News Briefs

Adtech platform Big Happy has established a Board of Advisors, a group of 10 industry executives tasked with guiding the company’s growth in omnichannel advertising and creative technology.

The board consists of senior leaders from the media, brand and marketing sectors, including representatives from Netflix, Heineken, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Omnicom Media Health. According to the company, these advisors will provide strategic oversight as Big Happy expands its focus on mobile and digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising innovations through CGI-driven creative.

The members of the 2026 Big Happy Advisory Board are:

• Adam Gerber: Former Head of Ads Commercialization, Netflix; Former SVP of Investment Strategy, GroupM
• Brian Rappaport: CEO, Quan Media Group
• Chris Price: VP, Media & Connected Consumer Experiences, Heineken
• Daniel Mouradian: SVP, Global Client Solutions, Innovid
• Greg Reilly: President & CEO, iCleanse (formerly Dentsu Health)
• Katie Haniffy: Vice President of Media, Dick's Sporting Goods
• Melissa Gordon-Ring: Global President, Omnicom Media Health
• Meredith Herman: Global Head of Marketing Acceleration, Kenvue
• Natalie Holloway: CEO & Co-Founder, Bala
• Sarah Sehgal: Director of Growth Marketing & Ops, OpenSesame

Big Happy’s platform centralizes 3D creative production, media activation, targeting and measurement. By utilizing CGI technology and environmental triggers, such as weather data and location intelligence, the platform allows brands to deploy cinematic ad experiences across approximately 7,000 mobile publishers and over one million DOOH screens.

“[The board’s] guidance will help us define the next era of omnichannel advertising, where DOOH and mobile work in tandem to deliver measurable lift, stronger conversion and incremental growth,” Jonathan Frohlinger, Founder and CEO of Big Happy, said in a media release.

The formation of the board comes as the company seeks to scale its "creative-first" approach, which emphasizes that high-quality production is a primary lever for driving performance and brand recall in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

Barrows Connected Store, which works with retailers to turn physical stores into intelligent retail media networks, is working with Qsic, an in-store audio platform, to unify in-store retail media. 

By using a unified, data-driven measurement framework for both digital video and audio, brands and retailers can garner greater impact across the full funnel, from building brand awareness to driving conversions, ultimately maximizing campaign effectiveness.

Barrows and Qsic can integrate digital and first-party retail data from real-world transactions to measure performance. The partnership offers greater transparency, accountability and optimization in physical retail through centralized campaign management, advanced in-store synchronization, predictive targeting by store and category, and closed-loop attribution. 

Evidence supports this opportunity for brands, according to the partners. Research from Kantar shows that:

• creative quality is responsible for nearly 50% of media impact, with cross-channel creative synergy boosting effectiveness by up to 55%,

• 57% of shoppers are influenced by in-store ads at the point of purchase, and 

• 72% make impulse purchases influenced by in-store messaging. 

As a result, brands can make the most impact through consistent, emotionally engaging creative across synchronized audio and digital displays.

Together, intelligent audio and smart digital video will enable brands to test and optimize sales results. AI-generated audio can also align seamlessly with video content and maintain creative consistency while enabling real-time adaptation influenced by store-level performance data.

Swiftly, a provider of retail technology and tools, is partnering with Merchants Distributors (MDI), a wholesale grocery distributor that serves more than 600 independent grocers across the southeast, to enhance digital capabilities for its network of retailers. 

Swiftly will power MDI's web, digital circular and off-site digital circular amplification. MDI in turn will leverage Swiftly's newly launched SmartCircular solution, which enables retailers to modernize weekly circulars and better link promotions to shopper engagement and in-store performance. 

Through the partnership, MDI retailers also gain access to Swiftly's Audience Optimizer, an AI-powered tool that enables grocers to target product offers across digital channels. The goal is to enhance offer deployment, deliver more relevant promotions and drive incremental basket growth.

By leveraging first-party data and campaign management, the Audience Optimizer tool is designed to help retailers identify opportunities to grow trip frequency, reactivate lapsed shoppers and generate incremental in-store revenue. The tool complements MDI's broader omnichannel efforts, linking digital engagement more directly to store performance. 

Building a true omnichannel approach has become crucial for regional and independent grocers as consumer behaviors continue to straddle both digital and physical touchpoints.

"Swiftly’s website and digital circular capabilities allow us to offer a modern digital presence for retailers who may not have e-commerce, while seamlessly integrating with existing e-commerce platforms where applicable," Mary Kellmanson, SVP Marketing at MDI, said in a news release. "Just as importantly, this partnership expands our digital toolkit in ways that support measurable sales growth inside the store."

The phased rollout begins in early 2026. 

Raley’s Family of Stores has introduced Member Prices, a new loyalty benefit that provides automatic savings without requiring customers to log in, clip coupons or take further steps. The program is part of the grocer’s wider effort to evolve in response to changing customer expectations and shopping behaviors. 

With Member Prices, customers enter their Something Extra phone number at checkout, and eligible discounts are automatically applied. The program requires no card, fees or digital coupon clipping. Membership in the Something Extra loyalty program is free. Customers can join by texting JOIN to 765765, using the Raley’s app or visiting a dedicated web page within the Raley's website. 

“Our focus is on simplifying the shopping experience while continuing to deliver meaningful value,” noted Paul Gianetto, president of Raley’s Family of Stores. “These enhancements reflect our commitment to delivering a customer-first experience that aligns with the quality they expect from Raley’s, Bel Air and Nob Hill.”

Member Prices is part of a growing suite of perks available to Something Extra members, including $5 Member Days, Raley’s Dailies everyday low prices, personalized offers, digital offers and birthday rewards. All Something Extra members also get free pickup and delivery on orders of $25 or more.

West Sacramento, Calif.-based Raley’s operates more than 200 locations across four states and four Tribal Nations under the following banners: Raley’s, Bel Air, Nob Hill, Raley’s One Market, Bashas,’ Food City, AJ’s, Bashas’ Diné Markets, Full Circle, Farm Fresh to You, and Fieldera.

Advertising technology company Infillion has acquired Catalina, a shopper intelligence and in-store media company. 

The deal gives Infillion control of Catalina’s purchase-based intelligence network, which the company says spans 70 retail banners, 130 million households and roughly $600 billion in annual consumer spending. Catalina processes roughly 11 billion shopping trips annually and has historically provided closed-loop measurement tying media exposure to verified sales. 

Founded in 1983, Catalina is known for pioneering checkout coupon programs and purchase-driven marketing. For the past several years, its deterministic purchase data hasn't been available in the broader ad-tech marketplace, according to a joint media release.

Infillion plans to integrate Catalina’s U.S. purchase data, including more than 400 million shopper IDs, exclusively into its platform to allow brands to target audiences based on verified purchases and measure performance at the SKU level. This integrated data set is also expected to support custom bidding algorithms designed to optimize campaigns based on actual SKU-level sales rather than modeled or self-reported metrics.

Infillion indicated the acquisition will support retailers looking to build or expand retail media networks, including tools for audience development, closed-loop measurement and campaign optimization across channels such as programmatic, connected TV and digital media.

The move also signals a deeper push into retail media infrastructure. Infillion said retailers will be able to leverage the platform to launch or scale retail media networks, using Catalina’s purchase data for audience development, loyalty-based targeting and performance measurement.

Additionally, Catalina’s executive leadership team will join Infillion as part of the transaction.

Infillion was formed through the integration of several ad-technologies, including MediaMath, TrueX, Gimbal and Drawbridge. It serves brands, agencies and media owners. 

Komerz Ltd., a global commercial growth company, has acquired Pathformance, a marketing measurement and attribution firm.

The acquisition brings together Komerz's end-to-end commerce and market-entry platform with Pathformance's expertise in unified measurement and attribution, creating a comprehensive, outcome-driven operating model for growth.

The combined entity is designed to help brands with global ambitions move beyond siloed marketing metrics and disconnected execution toward a single, accountable system that directly links marketing investment to revenue impact across digital, retail and marketplace channels, according to a Komerz media release.

"Pathformance was built to solve one core problem for marketers: understanding what truly drives incremental growth," Elizabeth Johnson, CEO of Pathformance, said in the release. "Joining Komerz allows us to take that capability to a much broader client base and embed our measurement and attribution expertise directly into commerce execution. Together, we can help brands move from fragmented performance signals to clear, confident decisions that translate into real commercial impact."

Chris Bedford, chief operating officer of Pathformance, added: "For us, this is about enabling commerce without complexity. Too often, brands are forced to choose between building brand equity and driving performance. With Komerz, we can help brands grow without separating brand from performance, bringing clarity, accountability and simplicity to how growth is measured and delivered."

The acquisition is expected to strengthen Komerz's ability to support global and high-growth challenger brands as they expand across borders, channels and retail environments. Komerz works with brands across major categories including FMCG, beverages, electronics, personal care and lifestyle.