Visual Art is betting big on the resurgence of retail and the store as a powerful new media channel. In his Year in Review, CEO Pontus Meijer reflects on milestone projects launched in 2025 and teases a new retail media partnership with a leading Nordic industry player.
Year in Review 2025/2026: Pontus Meijer | Visual Art
2025 has been a defining year for Visual Art, a year in which we accelerated our growth, strengthened our market position, and took significant steps toward our ambition to become the #1 digital signage provider in the world. It has also been a year of integration, collaboration, and strategic clarity as we joined the Vertiseit Group and aligned behind a shared mission: to connect a world of retail.
But more than anything, 2025 has been a year where our team, our customers, and our partners have shown what’s possible when creativity and technology come together with purpose.
We leave 2025 with continued ARR growth and an expanding global customer base. From new deals in the Nordics, Europe, the US, and Asia to category-defining work within in-store retail media, the momentum across the company has never been greater.
Across all markets, one thing has been constant: Customers choose Visual Art because our digital signage concepts drive business objectives.
This is the foundation of everything we do, and it’s what will carry us into 2026.
Joining the Vertiseit Group
This year began with our integration into Vertiseit, a group that shares our long-term vision and ambition. From day one, the collaboration has been grounded in a shared belief in the power of IXM, creativity, and operational excellence.
Becoming part of Vertiseit has strengthened our ability to scale globally, accelerate innovation, and reach more brands than ever before. We gathered the group for a “Winning Together-camp” in Sweden, and it was a powerful reminder of the culture we are building — one team, one direction, one ambition. Proud does not even begin to describe how I feel about the whole Visual Art team driving this journey forward.
Defining the future of in-store retail media
2025 was the year when in-store retail media truly took off, and Visual Art has been at the centre of shaping this new landscape.
Through our leadership in the IAB Retail Media Task Force and our partnership with Swedish Commerce, we have helped define what in-store retail media means for retailers and advertisers in the Nordics. This work has positioned us not just as a supplier, but as a strategic partner in an industry undergoing rapid transformation.
And we’ve backed this strategic work with action.
Retail media wins in 2025
This year, we signed long-term agreements with several strong brands, giving them both the infrastructure and strategic frameworks to build scalable, customer-first retail media networks:
- Stadium — A five-year agreement to redesign and shape their in-store retail media concept, introducing Share of Voice models and sensor-based insights to create new commercial value inside the store.
- SkiStar, Friskis & Svettis, Mama Mia — Expanding our position as the go-to partner for retailers building their first in-store retail media network.
- Matas — A landmark partnership in Denmark to build one of the country’s most advanced digital in-store environments, tightly integrated with loyalty, omnichannel strategy, and retail media ambitions.
- And we are only getting started.
In Q1 2026, we will launch one of the most exciting partnerships in the Nordics, built with an industry leader ready to redefine and strengthen the importance of in-store media
Retail media is not a trend; it is a structural shift. And Visual Art is leading the way.
Global expansion: winning with clients in the US, UK, Asia, and Europe
Our international footprint continues to grow. This year, we welcomed:
- Circle K in the US, where our partnership is expanding into new regions and in-store retail media offering.
- KFC in the UK, delivered together with our partner Pioneer (recently acquired by Trison), is a great example of how design, IXM platform, and operations come together as one.
- New momentum in Asia, where our partner continues to strengthen and where demand for high-quality digital signage concepts is accelerating.
- Strong progress in Denmark, with significant wins such as Salling Group selecting Visual Art as its long-term IXM platform and in-store retail media partner
- Continued collaboration in Germany, now strengthened even further by welcoming Muse into the Visual Art family. This gives us a strong hub in the German market, inspiringly led by Maike Frölich.
- We operate today across 39 countries, with more than 75,000 licenses and over 120 clients. These numbers are more than scale; they represent trust.
IXM Aqua — a platform for the future
Another important milestone of the year was announcing that Signage Player is now IXM Aqua. This is not just a rebrand. It is an evolution of how we help retailers manage their entire in-store ecosystem.
IXM is more than digital signage. It orchestrates the whole digital experience in store. From content and data to sensors, audio, retail media, campaign planning, automation, and integrations with POS, CRM, PIM, DAM, and ERP — IXM becomes the engine that makes the modern store work.
As described in the platform documentation:
- Cloud-native, built on Azure
- Modular and API-first
- AI-enabled
- Designed for automation, relevance, and scale
With IXM Aqua, we are positioned for the next decade of growth, one where digital in-store communication is no longer about screens, but about experience management.
Creativity that drives business outcomes
Our Design Studio and Film Studio continue to be differentiators for us, engines of attention, influence, and performance. This year, we have delivered some of our most impactful creative work to date and in December we got to see content produced in our Film Studio live on Times Square when Cloetta, the Swedish candy brand, entered the US market.
Great digital in-store communication is not about playing content. It’s about shaping behaviour at the moment of decision. This is where our heritage matters — decades of DooH, behavioural insights, screen valuation, motion design, and storytelling. When combined with IXM, it becomes a powerful lever for business impact.
The industry is changing, and physical retail is becoming hot again. Despite global macroeconomic uncertainty, one trend is clear: Physical retail is resurging. Customers want experiences, not just transactions. Retailers want differentiation, not price wars. Advertisers want high-intent environments with measurable outcomes. All of this plays to our strengths. Whether in QSR, convenience, gas stations, fashion retail, or grocery, the store is becoming a strategic communication platform and digital signage is at the heart of that transformation.
Our vision remains clear: The store is becoming a media channel, and IXM is becoming the operating system for the modern retail experience.
Looking ahead: 2026 and beyond
As we look into 2026, our ambition is not simply to grow — but to lead. To raise the bar for what digital communication should be. To help retailers turn the store into an engine of revenue, brand building, and experience. To strengthen our global presence and partner ecosystem. And to continue building a culture where passion, creativity, and excellence define everything we do.
The opportunities ahead of us are bigger than ever. The market is expanding. The demand for strategic, measurable, scalable digital signage and retail media solutions is accelerating. And we are equipped to shape the future — not just follow it. To every colleague, every partner, and every customer: Thank you for making 2025 a remarkable year.
I am proud, grateful, and incredibly excited for what we will achieve together in 2026.
