‘We’re not the center of their world’ - Allwyn’s Ross Sargeant on rethinking brand relevance

Season two of the Inside Outside podcast kicks off with Sargeant and Vistar Media’s UK general manager Karan Singh discussing what it means to be locally relevant at scale in a candid chat about targeting, responsibility and how not to be “just another urban brand.”

The postcode problem

For a brand that’s genuinely nationally representative – like Allwyn, which operates lotteries and games across multiple markets – relevance isn’t a buzzword, it’s a strategic necessity.

Reaching everyone means more than hitting major cities. “Lazy reach,” as Singh describes it, might look efficient on a spreadsheet – but it risks overlooking entire audiences and regions. In other words: national means national – not just a few well-placed billboards on Cromwell Road.

“It is incredibly cost efficient and looks more attractive than something that might be in Cleethorpes,” says Sargeant. “But the people in Cleethorpes are just as important. We have to spend a little bit more money per person to get there.”

Global brands, local truths

Beyond geography, Sargeant also lifts the lid on what it’s like to manage a single brand that shows up differently across multiple territories.

Whether it’s a country where lottery wins are publicly announced or kept anonymous, or where brand trust is shaped by how local the messaging feels, Sargeant’s team faces the challenge of staying consistent and relevant.

That means creative tweaks that go deeper than surface-level localization. It’s about crafting stories and media that make sense in context. “We want to remain consistent, but we want to remain relevant,” he says. “And relevancy only comes by doing it in whatever the visual or spoken version of a regional accent is.”

Respect the role you play

Perhaps the most refreshing insight from Sargeant is his honest take on how brands show up in people’s lives – and how often marketers overestimate their place in them. It’s about bringing the consumer back into view – not as a target, but as a person with real distractions and priorities.

“We just got to be respectful of that and treat people like they have busy lives and we’re a part of their life, rather than somewhere near the center,” says Sargeant.

It’s a sentiment that threads through the conversation – and through the responsible, precisely targeted approach Allwyn takes to programmatic out-of-home. That includes not just who it reaches, but who it deliberately excludes – from underage players to high-risk spenders – using data to prevent harm, not just maximize impressions.

For Allwyn, precision isn’t just a performance lever, it’s a responsibility – one that the brand takes seriously with retail staff trained to spot risky behaviors and programmatic channels helping remove entire postcodes from media plans.

A campaign doesn’t need to go viral to be good

As the conversation wraps, Sargeant issues one final challenge to marketers: don’t confuse attention with effectiveness: “Brands get very excited about investing hugely in big outdoor stunts that look amazing for us, but actually they don’t reach the people.”

In a world full of LinkedIn-viral creative designed to wow other marketers, it’s a pointed reminder: with more flexibility and addressability than ever, it’s not about chasing headlines but about delivering meaningful presence at scale.

That mindset shift – coupled with evolving tools like programmatic OOH – sets the tone for a bigger, bolder season two. And with more episodes to come, expect further uncomfortable truths, brilliant strategies and voices that challenge the status quo.

You can catch previous episodes from the Inside Outside podcast here.