Finding flaws to play the AI game; Our plans for REmade
Welcome to a midweek edition of Unmade.
Today: Playing the points game with the Qantas AI customer service, and we reveal our plans for the next edition of our retail media event REmade
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The return of our REmade conference: Retail media gets real: more channels, sharper tools and bigger stakes
Remade curator Cat McGinn writes:
Retail media in APAC is scaling and evolving. And so are we.
REmade returns for 2025 with a bigger venue, two distinct content streams, and a bleeding-edge new agenda designed to reflect the complexity and momentum of today’s retail media landscape.
Expect richer insights, candid case studies, and - as always, the right people in the room to help attendees build, scale and lead their retail media practice.
Once seen as a bottom-funnel lever for transactional impact, retail media is now scaling into a full-funnel, brand-building capability. Marketers are using it to reach audiences across every touchpoint, from connected TV to in-store screens, while retailers double down on owned data to create closed-loop systems that promise precision and accountability. Loyalty, purchase history and omnichannel behaviour are fast becoming the most valuable assets in the market.
This shift is also reshaping who gets to play. Retail media is no longer just for traditional advertisers; non-endemic brands from banking, telco and travel are moving in, drawn by scale, targeting potential, and the proximity to purchase. Nielsen’s 2025 Annual Marketing Report found (65%) of global marketers said retail media networks will play a bigger role in their strategy this year.
This means that there is an urgency around elevating creativity and innovation in retail environments: increased competition means a greater need for differentiation.
At the same time, the line between digital and physical retail is blurring. In-store experiences are increasingly connected, dynamic and measurable.
The impact of AI is significant. AI is already changing shopper behaviour, streamlining campaign planning and personalisation, but the bigger story may be in measurement: as expectations mature, can artificial intelligence help to solve the vexed question of measurement and standardisation in retail media? There are plenty of bullish claims to this effect, but while AI can optimise data models, it can’t force retailers to share standardised data or agree on unified measurement frameworks.
As the market matures, performance metrics are shifting beyond ROAS toward brand lift, incrementality, and lifetime value.
The agenda for REmade, developed with the support of our generous advisory panel, is intended to help newer entrants to the sector as well as insights into optimisation for more established players.
Hear from Flywheel
We can announce our first case study; Flywheel and Logitech will share how they're using Amazon’s Business Maturity Framework to move from foundational to best-in-class. Mohammad Heidari Far, managing director Flywheel Australia and Karen Franco, national account manager for Logitech, will discuss the key lessons learnt and future trends in retail media 3.0 as part of the REmade conference.
Early bird tickets are on sale now.
One tiny flaw
The great philosopher Frasier Crane once described the perfect restaurant experience as “An exquisite meal with one tiny flaw we can pick at all night.”
These days, I feel the same way about Qantas.
Coffee machine still not working in the Launceston passenger cupboard? Drop them a complaint.
Boarding passes not being checked at the premium lane for security so there’s a giant queue? Complaint
Delayed getting off the plane because there was nobody available to operate the air bridge? Complaint.
It’s all so easy via the online form.
The reason? I’ve come to believe that Qantas has already started using AI to deal with low level service complaints. And I’m equally sure that includes an algorithm to send over a few bonus reward points to divert anybody who complains.
They are all genuine, albeit minor, complaints, by the way. These tiny flaws are not ones that I would have previously bothered to make.
I landed on this theory after noticing how robotic a response I received to a complaint about the removal of the coffee machine from the Qantas “lounge” in Melbourne. I’m not talking about a fancy coffee machine, by the way; it was just one of those cheap $99 Espressotoria ones. The question I actually asked that sent me down this new rabbit hole was whether the machine was coming back or permanently removed, as there was no signage.
What I received back felt like it had been written in ChatGPT, responding, but not quite able to discern the main point of the email, or indeed answer my question about whether the machine would be back. (Narrator: it wouldn’t.)
It did, however, come accompanied by 10,000 reward points.
Considering you usually get 1000 points for a short domestic flight, that’s not nothing. It got me in the habit of moaning to the Qantas robots.
The reason for mentioning this was yesterday’s market update from Telstra which included the disclosure that it intends to increasingly use AI in dealing with customers. And cut jobs. Those two things do increasingly seem to go together.
This, by the way, feels like an interim point. Within a year or two, agentic AI will be available on the consumer side too.
I’ll tell my agentic AI to talk to the Qantas agentic AI, and let it know about my caffeine disappointment.
No humans needed.
Unmade Index edges up
The Unmade Index saw a mild improvement on Tuesday, growing by 0.43% to 557.9 points.
There was no clear direction from the larger stocks. Nine, Ooh Media, ARN Media were all up a little. Domain and IVE Group dipped.
Among the smaller businesses, out of home company Motio gained 14.7% and Vionyl Group 4.2%.
More from Mumbrella…
Paul McMillan, Ant Keogh and Michael Derepas’ indie agency finally launches
Indie agencies set for hiring blitz as advertising sentiment improves
Time to leave you to your Wednesday.
We’ll be back with more soon.
Have a great day
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade + Mumbrella
tim@unmade.media
