Starting from scratch a little over seven years ago, the couple – with no experience in the media industry, but a lot of experience as small business owners – built the outdoor advertising firm to one that today boasts almost 40 digital screens nationwide, most of them in Waikato and Bay of Plenty.
The rise of Globox into a significant regional media business is reflected in the news today that it has been acquired by Auckland-based outdoor advertising firm Lumo.
While Sally Nicholson has continued the couple’s entrepreneurial legacy over the past year, she says now is the right moment to sell as she takes time for herself and the couple’s four children.
“It just allows me to take a step back and focus on myself and the kids and figure out what our life is like without Allan and then without Globox. Globox was his business. I always say Allan was the ideas and I was just along for the ride.
“I‘ve tried to do it justice over the last 12 months or so, but I think, for me, just being able to step back and focus on my family for a little bit is the best course of action.”
The Nicholsons’ entry into the outdoor advertising industry came via their earlier, equally successful dental business Clinico, which had denture clinics based around Waikato and Coromandel.
They quickly realised that options for small businesses to use outdoor billboards were too expensive.
They set about building a new business model, creating affordable options for local small and medium enterprise businesses (SMEs). The first of their Globox digital billboards went live in 2018.
After the initial Covid lockdowns, the Globox business started soaring in 2022 and 2023, Sally Nicholson says.
“We actually sold our dental business in December 2020 and just got stuck in with finding sites and growing our Globox business quite aggressively over the next couple of years,” she says.
“We were a SME and that’s how we always looked at it. What would we need if we had a small business? We would want people to know who we are and where we can advertise.
“It was just providing a service that was not necessarily available to them before.”
After Allan Nicholson‘s death in February 2024, Sally Nicholson has continued to operate the business successfully.
“Although it has been a great distraction for me, this is an opportunity for Lumo to acquire Globox with their growth plans,” she says.
The Nicholsons had known Lumo owners Phil Clemas and Kent Harrison for some time.
“I trust those guys. It’s in good hands with them. They know what they’re doing, they’ve got the appetite for it.”
Lumo’s big glow
Lumo’s Phil Clemas (left) and Kent Harrison (right) with Globox owner Sally Nicholson.
And so a big year for Lumo has just become a lot bigger, with news of the Globox acquisition.
The acquisition, for an undisclosed sum, comes hard on the heels of Clemas and Harrison buying their firm outright from other shareholders earlier this year.
They say Globox’s assets will give them even stronger reach, especially in the top half of the North Island, and will now extend Lumo’s own assets to more than 100 digital billboards.
Settlement is due on June 1.
It has been a strong start to the year for the outdoor advertising industry, with revenue up 16% year on year. Lumo is seeing similar numbers and expects to see that growth continue.
“It’s a scale play,” says Clemas of the Globox deal.
“We’re investing in technology that will help with efficiency, productivity and creativity for clients.”
Globox’s strong relationship with local, direct advertisers would complement Lumo’s national agency clients.
Meanwhile, Clemas and Harrison said Lumo had decided it would not seek any slice of the lucrative Auckland Transport outdoor advertising contracts. Several contracts are currently up for tender, including buses and trains, bus shelters and train stations.
Lumo wants to remain focused on its speciality – large, roadside digital billboards. Almost all of their assets are on private land – they say it’s easier working with private landlords compared with publicly owned bodies with the required level of “onerous” reporting rules.
“That’s not a criticism,” says Clemas. “But that doesn’t really suit us.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.