oOh!media has used its oOh! Outfront ’25 event to announce a major strategic expansion of its retail media division, broadening the focus to incorporate sales representation of retailers’ assets across stores, websites, apps, and off-platform channels such as Meta, Google and oOh!media.
Announced at Outfront ‘25, the fast-growing retail media arm is being rebranded to reo, reflecting the strategic shift from an in-store screens focus, to a full omnichannel digital offering for retailers.
Since launch, reo formerly reooh, has secured two retailers and completed a number of pilots for in-store digital screens with several major Australian retailers. Now, following customer feedback on its value proposition and the significant opportunity, reo is expanding its offering to further capitalise on the booming retail media category which PwC estimates will hit $2.6 billion in Australia by 2026.
The new strategy places reo as a complete end-to-end sales solution, building sales teams to help retailers monetise their media channels including on-site, off-site and in-store, driving incremental revenues for retailers and return on advertising spend for advertisers and brands. This end-to-end solution includes capabilities to sell to retailers’ trade suppliers and/or complimentary non-endemic advertisers via agencies, leveraging oOh!’s award-winning national sales team and agency relationships.
“We were ahead of the curve in identifying retail media as the next big wave in advertising as brands shift their dollars towards channels that can prove return on investment and building out capabilities to support the needs of retailers,” said Cathy O’Connor, CEO, oOh!media. “Since launch, we’ve seen strong engagement from major retailers wanting to build out their in-store digital screen networks, but their needs extended into sales monetisation of all channels. It’s a natural progression to extend into sales representation for retailers as it leverages a key strength of oOh!media”.
reo will soon be announcing a number of significant new appointments, particularly bolstering its data and retail capabilities. The business has recently added key hires from retail media businesses including Zitcha, Mixin and Criteo.
“oOh!media has a strong track record and scale in monetising audiences on behalf of our commercial partners like shopping centres, councils, universities, airports, transport hubs and airlines. And now we can add monetising retailer’s audiences to that list,” said Neil Ackland, chief content, marketing and creative officer, oOh!media. “We hold deep and long-standing relationships with advertisers and agency partners so it’s logical that we can extend that benefit to the retailers we partner with. Our team is growing with top talent, and we are building a team to meet the needs of retailers to enable them to enter the market at pace. We’re ready to deliver outstanding results and lead the charge in this dynamic market.”
Behind every great brand. Literally
The media company also used the event to launch a refreshed positioning as ‘Australia’s #1 Out of Home company’ and announced a number of significant new tender wins, further solidifying its leading position and providing brands with better opportunities to execute scaled campaigns that deliver measurable outcomes. Among the new wins are a further scaling of its Street Furniture network across Sydney, winning two new major long-term contracts in premium suburbs across the harbour city.
From humble beginnings 35 years ago, oOh! has grown to become Australia’s Out of Home leader, with 35,000 digital and classic assets across the country and a metropolitan reach of 98% of Australians every week. oOh! continues to invest in growing its national Out of Home network and over the past year has an 80% success rate in winning new tenders that were pitched for, setting the business up for strong growth.
“Behind every great brand is oOh! – Australia’s #1 Out of Home company. oOh! is the leading force in Australian Out of Home across all key metrics and we are on a mission to help brands grow by making it easier to access our unrivalled scale,” O’Connor said. “But being #1 goes beyond the metrics, it’s about the confidence advertisers and agencies have in us to get the results they want to achieve. It reflects our commitment to providing the best possible service and outcomes each and every time”.
Demonstrating oOh!’s unparalleled reach, scale and creative innovation, the ‘Behind every great brand. Literally.’, by creative agency, The Hallway, will run prominently across oOh! assets and in trade media.
“oOh! drives brand fame with the ability to deliver unmissable, unblockable, unskippable, unstoppable campaigns at scale. With continual audience declines across traditional channels; the rise of multi-screen media consumption; and further fragmentation into digital and social channels – it’s no surprise that Out of Home is increasing its importance for brands to reach and hold the attention of audiences. This brand campaign showcases the critical role oOh! plays behind the success for some of today’s greatest brands,” said Neil Ackland, oOh!media chief content, marketing and creative officer.
Network expansion
Among the new tenders is the further scaling of its Street Furniture network across Sydney, with two new major long-term contracts in premium suburbs across the harbour city.
The first is Waverley Council in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, covering iconic areas such as Bondi, Bronte, and Rose Bay. oOh! will implement a 100% digital network through these locations, including over a dozen of oOh!’s sustainable innovative ‘Living Roof Shelters” on top of the bus shelters.
In the Northern Beaches, oOh! has secured the tender to expand its existing presence in the local government area. The contract will cover 293 shelters from Manly to Palm Beach. oOh! will make significant investments in these digital assets to enhance advertisers’ visibility in key destinations such as Manly Corso and Manly Beach.
In a further new win, oOh! will add a further 13 large format digital sites as part of the Eastlink Motorway contract in Melbourne. Coming online in November, Eastlink is a tolled section of the M3 Freeway connecting a large area through the eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, reaching commuters at scale.
Over the past six months, oOh! has also:
- Renewed Australia’s largest single street furniture contract with Victoria’s Department of Transport. Stretching across metropolitan Melbourne it includes approximately 5,000 street furniture assets located within the CBD and across Greater Melbourne. oOh! will add 650 state-of-the-art digital LED screens in prime locations throughout Melbourne.
- Won the highly prized long-term contract for Melbourne’s five new prestigious Metro Tunnel stations that will add a further 108 digital screens in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD.
- Boosted the large format digital network with 37 new sites at key commuter locations, including Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge and Adelaide’s Gepps Cross. In Melbourne alone, oOh! has increased its large format digital portfolio by more than 50 percent over the past 12 months.
- Added 35 new shopping centres to its Retail portfolio across the country.
- Launched the 100% digital Premium Sydney network following the opening of Sydney Metro, Martin Place Retail Precinct and activation of the prestigious Woollahra Council.
“oOh!’s recent success in securing major tender wins and expansion of the oOh!media network across the country further cements our status as Australia’s #1 Out of Home company. It’s a testament to our relentless focus on innovation, scale, and delivering unparalleled value for brands,” said O’Connor.
Driving Innovation
The media brand has also unveiled the first full-motion large format displays with synchronised 3D capabilities for bold brand storytelling. Located at Sydney’s newest landmark destination, the Martin Place Retail Precinct, this innovation in Out of Home features two expansive 3 x 5 metre screens that can each leverage a full-motion creative interplay, designed to capture attention and engage audiences as they enter one of Sydney’s busiest travel and retail hubs.
With the introduction of the dual screens at Martin Place, oOh!media is setting a new benchmark for immersive brand experiences. oOh!’s creative and innovation hub, POLY, can also help brands adapt site-specific 3DA creative to be deployed at scale across Australia’s largest network of over 4000 full motion digital screens, including retail centres, rail stations, airports, office towers and universities.
“For the first time in Australia, brands can tell their stories on synchronised large-format screens with full-motion 3D capabilities. By combining the power of reach and innovative technology, we continue to help brands achieve the kind of fame that resonates long after the campaign ends,” said Josh Gurgiel, Head of POLY.
With the growth in popularity and increased demand for faux Out of Home (FOOH) campaigns, oOh! has also announced the development of bespoke, interactive digital scans for its most iconic classic large format sites.
The digital twin technology provides hyper-accurate digital models of oOh!’s top-tier classic inventory, significantly lowering the barriers for advertisers and agencies to activate combined FOOH and real OOH campaigns, fostering greater omnichannel storytelling. By enabling clients to efficiently create and visualise their creative in a digital format, this tool empowers brands to seamlessly capture and maintain audience attention both in Out of Home and the digital realm.
