Supports Agency’s Ambition Toward Becoming B Corp Organization

London – August 24, 2023 – Today, the global independent Out of Home (OOH) media agency, Talon announced the appointment of its first Group Sustainability Manager, Alice Date. The appointment coincides with Talon joining Ad Net Zero, the global advertising industry’s drive to decarbonize the production, distribution, and publications of advertising, signifying Talon Group’s commitment to driving sustainable practices throughout its business and the wider advertising ecosystem.

“At Talon, we take our role in setting industry standards in environmental, social, and corporate practices incredibly seriously,” said Barry Cupples, Group CEO, Talon. “Alice is joining as we actively ramp up our efforts and commitments to this cause; she brings a fresh burst of energy and new perspective of the challenge we face within the advertising industry and we’re all looking forward to supporting her as she implements important changes across our organization’s operations.”

Alice Date joins Talon following four years in Australia at the transformation consultancy firm, EY, where she supported the implementation of sustainable practices through strategy development and reporting. Additionally, she has strong experience in environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) data interpretation and developing effective roadmaps toward net zero and wider bespoke sustainability strategies.

Alice’s impressive skill sets arrive at a pivotal point in the organization’s sustainability journey. Effective immediately, she will be responsible for developing Talon’s global sustainability strategy and driving its ambition towards becoming a B Corp organization.

“I’m incredibly excited to be leading and continuing Talon’s sustainability program,” said Date. “There is a clear enthusiasm across the organization for being a driving force in creating a more sustainable industry – and I’m looking forward to channelling this enthusiasm into clear, practical, and impactful initiatives.”

As part of Talon’s commitment to Ad Net Zero, Alice will spearhead the efforts in reducing emissions from advertising business operations and production, media planning and buying, and awards and events programs, as well as harnessing the power of advertising to supercharge behavioural change.

Alice will also oversee the carbon reduction program, developing a strategy to ensure Talon can reduce emissions and contribute to the collective goal of the industry to allow for more robust and transparent reporting.

Alice will be based in Talon’s London office and report into Group Chief Strategy Officer, Sophie Pemberton.

Palatnek’s Appointment Bolsters Talon’s Leadership Team Driving Innovation and Performance

New York, NY – August 10, 2023 – Talon, the global independent Out of Home (OOH) media agency, today announced the appointment of Todd Palatnek, joining the Leadership team in the position of Senior Vice President of Client Development. Todd joins Talon US from MediaMath, where he served as Vice President of Client Success. Effective immediately, he will be responsible for spearheading Talon’s business expansion and driving revenue growth in North America.

“Brands are demanding more from their media investments and OOH has emerged as an advanced, data-powered, and inventive medium – with Talon leading the way,” said Jim Wilson, CEO of Talon US. “Todd joins our team at a pivotal time as we continue to scale our North American business. His wealth of experience in OOH, digital media, data, and technology and his proven track record for achieving outcomes makes him a valuable leader to drive our new business initiatives forward. I’m confident that he’ll be an asset in unlocking the full value that OOH plays in an omnichannel strategy for our expanding roster of clients and advertisers.”

As a seasoned sales executive, Todd brings decades of expertise in digital media buying and OOH. During his tenure at MediaMath, his role in driving client strategy across the digital media ecosystem led to significant return for clients on their digital ad spend. At C2C Outdoor he was instrumental in the successful launch and expansion of the esteemed boutique OOH specialty group. Todd’s role in introducing the OOH product offering within Google’s Waze solidified his reputation as a driving force of innovation within the industry.

“Talon’s market leadership in North America has created a path for accelerated growth and demonstrates its unwavering commitment to innovation,” said Todd. “OOH continues to become a larger part of marketers’ omnichannel media approach and Talon is set up to thrive with the development of proprietary tools and technology as this integration grows. I am eager to work alongside Talon’s talented team and contribute my expertise and vision as we work to educate advertisers on how they can unleash the full potential of OOH’s digitized and unparalleled creative capabilities.”

With the loss of third-party data looming and audience journeys becoming more complex as they toggle between online and offline worlds, the OOH medium offers a unique opportunity to engage consumers along their connected journeys. The latest technical advancements in OOH allow digital buyers to tap into the array of new screens available so that they can unleash the full potential of their omnichannel marketing strategies.

Adds Palatnek, “By working with Talon, brands and agencies can close the gap between offline and online, leading consumers on a path to purchase through highly engaging and impactful ad experiences.”

The expansion of leadership marks a pivotal moment for the Company which just celebrated its 10th anniversary as it strengthens its foothold in North America and emerges as a major player in the advertising industry. Talon’s commitment to creativity and excellence has achieved global industry recognition, most recently earning the coveted Bronze Media Lion for Talon-owned Grand Visual’s collaboration with FCB NY for Budweiser, and AdMonsters and AdExchanger’s Top Women in Media and Tech Awards honor.

In recent years, Out of Home (OOH) advertising has shown massive resilience in reinventing itself and staying relevant. Technological advancements and the digitization of media assets are transforming how and why advertisers use the medium. With digital fatigue one of the main challenges to be faced by advertisers and today’s consumers smarter and more tech-savvy than ever, they have more control over the ads they would like to see. Companies that want to stay agile, need to return to more established channels such as OOH. A recent study conducted by Talon UK and OnDevice Research recorded that OOH had the largest increase in trust across any medium, jumping from 14% to 57%, while 40% of people were more positive towards Out of Home compared to 16% for online ads. Looking ahead to the 2023 OOH forecast, we predict modest double-digit growth in the OOH channel. As new technologies continue to emerge, and consumer behaviour evolves it has become clear that OOH is now perfectly positioned to take its rightly place as a lead channel in the communications mix.

Prediction: The road to net zero.

2023 must be the year of sustainable innovation for the media and advertising industry. Whether that’s rethinking the way we plan and buy, looking at energy consumption, or offering brands more green products and services in the planning process such as recycled material for posters or using electric fleets for billposters, sustainability should dominate conversations across all media channels.

Prediction: Programmatic will be one of the most promising advertising opportunities in 2023.

Digital Out of Home has created huge opportunities for brands. We now have a format that holds the necessary tools to drive a more targeted, memorable, innovative, and measurable campaign. With continued investment from media owners in the digital out-of-home space, this channel has untapped potential going into next year, which brands need to take hold of.

Prediction: Growth in Multi-channel integration.

Looking ahead to next year, we see Out of Home advertising integrating with other channels especially, TV and online. According to BARB Mediaplanner+ 2020, investing 26% of TV budget into Out of Home has a positive outcome on reach, with OOH and TV working most effectively at different times throughout the day. When looking at OOH and Online, a recent 4^th space project, from Talon UK shows that by adding FMDOOH to a social campaign increased effectiveness across the brand funnel by 23%. Exposure to FMDOOH had a positive impact on the whole brand funnel from awareness through to call to action, not only generating desire and interest but generating consumer action. In fact, it was in consumer action that we saw the largest shift (+48%) when FMDOOH was added to a social plan.

Prediction: Data & Technology will supercharge the campaign planning process.

2023, will deliver numerous new technologies and further enhance existing tech.   

To date, data has powered both dynamic and programmatic campaigns and, although, in the early stages of this market, it’s set to continue but in more innovative ways. We envisage more clients using clever data sources to capture audiences on the move with impactful and attention-grabbing campaigns. 

Applying a prescriptive approach to the campaign planning process is a high priority for 2023. At Talon, we have plans afoot to invest and launch new platforms that will ensure that our planning process is second to none and will give clients a more granular level of measurability and accountability.

Prediction: Advertisers will get creative.

Grabbing and maintaining attention will be huge for brands heading into next year. The longer a brand can stay top of mind with consumers the better, because of this we will see more brands shift spending from performance marketing into brand building, making OOH the perfect canvas. Talon’s research shows that special builds not only position a brand as exciting and innovative but positively influence consumers’ purchase behaviour. In 2018, Talon UK conducted a special build campaign effectiveness research study whereby they compared those exposed to special builds vs those that were exposed to standard OOH formats. The results showed a +15% increase in positive impression of the advertising, +17% increase in consumer action and +35% increase in purchase consideration.

Summary

“2023 promises to be another exciting year in Out of Home’s renaissance.  With a wider industry lens on areas such as data & tech, programmatic, creativity and of course sustainability, we believe Out of Home is uniquely placed to take a leadership role in each of these spaces.  As we begin to shift focus to next year, the team at Talon Ireland are excited to lead that renaissance and champion Out of Home’s unique proposition, all kickstarted early with our new branding and new office move” – Andrew Sinclair, Managing Director, Talon Ireland