Costco Retail Media Comes to Google - Mark Williamson

In this episode of The Middlemen, Tom Limongello and Todd Sawicki talke with Mark Williamson (Costco) about the launch of Google Product Listing Ads as a new retail media capability for brand partners. This isn’t traditional offsite. It’s not audience extension. It’s not CTV. This is retail media moving into high-intent search — where customers are already making decisions. ⸻ What we cover: • Why Costco is bringing retail media into Google Shopping • How this differs from brands buying search on their own • Why most offsite retail media hasn’t worked (and what’s different here) • High-consideration purchases and intent-driven discovery • What this means for brands, retailers, and agencies ⸻ I’m writing more about how offsite is actually evolving in my Shopper Missions Substack.