Ben Baker.
Ben Baker, Managing Director, APAC, Vistar Media
Mother’s Day has always been an important date in the retail calendar, but it is also becoming a useful reminder of how much the shopper journey has changed. For many Australians, Mother’s Day is not a single shopping moment. It is a series of decisions made across days, hours and locations, from comparing gift ideas online to booking a restaurant, visiting a florist, making a last-minute trip to a department store, or choosing an experience rather than a physical gift.
That matters because Mother’s Day remains a valuable retail moment. Research from the Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan found Australians were expected to spend $1 billion on Mother’s Day in 2025, with average spend rising from $102 to $141 despite fewer people planning to celebrate. That tells us something important. Seasonal retail moments may be more selective, but they are still meaningful. The shoppers who are in market are often highly intentional, and brands have a narrow window to influence where that money goes.
The challenge for marketers is that traditional seasonal advertising often treats Mother’s Day as a fixed calendar event. The campaign goes live, the creative runs, and the assumption is that broad awareness will do the job. But shoppers do not make decisions that neatly. Their needs change depending on where they are, what they are doing, how close the occasion is, and how much time they have left to act.
This is where real-world context becomes critical. A person thinking about Mother’s Day two weeks out is in a very different mindset to someone looking for a gift the day before. A commuter passing retail locations after work is in a different moment to someone near a restaurant precinct on Mother’s Day morning. The message that works early in the consideration phase may not be the message that drives action when the occasion is almost here.
For advertisers, this is the opportunity. One channel that gives brands the ability to show up in the physical environments where seasonal decisions are being made is digital out-of-home. It can reach people near shopping centres, retail precincts, restaurants, transit hubs and other high-traffic locations, while also allowing campaigns to adapt based on time of day, location and other contextual signals.
That flexibility is increasingly important. Mother’s Day campaigns do not need to rely on one static message. Creative can shift as the date approaches. Messaging can become more urgent in the final days. Offers can be tailored to nearby locations.
Campaigns can connect awareness in the real world, with activity across other channels helping brands stay visible as shoppers continue researching, comparing and deciding.
An example of this in action can be seen in a campaign involving Vistar Media, Foursquare and a luxury jewellery brand. To drive in-store foot traffic, the brand launched a programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) campaign designed to engage a high-intent audience of female luxury shoppers and retail enthusiasts at moments most likely to influence purchase decisions.
Leveraging point-of-interest (POI) targeting, the campaign activated DOOH placements around key jewellery and watch retail locations, supported by a mix of digital, static and video creative. This was further enhanced by precise day-part targeting to ensure messaging appeared during peak shopping hours.
By aligning audience, location and timing, the campaign was able to reach consumers in close proximity to relevant retail environments, increasing both relevance and immediacy. The result was a 10% uplift in foot traffic to stores, demonstrating how data-driven, programmatic out-of-home advertising can move beyond visibility to drive measurable in-store outcomes during critical retail moments.
This is not about replacing other media channels. It is about recognising that the physical world still plays a major role in retail decision-making. Even when consumers begin their journey online, many of the final decisions around gifts, dining and experiences happen while people are out and about.
Mother’s Day shows why marketers need to think beyond the gift guide. The brands that win are not only the ones that understand the occasion. They are the ones that understand the moments around it.
Seasonal retail is becoming more fluid, more contextual and more immediate. For advertisers, the task is no longer just to be visible in the lead-up to major calendar events. It is to be present when emotion, intent and convenience come together.
On Mother’s Day, that moment can arrive quickly. Brands need to be ready when it does.