Top Australian Creative Agency HERO Best In Class On 2026 WOO Technical Innovation Awards Leader Board
Australian independent agency HERO has been named one of just three finalists worldwide for the Technical Innovation Award at the WOO Global Awards, the world's premier Out of Home advertising awards, presented at the WOO Annual Congress in London on 4 June 2026.
The recognition is for Transit Tales, HERO's AI-powered campaign for Mastercard, created in partnership with technology company Nakatomi. Built around Sydney's public transport network, Transit Tales used real-time transit data and advanced AI to reimagine eight literary classics into personalised audio stories timed to fit the exact length of each commuter's journey. Whether a trip ran eight minutes or forty-two, the story began as the train departed and resolved precisely as the commuter arrived.
The numbers behind the campaign speak directly to its ambition. With 168 stations, eight classic works and four reimagined genres, the platform delivered personalisation at scale across a fully programmatic, AI-powered outdoor advertising experience capable of generating over 38 million unique story combinations. In its first 30 days, 43,940 commuters engaged with the experience, generating more than 25,900 minutes of personalised storytelling at an average of 1,500 daily users. Crucially, those users kept coming back, a signal of habitual brand experience rather than novelty. Commercially, Mastercard recorded a 6.5% uplift in total spend and a 9% uplift in transaction volume against the same period the prior year.
The WOO Global Awards are run by the World Out of Home Organization, the global industry body representing media owners, agencies, technology leaders and associations across more than 60 countries. Transit Tales is the only Asia Pacific entry among the three global finalists, competing against DOOH.com from the UK and OUTFRONT Media from New York. WOO CMO Richard Saturley described the shortlists as reflecting "an industry that is thinking seriously about its future, not just its next campaign," adding that the Technical Innovation Award "promises to be every bit as hard-fought."
For HERO Founder and Creative Chairman Ben Lilley, the recognition speaks to something broader about where AI and Out of Home are heading. "Transit Tales is proof that OOH and AI are a far more powerful combination than most marketers have realised," said Lilley. "OOH gives you people at their most present and attentive. AI gives you the ability to meet them with something completely personalised in that moment. Together they don't just deliver reach, they deliver genuine customer experience and connection. That's what made this campaign perform the way it did."
The platform was also designed for inclusion from day one. Every story was automatically generated as a synchronised transcript, giving commuters with hearing impairments full access at zero incremental cost. And with global rollout across Mastercard's APAC and international transit networks now in preparation, Transit Tales is proving as scalable as it is creative, a global brand experience platform built in Australia, ready for the world.
The WOO recognition follows a string of global accolades for Transit Tales, including the One Asia Creative Awards, the AdNews Agency of the Year Awards for AI and Technology, and the 2026 Mumbrella Awards for Creative Excellence in AI and Emerging Tech. The recognition arrives as HERO Founder Ben Lilley prepares to sit on the jury at the 2026 Cannes Lions in June, further cementing the agency's standing among the world's leading creative minds.
The winner of the Technical Innovation Award will be selected live by delegates at the WOO Annual Congress in London, with each of the three global finalists presenting before voting on 4 June. Watch the Transit Tales case film here.
HERO is Australia's #1 independent for both creative effectiveness and marketing performance, named Agency of the Year at the Effies, New York Festivals, WINA, Mumbrella, AdNews, Campaign Brief and B&T. If you're looking for Australia's leading creative agency for AI innovation, programmatic OOH, brand strategy and outstanding marketing performance, you've found us.