With 25+ years of experience, Jill Cruz has been specifically entrenched in both the buy side and sell side of retail media for a decade – well before it was a buzz word and explosive growth area for our industry. She helped grow retail media network practices for three of the top four holding companies and paved the way for many top clients to strategically enter the e-commerce and retail media space.
At Publicis, she is tasked with further strengthening the organization’s commerce media capabilities, including advocating for more strategic retail media partnerships; championing the Publicis integration with newly owned solutions; and providing thought leadership, commerce training and enablement services to all Publicis agencies to build best-in-class retail media network practices. She represents Publicis on the IAB’s Retail Media Committee where she has been a contributor to the 2023 Retail Media Buyer’s Guide and co-chair for the RMN Measurement and Standards Committee.
Prior to Publicis, she held a dual role within WPP – on the senior leadership team at Wunderman Thompson Commerce (WTC), helping grow commerce revenues 2.5x and leading three key clients to become some of the organization’s most successful clients in 2021. She was also chosen by Mediacom to help build its retail media network practice and develop a specialized commerce team to serve Mars – an account for which she helped triple the agency team supporting the business over a span of two years. Over her career, she has won many retail awards and led dozens of Fortune 500 clients across many different sectors, such as energy, banking, telecom and CPG (including brands like P&G, Tyson, GE and Hershey).
She was a pioneer in the industry as VP of Sales at early retail media network, MyWebGrocer (MWG), where her leadership impacted how the various retailers connected with consumers to provide end to end advertising and promotion solutions across on/off site advertising, data platforms and retailer software. At that time, the company was the retail media network for Kroger, Albertson’s, Peapod, Giant Eagle and 100 local and regional grocery chains.
She is a well-respected, awarded leader and speaker in the space. She was the Path to Purchase Retail Media Award winner and been named CampaignUS 40 over 40. She is the recipient of both Global and North America Effie awards and has served multiple times as an Effie juror and Grand juror. Her work has also been awarded at the ANA’s REGGIE Awards, receiving the coveted Super REGGIE as well as Gold (2) and Silver (1) distinctions. She received numerous awards at MWG for Largest Retail Media Growth Account (P&G), and awarded multiple times as the Top Retail Media Revenue Producer.
Jill was an inaugural member of the leading women’s executive leadership organization, Chief, where she has been a dedicated member for the past five years. She has mentored many young up and coming commerce talent and championed better inclusion across all the work she does. She is a driving force in the industry to usher in a new age of commerce for clients where every moment can be a buying moment.
