The Last Thursday Club: Retailers as media giants - can they really compete?

Katie Streeter Hurle is an experienced retail media leader, currently serving as Chief Strategy Officer for SMG. Having started her career client-side at Procter & Gamble, Katie has worked at SMG for over a decade, playing a range of roles including establishing and growing Retail Media Networks for a number of leading UK retailers. Having worked on both sides of the table, she brings a unique and balanced perspective on the opportunities and challenges surrounding the retail media industry.  

Tim is Senior Director of Data Partnerships at The Trade Desk and is responsible for leading channel partnerships and alliances with retail data and measurement providers across the EMEA region. In this role, Tim helps advertisers drive success through the innovative use of data to make informed decisions on their media buying. Before joining The Trade Desk, Tim was Director of Strategic Growth at LiveRamp where he launched the Safe Haven platform in the EU and was instrumental in growing the market. Tim has over 15 years’ experience and has held a variety of leadership roles at Amazon, Adbrain, GroupM and AOL. Tim is a prominent voice within the advertising technology industry, regularly contributing his expertise to associations such as the IAB. 

With more than 22 years’ experience in sales, digital advertising, and commercial partnerships, Lee has extensive expertise leading high-performance sales teams, as well as building and scaling new divisions, for large organisations including Snap Inc, Meta, O2 and BBC. 

Lee boasts a proud record of establishing, leading, and managing talented sales teams to exceed revenue goals and drive growth, delivering measurable bottom-line impact through the targeted execution of sales and business development initiatives. 

Much of his career has been spent in start-up environments which he has developed into successful entities, while Lee has also successfully launched and led new teams and divisions within larger organisations across both the UK and EMEA. 

His success has been founded on forging long-term strategic partnerships which significantly scale revenue by monetising new technology and innovation. 

Amo Aujla-Tse is an experienced leader in retail media and currently serves as the Retail Media Strategy Lead at Publicis. She has a strong track record of developing effective retail media strategies for both pureplay and omnichannel retailers in the UK. Amo specialises in crafting and executing comprehensive strategies that drive revenue, connect commerce journeys, and integrate brand and shopper insights across various sectors, including FMCG and Beauty. Her strategic expertise breaks down silos and uncovers new opportunities, making her an invaluable asset in digital commerce. Prior to her role at Publicis Media, Amo spent 9 transformative years at Mindshare UK, where she led the Unilever UK eCommerce account and successfully grew brands across major retailers.