Tesco Media is betting on creative effectiveness and personalisation, unveiling an AI-powered creative studio and new video ads to help brands connect storytelling directly to purchase moments.
Tesco Media, the retail media arm of Tesco, is increasing investment in creative effectiveness as it marks 30 years of Clubcard, unveiling a series of new tools and ad formats to help brands connect with shoppers more effectively.
Announced at its upfront event yesterday (9 October), the company is launching Tesco Media Creative Studio, a new digital platform designed to “simplify and speed up” creative production for brands.
Tesco Media, the retail media arm of Tesco, is increasing investment in creative effectiveness as it marks 30 years of Clubcard, unveiling a series of new tools and ad formats to help brands connect with shoppers more effectively.
Announced at its upfront event yesterday (9 October), the company is launching Tesco Media Creative Studio, a new digital platform designed to “simplify and speed up” creative production for brands.
Powered by generative AI, the platform claims to automatically produce compliant ads in multiple formats for both onsite and offsite placements.
“The media landscape feels like it is shifting all the time – new channels, new technologies. More choices to make at a faster pace. Retail media is right at the heart of this movement,” said Tesco Media’s managing director Tash Whitmey.
By tailoring creative to current, lapsed and new shoppers, Tesco Media says it can deliver “more relevant” campaigns that drive short-term sales while building long-term brand equity.
Brands are looking for proof of effectiveness, more engaging creative and full-funnel solutions, it says. This tallies with the findings of Marketing Week’s Language of Effectiveness study, which showed almost two-thirds (63.9%) of respondents highlighted the quality of the creative as one of the more influential factors in overall marketing effectiveness.
“[We] will continue to drive creative effectiveness from new ways of doing creativity. And finally, where retail media earns its rightful place as a creative media solution, and not just something that exists at the bottom of the funnel and appears on a website,” added Whitmey.
The business also revealed a number of new opportunities for brands to reach audiences across its network, including online brand zones, in-store takeovers, expanded digital screen formats and influencer partnerships.
“Over the next few months, we’ll be testing influencer content across various channels,” said marketing and sales director Stacy Gratz.
“We believe that influencer content and retail media are a natural fit. Together they bridge the gap between awareness and conversion, bring greater accountability to media spend, and ultimately unlock new ways to create those great, shoppable moments.”
Tesco Media also announced what it describes as a “UK grocery media first” — the introduction of on-site video ads on Tesco.com.
According to Tesco’s research, 67% of shoppers use supermarket websites as a source of inspiration and discovery.
The new format allows brands to reach “high-intent shoppers” in a “brand-safe” environment, both in-app and online, connecting storytelling directly to purchase behaviour.
“Our video proposition on Tesco.com extends brand storytelling, but it also reaches customers as they enter that consideration mindset,” said Tesco Media’s head of sales Lee Roberts.
“It delivers market-leading reach in a brand safe environment, and it reaches a highly engaged audience as they curate their shopping baskets.”
The updates from Tesco come at a time retail media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing media channels globally. By the end of 2026, retail media ad spend in the UK is estimated to reach £6.53bn, according to numbers shared by Tesco Media.
As retailers refine creative effectiveness and measurement, other industries have also begun following the trend, expanding into categories such as travel and finance.