The second leg of B&T’s Breakfast Club, presented by JOLT, landed in Sydney this week, hot on the heels of last week’s Melbourne event — and it was Accenture Song’s managing director, Mel Fein, who delivered the sharpest challenge to the out-of-home (OOH) industry.
“If we don’t move this industry to more outcomes-based or ROI-based measurement, we’re not going to keep up with the demands of cost-out that all businesses are facing,” Fein told the packed room at 12-Micron.
“Audience-first planning and ROI-based measurement aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re non-negotiable.”
Fein warned that despite the noise around targeting and accountability, much of the industry is still relying on broad age-and-gender segmentation.
“Clients are far more open to experimentation now — but the expectation is results. The ones genuinely moving the needle on measurement will be the winners”.
Agreeing that the Outdoor Media Association’s audience measurement system Move 2.0 is fundamentally a game changer for the OOH industry, and it’s giving transparency and visibility, it’s still not planning to loyalty, data or movements.
“It’s not really moving with the times of the growing category of, for example, retail media, and how we can actually measure commerce … and that attribution measuring back to outcomes is where we really need to get,” she said.
Doug McNamee, CEO & founder of JOLT, positioned his company’s electric vehicle (EV) charging and digital OOH network as uniquely placed to deliver both utility and brand value.
“Our customers love us because we’re not just an ad screen. We’re providing something genuinely useful,” he said.
“There’s a halo effect for brands who partner with us — it’s not just a media buy, it’s about being part of something that changes people’s lives for the better”.
McNamee also highlighted what sets JOLT apart structurally. “We’ve actually got three customers: B2B, which is our advertising partners; B2C, which are our drivers; and B2G, which is all our government partners. That makes us quite unique — we span across all three,” he explained.
By delivering highly reliable, low-cost charging that equates to about $1,000 a year in savings for drivers — and sees a high rate of returning users — McNamee said there is a genuine brand halo effect. Admitting there’s nothing like giving something for free to really get people excited, he said such emotion around a media channel and how it can impact consumers, creative aside, is certainly unique to JOLT.
During the panel, moderated by industry journalist Pippa Chambers, both Fein and McNamee leaned heavily on the role of AI in reshaping the category, but Fein was quick to note that not all AI will be created equal.
“We’re about to start upfronts season, and I’m really curious to see how those two letters, A and I, will show up in every upfront presentation,” she said.
“However, it’s the ones that are genuinely moving the needle on measurement and attribution, they’ll be the winners. The rest? We need to hold them to account.”
Fein warned that partnerships, storytelling and emotion still matter — but trading and measurement must evolve alongside the growth of programmatic OOH.
JOLT used the event to showcase its EV charging network, which offers free charging subsidised by advertising, and to introduce its new AI optimisation tool which dynamically optimises campaigns in real time.
Launched just a week ago, Fein is already in talks with JOLT about its plug-and-play tool, with McNamee adding that being a scale-up gives JOLT the advantage of speed and agility.
While still a work in motion, Fein said “that’s a huge shift” already.
From a marketer’s perspective, Annabel Causer, head of marketing at insurance challenger Rollin, argued that disruption in insurance means being truly customer-first.
“We’re challenging expectations not just with tech but with how we show up in the market. This means championing young drivers, remaining authentic and creating value every step of the way.”
While not actively avoiding offline media channels, having done IRL activations in the past, Causer said that as a digital brand built within the last three years, the business naturally leans into digital.
“We are still very much a new and emerging brand, so digital not only naturally aligns with who we are as a brand, but also where our younger audience are as well.”
On AI, she said IAG-owned Rollin is experimenting across the funnel, looking at how it can test creative early with AI-synthetic audiences and exploring how it can optimise to be found by AI search engines.
“For us, it really is about working smarter while keeping customers and human connection at the core,” she said.
Relieved he only has digital in his arsenal and all screens are the same size, McNamee was loathed to boast the company’s edge over rival OOH companies, confessing JOLT is “standing on the shoulders of giants” and the whole industry.
“All boats rise when we have really strong tools when we invest as an industry as a whole,” he said.
Sustainability also emerged as a recurring theme, with Fein underscoring that ESG is no longer a tick-box. “It’s not a flex anymore. It’s a baseline. And if you can’t tie sustainability to ROI, it will get relegated to a one per cent line item,” she said.
Fein also urged the industry not to lose sight of creativity.
“OOH has the chance to be fun, playful, human — not just programmatic inventory,” she said.
From Melbourne to Sydney, the message of B&T’s Breakfast Club, presented by JOLT, has been consistent: in a market defined by economic pressure and shifting budgets, OOH must evolve fast.
Humble and Aussie founded, with rapid expansion taking hold across the UK, Canada, New Zealand and the US, and an AI tool to boot, JOLT fits the fast evolving bill.
As Fein put it clearly across both events: “Clients don’t just want reach — they want outcomes. And the partners who can deliver that, consistently, will be the ones who survive the budget battles”.
