‘It was a top priority to win that contract’: We talk exclusively to oOh!media’s Neil Ackland
Speaking exclusively to Mumbrella after Tuesday’s Outfront, oOh!media’s chief content, marketing and creative officer, Neil Ackland, said he’s excited for the new year, he expects retail media to continue growing exponentially, and the company is confident about its new offerings.
The outdoor giant unveiled its four key plans for the new year – including a premium Sydney network, new sustainability measures, a new campaign performance suite and its first Australian retail media partner.
The premium Sydney network will see Australia’s most affluent local government of Woollahra Council open its streets to OOH advertising for the first time ever, and Ackland said it was critical that oOh! go after it.
An example execution for the new premium Sydney network
“That area has not had any assets in the ground, so it’s a greenfield space essentially,” he said. “When the opportunity came up to tender for it, it was a top priority for us.
“We could see that if you’re a luxury brand and you’re looking to reach that affluent audience, there’s not really many options available for you. I mean, you can try to reach audiences in other areas but if you’re a luxury retailer or a luxury car brand, you want to get straight to the bullseye of your target market – and this new network will give the brands this opportunity.”
Ackland said it was key to enter that area because of the audience demographic and spending power.
“It was a really critical thing for us, and being exclusive makes it feel really, really powerful.”
oOh!media showed confidence in its sustainability efforts at the Outfront, with new plans to accelerate its decarbonisation, a fresh partnership with Greening Australia and the adoption of Ecobanner – a fully recyclable billboard material.
“Our organisation’s purpose is to make public spaces better, and that’s why we take sustainability so seriously,” Ackland said.
“We want to make sure that if we’re taking from the Earth, we’re giving back. It’s good for society, for our partners and actually, we think it’s good for business too.”
Ackland spoke at Tuesday’s Outfront
He said the sustainability measures give advertisers opportunities to make better choices to reduce their harm to the environment, which he said is something consumers have been asking for.
“From whatever perspective you look at it, it’s a win-win-win,” he said. “Our sustainability push is substantive and genuine, and we think everyone can benefit from it.”
The newly adopted Ecobanner material will be the default option for advertisers in 2024, according to Ackland.
“If an advertiser wants to choose a lower cost option, they can, but the default is Ecobanner now. So the question to advertisers is, do you want to pay for the Ecobanner, or do you want to choose a cheaper option that is not as good?
“Getting advertisers to opt-out of the more environmentally friendly offering, rather than opt-in, will make a huge difference I think,” he continued.
“I want to get out-of-home advertising to a point where the standard is Ecobanner or other sustainable materials, and people don’t think twice about it.”
Meanwhile, oOh!media’s retail media arm, reooh, has signed its first Australian partner in Drake’s Supermarkets. It joins New Zealand-based The Warehouse Group on the client roster.
Ackland said the retail media market has been quite nascent, and he expects to see that change in the coming years.
“If you cast you mind forward probably three years, I would expect there to be retail media networks in all the major retailers,” he said.
“So the space is going to become pretty vibrant, pretty quickly. Retailers are seeing this new growth opportunity – and they need it as they are under a lot of pressure at the moment with the cost of living crisis.
“What we’re offering it a very strategic imperative for retailers, and I’m expecting to see a lot of activity in this space of the next couple of years. It’s a bit of an arms race at the moment, that’s for sure,” he concluded.
Got a tip?
Lauren McNamara is a journalist at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
Linkedin
Have your say