London, UK – 8^th April, 2025 – Talon, the leading independent global Out of Home (OOH) agency, today announced plans to relocate its London offices into a new headquarters at 130 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1, in response to the company’s significant growth. 

The new global headquarters will occupy 23,500sq ft across two floors, providing a modern workspace designed to support Talon’s expanding team. The office features various working zones, coworking and social areas, ensuring a balance between collaborative, creative spaces and quiet areas for focused work. 

Bringing together Talon, Evolve, and Grand Visual in one location, the new space enhances collaboration across the entire business and serves as a centralised hub for operations. This move marks the conclusion of Talon’s current leases at Rathbone Place and Frith Street.

Located on the border of Soho and Covent Garden, the office offers excellent connectivity and access to shopping, dining and cultural hotspots. Its proximity to key transport hubs like Tottenham Court Road and Leicester Square ensures convenient access for Talon’s growing team. 

Talon’s Global CEO, Sue Frogley, said: “This move is particularly meaningful for us as it brings our Talon, Evolve and Grand Visual teams together under one roof, remaining firmly in the heart of the West End where our journey began over a decade ago. Our new home is a significant upgrade for our people, designed to encourage creativity and collaboration, helping both us and our clients continue to grow and thrive in the industry we love.” 

The move follows a period of significant global expansion for Talon, which has built a robust international footprint with 15 offices in key cities across the UK, EMEA, North America, and Asia-Pacific. Following investment in 2022 from Equistone Partners Europe, Talon has accelerated its growth through strategic acquisitions such as Evolve and Grand Visual, as well as the development of proprietary tech platforms that have revolutionised OOH planning, buying, execution and measurement. 

MAXIMISE YOUR CAMPAIGN’S EFFECTIVENESS BEFORE IT STARTS

As an OOH specialist, we get asked on creative best practice quite a lot, where brands face the challenge of connecting with consumers and landing their message in mere seconds. There’s quite a clear guideline for a good outdoor creative, and by and large, we’re all agreed on it – keep things simple, get attention to your branded assets, and connect with consumers in as few words as you can.

We say to focus on people because that’s where people look, to build trust and purpose into your messaging, to add monetary incentives where you can for the cost-conscious consumer. But realistically, even if you follow all these rules, your creative might not work. After eight years of creative testing at Talon, we’ve found that consumers only notice a brand logo 44% of the time – and that’s if it’s put right in front of them.

When we talk about an effective creative, we talk about it doing its job within two seconds. That’s a tall order, but it’s not impossible. But with creative agencies restricted by tight deadlines, and measurement confined by tight budgets, we’re seeing under-utilisation of a really important tool – pre-campaign testing. Brands need to ensure their creative can cut through the clutter so that valuable media spend is not wasted. So, when we talk about attention, we need to focus on what this means for the creative itself, maximising brand attribution, message comprehension, and fundamentally, the efficiency of ad spend.

This is why at Talon we have used a consistent creative testing methodology for several years. We’re not looking to reinvent the wheel, but rather take this tool and the extensive learnings we’ve built to new heights for our clients with an exciting relaunch.

Using four different metrics for attention (notice, lag, dwell and doubletake), and a benchmark database of over seven hundred creatives, we’re able to reliably dig into how your creative works, and how it can be optimised. And we do it quickly too, delivering results within two working days of receiving the creative.

Different clients are going to have different needs – where FMCG brands can hone in on their product easily, brand recognition is key, and we see logo benchmarks sitting higher at 50%. For finance brands, this means little without conveying brand purpose to consumers – but we see an average 0.6 seconds spent looking at ad messaging. Applying this to the dwell times of different formats and environments, and the needs of different categories and clients, means we can truly understand what an effective creative means. And fundamentally, we can do it before any money’s spent.

To learn more about TRAX or to test your creative, get in contact with [email protected]

Along with our incredible agencies and partners, Talon has won 14 awards for Out of Home (OOH) at The Drum Awards Festival and Media Week Awards 2024.

A month the Talon team will never forget, let’s dive into the campaigns and what made them award-winning.

Media Week Awards

Gold 🥇

Econometrics: Location Matters for MMM

Our research, in partnership with JCDecaux UK and Nielsen, explored the role of econometrics and how we can make clients’ OOH measurement more effective. We found that utilising granular location data in MMM modelling can increase OOH ROI by up to 42%.

Media Innovation: Doritos Silent

Snacking and gaming are increasingly incompatible. But in 2023, Doritos wanted to change that with the launch of Doritos Silent, the world’s first AI-augmented snack. An idea like this needed a new approach – an OOH campaign to launch the impossible and drive the nation into a frenzy. ​

A Piccadilly Lights takeover, banners, murals and prOOH made Doritos Silent unmissable. Driving hype, the stop-and-stare OOH creative made people double-take, on the streets and online – placed at the heart of the campaign strategy.

Silver 🥈

Long-Term Media Strategy: Walkers #CrispIN or #CrispOUT

Lunch is a must-win battleground for Walkers. Once a staple of lunchboxes up and down the country, by 2020 they’d become a bit stale; over half the nation just weren’t thinking of Walkers at lunchtime.

Walkers would utilise its media to jolt a new behaviour. How could they get light buyers to crunch? With a peculiar British ritual; the crisp sandwich. 88% of Brits agreed crisps improve sandwiches. But they ferociously disagreed on whether they belong in or out of sandwiches. Could we marry Brits’ favourite lunchtime snack with their favourite lunchtime staple to successfully resolve a time-honoured British debate?

A once in a lunchtime idea; are you #CrispIN or #CrispOUT? Over 3 years, we used media to create a dividing line. In or out. Yes or no. Them or us. Pitting sides of the country against each other. A little levity, a lot of debate. With transformational results for Walker’s, we pulled it out of the bag.

Media Creativity: Under £250k: Channel 4 Partygate

Partygate. We sacrificed, they partied. The country was outraged. Meticulous research and new sources told the real untold stories of Partygate juxtaposing wild nights at Downing Street with the experiences of the general public.  ​Our task was simple but not easy, get people to watch.

With OOH being the backdrop to people’s lives, our strategy was based on being present on formats which fitted the style of urban and gritty media placements. We would hide in plain sight. Using legal national flyposting, we positioned Partygate alongside real event adverts, with beautifully designed posters inspired by the 90s rave scene.  ​

Media Idea: Launch: Don’t Gift – 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. NOTHS’ aim was to encourage ‘wiser’, more sustainable gifting.​ Kicking off the campaign we launched three special builds in London’s Westfield Shepherd’s Bush and Vinegar Yard and in Manchester’s Salford Chapel Street. 

The final burst of OOH consisted of our fully optimised DOOH schedule consisting of Large Format Digital, D48s and D6s in motorway service areas, shopping centres, underground, roadside and rail environments.​

Media Creativity: Launch: Doritos Silent

Media Creativity: Over £1m:  Doritos Silent

Large Collaboration: Over £250k: Doritos Silent

The Drum Awards

Gold 🥇

Advertising: Dynamic and Interactive Digital Screens: Share the Warmth with Quaker Oats

Quaker shared the warmth by helping to ensure access to a warm and nutritious breakfast for families across the UK – 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 and its charity partnerships; with attention grabbing 48s and interactive/dynamic capabilities to offer consumers real value through contextually relevant coupons based on UK weather average temperatures. 

Silver 🥈

Advertising: Creative Humour: This van driver Should’ve gone to Specsavers

Specsavers pushed the boundaries of OOH advertising by creating its very own parking fail – a Specsavers van parked 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.

Advertising: Immersive Experience: Pepsi MAX X UEFA Champions League Final London 24

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!

Bronze🥉

Advertising: Charity/Not for Profit/Social Purpose: British Heart Foundation ‘Til I died’

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, we 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.

Advertising: Immersive Experience: Will you be next? Allwyn, Lotto

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!

Advertising: Use of Location: Big Little Welcomes, British Airways

Connecting loved ones for over 100 years, British Airways (BA) wanted to celebrate 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.

As a result, the campaign saw strong customer engagement with BA receiving 200+ messages submitted in just the first day of the recruitment going live! These messages were displayed on OOH formats as the passengers landed back in the UK.​ Post campaign, BA saw positive movements in brand health during a period where category average was in decline.​

We’d like to thank everyone who made this possible, and congratulations. Roll on 2025…

View the full results for The Drum Awards and the Media Week Awards.

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.

While carbon emissions must be reduced, how we measure them within the advertising hasn’t been standardised, creating challenges for advertisers and agencies alike.

Alice Date writes for WARC on the importance of a uniformed method when measuring sustainability. Service industries such as advertising have typically flown under the radar with regard to sustainability, as they are unaffected by complex manufacturing supply chains and reliance on abundances of natural resources.

According to the Purpose Disruptors report from 2022, advertising is responsible for 32% of the
carbon footprint of every single person in the UK: 208 million tonnes. Providing transparent emissions data allows clients to make reasonable and informed decisions
about their options.

Read the full article here.

Talon Benchmarks show that lower budgets are no barrier to effectiveness in OOH writes Lucy Baumgartner, Effectiveness Manager at Talon

OOH advertising is enjoying something of a golden period. Driven by its adaptability, digital innovation and the ever-growing consumer appetite for experience, the latest figures from industry body Outsmart show OOH’s post-Covid renaissance continues apace as the sector delivered its highest first-half revenue growth since records began over the first six months of 2024.

This phenomenal growth demonstrates that brands increasingly understand and see the value of OOH in terms of impact and effectiveness. More brands are leveraging the medium’s broadcast reach and dynamic creativity, and that’s not just limited to big-name brands with huge budgets.

OOH drives strong results for brands across the whole funnel

According to analysis from Talon’s Benchmarks, OOH drives strong results for brands across the whole funnel, including newly launched brands and those who have previously felt like OOH was inaccessible due to budget.

Talon Benchmarks are a simple but sophisticated database which has been collated through using a consistent measurement framework across over 200 brand uplift studies. This database provides unique insight into OOH’s effectiveness.

Our Benchmarks show that for brands with spend under £150,000, using OOH can increase prompted awareness by 3%, brand preference by 3.5% and, crucially, purchase intent by 6.2%.

Couple that with OOH’s long-established ability to build brand awareness and trust with consumers, it is the ideal partner for newly launched and lesser-known brands that are ambitious to grow category and market share. To get the most from OOH, campaigns need to be optimised across creative execution, format and environment selection.

Different OOH formats and environments can drive specific brand metrics

Using Talon’s Benchmark data, it is possible to pinpoint how different OOH formats and environments can drive specific brand metrics meaning campaigns can be optimised based on a client’s objectives. Put another way, if a new brand has a brief to drive purchase intent, the data shows that a mix of transport, large format and digital formats will deliver the strongest results.

Even with a sharp focus on formats and targeting, the most significant factor influencing a campaign’s effectiveness remains creativity. Without it, a campaign may not achieve its objectives. With lower spends, it is even more vital that your work stands out from the crowd.

Competitive pricing can help differentiate

Using competitive pricing to differentiate a new or lesser-known brand from its competitors while also appealing to the broader consumer concerns around the cost of living has been shown to deliver strong results across all metrics. Talon’s Benchmark data show that, when compared with standard creative, using price as a tool drove much stronger uplifts across consideration and purchase intent while it increased quality perceptions by an incredible 17%.

Focusing on price or monetary offers should not come at the expense of an engaging and human approach to creativity. The analysis also shows that the use of people, faces, and characters in lower-budget campaigns can hugely boost engagement, driving message take-out up by 21%, relevancy by 14% and emotional engagement by 11%. Proving once again that connection with audiences is invaluable for building trust and driving awareness and consideration.

A unique opportunity to speak to audiences outside of their homes

OOH has long been a part of consumers’ everyday lives and is a unique opportunity to speak to audiences outside their homes. Digitisation and innovation have transformed OOH into a more flexible, relevant, and interactive medium than ever. OOH offers all brands, regardless of their size or budget, the opportunity to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time—effectiveness made simple.

London, August 2024: Workplace culture change programme Parenting Out Loud has embarked on a national Out of Home campaign, in partnership with Talon, to tackle parenting inequality, coinciding with the end of the school summer holidays.

The campaign encourages dads to be transparent – “loud and proud” – about their childcare responsibilities. Planned by Out of Home agency, Talon, it launched on August 26th and will run until and September 6th as children from across the country return to school.

Parenting Out Loud is live in shopping malls via JCDecaux and across select Ocean Outdoor large format digital locations in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

The creative shows a father walking with his two children and features the words: “School is back. A new season. Time for more… Parenting Out Loud… where dads are loud and proud about their childcare responsibilities at work.”

It also encourages fathers to share their working dad stories on LinkedIn using the hashtag #parentingoutloud. A video filmed by Parenting Out Loud founder  Elliott Rae showcasing some of the billboards and highlighting why the campaign is important can also be watched on LinkedIn.

Rae, an advocate for working dads and campaigner on mental health and masculinity, launched the Parenting Out Loud campaign in April. It aims to inspire a cultural shift and change in attitudes around the role of fathers that has persisted for generations. The campaign supports employers in building workplace cultures where working dads can be unapologetic, proud, and transparent about their childcare responsibilities

The programme champions equal parenting and gender equality at work and home and seeks to change the way society views dads and male carers by normalising male caring and changing the narrative around fatherhood.

Research has shown that one in three working dads feel uncomfortable talking to their employer about their family commitments, yet equal parenting is key to gender equality, with around 80% of the gender pay gap attributed to the motherhood penalty.

Equal parenting is also vital for the wellbeing and happiness of fathers and their children, with research showing that positive and consistent paternal involvement in the early years results in significant positive impacts on children’s education and resilience.

Elliott Rae, Founder of Parenting Out Loud, said: “Parenting Out Loud may not sound like a revolutionary act, but when fathers parent loudly at work, they help normalise male caring in the workplace and role model this behaviour for others.

“Encouraging, supporting and enabling dads to be equal parents is essential to addressing the gender pay gap, the motherhood penalty and achieving gender equality at home and at work. With this campaign, we want to encourage all dads taking responsibility for caring for their children to share their stories and help remove the stigma around male caring. Together, we can change the narrative around fatherhood in the workplace.”

Luke Willbourn, Managing Director – UK at Talon, said: “The Parenting Out Loud initiative is massively important, and partnering with Elliott to raise awareness of the campaign using Out of Home is a proud moment for us and for me personally as a proud and vocal working dad to two young children. His message aligns perfectly with Talon’s people-first philosophy and our mission to ensure everyone belongs at Talon.

“Belong, our DEI employee committee, works with the leadership team to shape working practices and staff wellbeing policies, and our School’s Out policy is specifically aimed at supporting working parents across the business. Parenting Out Loud’s mission to change the narrative around dads in the workplace and male carers is one we are thrilled to help spread.”

Equistone Partners Europe ESG Review feature Talon’s leading industry sustainability endeavours

Equistone recently launched its ESG review 2023 and featured Talon as a case study. It featured the multitude of strategies we have in place to reduce our impact on the climate with Equistone recognising that we are leading the industry in terms of sustainability endeavours. Delivering and executing our sustainability plan is a top priority at Talon and our sustainability framework sets out three main pillars of focus:

o ENVIRONMENT – Minimising negative environmental impact of our operations.
o PEOPLE – Building a purpose-driven culture to attract and retain diverse talent.
o COMMUNITY – Localising support for the community to encourage positive behavioural change.

To read the full Equistone Partners Europe ESG Review 2023 click below.
https://www.equistonepe.com/website/sites/EN/uploads/documents/esgreviews/ESG-REVIEW-2023.pdf

To read more about the sustainability initiatives we include within our core strategy click below.
https://talonooh.com/en/sustainability/

Talon was pleased to work with Havas London, Havas Media UK and Grand Visual on the Out of Home element of this campaign which received Campaign’s Ad of the Day.

With the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games just under two weeks away, John West – the UK’s leading tinned fish brand and trusted household name- has launched a new campaign to celebrate the strength of ParalympicsGB athletes, and their role as proud protein partners of ParalympicsGB.

Building on John West’s brand positioning ‘EAT STRONG, GO STRONG’, the campaign showcases the power of natural protein, and how it fuels you to be strong, in whatever you do.

To relay this message, the campaign humorously dramatises the effects of John West’s natural protein on ParalympicsGB athletes via a bespoke special build with a life-sized javelin peeking out, with supporting copy ‘’warning, protein-fuelled javelin throwers are getting serious air miles’’. The special build sits alongside a number of DOOH, which feature other sports, including cycling and shotput – further playing on the effects of John West’s natural protein.

The media plan, developed by Havas Media UK, strategically positions the special build across three screens in major UK cities to ensure nationwide visibility. Key commuter spots have been selected to maximise exposure, including The Pump Station by Westfield London, Pin Mill Brow in Manchester and New Moseley Road in Birmingham.

The campaign also includes a series of humorous TikTok videos, which sees three ParalympicsGB athletes; Kadeena Cox, Para Cycling and John West protein Ambassador, Nathan MacQueen, Para Archery and Hollie Arnold, Para Athletics, not realising their own strength – lifting up cars and retrieving their equipment from people’s gardens. Filmed in an undercover style way, the videos utilise the popular doorbell footage TikTok trend and showcase a range of Paralympic sports.

In February 2023, John West Foods was announced as an Official protein partner of ParalympicsGB. The four-year partnership with ParalympicsGB, covers the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics and the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympics, as well as activities outside of the Games period. This long-term partnership will bring to life the brand’s ‘Eat Strong, Go Strong’ message and further amplify John West’s protein credentials.

Vicki Maguire, chief creative officer Havas London said: ‘’This campaign is fuelled by natural protein…bringing a touch of humour, while getting behind our ParalympicsGB athletes, to bring home the glory….’’
Vikki Babb, John West International, Marketing Director added: “We are extremely proud to be partnered with ParalympicsGB and are excited to be supporting the team on their road to Paris. The campaign perfectly brings together the John West tongue in cheek tone of voice and benefits of our natural protein.”

Andrew Darby, Managing Partner, Havas Media Network said: “We’re honoured to work alongside our sister agency, Havas London to support John West’s journey in celebrating and empowering ParalympicsGB athletes through the power of natural protein. This campaign truly exemplifies the synergy between creativity and strategic media planning—by positioning this captivating special build in central locations across the UK, supported by this engaging multi-media campaign, we will together ensure maximum visibility and inspire nationwide support for these incredible athletes.”

The campaign is live from the 12th of August, kicked off by the special build, followed by the DOOH on the 19th of August. The TikTok films will be live across the summer and throughout the Paralympics.

-CREDITS –
Project name: John West Paralympics – Eat Stong, Go Strong
Client: Vikki Babb (International Marketing Director) & Laura Cooper (Marketing Manager)
Creative agency: Havas London
Chief Creative Officer: Vicki Maguire
Creative Director: Dave Mygind
Copywriter: Joe Roberts
Art director: Doug Redfern
Managing Partner: Dave Owen
Account Director: Andrew Symonds
Senior Account Manager: Rica Dezoller
Head of Production: Louise Bonnar
Agency Producer: Ella Myerscough-McClymont
Senior Integrated Producer (print): Kat Loizou
Creative Production Director: Dean Trendler
Strategy Director: Jack Lewis-Barclay
Chief Design Officer: Lorenzo Fruzza
Design Director: Josh Toogood
Designer: Morgan Shipley
Designer: Walt Gregory
Media agency: Havas Media UK
Outdoor partner : JCDecaux Creative Solutions
Outdoor partner : Talon
Outdoor partner: Ocean
Production company: Prose on Pixels
Director: Doug Redfern & Joe Roberts
Executive Producer: Ben Kaufman
Producer: Rosie Smith
Production Assistant: Ella Higgins
DoP: John Fisher
Editor: Navid Khayati-Daryan
Post-production: ELMNTL
Post-production producer: Jenna Le Noury & Rose Crisp
Post-production (OOH): Prose on Pixels
VFX: Antonio Jimenez + Mustafa Pertev
Colourist: Henry Howard
Soundtrack composer: N/A
Narrator / VO: Joe Roberts
Audio post-production: Joe Marsden

Lucy Baumgartner, Effectiveness Manager, writes about her choice to be social-free and the Gen Z Digital Detox trend for Ad Age

Lucy Baumgartner, Effectiveness Manager Talon, writes for Ad Age on why she doesn’t engage with social media anymore and why – with 3 in 5 now regularly undertaking social media detoxes – marketers should adapt their digital-first perspectives to effectively engage Gen Z. Lucy explains the reasoning behind her choice to step away from social media, and why marketers may need to consider alternatives when reaching Gen Z.

Read the full article.

Talon has received All-In Champion status in the UK, reflecting our commitment to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. All In is the industry initiative created by the Advertising Association, the IPA, and the ISBA to improve inclusion and representation within UK advertising. 

Adopting the All-In Action Plan 

Our recognition as All-In Champions is a testament to our comprehensive adoption of the All-In Action Plan across eight necessary actions: Black Talent, Disabled Talent, Social Mobility, Women, Asian Talent, Older Talent, Mental Health, and LGBTQ+. This underscores Talon’s dedication to creating an environment where every individual feels valued, supported, and able to thrive. 

Talon’s Belong Cog led the All-In Champion submission and has spearheaded our journey to All-In Champions. The Belong Cog, composed of Talon employees, is central to shaping our internal working practices, policies, and recruitment strategies. It ensures that Talon remains an inclusive and welcoming place for all, actively working to increase access for underrepresented groups within the media sector and improve the employee experience. 

Talon’s ‘Charter for Change’ reinforces our commitment to inclusivity through a top-down approach, ensuring adoption and accountability at every level of our business. As proud MEFA and Creative Access members, we continue to push forward initiatives that promote diversity and inclusivity within our industry. 

Sunday Times Best Places to Work 

In addition to our All-In Champion status, Talon was recently named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work, an accolade voted for by our employees. This recognition highlights the positive and supportive culture we have cultivated at Talon, making it a great place to work. 

Our DEI journey is ongoing. We are committed to continuous improvement and ensuring that everyone at Talon feels they truly belong. 

If you are interested in working at Talon, view our job openings here 

The Sunday Times, powered by WorkL, has revealed the Best Places to Work in the UK for 2024 – and Talon have made the list! This nationwide workplace survey honours and celebrates Britain’s top employers – which number over 500 organisations across industries and sizes – and acknowledges the best workplaces for women, LGBTQIA+ community, disabled employees, ethnic minorities, younger and older workers, and wellbeing.

Read what The Sunday Times said about us below:

Talon – Bold ideas are encouraged at this London-based Out of Home agency, with its 182 UK staff, who receive twice-yearly appraisals, part of a people-focused philosophy. Active leadership motivates the diverse team, who are encouraged to go all out to impress. On-site massages are provided for all staff, who are tasked with completing 50 hours of training each year. Talon offers flexible working as well as glide time, allowing workers to fit their hours between 8am and 6.30pm.

Outside Thinking – Runs in the Talon Family

We’re proud that our employees have voted us as one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work in the UK.

Talon is the destination where bold ideas are encouraged and our people are driven to be the differentiator. Kantar’s inclusion index ranks Talon at 76.7%, +6.7% vs all agencies and +26.7% vs UK benchmark. We provide two internships per year through Creative Access and our team receives mentoring and memberships through MEFA. Talon are accredited Living Wage employers.

Our people-first philosophy prioritises creating a workplace culture where everyone feels they belong. At Talon, we’re achieving this through our policies and practices that best support our staff. Some of our policies and practices include:

• 5 Internal Cogs (employee-led committees) – Charity, Social, Belong, Sustainability and the People Forum. Each Cog has a board sponsor to represent them in the boardroom
• Our ‘Belong’ Cog – Talon’s internal DEI committee – works with leadership to shape working practices, policies and recruitment strategy.
• Buddy System – Provides new employees with a cross-department support system, introductory lunch and quarterly coffee check-ins
• Launched new policies including pregnancy loss, menopause and menstrual leave alongside paid fertility leave and free sanitary products in all offices
• School’s Out policy – Supporting working parents and carers
• Recently awarded the IPA’s People-First Promise

Embedded throughout our business is a culture for learning and progression. Talon’s learning and development framework has senior buy-in and filters through the entire business. There is great importance placed on training at Talon with all staff tasked with completing 50 hours each year. 360-degree feedback and appraisal systems take place twice a year and our employees benefit from role and salary benchmarking. The team also benefit from “Grow Together”, our cross-company mentoring platform, and our “Grow Academy”, an e-learning platform that includes recordings of all live sessions.

How the Best Places to Work survey works

The Sunday Times partnered with employee-experience platform WorkL to deliver fresh insights into what makes a Best Place to Work. The Sunday Times Best Places to Work awards survey uses 26 questions from WorkL’s employee engagement survey, developed by behavioural scientists, data analysts, psychologists, business leaders, academics and other independent parties to most accurately monitor employee engagement, wellbeing and discretionary effort in the workplace. To achieve a high overall engagement score, an organisation must score well across WorkL’s six-step framework:

1. Reward and Recognition

2. Instilling Pride

3. Information Sharing

4. Empowerment

5. Wellbeing

6. Job Satisfaction

Read the full list online – Best Places to Work 2024

If you are interested in working at Talon, view our job openings here

Talon has been awarded with the IPA’s People First Promise Badge of Honour, after successfully demonstrating our commitment to our people’s mental health and wellbeing. The People First Promise initiative was launched by IPA President Josh Krichefski in January 2024 to encourage those active in this space to use this badge of honour to assert their duty of care to their current employees, to future talent and to clients.

Read more about the People First Promise on the IPA website

Commitment to Employee Well-Being

Receiving the People First Promise acknowledges Talon’s commitment to prioritising the well-being, development, and satisfaction of our team members. Our efforts are focused on creating a work environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to achieve their best.

People-First Policies

Talon’s recognition as a People First organisation is a testament to our people-first policies and practices, and in particular our commitment to mental health and wellbeing. These include our holistic approach to employee development, mental health support, and creating a culture that encourages work-life balance. We believe that our people are our greatest asset, and their wellbeing directly contributes to the success of our business.

Talon’s Values: Bold, Human, Smart

This recognition aligns with Talon’s values –  bold, human, and smart. We encourage bold thinking and innovation, ensuring that our team members are not only heard but also inspired to push the boundaries of creativity. By prioritising a human approach, we foster a compassionate and inclusive culture where everyone feels connected and supported. Being smart underpins our commitment to continuous learning and growth, helping our people to thrive both personally and professionally.

In addition to the People First Promise, Talon have recently received All-In Champion Status and was named one of the Sunday Times Best Places to Work.

A new report from Outsmart, the trade body for the UK Out of Home (OOH) advertising industry, finds that OOH is the most sustainable advertising platform for brands when compared to other major media.

The findings, produced by KPMG, are outlined in ‘Low Carbon, Low Power: An analysis of OOH energy consumption and CO2 emissions’, published today.

KPMG’s research found that out of all the media measured (Online, TV, Radio, Print and Email), the OOH industry produces the least amount of carbon emissions per impression.

OOH represents 3.3% of the UK’s total advertising power consumption, and just 0.067% of all the power consumption in the UK. This means that OOH advertising’s power consumption is lower than its share of all advertising spend (3.8%) * (AA/WARC 2023).

The findings reveal that OOH makes up less than 3.5% of the total carbon footprint of the UK’s advertising activities.

This positive report card for OOH alongside the sector’s ability to improve sustainability is in great part due to OOH media owners having control over the entire supply chain and end-to-end operations.

OOH media owners Clear Channel, Global, JCDecaux, and Ocean Outdoor contributed their data to the new report, with other media owners providing examples of their ability to reduce emissions across business operations.

Sustainability initiatives include maximising the recycling rate of materials, converting to more energy efficient lighting, optimising logistics routes, and most importantly, appointing suppliers based on their environmental credentials.

Tim Lumb, Director of Outsmart, said: “When we look at either the power consumption or the carbon emissions advertising “pie”, OOH is an incredibly small slice. Media owners have control over their supply chain, delivery and end of cycle processes – controls that result in demonstrable reductions to climate impact, at pace.”

Stéphanie Taupin, Global Strategy Director at KPMG, added: “The study results are consistent with a similar study we did in France: OOH allows brands to execute more environmentally friendly campaigns than other media when measured by contact or pound invested. Furthermore, OOH has opportunities to reduce its climate impact because it benefits from several reduction levers.”

Another recent study from Outsmart and Legacy reported that OOH is in a strong position across several key ESG metrics, performing especially well across environmental factors. Outsmart also recently announced that the UK OOH sector contributed £411m to support public services, infrastructure, communities and employees in 2021 – representing 46% of its advertising revenue.

“Of course, sustainability efforts have no end point, but the OOH sector is committed to improving and innovating across environmental and social sustainability, as shown in the initiatives from Outsmart members”, Lumb concluded.

This article first appeared on Outsmart.

Yours sincerely, Ellie Reeves, Effectiveness Executive.

We’re all familiar with the fact that once you work in Out of Home, you can no longer enjoy being out of your home. Each bus shelter, tube car panel, and taxi wrap are a reminder of emails unsent and decks awaiting. For me, as someone who lives and breathes campaign effectiveness in their day job, the sight of each OOH ad renews a deep-seated rage, as I question why is every brand logo hidden in the bottom right corner? 

What is an advert without a brand logo? Wasted space, wasted money, and fundamentally an ad for your competitors if consumers can’t attribute it to you. Over the 8 years we’ve run creative testing – 575 campaigns to be exact – Talon have produced one truly illuminating statistic: brand logos are only noticed by viewers 42% of the time. 

Our creative testing relies on an online sample, who have nothing to do but stare at an image on a screen for five seconds. That means that even if we remove the chaos of the outside world, limit anything else that could be grabbing their attention, and put a creative right in front of them, less than half of the general public end up noticing the logo on a creative. When they do notice it, it takes 2.34 seconds for their eyeballs to actually hit the logo. Now that may work when we’re looking at commuters waiting a few minutes on a platform, but when roadside D6s see an average dwell time of 1.1 seconds, that 42% starts to look a lot smaller.   

This doesn’t mean that media investment is pointless – far from it. But it does mean that we can sometimes forget the fundamental rules for creative effectiveness when designing for OOH. Learnings from our creative testing aren’t particularly sophisticated – they reflect essential guidelines for creativity to simplify and centralise. They’re common sensical, but also anecdotal, and when we can provide bespoke, quantitative data to our clients to show what’s not working, it’s much easier to fix. Giving clear advice on what needs to be altered, we’re able to optimise creatives pre-campaign or mid-flight to ensure the strongest impact for our clients.

Rule one: keep it simple. The more features that are added to an ad, the more fragmented viewer’s attention is, and the less likely people are to notice a logo. We see that when creatives include 3 key features (i.e. a headline, image, logo), attention rates for logos are +15% stronger than creatives that include 4 key features. 

Rule two: people look at the centre of a creative first. Portrait creatives see gaze go from centre, to top to bottom, while landscape inevitably see gaze shift centre, to left to right. Using common sense, we can therefore imagine that the lowest levels of attention are in the bottom right corner of any given creative. Thankfully, we also have the data to back it up. Alignment on the left means logos over index by about +3%, while placement on the right under indexes by -17%. When placed in the centre, brand logos over index by +33%.

Now some good news for FMCG brands, automotive brands, and anyone who can showcase their brand logo within a product image. Though typically placed in the centre of a creative, we see that even when product images are hidden to one side, brand logos integrated into the product see much higher levels of attention – +24% above average, in fact.

So, what does this all mean? For the sake of your ad spend (and my sanity), make sure your brand logo is placed where people will see it. When we work day in and day out on the same creatives, we can forget the bigger picture – and that’s that everything on the picture needs to be bigger.

Keep it simple, keep it central, keep it seen. And most importantly, prove that you’re doing that.

As marketers begin to adjust to a post-cookie world, we’re appreciating that measurement is important and should be done right – but it can’t just be done at the end. Pre-campaign testing allows us invaluable insight into what’s not working, so that we can optimise both creative and impact. For years, we’ve used Talon Canvas to inform and drive creative effectiveness in OOH  – get in touch with the Talon Effectiveness Team if you want to find out how we can help you maximise attention in OOH.

BBC Studios uses the power of Creative Out of Home to create a Gladiators immersive experience in Manchester with Talon and Grand Visual 

The BBC, with global independent Out of Home (OOH) agency Talon and its award-winning OOH production arm, Grand Visual, has brought the Gladiator experience to Manchester’s Trafford Centre in The Gladiators Inflatable Duel.

The experiential activation, which took place on Saturday 9th of March, featured an inflatable immersive experience for nine hours to stir excitement around the highly anticipated semi-finals and finals of the iconic television show. As part of the experience, shoppers at The Trafford Centre were invited to experience a part of the show and engage with the cast themselves by taking part in two to three rounds of battles.

Leveraging Talon’s expertise in outdoor media, Grand Visual’s world class creative experience and BBC’s unrivalled entertainment legacy, this execution gave audiences the opportunity to experience the adrenaline-filled world of Gladiators action and competition for themselves.

Gladiators returned to screens for the first time this year since 2008 and has reignited fresh enthusiasm for the ultimate test of strength and speed with 9.8 million viewers tuning in to the first episode of the new series. The next generation of Gladiators has proven particularly popular with the younger audience, with 1.9m under 15s tuning in to episode one.

To support the activation, Talon planned a Digital Out of Home campaign that took over the shopping centre to drive consumers to the activity. The creative focused particularly on capturing the attention of Gladiators’ core demographic of 16-34-year-olds, designed to entice them to the adrenaline-pumped atmosphere of the replica Gladiator arena, transporting viewers into the heart of action.

Jay Young, Managing Director at Grand Visual, part of Talon, comments: “We were thrilled to partner with BBC Studios to bring the exhilarating world of Gladiators to Manchester. Through creative use of the Digital Out of Home screens positioned  throughout the centre, we drove excited crowds to put their strength to the test. Audience appetite for in-person events is fully back in swing, and this presents an exciting opportunity for brands to experiment with new ways to engage with audiences.”

Niki Carr, Senior Head of Marketing at BBC, said: “Gladiators holds a special place in people’s hearts. Talon and Grand Visual helped us bring the experience to life, creating ways for people to enjoy and interact with the show, generating excitement around the Semi final and Grand Finale. This collaboration demonstrates the power of creativity to captivate audiences and drive engagement. We were thrilled to bring such a fun experience to the Trafford Centre and loved watching our audience battling it out!”

Credits:

Client: BBC 

Advertising Agency: BBC Creative  

Associate Mx Director: Debbie Yuen 

Planning Manager: Pegi Jones  

Planner: Lucy Lyth  

Business Director: Sandra Hernadez  

Senior Client Manager: Georgia Harrison 

Senior Producer: Fran Betts 

Media Company: Havas 

Production Company: Ann Squared 

Production Manager: Charlotte Boag 

Event Producer: Caroline Osbourne 

Talon, the independent Out of Home (OOH) agency, in partnership with SMP Group, has expanded its sustainable solution for classic OOH campaigns. As part of its commitment to a greener and more sustainable future, Talon is now printing all classic roadside 6 sheet, 48 sheet, and 96 sheet campaigns for clients through SMP on 100% recycled paper as standard. Following the successful launch of 100% recycled 6 sheets in 2022 defaulting to recycled printing is a natural progression to support sustainable OOH production.  

Sustainable Partnerships: Talon & SMP’s Green OOH Solution

SMP Group is a pioneer in bringing to market 100% recycled material that is also recyclable, with one of the lowest carbon emissions in the OOH industry. They use FSC approved material, water-based inks, and an energy-efficient manufacturing facility that uses renewable energy through the recent installation of solar panels. The newly improved paper has been tested side by side with standard paper and has been found to be of high quality, with no discernible difference in appearance day or night. The 100% recycled paper is recyclable, and clients will be offered an opt-out if they would prefer to use standard 30% recycled paper. 

Luke Willbourn, Managing Director – UK at Talon, said, “At Talon, we take our responsibility for the planet seriously and are driving sustainability initiatives internally and across the OOH industry. We are pleased to expand our use of recycled paper as standard for the classic 6, 48, and 96 sheet campaigns we plan, a development that puts both us and our clients on track to a sustainable future.” 

Bradley Slade, Group Managing Director at SMP, said, “As a sustainable manufacturing business one of the key pillars we work to is reducing our environmental impact. We have worked hard to deliver sustainable products and best practice to improve the products we deliver for our clients. Through investment in technology, research, development, and innovation – we are proud to have delivered 100% recycled material for Out of Home advertising and crucially, still ensuring quality assurance in this high-profile medium.”  

Talon Earns IPA Effectiveness Accreditation 2023

Talon is pleased to announce that it has once again achieved the prestigious IPA Effectiveness Accreditation. The IPA launched its inaugural IPA Effectiveness Accreditation in 2021 and signals an outstanding commitment to putting effectiveness at the heart of your agency and being true partners of growth.

This year, Talon is among the select group of 30 agencies to receive this esteemed recognition which marks a significant milestone and is a testament to the fact that effectiveness is ingrained into the very essence of our agency. WE’RE MORE CREATIVE, EFFECTIVE, MEASURABLE, THAN EVER BEFORE and we’re proud to continue delivering great value for our clients whilst inspiring others and looking after our planet. Our dedicated teams hard work is truly commendable, and we couldn’t be prouder!

Luke Willbourn, UK Managing Director commented: “We’re once again extremely proud to receive the IPA Effectiveness Accreditation, a testament to our unwavering commitment to prioritising effectiveness at Talon. Our dedication to achieving exceptional client outcomes and advancing effectiveness within the realm of OOH remains stronger than ever.”

Emily Alcorn, Head of Effectiveness added: “At Talon we are constantly trying to understand and measure what success looks like for our business and importantly our clients. Retaining IPA effectiveness accreditation is an endorsement that we are delivering on our core values to drive innovation in the market, champion creativity and to build a responsible evidence-based economy in OOH.”