Head of OOH

Publicis Groupe · Johannesburg

Overview

The Head of OOH will lead Publicis Media Africa’s end-to-end Out-of-Home practice and centralized service — combining strategic leadership, market expertise, and commercial acumen to modernize and scale the agency’s outdoor offering.

The role demands a leader who can balance legacy OOH scale with digital innovation, strategic and data informed thinking and bringing deep local knowledge of the South African OOH landscape and extending this expertise across Africa.

They will bridge OOH landscape knowledge, strategic insights, data informed OOH planning, consumer journey mapping, and commercial negotiations to deliver measurable business outcomes for clients.

They will lead, manage and oversee the centralized Publicis OOH media team. Ensuring standardization, high quality deliverables, maximized value extraction, and strategic thinking. They will manage all key stakeholder relationships both internally across Publicis Media agencies and externally with clients and media suppliers.

This is both a relationship and results-driven role, requiring a strategic thinker, trusted negotiator, and strong operator who can lead a centralized delivery team and represent Publicis Media credibly with clients and OOH media suppliers.

Responsibilities

1. Market Strategy & Vision

Define and implement Publicis Africa’s OOH growth strategy, ensuring it combines traditional scale with digital transformation (DOOH, data, measurement).
Oversees the strategy planning and execution of out-of-home reverts, ensuring alignment with brand goals and market trends
Map the consumer journey and align OOH touchpoints with broader brand and media strategies — from awareness to conversion.
Identify new growth zones — including township economies, commuter corridors, and retail precincts — and integrate them into client communication plans.
Translate complex OOH possibilities into simple, strategic narratives that resonate with CMOs and client boards.
Drive innovative thinking

2. Local Market Expertise & Influence

Leverage deep understanding of South Africa’s OOH ecosystem — key media suppliers, sites, environments, and ownership structures.
Analyze market data to optimize placements, and drive innovation in our OOH solutions. Ensure data-informed OOH planning approach.
Maintain trusted relationships with major OOH media holding groups
Negotiate strategic site access, long-term value commitments, and preferential rates.
Proactively identify location gaps or redundancies across client campaigns and fix them through tactical site swaps or deal leverage.

3. Commercial & Negotiation Leadership

Lead all OOH commercial negotiations at a senior level — ensuring transparency, value creation, and profitability.
Develop strategic supply-side partnerships to secure premium inventory and ensure first-mover advantage for clients.
Build volume-based or multi-client deals with OOH media owners that unlock better pricing and stronger data access.
Work with finance and procurement to ensure OOH maintains strong margins and operational sustainability.

4. Integrated Consumer Planning

Collaborate with planning, strategy, and data teams to ensure OOH aligns with audience intent, path-to-purchase, and brand funnel goals.
Translate brand strategy into actionable outdoor blueprints that map where, when, and how OOH drives consumer action.
Support OOH Team and media teams with OOH data, audience insights, and contextual recommendations during campaign ideation.
Champion OOH as a storytelling medium that drives both emotional impact and measurable business outcomes.
Drive innovative approaches for clients OOH

5. Team Leadership & Execution Excellence

Lead a centralized OOH operations and delivery hub based in South Africa servicing all agencies and clients (in South Africa but also including Pan-Africa)
Ensure flawless campaign execution — accurate site bookings, posting verification, and OOH monitoring and post-campaign reporting.
Drive operational efficiency and use of automation tools.
Mentor and develop a team of OOH planners, buyers, and coordinators to elevate delivery quality and market credibility.
Assist the OOH team to resolve any OOH client queries with swift precision and accuracy.

6. Innovation & Future Readiness

Integrate data-enabled OOH and P/DOOH solutions (e.g., location intelligence, programmatic trading, mobile retargeting).
Pilot measurement frameworks linking OOH exposure to store visits, sales lift, and online conversions.
Build case studies to demonstrate the commercial impact of integrated outdoor campaigns.
Collaborate with Epsilon and Data teams to connect OOH exposure with identity-based audiences and retargeting opportunities

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or Media Management.
10+ years’ experience in Out-of-Home media, including planning, buying, and strategic account leadership.
Proven network and influence within South Africa’s OOH ecosystem, from large to small vendors
Strong understanding of OOH site economics, municipality regulations, concession models, and rate structures.
Experience in negotiating national and regional deals and managing multi-stakeholder relationships.
Familiarity with all OOH data, mapping, and verification tools (OMC Road 2.0 & IDS Software, Outdoor Auditors, SEEDOH, All Unite, Luxon, Lightstone etc.).
Excellent understanding of brand communication planning and the role of OOH in the consumer journey.
Skilled communicator capable of engaging CMOs and client teams at a strategic level.
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional or centralized teams.
Added experience within the Pan-African OOH ecosystem would be ideal

Additional information

Success Metrics

Increased share of spend and profitability in OOH across the Groupe.
Strong internal OOH team structure with fit for purpose and value adding team members
Establishment of strategic site and value partnerships with top OOH vendors.
Ensuring all OOH is delivered with strategic thinking & approaches linking OOH to media and brand objectives.
Growth in data-driven OOH planning and DOOH/PDOOH adoption.
Improvement in campaign delivery accuracy and verification and reporting.
Elevate OOH reporting to link to performance and campaign objectives
Recognition through case studies, client testimonials, and industry awards.