209. The Future of Ecommerce: AEO, AI, and One-to-One Personalization
Release Date: 09/22/2026
210. How A Nurse Started in Programmatic Media
Programmatic Digest
Gulshan started as a nurse and realised that her passion was outside of the medical field. She knew she wanted to work in Marketing but did not know where to start. Luckily, her grad school professor recommended that she looked into programmatic and that is how she “fell” into the programmatic industry where she is now working for an ad agency who specialise in pharma and healthcare brands. Gulshan is such an inspiration for standing up for herself and pursuing something she wanted to and not being afraid to start “again” and take risk learning something new. It’s never too...
info_outline
209. The Future of Ecommerce: AEO, AI, and One-to-One Personalization
Programmatic Digest
In Episode 209 of the Programmatic Digest Podcast, Hélène Parker sits down with Avani Oswal, founder of Catalyst, to explore what retail and ecommerce leaders need to know as AI reshapes discovery, technology decisions, and customer experiences. Avani shares how her career moved from finance and consulting at EY to strategy at Macy’s, operational roles across ecommerce brands including IPSY, and eventually building Catalyst, a community that connects retail operators with emerging technology companies. She explains why understanding the numbers, listening closely to operators, and building...
info_outline
208. The Data Is Technical, but the Decision Is Human with Carole Lawson
Programmatic Digest
Programmatic advertising gives us more data, automation, and targeting options than ever. But behind every impression, click, and conversion is a real person whose circumstances, attention, and needs can change. In this episode of the Programmatic Digest Podcast, Hélène Parker speaks with Carole Lawson, founding partner of Marketstorm, about the relationship between data, technology, AI, and human behavior. Carole shares how her experience in technology, government innovation, behavioral economics, and data science led her into programmatic advertising. She also explains why traders should...
info_outline
207. The AI Middle Layer: The Next Brand Safety Battleground
Programmatic Digest
In this podcast episode, Dr. Cecilia Dones and Iesha White discuss the complex evolution of artificial intelligence within the marketing and advertising industries. They explore the shift of AI becoming a "middle layer" between brands and consumers, highlighting how automated systems can influence purchasing decisions using unverified information. These outstanding ladies distinguish between closed and open AI systems, warning that proprietary models often lack transparency and can lead to brand safety issues like hallucinations or data poisoning. They emphasize that while AI...
info_outline
206. A Discussion on The signal brief, AI Search, and Ozone
Programmatic Digest
AI-driven search is changing how people discover information, and challenging the intent-based funnel publishers and advertisers have relied on for years. In this episode of the Programmatic Digest Podcast, I sit down with Christian Robinson of Ozone to explore what this shift means for publishers, programmatic traders, and the future of the open web. Christian shares how Ozone helps advertisers reach audiences across trusted, premium publisher environments while reducing duplication and wasted media spend. We discuss why first-party data, authenticated audiences, and journalistically safe...
info_outline
205. Conversational Ad Ops, AI agents, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) with Rob Janes
Programmatic Digest
In this episode of the Programmatic Digest Podcast, host and guest Rob JAnes, Head of Product at AdButler, discuss the rapidly changing landscape of publisher monetization and programmatic ad operations heading into 2025. Check out the interview on YouTube here: They break down the industry-wide adjustments following Google's unexpected decision not to deprecate third-party cookies and the subsequent pivot to internal identity resolution systems. A major focus of the conversation is the existential crisis content creators face due to declining traffic, driven by generative...
info_outline
204. Martech Architecture Explained: The Missing Layer in Ad Tech
Programmatic Digest
🎧 Summary: In this episode of the Programmatic Digest Podcast, Hélène Parker sits down with Sanarr McLaughlin to unpack one of the most overlooked challenges in programmatic advertising and digital marketing: martech structure. From disconnected tools and messy integrations to reporting confusion and operational inefficiencies, Sanarr explains why many agencies, brands, and media teams are struggling under the weight of their own systems. Together, they explore how poor martech architecture impacts campaign execution, data accuracy, internal productivity, and ultimately business growth....
info_outline
203. Are We Optimizing for Bots? Unpacking AI, CTR, and Ad Fraud with Dr. Fou
Programmatic Digest
In this episode of the Programmatic Digest, Hélène Parker sits down with Dr. Augustine Fou, founder of Fou Analytics, to unpack the realities of ad fraud, attribution, AI, and programmatic optimization. Dr. Fou challenges some of the metrics and tools our industry has relied on for years, explaining how bots can manipulate signals like CTR and how algorithms can unintentionally optimize toward fraudulent inventory. The conversation also explores the limitations of traditional fraud detection, the importance of independent verification, and how traders can use more granular data, including...
info_outline
202. Mastering Audience Optimization & DSP Transparency with Jenn Ha and Ed Hackney from Pearl Diver
Programmatic Digest
In part two of this special episode of the Programmatic Digest podcast, host Hélène Parker welcomes back Ed and introduces Jenny, the Head of Customer Experience at Pearl Diver Building on the previous episode's focus on audience discovery, this conversation dives deeply into audience optimization and the critical role of true partnership in ad tech. Jenny and Ed share insights on the optimal times to introduce new audience segments, highlighting that the best time to test an adjacent audience is actually when current campaigns are already performing well They also discuss their...
info_outline
201. Activating High-Intent Audiences with Ed Hackney and Trinity Lawry from Pearl Diver
Programmatic Digest
Most advertisers focus on people who are ready to buy today. But what happens when that audience runs out? In this episode, I chat with Ed Hackney and Trinity Lawry from Pearl Diver about how to find high-intent audiences, why balancing every stage of the marketing funnel matters, and how AI is making audience discovery easier for media buyers. This podcast was made possible thanks to the incredible support from Pearl Diver. In This Episode Why focusing only on conversions can quickly exhaust your audience. How behavioral data helps identify where consumers are in their buying...
info_outlineIn Episode 209 of the Programmatic Digest Podcast, Hélène Parker sits down with Avani Oswal, founder of Catalyst, to explore what retail and ecommerce leaders need to know as AI reshapes discovery, technology decisions, and customer experiences.
Avani shares how her career moved from finance and consulting at EY to strategy at Macy’s, operational roles across ecommerce brands including IPSY, and eventually building Catalyst, a community that connects retail operators with emerging technology companies. She explains why understanding the numbers, listening closely to operators, and building real relationships are essential when evaluating technology.
The conversation examines the shift from SEO to answer engine optimization, or AEO. Avani explains how brands can improve their visibility inside AI-generated answers by combining structured product data with insights from ecommerce, creative, data, and paid media teams. She also breaks down the build-versus-buy decision for SaaS tools, including the factors teams often overlook: speed, resources, customization, ownership, and ongoing maintenance.
Hélène and Avani close with a look toward 2027 and the promise of true one-to-one personalization across websites, merchandising, email, text, CRM, and marketing. Avani’s final reminder is simple: believe in yourself, trust the experience you already have, and take the bet on yourself.
About Us
The Programmatic Digest Podcast makes programmatic advertising, ad tech, and the future of digital media easier to understand. Hosted by Hélène Parker, the show brings together operators, traders, founders, and industry leaders for practical conversations about the technology, strategy, and people shaping our industry.
Through Hélène Parker Consulting, we help media and ad-tech companies grow revenue while building stronger programmatic teams through sales growth, go-to-market strategy, workshops, consulting, and training.
Access the programmatic training library: https://www.heleneparker.com/library
Timestamps
• [00:00] - Welcome and introduction to Avani Oswal
• [01:12] - From EY and Wharton to Macy’s, IPSY, and ecommerce operations
• [02:50] - Why Avani created Catalyst and began connecting brands with tech companies
• [04:07] - Building value through community, trust, and relationships
• [05:30] - Using finance and business outcomes to evaluate technology
• [06:39] - Cutting through AI hype and finding tools that move the numbers
• [08:02] - Why in-person relationships still matter in a digital industry
• [09:39] - The biggest changes in ecommerce and SaaS over the past year
• [10:44] - From AI-first companies to answer engine optimization
• [12:19] - How brand, creative, ecommerce, data, and paid teams can collaborate on AEO
• [15:30] - What a PDP is and how product data can become more useful to LLMs
• [16:07] - SaaS versus building in-house: the core decision factors
• [17:40] - The maintenance cost companies forget after building a tool
• [18:45] - What large and small brands are choosing today
• [20:01] - The programmatic comparison: white-label support versus hiring in-house
• [20:49] - Avani’s 2027 prediction for agentic, one-to-one personalization
• [23:01] - Avani’s advice: believe in yourself and take the bet
• [24:54] - How to connect with Avani and closing remarks
Meet Our Guest
Avani Oswal – Founder of Catalyst
Avani Oswal works at the intersection of AI, ecommerce, retail, and emerging technology. Her background includes finance and consulting at EY, an MBA from Wharton, strategy work at Macy’s, and ecommerce and operational roles across consumer brands, including IPSY.
As the founder of Catalyst, Avani connects retail and ecommerce leaders with one another and with technology companies. She helps operators evaluate emerging solutions, helps founders understand real industry needs, and creates communities where leaders can exchange practical insights.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/avanioswal/
Catalyst: https://www.linkedin.com/company/thecatalystclub/
Meet The Team
Hélène Parker – Host of the Programmatic Digest Podcast
Website: https://heleneparker.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helene-parker/
Manuela Cortes – Co-Host, Programmatic Digest en Español
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manuela-cortes-/
Learn Programmatic
Programmatic Training Library: https://heleneparker.com/library
Subscribe to the Newsletter: https://heleneparker.com/newsletter
Join the Workshop Waitlist: https://www.heleneparker.com/waitlist/
Follow Us
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/programmatic-digest-podcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@programmaticdigest