I'll conduct an in-depth analysis comparing Pentaleap (formerly Crealytics) and Particular Audience. This will cover their fundamental differences in technology, business models, AI capabilities, personalization approaches, partnerships, and overall market positioning. I'll provide a structured comparison outlining what sets them apart in the e-commerce and advertising landscape. I'll update you once the research is ready.

Pentaleap (Crealytics) vs. Particular Audience: Comprehensive Comparison

Introduction: Pentaleap (formerly known as Crealytics) and Particular Audience are two companies offering advanced retail technology platforms, but they approach the market from different angles. Pentaleap emerged from Crealytics’ ad-tech roots and rebranded in 2024 to emphasize a modular retail media platform, aiming to help retailers monetize their sites in an open ecosystem (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). Particular Audience, founded in 2019, is an AI-native personalization and retail media platform that seeks to “democratize the technology that makes Amazon great” for other retailers (About Us). Below is a detailed comparison across core technology, business models, personalization capabilities, market positioning, partnerships, and each company’s vision and strategy, including recent developments like Crealytics’ rebrand and how Particular Audience differentiates itself.

Core Technology

Pentaleap (Crealytics): Pentaleap’s platform is built for retail media networks (RMNs) with a focus on on-site advertising infrastructure. Its core is a modular retail media platform comprising a Fluid Ad Server with SSP (supply-side platform) functionality and yield management, a demand-side platform (DSP) for campaign management (including incrementality measurement), and open APIs (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). This means Pentaleap provides the backend technology to serve sponsored product ads on retailers’ e-commerce sites, optimize their placement, and connect to various demand sources. The Fluid Ad Server dynamically blends sponsored products into organic listings in a relevant way (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap), ensuring ads appear seamlessly alongside normal products. Pentaleap’s emphasis is on an open and flexible architecture – retailers integrate once and can connect multiple advertising demand partners rather than being locked into one network (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). In practice, Pentaleap’s system “reads” the retailer’s organic search or category results and inserts sponsored products where appropriate, based on bids and relevance (Exec Q&A: ‘Retailers Can’t Build a Billion-Dollar Media Business if they Don't Want to Show Ads’ - Retail TouchPoints). This data-driven approach leverages the retailer’s own relevance algorithms (e.g. site search rankings) in deciding which ads to show (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). While Pentaleap doesn’t heavily advertise itself as an “AI” platform, it is rooted in data-driven advertising optimization – its founder Andreas Reiffen is a recognized expert in data-driven ad tech (Let's Build an Open, Efficient Retail Media Ecosystem | About Us). The platform’s yield engine and relevance optimization likely use machine-learning models or algorithms to maximize click-through rates and revenue (e.g. choosing the best sponsored product for each slot). However, Pentaleap’s distinguishing tech feature is less about novel AI models and more about integration and control: it separates the supply-side tech from demand-side so any demand source (ad buyer or network) can plug in, avoiding the bottlenecks of closed systems ( “Most companies in retail media have hit some kind of ceiling,” Defining the Future of Commerce with Andreas Reiffen, Pentaleap - ExchangeWire.com). In summary, Pentaleap’s core tech is an ad-serving and bidding platform tailored for retail sites, focused on openness, high-performance at scale, and ensuring ad placements don’t degrade the shopping experience.

Particular Audience: Particular Audience’s platform is “AI-native” and combines site search, product recommendations, and retail media advertising into one system (Particular Audience). At its core is an advanced machine-learning engine that delivers real-time personalization for each shopper. For example, Particular Audience developed Adaptive Transformer Search (ATS) – a site search technology using transformer-based AI (similar to the models behind large language models) to understand shopper intent and eliminate zero-result searches (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). This means if a shopper searches in natural language or uses an uncommon phrase, the AI can still find relevant products by semantic understanding, rather than relying strictly on keyword matches. Beyond search, Particular Audience’s engine personalizes product listings and recommendations on the fly (“personalize every product list for every customer” is a tagline) (About Us). Essentially, two different users visiting the same category or homepage could see different product arrangements optimized for their predicted tastes or behavior, even without personal identifiable information. Particular Audience achieves this via session-based and contextual data processing – they highlight that their AI “predicts intent before the customer even expresses it,” capturing shoppers who don’t explicitly use search by understanding browsing patterns (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). The platform also integrates sponsored products and ads natively into the personalized experience. Rather than treating ads and organic results separately, Particular Audience’s system decides the optimal mix, so sponsored products are “built into personalization” logic (About Us). This is powered by AI that can decide which product promotions to show to which user at what time, without manual rules. The technology is multi-modal and AI-first, meaning it can ingest various data (text, images, user behavior) – for instance, it can “read, see and understand real life human intent” to automate the shopping experience (Retail Media AI & Machine Learning). Particular Audience explicitly brands itself as an AI company at its core, not just another retail media platform (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). Practically, this translates to heavy use of machine learning: transformer models for search, collaborative filtering and deep learning for recommendations, and possibly computer vision for understanding product imagery. The platform (often referred to as DiscoveryOS) offers an interface for retailers to manage and monitor both organic and sponsored content performance, with AI driving most decisions. In summary, Particular Audience’s core tech is an end-to-end AI personalization engine that unifies onsite search, merchandising, and advertising. This approach differs from Pentaleap’s ad-focused tech by treating the entire product discovery journey (search results, category pages, recommendations, and ads) as something to optimize with machine intelligence in real-time.

Business Model

Pentaleap (Crealytics): Pentaleap generates revenue by providing its retail media platform to retailers and by facilitating advertising spend from brands on those retail sites. Its business model is primarily B2B SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) combined with a media monetization component. For large retail clients (e.g. Staples or Home Depot), Pentaleap likely uses enterprise licensing or revenue-share agreements – the platform directly drives new ad revenue for the retailer, so Pentaleap often takes a platform fee or percentage of that ad revenue as compensation (a common model in retail media tech, though exact percentages aren’t public). The key services Pentaleap offers include the Publisher Manager (for retailers to control their on-site ads, inventory, and demand sources) and the Campaign Manager (for advertisers to run campaigns on those sites) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). This essentially means Pentaleap serves two customer groups: retailers, who use the software to open up and optimize ad inventory on their e-commerce, and brands/advertisers, who use Pentaleap’s tools (or connect via API) to purchase those ad placements. Pentaleap often acts as a technology provider and an enabler rather than an agency, but it does offer managed services as a value-add. For example, Pentaleap provides each client a dedicated partner manager and even hands-on campaign optimization support. In a testimonial, a Casio executive noted that working with Pentaleap was “a no-brainer” because Pentaleap delivered a fully managed service that removed the guesswork of campaign setup – their team provided analytics and guidance, yielding +218% ROAS and other strong results for the brand (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). This indicates that Pentaleap’s revenue model isn’t just pure software licensing – it includes account management and consulting to ensure advertisers succeed (potentially included in the platform fee or as an additional service fee). Historically, under the Crealytics name, the company also earned revenue through performance marketing services (e.g. managing Google Shopping or paid search campaigns for retailers on a performance fee). However, with the Pentaleap spin-off, the focus is squarely on the on-site monetization platform. Pricing structures are likely custom per client; for retailers, it might be a monthly/annual platform fee plus a volume-based component (impressions or ad revenue). Pentaleap’s promise is that retailers will earn significantly more ad revenue with their platform – e.g. clients saw 4X incremental ad revenue and 2X fill rate versus previous solutions (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization) – which justifies Pentaleap’s cut. In summary, Pentaleap’s business model is about enabling retail media networks: it makes money when retailers make money from ads, aligning its incentives with client revenue growth. Key services include the technology platform and expert support, rather than charging end-consumers or standard license-only fees.

Particular Audience: Particular Audience operates a SaaS model for its AI platform, targeting enterprise and mid-market online retailers. It offers a suite of products (search, recommendations, pricing intelligence, retail media) which can be licensed as an integrated platform (DiscoveryOS) or as individual modules (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). Revenue is generated through subscription fees for using these personalization and media tools, often structured around the retailer’s size (e.g. number of site visitors, number of API calls, or gross merchandise value) or the scope of modules implemented. Additionally, because Particular Audience facilitates on-site sponsored ads (retail media), it may also employ a revenue-sharing model: for instance, taking a percentage of ad spend managed through its platform (similar to how some retail media platforms or ad networks charge a commission on ads). The company’s messaging emphasizes value creation (higher conversion, higher ad revenue) and they often prove ROI through A/B tests (About Us), which suggests pricing is designed to be ROI-positive for clients. Aside from software, Particular Audience also provides “white glove” fully managed service to its clients (About Us). This means when a retailer signs up, PA’s team will consult on strategy, handle implementation, and even manage ongoing optimizations so the retailer’s team isn’t burdened. Such high-touch service could be bundled into the licensing fee or billed separately as professional services. The range of key services Particular Audience lists includes: AI-powered search and recommendations engine, personalized merchandising (like dynamic category listings), pricing intelligence (monitoring and optimizing prices relative to competitors), and a retail media marketplace where brands can sponsor products on the retailer’s site (About Us). This indicates multiple revenue streams – e.g., a retailer might pay for the personalization platform to boost conversion, and also use the retail media feature to earn ad revenue (with PA possibly taking a cut of that ad revenue). In terms of pricing structure, while exact figures aren’t public, Particular Audience likely uses a tiered SaaS pricing model. They highlight that once integrated, clients can expand use of the platform’s APIs at no extra cost to derive more value (Particular Audience Blog), implying a flat or predictable fee rather than nickel-and-diming each feature. Their goal is to drive long-term partnerships (they have offices and support teams in multiple regions to service clients globally (About Us)). In summary, Particular Audience makes money by selling an AI-driven personalization and retail media solution to retailers (and possibly to brands who want data-driven insights). They differentiate their model by offering a full service approach – essentially “Personalization-as-a-Service” – and by aligning with both conversion uplift and advertising revenue generation. This holistic approach can make their offering appealing: retailers see both sales and ad monetization improve, covering the costs of the platform. Fundamentally, PA is positioned as a software provider with deep service, and “the closest thing a retailer can get to Amazon’s tech” (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025) – which they use to justify the investment from clients by comparing the potential gains to what Amazon achieves.

Personalization & Optimization Capabilities

Pentaleap: Pentaleap’s primary focus is on on-site advertising optimization rather than general content personalization. Its value proposition is to improve the performance of sponsored product ads and onsite ad placements in several ways: (1) Relevance Optimization – Pentaleap’s Fluid Ad Server ensures that sponsored products are highly relevant to the context (e.g., the search query or category page) so that clicking an ad feels as natural as clicking an organic result (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). By “blending sponsored products seamlessly with organic listings,” Pentaleap maintains a good user experience and thus higher click-through rates (CTR). In fact, by using Pentaleap, some retailers saw a 3× increase in CTR on ads (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). The ads are shown in spots where they make sense, which improves user engagement and prevents the common problem of irrelevant ads that shoppers ignore. (2) Search Integration – Pentaleap doesn’t replace a retailer’s search engine, but it intercepts the search results page (or product listing page) and injects ads in optimal positions. As Andreas Reiffen explained, Pentaleap’s tech will read the organic result ranking (including any personalization the retailer’s system applied) before the page is shown to the shopper, and if certain products have bids to be shown as ads, Pentaleap will insert or elevate them appropriately (Exec Q&A: ‘Retailers Can’t Build a Billion-Dollar Media Business if they Don't Want to Show Ads’ - Retail TouchPoints). This effectively converts some organic results into paid placements in a controlled way, similar to how Amazon’s search results often mix organic and sponsored items. By doing this, Pentaleap helps retailers monetize existing user traffic without needing the user to leave the site or see unrelated banners – it turns product clicks that would have happened anyway into paid clicks, up to a point. This strategy led Staples’ team to report that with Pentaleap’s focus on relevancy, sponsored products matched the performance of organic products in terms of user engagement (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). That is a significant optimization: it means the retailer can add more ads without hurting conversion rates, because the ads are as good as the organic content. (3) Yield Management & Automation – Pentaleap automates the auction and yield decisions. By connecting multiple demand sources, its SSP can fill a far greater percentage of ad opportunities (“fill rate”) and ensure higher yield. Clients experienced 2× higher fill rates and a 4× increase in available ad impressions after Pentaleap, meaning many more of the slots where an ad could be shown actually got filled with a relevant ad (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). This is achieved through automation that selects the best ads from various sources and through dynamic pacing and bidding tools in the Campaign Manager (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). Advertisers on the platform can let Pentaleap optimize their bids with features like suggested bid amounts and budget pacing, rather than manually adjusting everything (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). (4) Incrementality and Performance Measurement – Pentaleap’s DSP includes incrementality reporting (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap), highlighting the platform’s ability to measure how much of the sales from ads are truly incremental (versus cannibalizing organic sales). This data-driven approach helps optimize campaigns for actual uplift. Overall, Pentaleap’s personalization is narrowly focused on ad personalization (showing the right sponsored product to the right shopper in the right context). It does not provide general product recommendations to users in the way a pure personalization engine would, but it does ensure that the sponsored recommendations (ads) are optimized for each context and, in some cases, each audience segment or behavior (advertisers can tailor bids to audiences in Pentaleap (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization)). The platform’s success in ad performance improvements is documented: retailers have seen about 30% higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization) and significant increases in ad revenue. By freeing retailers from exclusive ad deals and improving relevance, Pentaleap essentially lets retailers show more ads (turn more of the page into monetized content) while maintaining or improving shopper satisfaction (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). This is exactly how Amazon grew its ad business (turning previously organic placements into paid ones without losing shoppers) (Exec Q&A: ‘Retailers Can’t Build a Billion-Dollar Media Business if they Don't Want to Show Ads’ - Retail TouchPoints) (Exec Q&A: ‘Retailers Can’t Build a Billion-Dollar Media Business if they Don't Want to Show Ads’ - Retail TouchPoints). Pentaleap is helping other retailers replicate that optimization. In summary, Pentaleap handles search optimization for ads (not the search algorithm itself, but the mix of paid vs organic results) and focuses on ad performance optimization through better targeting, higher fill, and yield management. Traditional personalization features (like “Recommended for you” carousels or individualized sorting of organic products) are not Pentaleap’s domain; those aspects remain with the retailer’s own site logic, which Pentaleap can work alongside.

Particular Audience: Particular Audience’s platform is built from the ground up for personalization and optimization of the entire product discovery journey – covering both organic shopping experiences and advertising. Its capabilities in personalization and optimization include:

• Product Recommendations & Personalized Merchandising: PA delivers tailored product recommendations at all touchpoints: homepages, product detail “related items”, cart upsells, etc. Every list of products is personalized to the individual shopper’s behavior and context (“every single product list for each unique customer”) (AI Powered Hyper-Personalization - Particular Audience). For example, the order of products in a category page can be different for a new visitor versus a returning customer who browsed certain brands – the AI will reorder listings to show what’s most relevant to each. This hyper-personalization is done in real-time using machine learning models that consider hundreds of signals (like trending items, user affinity, similarity to other users’ behavior, etc.). By doing so, PA increases conversion rates and basket sizes for retailers; they report higher engagement and sales when these personalized recommendations are in place (About Us). They also offer unique features like Automated Product Bundles, which use AI to suggest complementary products as bundles, aiming to grow average basket size without manual merchandising (About Us).
• Search Optimization: Particular Audience’s Adaptive Transformer Search (ATS) is a marquee feature that optimizes e-commerce search beyond the traditional keyword matching. Using transformer models (a type of deep learning), ATS understands natural language queries and product data in context, which means it can surface relevant products even if a query doesn’t exactly match keywords in the product title (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). It also learns from user interactions to continuously improve relevance. The result is the elimination of “No results” dead-ends and an overall more intuitive search experience. PA has even enabled sponsored search via this AI engine – 99% of search results pages can be automated to include relevant sponsored products without manual bidding on keywords (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). This is a huge optimization: traditionally, retail media sponsored search relies on brands bidding on specific keywords, which leaves many low-volume or long-tail searches unmonetized. PA’s AI instead predicts when to show a sponsored product on virtually any search (even obscure ones) if it’s relevant, thus capturing up to “80% more revenue potential” that keyword-only approaches miss (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). A PA executive noted that by replacing legacy keyword-based search with their AI Transformer Search, sponsored product fill-rate more than doubled in the first week on a client’s site (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). This showcases how their optimization can dramatically increase ad coverage and clicks by using AI to match products to queries that humans might not have set up.
• Ad Personalization & Relevance: Particular Audience treats ads as another element to personalize. Their platform ensures that each ad (sponsored product or banner) is shown to the shopper segment most likely to engage with it. They use “hyper-personalized in real time” targeting for ads (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). For example, if a sportswear brand sponsors a product, the platform might show it more to fitness-oriented shoppers and less to others, automatically. PA also introduced features like Dynamic Collections, which are automated product collections based on attributes (these could serve as landing pages or email content that update automatically as inventory changes) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire) – this blurs the line between merchandising and marketing, optimizing both. In addition, their Promotion Hub (planned) will unify organic and sponsored product promotion decisions in one AI engine (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire), ensuring that whether a product is shown because it’s trending organically or because it’s sponsored, the system is optimizing for the best overall outcome (customer satisfaction and revenue).
• Advertising Performance Optimization: On the retail media side, Particular Audience provides a full slate of ad tech capabilities similar to Pentaleap’s, but turbocharged with AI. They support multiple ad formats (sponsored listings, banners, video ads) and have tools for retailers to sell premium placements (e.g. a Fixed Tenancy Scheduler for reserving spots like homepage banners for a fixed fee) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). The entire campaign management can be “bidless” – PA introduced AI-powered auto-optimization of bids and budgets (“bidless campaign automation”) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). This means a brand can input goals (like target cost-per-acquisition) and the system will allocate impressions to meet that goal, rather than the brand manually setting CPC bids for each keyword or product. They added support for cost-per-acquisition (CPA) billing as well (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire), showing they optimize to actual sales outcomes. All this automation results in retailers earning more with less manual work, and advertisers seeing better ROAS. PA cites that retailers leveraging its AI-driven retail media see 4–10× growth in ad revenue (because the AI finds and fills so many more opportunities) while also often tripling engagement metrics (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025).
• Zero PII and Data Intelligence: An important aspect of PA’s optimization is that it works without personal identifiable information (PII). They’ve built customer segmentation and targeting tools that do not require third-party cookies or emails, instead using behavior and context to create audiences (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). For instance, DiscoveryOS Segment Builder lets a retailer create high-performing audience segments from first-party data without needing an external CDP (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). This is crucial for privacy compliance and means PA’s personalization is largely based on real-time intent signals and aggregate patterns, rather than needing to know exactly who the user is. From an optimization standpoint, this allows personalization to scale even for anonymous visitors (who are a majority of traffic).

In short, Particular Audience handles personalization in a holistic manner – improving search relevance, product discovery, and ad targeting simultaneously with a unified AI approach. Shoppers get a very customized experience (which improves conversion and satisfaction), and retailers get optimized revenue both from sales and ads. This is fundamentally different from Pentaleap, which optimizes the ad component but doesn’t personalize the overall shopping content. PA’s approach is akin to giving each visitor a “personal storefront” with both product suggestions and relevant sponsored offers tuned just for them. By combining optimization of organic and paid content, PA aims to ensure that increasing ad revenue doesn’t come at the cost of user experience. In fact, they claim their approach improves customer experience and engagement while boosting monetization (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire) (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire) – a win-win optimization that they argue legacy platforms (focused only on ads or only on generic personalization) cannot achieve.

Market Positioning

Pentaleap (Crealytics): Pentaleap positions itself as a enterprise-grade retail media technology provider for major retailers and marketplaces. Its key clients are typically large multi-brand retailers that have significant e-commerce operations and are looking to build or expand a Retail Media Network. For instance, Pentaleap’s client roster includes Staples (office supplies, North America), The Home Depot (home improvement, US), and Pague Menos (a major pharmacy chain in Brazil) (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). Testimonials and case studies also reference Staples’ success, Home Depot’s implementation (via Orange Apron Media, Home Depot’s retail media arm) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization), THG (The Hut Group) which runs beauty and lifestyle e-commerce sites (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization), and **Best Buy Ads (via a quote from its former executive)】 hinting Pentaleap is relevant to large electronics retail as well (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). These clients are all enterprises aiming to monetize their e-commerce “real estate” similar to Amazon and Walmart. Pentaleap is industry-agnostic in retail but focuses on those with rich product catalogs and many brand suppliers (electronics, home goods, office supplies, apparel, etc.). Geographically, Pentaleap (and previously Crealytics) operates globally – with offices or operations in New York, London, Berlin, etc., they engage retailers in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization).

Pentaleap differentiates itself from competitors by its “open ecosystem” philosophy. In a space where other retail media solutions might be closed-loop or proprietary, Pentaleap markets flexibility and non-exclusivity as key. As CEO Reiffen puts it, retailers using Pentaleap are free to “connect with any demand partners” and avoid being locked into one ad network (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). This is a dig at competitors like Criteo Retail Media or CitrusAd (Publicis), which often require exclusive deals where the network provides both the tech and a fixed set of advertisers. Pentaleap instead can partner with those networks or bypass them, whichever the retailer prefers, using the retailer’s choice of demand sources ( “Most companies in retail media have hit some kind of ceiling,” Defining the Future of Commerce with Andreas Reiffen, Pentaleap - ExchangeWire.com). This positioning appeals to retailers who want more control and to maximize revenue by being open to all advertisers (the way Amazon allows any brand to bid on its search). Pentaleap also uses the slogan “Retail Media Tech You Don’t Hate – Open, Transparent, Kind” (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap), positioning itself as the friendly, cooperative alternative in an industry that has seen some friction. They acknowledge that many retailers and brands have been frustrated by retail media’s walled gardens, high costs, and UX trade-offs (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). By addressing these pain points (transparency in auctions, maintaining site UX, sharing insights, etc.), Pentaleap sets itself apart as a partner rather than just a vendor.

In terms of competition, Pentaleap is carving a niche against both the in-house approaches (some retailers build their own ad tech or use general ad servers) and one-stop-shop providers (like Criteo, CitrusAd, Microsoft PromoteIQ). Their market positioning is basically: if you’re a retailer who wants to run a world-class retail media business like Amazon’s, but you don’t want to cede control to a third-party network, Pentaleap is your solution. The presence of Home Depot and Staples as clients underscores this, since those retailers chose Pentaleap’s tech while many peers chose other providers. Additionally, Pentaleap highlights working with advertisers/brands as part of its ecosystem. It provides brands a direct way to run campaigns across multiple retailers (via its interfaces or API integrations), which is attractive to brands tired of using separate systems for each retailer. This two-sided network aspect (retailers and brands) strengthens Pentaleap’s market position as a connector in the industry.

Particular Audience: Particular Audience positions itself as an AI leader in retail personalization and media, often emphasizing being the first or #1 AI-driven retail media platform (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release ...) (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire). It aims at ambitious retailers worldwide who want to level up their digital customer experience and ad monetization to Amazon-like standards. PA’s client list includes a mix of retail verticals: for example, they cite partnerships with Target (a major general merchandise retailer), Petbarn (pet supplies, Australia), Hamleys (toy retailer, UK), The Good Guys (electronics retailer, Australia), Dan Murphy’s (liquor retail, Australia) and even brands like Sony (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire) (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025). This shows PA targets retailers of all sizes (Target is huge, Hamleys is a mid-size chain) and across regions (clients in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific). They also work with brands/manufacturers indirectly: for instance, Sony as a partner could mean Sony uses PA’s data or tools to better sell through retail channels, or it could be a retailer-side client like Sony’s direct online store. PA markets itself as “the closest thing a retailer can get to Amazon’s Ads and personalization technology” (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025), which is a bold promise and key differentiator. Essentially, they pitch that they’ve replicated the secret sauce behind Amazon’s conversion and ads, and “democratized” it for everyone else (About Us). This resonates with mid-tier retailers who cannot invest billions into AI R&D – PA offers it as a service.

Against competitors, Particular Audience’s differentiation is its unified and AI-first approach. Traditional e-commerce tech stacks might require one vendor for site search, another for recommendations, and another for retail media ads – which can lead to a fragmented experience. PA says its platform uniquely powers both organic and sponsored personalization through advanced AI (Advanced Retail Media Technology - Particular Audience). They often contrast themselves with “legacy systems not designed for true AI-driven personalization” (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). For example, older retail site search engines rely on keyword rules, and some retail media solutions still use those old search engines, causing friction. PA’s native integration (their search engine is part of the retail media solution) is a selling point: no more friction with native search integrations or clunky add-ons (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire). They highlight that other retail media platforms miss out on non-searched browsing (which can be 80% of traffic) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire); PA captures that via AI recommendations. Another positioning angle: privacy and future-proofing. PA’s zero-PII approach and accessibility features (like ensuring ad content meets the latest accessibility standards (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire)) show they are forward-looking, which could attract retailers concerned about regulations and inclusivity.

Particular Audience’s key clients often publicly endorse the value of AI personalization. For example, in the NRF 2025 expo listing, they claim retailers using PA triple engagement, double onsite inventory (ad opportunities), and increase ad revenue 4–10x (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025). Those metrics position PA as not just a tech provider but a revenue driver. Additionally, PA has been aggressive in marketing and thought leadership: press releases call them the “global leader in AI-powered retail media technology” (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire) and they’ve raised their profile by hiring industry veterans (like Matt Romano, ex-Home Depot and Triad, to lead partnerships) (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire). This hire also signals a push into the U.S. market, positioning PA to compete head-on with established U.S. retail media tech firms.

In summary, Particular Audience is positioned as a solution for retailers who want state-of-the-art AI capabilities without building it themselves. They serve a broad market (from luxury retail to big-box, any consumer retail with a digital presence). By emphasizing both conversion uplift and ad revenue, they appeal to retail executives in charge of e-commerce (who care about sales) and those in charge of marketing/monetization (who care about ad dollars). The fundamental difference in positioning: PA is “AI company for retail”, selling superior customer experience and monetization, whereas Pentaleap is “ad tech for retail”, selling superior monetization with maintained experience. This means PA often competes with personalization vendors (like Dynamic Yield, Algonomy, or Bloomreach) and with retail media providers, by offering a one-stop platform. PA’s win stories (like Target or The Good Guys) suggest they’ve found a sweet spot with retailers that want cutting-edge tech to compete with giants like Amazon but need an external partner to provide it.

Partnerships & Integrations

Pentaleap: True to its open ecosystem ethos, Pentaleap actively integrates with and leverages partnerships rather than doing everything itself. One of Pentaleap’s core integration points is with demand-side tools and networks. The platform provides open APIs so that advertisers or agencies can use their preferred campaign management tools (such as Pacvue, Skai, or Flywheel) to access retailer ad inventory through Pentaleap (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). For example, a brand that already uses Pacvue to manage Amazon campaigns can use that same tool to bid on ads on Staples’ website, because Staples’ retail media (powered by Pentaleap) exposes APIs for it (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). This kind of integration is a partnership with the broader ad tech ecosystem – Pentaleap isn’t forcing advertisers into a proprietary interface if they don’t want to. On the supply side, Pentaleap can also plug into other retail media networks or exchanges. In one case, a pharmacy retailer used Pentaleap’s SSP and ad server to optimize ads while working with a leading ad network for demand (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). That suggests Pentaleap partnered with an existing network (possibly Criteo or CitrusAd) such that the retailer could keep that network’s advertisers but still improve performance using Pentaleap’s serving technology. This flexible integration ability – a single Pentaleap integration allowing multiple demand sources simultaneously (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization) – is a key partnership approach; it turns potential competitors into collaborators.

Pentaleap also has direct partnerships with its client retailers that go beyond a vendor relationship. The September 2024 launch press release mentions strategic collaborations with The Home Depot and Pague Menos bolstering their platform (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). In Home Depot’s case, Pentaleap worked with their Orange Apron Media team to integrate sponsored products “with the intelligence that powers our site’s relevancy,” according to Home Depot’s VP of Monetization (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). This implies a close technical integration with Home Depot’s e-commerce systems. The result is a partnership-like dynamic where Pentaleap’s tech is embedded deeply (Home Depot even built a proprietary front-end leveraging Pentaleap’s APIs) (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). These deep integrations require trust and collaboration; Pentaleap essentially becomes part of the retailer’s tech stack (in Home Depot’s case, supporting campaigns across channels including off-site while Pentaleap handles the ad serving behind the scenes) (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). Pentaleap’s service teams also act as partners: they mention their sales and ad ops team works as an extension of the retailer’s team (e.g., for Staples) (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). This is a partnership in execution, ensuring the retailer maximizes use of the platform.

In terms of technology stack, Pentaleap likely integrates with e-commerce platforms or data sources the retailer has (product catalog, inventory, first-party data) – though specific partners here aren’t named publicly, the implementation presumably involves working with whatever platform (Magento, Salesforce Commerce Cloud, homegrown system, etc.) the retailer uses. Given Crealytics’ history, they probably have experience integrating with many such systems from their days of handling Google Shopping feeds, etc.

Another form of partnership is with industry organizations and thought leadership: Pentaleap (Crealytics) has been active in retail media conferences (the founder speaks at events like IAB Commerce, Advertising Week, etc. (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap)). While not integrations, these partnerships help position Pentaleap within the ecosystem of retail media stakeholders.

In summary, Pentaleap’s partnerships and integrations strategy is about being interoperable and collaborative. They integrate with brands’ tools, with retailers’ existing systems, and even with other ad networks to enhance outcomes. This collaborative stance is summed up by their non-exclusive philosophy: “promoting non-exclusive partnerships” to help retailers thrive (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). It contrasts with some competitors that offer a closed all-in-one solution. Pentaleap basically can slot in wherever needed – a retailer can use Pentaleap’s full stack or just the parts they lack, and Pentaleap will integrate with the rest.

Particular Audience: Particular Audience is also designed to integrate into a retailer’s environment, though its approach is more about embedding AI layers into existing commerce setups. PA often calls itself a “no-code, AI-powered personalization layer that sits on top of transactional ecommerce platforms” (Unique web experience with Particular Audience | Awin). This indicates that PA integrates via frontend and API connections rather than requiring a rip-and-replace of the retailer’s e-commerce system. In practice, retailers add PA’s JavaScript or API calls to their site, and PA’s engine then takes over personalization of search and recommendations. PA has formed partnerships to make this integration easier: for example, Awin (affiliate network) has integrated Particular Audience into its MasterTag solution (Unique web experience with Particular Audience | Awin). Awin’s MasterTag is a script many e-commerce sites already use for affiliate marketing tracking; by piggybacking on it, PA can be deployed without adding another tag, simplifying implementation. This partnership was touted as an #AwinningPartnership in which PA’s technology can be turned on via Awin, requiring minimal effort from the retailer’s tech team (Unique web experience with Particular Audience | Awin). It’s a clever integration that gives PA distribution through Awin’s client base and makes onboarding easier.

Another key integration point for PA is with data platforms. They advertise open CDP integration and segment import/export (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). If a retailer has a customer data platform or CRM, PA can work with it (and even if not, PA can function without PII as noted). This suggests partnerships or at least compatibility with CDPs like Segment, Tealium, or Salesforce CDP to ingest audience segments or share insights. PA’s DiscoveryOS is also modular, meaning a retailer could integrate just the search engine or just the recommendations via API. They explicitly state the platform is available as interoperable modules in any retail media tech stack (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). For instance, if a retailer already has an ad serving tool but poor search, they might use PA’s ATS for search while keeping their ad server – PA’s system can connect such that the sponsored products still show up via PA logic. Conversely, if a retailer has a decent search but no retail media capability, PA could integrate just the sponsored product marketplace feature. This modular design is essentially a built-in integration flexibility, and PA’s team will ensure it “slots seamlessly into any retail media stack” (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire), according to their communications.

On the partnership front, PA has been strengthening industry relationships by bringing experienced leaders on board. Hiring Matt Romano as VP of Partnerships (a veteran who built Home Depot’s network and was at Triad/Walmart) in 2025 signals an intent to forge strategic partnerships (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire) (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire). With his background, PA could partner with agency holding companies or retail media consultants to recommend PA’s solution to retailers, or even partnerships with marketplaces to extend PA’s reach. There’s mention of connecting “retail media with external demand” in their roadmap (open web demand integrations) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire), which hints at potential future partnerships with broader ad ecosystems (perhaps integrating retailer inventory with open web DSPs or ad exchanges so brands can buy retail media inventory alongside other media).

Furthermore, Particular Audience has partnerships in terms of clients acting as references. The NRF exhibitor info shows Sony, Target, The Good Guys, Dan Murphy’s as proud partners (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025), implying these clients might actively advocate for PA’s solution in the industry.

In summary, Particular Audience integrates at multiple levels: via tags/APIs on the technology side (easy add-on to sites, CDP integration), and via alliances on the business side (affiliate networks like Awin, possibly agencies and industry veterans). Their approach is to be compatible and complementary with a retailer’s existing tools – they can work with or without a retailer’s preference of data platforms, and they can coexist with other components if needed. The goal is to reduce friction in adoption. One can plug PA in and let it start optimizing, rather than undergoing a massive re-platforming. Both PA and Pentaleap share a philosophy of modular integration, but PA emphasizes AI and front-end personalization integration, whereas Pentaleap emphasizes back-end ad demand integration. That’s reflective of their different focus areas.

Company Vision & Strategy

Pentaleap’s Vision & Strategy: Pentaleap’s long-term vision is to “lead retail media towards an open, efficient ecosystem” (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). This stems from the conviction that retail media (outside of Amazon) can only reach its full potential if retailers and brands aren’t siloed into separate, closed systems. Andreas Reiffen (Founder/CEO) has articulated this vision since Pentaleap’s inception: he observed that if retailers could freely choose demand partners and operate in an open, democratic environment, it would close the gap between Amazon’s ad business and everyone else (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). The strategy to achieve this is by providing the enabling technology that removes barriers. Pentaleap was essentially spun off from Crealytics in 2024 to pursue this mission full-force ( “Most companies in retail media have hit some kind of ceiling,” Defining the Future of Commerce with Andreas Reiffen, Pentaleap - ExchangeWire.com). The rebranding from Crealytics to Pentaleap was a strategic shift highlighting their commitment to retail media innovation (Crealytics’ other marketing service offerings took a backseat as Pentaleap became the core focus).

Pentaleap’s strategy emphasizes collaboration over exclusivity. They actively promote non-exclusive deals in the industry – for example, encouraging retailers to work with multiple ad networks at once (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). By advocating this, Pentaleap sets itself as a neutral player that can facilitate such arrangements (as opposed to vendors that demand exclusivity). In the long run, Pentaleap likely envisions a retail media landscape where their platform is the common layer connecting many retailers and many advertisers in an open marketplace. One can imagine Pentaleap becoming something of an exchange or backbone for retail media. In fact, by integrating all demand sources for a retailer, Pentaleap is indirectly creating a network where a brand via one interface (through Pentaleap or connected DSPs) can access multiple retailer sites. This is similar to how Google’s ad exchange works for many publishers – Pentaleap could play that role for retailers, albeit in a more controlled, retail-specific way.

To scale this vision, Pentaleap is expanding globally and targeting emerging retail media programs. They noted being in contract discussions with new retail media networks across North America, EMEA, South America, and Australia (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). They want to onboard as many major retailers as possible onto Pentaleap, thereby growing the “open ecosystem.” The company also focuses on continuous product modularity and improvement: they talk about adding modules over the years and the platform having a “glow-up” (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). Features like the DSP, incrementality measurement, etc., were added to enhance the offering. Future strategy might include further tools for analytics or even off-site retail media coordination, given their interest in letting retailers run campaigns across channels (as Home Depot did off-site using Pentaleap tech) (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap).

Pentaleap’s culture/values (Open, Transparent, Kind) (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap) also hint at strategy: they are positioning as trusted partners in an industry sometimes seen as adversarial (retailers vs. brands in bargaining, or vendors taking big cuts). If they maintain trust and deliver on revenue promises, they aim to become the go-to platform for retailers who want a serious media business without losing control. Their mission to make retail media “accessible to all brands while ensuring seamless shopping experiences” encapsulates balancing monetization with customer satisfaction (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). Thus, strategically, Pentaleap must keep proving that their tech can increase ad revenue and keep user experience strong (so retailers don’t fear turning into a cluttered marketplace). The success stories (Staples, etc.) and metrics (sponsored matching organic performance (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization)) are central to this strategy – showing new prospects that open, shopper-friendly monetization is possible.

In essence, Pentaleap sees itself as building the infrastructure for the future of retail media – one that is open and at scale. Their rebrand and spin-off highlight that singular focus. By closing the gap with Amazon on sponsored product coverage and doing so in a collaborative way, Pentaleap’s strategy aims to unlock billions in revenue for the rest of the retail industry (and in turn, capture a share of that by being the chosen platform).

Particular Audience’s Vision & Strategy: Particular Audience’s vision is to revolutionize digital retail by harnessing AI – to make every shopping experience intelligently personalized and every retail media opportunity fully optimized. They explicitly state their vision as taking what makes Amazon’s shopping and advertising so successful and giving that power to other retailers (About Us). This vision is rooted in the idea of “democratization” – i.e., not letting Amazon (and a few giants) be the only ones with AI-supercharged retail experiences. PA’s strategy to achieve this is an AI-first product strategy and rapid innovation cycle. The CEO James Taylor said that in a few years, manual campaign targeting will be obsolete as AI takes over (analogous to how Meta’s Advantage+ or Google’s Performance Max use AI to automate ad targeting) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). PA positions itself as the company already driving that change, with “years of dedicated R&D” since 2020 to build these systems (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). This implies a strategy of heavy investment in their technology and being ahead of the curve on AI adoption. Indeed, PA often touts that it built “the market’s only AI-first retail media platform” (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire), highlighting that competitors are retrofitting AI onto older systems whereas PA started from scratch with AI.

Strategically, Particular Audience is combining two previously separate domains: conversion optimization (personalization) and monetization (ads). Their bet is that the future of e-commerce requires a unified approach (as seen with Amazon). So their roadmap includes features that blur those lines further: e.g., Promotion Hub to manage merchandising and advertising together (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire), and bidless campaign automation that effectively lets AI decide promotions. They also look beyond on-site to the “open web” – hinting at enabling retailer data or inventory to connect with external ad networks in a privacy-safe way (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). If they pursue that, PA could help retailers retarget shoppers off-site or bring outside demand to their on-site ads, expanding reach.

On the company growth side, Particular Audience is in a scale-up phase. Founded in Australia, it has expanded with offices in London, Vancouver, and New York to serve EMEA and Americas (About Us). Their strategy includes bringing in industry experts (like Matt Romano as mentioned, whose mandate is to accelerate U.S. and European growth) (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire) (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire). Romano’s comments reflect PA’s strategy to be the “missing piece” in many retail media stacks by providing intelligent automation where others have manual processes (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire) (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire). In other words, PA doesn’t need to replace everything a retailer has – if a retailer has a retail media network but it’s struggling, PA can layer AI to improve it. That openness indicates a strategy of partnerships (not unlike Pentaleap’s modular approach, but PA’s focus is inserting AI modules).

Particular Audience’s vision also encompasses accessibility and inclusion (they mention compliance with the European Accessibility Act in their features (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire)), which is a broader view of “personalization for everyone.” Culturally, as a company, PA seems to pride itself on being cutting-edge and fast-moving (they frequently announce major product updates). They were recognized in industry lists (Leading 100 in retail tech) (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025), suggesting part of their strategy is to gain mindshare as the AI leader in retail tech.

To sum up, Particular Audience’s long-term plan is to continue evolving its AI platform so that any retailer can plug it in and immediately operate at a level akin to Amazon’s data-driven prowess. This means continuously improving algorithms (e.g., incorporating the latest AI techniques like sentence embeddings, as they plan to via a UI for tuning the transformer models (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire)) and ensuring their solution stays ahead of retailer needs. They foresee a future where “the future of eCommerce belongs to retailers who adopt AI-first strategies” (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire), and they are working to make adopting AI as easy as subscribing to a service – which is essentially their strategy. Their focus on measurable results (they always cite engagement, revenue lift, etc.) also indicates that as they grow, they will aim to be the proven ROI leader, not just a cool tech demo. If they succeed, they become an indispensable partner to retailers (driving core KPIs), which secures their position in the market.

Why Particular Audience is Fundamentally Different: In conclusion, while both Pentaleap and Particular Audience are in the business of empowering retailers to compete in the era of retail media, they are fundamentally different in their approaches. Pentaleap (Crealytics) is fundamentally an advertising technology specialist – its DNA is optimizing paid placements and connecting marketplaces of ad buyers and sellers in an open way. It excels at behind-the-scenes integration, ensuring retailers squeeze more revenue from their existing site traffic through ads without hurting the shopper experience (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization). Its vision of an open ecosystem is about industry structure: breaking silos and walled gardens so that every retailer can maximize ad demand and every brand can access inventory easily (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap). On the other hand, Particular Audience is fundamentally an AI-driven personalization company that extended into retail media. Its core belief is that better shopper experience and better monetization are two sides of the same coin, achievable only by leveraging AI at every customer touchpoint (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire). PA’s platform treats ads as content and uses the same AI brain to decide what products (organic or sponsored) to show to each person, optimizing for engagement and revenue simultaneously. This is a different philosophy from Pentaleap’s more modular ad-serving approach. PA’s fundamental difference is also technical: it built its own search and recommendation engines to be retail-and-AI-specific, whereas Pentaleap typically interfaces with existing search systems. This means PA delves into improving core onsite conversion (increasing sales), not just ad metrics. In effect, Pentaleap primarily speaks to retail media managers and advertising teams, while Particular Audience speaks to both the digital product teams (concerned with UX/conversion) and the media/marketing teams – uniting those concerns under one AI system.

From a business model perspective, Pentaleap’s success is tied to retailer ad revenue growth, and it often works in the background (the shopper might not know Pentaleap is powering those sponsored listings). Particular Audience’s success is tied to both conversion rate and ad revenue; it’s more visible in the front-end changes (e.g., a dramatically improved search bar experience or personalized pages). Retailers who prioritize maintaining a top-notch customer experience might lean toward PA’s approach, seeing it as a way to “have your cake and eat it too” – get Amazon-level personalization and new ad dollars. Retailers who are primarily focused on building a large media business quickly, and want to connect with many advertisers, might favor Pentaleap’s approach of open ad integration and operational support.

In the rapidly evolving retail tech landscape, both companies have aligned their strategies to the broader trend: every retailer becoming a media company. Pentaleap is ensuring the infrastructure and economics of that trend work in retailers’ favor (and not just the Amazons of the world), while Particular Audience is ensuring the customer-facing experience and AI intelligence match what the tech giants can do. It’s not uncommon that a large retailer might even use both – for example, Pentaleap for the ad serving infrastructure and Particular Audience for the on-site personalization – though overlap in sponsored products capability would mean one ultimately takes precedence for that feature. As the market matures, we may see Pentaleap add more AI personalization features or Particular Audience open up more of its network capabilities. But as of now, each has carved a distinct niche.

Recent Developments: It’s worth noting recent shifts: Crealytics’ rebrand to Pentaleap in 2024 itself signals how important retail media tech has become to their identity ( “Most companies in retail media have hit some kind of ceiling,” Defining the Future of Commerce with Andreas Reiffen, Pentaleap - ExchangeWire.com). They doubled down on this direction after years of building the solution under the Crealytics umbrella. For Particular Audience, recent developments include major product releases (like the third phase of their platform in early 2025 with a huge expansion of features (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire)) and high-profile hires (the Home Depot retail media veteran in 2025 (U.S. Retail Media Veteran Joins Particular Audience to Accelerate U.S. and European Growth—and Build Retail Media the Way It Was Meant to Be | Business Wire)), which show PA scaling up and reinforcing its market leadership claims in AI retail media. Both companies are likely to continue evolving – Pentaleap may innovate around multi-retailer networks or new optimization algorithms, and Particular Audience will continue to push the envelope with AI (they mention upcoming features like sentence embedding tuning UI and search model A/B testing to keep their AI models sharp (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire)).

In conclusion, Pentaleap and Particular Audience each contribute to the retail media and personalization space with different core strengths. Pentaleap provides the robust pipes and controls for retail media monetization (with an open, partnership-oriented philosophy (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization)), while Particular Audience provides the “brain” to personalize and automate retail experiences (with an AI-first ethos that predicts customer needs (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire)). Retailers choose between them (or in combination) based on whether they need more help with the monetization infrastructure or the intelligent customer experience – a comprehensive strategy may involve elements of both. As the examples and sources show, both companies are helping retailers outside of Big Tech to grow new revenue streams and improve shopper engagement, but they are fundamentally different in how they tackle that challenge.

Sources:

• Pentaleap (Crealytics) Founder’s message and press releases – vision of open retail media, platform components, client results (Pentaleap Blog: Message from the Founder: Launching Pentaleap) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization).
• Particular Audience press releases and website – AI-driven approach, product features (Adaptive Transformer Search, etc.), and positioning against legacy systems (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire) (Particular Audience Announces Largest Ever Product Release—Reinforcing Market Leadership in Advanced AI-Powered Retail Media, Search & Personalization | Business Wire).
• Retail TouchPoints & ExchangeWire interviews with Andreas Reiffen – context on Crealytics/Pentaleap strategy vs Amazon and industry fragmentation (Exec Q&A: ‘Retailers Can’t Build a Billion-Dollar Media Business if they Don't Want to Show Ads’ - Retail TouchPoints) ( “Most companies in retail media have hit some kind of ceiling,” Defining the Future of Commerce with Andreas Reiffen, Pentaleap - ExchangeWire.com).
• NRF 2025 Exhibitor info & BusinessWire releases for Particular Audience – client names (Target, etc.), claimed performance improvements, and company mission to democratize Amazon’s tech (Particular Audience - NRF Big Show 2025) (About Us).
• Company websites (Pentaleap and Particular Audience About pages) – background on services, FAQs, and support models (About Us) (Pentaleap Press Release: Pentaleap Unveils Cutting-Edge Modular Platform to Revolutionize Retail Media Monetization).
• Awin partnership article – details on Particular Audience’s integration as a no-code layer and focus on per-customer journeys (Unique web experience with Particular Audience | Awin).

AI/ML that powers all customer interactions. If you see it, search it, click it, or buy it – that's PA.

Right now, most retail media platforms still rely on manual keyword-based targeting, which is missing up to 80% of potential revenue—especially from shoppers who never use search.

We built AI-first retail media at Particular Audience—where ads are placed based on predicted intent, not just keywords. That’s why our partners see 4x better performance than traditional keyword-first platforms.

Advanced search and recommendation technology is the foundation of successful Retail Media.

Particular Audience will outperform any other platform for automation, performance and ease of implementation.

We prove it, with zero risk or effort from the retailer. Contact us to speak to someone today.