Tata Consultancy Services’ Terry Guyton-Bradley joins AdMonsters at Sell-Side Summit Nashville to unpack how brands are building retail media networks, leveraging first-party data, and using AI to reshape audience targeting in 2025.
Retail media is having its main character moment—and Terry Guyton-Bradley is playing a leading role.
At AdMonsters Sell Side Summit Nashville, Guyton-Bradley sat down with AdMonsters Andrew Byrd to talk about his new gig at Tata Consultancy Services and how he’s helping brands build retail media networks from the ground up.
“It’s flipped everything I’ve known on its head,” he said.
Building Retail Media Strategies
One day, he’s teaching brands the basics of programmatic strategy, the next, he’s collaborating with teams that already have a vision. Some are seasoned pros, while others are wide-eyed rookies who need the tech and talent to bring it all to life. His challenge? Balancing education and execution without losing the plot.
Audience-First, Always
In 2025, programmatic strategies are riding the wave of an audience-first approach. It’s audience first, and everything else second, according to Guyton-Bradley.
Whether your customers are sauntering into a brick-and-mortar store or lounging in their living room, “It’s about using that first-party data to the best of your ability,” he explained.
Turning your first-party data into precision targeting across every channel imaginable—onsite, offsite, out-of-home, CTV, you name it. Brands need to reach the same customer whether they’re scrolling, shopping, or streaming.
AI Joins the Cast
Of course, no ad tech conversation in 2025 would be complete without a cameo from AI.
AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the future. “The biggest thing for me is AI—how we build audiences, how we target them, how we optimize against them,” Guyton-Bradley explained.
Media buyers are already leveraging AI models for strategic planning. AI isn’t just another tool, he shared, it’s a co-strategist helping teams refine who they reach and how.
And while many are worried that the robots will take over, the consultant stressed how much the sell side needs to lean into AI. “AI is influencing our audiences,” he said.
Insight Sync
It was revelatory to Guyton-Bradley how closely the conversations at the Sell Side Summit mirrored those he had back at the office. “This is what we’re talking about in the industry, and this is what we’re doing at home,” he said. That alignment—between internal innovation and industry evolution—is what makes the retail media space so electric right now.
It’s about aligning those strategies and saying, “Hey, this is what we’re doing and how it matches the wider industry’s moves.”