QMS chief executive John O’Neill reminded people this week that the outdoor company won the tender for the City of Sydney back in early 2020.
It’s going to be a little while until the revenue starts to tick over, but when asked this week after the QMS City of Sydney launch presentation when they write the first invoices, QMS chief customer officer Mark Fairhurst told Mediaweek: “Soon.”
He echoed O’Neill saying the company had been on quite a journey in taking this to market.
See also: First look: QMS reveals new City of Sydney street furniture network
“We have now been through an expressions of interest process for launch partners,” said Fairhurst. “Those first brands who are going on the journey with us will be rolled out as the new assets are available. That will start in the first week of December and will continue through the build phase.
“We reach a critical mass of assets in the ground by the end of March. From April 4, 2022 we will be open for business as usual.”
One of the new QMS panels previewed to advertisers this week
While the launch partners are on board, QMS is not yet taking campaign bookings for the start of April next year.
Work is underway across the 26 square kilometres inside the City of Sydney boundaries on the new outdoor furniture. From November 1 JCDecaux started working on taking their old assets out while QMS is starting construction on the new ones.
“From the start of December we will have QMS panels live, starting in the outer suburbs first and then later in the CBD,” explained QMS general manager, City of Sydney, Jemma Enright.
When asked who might have the first ad running on the long-anticipated new network, Fairhurst said, “Not just yet. We are finalising the last couple of partners and will be making some announcements about that shortly.”
The construction work will see 800 panels installed around the 33 suburbs that make up the City of Sydney, 70% of them digital.
As well as advertisers, the City of Sydney will also be using the network to share messaging with both residents, workers and visitors to the municipality.
Will QMS cost more than JCDecaux?
Enright explained some potential clients have been asking how the new network will compare in cost to the former offering. “At the moment we have been talking about the fundamentals of the network. Our next step is coming back to the market with much more detail about locations and pricing.
“Mark and I have been in an intensive process with the market, getting feedback and input on our plans.”
In other words, the market has helped QMS set the rate as it engages with the market regarding bookings.
QMS: Bigger, brighter
When asked about what instantly sets the QMS assets apart from what JCDecaux was selling, the outdoor executives replied in unison – “Bigger, brighter.”
QMS is selling both digital and static assets in weekly blocks after previously some of it was sold in fortnightly deals. The week will also start on Mondays, a change from previously when new static assets often went live on Tuesdays.
Taking the City of Sydney network to market along with Fairhurst and Enright is a team of out of home specialists. “They will focus just on the City of Sydney,” said Fairhurst. “They are embedded into the broader sales team and will work across the agencies. The team is a combination of new hires and people already with the business who have the right skillset.”
As to how much it means to QMS, Fairhurst said: “The City of Sydney is the largest contract in out of home and it doubles our Sydney capacity.”
See also: QMS Media preparing to unveil launch partner packages for City of Sydney