The Big Impression

As retailers look to turn shopper relationships into media businesses, Dick’s Sporting Goods is focused on building a retail media strategy that feels less like advertising, and more like service.

David Young, VP of Retail Media at Dick’s Sporting Goods, joins The Big Impression podcast to discuss how the company is approaching retail media at a time when the space is becoming increasingly crowded, competitive and performance-driven. For Young, the differentiator comes down to experience, trust and understanding intent in moments that matter to consumers.

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For years, retail media networks have raced to prove they could operate like media companies — scaling ad platforms, expanding measurement capabilities and building full-funnel offerings for brands. That’s all well and good, but Ace Hardware wants to make sure it doesn’t lose sight of its core and unique offering. 

On this episode of The Big Impression, Molly Hjelm, corporate VP and head of retail media at Ace Hardware, explains why embracing the unique advantages retailers already have — merchant relationships, localized inventory, customer trust and real-world shopping behavior — helps propel the media side of the business. 

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As sports rights grow more fragmented and expensive, E.W. Scripps is making a different bet: free access, broader reach and a bigger role for ad-supported television.

As Seth Walters, head of CTV sales at E.W. Scripps, says, “Our superpower is distribution.”

Walters joins The Big Impression podcast to explain why Scripps is leaning into free over-the-air and streaming sports at a moment when so much premium live programming sits behind paywalls. Through Scripps Sports, the company is building a portfolio around women’s leagues, local teams and underserved audiences — while giving advertisers a rare combination of scale and live attention.

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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.

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Oura may be best known for its sleek smart ring, but its bigger ambition is changing how people think about health. In this episode of The Big Impression, CMO Doug Sweeny joins hosts Damian Fowler and Ilyse Liffreing to unpack how a wearable brand is translating complex data into something people actually use and act on.

The timing is global. As the official wearable of the Winter Olympics, Oura stepped into one of the world’s biggest stages. But instead of leaning into peak performance alone, the brand took a different angle: focusing on everyday habits like sleep, recovery and stress that shape long-term health.

That approach comes from how Oura sees itself. Under the hood, it’s as much a health care company as a tech brand, built on medical research and biometric data. But on the surface, it’s something far more human: a tool that helps people understand their bodies in real time.

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Land O’Lakes may be best known for dairy, but its latest effort has little to do with selling butter. In this episode of The Big Impression, CMO Heather Malenshek joins hosts Damian Fowler and Ilyse Liffreing to talk about a campaign that’s aiming for something bigger: changing how rural America shows up in culture.

Called the Modern Rural Collective, the initiative skips traditional ads entirely. Instead, it partners with filmmakers, writers and platforms like Imagine Entertainment and Getty Images to tell more accurate, nuanced stories about rural life.

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