Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade.

Today’s edition of the podcast features Colin Lewis, retail media evangelist and global marketing consultant. Further down, a particularly good day for Domain on The Unmade Index.

The only way to access Unmade’s full archive, and our weekly Tuesdata analysis, is as a paying member. Unmade members also get discounted tickets to our events, including our retail media conference Re:Made, which takes place next month.

‘The media business is a different game to retailing’

Ahead of his appearance at next month’s REmade conference, we talk to retail media evangelist and global consultant Colin Lewis about the state of play locally and globally.

In the conversation with REmade curator Cat McGinn, Lewis says Australia can lay claim to being among the most sophisticated retail media markets in the world.

He cites the media backgrounds of Coles360 boss Paul Brooks and Woolworths Cartology boss Mike Tyquin as key to the growth of the emerging sector. The duo both had deep media backgrounds until they moved across to the retail world. Brooks is a former CEO of Dentsu’s Carat and former Sydney sales director for Nine; Tyquin ran outdoor companies Adshel and Eye. That’s a mix not necessarily replicated in other markets.

According to Lewis: “Setting up an ad network is actually the smallest part of the whole thing. The real thing is that you’re in the media business - and the media business it’s a different game to retailing.

“This is one area where the Australian market is ahead of anyone else. I’ve worked with a lot of brands in the UK and they haven’t quite worked out that ‘the game I’m in, is the media business’. But if you look at the two biggest retail media brands in Australia - Coles and Woolworths, they’re led by media people - people who understand media and come from a media background.

“Australia is punching above its weight and probably second in the world in terms of its forward thinking and its approach.”

Lewi, who is the author of six best practice reports on retail media, focusing on Amazon, Walmart, Kroger, Target, and Instacart also writes a regular column for our RE:Made newsletter. His clients include the likes of Ferrero Rocher, Glambia, Colgate, and retailer clients like Superdrug, The Very Group, and Warehouse Group.

During the conversation, Lewis also tackles the imminent arrival of Nine into the space with its RTLX play, announced at their Upfronts earlier this month. According to Lewis, he has “question marks” about the move.

And he also addresses the growing presence of Amazon and offers a theory on how it has taken its hold . “We've got some new data showing that Amazon Prime is really far and away leading the pack in terms of TV on demand. It's almost as though Amazon has built it backwards. They've started with a marketplace and they've traveled up the funnel.”

RE:Made returns to Sydney on October 11. Along with Lewis, Brooks and Tyquin are all among the confirmed speakers. Tickets are on sale now.

Stronger performance across the Unmade Index

Seja Al Zaidi writes:

It was a solid day across the board on the Unmade Index yesterday, our measurement system of ASX-listed media and marketing stocks. It rose 1.65% to land at 630.2 points.

Domain performed the best, rising 3.29%. Seven West Media came in at a close second, lifting 3.23% in share price.

Ooh Media scored 1.85% rise while IVE Group rose 1.61%. Nine climbed 0.99%.

Enero Group was the only stock to move downwards, falling 3.13%.

Time to leave you to your Thursday. We’ll be back with an end of week update tomorrow.

Audio production was courtesy of Abe’s Audio, the people to talk to about voiceovers, sound design and podcast production.

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