Commerce Media Needs Less Drama, More Co-Building: Digitas’ Christa Klausner

Why It Matters

The shift toward co‑building and simplified, consolidated commerce‑media operations will accelerate campaign deployment and improve ROI, forcing networks and agencies to collaborate more closely.

Key Takeaways

• Agencies need easier clean‑room integration for audience data.
• Managed services accelerate testing without expanding internal staffing.
• Consolidating fragmented retail networks simplifies measurement and scaling.
• True partners co‑build solutions, aligning retailer, advertiser, agency goals.
• Flexibility for agencies balances commerce networks' desire for control.

Summary

The panel, led by Digitas’ Christa Klausner, examined the evolving commerce‑media landscape, shifting the conversation from perceived tension between retail networks and agencies to a focus on partnership and co‑building.

Klausner highlighted that agencies require flexibility as advertisers’ distribution, priorities, and budgets shift, while commerce networks seek control to drive revenue. She stressed the need for streamlined clean‑room access, managed‑service models that let brands test new channels without large internal teams, and a consolidated operating model to cut through the fragmented retail‑media ecosystem.

“A true partner is gonna build with you,” Klausner said, emphasizing co‑creation over simple inventory sales. She noted that measuring performance across multiple walled gardens is inefficient, and that unified buying and reporting across retailers will unlock scalable growth.

For marketers, these insights signal a push toward integrated data environments and collaborative platform development, promising faster rollout, clearer ROI, and stronger alignment among retailers, agencies, and brands.

Original Description

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – If there is one thing Christa Klausner would like the industry to stop doing, it is obsessing over “tension.” Yes, commerce media networks want control. Yes, agencies want flexibility. No, this is not a reality show.

“Tension is kind of a strong word,” said Klausner, executive vice president of commerce media at Publicis Groupe's Digitas North America. Instead, she framed the situation as a polite standoff between competing business needs.

Agencies need room to maneuver as budgets shift, distribution evolves and priorities change. Commerce media networks, meanwhile, are trying to grow revenue and maintain order.

“So a little bit of both,” she said, in what may be the most diplomatic summary of industry friction ever recorded.

Clean rooms are not exactly plug and play

If agencies want to bring their own audience data into commerce media, Klausner has some news. It is not exactly a one-click experience.

“Agencies are gonna need to really more easily integrate into clean rooms,” she said in this interview with Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at the Beet Retreat San Juan. She added that the current setup requires “a lot of development” and coordination.

Translation: the industry built a data utopia that requires a small army of engineers to open the front door. Klausner’s prescription is simple. Make it easier. Otherwise, agencies may keep their precious first party data locked safely in a metaphorical desk drawer.

Managed service: Training wheels of commerce media

Asked whether managed service models help or hinder performance, Klausner landed firmly in the “help” camp.

“I think managed service plays an important role,” she said, especially for teams that lack the capacity to chase every shiny new retail media opportunity.

Rather than slowing things down, managed service lets brands “dip your toe” into new channels without hiring an entire department overnight. It is less about surrendering control and more about test driving the future before committing to a lease.

Fragmentation is still the villain of the story

Despite commerce media’s rapid growth, Klausner described the ecosystem as “an incredibly fragmented market.”

Her vision of simplicity involves consolidation. Not the dramatic kind that sends bankers into a frenzy, but the practical kind that lets marketers see performance across retailers without juggling a dozen dashboards and a migraine.

“Tapping into consolidated inventory across retailers is gonna help us understand really where their performance is happening,” she said.

In other words, fewer walled gardens, more shared visibility and ideally fewer spreadsheets named “final_final_v7.”

What makes a true partner

As commerce media matures, Klausner drew a sharp line between platforms that sell and partners that build.

“A true partner in this space is gonna build with you,” she said.

That means going beyond transactional media buys to create solutions that align the goals of retailers, advertisers and agencies. Or, as Klausner put it, “we love to co-build solutions” rather than simply handing over dollars for access to audiences and inventory.

It is a refreshingly collaborative vision for an industry that has spent years arguing over who controls what. If Klausner gets her way, the future of commerce media may involve less tension, more teamwork and perhaps just a little less jargon along the way.