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10 minutes of expert insights every weekday. Your morning ritual for staying ahead in retail media.
I'm out of the loop, and that's a good thing
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[00:00:00] Kiri Masters: Thank you for joining me on the Retail Media Breakfast Club podcast. Oh my gosh, it has been so long, and I am back. As you may have noticed, I took a few [00:00:15] weeks off over the summer. Following Cannes, I took a couple of weeks as a vacation with my family in the south of France and Italy, driving first along the [00:00:30] coast and then onto Tuscany, and eventually arriving in Rome.
[00:00:35] And then from there, we took a 16 and a half hour flight to Perth, Western [00:00:45] Australia. As a little bit of context for those of you who are new to the podcast or who missed that news, my family and I recently made the decision to relocate back from the US to Australia, where we are [00:01:00] all from, and I'll link up to a post that I wrote that shared a little bit of that decision.
[00:01:08]
[00:01:09] Kiri Masters: And so during this time off, which was a few weeks in total, [00:01:15] I only checked my email for messages from my accountant and, um, only in the last few days did I log back into LinkedIn because in all honesty, I was a little bit scared of what I would find there. [00:01:30] And I haven't been listening to podcasts or reading industry news sites, and all of this means I am out of the loop.
[00:01:40] I'm almost completely unaware of everything that has unfolded [00:01:45] in retail, e-commerce, the AI universe, all in the last month or so, and it feels kinda great to be honest. Or more specifically, it feels fine. [00:02:00] It doesn't feel like we're hurtling towards the singularity or that consumer privacy is truly dead, especially after being in Europe for a bit or worrying about LinkedIn's algorithm.[00:02:15]
[00:02:15] And it reminded me of how all of the things that really seem to be clear and present dangers in my usual nine-to-five aren't exactly the existential [00:02:30] crises that my nervous system seems to think that they are. Getting off the hamster wheel for a few weeks also let me access again the mind of the [00:02:45] average consumer, the consumer who is not chronically up to date on all of the latest advances in e-commerce and digital advertising and AI.
[00:02:56] And I remember that- In general, [00:03:00] consumers often don't really notice the major groundbreaking industry-first innovations that we're all pioneering in our industry. The average consumer is just trying to get the stuff that they [00:03:15] want or need at a good price, at low effort, and sometimes that means changing their habits, but often they just won't bother.
[00:03:27] And it was good to get [00:03:30] back to that again. For me, let me just speak for myself, it's easy in our space where we're talking about innovation and advancements, which we should be. We should be thinking about the [00:03:45] cutting edge and what is coming next. That is everyone's jobs in different ways. Things in real life move a little bit slower, and it was nice just for my own personal wellbeing to tap out of that [00:04:00] for a little bit, but then also to reconnect with, okay, we need to be on the cutting edge, but that's not the reality of the pace of change for a lot of people out there And so all this to say [00:04:15] before I get back to my regularly scheduled meat and potatoes industry commentary this week, please excuse a few personal indulgences.
[00:04:27] I know that some of you are keen [00:04:30] to hear how it's going with the move back to Australia, um, what I'm excited about, and I'm also gonna share some books that I really enjoyed reading while I was on break. So if you're new and you [00:04:45] don't care, or you've been listening for a long time and you don't care, totally fine.
[00:04:50] Catch up tomorrow. But, I just wanted to d- have a little personal check-in as well. [00:05:00] Are manual processes slowing down your RMN momentum? With GrowthLoop's composable commerce media solution, retail media and ad teams can build and launch [00:05:15] precise audiences in minutes, activate across DSPs and ad platforms, and deliver transparent ROI reporting that drives advertiser revenue.
[00:05:28] learn how retail media leaders [00:05:30] at Costco, Fanatics, and goPuff use GrowthLoop to deliver stronger results for their brand partners fast. Visit go.growthloop.com/breakfast. [00:05:45] That's go.growthloop.com/breakfast So the move, I'm back in my hometown of Perth, where all the extended family is. [00:06:00] Our child is back at school. Big wins on all fronts there, and really happy with the decision that we made, which is frankly a huge relief because this move has been extremely [00:06:15] stressful.
[00:06:15] Lots of paperwork, lots of forms, lots of money, and ironically, a lot of said paperwork and money has been thrown at getting our cat over here. [00:06:30] Our nine-year-old cat, she's not here yet, but we are losing sleep over it. So, um, that is, uh, still an open item. And so with all of this [00:06:45] tumult and change in my personal life, I am leaning into extreme contrast in my professional life.
[00:06:54] I am prone to shiny object syndrome. Absolutely. I will put my hand right up [00:07:00] there. But from now through to the end of the year, I'm gonna pretty much stick to what's been working. Commentary on the retail media industry four days a week, distributed through this [00:07:15] podcast, an email newsletter, and on LinkedIn.
[00:07:18] If it ain't broke, no need to fix it, and this is what I know people like. So I'm making a real and concerted effort to not try and chase the shiny [00:07:30] objects for a while and Just get back to it in a sustainable way. What I'm excited about. With all that said, here are some things I'm excited about, and some of them are vaguely new-ish, so just to hold myself [00:07:45] to account a little bit there.
[00:07:46] First one is, this is not new, but again, a continuation, is making more funny videos about our industry. I started doing this a few months ago, just these skit [00:08:00] videos poking fun at silly things that, you know, we're all kind of complicit in, in this industry. And I've been blown away how much people love these videos, including the people that I'm kind of making fun of, which says a lot.
[00:08:14] [00:08:15] Uh, we do have a good sense of humor. We can laugh at ourselves, and ultimately, you know, we're not saving the children or curing cancer. We're selling ads, so can we not be so s- quite so serious about all of this? I really love making them, and [00:08:30] I am open to partnerships on these. Um, the requirement is that your marketing team has a strong stomach.
[00:08:38] Um, these are a bit edgy. They're a bit spicy. So, um, if that sounds [00:08:45] appealing to you, then let me know. Maybe we can work something out. The second is I have a new sponsor for this season, which is GrowthLoop. You might have just heard that ad. This is an amazing tech [00:09:00] foundation company that first came onto my radar when, uh, Costco Retail Media Network announced they're working with GrowthLoop.
[00:09:09] GrowthLoop sponsored all of my happy hours that I hosted in Atlanta in the first [00:09:15] part of the year, and I'm so excited to be working with such a great team. They are awesome and really making waves in the retail media space. Third thing I'm excited about is Basket Case. In case you missed it, it happened [00:09:30] right before Cannes, ~but we...~
[00:09:31] ~I launched... ~But there was a new podcast that I'm a, a, a minor part of with The Drum and Cusick, and it's a very lively podcast series with lots of fun segments [00:09:45] that we're doing. Does include some videos, but it's a lot of sort of fun and games with me and a couple of co-hosts. And also includes some of those silly videos that I mentioned.
[00:09:56] So I'll add a link in the show notes to subscribe to that. We've got a [00:10:00] few more episodes ready to push out over the next few weeks that I think that you'll enjoy. Number four that I'm excited about is reacquainting myself with the Australian retail landscape and learning what is new and different about this [00:10:15] market.
[00:10:15] I haven't actually spent any of my retail media career in Australia, so I'm looking forward to kind of looking at that with fresh eyes as a consumer and yeah, sort of like being a tourist in my own city kind of thing. [00:10:30] And number five, not filing income taxes in two countries. There is a little ways off, but I've had to be constantly filing taxes the whole year for a very, very long time.
[00:10:44] [00:10:45] But that is one upside of becoming a single, uh, nationality person once again. That is something that I can look forward to no longer doing. So that's about it. That's... This is gonna be my last [00:11:00] personal update for a while. I do tend to indulge in a bit of introspection at the beginning and end of each half year season when I take a break, and I really am grateful for you being on this journey [00:11:15] and listening in if you've stuck with me so far.
[00:11:18] I will share my book recommendations in the link in the show notes. If you are a novel reader, maybe you'll be interested in these suggestions. I know that some people are still about [00:11:30] to head off on their own holidays and vacations in August. Thanks again for being part of Retail Media Breakfast Club, and I will catch you tomorrow
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