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For THE FINAL PART of our reflection series, the Talon team SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS AND PREDICTIONS FOR 2023.

At Talon we’re the changemakers, the trail-blazers, the provocateurs, the pioneers of OOH. Combining a heady mix of creativity, technology and data, our senior leadership team share their expert opinion on what OOH and the wider media landscape will look like in 2023. 

“2022 has been another successful year for Talon, with the rebrand, expansion into MENA and APAC and even more campaigns that pushed the boundaries and cemented us as industry pioneers who are constantly re-imagining and re-inventing the possibilities of what Out of Home can be.

In 2023, we expect to see a lot of uncertainty due to rising living costs. However, if the last three years have taught us anything, it’s important for brands to stay on and keep the momentum going. If we can survive living through the unknown, we can prepare and plan for what is coming. The OOH renaissance is here.”

Barry Cupples, CEO

“2023 promises to be another exciting year for OOH. We expect to see continued growth in programmatic trading and a continued appetite for using the blank canvas that is OOH to deliver messages in innovative and special ways.  

Sustainability will be of key importance and it’s our job to communicate the industry’s efforts in all that we are doing to be kinder to our environment in 2023.”

Aoife Hudson, Deputy Managing Director, Talon Ireland

“Clearly there are some global economic headwinds that will influence our market, however, OOH has never been in better shape. The inventory and our ability to leverage data and tech platforms to drive effectiveness is continually improving.  

OOH is very well placed in the wider media landscape to improve client outcomes, and the huge steps forward the industry has made in sustainability makes OOH one of most responsible choices a client can make.”

James Copley, UK CEO

“I think Q1 is going to bring a lot of unknowns for every industry, including media. Clients are going to wait and see what the economic impacts are on consumers, before committing budgets. However, the OOH industry is in a fantastic position. The medium delivers trust to consumers. People are spending more time OOH than ever before, and the investment in technology means we can now be smarter, delivering audience-based outcomes. 2023 is going to be a challenge, but it’s one we are ready for!”

Luke Willbourn, Chief Client Officer

“From an International perspective, despite a number of political and economic uncertainties I’m confident we’ll see a return of passengers to a pre Covid level in airports and an going commitment from clients and agencies to invest in OOH globally to deliver on their strategic objectives.”

Adrian Skelton, Managing Partner

“2023 will be an interesting year for OOH, as the cost-of-living crisis continues, we expect to see more brands reviewing their media strategies and OOH represents a real opportunity for brands to effectively use media to build trust amongst consumers. 

Research from the last economic downturn clearly shows the benefit to brands ‘staying on’ during a recession, and as we enter the start of an uncertain year, 2023 represents a good opportunity for brands to evaluate strategy and ensure they have the right share of voice to stay front of mind and strengthen market positioning.”

Helen Saffer, Group Client Services Director

“Continued growth and development, plus an ever-increasing focus on sustainability and impact on the environment which will without doubt continue to be high up on the agenda for any CMO / key decision maker at client level.  

Fortunately, OOH continues to make great strides in this area and the industry as a whole takes sustainability very seriously. From DOOH screens using 100% renewable energy sources, to zero carbon vans now provided for billers, and the phased-out use of non-recyclable materials means Out of Home already has the key foundations for building on a renewable future in 2023.”

Jamie Finn, Group Client Services Director

“Even more blurring of the lines between OOH and Experiential. The two environments work well apart but when combined the results multiply even further. Media owners are investing in this space and we’re primed to support brands in this space.”

Jay Young, Chief Client Officer

Here’s to a successful 2023 and a happy, healthy and successful New Year to all our clients, agencies and partners. 

Part 2 of our reflections series, Talon’s team discuss new initiatives, launches and share advice.

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 – changing perceptions of it as a legacy medium to one that is highly connected, effective, creative, sustainable, and measurable for our clients. 

In this blog, our experienced team are reflecting on new initiatives, launches and sharing advice for others who are striving to work at the very edge of what’s known with Talon. 

A New Year full of new initiatives

After a turbulent couple of years, ensuring that OOH is even more accountable has been a key focus for us in 2022. At the beginning of the year, we introduced classic OOH site inspections and digital OOH verification on a client opt-out level. Bringing more effective and accountable campaigns to our clients, agencies and partners.

Group Client Services Director, Jamie Finn, explains, “We developed appropriate ad-tech to simplify and streamline reporting for both Classic and Digital OOH, allowing us to ensure full accountability for every single campaign we plan and buy and addressing any under-performance accordingly ensuring that what our clients buy is exactly what is delivered in the public space.

Since the start of 2022 we have verified the playouts for almost 350 digital OOH campaigns and physically inspected more than 3,200 classic OOH frames – providing key data and insights to our clients and without a doubt something we will continue to build upon and fulfil for our clients and agencies as we enter 2023.”

ABSOLUT
Virgin Atlantic
BBC: Green Planet

The rise of Programmatic DOOH

Over the past 12 months, the demand for pDOOH has increased from advertisers across all sectors. With flexibility and cost efficiency recognised as the key strengths of the channel, spend in pDOOH is forecast to grow in the near future.  

Group Client Services Director, Helen Saffer, elaborates, “2022 has really seen the turning point for brands embracing pDOOH and we’ve seen more advertisers using it strategically to add in a behavioural audience targeted layer to their OOH strategy alongside traditionally bought impact and fame building formats.   

We expect this momentum to continue to build as we move into 2023, with brands who have already tested the water returning and continuing to develop bespoke OOH strategies, alongside new advertisers looking to expand their online strategies to boost additional reach via pDOOH.”  

All our initiatives and launches started with our people who constantly challenge themselves and the industry at large – “to imagine what’s possible when they think outside.”   

Tourism Ireland
Audi

Expanding into MENA & APAC

Back in March, we announced the expansion of our global footprint in Asia-Pacific and Middle East, with our new hires Melanie Lindquist and Chadi Farhat leading MENA and APAC respectively.  

The opening of Talon’s new offices in both the UAE and Singapore was a highlight for Tom Perrett, International Client Services Director, “Bringing further leadership, experience, and interconnected business opportunities across borders.” 

Melanie Lindquist, Managing Director, Talon APAC, added, “The APAC market is largely untapped but with huge potential. Being in the same time zone and hubbed in Singapore has allowed us to work closer and faster with clients to drive campaigns within the region but also take regional clients onto the global OOH.” 

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, our team was working hard to launch an API connection between Plato and NetSuite. This has strengthened our automated process from booking in Plato to invoicing in NetSuite for our US, UK, MENA & APAC markets.  

Group Transformation Officer, Amy Horton, said, “Launching the API connection between Plato and NetSuite has been a huge achievement. For the first time, we have an organisational design that will give us a great structure for our further growth ambitions.” 

The Evolution of Talon

Another project we were working on behind the scenes was a strategic repositioning for Talon. As we approach our second decade, we commenced a brand refresh project to support our ambitious global expansion and commitment to being the global OOH media agency of choice.  

It was time to “think outside.” 

This refresh began with merging Talon’s award-winning Creative Solutions team with industry-pioneers Grand Visual to offer a full suite of OOH and digital OOH creative services. Discussing the merge, Chief Client Officer at Grand Visual, Jay Young, said, “The relaunch of Talon’s Grand Visual is of course the most exciting. We’ve now combined our creative solutions team with our brilliant in-house studio to create a creative OOH powerhouse. We now get to spend more time with clients, more time brainstorming exciting ideas and we’re winning more awards. It’s an exciting place to be right now.” 

With our full rebrand unveiled in December, CEO, James Copley, said, “Working in a business that is surrounded by great creativity, it was really gratifying to see all that great thinking and execution applied to our own brand.” 

So, with the year behind us, knowing what you know now, what is one piece of advice you would give to your 2021 self? 

“We are currently living in a world where things can change very quickly and are often out of our control. Don’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows. Focus on what you can control, not worry about what you can’t.”

Luke Willbourn, Chief Client Officer

“When you’re leading a team, you have to spend time thinking about the mid and long-term strategy. This can sometimes place your focus consistently in the future rather than the present.

I’ve had to teach myself to avoid the allure of what might happen and to focus on the next 8 hours only. Every morning I think ‘what can I do today that will nudge us closer to our goals.’ It’s been a game changer for my mindset, wellbeing and general performance.” 

Jay Young, Chief Client Officer

“Be brave – leverage the power of the burgeoning Talon network and understand the importance of informed risk to help unlock real growth.”

Andrew Sinclair, Managing Director, Talon Ireland

“It’ll be a busy year so buckle up! But in all seriousness, we’ve learnt to be kinder to ourselves as human beings and within a team when it comes to our workloads. 

You can’t be what you can’t see so I try to be quite vocal about aiming for a work life balance. At Talon, we don’t ever sit still, we are always striving to lead the way, to grow, to learn and 2022 has been no different.” 

Hayley Tiptaft, People Director

To get the first look at part 3 of our blog, when our team share their thoughts and predictions for 2023, make sure that you are following us on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also keep up to date with the latest Talon news and views by signing up for our monthly newsletter here.

For Part 1 of our reflection series, the Talon team highlight their favourite campaigns of 2022.

With the new year approaching fast, we’re back to reflect on the past 12 months. In this series, we are celebrating the creative, data and technological boundaries that were pushed in 2022 and sharing our expectations for Out of Home (OOH) and the wider landscape in 2023.

Despite two years of recovery and re-growth, the world of OOH has changed and continues to change fast. Boundaries are being redrawn every day; with OOH becoming a more connected, creative, effective, measurable and sustainable medium than ever before. This year, OOH has seen the strongest recovery coming out of the Pandemic, with an increase of +146.2% in expenditure. The first quarter of 2022 also outperformed expectations by +7.7%.

According to the latest data from IAB, the UK’s ad market is set to grow a further +4.4% in 2023 – further accelerated by the demand for programmatic digital OOH (pDOOH), with 38% of media professionals adding to the pDOOH budget.

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

Standout campaigns from 2022 

All the campaigns below showcase the best in “thinking outside” in 2022 – exemplifying independent thought and big ideas, bolstered further by Talon’s technology, data and measurement expertise.

Specsavers: Should’ve 2.0

Lost Ladder
Dodgy Install
Billboard Blunder

In Q1, Specsavers made its return to OOH with three ingenious special builds. Choosing Specsavers as his standout campaign, Chief Client Officer, Luke Willbourn, said, “2022 has seen the boundary for creativity pushed to its limit, with clients showcasing fantastic executions on a weekly basis. My favourite campaign this year was Specsavers Should’ve 2.0.

A simple, but brilliant campaign, it encapsulated Specsavers’ playful side. The campaign was also a great example of how brands can use social channels to amplify OOH executions.” 

Netflix: Warriors of Future

Taipei
New York

For Talon APAC’s Managing Director, Melanie Lindquist, the Warriors of Future campaign for Netflix stood out to her the most. 

“Talon in Singapore worked with the client on a strategy to select iconic sites for this global campaign, including the Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo, Taipei Arena, Storm Cromination and Nasdaq + Midtown Financial. This created an impactful campaign with shareable content for the client’s large online followers and fans.”

Guinness: Summer

Hornsey
Brighton

The 2022 standout campaign for both UK CEO, James Copley and Group Client Services Director, Helen Saffer, was Guinness’ surfboard creative – a discreet nod to their iconic 1998 ‘Surfer’ TV ad, brought to life outside across the UK 

“This was a great example of creative and media placement working perfectly in sync to deliver a standout campaign that really resonated with consumers,” said Helen. “The campaign used bespoke installations to cleverly capture the iconic Guinness pint, with ‘Guinness’ surfboards placed across iconic UK seaside resorts.” 

James adds, “The Guinness special builds were a great combination of creativity, context and location that led to some stunning executions that really cut through and made an impact.” 

BBC: Brand Building

Peaky Blinders
Freeze the Fear
Killing Eve

The BBC utilised the magic Talon OOH formula of creativity, data and technology throughout 2022 – which saw them winning both the Brand Fame award at the Drum OOH Awards and the Brand Building award at the Clear Channel OMA’s. Aiming to ensure they were at the forefront of a cluttered market; OOH was primed as the perfect platform to reach and engage with new and existing audiences to encourage positive perceptions of the BBC. 

Frozen Planet II
BBC Sounds

Group Transformation Officer, Amy Horton, said, “There wasn’t really one campaign that stood out to me, however, the breath and varied executions of the BBC’s campaigns this year have been incredible. They seem to get the balance right between creative use of OOH and simple effective messaging.” 

Specsavers: Ireland

Specsavers
Specsavers

Over at Talon Ireland, Deputy Managing Director, Aoife Hudson, chose Specsavers as her standout campaign for 2022. “The OOH Industry in Ireland had been lagging in terms of data and technology compared to other markets. At Talon, we’ve been the pioneers of leading the OOH industry forward in that regard.  

With that in mind, a piece of work that truly stood out for me was our work with OMD and Specsavers – Ireland’s first multi-media-owner programmatic digital OOH (pDOOH) campaign. The campaign went on to win 2 gold media awards – Best OOH campaign and Best Collaboration between Talon Ireland & OMD Ireland.” 

John Lewis: Newness

John Lewis

No stranger to programmatic DOOH, John Lewis launched its “newness” campaign, which was delivered via our proprietary DSP, Atlas. Discussing the campaign, Group Chief Strategy Officer, Sophie Pemberton, said, “We ran a 20-week campaign across 12 cities with new copy being delivered each week on panels and at times which we’re specifically chosen to reach ‘Busy Inspiration Seekers’.  

The initial results were brilliant and showed that audience visitation to those stores across the campaign period increased by a whopping +47%! We’ve seen phenomenal growth this year across from across all our agency partners and an increased appetite to apply intelligent data to deliver even more effective campaigns.” 

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

As part of a global strategic realignment at Talon, from today Plexus will become Talon International.

The same trusted team of experts you know, the same high-level service you expect and the same global independent OOH network that is still the biggest in the world.  All brought to you more efficiently and effectively under one unified brand synonymous with pioneering innovation and quality in Out of Home – Talon.

The world of Out of Home media is changing fast, and Talon is proud of our contribution to driving this evolution over the last decade. Talon’s ongoing dedication to offering our clients best-in-class planning, buying, creativity and technological solutions, ensures we deliver the best experience and outcomes for our clients on a global scale.

Nothing defines this global commitment more than the Talon International team who serve as a centralised hub connecting over 20 Talon and partner offices around the world, enabling us to plan, buy and execute client campaigns in over 100 markets worldwide.

We are excited to take this next step on our journey with brand partners both new and old – to discuss the new opportunities this future holds, contact the team at

firstname.lastname@talonooh.com

Alternatively head to the Talon International page to see first-hand what this new direction has to offer.

Announced today, Talon is the headline sponsor of the Campaign Tech Awards 2023.

Open for nominations now, the Campaign Tech Awards exist to celebrate and showcase the companies that represent the industry’s trailblazing thinkers, imaginative clients and cutting-edge technology.  Championing the collaboration between agencies, brands and the technology communities, and recognising the outstanding work produced together to drive the creative industries forward.  

The awards honour successful innovators, celebrate amazing work, and stimulate even more ingenuity right across the marketing, advertising and media industries.

By embracing a technology-first approach to Out of Home, Talon have developed market leading proprietary AdTech platforms that have revolutionised OOH planning, buying, execution and measurement. Ada, our Data Management Platform enables behavioural audience-based planning and has been proven to deliver better short and longer term brand metrics. Atlas, our intelligent, automated digital OOH buying platform delivers 100% optimised programmatic OOH campaigns that generate more effective outcomes for our clients. And Plato, our in-house planning tool, automates campaign planning and buying for speed and precision.

Our technology platforms help our clients get the most from their outdoor campaigns –  sponsoring the Campaign Tech Awards is a perfect fit for Talon, elevating the amazing work being powered by technology across the wider media industry.

Nominations are open now, closing 22nd February. We look forward to celebrating with everyone at the awards ceremony!

campaigntechawards.com

As Talon approaches its 10th year, it is the perfect time to revitalise the Talon brand – including a fresh new look that will be applied to every element of the business. Coming soon!

Our Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Sarah Parkes, shares a sneak peek of Talon’s upcoming brand transformation. 

Talon has changed a lot in the last nine years, from our humble beginnings as an independent challenger brand in the UK OOH specialist market to where we are now – the largest independent global OOH agency with an ever-increasing international footprint. And our growth ambitions don’t stop there… 

We’ve invested in our people, in building market leading proprietary technology and this year we’ve invested in our brand too. You’ll have seen a taster of our new look and feel when you first visited the website and you’ll spy our new logo across our social channels. In the meantime, here’s a quick behind the scenes of what to expect when we officially launch our new brand by the end of the year. 

We are Talon 

If you’ve met us in real life or on Teams, you’ll know our mission is to drive the growth of OOH – supporting the transformation of OOH from a legacy medium to one that is highly effective, data driven, creative, and most importantly, measurable and effective for our clients. 

We’re growing fast, and our new positioning and website will support us on our journey – whilst championing the people who have made Talon what it is today.  

We’ve re-booted our brand look, feel and tone of voice to take Talon’s unique energy and spirit out into the world, and will start to bring the Talon global family together with one voice – including Grand Visual and Plexus which will rebrand to Talon International.

It’s everything our clients and agencies love about Talon – collaboration, bold adventurousness, relentless creativity and innovation – translated into new brand colours, a new logo, and a new website.   

We’re excited to share this next exciting step with you, but for now watch this space and begin to imagine what’s possible when we “think outside”. 

Talon MENA, the Global and regional Out of Home (OOH) advertising specialist, has joined The Interactive Advertising Bureau GCC (IAB GCC) as a member as of August 2022.

Established in May 2019, The IAB GCC is the regional voice and thought leader of the region’s interactive marketing and advertising industry, committed to building a sustainable future for digital advertising.  

Through the membership, Talon will bring its expertise in digital and programmatic OOH to the IAB’s activities and initiatives. 

“We are delighted to join the IAB GCC and to work alongside fellow members to help positively shape the future of MENA’s OOH industry. Talon recently launched in MENA to accelerate the OOH growth in the region, helping to further educate clients on the extensive OOH opportunities by tapping into richer behavioral and location insights, in order to quantify the channel’s true impact across the customer journey. 

We look forward to working with the IAB GCC stakeholders to build on the digital OOH and programmatic conversation” said Chadi Farhat, Managing Director Talon MENA.

London, 01 August 2022: Talon Outdoor, a leading, independently-owned global Out-of-Home (OOH) media agency, has promoted Josko Grljevic to the role of Group Chief Operations Officer (COO), as part of the company’s ambitious and ongoing growth plans.

Joining the company as UK Chief Transformation Officer in 2018, Josko has been fundamental in leading Talon’s comprehensive technology transformation, overseeing the launch of its three data-fuelled technology platforms – Ada, Atlas and Plato – harnessing the capabilities for audience targeting, programmatic buying and measurement across the OOH customer journey.  

These tech advancements have brought game-changing opportunities for advertisers and are best-in-class examples of intelligent service-based architectures which process billions of data points, execute very complex mathematical models and provide real-time insights – ultimately, reducing the time taken to plan and execute an OOH campaign by up to 95%.  

Following the successful launch and integration of the platforms in the UK, Josko exported Ada, Atlas and Plato to the US market and is leading the rollout across MENA and APAC.  

As part of his new role as Group COO, Josko, who was recognised in the CIO 100 list in 2020 and recently shortlisted for Campaign’s Tech Pioneer of the Year award, will continue to grow the remit of technology and data across the business to drive data-driven organisation and measurement on a global scale reporting directly to Group CEO, Barry Cupples. Owning the day-to-day running of the business, he’ll execute on the company’s strategic business objectives, continue to advance Talon’s adtech to deliver best-in-class solutions whilst helping to further develop a culture where belonging and sustainability runs through each pillar of the organisation. 

To further aid Talon’s global expansion, a raft of further senior promotions has been made.  These include Anant East to the position of Group CTO, Sophie Pemberton to Group Chief Strategy Officer and Amy Horton to Group Transformation Director. This new structure will support Talon’s next phase of transformation and growth across multiple markets.   

Barry Cupples, Group CEO, adds, “During one of the most challenging times in our business when the OOH industry was facing severe setbacks, Josko has been instrumental in driving Talon forward, developing the best proprietary tech the sector now offers and driving real change into how the media is delivered.  He’s been central to Talon’s transformation and I look forward to seeing him continue this success globally as we drive forward the renaissance of Out of Home.”  

Josko Grljevic, Group COO, said: “Over the last four years, I’ve been committed to developing tech that has enabled both our company and the wider OOH industry to bounce back from the challenges of the pandemic with incredible strength. As part of my new role I will be ensuring our business strategy focuses on further transformation with a leading global market presence powered by our adtech suite, whilst ensuring the culture at Talon continues to evolve so we retain and attract the very best talent in the industry.”

From today, Talon’s award-winning Creative Solutions team will join industry-pioneers Grand Visual to offer a full suite of Out of Home (OOH) and Digital Out of Home (DOOH) creative services to advertisers, media agencies and creative agencies through the Grand Visual brand.

Grand Visual’s offering expands – from a unique production agency providing creative services for DOOH – to include creative and experiential executions for static OOH and DOOH, whilst continuing to dominate environments and turn OOH campaigns into truly immersive experiences generating a unique social amplification opportunity. 

Under the new structure, Grand Visual’s team of creative, technology, production, project management, storytelling and digital marketing experts will be led by Jay Young and Dan Dawson as Chief Client Officer and Chief Creative Officer respectively. Ric Albert stays in role as Creative Director, with the entire Talon Creative Solutions team moving to Grand Visual. 

Grand Visual’s services will integrate Creative Solutions offering and their existing services into three categories delivering added value to existing and future clients offering the best in creative and digital OOH concepts through one funnel: 

Solutions 

Digital 

Experiential 

The Talon Creative Solutions team will move to be contactable via Grand Visual, with email structure firstname.lastname@grandvisual.com. Please update all contact details and look forward to receiving an extended response to briefs soon. 

Grand Visual was acquired by Talon Outdoor in 2019 and is part of the Talon family.

“The Only Way is Up for Out of Home!” – Barry Cupples, Group CEO Talon

Talon had an incredible time hosting a live recording of the Behind the Billboard podcast and an important conversation between Cephas Williams & Barry Cupples on the LBBonline – Little Black Book & Friends Beach, alongside joining in at Stagwell’s Speaker’s Lounge, a fireside chat with the DPAA on Yahoo Beach, attending events and catching up with clients and industry friends over lunch. Take a look at our behind-the-scenes roundup from Cannes in 2022.

In the words of our CEO Barry Cupples, “we’re just in the room as Out of Home expert’s trying to grow the category.” 

Cannes was a brilliant opportunity to connect with our industry peers and begin to work together to grow the medium. 

There are huge opportunities for brands to capitalise on OOH’s renaissance and the smart opportunities OOH can offer to reach consumers at scale. The time is now to further collaborate and educate advertisers and agencies on the fantastic results OOH can deliver. 

Here’s to Talon in Cannes 2023!