Multicultural Outdoor (MCO) has appointed Brett Elliot as managing director, a newly created leadership role to support founder and CEO Ronnie Navani.
Elliott will oversee the day-to-day management of the business and help drive its commercial growth, partnerships and national network expansion outside of New South Wales and Victoria.
He brings more than two decades of senior media leadership experience across some of the industry’s largest agency networks.
He spent seven years as managing director of UM’s government practice, where he led the Australian Government’s national media account, before joining Dentsu as chief operating officer, a role that he left late last year.
His earlier career included senior investment and leadership roles at WPP’s MediaCom (now EssenceMediacom).
Since launching in 2024, MCO has expanded to more 250 digital screens located inside Chinese, Indian, Vietnamese and Arabic supermarkets and retail environments.
With an established presence across Australia’s two most populous states, MCO is growing its footprint in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
The expansion reflects a broader shift in the way brands and government organisations are approaching multicultural Australia, with multicultural communities driving approximately 80 per cent of Australia’s urban population growth.
Elliott said multicultural audiences could no longer be treated as an extension of a mainstream media plan.
“Multicultural Australia is not a niche audience. It is a substantial and growing part of our population, and integral to our economy and our national identity,” he said.
“MCO has created something genuinely category-defining: a purpose-built media network combining cultural sensitivity, precision and national scale.
“My focus will be on building that scale, strengthening our industry partnerships and helping more advertisers recognise the role multicultural out-of-home media can play in delivering meaningful and measurable connections.”
Navani will continue to lead the company’s long-term vision, strategic direction and advocacy for greater multicultural representation in Australian advertising.
MCO’s next chapter
He said Elliott’s appointment represented an important investment in MCO’s next stage of growth.
“MCO began with a clear belief: multicultural communities deserve to be seen, heard and communicated with in ways that are relevant to them,” Navani said.
“We have taken that belief from an idea to a rapidly growing national network. Brett’s appointment gives the business the additional leadership experience and commercial capability to build on that momentum without losing the purpose that sits at the heart of the business.
“Brett brings exceptional agency, government and operational experience, and together we have the right combination of purpose, relationships and commercial discipline to take MCO into its next chapter.”
MCO’s growth comes as brands and government agencies increasingly look beyond translated creative and broad demographic targeting towards genuine cultural relevance.
Its digital screens enable organisations to deliver targeted, in-language communication inside high-trust, high-dwell retail environments that sit at the heart of multicultural communities.
