-- Chaitanya Kumar Seri has been honored with the prestigious 2025 Global Recognition Award, which acknowledges his transformative impact on retail advertising and in-store digital media. This award recognizes Seri’s leadership in establishing a leading in-store digital ad network, which now spans over 100,000 screens across the US. This achievement sets a new industry standard for how brands engage with consumers at the point of purchase, fundamentally transforming a major retailer's physical footprint into a powerful media channel.
Photo Courtesy of Chaitanya Kumar Seri
Transforming In-Store Advertising into a Scalable Media Engine
Retail media is now one of the fastest-growing segments in advertising, projected to surpass $140 billion globally by 2027, according to GroupM. Yet despite its growth, the in-store experience, where over 80 percent of all retail purchases still happen, has historically been overlooked in favor of e-commerce. Meanwhile, the Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) ad market exceeded $20 billion in 2023 and is forecasted to reach over $60 billion by 2030, as reported by Allied Market Research. Seri’s innovation bridges these two trajectories, transforming a major retailer's extensive store network and vast number of screens into a connected, measurable, privacy-safe ad platform that taps into both revenue streams. This groundbreaking work effectively positions large retail networks as dynamic, high-impact publishers within these burgeoning markets.
A Retail Media Network Platform That Solves Real Advertiser and Shopper Problems
The platform addresses two long-standing industry gaps. For advertisers, it removes the offline blind spot, as until now, they had no visibility into in-store campaign performance. Seri’s solution integrates AI-powered dwell time measurement, helping brands understand what content resonates and where, thus providing unprecedented transparency and measurability for in-store campaigns. For shoppers, it preserves the in-store experience by ensuring ads are contextually relevant, non-intrusive, and localized to match surrounding product categories. The system uses captioned video and multilingual support to ensure every shopper can engage with content effortlessly, enhancing their shopping journey.
This leading in-store digital advertising platform supports both endemic advertisers (e.g., brands already sold in the retailer's stores) and non-endemic partners (e.g., financial services, entertainment, telecom), unlocking multiple monetization layers while keeping the content purposeful and well integrated with shopper needs. The in-store experience across thousands of stores and over 100,000 screens features dynamic video ads and images, strategically placed on prominent digital displays and self-checkout screens, delivering engaging endemic and non-endemic content.
Technical Innovation with Ethical and Scalable Execution
Under Seri’s leadership, the platform was architected from the ground up as a full-stack, modular solution. It features a dynamic ad server with robust campaign management, supporting high-fidelity 4K synchronized video and static image playback across thousands of endpoints. The core measurement stack is based on advanced computer vision and privacy-safe engagement signals, which precisely measure estimated impressions and dwell time. This innovative approach is the subject of a U.S. patent-pending application, establishing a scalable and privacy-conscious method for in-store measurement. Complementing this, a separate, robust sales lift methodology provides advertisers with actionable insights in real time, demonstrating tangible campaign effectiveness.
Every screen supports closed captioning and multilingual rendering, meeting ADA-compliant design standards to ensure accessibility for all shoppers. The platform is meticulously designed to ensure that while insights are robust, no personal shopper data is ever collected.
Beyond the U.S., Seri helped expand the system into major international markets, adapting it for regional compliance, language needs, and in-store formats. This has laid the foundation for future global rollouts.
Driving Measurable Value for a Leading Retailer and Its Partners
The impact of Seri’s system is already measurable. The platform's "closed loop measurement" capabilities track sales across the retailer's digital and physical channels, providing clear evidence of ad effectiveness and broader brand influence. Advertisers report more effective new product launches, integrating this data into omnichannel media planning.
By turning physical shelf space into digitally managed, monetizable media, Seri has helped the retailer build a new revenue stream from its existing footprint without requiring disruptive changes to store operations. The system has been especially effective for seasonal promotions, category-based targeting, and geofenced advertising, giving brands a way to connect with millions of customers at the exact point of decision.
Recognition from the Global Advertising and Tech Community
"Seri's achievement represents a fundamental shift in retail media strategy. The comprehensive nature of his contribution from initial vision through technical implementation to commercial success demonstrates the type of innovation that drives industry transformation,” notes Alex Sterling, spokesperson of the Global Recognition Awards. “His work has set a new model for in-store advertising that balances commercial effectiveness with customer privacy and operational efficiency while addressing global challenges through sustainability by reducing reliance on printed signage and minimizing waste."
This award recognizes Seri’s deep understanding of product leadership, AI, privacy-first design, and retail operations. His work, which spans technology, policy, scale, and customer empathy, serves as a case study in how to design for complexity.
As retail media continues to reshape the global advertising economy, Seri’s in-store ad platform stands as a defining innovation, one that brings digital precision to the physical world and elevates retail as a true publishing medium.
About Global Recognition Awards
Global Recognition Awards is an international organization that recognizes exceptional companies and individuals who have contributed significantly to their industry.
Contact Info:
Name: Alexander Sterling
Email: Send Email
Organization: Global Recognition Awards
Website: https://globalrecognitionawards.org
Release ID: 89169158
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