Apart from a handful of sports fanatics who were immersed in World Cup / Wimbledon / Open Golf Championship fever across the Summer, most people in Out of Home will have heard of Ocean’s recent acquisition of Forrest Media.

I take huge personal satisfaction in everything which we built and achieved under the Forrest name and equal pride now that we have merged our brilliant Out of Home estate with that of the UK’s premium operator, to create a seismic shift resulting in a truly UK wide network of super premium digital screens, which are the envy of our competitors.

Forrest, was regarded as the dominant player in Scotland with the largest premium roadside portfolio in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. Adding this to Ocean’s strength in cities South of the border including Manchester and Birmingham has created a DOOH proposition of unrivalled national coverage.

Our guiding principle in Scotland is always about creating the very best platforms for advertisers; from neatly manicured landscaping around each location to the latest in screen technology and in Ocean we have found the perfect partner – one who clearly shares the same ‘best in class’ principles. Ocean’s commitment to developing truly iconic locations will continue to roll out across Ocean-Scotland.

At the time of the acquisition, Forrest had just set off on an exciting new expansion program, which involved the development of a portfolio of new D48 screens and a number of larger format digital panels. These screens are currently being launched in new towns and cities across Scotland, such as the best digital panel in Aberdeen, at Union Square Shopping Centre, the most popular retail destination in the north east of Scotland.

Ocean has fully embraced the entire roll-out strategy as part of its’ vision for ‘Digital Cities for Digital Citizens’ and we will be announcing other exciting developments and ‘firsts’ for Scottish DOOH in the very near future.

With the support of the wider Sales and Marketing team at Ocean, I am really excited that we will be able to bring these assets closer to our Specialist and Agency partners and Clients alike, to the benefit of all stakeholders.

As we say in these parts “Och aye the new”.

Marc Keenan, MD, Ocean-Scotland