As originally published via Mi3.
Bel Harper, oOh!media’s first chief product and marketing officer, knows firsthand how under pressure CMOs are to prove every media dollar is working and that they’re reaching real audiences and garnering real attention. From the arrival of MOVE to how Mountain Culture Beer chalked up 40 per cent sales growth, she reveals how out-of-home is delivering the goods.
What’s hot and what’s not with marketers and brands in 2026, and how’s oOh! responding to that dynamic?
What’s hot in 2026 is accountability, effectiveness and unmissable attention. What’s not is fragmentation that forces marketers to work harder for diminishing returns.
CMOs are under pressure to prove that every media dollar is working, their campaigns are reaching real audiences, being seen, building distinctive brands and driving measurable outcomes. They also want simplicity: fewer, more effective channels that cut through complexity and deliver impact at scale.
oOh! is meeting that need by elevating out-of-home as one of the most powerful ways for brands to command attention in the real world. We’re creating big, unmissable brand moments – from the Bolte Bridge takeover to Metro Martin Place tunnel domination, as extensions of broad reach campaigns that build fame, spark conversation, encourage sharing and support conversion.
At the same time, we’re making OOH easier to plan, buy and measure, giving marketers the confidence to unlock the full power of the channel. And with independent attention measurement through MOVE, we’re giving marketers stronger proof of the impact OOH delivers.
Ultimately, we’re showing CMOs that OOH is not just a brand channel – it’s a high-attention, high-impact driver of growth, effectiveness and sales in a market where accountability matters more than ever.
The significant, long-awaited launch of MOVE in March has provided the out-of-home industry with renewed buoyancy – over and above the media channel’s years of strong growth against an otherwise declining environment for spend in other mass market media channels. Where do you see MOVE’s biggest impact occurring in the shorter to medium term, and how are you as oOh!’s marketing and product chief working to capitalise on it?
MOVE is already reshaping how OOH is planned and valued. For the first time, every format across metro and regional area sits in one unified measurement system, and that’s giving advertisers a far clearer view of real audience movement.
With MOVE now capturing retail centres, trip types and genuine movement patterns, impressions have lifted sharply. Classic billboards continue to deliver big, broad reach, and pairing and an even blend of classic with digital you can increase reach by 50 per cent. Our national Street Furniture network spanning more than 1,150 suburbs, is also proving to be one of the fastest ways to build high‑impact reach.
My focus is making sure we’re crystal clear on the role each format plays, and how the right mix of foundational reach and high‑attention environments work together to drive stronger outcomes for advertisers.
Can you share a favourite recent client example that demonstrates how oOh! is delivering engaged reach that delivers business impact?
Mountain Culture Beer Co came to oOh! as a challenger boutique beer brand looking to broaden its footprint. The goal was to encourage trial of its ‘Status Quo’ Pale Ale across NSW and Victoria while lifting overall brand awareness. Adding to the challenge, Mountain Culture chose to run OOH exclusively with oOh!, supported only by digital activity during Dry July, a period when alcohol-related categories typically see softer consumer engagement.
We positioned OOH as a connected, influence‑through‑the‑day solution. With clear success metrics in place, Mountain Culture’s multi-format campaign reached audiences across multiple touchpoints through a media plan that included a mix of street furniture, rail and retail environments, and office towers in CBDs. The multi format approach delivered fast reach and proximity‑based impact near key liquor retail locations, resulting in strong brand-lift outcomes:
- +9% brand awareness
- +15% consideration
- +20% usage
Commercial indicators also strengthened, with notable month-on-month increase across key distribution channels and in the states where the campaign ran (NSW and Victoria). Notably, Mountain Culture saw a 40 per cent lift of keg sales – a proxy for trial – and 20 per cent increase across wholesalers month-on-month. Importantly, sales growth was also up 40 per cent.
Another key theme across the CMO Awards is it’s just as important for CMOs to say no as it is to say yes – making the trade-offs and sticking to the bigger, bold bets. What is something you’ve jettisoned in the last year versus something you’ve doubled down on as a marketing chief and why?
The biggest shift has been about focus. CMOs talk a lot about bold bets, but bold bets only work when you’re willing to say no to the things that dilute impact.
What my team has done is remove is anything that creates noise for our clients, unnecessary complexity, over-engineered narratives, or activity that doesn’t teach our customers something new or bring innovation to the forefront of what we do. Every idea, event or presentation now starts with two questions: What’s the intent? And what will our clients learn that they don’t already know? If it doesn’t raise the bar, we don’t do it.
We’ve doubled down on thinking from our client’s perspectives. That means building solutions that genuinely move the needle for them, not just for us. The Bolte Bridge takeover is a perfect example. When Kate Dowd from Coopers Brewery called it, “the best media buy they have ever done” it validated that we’re making decisions the way our clients would: with ambition, clarity and commercial impact.
Growth is the ultimate job for any marketing leader. What are the key ingredients to attaining growth in today’s uncertain economic environment, and how is oOh!’s marketing team ensuring it continues to deliver it?
The most important ingredient is listening to the people making the decisions. CMOs are under intense scrutiny, every dollar has to earn its place, and that’s impossible if the channels they invest in feel opaque, overly complex or hard to measure.
We’ve focussed on closing the knowledge gap by creating experiences that give CMOs real confidence in each OOH format, how attention works across environments, and how they can reach the right audience to drive brand and commercial growth. By engaging directly with CMOs, sharing case studies that speak directly to objectives and taking them into environments to see our products firsthand, we’re elevating their understanding of how our network Supports the consumer journey.
When CMOs are clear on the value of the channel, backed by advanced measurement and the role OOH plays in the mix, it gives them confidence in the hard decisions they need to make – am I spending in the right places, and is my investment going to work?
