Cartology continues to expand, Zitcha lines up a new partnership, Broadsign becomes user-friendly, and heaps more!

DOOH Community is your fortnightly wrap-up of all things digital out-of-home, buckle up and let's get started!

This Weeks Top ANZ Stories 🥝 🦘

• Cartology Expands To Woolworths Metro 🍏

• Zitcha & PwC Partnership 🤝

• Veridooh Picks Up Steven Veytsblit As Chief of Staff 👨‍💼

• Brisbane's Queen Street Mall Gets DOOH Thanks To QMS 🎉

Cartology Expands To Woolworths Metro 🍏

Source: Cartology

Quick Breakdown:

• Cartology, who currently operate the Woolworths DOOH network has announced their expansion into Woolworths Metro

• This expansion will include 90 stores across the eastern seaboard

• It's expected that this network will influence over 3.9 million monthly transactions

• Woolworths Metro stores fill a unique niche for customers, who prioritise convenience, specific dietary/lifestyle choices and premium product ranges

• 6 in 10 Woolworths Metro shoppers also shop at Woolworths Supermarkets regularly or occasionally, providing brands with multiple touchpoints to influence customers

• This recent announcement comes after another expansion announcement into Big W

Our Thoughts:

It's no surprise that Cartology continues to expand, especially into Woolworths Metro. These stores are a mix between convenience stores and grocery stores, making them perfect locations for digital signage.

We're keen to see how advertisers use the Metro screens and how they perform, especially if we can compare them to both grocery screens & convenience store screens.

Zitcha & PwC Partnership 🤝

Source: Consultancy.com.au

Quick Breakdown:

• PwC and Zitcha have joined forces to create a collaborative partnership

• Zitcha is able to link retailer's media ecosystems and automate the media purchasing across all channels with the goal of enabling retailers to become self-publishers

• This collaborative partnership is non-commercial and instead will serve to offer retailers and media agencies complementary services

• These complementary services are going to include strategic business planning as more retailers dive into retailer media

• The next steps for this partnership are for Zitcha and PwC to hold roundtables with retailers, to introduce their platform and help enhance retail media offerings

Our Thoughts:

Whilst Zitcha isn't a pure DOOH company, retail media is starting to evolve and include digital signage in stores and on shelves. By partnering with PwC, Zitcha is getting access to a range of potential retailers and media agencies - all of which will likely be interested in implementing retail media in some capacity.

Seeing a local startup make such big strides at this point in their journey is something worth watching, and we're keen to see how Zitcha sizes up when taking on the DOOH industry giants - Shopper, Cartology, and even oOh! are all playing in the growing retail space.

Veridooh Picks Up Steven Veytsblit As Chief of Staff 👨‍💼

Source: AdNews

Quick Breakdown:

• Veridooh, the Aussie adtech verification startup has just announced that Steven Veytsblit will be the company's first Chief of Staff

• As Veridooh's Chief of Staff, Veytsblit will be overseeing the business' finance, operations, strategy and special projects divisions

• Previously Veystblit was at Dimple as the Chief Operating Officer

• In his time at Dimple, Veystblit helped the company launch their subscription business model in both Hong Kong and New Zealand

• Veridooh has now hired over 20 employees, and is in the process of expanding in the UK

• On top of picking up Veytsblit, Veridooh have picked up software engineer Justin Nhan and senior engineer Jordan Benzacken

Our Thoughts:

With a high level of experience in the operations role, as well as experience with launching products overseas, Veytsblit's appointment will help Veridooh get a foothold and launch overseas.

Veridooh continues to hire new talent and make moves in the international market, so we'll be following along and keeping you updated. 

Good luck in your new roles Steven, Jordan and Justin, and enjoy the adtech industry!

Brisbane's Queen Street Mall Gets DOOH Thanks To QMS 🎉

Source: QMS

Quick Breakdown:

• QMS has recently unveiled a new digital billboard, this time at Brisbane's Queen Street Mall, viewable at 130 Queen Street

• This is the largest DOOH screen in Brisbane, at 52 square meters and has been dubbed "The Mall"

• The Mall is located at Brisbane CBD's busiest precinct and provider 100% animation capabilities and features a streamlined structure

• Brisbane's retail precinct attracts over 1 million people every week, a huge number of DOOH viewers

• A number of Australian brands have already been featured or plan to be featured on The Mall, including Stan

Our Thoughts:

We love seeing new DOOH installations, especially something of this scale and size. It'll be interesting to see what brands start using The Mall and if QMS will divide the screen up for different advertisers.

QMS has stated that demand for full-motion DOOH is on the rise, so we're excited to see what brands attempt and how impactful these creatives are.

To everyone involved in The Mall's installation and launch, congratulations, it looks amazing and is in a great location!

This Week's Top Global Stories 🌎

• Broadsign Gets A New Coat of Paint 🎨

• Shell Acquires Volta ⚡️

• DOOH Now Available In The Metaverse 🎮

Broadsign Gets A New Coat of Paint 🎨

Source: Broadsign

Quick Breakdown:

• Broadsign have announced and teased their latest iteration - featuring a UI overhaul and tighter product integrations

• So far, Broadsign have revealed that there are three steps they're taking as part of this upgrade

  • The new Broadsign platform is bringing all the features and products that Broadsign offers under one interface. They also plan to standardise how audiences and digital inventory are managed

  • A new ad server will be launched, enabling users to plan and sell "ultra-sophisticated audience-based campaigns"

  • A new static asset and campaign management tool

• The main reason for Broadsigns redesign and consolidation efforts is that the current user experience has become disconnected and fragmented

• By combining these tools, Broadsign hopes to create a streamlined user experience

• As part of the first step Broadsign users will be able to:

  • Update digital screens and audience data through the newly created Inventory Module

  • Plan, schedule and view inventory available in real time

  • Manage PMP and open exchange deals

  • View real-time programmatic reports

• As part of the second step Broadsign users will be able to:

  • Build and deliver campaigns with refined audience-targeting tools

  • Incorporate contextual triggers for conditional campaign delivery

• As part of the third step Broadsign users will be able to:

  • Centralise static asset data management

  • Thorough and realistic static campaign charting

  • View real-time stock levels

  • Use a mobile app to handle work order in the field

Our Thoughts:

Broadsign is one of the biggest software providers in the DOOH space and has built a range of products. Anyone with any experience using Broadsign knows that their different products are incredibly disconnected and hard to manage.

It's no surprise that Broadsign is finally updating everything and bringing it all under one banner in an easy-to-use UI.

Shell Acquires Volta ⚡️

Source: Volta 

Quick Breakdown:

• Volta have announced a definitive merger agreement with Shell USA

• Shell will be acquiring Volta in an all-cash agreement for $169 million

• The terms of the agreement state that Shell USA will acquire all outstanding shares of Class A common stock of Volta at $0.86 per share

• As part of the agreement, an affiliate of Shell will provide subordinated secured term loans to Volta to bridge Volta through the closing of the transaction

• There will be no immediate change in to the Volta Media Network

Our Thoughts:

It's not too shocking to see that Volta has been bought out by a big energy company such as Shell. Volta has been growing the number of chargers available for use, and Shell wants to ensure they stay ahead of the game.

What we find most interesting is that Shell will now be competing in the advertising game on a larger scale. Hopefully some more information about the DOOH network portion of the chargers is revealed soon, such as if they will operate it, make the entire network programmatic, or if they'll potentially scrap it entirely.

DOOH Now Available In The Metaverse 🎮

Source: Digital Signage Pulse

Quick Breakdown:

• Clear Channel OOH advertising services are now available in the metaverse

• LandVault and Clear Channel Singapore have partnered together to enable advertisers to reach audiences in Decentraland

• Clear Channel Singapore is the first to launch DOOH packages in the metaverse in the region

• By deploying advertising services in the metaverse, Clear Channel remains ahead of the curve, as do their advertisers

• Clear Channels advertising will reach 60% of the Decentraland player base with the added bonus of having natively integrated DOOH content

• These packages allow players to visit specific URLs, including ecommerce stores

Our Thoughts:

Seeing DOOH companies enter the metaverse space feels almost like the next evolution of the channel. Similar to how display ads found their way onto websites from newspapers and magazines, it only makes sense to monetise metaverse space.

As avid gamers, it does suck to see advertising enter the space in some situations. But when it's done right, in a natively, non-jarring way, it can be beneficial for both gamers and advertisers.

It won't be long now before even more DOOH companies have their hands in the metaverse/DOOH space - that's for sure.

Featured Creative 🎨 🍩 - Krispy Kreme SADvert

Krispy Kreme has launched a unique campaign that they've dubbed the world's first SADvert. The campaign aims to boost the mood of British viewers, as there is a distinct lack of sunlight in January.

The billboard includes 3D versions of doughnuts from their latest 195-calorie range, along with a simple button that when pressed will illuminate whoever pressed it.

It's something a bit different, that aims to use brand awareness to help the community - a pretty cool creative to set the bar and start off the year.

Let us know if you've got any hot tips or scoops like these you want us to share with the DOOH Community