From accountable media and customer activation to connected platforms, AI-enabled operations and measurable value
The Retail Summit 2027 MarTech programme brings together retailers, brands, media owners, agencies, technology leaders and the wider marketing ecosystem across two days, two stages and six focused blocks. Each stage is organised around three connected decision areas.
Together, the stages connect outward-facing marketing decisions with the capability behind them. Day 1 focuses on how organisations operate media, activate identified customer relationships and decide where marketing investment creates value. Day 2 focuses on the platforms, AI-enabled work and operating discipline that determine whether those decisions can be executed repeatedly and create lasting value.
DAY 1 | FROM RETAIL MEDIA AND CUSTOMER ACTIVATION TO MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
Day 1 examines how organisations use retail media, customer data and evidence to create accountable marketing growth. Across retail media, CRM and marketing effectiveness, the focus is on aligning audience access, customer activation and investment decisions so that channel activity and attributed results do not substitute for incremental value.
MarTech Media, CRM & Marketing Effectiveness
The outward-facing marketing layer: operating retail media, activating customer relationships through data and CRM, and deciding which marketing investments should scale, change or stop.
RETAIL MEDIA → CUSTOMER ACTIVATION → MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS
1. Retail Media Networks & Omnichannel Campaigns
Decide how to build and operate retail-media propositions across on-site, off-site and in-store environments, aligning retailer and advertiser objectives, first-party audiences, campaign execution, data collaboration and credible evidence of value.
2. Customer Data, CRM & Activation
Build identified, permissioned customer relationships and use customer signals and lifecycle context to decide when and how to activate them across channels without creating fragmented, excessive or low-value communication.
3. Marketing Effectiveness, Experimentation & Investment Decisions
Test and compare media, CRM, personalisation, content and other marketing activity; distinguish attributed results from incremental value; and turn evidence into decisions to scale, redesign, reallocate or stop.
Outcome: A clearer basis for operating retail media, activating identified customer relationships and directing marketing investment towards measurable incremental value.
DAY 2 | FROM MARTECH PLATFORMS AND AI OPERATIONS TO VALUE REALISATION
Day 2 examines the capability and operating system behind modern marketing. Across platforms, AI-enabled operations and value realisation, the focus is on choosing and connecting the right capabilities, redesigning work without losing control and ensuring that technology investment is used and produces measurable business value.
MarTech Platforms, AI & Value Realisation
The capability and operating layer: selecting and governing MarTech platforms, applying AI and automation to marketing work, and turning technology investment into utilised capability and lasting value.
PLATFORMS → AI OPERATIONS → VALUE REALISATION
1. MarTech Platforms, Integration & Data Governance
Decide which MarTech capabilities to own, buy or source through partners; connect customer, campaign, media and content systems; and govern data, integrations, vendors and architectural complexity.
3. MarTech Adoption, Utilisation & Value Realisation
Redesign processes, ownership, rollout and global-to-local execution so platforms move beyond implementation into adoption, utilisation, scale and measurable business value.
Outcome: A clearer basis for building and governing the MarTech environment, redesigning marketing operations and converting technology investment into adopted, scalable capability and measurable value.
The two stages form one connected MarTech decision environment. Each owns a different set of decisions and professional responsibilities, but the results depend on one another. Day 1 determines how organisations engage audiences and direct marketing investment; Day 2 determines whether the platforms, workflows and operating capability can support that activity reliably. The programme is designed for company teams to combine the two perspectives rather than for one professional to follow every block.
