oOh!media has appointed Mark Fairhurst as chief revenue officer and Andrew Every as chief strategy and retail media officer, while Neil Ackland, named chief retail media officer last month, will depart.
Ackland joined oOh! in 2016 after it acquired Junkee Media, of which Ackland was the CEO and co-owner. oOh! sold Junkee to Racat Group for $1.9m in 2021 although it retained the branded content and production arm, rebranding it as Poly, with Ackland serving as chief content, marketing and creative officer.
“When I sold the business I founded, Junkee Media to oOh! in 2016, I made a deliberate choice – to immerse myself in a larger, listed, market-leading media business in one of the most exciting and fast-growing categories: Out of Home. I set myself a challenge: could I make a significant impact within a company of nearly 1,000 people, after building a business of less than 100? I like to think I more than met the challenge,” Ackland posted on LinkedIn.
“For now, I’m embracing my first career break in 25 years to travel, spend time with my family and improve my golf game, before sharing the next chapter in my journey in due course,” he added.
Commenting on his departure, O’Connor said: “It’s bittersweet to announce Neil will be moving on from oOh!. An entrepreneurial and visionary leader, he’s been clear with me for some time now that his goal is to return to leading a company. As oOh!’s retail media division moves into a new phase of execution – we have agreed now is the right time for him to pursue his next professional chapter outside of oOh!.
“I thank Neil for his leadership, dedication to his team and for continuing to drive innovation in our business over the years we have worked together. We wish him well in whatever comes next.”
Fairhurst, meanwhile, joined oOh! in November as a revenue advisor and has been acting chief revenue officer since December and brings over 25 years of experience in sales, strategy and change management.
oOh! CEO Cathy O’Connor said: “It’s my absolute pleasure to announce the appointment of Mark as chief revenue officer. He is a skilled leader with profound Out of Home expertise and extensive experience in media sales, corporate strategy, change management and culture development.
“Mark has made a significant contribution since joining our business in an acting capacity, as evidenced by our strong Q1 revenue performance which is showing double-digit growth.”
His extensive career includes leadership roles at key Out of Home industry players including; JCDecaux, Eyecorp, APN Outdoor, Fairfax Media, SBS, and most recently, QMS, where he oversaw significant growth as their chief customer officer.
Fairhurst is responsible for spearheading oOh!’s strategic market share and revenue generation plans as well as overseeing the entire sales, go-to-market, trading and sales operations functions. His appointment is effective immediately.
Additionally, Andrew Every will take on the new expanded executive role as chief strategy and retail media officer.
Every joined oOh! 12 months ago from the NRL and has a strong track record in establishing and driving the commercial success of partnerships at the edge of media and technology.
“As we move reo, our retail media business, from the establishment phase to the execution and scaling phase after signing a number of recent partnerships with major Australian retail brands, I am delighted to announce Andrew will move into a combined role with responsibility for reo alongside his current strategy and transformation remit,” said O’Connor.
“This combined role is a natural progression for Andrew, given his strategy and execution expertise and strong connection to our retail media business. Andrew has extensive experience in driving commercial partnerships forward, having held senior positions managing enterprise partnerships for both Telstra and the NRL,” she added.
In the new role of chief strategy and retail media officer, Every will remain focussed on strategic growth and moving reo forward at pace.
