Author: Kimeko McCoy

Marketers are adding yet another item on their growing honey-do list for smaller and mid-sized retail media networks. They’re pushing for real-time bidding, a form of programmatic advertising that allows ads to be bought and sold in real time. Instead of retailers setting a fixed cost-per-click or CPM, marketers bid on individual ad impressions and the winner gets the ad space.

It’s a push for more control in the retail media ecosystem. Marketers have been spending more and more on retail media, even in light of economic uncertainty. By the end of 2025, retail media is expected to account for nearly 18% of U.S. digital ad spending — or $62.35 billion dollars. But that growth doesn’t come without scrutiny — or marketers’ hopes to standardize the space.

Marketers have already tasked RMNs with more flexibility in joint business plan (JBP) negotiations and deal making, incrementality and attribution, and transparency in reporting actual return on ad spend.

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The 4A’s has overhauled the Multicultural Advertising Intern Program (MAIP) and Vanguard — two of the marketing industry’s cornerstone diversity initiatives, revamping the curriculum for both and expanding access to applicants. It’s a push for more inclusivity, per the non-profit foundation, in response to industry demand. But as diversity, equity and inclusion policies have shifted particularly under President Trump’s term, the change has sparked concerns from former MAIP fellows.

“I look at it as just the ongoing evolution of how we’re always trying to improve, but also meet the shifting needs of our members,” said Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of the 4A’s. “We want to be as inclusive as possible, recognizing there are people who don’t all have access to the same advantages and opportunities.”

MAIP, founded in 1973, has been an internship program to place people of color in marketing roles. MAIP cohort sizes range each year, but there are about 300 to 400 applicants every year for the program, according to MAIP’s informational page. Vanguard, meanwhile, has been a professional development program since 2021 that ensures non-white talent has equitable access to leadership roles. Since last October, the 4A’s have added an academic curriculum to MAIP and enhanced Vanguard’s curriculum. The biggest change also made at that time, however, may be the programs’ shift to allow all people to apply, according to the 4A’s.

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