As originally published in Mi3.
By Melinda Duffy, Head of Product and Partnerships.
As the weather heats up Australians head outdoors. It’s part of our cultural DNA. We travel, go to the beach, throw BBQs, socialise, shop, and spend big. At the same time, the media and marketing industry winds down. Free to air television and radio ratings disappear, major shows and presenters go on hiatus, and advertising budgets follow suit. For many brands, January in particular, is often treated as a dead zone for driving fame and sales.
But here’s the disconnect. Consumer behaviour tells an entirely different story. Far from switching off, Australians actually spend more in summer, significantly more, and they’re more open, mobile, and more engaged. For brands that retreat the reality is stark, they’re leaving growth, share, and sales on the table. For those that lean in, summer represents out of home’s most powerful moment. oOh!media’s campaign performance tracking shows brands that invest over this time, win big.
The spending season brands overlook
Australians spend $166 billion over summer, billions more than they spend in winter. According to Westpac DataX, discretionary spending alone jumps by $2.9 billion in the warmer months.
But summer isn’t just about Christmas and the New Year, there is sustained spending momentum both before and after Santa Claus visits. Last November consumers dropped $8.7 billion across just four days between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a 7.3 per cent increase on the previous year. And in January this year spending hit $37.08 billion, up 3.8 per cent year-on-year (Westpac Data X).
Layered on top is the cultural context. Longer days and warmer nights make Australians more social, more indulgent, and more willing to treat themselves. Domestic travel surges by 44 per cent during summer according to MOVE data, with 3.3 million people heading regionally (Boomtown 2024 and Westpac DataX) and day trips fuelling an $8 billion economy (Westpac Data X). Beaches, BBQs, sport, and festivals become the heartbeat of the nation.
Summer is the season where Australians are most active, out of the home and open to brands. But too often, the brands themselves are absent.
Audiences are out and receptive
While television and radio enter their summer hibernation, Australians are out and about living their best lives and oOh! is there with them. OOH effectiveness actually increases during the summer period, delivering a 2.6 per cent uplift in ROI norms, according to Analytic Partners. Advocacy and brand outcomes surge too, with lifts of 121 per cent across summer months (oOh! brand outcomes).
It makes sense. Out of home integrates into experiences rather than interrupts them. A billboard on the way to the beach, a digital panel in a buzzing shopping centre, or a big format screen at a summer sports ground becomes part of the occasion. Emotional engagement is higher in summer, with audiences more alert, energised, and receptive. Campaigns land harder, stick longer, and drive more meaningful action.
And yet, many marketers choose this moment to go quiet. It’s a mismatch that not only underestimates the power of summer OOH, but actively undermines brand growth.
Everywhere Australians go
Few channels can match out of home’s ability to capture Australians across every summer touchpoint. oOh!’s network alone reaches 99 per cent of metro Australians each week and has unrivalled coverage across regional cities, highways, airports, shopping centres, beaches, and sports grounds.
Airports, where domestic and international travel spikes, are prime for premium, captive audiences, from terminals and lounges through to inflight. Retail environments are thriving, with oOh! the dominant provider across the top 500 centres driving $79 billion in turnover, boosted by increased summer footfall and spend.
Heading to the beach? oOh!’s street furniture sits within one kilometre of 104 beaches nationwide, connecting with millions of Australians making their way to the sand. Sport is another natural amplifier, with assets surrounding 82 professional sporting grounds at a time when live sport dominates summer culture. It’s reach with precision, meeting Australians in the exact moments and environments where they’re most receptive and enjoying the summer months.
Delivering Grey Goose a summer sales surge
In 2024, Grey Goose had a clear ambition to grow market share by becoming the go-to choice for the first drink of the occasion, anchored its ‘Vive La Vodka’ campaign that ran on oOh!’s network.
Using retail, rail, and billboard networks, Grey Goose reached audiences at scale during their summer routines. The results were unmissable: a 21 per cent increase in buyers, a 34 per cent uplift in transactions, and a 14 per cent increase in brand penetration year on year, according to oOh! Sales outcomes data.
Not only did the campaign reinforce Grey Goose’s premium positioning, it outpaced category trends, proving that a well-executed OOH strategy in summer doesn’t just build awareness, it drives measurable sales.
Going dark costs far more than it saves
Without TV and radio ratings, there’s a perception that audiences are harder to reach or less engaged. But as the data shows, that couldn’t be further from reality.
To retreat from that moment is to miss a cultural and for marketers, a commercial opportunity. Out of home doesn’t just capture audiences, it captures audiences in the best possible mood, when they are open, engaged, and ready to act and spend. This isn’t about simply filling media space in January or February when kids head back to school. It’s about rethinking summer as the season where OOH delivers at its peak – and planning accordingly.
Australia is an outdoor culture, and summer is its defining season. From holidays to shopping trips, beaches, live sport and regional getaways, Australians are out more, spending more, and more open to influence than at any other time of year.
The summer economy is on. Aussies are on. Out of home is on. The only question is, will your brand be on?
