Everyone wants the shiny AI stuff—until it's time to build the foundation. In this brutally honest clip, Austin Leonard (SVP, Epsilon Retail Media) calls out a key truth about retail and commerce media: most networks are still stuck in the slow lane when it comes to campaign measurement and optimization. While the industry dreams of real-time, AI-powered magic, the current reality looks more like: run campaign → wait 6–8 weeks → manually review report → then adjust. Not exactly cutting-edge. Austin breaks down why foundational tech stack steps—like clean data, real reporting, and reliable infrastructure—can’t be skipped if you want to scale anything meaningful.