A new advertising category is emerging inside women’s bathrooms, designed to outperform digital and out-of-home on attention, trust and recall according to Brisbane-based startup On The House.
The business, founded by Remy Tucker, has raised $1.7 million in seed funding to scale what it calls Social Out-of-home (SOOH), a media channel that funds free period products in public bathrooms while delivering high-attention, data-enabled advertising for brands.
The round was led by Purpose Ventures, with participation from the UniQuest Extension Fund and Startmate, following the company’s participation in the Startmate Accelerator.
On The House installs wall-mounted dispensers in women’s bathrooms, each featuring a 32-inch digital screen displaying a QR code. Once the QR code is scanned by a consumer and they enter their email, the units dispense free, organic and biodegradable period products.
The period products are fully funded by brand advertising displayed both on the machines and on the user’s phone. The scan creates a permission-based interaction that delivers first-party data in a high-trust, real-world environment.
In an interview with B&T, Tucker said that operating with this increased level of trust was a game-changer.
“There’s this huge obsession around loyalty programs, but there’s a contrast between symbolic purpose and useful purpose. The tides are changing. For maybe a decade, women have been thinking, what are you doing for the world? But now it’s shifted towards, what can you do for me? And that’s where they’re building that trust with brands.”
Tucker said the channel was built in response to two failures in the current landscape. “Brands are spending billions chasing fractions of a second in environments people don’t trust,” Tucker said. “At the same time, public spaces are missing basic infrastructure for women. Social Out-of-Home fixes both.”
The opportunity is significant. Australia’s advertising market exceeds $30 billion annually, yet many dominant channels are delivering declining attention and low trust.
Research shows 66 per cent of women feel disconnected from marketing content, reinforcing a growing gap between brands and the audiences they are trying to reach.
Social media ads now command as little as 0.4 to 0.7 seconds of attention, while traditional out-of-home averages two to five seconds and offers very little first-party data.
Bathrooms, Tucker argued, offer something fundamentally different. “Bathrooms are distraction-free environments where people are present, not scrolling past,” she said. “It’s also a moment where brands can offer something genuinely useful, rather than competing for attention.”
On The House reports an average 76 seconds of dwell time per visit, up to 100 times longer than social media and 15 times longer than traditional out-of-home.
“Out-of-home has trust but little data. Social has data but very low trust. Social Out-of-Home delivers both in a single channel.”
Campaign results support the claim. Recent surveys show 66.6 per cent of women report increased trust in brands advertising on the machines, with brand favourability lifting from 41.3 per cent to 63.8 per cent. Notably, no respondents reported a decline in trust.
Early brand partners include partner Afterpay, as well as Clutch Glue and Moments Wellness. Post campaign reports found 59.6 per cent of people exposed to the partnership were more likely to use the brand because it funds free period products.
Mikaela Wagner, head of brand, Afterpay International, said “On The House embodies the innovation we champion – media that delivers genuine value, rather than interruption. What makes this partnership particularly powerful is how seamlessly it aligns with our core mission of empowerment, removing fundamental barriers to participation while delivering meaningful engagement where it matters most.”
Since launching commercially in July 2025, On The House has worked with nine consumer brands during its pilot phase, with more than 22 additional partners in the pipeline. The network will scale from five dispensers to national coverage in high-traffic community locations – including universities, shopping precincts, workplaces and gyms.
Speaking with B&T, Jacqueline Goode, PR, events and partnerships manager at Pillow Talk, described the company’s relationship with On The House and the reasoning behind moving towards SOOH.
“We always look for channels that deliver real attention and not fleeting impressions. With social Out-of-home, it offers a rare combination of both high dwell time, trust and a genuine value exchange,” she said.
“The advertising landscape is shifting and attention is harder to earn, we find that consumers expect more from brands in every aspect. We increasingly invest in channels that prioritize meaningful engagement over volume, and we’ve seen that this is going to complement our existing mix by also offering a deeper, more considered moment of connection.” she added.
