Season four of the AdTech Heroes podcast opens with a forward-looking conversation about the next phase of digital commerce (Episode 52: Reimagining Commerce for the Agentic Era). I sat down with Amie Owen, Global Chief Commerce Officer at IPG Mediabrands, to explore how AI agents, consumer behavior, and cultural signals are converging to reshape buying and selling in real time.
Before we started the conversation, one thing was already clear to me: the industry is entering a new phase of AI adoption, one that goes far beyond generative tools.
We are now working with AI agents, autonomous systems that can analyze data, plan actions, complete multi-step tasks, and adapt in real time. These agents do not wait for human instruction. They connect information across platforms, respond instantly to performance signals, and optimize campaigns as they learn.
For marketers, this shift marks a move from simple automation to intelligent decision-making that operates continuously and at scale. This is why I believe agentic AI represents the next meaningful step in AI-powered commerce.
It connects analytics, optimization, and execution in a way that removes friction and unlocks a level of speed and responsiveness that was not possible before.
With that context in mind, my conversation with Amie felt perfectly timed. This episode offers one of the clearest explanations I have heard of how agentic AI, intelligent automation, and retail transformation are evolving together.
Below, I share the core insights I believe every marketer should understand.
Amie Owen's career began with in-store media, selling signage placements that many now consider to be the earliest form of retail media. Although commerce feels newly elevated, its foundations stretch back decades. What has changed is the pace at which the space is accelerating.
COVID marked the turning point. Online grocery shopping, BOPIS behavior, and digital exploration pushed retailers and brands to rethink how products are discovered. Wider adoption of delivery services and marketplace shopping created an entirely new ecosystem for commercial strategy.
“Commerce used to be the extra. Now it is the centrepiece, and clients expect it”, Owen explains.
Today, I see commerce not as a channel, but an organisational strategy.
One of the strongest themes in the episode is the explanation of how an AI agent platform vs traditional AI tools has become a defining shift. Traditional AI tools tend to perform a single function, usually in isolation. An AI agent platform works very differently. It enables brands to:
This is the foundation of what is agentic AI, where autonomous systems can evaluate information, execute multi-step tasks, and learn from the results.
IPG Mediabrands already uses an internal platform that scans PDPs, detects seasonality shifts, compares competitors, evaluates reviews, and produces a complete optimization brief in a matter of seconds. Previously, teams executed all of this manually.
Our guest noted that these improvements are not simply productivity gains. They drive measurable revenue, since pre-built workflows and intelligent agents can optimize hundreds of pages far faster than any human team.
The episode also takes a deep look into the behavioral side of agentic commerce. According to Amie, Millennials and Gen X want to see the steps an agent takes because they grew up in both physical and digital worlds.
Gen Z, on the other hand, welcomes AI for utility tasks but wants more personal involvement in categories tied to identity, such as fashion or beauty. Gen Alpha views voice-driven interactions as normal, and they often use assistants to search or shop without hesitation.
This variation matters. A future customer AI agent will need to adjust its behavior depending on who it serves. For commerce leaders, these patterns are early signals of how artificial intelligence will shape long-term engagement.
Commerce strategy has expanded from simple media activation to a four-pillar model that includes retail readiness, data, technology, media, and content.
Amie believes we have now entered the phase of synchronized commerce, where everything works together through intelligent automation. In this model, brand campaigns must connect to retail outcomes; shoppable formats bridge media, store, and product pages; data informs creative decisions, and agent platforms help teams manage AI agents and coordinate all elements in real time
This shift positions commerce as the connective tissue between brand building and performance, rather than a siloed discipline.
We also explored the emotional side of commerce. Amie described how IPG has experimented with emotion-tracking technology, eye-tracking, and sentiment tools that identify what customers feel before they make a choice.
At the cultural level, she explains how major pop-culture moments, such as Taylor Swift album releases, create immediate waves in online behavior. Intelligent agents can monitor these moments and highlight where brands can participate.
The opportunity lies in speed. Many brands want to react to culture but struggle with internal processes. Agent platforms can help teams automate tasks, filter signals, and surface strategic recommendations faster than traditional methods.
The short answer is yes. Even with the rise of automation and intelligent agents, brands remain the source of emotional connection, trust, and cultural relevance.
Brand equity influences purchase decisions, social engagement, sustainability expectations, and consumer loyalty. AI can optimize the journey, but the story, identity, and value of the brand still drive meaning.
Although agent platforms can support nearly any category, the industries primed for the greatest transformation include:
These categories generate large volumes of data and require agility at scale. This makes them ideal environments for agentic AI and coordinated agent platforms.
For a deeper look into agentic commerce, AI agent platforms, and the future of automated decision-making, I invite you to listen to the full conversation with Amie Owen on AdTech Heroes, Season 4, Episode 1.