Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today’s edition features one of the highlights of last week’s REmade - Retail Media Unmade conference, our leadership panel.

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Growing pains, data gains, and techy brains: retail media’s leaders reflect

In today’s audio edition, we hear from the retail media leaders in a session which concluded our retail media conference REmade last week.

Dan Ferguson, chief marketing officer for Adore Beauty Group, Sarah Minassian, head of retail media at Metcash and Marc Lomas, MD of commerce for GroupM AUNZ shared their views on the surge in retail media and its growing industry impact.

The panel presented a unified case that retail media is on a fast track, and with year-on-year expansion, demanding attention, investment - and increased integration across the industry.

In the conversation, moderated by REmade’s Curator Cat McGinn, Lomas argued “We are rapidly approaching Retail Media 3.0 where it’s no longer a separate entity - it's just media, seamlessly integrated across channels and treated the same as other forms of media."

Another key takeaway was the need for better collaboration and data sharing between brands, retailers, and tech partners. The message was clear: transparency builds trust, and trust fuels the kind of partnerships that can really scale retail media. Minassian said “It’s about having authentic conversations, building trust, and aligning everyone’s expertise to move forward at a million miles an hour."

The panel doubled down on putting customers first. Whether it’s using podcasts or digital channels, keeping customer experience front and centre drives genuine engagement. As Ferguson said, “We listen to our customers. They give us sharp and direct feedback, and it’s what drives our decisions. At the start of the pandemic, our audience told us, ‘less of the hard sell,’ and we changed our tone of voice accordingly. That kind of customer feedback is what shapes everything we do."

On the tech side, integration is key. Metcash is focusing heavily on building the infrastructure needed to enhance its retail media offerings, while Adore Beauty’s commitment to leveraging customer data shows just how important tech and data are in taking retail media to the next level.

Lomas added: "When you look at the way consumers are starting to shop, younger demos are rekindling the love of the store. The store is a new canvas for innovation, and syncing experiences between online and offline through technology is where retailers can really step in and deliver."

And Metcash’s Minassian called out the need for more diverse voices at the table to shape the future of the industry, reminding women to apply for roles, even if they don’t feel they have the "perfect" experience.

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Unmade Index hovers as Nine moves up and Seven moves down

Declines from Ooh Media (down 1.2%) and Seven West Media (down 2.8%) were offset by increases in the valuation of Domain (up 1.5%) and Nine (up 0.4%) to slightly lift the Unmade Index yesterday.

The index closed up by 0.2% at 451.6 points.

Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.

We’ll be back with an end-of-week update tomorrow.

Have a great day.

Toodlepip…

Tim Burrowes

Publisher - Unmade

[email protected]

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unmade.substack.com