This article was originally published by B&T

Global out-of-home (OOH) specialist billups has achieved 72 per cent year-on-year revenue growth in its first full year operating in Australia and New Zealand. The milestone follows billups’ 2024 acquisition of New Zealand-based Billie Media, founded in 2021 by Ben Poole and Rohan Prasad, and highlights the agency’s unique position as one of the world’s largest independent OOH specialists, now active in 19 countries.

B&T sat down with Poole and Prasad to talk about the acquisition and the work billups has been doing since the dynamic duo arrived on the scene.

Following the acquisition in 2024, Prasad highlighted the pair had to adjust from being a “two-man band in New Zealand” to joining a “global enterprise.” Which he joked led to the not-so-pleasant but extremely essential “3am leadership calls”, to meet the global market and to gain valuable insight into outdoor around the world.

Since joining billups the pair have been focused on driving growth and new client acquisition, whilst teammates, client director Nicci Loudon and account director Kirstie Caldwell bring their operational and strategic expertise to campaign delivery. Collectively, the team draws on extensive OOH experience across Australia, New Zealand and the UK, helping global brands succeed locally, supporting ANZ brands expanding abroad and empowering domestic brands to take a more innovative, more accountable approach to OOH.

“To see that level of growth in our first full year is incredibly energising,” Poole told B&T. “It shows that our locally led, globally connected model is resonating, brands want smart, accountable OOH, and they want it delivered by people who know the medium inside out. Our team has lived and breathed this space for years, and we’re building something that’s not just relevant locally, but globally capable.”
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billups ANZ has delivered high-impact campaigns for One Roof, Boring, Oatly, Turkish Airlines, PwC and Hinge, demonstrating a refined ability to handle end-to-end OOH strategy and performance measurement, both in the region and beyond.

“We’re seeing a real shift in how brands think about OOH,” said Prasad. “It’s no longer just a top-of-funnel awareness driver – clients want smarter planning, clearer accountability and partners who can help them connect media investment to real outcomes.”

Pulling on their strengths from Billie Media, Poole and Rohan are continually finding success connecting Australian businesses to the New Zealand market. And by “way of virtue” being able to grow into the Australian market as a result of the connections the two built prior.

You don’t have to look much further than Oatly’s ‘Support Your Local Oat Dealer’ campaign to see the success Rohan and Poole have had in their short time at billups.

Oatly’s campaign was designed to uplift local cafés and baristas, inviting Australians to discover or rediscover local businesses that provide their favourite oat milk coffees.

The campaign especially resonated with Poole, who loved the fact that he could lean heavily on his local expertise to produce the best results for his client.

“We were able to use our local expertise, our quick turnarounds, our local knowledge, to select and book out basically the whole area that they wanted, and then we match creative specific to each placement that was closest to those cafes that they use. So it was a really nice example of, I guess, how we use our local on the ground expertise, that speed of response, but also understanding of the local market,” he said.

The campaign surpassed expectations, earning more than 13 million impressions across Sydney and Melbourne and over 10,000 free coffees were redeemed, driving direct footfall to local cafés. This is all on top of over 4,000 hotline calls, a 316 per cent increase in media articles, 270 per cent in social posts and a 47 per cent increase in brand mentions.
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Globally, billups continues to scale, reporting 73.8 per cent revenue growth in Q1 2025, adding 156 new hires, and earning 21 campaign awards for work with brands including Nike, Samsung, Oatly and e.l.f. Beauty. With 12 technology patents and a 96 per cent staff retention rate, billups continues to lead the industry in innovation, performance and people.

“Australia and New Zealand are an exciting chapter in billups’ global growth story,” said Ben Milne, APAC CEO of billups. “This region is one of the most organised and sophisticated OOH markets in the world and that’s reflected in the strength and focus of our team on the ground.

“The team’s momentum speaks for itself – they’ve established a strong local presence with a clear point of view and we’re backing them to keep building on that success. As we continue to evolve what OOH can deliver for brands, ANZ will play an important role in that journey.”

As billups continues to grow its presence in ANZ, it’s preparing to introduce the Attention Dashboard, a new platform designed to give brands clearer visibility into who they’re reaching through out-of-home, how those audiences move, how long they engage and the level of attention captured.

Currently launching in global markets, the Dashboard will roll out across ANZ later in Q4 this year. The pair are extremely excited about the platform, even joking that they’d like it to have happened two years prior.

The duo had a leaving message for B&T and its readers stating, “Key behemoths are actually recognising that for out of home to really gain ground they have to work as a collaboration and deliver insights and research back”, the NZ dynamic duo said.

“Things are going really well. There’s heaps of exciting pieces and so we’re lucky to be a part of that channel, and we’re excited to see how we can add value back and continue being part of this conversation as advocates and thought leaders.”

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