Nicole Guess shares how retail media innovation is creating more meaningful and measurable brand consumer connections.
Welcome to MarTech Cube, Nicole. We’re delighted to have you. To start, could you tell us a bit about your professional journey — what inspired your path in digital advertising and led you to your current role as Managing Director, Americas at Perion?
It’s so nice to be speaking with you, thank you for having me. I’m happy to share some of my background. I actually started my career on the agency side of our business buying and planning traditional media, before moving to the publisher side at CNN and later The New York Times. My time at The Times was especially influential, as it came during a pivotal shift in the print industry toward digital and gave me the opportunity to broaden my skill set and focus more deeply on digital strategy and client needs.
After nearly nine years there, I was excited by the opportunity to join Perion and bring both my agency and publisher experience into the adtech space. I joined to help lead and grow the Southeast region, and over the years I’ve had the privilege of growing within the company. Stepping into the Managing Director role and working alongside what I truly believe is the strongest sales team in our industry has been an honor.
Perion recently announced a strategic partnership with Albertsons Media Collective. Could you walk us through how this collaboration came together and what makes it such a pivotal moment for Perion in the retail media space?
Our partnership with AMC is founded on the three pillars marketers are asking for today: high-quality audience data, engaging ad formats and real, measurable outcomes. Together we enable advertisers to reach more than 100 million verified shoppers throughout the full purchase journey – from discovery to conversion. With dynamic creative, localized offers and end-to-end measurement Perion helps drive “on-the-go awareness” near Albertsons Cos.’ 2,200+ store locations across 35 states through Out-of-Home media all the way through online conversions.
By combining Albertsons’ first-party data with our retail media technology, we’re able to deliver commerce-connected campaigns that are measurable and aligned with where the market is heading.
This partnership marks a significant expansion of Perion’s retail media capabilities and creates a differentiated omnichannel solution in the rapidly growing retail media sector.
Retail media has become one of the fastest-growing segments in digital advertising. From your perspective, what key trends are shaping the future of retail media, and how does Perion plan to stay ahead in this dynamic landscape?
I think the future of retail media is being shaped by three essentials: high-quality audience data, engaging ad formats, and measurable outcomes. Marketers want to reach real shoppers, in meaningful moments and they want a clear line of sight into the impact.
At Perion, we’re focused on enabling that. Advertisers can tap into verified first-party, purchase-based audiences across Albertsons Cos.’ more than 2,200 store locations, 37 million weekly shoppers and over 100 million addressable digital IDs. That level of data allows brands to plan and activate with real precision.
Creative and activation are just as important. We’re bringing Perion’s proprietary high-impact display, DOOH and dynamic creative together so brands can connect with shoppers throughout the entire journey, from on-the-go awareness near a store to personalized offers online.
And finally, closed-loop measurement is becoming non-negotiable. Perion’s approach uses AI-driven optimizations and incremental sales measurement so marketers can clearly tie media to outcomes.
The partnership with Albertsons Media Collective enables advertisers to leverage verified first-party purchase data. How does access to this data change the way brands approach audience targeting and personalization?
For brands, verified purchase data gives them the most high value insights that can create much more accurate and effective advertising experiences for shoppers. If a shopper is a loyal buyer of a specific product, the advertiser can offer a coupon. Or if they buy a competitor product, the advertiser can compete on price or features. Retailers can also suggest additional relevant recipes and content or showcase products such as garlic bread to go with that steak they just bought. Retailers can also measure much more effectively with high-fidelity shopper data and “close the loop” on their ad spend, tying it directly to sales outcomes.
By combining Albertsons’ first-party data with our retail media technology, we deliver commerce-connected, measurable campaigns that align perfectly with where the market is moving. For example Primo Water, a brand that wanted to drive product sales among Albertsons shoppers on-the-go launched a campaign that delivered over 5.5 million impressions and achieved a 5.5% sales lift. With the support of Perion’s technology, Primo Water was able to directly connect ad exposure to measurable business outcomes.
High-impact display and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) are central to this collaboration. How is Perion leveraging these channels to deliver stronger engagement and measurable outcomes for advertisers?
Perion’s DOOH platform helps brands advertise on screens located in and around retailers to maximize the impact of their DOOH ads. This strategic approach helps create a consistent experience for shoppers and allows marketers to reach them at different touchpoints across the shopper journey.
For instance, GSK, a leading pharmaceutical company, wanted to execute a programmatic DOOH campaign to promote shingles prevention and encourage doctor consultations among the general population in Hong Kong.
Closed-loop measurement and AI-driven optimization are critical for today’s marketers. Can you elaborate on how Perion’s technology provides transparency and actionable insights that help advertisers connect spend to results?
Perion’s platform gives brands the ability to measure real outcomes across their media spend. They can see which channels and tactics drove actual retail sales. This provides advertisers with a much more accurate picture of campaign performance, giving them the ability to optimize their media strategies much more effectively.
With the growing convergence of media, commerce, and data, what challenges do brands face in balancing personalization, privacy, and performance—and how is Perion helping them navigate that balance?
Brands are struggling to balance personalization, privacy, and performance across fragmented channels and tech stacks. Perion solves this by offering a unified platform that connects media, data, creative, and AI-powered intelligence, enabling real-time personalization, transparent optimization, and performance measured on the brand’s terms. From eliminating waste and low-quality inventory to embedding KPIs directly into bidding logic, Perion helps marketers move beyond disconnected tools to a coordinated system that delivers meaningful outcomes at scale.
On a personal note, what leadership philosophy or strategic mindset guides you when building partnerships and leading teams in such a fast-evolving industry?
At the center my leadership philosophy is a belief that strong teams and strong partnerships go hand-in-hand. I am a people-first leader, my goal is always to set my teams up for success, provide them with the support they need and empower them to lead their business like it’s their own. I believe strongly in transparency and removing the blockers that keep someone from doing their best work.
That same mindset extends to building partnerships. These are built on trust, listening first and showing up with solutions that drive real outcomes. In this fast-moving and ever-evolving industry clients want a partner who understands their business and can adapt with them.
What advice would you offer to marketing and advertising leaders looking to maximize the value of first-party data while ensuring ethical, transparent, and consumer-friendly advertising practices?
We should view first-party data as a way to create better advertising, not just more targeted advertising. The goal isn’t to chase every data point but to use the right data to deliver experiences that feel relevant, respectful and most importantly valuable to the consumer.
When first-party data, creative and measurement work together you get advertising that performs better, respects consumers and builds stronger long-term relationships.
Finally, Nicole, any closing thoughts you’d like to share with our readers about how Perion’s innovation in retail media and omnichannel advertising is shaping the next generation of brand-consumer connections?
What excites me most about Perion’s role in this space is how we’re helping brands connect with consumers in more meaningful and measurable ways. Retail media is evolving quickly, and the real opportunity is in tying together data, creative and omnichannel scale so brands can meet consumers wherever they are, whether that is online, in-store, or on the go, with experiences that drive value on both sides.
By combining high-quality data with dynamic creative and outcome-based measurement, we’re providing marketers with a clearer line of sight from awareness to conversion. And as the industry continues to blur the lines between media, commerce and personalization we’re building the technology and partnerships that help brands stay ahead of that shift.
At the end of the day, it’s about making advertising work better, for brands, retailers and the consumers they serve. That’s the future we’re leaning into and I am excited for what’s ahead.
Nicole Guess, Managing Director, Americas at Perion
Nicole Guess is the Managing Director, Americas at Perion, where she leads regional strategy as well as agency and brand partnerships across North and Latin America. Her experience across agencies, publishers and adtech gives her a grounded understanding of the advertising ecosystem and how to support partners in a changing market. Nicole is known for building trusted, long-term relationships and helping teams and clients move forward with clarity and confidence. At Perion, she guides high-performing teams, drives commercial growth and works closely with industry leaders to deliver measurable outcomes. Approachable and people-first, Nicole brings together diverse perspectives to create solutions that make a real impact. linkedin