UNLOCKING RETAIL MEDIA PODCAST
Dave Glaza Joins Kevel’s Unlocking Retail Media Podcast to Talk Investment-Grade Media
DIGITS Founder Dave Glaza joins James Avery on Kevel’s Unlocking Retail Media podcast to unpack investment-grade media, regional grocer strategy, and alcohol retail media.
Dave Glaza, Founder and CEO of DIGITS, sat down with James Avery, CEO of Kevel, for an episode of Unlocking Retail Media. James built his podcast around the people shaping retail media from the inside, and Dave’s background fits that mandate well. He spent fourteen years at Target, where he helped build Target Cartwheel into what is now Target Circle, before founding DIGITS to help brands make retail media work in the real world instead of just in a deck.
Small Brands Keep Losing to a Timing Problem, Not a Budget Problem
Dave’s first flag for brands is one of the most avoidable. “The most glaring mistake from some of the smaller brands is not spending,” he said. “We’ll get phone calls from brands of like, we’re launching next week, three weeks from now, four weeks from now, can you help us out? And then they’re like, oh, we don’t have any money.”
His point is not subtle. Retail media has to be planned and funded before launch, not requested after the fact.
National Teams Are Making Calls That Need Local Context
A second pattern surprised even Dave. “It’s surprising to me how many directors of Target at CPGs say they have very little influence into the retail media,” he said. “It’s run by a national team.” That gap shows up in decisions about search spend, campaign timing, and which promotions get supported locally, even when the local sales team has the context that would make those calls sharper.
What “Investment-Grade Media” Actually Means
Dave and James spent real time on a term DIGITS coined for a specific problem: brands that Target benchmarks to spend more than they can secure internally. “Maybe they spend five million a year, but Target benchmarks them and says they should spend eight,” Dave explained. Investment-grade media gives a sales director a concrete list to bring back to headquarters, tying retail media spend to the same rigor a CFO would expect from any other channel, so it stops competing for budget on vibes alone.
Regional Grocers Are Closer to Scale Than Most Brands Realize
DIGITS centralizes retail media operations for six regional grocers today, and Dave sees a real tipping point ahead for how brands budget against that opportunity. “It only takes ten regional grocers maybe, fifteen regional grocers,” he said. “We’re about half the way there.” The harder problem right now is not access, it’s that regional grocers still are not a standard line item on most national media budgets the way the top five retailers are.
Alcohol Retail Media Has Changed Faster Than the Industry Realizes
DIGITS worked with more than fifty alcohol brands last year through what it calls the Cheers Network. Dave was direct about how far the category has moved: “If we were doing this podcast five years ago, I think we would’ve said you can’t do much of anything. Now most of the major retailers have opened up first-party offsite, so you can use first-party offsite audiences in alcohol, just like you can in food.”
Watch or Listen to the Full Episode
The conversation also covers where CTV and short-form video fit into retail media, how DIGITS thinks about in-store activations for regional grocers, and the state-by-state compliance reality that shapes every alcohol campaign. Worth the full listen if you work on the brand, agency, or regional grocer side of retail media.
About DIGITS Agency
DIGITS is an omnichannel retail media agency specializing in Target, regional grocers, and alcohol retail media. As a Target Managed Services partner, Roundel Media Studio Certified agency, and Walmart Connect Partner, DIGITS helps CPG brands navigate retail media with strategic planning, hands-on campaign management, and proprietary analytics. Learn more at www.digitsagency.com.
Dave Glaza, Founder & CEO of DIGITS, remains committed to bringing digital capabilities to physical stores.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidglaza/
Follow DIGITS on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digits-agency/
