Latest / Retail Media Breakfast Club / The Real ROI of Retail Media Events: Are Work Trips Still Worth It in 2026?
Transcript
- The Value of Work Trips And Events In Commerce Media === [00:00:00] Kiri Masters: I'm not sharing this for envy or for sympathy, but just to illustrate a point. On the weekend, I'm traveling to Miami to be part of the inaugural Commerce Media [00:00:15] Forum by the drum where I'm, I have some hosting duties. I am doing a keynote on the Monday, and then we roll right into Possible in Miami, which. [00:00:27] Exciting. I've never been. I've heard a lot about it. [00:00:30] And then on Wednesday I catch a 6:00 AM flight back to Atlanta to attend Loyalty Connect, where I'm gonna be joining a panel about loyalty and retail media with folks from the Home Depot, [00:00:45] Marriott, and Sky Zone. So three events in one week, actually just in the first half of a week. [00:00:53] And I'm definitely feeling. A little bit overwhelmed recording this on Friday, but here's why I [00:01:00] bring that up. I ran a poll on LinkedIn a couple of weeks ago to try and find out just how many events people in our industry are actually attending, because based on LinkedIn and based on my personal [00:01:15] travel schedule, it's just insane. [00:01:18] Today I'm gonna share what I found through that poll and some recent commentary on the value of business travel. Is it worth it? Should we be trying harder to [00:01:30] do it? Who should we be trying to send to these events? [00:01:33] Let's jump in. [00:01:34] [00:01:35] Kiri Masters: So a couple of weeks ago I ran a poll on LinkedIn asking people in Commerce media how many in-person industry events they're attending. In the [00:01:45] first half of twenty twenty six, a hundred and forty five people voted, and the number that jumped out wasn't the people doing three to five or six plus It is this one that [00:02:00] 28% of respondents aren't attending a single in-person event in the first half of 2026. That's one in four people in an industry that runs on relationships and FaceTime who are opting out in entirely The rest is sort [00:02:15] of split up. [00:02:16] 34% are attending one or two events. Another 30% are doing three to five, and there's a few road warriors in there. Like me. At least this half of the year, [00:02:30] 9% of people are doing six or more. So the picture definitely isn't wholesale retreat away from in-person events, but it is not the packed calendar norm that LinkedIn would have. [00:02:43] You believe either most [00:02:45] people are being selective and a sizable chunk have decided that the juice actually isn't worth the squeeze. So what's going on here? The easy answer is budget pressure. A Wall Street Journal piece that came out last week argued that employees should lobby [00:03:00] their bosses harder for business travel, citing the career advantages of in-person visibility. [00:03:06] The data on the value of travel isn't really in dispute. Most people in our industry would agree that the corridor conversations, the dinners, the [00:03:15] chance encounters on the show floor are where real business happens. But knowing that travel is valuable doesn't solve the calendar problem. [00:03:23] Commerce Media has its own sprawling circuit between Shop [00:03:30] Talk, grocery Shop, NRF, possible Commerce next ascendant, the IAB events. The new fleet of upfronts, as well as a growing roster of invite only summits. And [00:03:45] vendor hosted events, and each one has a legitimate case for attendance, and that's the real tension that it's not any single event isn't worth going to is that there are just so many worth going to events for any one person to [00:04:00] attend. Did you know that leading retail media networks drive 85% of their ads through mid and long tail [00:04:15] advertisers? [00:04:15] Miracle Ads provides full funnel ad formats tailored to both one P and three P advertisers leveraging unique AI capabilities that provide unprecedented levels of relevance and engagement. Retailers [00:04:30] who want to capture ad spend from the long tail of three P Marketplace sellers use miracle ads in their tech stack. [00:04:37] Learn more@miracle.com. That's M-I-R-A-K l.com. [00:04:44] [00:04:45] Kiri Masters: I suspect what's really driving that 28% isn't antit travel sentiment. It is decision fatigue. When the calendar is this crowded, just saying no becomes easier than trying to pick the right two [00:05:00] or three events. [00:05:02] Now, so when you're scrolling LinkedIn and seeing all these pictures of people at events having fun, it's easy to feel a little bit of fomo. I certainly do, but I also think it's fine to feel a little bit of [00:05:15] Jomo as well, the joy of missing out [00:05:19] And lean into it, if that's where you're at right now. I declined to attend an industry event a couple of weeks ago in the morning that it started, I got texts from three different people asking if I [00:05:30] was gonna be there. And I would've liked to be there. [00:05:33] In a perfect world, I would like to be everywhere, but I had some other priorities I needed to handle. And honestly, as those texts came through and I said, no, I'm not gonna be there, I was. [00:05:45] Actually profoundly relieved. Now, that doesn't mean that industry events are losing their value. It means that the market for attention is saturated and people are drawing lines. [00:05:57] The events pulling people out of their homes and away from [00:06:00] their kids and onto planes are the ones that are offering something that they can't get from a webinar. Whether that is unscripted debates and interesting programming, closed door dinners where you get to [00:06:15] really discuss the issues of the time candidly, or just the right density of the right people in one room making travel super efficient for the rest of us. [00:06:27] Being intentional about which events earn your time [00:06:30] isn't about disengaging from what's going on. It might just be the s same response to a calendar that's gotten out of hand. [00:06:37] Now I do have a quick plug for some events that I have coming up that I'll be attending, that I'll be speaking at [00:06:45] or otherwise part of the programming. I'll put them all in the blog, post newsletter that accompanies today's episode so you can see where I'm at. Some of these events are invite only, but I would love to hear if you're coming [00:07:00] along. [00:07:00] Thanks for listening, and I'll catch you tomorrow. [00:07:02]