Fractional media & retail media leadership · Seattle-based · Clients in LA, NY & London
For brands spending $1–50MM a year on media and retail media. Find the media spend that isn't working, in three weeks.
20 minutes, no deck. You leave with three observations about your plan.
Work led forGeneral MotorsYouTubeAlbertsonsBMWJaguar Land RoverJosh CellarsPitch winsGoogleIntuit
Coverage of the workSphere Entertainment ↗TV Technology ↗Ads of the World ↗On stage NXT Media Days 2026 · moderator
Short on time? Read the 60-second overview (PDF) ↗
For
Brands with $20–500M in revenue and $1–50MM in media, plus the agencies and retailers that serve them.
What
Senior media, creative and retail media strategy. Planned or fully managed, or as your fractional head of media.
Proof
General Motors, YouTube, Albertsons Media Collective, BMW, Jaguar Land Rover, Josh Cellars. Pitch wins with Google and Intuit.
Start
The Teardown: 3 weeks, from $9.5K. The full fee is credited to any engagement signed within 30 days.
What's included01 · Sound familiar?
Agency teams were cut deep this past year. Every time your team changes, you pay to re-teach your business.
~4,000jobs cut in one agency merger
1 dot = 10 jobs · Axios, Dec 2025
You buy across more retailer networks every year, with no clean read on which ones actually sold product.
15%of brands trust their retail media measurement
Many fee models still bill time. Marketers are moving to fixed scopes with clear outcomes.
19%of agency contracts are still billed by the hour
One senior head for the story, the media and the math.
02 · Selected work
CADILLAC CELESTIQ · IMAGE: CADILLAC
Monks · Media & creative strategy
Cadillac · Buick · GMC
Helped win GM with an AI-first pitch, then led media, creative and strategy teams across three brands.
See the case$30MMnew business won across GM, Google and Intuit
FIRST-EVER BRAND CAMPAIGN ON THE LAS VEGAS SPHERE
Monks · Full-service media & creative
NFL Sunday Ticket
Launched Sunday Ticket's move to YouTube: the first-ever brand campaign on the Las Vegas Sphere, and "The Magic of Sunday" with The Mill.
See the case8.33%more subscribers than DirecTV's final season
1.2x YouTube Shorts daily active users · +15% campaign efficiency
Retail media network launch
PepsiCo · Coca-Cola · Nestlé partners
Helped launch and led marketing strategy for a new retail media network: $100MM+ a year in CPG media and 200+ campaigns with a 15-person team.
See the case3.0x+partner ROAS · 40% average media margins
RANGE ROVER · FILM: JLR
Mindshare · Integrated planning
$20MM+ across 38 US markets
Designed and activated cross-channel investment market by market.
+37.1%YoY growth while overseeing the plan, best of any auto brand that year
JOSH CELLARS · IMAGE: DEUTSCH FAMILY
Havas · Connections planning
Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits · Yuengling
Turned CMO goals into omnichannel plans across social, influencer, digital and in-store.
#1wine in the table wine category during my tenure · $60MM+ a year planned
2016 BMW M2 COUPE · IMAGE: BMW GROUP
UM · Integrated investment
Largest Tier 2 region
Led $50MM in investment across digital, traditional and local activation, plus CRM and DCO integrations.
33.1%market share while leading, largest in the competitive set
Also, pitch wins withGoogle productsIntuit
The person in the pitch should be the person doing the work.
03 · The principal
Fifteen years on both sides of the plan. Now on yours.
Justin Webster founded Narrative & Numbers, a Seattle-based media, creative and retail media consultancy. He was VP of Media & Creative Strategy at Monks for GM and YouTube, with new-business wins across GM, Google and Intuit. Before that, he helped launch the Albertsons retail media network, planned $60MM+ a year at Havas, and led BMW and Jaguar Land Rover investment at UM and Mindshare, building teams of up to 20 along the way. Today he also leads programmatic strategy for Petram Digital ($10MM+ a year at 2.5x+ ROAS), and in May 2026 he moderated “The Rise of Owned Media Networks” at NXT Media Days with Roundel and DoorDash.
B.A., Communication & Media Studies, Franklin & Marshall College
04 · The signature
At the Albertsons Media Collective I planned $100MM+ a year with PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Nestlé and delivered 3.0x+ partner ROAS, measured through closed-loop attribution. I know how a network packages, prices and measures, and I bring that view to your side of the table.
Market size: eMarketer via VTEX
05 · Offers
Start with a Teardown. Then choose how deep to go: a defined project, an embedded lead, or hands-on management.
Your media, creative and measurement, rebuilt as a 90-day plan you keep either way.
ForCMOs who want an independent, senior read on the plan, whoever runs it.
Which networks, how much, and how to prove it moved product.
ForCPG and challenger brands on Amazon, Walmart, Costco, Instacart and grocery.
I plan, buy and optimize directly with the platforms: programmatic, retail media, social, search, CTV, audio and DOOH. Setup is agreed per engagement.
ForBrands that want senior hands on the controls, not another layer.
Inside your team one or two days a week. Owns the plan, runs the agencies, reports the number.
ForBrands spending $5–50MM in media without a senior media lead.
After a merger, re-org or lost team: what you pay for, what to keep, what to re-scope.
ForBrands in agency review or consolidation.
Turn first-party data into a media business: ad products, pricing and measurement.
ForRetailers and marketplaces building retail media.
I build the plan; you or your agency buy it. Strategy, channel mix, briefs and measurement, with oversight of execution.
I run it with the platforms directly. Planning, buying and optimization, set up to fit your accounts and your agreement.
One call, a one-page scope and a fixed price.
Plans, contracts, creative and data, ranked by dollars at stake.
Put the 90-day plan to work: briefs, buys and measurement, with your team.
Launch, read, adjust. Planned or managed from here.
06 · How I work
Brand and creative strategy built for where people actually watch.
Media and measurement that prove the story moved the business.
Senior judgment at startup speed. AI handles the grunt work.
Retail media is the new upfront, and most brands are buying it without a plan.
AI should make senior people faster, not replace them with junior ones.
If a number can't change a decision, stop reporting it.
Latest note · Oct 15, 2026 · 3 min read
I used to report closed-loop ROAS from inside a retail media network. Here is what I would ask that network now that I sit on the brand's side.
07 · Questions
Holding companies are built for scale. I'm built for speed. You get the senior person on every call, media and creative under one plan, and a fixed price instead of hours and layers. When a project needs more hands, I bring in senior specialists I've worked with, introduced by name.
Teardowns from $9.5K. Fractional leadership from $12.5K a month. The full Teardown fee is credited to any engagement signed within 30 days. Everything else is scoped to the job, with the fee agreed before we start.
Close. I work as a fractional head of media and creative: one or two days a week inside your team, owning the media plan, the agencies and the results. Brands that need a full fractional CMO often pair me with their marketing lead.
Retail media is advertising sold by retailers and marketplaces such as Amazon, Walmart, Costco and Instacart, targeted with their shopper data. If you sell through retailers and spend across several of their networks, an independent retail media consultant helps you decide which to fund, how much, and how to prove the spend sold product.
Yes, two ways. Planned: I build the plan and you or your agency buy it. Managed: I buy and optimize directly with the platforms across programmatic, retail media, social, search, CTV, audio and DOOH. Account setup and terms are agreed per engagement.
Most start with the Teardown: three weeks, a fixed fee and a 90-day plan you keep. If we continue within 30 days, the full fee is credited to the next phase.
Seattle. Most clients are in Los Angeles, New York and the UK, so I work on your time zone, with trusted partners when a project needs coverage around the clock.
Yes. I work alongside agencies, or instead of one, and partner with them on pitches and on projects that need senior media and strategy support.
Your current plan, last quarter's results and a candid conversation about where results are stalling. NDAs welcome.
08 · Contact
Prefer to talk first? Grab 20 minutes on my calendar.
Or email me directly.
LinkedIn ↗Credentials (PDF, 2 MB) ↗
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