Out-of-home operator Gawk ends relationship with Ooh Media, aims to win ‘divorce’
Gawk was founded in 2018 by brothers Luke and James Course (Gawk)
Regional out-of-home company Gawk is taking its agency sales in-house and ending its relationship with Ooh Media after eight years.
In the release announcing the move, Gawk referred to the end of the agreement as a “break-up”.
Continuing that framing, Tim Stevenson, the recently promoted group agency director, told Mumbrella: “In most divorces, there is a clear winner and loser. Usually, the winner gets a more attractive new partner, while the loser gains 20 kilograms and takes the lawnmower to Cash Converters. Sometimes the outcome is just based on timing, and we think this is the right time for us to trade up.”
He said the benefits of the break-up will extend to the agencies who will book directly with Gawk from 12 January next year.
“We will answer the phone quicker, respond quicker and definitely take the piss out of ourselves more. They get to tap into knowledge of regional Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia with a business who have the majority of their team based in these areas,” he said.
Gawk said the move cements its position as the leading force in regional out-of-home advertising across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, with over 420 static and over 60 digital billboards. It opened an office in NSW’s Erina in July, and said a Sydney office is opening soon.
Gawk’s director Luke Course told Mumbrella: “The break-up is the right move for Gawk as we need to back ourselves to continue to grow our business exponentially – ourselves. This shows our absolute commitment to the long-term growth of Regional OOH and Gawk. We believe we can grow share faster this way, and our business has been based on a simple equation: more revenue equals more rectangles, faster.”
Stevenson said he hopes by 2027 the team has built a clear market position as the first call for anything OOH in regional southeast Australia.
“We hope we will be known as the funniest, fastest and best to deal with in the market,” he told Mumbrella. “Most importantly, we hope we are the clear ‘divorce winner’ and Ooh move into a studio apartment and become partial to a microwave meal for one.”
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In the official announcement, however, Gawk was more serious when reflecting on its long-term partnership with Ooh.
Luke Course, Gawk’s director, said: “We could not thank Ooh Media enough for their support over the last eight years. It has allowed us to grow our business rapidly and we recognise their important contribution. We are confident we will look back on them as our first serious girlfriend, but now it is time to play the field ourselves and have some fun.”
Stevenson added: “We’ve been the best-kept secret in regional out-of-home. Ooh was our first love, but we’ve built a talented team, the momentum, and a large-scale communications platform to flirt with the whole industry.”
An Ooh Media spokesperson told Mumbrella the group was proud of its history of supporting small regional businesses, and wished Gawk success for the future.
“Ooh Media has Australia’s largest billboard network across metro and regional markets. At Ooh, we are very proud of our long history of supporting and growing small regional businesses across Australia. We thank Gawk for the partnership and wish them every success in the future,” the spokesperson said.
They also pointed to their own ongoing momentum in the regions.
“In regional Victoria, we offer an extensive suite of classic inventory and have recently expanded our digital portfolio through a long-term agreement with Wildstone, which acquired Victoria’s premier regional operator, TOM. This includes the addition of seven landmark digital sites in key regional hubs.
“With our recent takeover of the Citylink sites in Melbourne and the forthcoming digitisation of Eastlink assets, Ooh continues to provide high-impact billboard opportunities across Victoria and nationally.”
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