[00:00:00] Welcome to Unpacking the Digital Shelf, APAC Edition, where we explore the unique challenges and opportunities shaping digital commerce across Asia-Pacific, with insights from the region's top experts.
[00:00:13] The Unpacking the Digital Shelf, the APAC Edition. Retail media is attracting more investment than ever. Budgets are increasing, the number of networks in market is growing, and expectations are rising. But one big question still sits underneath all of it. What actually drives performance?
[00:00:42] Because for many brands in the APAC region, retail media still feels a bit like a black box. There are metrics, there are case studies, but there isn't always clarity on what drives growth and what levers brands can pull to shift performance. What separates effective investment from wasted efforts? That is exactly what today's episode is all about. Coles 360 recently partnered with Sakana to test a series of hypotheses and myths around what truly drives retail media performance.
[00:01:12] And from the research, they have been able to develop five growth principles that are now shaping how Coles 360 engages with suppliers across planning, scorecarding and growth. Joining me on the mics today to unpack this research and the five principles is Bethany Blanchard, the Head of Strategy and Planning at Coles 360. She's been part of Coles 360 since its inception, shaping the role of strategy and planning within the retail media environment.
[00:01:41] And in her current role, she leads supplier collaborations, data-led solutions and omnichannel retail media strategies. Welcome, Bethany. I'm so happy to have you on the mics today. Thanks, Teresa. Wonderful to join you and talk about this new research. I know there is so much to unpack. So let's jump right in. So Bethany, let's start with the research. Let's unpack what was the catalyst to commission it? What were you seeing and why now?
[00:02:10] Well, there were two real factors. One, as we know, retail media investment is scaling rapidly. It's gone from an emerging channel just a few years ago to a key pillar of a brand's ecosystem. And with that comes a lot of strong opinions about what works or doesn't work. So what we wanted to do was move the conversation from instinct and anecdote to evidence.
[00:02:32] The second was about Coles 360 really taking a leadership position in market around effectiveness and what it means in the retail media space. So, you know, when you look at above the line, marketers have principles tested globally over decades around effectiveness in media. So you think laws of growth, which some of the principles have a grounding in. But this hadn't necessarily been tested within the retail media environment.
[00:02:57] So the question was, did it hold true or was it different within this unique ecosystem? And if it's different, how do the rules change? So that was really important. We had some clear hypotheses around growth principles, but we wanted to validate what actually drives performance using real data. So it was about moving from intuition to proof.
[00:03:19] And then in terms of why now, well, we were at a point where measurement capability had caught up to the ambition and expectations of the channel. So it was the right time. And I love that Coles is taking a leadership position. I think that's really important. We know that brands are just so thirsty for knowledge in this space and know how.
[00:03:39] And so it's really encouraging to see leaders like Coles 360 take this really important step, which of course supports Coles 360, but the market as a whole. I think it's really, really great to see. Absolutely. You do see that, especially, you know, it is kind of still a small industry. And I've been lucky enough to go to conferences and people are very open to sharing. And we're all learning. We're all building this globally and in Australia. Absolutely together. Okay.
[00:04:08] So you've just touched on it. You talked about you had a series of hypotheses and also some myths to test as part of the research, and that really helped shape and inform the research study. Can you talk us through a little bit more about that and what the research process involved? Yes. So we had five myths to bust and then five growth principles. So the myths were really about interrogating common assumptions surrounding retail media and separating fact from misconception.
[00:04:38] The principles were then about identifying the consistent practices that reliably ladder up to stronger outcomes. And in all of this, Sakana played a key role. So it was really important for us that we worked with a third party so that we were not kind of marking our own homework. And they brought, of course, analytical rigor, but really importantly, that global perspective around what's worked in other markets.
[00:05:03] So we started by observing patterns across campaigns and forming hypotheses around what might be driving growth. And even just talking to our sales team and my planning team around what are we hearing from the market? What are the common pushbacks that we hear from suppliers? And then from there, we set up the right measurement framework and then tested those hypotheses at scale across campaigns and categories. And so ultimately, five of those hypotheses statistically held up in the data.
[00:05:31] So it was a journey from observation, hypothesis to testing, and then proving what actually drives growth. Yeah, great. And I'm curious, what was the biggest myth? What's one or two of the most common myths that you see in market? Oh, there's so many. I mean, I think the big one, which actually ends up coming part of one of the principles is that digital activity only drives digital performance. I think that thankfully is now eroding.
[00:05:59] But yeah, we saw a lot of pushback initially when we were putting forward digital assets as part of plans to be truly omnichannel. When, of course, the percentage of digital sales are always going to be smaller than what you see in store, but it's so important. So even though digital plays a smaller role in the percentage of sales, it plays a really strong part in driving that kind of preference prior to store. I like that you just touched on you.
[00:06:29] You see it's evolving. I have been in the market way too long. I've been in the industry 25 years, and I feel like we were having this conversation 10, 15 years ago when I was client side trying to convince executives that digital plays as much of a role to influence the in-store purchase as it does to drive the online sale. And so, you know, it's great to hear that it's moving along, but obviously still persistent as a myth in market. Absolutely.
[00:06:59] And I think that that's the thing that I find really fascinating about retail media coming from a kind of media side or media agency side. A lot of the myths that were being tackled by, you know, leaders in industry like Benet Enfield or Ehrenberg Bass, you're seeing similar things being challenged now in retail media. So, you know, one of the principles is continuity. You know, that's part of laws of growth. So it's almost like we're still making those cases above the line, but we're definitely trying to make them within retail media as well.
[00:07:29] And I also love that you touched on in terms of your approach, you've brought in that global perspective, and I think that's really important. We're still very much maturing as a local market, and so there's so much that we can learn from more mature markets like the US and UK. So it's great that the research is grounded in what is working globally, not just what we're seeing is performing locally. So we're going to unpack each of the five retail media best practice principles in a moment. Oh, that's a mouthful.
[00:07:58] And no matter really if you are working with Coles in Australia or listening across some other parts of the globe, there's really something in here for everyone because these principles are relevant across different markets. But for those suppliers that are working with Coles 360, how do these new principles change how you engage with them from a planning and discussions point of view? Yeah, this is an incredibly powerful tool for us to help suppliers get the most out of their media investment.
[00:08:28] And it's both by looking forward and looking back. So number one, this is a way to scorecard our suppliers on their historical performance to give them a gauge as to where they sit against these best practice principles. Because at the end of the day, retail media is a competitive landscape and you need to have a sense of how you're performing. So we found it really changed the quality of the conversation with suppliers.
[00:08:51] We can now look back across the last 12 months of the suppliers activity and understand how they've shown up against these growth principles in practice. Then the flip, so looking forward, the principles are really a tool to help suppliers and us plan more effectively. So we are currently doing our joint business planning process at the moment at Coles. We're almost about to wrap that up. And we're using this as an evidence-based diagnostic tool.
[00:09:18] So it means we can have much more robust discussions about what's driving growth, where performance has been constrained, where real opportunities lie. And this means the dialogue becomes far more detailed and objective because it's grounded in what the evidence is telling us about reach, penetration, incrementality and behaviour change, rather than just assumptions or anecdotal learnings.
[00:09:40] And so really, we always want to co-create, but it means we're co-creating much more effective growth plans with our supplier partners based on what truly drives the performance. And it feels far more holistic because you're looking at it from the various perspectives, but also brings a greater level of transparency into the relationship, which I just think is so important for retail media in terms of the juncture we are at in the market currently. Absolutely. That's super important.
[00:10:10] And that's actually when we go back to some of the core principles that we, I mean, particularly measurement team. I've been at Coles 360 since day one. I remember when we were working through it. For measurement and planning, it is that transparency. And I think one of the things that's hard, you obviously can't give a view of competitors because of the commercial sensitivity, but showing where you stack up against these key principles can be really revealing because the supplier might have a view. You know, they might be thinking, well, why am I in this number two position or further back?
[00:10:38] But then actually when you track it against some of these things, you start to really show, okay. Provides the why. Yeah. The why. Exactly. Yes. And that's interesting, actually, because that's one of the things that had kind of popped up in my mind. And so, obviously, you can't disclose what a competitor is doing. But because you've moved to a scorecarding based approach, are you able to start to show how is that supplier faring against their broader competitive set?
[00:11:07] And therefore, what does that mean that I need to be thinking about? Is that something you're already doing or is that on the horizon? No, that is exactly what we're doing. So, as part of this joint business planning process, we have put in a red, amber, green against these principles. So, we basically said, okay, for the โ and it was really like the top 50 suppliers, this is where they're sitting against the principles and where then the supplier we're working with, are you red, amber, green in relation to those? So, yeah, it's starting to get very pointy and actionable.
[00:11:37] I love that. Okay, so let's start with the first principle, which is plan with purpose, unifying reach, relevance and results, which is all about aligning investment with clear objectives. So, step us through this first principle. What is it that you've found and why it matters more than brands potentially realise? Yeah. So, this one is planning with purpose. It is objective-led asset planning.
[00:12:04] Then, importantly, aligning that investment to clear objectives. So, I'll give you a quote that I love, which is, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it's stupid. Measurement used this a lot. I love it. Love it. Yeah, that's great. It's so great. I've not actually heard that before, but that is really clever. I love it. Yeah, it's such a great one. It's so clear.
[00:12:28] And I think, you know, if we're measuring the success of a digital awareness driving asset just on whether it drove click-through, in some ways you're asking a fish to climb. You know, so we have to be clear on it. It's an universal issue in digital. Totally. It's not just a retail media issue. I've seen this forever and a day. Yes. Teams that set out to buy awareness and brand building activity only to measure it on the basis of sales and conversion that occurred from an e-commerce point of view. Totally, totally. Totally.
[00:12:56] And we, you know, year one when we didn't have a lot of these, you know, we didn't have a lot of measurement. We didn't have a lot of these principles. And we would hear it, you know, it would be, you know, an awareness driving asset like it might be a homepage asset that was very much more that upper funnel. But then the metrics were, you know, click-through or conversion. And so we didn't kind of have that stat to back it up. We kind of knew it intuitively. So this is such a powerful tool to say, okay, well, maybe that metric maybe isn't the right thing to measure it against.
[00:13:26] So we really need to be clear on what we're trying to achieve. Right objective, right channel, right measure. And so in some ways, this first principle is actually about redefining success because as we know, you know, ROI can be treated as a goal when it's actually just an outcome. And when ROI becomes that only lens, it can actually push brands towards the wrong decision.
[00:13:49] And we understand why in high-pressure environments like retail, you're optimizing for what converts today and maybe under-investing in what grows. But the evidence shows that better outcomes come from starting with a clear growth objective like new to brand buyers or trial or penetration and then choosing the right assets to align to that. So that might be driven from brands internally with, you know, scrutiny from a financial point of view.
[00:14:19] If I, if we provide another half a million dollars in investment for retail media, how much is that going to return? So you can see why potentially that's happening, but absolutely agree. It's driving that wrong outcome. Absolutely. This, I mean, this is a very wide discussion, not even just in retail media, but yeah, if we only optimize for sure. Short term and ROI, we're optimizing towards the, the, the wrong thing.
[00:14:44] So the real shift is that now that we can measure properly, not just sales this week, but incremental growth, new buyers and behavior change over time. The bigger question shouldn't be, you know, did it pay back this week? Yes. But rather, did it make the brand bigger? Yes, absolutely. And how does it align with my longer term goals? Not just driving short term sales activity, as you've mentioned. Yes. Great. Okay. So that kind of brings together what principle one is all about. Let's talk about principle two.
[00:15:14] And this second principle is all around context. So reach gets you seen, but context gets you chosen. And this really challenges brands to think and promote outside of their category to drive consideration and growth. So have I captured that, the essence of that principle correctly? And why is this so powerful? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So reach is important, but reach alone, it isn't enough. And it is about context. And when we say context, we mean relevance, not just like random adjacency.
[00:15:43] But brands have to show up in the right context to cut through and really resonate. And so with this, as always, it's about and not or. So you need reach. That provides the scale to capture the broad audiences. Context is what directs that exposure towards meaningful behavior. And so when you do this, it's a really potent combination because you can reach new buyers. So extend that visibility beyond your loyal shoppers, grow category buyers, so acquire customers who may not otherwise have been exposed.
[00:16:12] And then drive incremental sales. And I think the context piece is really powerful because quite often we focus a lot on just audiences. So we want relevant reach, we want to speak to the right customer, but we also want to speak to them in the right moment. So that's really, really important. And then when we go to the case studies, on average, 30% of those exposed and went on to purchase were new to brand. 60% of those were new to category.
[00:16:39] And 97% of those had not bought the category in the last year. So it's sort of this flywheel of effectiveness. So if you needed proof that context matters and leveraging those signals and cues beyond your more traditional audience-based targeting, the data has proved all of those things and more from a business case point of view. Absolutely. To go to your point, that might help you make the case internally. Absolutely. That's right. So, okay, that's great.
[00:17:07] And I think what it also does is provides brands with new opportunities that potentially they haven't tapped into before to fuel growth, whether that's for new product development or whether that's to drive share within core range. It provides them with new strategies to deploy, which maybe they haven't tested or trialed before. Absolutely.
[00:17:38] And this is that leveling up of obviously you need to be present where your customers are going to convert, but doing things like meal inspiration or seasonal events or lead business initiatives are really, really powerful. And again, drive salience for your brand, encourage us switching. It's just another element to make your plans more sophisticated and ultimately grow share. Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So principle three is be everywhere that matters. And we were just touching on this earlier.
[00:18:06] This is all about the fact that brands are still undervaluing the role that digital plays to deliver a sales outcome in an omnichannel world. And it's one that I'm personally really passionate about, probably because I've got lived experience in terms of trying to convince executives that digital is influencing in-store outcomes, not just online. So what has the research shown here from a retail media standpoint? Yeah, you're fighting the good fight. Right.
[00:18:36] So look, there are sort of dual elements to this in this principle. So number one is really about the single channel campaigns. And then there's the question of the digital or the off network. So in terms of single channel, we know omnichannel campaigns work harder. So media has a multiplier effect where the impact of one channel amplifies the effectiveness of another. And that isn't just our research. You know, there was a recent Ad Council of Australia report that showed that adding each extra media channel increases ROI by an average of 35%.
[00:19:06] And we see this in our own research that my team do. You know, we have a planning tool. And when we're planning the optimal campaign for any buyer, whether it's main grocery buyer, total buyers, across every category and campaign, three plus assets are more effective. So brands need strategies that ensure presence across every relevant touchpoint. And, you know, that's scalable. That doesn't have to mean, you know, really significant investment, but it just means that we're being really smart around our placements.
[00:19:35] Digital then is important to ensure that we have as part of plans. And digital doesn't just drive online conversion. That's the misconception. It actually shapes the in-store decision. And we'd seen this a bit. I spoke about this before where early days suppliers were maybe reluctant to invest in online. And it was because of the online only representing a smaller portion of sales. And, you know, it might be around 10% of sales for that category.
[00:20:03] But that is that short-term view because it's only being measured as part of, okay, what did e-com dry in terms of e-com sales? But it ignores the impact it has on in-store sales more broadly. And we've seen this, you know, because of the macro impacts around cost of living, people are using digital as their touchpoint to compare prices. So actually, it's even more important. One of the things that I found interesting, it was a little while back now, but we launched our Coles app.
[00:20:29] 50% of those app users have their shopping methods set to in-store because they're trying to see the total basket costs as they shop. Exactly right. Trying to plan the budget. And exactly. Cost of living crisis. Absolutely. So it's such an important factor. So omni-channel really does ensure that you are influencing at every stage of the journey.
[00:20:51] And again, one of our points of research was that while 72% of grocery decisions happen in-store, 82% of Australians research online before buying in-store. So it's very, very powerful. And then if we go then to the other part of the equation, which is just the value for suppliers in this channel. So omni-channel and online shoppers consistently spend more than single-channel shoppers. So they often buy more in one basket. They spend more per visit on non-essential items and they purchase more frequently.
[00:21:19] So for us, the outtake is plan more touch points, have a strong digital present, but still be consistent in-store. Absolutely. And we know from various reports locally that the omni-channel shopper is now the vast majority of shoppers from a grocery standpoint, right? We don't have a traditional shopper and an online shopper. We mostly have omni-channel shoppers. And so it becomes a defensive strategy, right?
[00:21:48] We talk about online and remaining in the basket. You need to be in the basket because the existing basket fuels what I put in my next basket. It's as important for in-store because of the reasons that you've just outlined. The reality is they're using the app to plan, to determine what they're going to go purchase in-store. And so that behaviour shapes what they're buying in-store over time. So it really becomes as much about a defensive strategy as it is about growth.
[00:22:18] That is such a good way of putting it. Yes, it is defensive. You know, in some ways you'd almost say, is it just table stakes? You need to be present. If you're not present at the digital shelf, it's like not being present in the physical shelf, you know. That's right. And the reality is there are external factors that are shifting and changing decisions that shoppers are making ongoing. And so it's not enough to just hope that shoppers will continue to preference your brand.
[00:22:45] But equally, it plays that growth role as well, which I think is important. And obviously why you're also investing from a retail media standpoint. Okay, so that's a great one. And as I said, one that I'm really passionate about. Let's talk about the fourth principle, which is amplify price promotion through retail media.
[00:23:05] So can you tell us a little bit about that principle and the importance really of aligning retail media with trade planning and activity? Yeah, so when we go back to that battle that we talked about at the start of instinct versus evidence, this is one of the core questions we sought to understand. Does adding media actually amplify sales or would those sales have occurred anyway? And in fact, I think that's one of the core battles of retail media. It's a core debate.
[00:23:32] But we now have data points to demonstrate that campaigns supported by media deliver an additional 12% of sales uplift compared to price promo alone. So that's, I think, for us a very, very powerful stat. And it does highlight that aligning media with trade does amplify both because price promo drives the volume. But adding media amplifies the impact. And that might be from penetration of category buyers, potentially acquisition of competitive buyers.
[00:24:01] It's really, really important. And so quite often we see that suppliers, you know, assume that a price promo is enough. But what we're saying is plan ahead, look at your promotional calendar, work with us to boost, bolster and amplify to maximize that visibility and conversion. And Sakana's analysis showed that 30% of Coles customers exposed to Coles media online had not purchased the brand before exposure to the ad.
[00:24:29] And 45% of those were entirely new to the category. So, yeah, it is really powerful. Well, essentially you're saying just because I have a promo, it doesn't mean that everyone's going to see it. That's absolutely right. That is absolutely right. And retail media plays that vital role to ensure that it's connecting with the right buyers beyond those that you're already talking to, essentially, or shoppers that you're already talking to. So it makes a lot of sense. And a lot of these principles do, really.
[00:24:59] When you boil it down, a lot of it feels like common sense. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely. But it's really important that you have the data and the insight to back it. Totally. Absolutely. That's one of the things, you know, we often talk to new starters about that. Some of this does feel intuitive, maybe because it's a category that a lot of us shop. You know, you're often, you're taught in advertising. It's very important to know that as soon as you work in advertising, you're not the customer, right?
[00:25:28] So you actually, that's why you have to go to the research. And, you know, Ritson says, you know, when you're asked something, if you don't have research, the correct answer is, I don't know. And I totally agree with that, right? You absolutely have to have that humility. But because we are, we do these shops daily, if not weekly, sometimes it is a bit of a gut instinct of, okay, well, what, you know, sometimes it's as simple as going, well, if you've only got activity in aisle, in the physical aisle, does it make sense to prime prior to store?
[00:25:58] Absolutely. You know, so a lot of it can be intuitive, but it's so important to back it up with the data. And the reality is with shoppers in store, not everyone is navigating through every aisle. Some are coming to do a top-up mission that's very in and out. I'm very clear. I'm going into these three aisles and I'm doing that in between finishing work and getting home to cook for the kids or pick up the kids or whatever it is. So that idea that just because I'm there and I've got the placement is going to maximise my reach is not enough.
[00:26:27] Thinking about this from a full funnel point of view and thinking about the role of aligning price promotion with retail media across those touchpoints, incredibly important. And it's, as I said, it's obvious, but it's great that the research reinforced just how powerful the two can be. And the flip side is also true, I would assume, which is how can I leverage retail media and amplify my retail media through thinking about price promotion?
[00:26:56] We, in the work that we do, we see a lot of brands reluctant or less likely to want to invest in things like online-only promos, right? Which we know can drive new-to-basket shoppers, which over time will repeat purchase because shoppers start in their last basket. When you combine retail media efforts with things like online promo strategies, again, that I assume would also drive growth. So I assume that the revenue is true. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:27:26] That's a really fascinating way. But yeah, I guess it goes against that multiplier effect. They work in tandem and as you sort of say, they amplify both. So both are really, really important. So yeah, absolutely. When we're planning, that trade promo piece, we've been part of the JVP process is absolutely key. So it's a really important point. And so what does good alignment look like? So if we think about brands that are trying to align their retail media and promo plans, what does good look like?
[00:27:55] From those that you see that do it really well? I mean, it is. I mean, for us, it's visibility and not kind of what we try to get away from is the treadmill of individual briefs. You know, so, oh, I've got this NPD. I've got this, you know, whether it's an online promo or a holistic promo. We, you know, I've got a new brand launch.
[00:28:15] Having that annual lay down is so important because we can ensure that we're hitting all of these principles and ensuring we have a level of continuity, that we are amplifying promo with trade, that we're, you know, using our NPD playbook around ensuring that your big bets get the impact and visibility that they need. So some of it is just that visibility. And then we're increasingly talking about also above the line visibility now because a lot of what we're talking about is through the line.
[00:28:43] So, you know, early days we did really say, please show us if you're able, you're above the line plans so that we can make sure that they're married up. And it can be as simple as like pulsing activity, aligning activity because it's more efficient. So all of these things, I would say visibility is key. Great. I love it. Okay. So the final principle is mental availability requires media availability, which really speaks to the importance of always on activity.
[00:29:10] Why is this important and so hard for brands? Yeah. Well, look, mental availability matters and it's built through frequency, consistency, recency of exposure. And we know this, it's what underpins brand marketing and above the line planning as well. But it can be lost in retail media when we get on this, you know, path of just focusing on NPD launches or even promo amplification alone.
[00:29:36] So while that's important and we've just spoken about that principle, always on is super important and it requires a mindset shift. So we have a saying, it was actually from my agency days around continuity, which is be afraid of the dark, which means, you know, don't have long periods of going dark. Don't have long periods of no activity. So it's really about staying on to stay ahead. And that doesn't have to mean every week. Again, a lot of what we're talking about, I want to be clear, is scalable.
[00:30:04] This doesn't just mean for the suppliers that have huge budgets. We can be really efficient with this, but there should be continuity. And that might mean every week. It might mean every month. But how are you having that continuous conversation with your customers to ensure that you're salient? And so we saw the power of this as part of the research. So we worked with a men's yoder brand to increase mental availability and kind of command attention at the shelf.
[00:30:30] And we saw that in this campaign, just 32% of sales occurred in week one with the impact lasting up to 10 weeks. So that continuity, had they just done a kind of impact in the first week and tailed off, you may not have seen that same level of conversion. And this was a campaign where 85% of new to brand buyers were new or lapsed category buyers. So, yeah, it's a great example.
[00:30:53] But for us, the key takeaways are length impacts uplift, presence prop switching, and then you want to go for share a voice over sugar spikes. I like the sugar spikes. But essentially, this is a mindset shift, isn't it? It's a mindset shift in terms of how we think about retail media, but it's also a shift in our planning approach.
[00:31:17] You know, there's still so much focus around campaigns and campaign cycles, but really shoppers don't shop in a campaign cycle. They shop every single day. And so how are we there and relevant when and where they are? I think it's really important in all of this and reinforced through the research. So I think that's really valuable as well. Thank you for sharing all of the principles.
[00:31:47] There's a lot in there, and I'm sure there's a lot more within the full report as well that we haven't been able to cover in the podcast today. But before we finish up, I want to take a couple of moments just to get a few final thoughts from you on the topic of brand building, because you've got an extensive background in media. And we know that today that brands are still very much thinking about retail media through a trade driving lens or through kind of a sales conversion lens.
[00:32:15] But of course, retail media can play and is playing an important role in brand building. So how can brands best leverage retail media for the purposes of brand building? I think it's such a powerful and exciting area to look at brand building. You know, we've talked a lot in early days when we were kind of building Coles 360 and what brand building looks like within it.
[00:32:41] As we know, customers don't understand that the minute they cross the threshold of the Coles store that, you know, they've gone from above the line to below the line marketing. And so number one was around, okay, how do you make sure that you're actually cascading the messaging so that they can connect it up? Because one of the early disconnects was you might have this amazing TV or out of home campaign, but then the messaging that you're seeing in store was like product and price. So how do we make sure? And, you know, there's been a lot of evolution in terms of creative guardrails.
[00:33:10] But for us, the kind of key principles is reach relevance and impact. So we do have reach kind of broadcast level scale with really powerful reach building capability like a traditional media channel. So when you're thinking of that, definitely think of retail media channels. The relevance is that we do have that first party data, which everyone kind of knows about retail media, but we can fuel more targeted plans. And then the impact piece is driving distinctiveness on the path to purchase.
[00:33:39] So through impactful in-store or online execution. So we're partnering with brands a lot now on through the line on their big bets to test how retail media campaigns can work to drive new to brand, new to category, new to occasion as part of their total ecosystem. So working really closely with agencies, with brand teams, and this is a very exciting new part of what we do.
[00:34:02] And it sounds like part of this, whilst the network has been built to be full funnel, it is challenging brands to think creatively about how do I tell stories and build brands within your environment and retail media environments more broadly. Because creative is a big part of this. It's not just about the data and the targeting capability in the formats that exist.
[00:34:26] It's how is the brand thinking about how they're telling those stories and creatively coming to life within that retail media environment. Yeah. And that's, I mean, that's the most exciting piece. Again, when we go back to context and that A-B testing, you know, what messages align best with which audiences in which moment. That's very exciting because you can get really pointy. Then that can inform, in fact, you're above the line because we do have that data capability. We can say, well, this is working within the retail media space and our data off network.
[00:34:55] This might influence and vice versa. But yeah, how we're connected up and we're not seeing it as above and below the line. As we say, the line is dead. Yeah, you get to much better plans, holistic plans. I love it. All right. Well, that's all we've got time for. So thank you so much, Bethany, for sharing this valuable research. I'm sure that, as I mentioned earlier, whether we've got listeners at a global level or those working with Coles 360, I think there was something in here for everyone. Thank you so much.
[00:35:24] It was wonderful to be part of it and great to chat to you. So if any of our listeners are interested in reading the full report, you can find the link in the show notes. And then finally, as always, I want to thank our listeners for tuning in to Unpacking the Digital Shelf, the APAC edition with me, Teresa Spurdy.