Axonet’s Patrick Raycroft: RMN Aggregation Democratizes Access To Retail Media
CANNES, France — With 250 retail media networks now competing for advertiser budgets, the math of direct relationships is breaking down. Brands and agencies have fixed time, fixed resources, and fixed capacity for RMN partnerships. And that means spending tends to consolidate at the top and the long tail goes unfunded.
“The brands and agencies that are engaging with RMN have limited ability to activate with an increasing number of RMNs. There’s fixed costs, fixed time and resources that have to go into those relationships, and that limits spend going into RMNs down market on the long tail,” Patrick Raycroft, CEO of Axonet, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at Cannes Lions. “We believe it’s democratizing access, not only for the retailers, but also for those brands that may want to activate in some of those retail outlets but don’t have the time, the resources, the people to engage with them.”
Axonet positions itself as a first-party media network. It aggregates retailer data and owned and operated touchpoints into a single layer that national campaigns can activate against while retaining the measurement credibility that makes retail media valuable in the first place.
Retailers keep control
The most common concern Raycroft hears from retailers considering aggregation is loss of control over their data and direct brand relationships. His answer separates two distinct use cases that can coexist.
“We aren’t here to stand in between retailers working directly with brands on particular activations. If a brand wants to do a big bet with a retailer, they can still do that within an aggregated model,” Raycroft said. “They’re still your owned and operated assets.”
Data control is addressed retailer by retailer through legal frameworks built around the principle that retailers controlling their own assets is paramount. From there, aggregation is layered on top as a value exchange rather than a takeover, Raycroft added.
Think national, not “network”
The bigger behavioral shift Raycroft is pushing brands toward is organizational rather than tactical. Most brands currently manage RMN and national budgets in separate teams with separate objectives — a structure that prevents them from unlocking what aggregation actually offers.
“In order to unlock the power of a national first party media network, you need to think about it as that — as a national media network — not necessarily as an RMN. But it brings the RMN bonafides behind it of first party audiences, first party touchpoints, and that trusted and verified measurement,” Raycroft said.
Both, not either/or
Raycroft is careful not to position aggregation as a replacement for direct retailer relationships. Large bets, limited time offers, and deep brand-retailer integrations still belong in direct relationships. Aggregation serves the national layer alongside them.
“I don’t see it as an either or. I see it as an and,” Raycroft said. “That’s where we’re growing and continuing to grow with our retailers on our network, but also our brands and agencies as well.”
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Axonet and Uber Advertising. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
CANNES, France — With 250 retail media networks now competing for advertiser budgets, the math of direct relationships is breaking down. Brands and agencies have fixed time, fixed resources, and fixed capacity for RMN partnerships. And that means spending tends to consolidate at the top and the long tail goes unfunded.
“The brands and agencies that are engaging with RMN have limited ability to activate with an increasing number of RMNs. There’s fixed costs, fixed time and resources that have to go into those relationships, and that limits spend going into RMNs down market on the long tail,” Patrick Raycroft, CEO of Axonet, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at Cannes Lions. “We believe it’s democratizing access, not only for the retailers, but also for those brands that may want to activate in some of those retail outlets but don’t have the time, the resources, the people to engage with them.”
Axonet positions itself as a first-party media network. It aggregates retailer data and owned and operated touchpoints into a single layer that national campaigns can activate against while retaining the measurement credibility that makes retail media valuable in the first place.
Retailers keep control
The most common concern Raycroft hears from retailers considering aggregation is loss of control over their data and direct brand relationships. His answer separates two distinct use cases that can coexist.
“We aren’t here to stand in between retailers working directly with brands on particular activations. If a brand wants to do a big bet with a retailer, they can still do that within an aggregated model,” Raycroft said. “They’re still your owned and operated assets.”
Data control is addressed retailer by retailer through legal frameworks built around the principle that retailers controlling their own assets is paramount. From there, aggregation is layered on top as a value exchange rather than a takeover, Raycroft added.
Think national, not “network”
The bigger behavioral shift Raycroft is pushing brands toward is organizational rather than tactical. Most brands currently manage RMN and national budgets in separate teams with separate objectives — a structure that prevents them from unlocking what aggregation actually offers.
“In order to unlock the power of a national first party media network, you need to think about it as that — as a national media network — not necessarily as an RMN. But it brings the RMN bonafides behind it of first party audiences, first party touchpoints, and that trusted and verified measurement,” Raycroft said.
Both, not either/or
Raycroft is careful not to position aggregation as a replacement for direct retailer relationships. Large bets, limited time offers, and deep brand-retailer integrations still belong in direct relationships. Aggregation serves the national layer alongside them.
“I don’t see it as an either or. I see it as an and,” Raycroft said. “That’s where we’re growing and continuing to grow with our retailers on our network, but also our brands and agencies as well.”
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Axonet and Uber Advertising. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
