Five Takeaways:

1. AI shifts advertising from exposure optimization to experience optimization

The most valuable moments now occur before purchase, when customers explore, simulate, and evaluate products. AI experiences capture those moments directly, rather than inferring intent after the fact.

2. Experience-generated data is more valuable than traditional performance data

Interaction data from AI experiences reveals decision formation—what customers try, compare, reject, and dwell on—providing insight that clicks and conversions cannot.

3. New experiences create new distribution surfaces for brands

When customers make decisions visually, advertising naturally moves inside the experience. Virtual Product Placement is not an ad format, it is a new, contextual distribution channel aligned with user behavior.

4. Retailers gain a monetization layer that strengthens, rather than degrades, UX

By controlling experience surfaces and placement logic, retailers unlock retail media revenue that is contextual, opt-in by interaction, and observable without invasive tracking.

5. The competitive advantage belongs to those who monetize intent before demand

Brands and retailers that capture and activate experience-level data will outperform those optimizing for CPMs alone. The next era of retail advertising is built on AI-driven interaction, not impressions.