The Middlemen Podcast

The Middlemen Podcast, LLC
  • 5.0 (3)
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The Middlemen Podcast explores how retailers, brands, and technology platforms are reshaping the future of media and commerce. Hosted by Tom Limongello and Todd Sawicki, the show dives deep into the evolving world of retail media, trade marketing, and advertising technology — where merchants become marketers, and every impression is tied to a purchase. Through candid conversations with industry leaders, we unpack what it really takes to connect with shoppers in the age of AI and outcomes. https://www.nextipedia.com/podcast

  1. 3D AGO

    The Modern Grocer — Vincent Finazzo, Riverwards

    🎙️ Apple Podcasts Description A neighborhood grocery store where 70% of customers live within half a mile—and come back multiple times a week. Inside Riverwards Produce, Vince Finazzo explains how he decides what earns shelf space—and what doesn’t. From building assortment out of cookbooks to working with local suppliers, this is a different model for how retail actually works. We also get into how products move from Instagram into the store, why most brands lose their edge after acquisition, and what happens when companies like Unilever or Campbell’s scale them.

    33 min

  2. 5D AGO

    Beyond Transactions — Marco Steinsieck (Backpack Media)

    Marco Steinsieck’s career spans the evolution of retail media—from early non-endemic partnerships at Vistaprint to building Sephora’s media network into a meaningful profit driver. Now at Sallie’s Backpack Media, he’s focused on predictive commerce powered by life-stage data—helping brands move beyond past purchases to reach consumers at key moments of change. We cover the evolution of retail media, the importance of aligning media with merchandising, and why the future of targeting may be less about what people bought—and more about what they’re about to need.

    38 min

  3. APR 14

    Digital Envy is Holding Back In-Store Retail Media

    In-store retail media has gone through multiple resets — from camera-based measurement to dwell time, and now back toward proving incrementality across channels. But are we actually solving the right problem? Tom sits down with Paul Brenner (In-Store Marketplace) and Michelle Dooley (Catalyst Media) to unpack what’s really holding in-store back — and why the industry may be over-indexing on measurement instead of fixing deeper organizational challenges. They discuss why measurement keeps getting reset, where things break down between merchant and media teams, and what it will take for in-store retail media to scale. Links: https://instoremarketplace.com/ https://catalystmediaconsulting.com/ Research: https://instoremarketplace.com/resource_post/in-store-media-has-a-measurement-problem-just-not-the-one-you-think/

    46 min

  4. APR 2

    The End of Rented Identity — Nikhil Raj, MetaRouter

    Retail media has a timing problem. Most systems are still built around audience targeting after the fact, instead of capturing data at the “first mile” when the interaction actually happens. In this episode, Nikhil Raj of MetaRouter explains how that model is changing — from building audiences after the fact to using real-time behavioral signals to activate in the moment. We also get into: • How Walmart built its early advertising infrastructure without a loyalty program • What “first mile” data actually means in practice • Why traditional audience pipelines are too slow • How real-time identity changes offsite activation • Where AI and agentic commerce fit into this shift

    44 min

  5. MAR 23

    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.

    44 min

  6. MAR 7

    When Traffic Moves, Commerce Resets — Sharon Gee, Commerce

    Traffic is moving — from search and social to marketplaces and now answer engines. As it moves, the way commerce works resets. In this episode, Tom and Scott talk with Sharon Gee (Commerce) about what actually changes as discovery shifts into offsite environments and chat interfaces. Instead of hype around “agentic commerce,” the conversation focuses on infrastructure — feeds, payments, identity, and fulfillment logic — and why the same building blocks power every offsite channel. Sharon explains why brands and retailers are asking a new question: not how to drive traffic to their storefronts, but how to ensure answer engines mention them at all. “We work with 30% of the Internet Retailer 1000, and they all have the same question: how do I get the answer engine to say my name instead of my competitor’s name? It comes down to the data — because this isn’t a storefront experience you own.” Topics Covered: • Why commerce resets when traffic moves • The shared infrastructure behind offsite channels • Why answer engines behave like channels • Merchant control through structured data • What changes for retailers, brands, and platforms

    52 min

  7. MAR 2

    The Commerce Media Flywheel, Mark Grether, PayPal

    Mark Grether (SVP & GM, PayPal Ads) joins The Middlemen to unpack what happens when a payments company becomes a commerce media platform. Why do CMOs talk ROAS while CFOs talk market share? What does it mean to build a merchant-first media model? And is “PayPal Ads” too small a label for what’s actually being built? We cover the commerce media flywheel, cross-merchant data, revenue sharing with SMBs, and why transaction infrastructure may be the next frontier of media. Key Topics • A merchant-first media model • Building the flywheel inside a non-ad company • CMOs vs CFOs: ROAS vs market share • Revenue sharing with SMBs • Storefront Ads and collapsing the conversion funnel • Competing with the walled gardens

    48 min

  8. FEB 16

    Who Controls the Grid? Andreas Reiffen, Pentaleap

    Retail media has a structural tension most retailers are still working through: Merchandising optimizes for retail margin. Retail media optimizes for ad revenue. Search platforms optimize for relevance. But when those systems operate in silos, who actually controls the grid? In this episode of The Middlemen, we sit down with Andreas Reiffen, founder of Pentaleap, to unpack: • Why “rip and replace” migrations are often the wrong move • The conflict between merchandising and retail media teams • How RTB works inside sponsored product search (without the programmatic chaos) • What happens when third-party demand enters the retailer’s grid • Why a unified ranking model based on compound margin (retail + ad value combined) changes the equation • And whether AI agents could eventually steal the front end from retailers altogether If retail media is going to mature, someone has to decide how paid and organic compete — and how the grid gets ranked. This episode explores what that future might look like.

    32 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

The Middlemen Podcast explores how retailers, brands, and technology platforms are reshaping the future of media and commerce. Hosted by Tom Limongello and Todd Sawicki, the show dives deep into the evolving world of retail media, trade marketing, and advertising technology — where merchants become marketers, and every impression is tied to a purchase. Through candid conversations with industry leaders, we unpack what it really takes to connect with shoppers in the age of AI and outcomes. https://www.nextipedia.com/podcast

Information

  • Creator
    The Middlemen Podcast, LLC
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    67
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    The Middlemen Podcast

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