Retail Media Team: Key Roles for Brand + Retailer Success

Every high-performing retail media campaign rests on one thing: the right team. As a Retail Media Expert, you must coordinate brand marketers, merchant specialists and retailer contacts to execute, monitor and optimize ads across marketplaces. Without clear roles and communication processes, even the best strategy can fall flat. As HubSpot shows in “How to Choose a Marketing Team Structure That Doesn’t Just Look Good” HubSpot Blog, defining each player’s responsibilities and meeting cadence is crucial for growth.

1. Merchant Marketing Specialist

Who they are: Liaison between brand and marketplace.
Responsibilities: Configure Sponsored Products/Brands campaigns, set bids, optimize ASIN-level performance, monitor share of shelf.
Why it matters: They translate brand objectives (e.g. TACoS 20 %) into daily operations on Amazon, Carrefour or Walmart DSP.

2. Category Manager

Who they are: Expert in SKU assortment and pricing.
Responsibilities: Analyze catalog performance, adjust pricing/promotions, manage inventory health.
Why it matters: Ensures the right products are in stock and featured, preventing missed opportunities and wasted ad spend

Flat-style illustration of a person with a briefcase and growth chart icon, on a purple background, with “ACCOUNT MANAGER” text below.

3. Creative Team (Art Director + Copywriter)

Responsibilities: Produce and test ad visuals, write headlines and CTAs optimized for mobile and desktop.
Why it matters: Well-crafted images and copy drive higher CTR and lift organic rankings.

4. Data Analyst

Responsibilities: Build dashboards combining ad-server, sales and loyalty data; conduct lift studies; recommend bid adjustments.
Why it matters: Provides the insights that keep campaigns on track and budgets efficient.

Flat-style illustration showing a group of people around a lightbulb and creative tools, on a blue background with the text “CREATIVE TEAM” below.

5. Account Manager (Agency or In-House)

Responsibilities: Owns the overall relationship, schedules weekly syncs, escalates blockers, aligns on KPIs.
Why it matters: Keeps both brand and retailer teams aligned and accountable.

6. Collaboration Workflow

Weekly Sync: Review performance vs. KPIs (ROAS, TACoS, share of shelf)
Shared Dashboard: Live view of spend, sales lift and inventory alerts
Creative Pipeline: Bi-weekly creative refresh planning

Example Pod
During a holiday push, Brand X and Retailer Y formed a “Retail Media Pod”: one Merchant Specialist, one Category Manager and one Data Analyst met daily for a week—accelerating optimizations and driving a +25 % lift in ad-attributed sales.

Flat digital illustration of a team organizing boxes and charts, representing a category team, on a green background with the text “CATEGORY TEAM” below.

External Link for Best Practices

For a broader look at modern team structures, see HubSpot’s guide: How to Choose a Marketing Team Structure That Doesn’t Just Look Good

Internal Links for Context

– On why a perfect brief is your competitive edge: Retail Media Strategy: Why a Solid Brief Is Your Competitive Edge.
– On turning data into ideas: How to Turn Retailer First-Party Data into Actionable Campaign Ideas

This is just the fourth installment in my Retail Media Mastery series. Keep an eye out for my next post—it will dive into omnichannel media mix strategies for retailers. Stay tuned!