EXCLUSIVE: Aegis Media is to launch out-of-home buying specialist Posterscope in Australia as the London-based media company looks to take advantage of a resilient outdoor market under local boss Harold Mitchell.
Mitchell’s son, Aegis Media Pacific deputy chairman Stuart Mitchell confirmed the move, and said that Aegis Australia has been firming up the deal with Posterscope Worldwide global chief executive Annie Rickard. Posterscope will set up shop soon: “There are a lot of things to consider if we want to launch the company in Australia, and there are a lot of global understandings that must come into play, but this is a business we see being launched this financial year,” he said.
“Aegis is already an incredibly diversified business in this market, so the launch of Posterscope will be eased by the fact that there is already a great deal of infrastructure in place.”
In 2009, then-Aegis Pacific chief executive Lee Stephens said the launch of Posterscope was “a matter of when, not if”. However, launch plans were sidelined by Aegis’ $363 million takeover of Mitchell Communications Group in October 2010.
The Australian out-of-home sector is holding up well, despite the troubled advertising markets.
Media agency bookings for the outdoor sector grew 3.1% year-on-year to $42.9 million in July, according to SMI data. The rate of growth contrasts with a decline in television, radio, newspaper and magazine ad spend.
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