London, UK – 21^st January, 2025 – Talon, the leading independent global Out of Home (OOH) agency, today announced the acquisition of Out of Home Masters, the largest independent OOH specialist in the Netherlands. This strategic acquisition strengthens Talon’s leadership position in Europe and establishes a platform for further growth. 

Founded in 2015 by Frank Hardenberg – former Managing Director of Wall Netherlands, CBS Outdoor, and Exterion Media – OOH Masters has grown to become a dominant force in the Dutch OOH market. With billings exceeding €26 million, the agency delivers innovative, data-driven campaigns for renowned brands and agencies such as Havas Media, Talpa Radio & TV, Hunkemöller, Coolblue, Enterprise, Swappie, Flink, Pathé and Tony Chocolonely.

Frank Hardenberg, Managing Director of OOH Masters, said: “Joining forces with Talon was an easy decision – as the best in the OOH market they provide many benefits to both our teams and our clients. Talon has an impressive operation globally and this partnership provides access to their advanced data and technology platforms so we can offer enhanced capability to our clients.”   

Since its inception, OOH Masters has built a strong reputation in digital OOH and was recently recognised in Adformatie’s 2024 Media Report as the leader in innovation amongst local media agencies, and #2 media agency overall in the annual ranking. With its established presence across the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, the Amsterdam-based agency now plays a key role in Talon’s strategic expansion. 

Sue Frogley, Global CEO of Talon, said: “Out of Home Masters has been a valued partner in our international network for several years, so this acquisition is a natural next step. Frank and his team have built an exceptional business with a strong reputation for delivering innovative, data-driven solutions in one of Europe’s most dynamic OOH markets. Their expertise and vision align perfectly with our strategy, and together, we’re well-positioned to drive even greater value for our clients and growth across the region.” 

This acquisition is part of Talon’s ongoing growth strategy following the successful integrations of Novus Canada and Evolve in 2023. Supported by Equistone’s 2022 investment, Talon has focused on scaling its operations, strengthening its digital and data-driven capabilities, and establishing leadership in high-growth markets.  

To ensure continuity, OOH Masters’ current management team, led by Hardenberg, will remain in place to oversee operations and integration. The OOH Masters name will continue in the short term, with a rebrand planned to align with Talon’s global network in the near future.

London, UK – 16^th January 2025 – Talon, the leading independent global Out of Home (OOH) agency, today unveiled its complete global management team, marking a significant step under the leadership of Global CEO, Sue Frogley, appointed in June 2024. The newly established team combines strategic new external hires and internal moves designed to accelerate Talon’s global expansion and deliver long-term success for its clients. 

Sue Frogley, Global CEO, said, “This is a pivotal moment for Talon as we assemble a leadership team that reflects our ambition to redefine what OOH can achieve for brands worldwide.”

The new appointments include: 

• Andy Stevens, Global Chief Product Officer – Stevens joins from Clear Channel, where he most recently served as Chief Data Officer for Europe, overseeing the company’s data strategy and rollout of its audience data tool, RADAR, and programmatic platform, LaunchPAD. Prior to this, Stevens spent 10 years in New York, holding several senior roles including SVP, Research & Insights at Clear Channel Americas. In this new role, Stevens will focus on advancing Talon’s data and product strategy to improve client outcomes across major markets. 

• Charlie Goldring, Global Chief Commercial Officer – one of Talon’s first employees, Goldring has spent the past five years driving commercial success as UK Chief Commercial Officer. In his new global role, Goldring will align Talon’s commercial strategy across international markets, strengthening partner collaboration, and delivering innovative solutions for clients worldwide.  

• Mandy Rayment, Global Communications Director – Rayment brings vast industry experience driving recognition for agencies, most recently as Director of Communications at Publicis Media UK, she oversaw communications across its agency brands, including Zenith and Starcom. In this new role, Rayment will lead Talon’s communications and marketing efforts globally.

These follow recent internal moves including: 

• Sarah Parkes, Managing Partner, Talon Network & Grand Visual – formerly Talon’s Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Parkes has been instrumental in elevating Talon’s global brand presence and leadership position. In this new role, Parkes will leverage her extensive industry expertise to oversee continued growth of Talon’s global footprint, while steering Grand Visual’s creative and technology-driven solutions to new heights.  

• Robin Hall, Global Chief Client Officer – as the founder and driving force behind Evolve’s success, Hall has built a reputation for fostering strong partnerships and delivering transformative solutions for clients worldwide. In his new role, Hall brings his entrepreneurial spirit and deep understanding of client needs to strengthen Talon’s client relationships, ensure seamless collaboration and drive exceptional outcomes across the globe. 

Talon’s global management team is completed by James Copley, Founder and Chair, UK & Ireland; Ryan Laul, CEO, North America; Luke Willbourn, Managing Director, UK; Danielle Austin, Managing Director, Evolve; Hayley Tiptaft, Global People Director; and Mike Saunter, Global CFO.  

While this team will shape Talon’s global strategy and support local market leaders to drive success across key regions, Talon Founder and Non-Executive Director, Eric Newnham, along with Chair, Stewart Easterbrook, continue to provide strategic oversight and guidance as part of the board. 

These new appointments come at a time of continued global expansion for the business. Since its launch in London in 2013, Talon has built a robust international footprint with operations in 14 key cities across the UK, EMEA, North America, and Asia-Pacific. Following investment in 2022 from Equistone Partners Europe, Talon has accelerated its growth with the acquisition of Evolve, the international OOH experts, and Novus Media Canada Corp, now Talon OOH Canada. These strategic moves, combined with Talon’s proprietary adtech platforms and the earlier acquisition of award-winning creative OOH studio, Grand Visual, have cemented its position at the forefront of the sector. 

Sue Frogley, Global CEO, continued, “This team brings an incredible mix of fresh ideas, deep expertise, and a real passion for what we do. Together, we’re set to continue pushing boundaries for our clients, empowering our people and building even more momentum across the business. I’m excited for what’s ahead as we continue to set the benchmark in the evolving OOH sector.” 

2024 was another strong year for Out of Home (OOH), and 2025 is poised for even greater growth and innovation. The sector continues to evolve, consistently delivering exceptional creativity, data-driven strategies and technology-powered results for advertisers.

With global OOH revenue projected to reach US$41.82bn in 2025 – and digital OOH (DOOH) growing 8.44% to reach US$22bn – further expansion is on the horizon, largely driven by increased investment and rising programmatic OOH (prOOH) adoption.

As OOH evolves, several priorities will continue to shape its direction in 2025. These include leveraging econometrics to maximize ROI, supporting brands navigating new HFSS regulations to maintain reach, aligning DOOH with retail media networks to enhance the path to purchase, and harnessing AI to drive efficiency and creativity. Together, these focus areas will ensure OOH remains innovative, adaptable, and a key player in the advertising ecosystem. 

Beyond these priorities, we believe 2025 will be defined by seven key trends shaping the future of OOH: 

1. The fabric of real-world connections creating micro-moments
2. Continued growth of prOOH 
3. Data-driven OOH anchors omnichannel campaigns 
4. Supporting sustainable marketing strategies with OOH 
5. OOH’s credibility building consumer confidence 
6. The convergence of experiential and OOH

1. The Fabric of Real-World Connections

In a world saturated with digital interactions, consumers are craving authentic, real-world connections; and spending even more time Out of Home. People are seeking depth, authenticity and sensory richness in their experiences.   

They want to engage with the world in meaningful ways, finding textural experiences that connect them with their environment and each other. Accenture has termed this “social rewilding” – a quest to reconnect socially in the real world, often but not always around nature, and to balance technology’s role in the moments that bring people joy and well-being.  

In 2024, people did more physical and ‘real-world’ activities with a recent Kantar survey finding that 48% spent time outside, 47% hung out with friends in real life and 46.9% shopped in physical grocery stores. Advertising on OOH puts brands at the centre of this, woven well within the fabric of people’s everyday lives.  

2. Creating Micro-Moments: OOH Delivers Broad Reach and Personal Resonance

Leveraging audience-first planning and real-time data in OOH to deliver highly contextual and targeted messaging will become mainstream in 2025. This approach will enable brands to create campaigns that feel like personalised one-to-one connections, even when reaching a wide audience across a one-to-many platform.  

Personalisation in OOH is transforming how brands engage audiences – audience-first planning through Ada; and Atlas for real-time triggers such as location, weather and time of day to dynamically adapt OOH campaigns to their environment. 

This enables highly relevant and impactful messaging that bridges the gap between broad reach and personal resonance. For example, kids’ sunscreen ads appear on digital OOH locations during sunny weather, placed where parents of school-aged children are more likely to see them. Similarly, protein coffee promotions day-parted in the morning on commuter routes and delivered programmatically to those more likely to go to the gym. 

3. Continued Growth of Programmatic OOH

PrOOH will continue its rapid growth, as more brands embrace its precision, flexibility, and real-time capabilities at scale. 

By combining the flexibility of digital platforms with the unparalleled reach of OOH, programmatic allows advertisers to enhance their media plans and buy and optimise ad placements in real-time and aligned to audiences. This precision enables brands to deliver highly relevant messages to targeted audiences at the right moment and place. 

In the UK, PrOOH spend will continue to grow, rising from an estimated £86.8 million in 2024 to £105m in 2025. We’ll see more advertisers using prOOH, with an estimated 36% of media plans set to include prOOH and a +29% average increase in prOOH campaign spend over the next 18 months.

4. Data-Driven OOH Anchors Omnichannel Campaigns in the Real World

The linchpin between physical and digital touchpoints, data-driven OOH will play a pivotal role in omnichannel marketing strategies in 2025. 

OOH works as the link between consumers’ digital footprints and experiences, delivering holistic campaigns. Creating connections across screens, OOH cements brands in consumers’ day-to-day lives, seamlessly, linking campaigns across mobile, social, and in-store. Connection between screens increases engagement and enhances brand recall.   

Marketers can achieve cohesive messaging that resonates across touchpoints by syncing OOH with digital channels like social media and mobile ads. 

5. Supporting Sustainable Marketing Strategies with OOH

As sustainability becomes a core priority for consumers and businesses, OOH advertising continues taking significant strides to reduce its environmental impact. OOH has a unified carbon methodology to provide transparency and plan sustainability-focused campaigns. Industry initiatives like unified carbon methodology offers brands access to increased transparency as industry data aligns to the methodology, providing the ability to plan campaigns with lower carbon footprints

Sustainable practices, such as green-energy powered DOOH and recycled classic poster materials, are now commonplace. Industry initiatives like unified carbon calculators offer brands transparency and the ability to plan campaigns with lower carbon footprints. When compared with all other media measured, OOH accounts for 3.3% of all UK ad power consumption and <3.5% total UK ad carbon footprint. 

Consumers increasingly value brands prioritising sustainability, and OOH can deliver on this expectation while maintaining the scale and impact needed to influence public perception.  

6. Credibility of OOH will Help Build Consumer Confidence

OOH is proven to build trust in an era of digital misinformation, offering a credible and tangible medium for brands to utilise. Consumers are struggling to discern genuine content online, underscoring the importance of trusted offline media.  

OOH has remained a stable, trusted medium for authentic brand communication. Unlike digital platforms where content credibility is often questioned, OOH offers a physical presence that reinforces trust in the real world. OOH’s tangible nature positions it as a reliable foundation for cross-channel campaigns, amplifying trust in both physical and digital spheres.  

7. Experiential and OOH Will Converge

In 2025, OOH and experiential channels will become increasingly converged, blurring the lines between static media and live brand experiences. As consumers crave immersive, memorable interactions with brands, OOH will evolve to incorporate more experiential elements, turning physical spaces into interactive stages where audiences can actively engage with content.  

2025 will see us reimagining physical spaces as experiential stages, blending OOH creativity with interactivity. From gamified billboards to immersive art installations, experiential OOH campaigns invite audiences to engage directly with the brand. At the end of 2024, Campaign listed its Top 10 Experiences, signifying that brand experiences have a firm place on the agenda.  

These tactile, sensory-driven experiences not only enhance brand recall but also foster emotional connections, making the consumer feel part of the story and positioning OOH as a leader in creating meaningful interactions.

Out of Home is changing fast, and Talon is at the forefront of that change. We’re passionate about OOH and are on a mission to drive the growth of this sector within the media industry through its key strengths – Audience, Creative, Effective & Sustainable. 

In this blog, our team reflects on new initiatives, launches and more.

If you missed part 1, please click here. 

The Evolution of Atlas

In 2020, we announced the launch of Atlas, our intelligent automated digital OOH buying platform that facilitates audience-first planning programmatically. This year, Atlas launched in Canada.

Speaking about the recent rollout, Sarah Kim, Senior Vice President, Client Partnerships, said, “It’s been very exciting to bring Atlas to life in Canada. Now we have more options for the Talon team and clients in the marketplace and can continue to provide integrated plans using Talon tools.” 

Echoing this, Daniel Mak, Managing Director, Client Partnerships, added, “It has to be Canada’s launch of the Atlas DSP. We’ve had some growing pains getting Atlas set up and working the way we like, but the fact that our agency has an in-house DSP with access to multiple SSPs is a key differentiator in the market with significant upside for the business.” 

In 2024, the platform has now advanced to offer real-time executions for our clients.

Nicola Fox, Head of Programmatic, said, “Selfishly, I have to highlight the transformative work we’ve done with our partners this year to elevate programmatic OOH. The significant enhancements we’ve made to our Atlas Real-Time offering represent the biggest step change to the product since its launch in 2020.These enhancements have empowered brands to activate national campaigns in real-time, fuelled by data, and the rapid uptake from our clients is proof of its impact. 

This success has been a team effort. Our internal teams have embraced a massive upskilling effort to lead from the front in educating the market. Our agency and client partners have been instrumental in embracing and testing new capabilities and driving innovation, while our media owner, data, and technology partners have provided invaluable collaboration and support. 2024 has been a year of incredible progress, and I’m excited to see where we can take it next.” 

Jamie Finn, Head of Planning Operations UK, added, “Without a doubt the evolution of Atlas, and the opportunity where we can now offer Real-Time executions for our clients. 

It’s brilliant – not only does it massively benefit clients and advertisers by providing new routes to market through data driven planning- but it also boosts the overall technological offering of the OOH industry in general – particularly areas such as real time availability and direct media owner booking.” 

Out of Home’s ACES

“For me, it has to be the aces,” said Luke Willbourn, Managing Director UK. “At the beginning of 2024, we launched OOH’s ace cards which we play to make sure our clients’ media plans deliver.  

Covering all key pillars – Audience, Creative, Effective & Sustainable – when played right, these cards will ensure you have the winning hand for your media plan. It’s been fantastic to showcase OOH’s strengths to our clients, agencies and partners and I’m looking forward to seeing how we elevate this in 2025.”

Effectiveness, Econometrics and OOH 

“It has to be our rollout of content around Econometrics. This has been a core focus for us in 2024 and we’ve made great headway! Effectiveness, Econometrics and OOH – this work showcased the latest research around the importance of location data in econometric modelling and our new MMM template that sits within our tech stack to ensure OOH is measured robustly and fairly,” said Head of Effectiveness, Emily Alcorn.   

“Talon has worked hard this year to develop an automated MMM template that sits within Plato, to ensure we are able to provide the rich granular data from Route at the click of a button to improve modelling accuracy. We also worked with JCDecaux and Nielsen this year to supply data for their ‘Location Matters’ research which looked at utilising granular location data in MMM modelling, which can increase OOH ROI by up to 42%. This data is fundamental for brands seeking more payback on their investment.

I presented our work on Effectiveness, Econometrics and OOH at the World Out of Home Organization in Milan to showcase how brands are evaluating OOH and the ‘Location Matters’ research we worked on with JCD was awarded gold in the Econometrics category at the Media Week Awards and won the Applications & Impact of Data award at the MRS Awards.”

ShopConnect Launch

Earlier this year, Talon partnered with Assembly and Place Exchange to activate a first-of-its-kind connected commerce solution designed for all brick-and-mortar retailers. The tool was designed to connect Assembly’s media activation capability to DOOH inventory located inside, outside, and in proximity to retailers across the United States. 

Patrick Murray, VP Marketing, said, “The rise of retail media has been such a huge part of the conversation throughout the industry in 2024. The launch of ShopConnect in partnership with Assembly and Place Exchange enables brands to tap into DOOH screens, both in-store and along the path to purchase, to reach ready-to-buy consumers and influence their purchase decisions.  

Not only has the platform given advertisers the capability of activating DOOH inventory at or near the point of purchase, but the campaigns have delivered results that have earned award nominations.” 

Programmatic OOH in Ireland

“As we approached 2024, one of the key priorities for the Irish business was to harness innovation and maximise the unique potential OOH holds to captivate, engage, and delight audiences,” said Talon Ireland’s Managing Director, Andew Sinclair. 

“Through both programmatic and standout special builds, we have grown these areas exponentially and executed award-winning campaigns, setting the standard and inspiring clients with the limitless possibilities the channel offers.” 

Deputy Managing Director, Aoife Hudson, echoed this, “In 2024, the demand for Programmatic OOH surged, marking a pivotal shift in the industry. Talon cemented a leadership position, actively educating clients and partners on the transformative benefits of PROOH and its strategic value within the media mix. 

To drive this momentum, we launched a comprehensive three-part series to the market, showcasing the potential of this cutting-edge technology. Our efforts also succeeded in attracting a wave of new advertisers to the channel, further solidifying Programmatic DOOH as a dynamic and integral part of the advertising landscape.” 

Beyond Pints

“Our Beyond Pints initiative really stood out as a highlight for Grand Visual in 2024,” said its Managing Director, Jay Young. “Beyond Pints was launched to strengthen our team culture and invest in our people by organising unique experiences outside of work that foster creativity, curiosity, and connection.

The aim was to create opportunities for our team to bond, recharge, and experience inspiration beyond the usual agency setting—whether through art exhibitions, immersive installations, or other culturally enriching activities. 

The response has been incredible. It’s allowed us to form stronger connections across departments, sparking conversations and fresh ideas that feed back into our work. This initiative is already proving its value by bringing energy and new perspectives into our creative process, making it an invaluable part of the Grand Visual experience.” 

To get the first look at our trends and predictions for 2025, make sure that you are following us on LinkedIn. You can also keep up to date with the latest Talon news and views by signing up for our monthly newsletter.

We’re back for the fifth edition of our annual end-of-year wrap up! 

We’re celebrating the campaigns and accomplishments of 2024 and will be sharing our expectations for Out of Home (OOH) and the wider landscape in the new year. 

UK OOH revenue for the first half of 2024 totalled £646m, an increase of +17% year-on-year (Outsmart). This is the strongest H1 since records began. Q3 2024 advertising revenue was up +12% year-on-year. 

We’re predicting OOH will grow +9% to £1.41bn in 2024 and +7% to £1.51bn in 2025. For 2025, we estimate that digital OOH will account for 68% of overall OOH revenues, totaling £1.02bn.   

In this blog, we’re reflecting on some of the standout OOH campaigns in 2024 from our clients this year that reimagined and re-invented the possibilities of what OOH can be. 

Some of the Team’s Standout OOH Campaigns in 2024 

All the campaigns below showcase the best in “thinking outside” in 2024 – exemplifying independent thought and big ideas, supported by Talon’s technology, data and effectiveness expertise.

Specsavers: Should’ve Gone to Specsavers

For Grand Visual’s Managing Director, Jay Young, Talon UK’s Head of Planning Operations, Jamie Finn, and Head of Client, Mike Huckerby, the activation for Specsavers stood out to them the most. 

“For me, the Specsavers van stunt was a true standout campaign in 2024,” said Jay. “Our team concepted and produced an installation where a Specsavers-branded van appeared ‘stuck’ on a pillar, creating a humorous, memorable moment that instantly connected with the nation.  

The simplicity of the concept was its strength—anyone who saw it instantly understood the brand message and appreciated the clever play on Specsavers’ iconic tagline – “Should’ve gone to Specsavers.” 

This campaign was especially rewarding for us as it combined a highly visual stunt with precise execution. There’s always a logistical challenge in taking such a bold idea into the real world, but the team managed it seamlessly. The campaign sparked plenty of social media buzz, UK news coverage and was even discussed by the This Morning hosts on ITV.  

For me, it perfectly exemplified how an OOH activation can capture attention and entertain while staying true to the brand’s identity. It was a proud moment for Grand Visual, and it showed just how impactful well-executed simplicity can be.”

“I think it has to be the brilliant Specsavers van campaign,” said Jamie. “This was a pure masterpiece from the fantastic team at Grand Visual to create such a notable stunt in the city centre of Edinburgh.  

It’s one of those rare campaigns that gathers global attention for being so simple but brilliant, and these don’t come around very often. For me this is an example of an OOH execution that will be heralded as the gold standard, with many other clients in years to come asking for a ‘Specsavers’ campaign.” 

“It has to be Specsavers,” Mike added. “The perfect example of using OOH as one big canvas to play with. A campaign that not only created a huge impact on the location itself, but through all of the PR and online buzz that came after.” 

PepsiCo: Quaker, Pepsi MAX & Rockstar

“PepsiCo’s immersive experiences stood out this year,” said Ben Gardiner, Head of Client Services at Grand Visual. “We’ve seen several of its brands – including Pepsi MAX, Quaker and Rockstar – push the boundaries of OOH to create long-lasting, memorable moments with real people.  

From thermal imaging and dynamic copy for Quaker Oats, a festival-touring glambot for Rockstar, and laser projected football pitches for Pepsi MAX – PepsiCo’s refreshing approach to getting hands on its brands is impressive and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do in the New Year.” 

Habitat: 60^th Anniversary

To celebrate 60 years of design, Habitat unveiled an exclusive collection inspired by its heritage with new, reimagined classics. Habitat would showcase the new range and make a bold statement with a series of elevated murals. 

Choosing this campaign as one of his standout’s in 2024, Luke Willbourn, Managing Director UK, said, “The Habitat campaign stood out to me the most this year. The creative was nostalgic yet modern, subtle yet incredibly impactful. OOH is unmatched when it comes to providing brands with a canvas, where any idea can become a reality. Shoutout to the PHD team for this one!”

Versace Icons: Times Square Takeover

Across the pond, Patrick Murray, VP Marketing at Talon US, chose this impressive takeover for Versace. “The Versace Icons Times Square takeover featuring Cillian Murphy and Anne Hathaway stands out,” said Patrick.  

“Any campaign that takes shape in the bright lights of Times Square is a showstopper, but dominating the iconic landmark with a full takeover is incredible. Kudos to the team for delivering a complex, but spectacular campaign.”

Unilever: Comfort Scent Boosters

“It has to be Comfort for me,” said Aoife Hudson, Deputy Managing Director at Talon Ireland. “To promote its new range of laundry scent boosters, Comfort launched a multi environment OOH campaign across various platforms to maximise audience engagement. The campaign featured two standout creative executions.

In one, a bus shelter was transformed with vibrant pink, yellow, and blue flowers, reflecting the available scents. This installation also included interactive buttons on the 6-sheet panel, allowing consumers to sample the fragrances directly. 

The second execution took a non-traditional approach by collaborating with the iconic flower vendors of Dublin’ Grafton Street. Their displays were reimagined with blooms in shades of blue, pink, and yellow, mirroring the product range. This campaign stands out to me as it demonstrates how OOH is pushing through the boundaries of the classic formats and proves that creativity is not just a ‘nice to have’, it delivers on driving engagement.” 

The Singleton: Gardens of Abundance Collection

Choosing this multi-format campaign for The Singleton as her standout of the year, Talon APAC’s Managing Director, Melanie Lindquist, said, “This was one of the first anamorphic campaigns at Singapore’s Changi Airport.” 

“The stunningly beautiful eye-catching creative with immersive 3D in proximity to Duty Free and interactive zones was incredibly impactful. The use of totems and larger format digital screens across multiple terminals created touchpoints for millions of Duty-Free buyers.”

Allwyn: Lotto Launch

“It has to be Allwyn for me,” said Dilki Weerakoon, Head of Client Strategy UK. “The launch campaign and work after that has been unmissable. The excitement of buying a lottery ticket is captured perfectly across each OOH creative, special build or experiential event. A great win for our friends at Hearts&Science.” 

PepsiCo: Havoc Launch

Over in Canada, the launch of PepsiCo’s new snack brand “Havoc” stood out to Managing Director, Daniel Mak, the most: “The campaign was massive in Canada and featured eye-catching creative that looked fantastic on every product. This big budget, mega launch blanketed the Canadian landscape and was such a success that a follow up campaign had to be delayed due to the product selling out.” 

British Heart Foundation: ‘Til I Died

Head of Effectiveness, Emily Alcorn, chose this moving campaign from the British Heart Foundation as her standout campaign. 

“The England ’til I Died campaign exemplified the power of OOH at its finest – delivering a thought-provoking and impactful message,” said Emily. “The BHF leveraged a trusted and impactful medium to raise awareness of a critical issue, strategically aligning with a major sporting event to resonate deeply within communities affected by loss. 

Thoughtfully planned and respectfully executed, this campaign is a shining example of how OOH can champion brand purpose and drive meaningful impact.”

To get the first look at part 2 of our series, in which our team reflect on new initiatives, launches and share advice, make sure that you are following us on LinkedIn. You can also keep up to date with the latest Talon news and views by signing up for our monthly newsletter. 

Despite Halloween still being around the corner, it won’t come as a shock to know that many are already planning their Christmas celebrations.

We all know that the ‘ber’ months lead to the ultimate celebration in the UK. From travelling through the colder days and darker nights, to shopping not only for things you need, but for gifts that loved ones will appreciate, all roads lead to Christmas. 

All these activities, and many more that are enjoyed in these festive months, are enjoyed outside of the home. And we may be biased, but Out of Home (OOH) advertising in the lead up to and during Christmas provides the perfect opportunity for brands to influence consumers.  

In this blog, we will explore these opportunities and explain with OOH’s ACES – Audience, Creative, Effective and Sustainable – how brands can connect with audiences and reap the rewards using OOH advertising this Christmas. It all starts with thinking outside. 

But first, let’s look at the key shopping dates and habits this Christmas.

Key Christmas Dates 

As we mentioned above, some people are already planning their Christmas celebrations, including when they plan to buy the bulk of their gifts. 17% are planning to purchase their gifts from September to October, whilst 34% plan to make the most of the sales throughout November.

This year, the average consumer expects to spend almost £600 (£593.90) on core Christmas-related products and activities – including food, gifts, decorations, socialising and travelling. But where will they shop?

Shoppers Are Still Hybrid

68% of shoppers plan to shop in-store in 2024, only a fraction behind online shopping (70%). Many shoppers will rely on both channels, especially for last-minute purchases.

To reach hybrid shoppers across both environments, Talon recommends an omnichannel approach. When used in combination with digital channels, OOH increases the effectiveness of online ads by +31%, paid social ads by +56% and +80% for search ads. Consumers already spend an average of 70% of their time outside of their homes – so use OOH to reach these audiences and increase overall reach by 68%. 

Now, onto our ACES! 

Reach Audiences Out of Home this Christmas

It’s important to understand your audience. Who are they? Where are they going? What are they buying? Understanding audiences should be at the heart of every strategy. 

What makes OOH advertising at Christmas so advantageous for brands is its ability to work across all stages of the purchasing funnel. In recent years, the advancements in digital capabilities have shifted the role of OOH from being primarily a top-of-the-funnel medium to working across the whole funnel. 

Out of Home’s role has evolved and continues to evolve based on:  

• Audience Targeting: +15% higher levels of audience relevance  

• Reactive Activation: The ability to book panels in the hour for the next hour  

• Driving Bottom End Metrics: 2x increase in purchase intent.

We might be biased but audience-first planning using our proprietary technology helps brands to get ahead this Christmas. Using an audience first planning approach in Out of Home benefits our clients:  

• Brand 1: Saw a +28% increase in on-target impressions vs. Busy high-street gifter audience  

• Brand 2: Achieved a +50% Uplift in on-target impressions vs. In-market gifters & the brand’s consumers  

• Brand 3: Saw a +12% Increase in footfall to the store vs. Competitors during the campaign.

Create Holiday Magic with Out of Home

During the festive season, the time people dedicate to Christmas shopping varies. Some people shop all day whilst some prefer to shop first thing or later in the day. 28% make buying gifts an occasion, opting to go with friends or get something to eat. 

Over half of 16-25s will spend an entire day doing their Christmas shopping, providing ample opportunity for brands to do something show-stopping and capture their attention. But how do we grab attention and shine this Christmas? Through special builds and site adaptions, experiential activity and dynamic digital creative – a Grand Visual specialty! 

A great example of a brand that utilised all three was Pepsi MAX. They were everywhere during Christmas last year with a multi-faceted, multi-format OOH campaign. The campaign included underground dominations, a wrapping grotto, two snowing billboards and sampling on the day that almost everyone travels home for Christmas on. 

As a result, Pepsi MAX delivered its best performing Christmas ever!

The Gift of Effective Out of Home

Festive messaging is an obvious, yet effective way to cut through the clutter this Christmas. Our analysis of previous campaign effectiveness studies found that 62% of 18-34s have a positive emotional response to Christmas OOH campaigns. When compared to “OOH norms,” Christmas campaigns see significant uplifts across three key metrics – unprompted awareness, consideration and purchase intent. 

Brands who use festive messaging to their advantage can see their campaigns drive uplifts of 23% in ad recall. A further 53% of those who were exposed to a festive campaign felt it reached them in the right mindset and 54% found the campaign relevant. 

Not only is OOH great at driving its own uplifts, but it is also THE digital primer and works extremely well to boost the effect of all other media channels. OOH also drives short term sales too with campaigns seeing a +47% uplift in sales activation effects vs non-OOH users.

‘Tis the Season for Sustainable Out of Home

This Christmas, we must balance creativity with sustainability. Bar a few sceptics – sustainability messaging cuts through and is highly important to audiences. Campaign messaging must be delivered with sincerity as consumers will see through greenwashing. 

OOH is a trusted channel to deliver on sustainability messaging and drive perceptions: 

• 46p in every £1 and £441 million contributed to public infrastructure in 2022 

• Per emission, OOH emits less carbon than all other media measured – contributing just 3.3% to UK total ad power consumption and accounting for less than 3.5% of the UK’s total ad carbon footprint 

• OOH has strong ESG credentials when compared to TV, Press and Online. 

Talon Benchmarks also show that sustainability messaging can increase effectiveness across the brand funnel, on average, by +57%. This messaging drives average increases of: 

• +5.4% ‘Are leaders in sustainability’ 

• +8.2% ‘Produces sustainable products/services’ 

• +8% ‘Has a positive impact on people, the environment and economy’ 

• +8.6% ‘I trust they take responsibility for sustainability.’ 

A great example of a brand leaning into OOH’s sustainability credentials is Not on the High Street (NOTHS). 8 in 10 Brits reported receiving a “bad gift” for Christmas 2022. As a result, over 3.08 million bad gifts were thrown away, ending up in landfill. 

Recognising the enormity of the issue highlighted in its research, Not on the High Street (NOTHS) decided enough was enough this Yuletide. The UK’s home of small creative businesses, NOTHS made it their mission to ensure that festive gifts would not end up in the bin – again! 

To drive fame and stand out from the very beginning, NOTHS created a series of OOH special builds, each highlighting a different issue and encouraging consumers to think before they gift this year. All items in the billboards were donated to Crisis, who support the homeless and aim to better support those suffering.

Use Out of Home’s ACES to win Christmas 2024 

Remember to play your ACES to make sure your media plan delivers:  

• Audience: Use Audience-first planning to reach consumers as they work, shop & play 

• Creative: Drive high emotional engagement with Creative OOH executions 

• Effective: OOH builds brands and drives sales activations, +47% uplift vs non-OOH 

• Sustainable: Low carbon emissions per impression & 46p in every £1 reinvested to community. 

Along with our incredible agencies and partners, Talon has been shortlisted for eight awards at The Drum Awards Festival 2024.

British Airways: Big Little Welcomes (With MG OMD, Uncommon Creative Studio & Adylic) 

Connecting loved ones for over 100 years, British Airways celebrated the warm, fuzzy feeling with the hundreds and thousands of people landing back in the UK to spend Christmas with their loved ones. “Big Little Welcomes” made sure that BA was a part of these reunions, giving audiences the chance to write messages for their loved ones as they landed back in the UK. 

Shortlisted: Use of Location 

Pepsi MAX: Christmas (With OMD UK, Grand Visual & Red Dot)

In 2023, we changed the Christmas story – ensuring Pepsi Max was unmissable vs competitors over the festive period. This was the most multi-faceted OOH campaign that Talon has executed for PepsiCo over the last 10 years, using as many of OOH’s brilliant formats as you can think of to deliver our better with Pepsi Max message.

Shortlisted: Interconnected Formats 

Lotto: Will you be next? (With Allwyn, Hearts & Science UK, VCCP & Grand Visual)

Will you be the next UK millionaire? We made the whole of Great Britain feel like they might be next, with an unmissable and inclusive launch that drove talk-ability, engagement and consideration to play. Anyone can be a millionaire with Lotto, you must be in it to win it! 

Shortlisted: Immersive Experience 

Specsavers: This van driver should’ve gone to Specsavers (With MG OMD, Specsavers Creative, Grand Visual & Ann Squared Events

Specsavers pushed the boundaries of OOH advertising by creating its very own parking fail – a Specsavers van stuck on a rising bollard! The results were phenomenal with over 6 million social media views and almost 1 million likes, comments and shares. The stunt even had coverage on ITV, radio and in numerous news titles as well as industry wide recognition amongst our peers and other advertisers.

Shortlisted: Creative Humour 

Habitat: 60th Anniversary (With PHD UK, Grand Visual, New Commercial Arts & Mural Republic)

Habitat sought to amplify their 60 Years of Design message and make a bold statement with their reimagined classics. What better way to showcase them by tripling their size and installing them onto the facades of buildings across the UK? These striking and innovative murals became the hero execution of the media campaign – which included Out of Home (OOH), social media, press and print – and captured the public’s attention and imagination in person and online.

Shortlisted: Hand-Painted Mural or Display 

Pepsi MAX: UCL Hidden Pitches (With OMD UK, Grand Visual, Pangolin, NewGen, Ann Squared Events & Pixel Artworks

Pepsi MAX went all in for the UEFA Champions League this year. Bringing unexpected enjoyment to audiences across the UK, Pepsi MAX ran three activations for fans in football-focused cities of Liverpool, Manchester and London. Whether you were looking for a quick 2v2 game and a free football at their hidden pitches or wanted to watch the live game on the big screen, with a Pepsi MAX in hand, then they had you covered. Pepsi Hidden Pitches was born!  

Shortlisted: Immersive Experience 

Quaker Oats: Share the Warmth (With OMD UK, Grand Visual & Uncommon Creative Studio)

Quaker shared the warmth across the nation by helping to ensure access to a warm and nutritious breakfasts for families across the UK this winter – in a way that is intrinsic to the brand itself. Quaker effectively used different OOH capabilities to drive awareness of the issue of child food insecurity & its charity partnerships with attention grabbing 48s and leveraged interactive & dynamic capabilities to offer consumers real value through contextually relevant coupons based on UK weather/average temperatures. 

Shortlisted: Dynamic & Interactive Screens

British Heart Foundation: ‘Til I died (With PHD UK, Saatchi & Saatchi UK, Grand Visual & Mural Republic)

British Heart Foundation (BHF) set out with the goal to highlight a tragic reality – 12 people under the age of 35 are lost to sudden cardiac arrest in the UK each week. Using the stories of 12 young football fans who died too soon to highlight this tragic disease, BHF and Saatchi & Saatchi unveiled 12 powerful murals of football fans who lost their lives to sudden cardiac death, in time with the UEFA Euro 2024 kick-off for an extended audience reach. This campaign went viral across social media and outlets, it even had a slot on BBC Breakfast.  

Shortlisted: Charity/Not for Profit/Social Purpose 

Congratulations to all our clients, agencies and partners who were shortlisted, and roll on November! View the full shortlist here.

August 8, 2024 – The latest expenditure results from the Outdoor Media Association for the first half of 2024 confirm the sustained growth trajectory of Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising, which saw a significant 26% increase compared to the same period last year. This impressive growth underscores the trust and investment that advertisers and brands are placing in the OOH medium. 

A major driver behind this growth is the consistent investment in Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising. Media owners’ investments in expanding DOOH formats across multiple environments have further fuelled this trend. Additionally, transport and small format OOH advertising also experienced notable increases, with transport growing by 32% and small format by 24% compared to H1 2023. 

Retail remains the highest investing category, with a 13% growth in H1 2024, continuing its strong performance from FY 2023. Grocery groups are leveraging OOH to broadcast their value messages, driving consistent reach. This category’s performance is further bolstered by the active presence of fast food, takeaway, and delivery platforms competing for customer share. 

Household services emerged as the second highest performing category, showing an 11% year-over-year increase. This growth is attributed to the launch and promotion of new TV platforms, which have significantly driven up advertising spend in this sector. 

Diageo holds its position as the top spending advertiser in OOH for H1 2024. Notably, Unilever has secured a place in the top 10, with substantial investments in new product launches and support for existing brands. 

A deeper analysis into mid categories revealed several interesting trends. The retail general mid category saw the largest growth in H1, driven by brands like Specsavers and M&S. Household telecom, TV, and online services experienced an 80% growth, spurred by new product launches such as Sky Stream, Vodafone Play, and new series from online platforms. 

While some mid categories showed decreases, the overall growth picture remains positive, with minimal reductions in spend. 

Aoife Hudson, Deputy Managing Director at Talon said, “These results affirm the growing confidence and investment in Out-of-Home advertising from leading brands and advertisers. The significant increase in Digital Out-of-Home formats and the strong performance across various categories highlight the dynamic and evolving nature of OOH. We are excited to continue driving innovation and delivering impactful advertising solutions for our clients. 

The impressive growth of Out-of-Home advertising in the first half of 2024 highlights the medium’s increasing value and effectiveness for brands and advertisers. As the industry continues to innovate and expand, particularly in the digital space, OOH remains a vital component of comprehensive advertising strategies.  

Kritisha Thapa, who is currently enrolled on our paid internship programme, recently attended MAD//Fest 2024. In this blog, she shares the key learnings from the day for brands and agencies.

“Fortune favours the Bold” an ancient proverb that suggests one should act boldly and bravely to accomplish greatness. But what does that even mean to marketers, agencies and brands and how can one achieve boldness in such a vast industry? This was the main topic that industry leaders ventured to tackle at this year’s Mad//Fest by addressing concerns on how it is not enough to just think outside the box and that being ‘bold’ requires strategic thought/planning and should be built into the brands culture from the initial stages of its development.

Rachel Kerrone – Brand and Marketing Director of Starling Bank, builds on this by discussing how the brand has maintained its relevancy as an innovative digital challenger brand. She highlighted how young challenger brands such as Starling should retain big brand strategies and behave like a big brand from the start, cultivating a reputation that consumers can identify with consistently. But first you must capture your audience’s attention, and this requires us to draw back to the actual core concept of a campaign, the briefing element.

Dani and Kate, co-founders of Just Add Joy, expanded on this by emphasising the importance of a good brief and how it can unlock creator marketing’s immense potential. Creative briefs should be carefully catered to the creator and should not be rushed. They should be clear, concise and thoughtfully organized to make sure it’s right the first time; measure twice, cut once.

Now when it comes to the creative itself, we know how much a great creative can impact consumer attention and brand outcomes. But what is it that truly makes people pay attention? Matt Butts – Measurement and Insights lead from WeTransfer, talked about how those whose “happiness “or “surprise” increased after ad exposure on WeTransfer are more likely to deliver stronger impact than those with negative/neutral emotion with at least a +50% increase in brand perception. Therefore, implementing elements into a creative that induce such emotions should be an essential priority for optimizing campaigns.

This is evident for us at Talon too. From our creative testing research, we see that consumers are much more drawn to facial imagery than product, and creatives that use facial imagery see a +21% stronger level of attention. 

However, it’s crucial to understand the difference between one-off surface level impacts of a campaign vs quality, long-term strategic engagement. Emerging from a panel discussion between Rory McEntee – Brand & Marketing Director from Gymbox and Dom Boyd Managing Director at Kantar, on the topic of attention deficit. Dom pointed out that brands cannot always rely on PR stunts to drive attention because it is about balancing between traditional brand building values vs just performing stunt moves that add to the brand. You must think about how you can link the stunt back to your own brand.  

Bharat Sharma – Chief Operating Officer at MCanvas, adds to this by highlighting that innovation is not a onetime thing, you must consistently keep spending money and effort on these creatives to see results. This is why drawing a connection between the campaign and the brands story is what truly makes a meaningful impact on consumers and the brands’ culture.

Ginny Nackvi – Head of Brand & Creative at Dishoom, shared an inspirational demonstration of how Dishoom preserves the heritage of Bombay by writing stories that are deeply rooted in the Bombay history and culture, giving a refreshing insight into how brands should aim to “deepen not dilute” their story when expanding the business on a larger scale. Each franchise of Dishoom has its own unique story to tell, adding to the overall Dishoom experience and this is the mindset that all brands and agencies should encompass when collaborating. This is achieved by creating campaigns that build on the overarching theme, approach or story of your brands identity. 

Being mindful of your audience is a fundamental aspect of success or fortune within this business. Producing a campaign that genuinely resonates with people is no simple feat, but Gary Raucher – EVP of ASICS, exhibited how they are breaking the rules of this game. Within the world of sport and exercise it has always been highlighted that the only things that matter is the winning moments and physical gains, but ASICS advocated how it can also benefit the mind. Greatness is not defined by a certain number or personal best but how exercise makes you feel. By changing the narrative around sport and movement they are relating to regular everyday people whilst promoting the wellbeing of athletes and people over winning.

It’s evident that achieving boldness within this industry requires a lot of intentional effort and strategy. However, continuously exploring ways to break category conventions by forging your own path and bringing some specialism to the business is what can really differentiate your brand from others. By working with great partners with similar goals and objectives you can expect to create exceptional campaigns that attracts authentic and long-term engagement from consumers. It was really inspiring to see how industry leaders at Mad//Fest are approaching marketing with a bold flair and I am excited to see what the future holds for this aspect of the business. 

It’s safe to say that summer has officially arrived in the UK. With longer days and warmer weather, audiences across the country will be dusting off their BBQs and spending even more time out of home. For brands, this means even more opportunities to reach a receptive audience.

We know that Out of Home (OOH) is the right choice for brands, with 96% of the UK population being reached by OOH ads every week and being a global consumer’s preferred advertising format. But of course, we’d say this. After all, we’ve been delivering award winning campaigns for well over a decade. So, let us show you why OOH is the right choice for your brand this summer.

How to use OOH’s ACES to win  

In 2024, OOH delivers across four main benefits. At Talon, we call these ACES. We play these four ace cards to make sure your media plan delivers:   

Audience, Creative, Effective & Sustainable. 

Audience 

As a result of our nights beginning and ending earlier, 67% of the nation feel happier and more content when the clocks go forward on the last Sunday of March and are motivated to get out and exercise more, with summer being the most popular time of the year for exercise (43%). 

A common misconception is that everyone travels abroad in the summer. Yes, some do jet off, but they are jetting off at similar levels across the year. Research from ABTA shows that summer is just as busy as Autumn or Spring. 

This is further supported by data from Ada – our proprietary data management platform – which shows that audience levels are nearly the same in the summer as the rest of the year. The only difference is in London, which indexes at less than 0.2.

Data from Ada also shows that hospitality and retail venues over-index in the summer months. Through Ada, you can better understand audience behaviours and hone in on target audience groups such as “young families” or something even more niche like “festival fanatics.”   

This data can then be combined with a programmatic OOH buy via Atlas, our proprietary DSP, to deliver strong brand payback on consideration and purchase intent metrics:   

• 2x increase in purchase consideration  
• 15% more relevant to audience lifestyle  
• 3x increase in purchase intent. 

So, yes audiences will be jetting off across the summer. However, they will always be out of home. 

Driving to the airport? Roadside formats.

Travelling to work and play? Public transport formats. 

Getting snacks? There’s a D6 outside of the supermarket for that!  

Visiting city and town centres? OOH is right in the heart of the action. 

Creative 

We know audiences are out of home, but are brands doing enough creatively? Summer is the perfect opportunity to break out of the billboards, dominate spaces and turn OOH into an emotional, immersive experience with audiences. 

Special builds, murals, interactive and experiential OOH are perfect creative solutions to achieve this. Research from JCDecaux and System 1 shows that creative solutions drive impact for brands. Impactful and unusual OOH can create up to 7x higher brand recall when compared to standard media: 

• Brand recognition speed is increased by 5.9x 
• Emotional response was seen to increase by an average of 120% 
• Purchase intent increased by +176%. 

Starbucks, Guinness, Palmers and Nissan are all fantastic examples of creative Out of Home, with Starbucks’ Iced Coffee Zone resulting in 62% of people exposed to the campaign agreeing that Starbucks is somewhere they would get iced coffee from and a +4% increase in unique visitors to stores. 

Effective 

Whilst some brands may opt to hit pause or reduce their spend in the summer months, brands that “stay on” can secure a more cost-effective share of voice (SOV). Those with excess share of voice (ESOV) are more likely to report long-term market share and other long-term success metrics. 

Research from the IPA found that, of the brands that increased media investment during a quieter period:

Additionally, OOH is a preferred media channel for audiences. Kantar’s “Media Reactions” research showed a significant shift towards in-person ad experiences, with both OOH and digital OOH (DOOH) in the top 5 consumer rankings. 

There is a 90% correlation between channels that consumers claim capture their attention, and those in which they prefer seeing advertising. The same research also found that advertising campaigns are seven times more impactful among receptive audiences, so consumer perceptions of media channels are integral to their effect.  

Perceptions of relevance, quality, and innovation exceed the average for media channels, while opinions as an intrusive or repetitive channel are below. For both consumers and marketers, DOOH is considered the most innovative channel, with high levels of trust. 

Sustainable 

Sustainability is a huge focus for consumers and brands alike. According to research from Euro Monitor National, 64% of global consumers are worried about climate change.

OOH gives back, with 46p in every £1 and £441 million contributed to public infrastructure in 2022. Per emission, OOH also emits less carbon than all other media measured – contributing just 3.3% to UK total ad power consumption and accounting for less than 3.5% of the UK’s total ad carbon footprint.

Use OOH’s ACES to win over audiences this summer 

Say it with us – Summer is best served with OOH! 

Remember to play your ACES to make sure your media plan delivers: 

• Audience: Use Atlas to deliver a 3x increase in purchase intent 
• Creative: Brand recognition speed is increased by 5.9x as a result of creative OOH 
• Effective: 63% of brands saw stronger ROI by increasing media investment during a quieter period 
• Sustainable: Invest in the channel that gives back.

Ready to win over audiences this summer with OOH? Get in touch with Talon today!