The verdict on Cathy O'Connor
Welcome to a Tuesday update from Unmade. With today’s announcement of Cathy O’Connor’s departure from Ooh Media we look back on her four-year tenure and ask whether the experiment of bringing somebody from outside the insular world of outdoor advertising was a success.
Today’s full post is for our paying members only. Below the paywall, you’ll also find the coupon code for free member tickets to HumAIn.
To get maximum value from a paid membership of Unmade, sign up today.
Your annual membership gets you tickets to next week’s HumAIn conference on AI on the media and marketing industry; to September’s REmade conference on retail media; to October’s Unlock conference on marketing in the nighttime economy; and to Unmade’s Compass end-of-year roadshow.
You also get access to our paywalled archive.
Upgrade today.
Cathy O’Connor exits the stage
Just a few weeks ago, I did a brief interview with Cathy O’Connor, CEO of Ooh Media. It coincided with the exit of marketing and retail media boss Neil Ackland, alongside the elevation of Mark Fairhurst to chief revenue officer and Andrew Every to chief strategy and retail media officer. I asked whether one of them was going to be the succession plan. O’Connor played a straight bat, asking jokingly: “Are you trying to get rid of me, Tim?”
It now turns out that there is indeed going to be a succession process. O’Connor will be leaving later this year. Although her 12 month notice period means she could be around for many months yet, next month’s annual general meeting will be her last with Ooh Media.
Today’s ASX announcement declares victory: “With the company’s performance having improved and with Ooh carrying strong momentum in CY25, the time is right for new leadership to deliver Ooh’s next multi-year phase of strategy execution and growth.”