Best Buy Ads’ Lisa Valentino on retail media’s next chapter: Commerce media

Best Buy has long been synonymous with consumer electronics, but today it’s making an equally aggressive play to become a major force in media and marketing.

In this episode of The Big Impression, Best Buy Ads President Lisa Valentino joins hosts Damian Fowler and Ilyse Liffreing to discuss how the retailer is turning stores, media and data into one connected commerce platform.

The timing is critical. As marketers look beyond traditional digital channels, retailers like Best Buy are emerging as powerful media owners with direct customer relationships, first-party data and physical footprints that few platforms can match. Valentino argues that what many still call “retail media” has already evolved into something larger: commerce media.

Commerce media, Valentino says, is about more than just “performance media.” “It is very performant, but it can do so much more,” she says. “We’re really trying to shift the language to commerce media. Retail media, I think, is too small, but if you think about it … it’s media. It’s not retail media, it’s the new media.”

That shift is on display in Best Buy’s recent “AI That” campaign with Microsoft, built to make AI-powered PCs feel useful rather than intimidating, showing consumers how tools like Copilot can improve work, family life and productivity.

“When the customer on the other end can see themselves through the lens of technology, that is the beautiful thing that came to life here,” Valentino says.

What made the campaign notable was its orchestration across channels. Best Buy used CTV, social, in-store screens, sales associates and targeting data to bring the message to life at every stage of the consumer journey.

This signals where commerce media is heading next: smarter measurement, stronger attribution and more immersive real-world experiences. For Valentino, the future is less about separating brand and performance, and more about connecting them.