynamic. Across retail media, tools that can generate compliant, adaptable creative at speed are enabling smaller brands to compete for attention on the same level as household names.
This has implications beyond production efficiency; it allows more brands to participate in high-value moments of customer engagement, from online inspiration to in-story decision points.
Smarter, more effective media
Because the real promise of GenAI isn’t automation. Its effectiveness.
As the WARC Multiplier Effect study shows, the most powerful advertising fuses brand and performance together. Integrating brand-led advertising with performance marketing has been proven to significantly boost revenue returns with a median uplift of up to 90%.
That’s exactly what the industry needs: creative tools that help brands connect emotionally and drive measurable business results.
At Tesco Media, we use Sphere, our AI-powered retail media platform that unifies planning, activation and measurement, while our Creative Studio automates ad production. It means brands can manage campaigns across channels, optimise performance in real time and tie creative execution directly into sales outcomes.
When GenAI is applied thoughtfully, grounded in insight, governed by compliance and guided by human creativity, it delivers both short-term performance and long-term impact.
Building a media owner with soul
Ultimately, while AI may be reshaping the marketing world, the best ideas will always start with people – and have people at the heart.
The AI-enabled future combines intelligence and empathy, using it to serve, not just to sell, helping brands understand their customers better and engage with them in more meaningful ways.
Retail media doesn’t need more ads. It needs smarter creativity that respects the shopper, empowers the brand and turns every moment of discovery into something memorable.
Because when technology amplifies imagination, advertising doesn’t just work harder. It works better.
And that is the future of retail media.
Stacy Gratz is sales and marketing Director at Tesco Media