The Co‑op has announced the launch of its new national advertising proposition, Co-op Media Network Out of Home, marking the retailer’s “formal entry as a standalone media owner, into the UK Digital Out of Home (DOOH) market,” it said.
The move places the consumer co-operative as the fourth largest digital outdoor advertiser in the UK, it added, behind long-established ad businesses JCDecaux, Global and Bauer Media Outdoor.
The new proposition “offers a unique advertising service for brands,” built on the strengths of convenience, designed to develop brand awareness and advocacy and to stand apart from retail media channels focused on sales conversion.
While traditional OOH typically focuses on major commuter routes, the average person makes around 18 journeys a week and only 12% are commuter trips, data shows, meaning the majority are local, everyday journeys such as school runs, worktime breaks and quick errands.
Co-op’s estate adds a high-frequency layer to DOOH by delivering visibility across the other 88% of journeys, with additional uplift at peak commuting times due to many stores being within 100 yards of a bus stop or train station.
Operated in partnership with specialist DOOH sales house, Smart Outdoor, Co-op’s new estate provides “neighbourhood-level presence at national scale, offering consistent, everyday frequency that roadside-led networks have often struggled to deliver,” Co-op said.
Utilising Co-op’s network of 1,000 front-of-store digital advertising screens located in a diverse range of locations across the UK, Smart Outdoor will lead planning and buying to ensure the estate fits seamlessly into agency workflows, while Co-op will retain ownership and responsibility for the long-term direction of the new operation.
Additionally, Co-op’s DOOH estate will unlock new territories across the UK where brands have been previously unable to reach customers with outdoor digital advertising messages due to lack of technology.
Richard Smith, director of marketing and media operations at Co-op, said: “Over the past two years, Co-op Media Network has successfully used a convenience shopping environment to differentiate itself from the big‑box retail media logic and, in doing so, created a neighbourhood based DOOH estate that champions frequency and presence.
“The growth of the screen network has been a strategic decision and we’re now able to show our intent as one of the UK’s largest digital outdoor advertisers.”
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