Talon Buys US Out of Home Media Agency —Grandesign

Publisher’s Note:
We had a couple of ‘sodas’ with Talon CEO, Eric Newnham, last year in Austin at the annual OOH Conference.  Eric is open, confident, spirited and my kind of guy. He indicated then, Talon would be aggressively developing OOH and the Talon brand in the states.  This is a big win for both Talon and Grandesign. We know more about Grandesign (who was named Agency of the Day by OOH Today) than Talon as a business, but our time with Newnham gives us more insight to his leadership and as an individual. Talon and Newnham, are a force to be reckoned with and as we see it, is going to make things happen in #OOH. Congrats to both.

Talon Buys US Out of Home Media Agency
—Grandesign

Acquisition is part of company’s plan to build a “Smarter as Standard” footprint in the U.S.

Talon, the UK’s largest independent Out of Home (OOH) media specialist, has expanded its U.S. coverage with the purchase of Grandesign, a U.S. independent OOH media agency headquartered in San Diego.

Grandesign is the second-largest independent #OOH agency in the US, delivering traditional and experiential OOH across six offices. This purchase only affects Grandesign’s traditional vertical, as the experiential vertical will continue as a standalone.

Talon expands its U.S. operation outside New York (where Irina Zeltser is Managing Director) and establishes on the West Coast for the first time, adding to its growing global network with the acquisition. Each of Grandesign’s traditional offices – in San Diego, Denver, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Atlanta – will take the Talon name.

The acquisition comes a year after Talon, which handles all of Omnicom Media Group’s displays in the U.K. for brands including McDonald’s and Google, opened its first U.S. office in New York.

Now, Talon will be expanding its footprint to the west coast—where there’s a growing interest in the OOH space, particularly from Silicon Valley marketers.

The purchase follows the recent appointment of Barry Cupples to the position of Global CEO at Talon and signals the agency’s intention to continue to grow globally, whilst building its business up over time through leading-edge technology, data, resource and culture. In the UK, Talon has won numerous awards for its creativity, planning and people values.

Talon’s Founder and Executive Shareholder Eric Newnham says: “This is arguably our most exciting move to date with the U.S. offering real opportunity to embrace our approach that has brought success to date. Data and technology is enabling real differentiation and growth for us globally, and this is part of a wider expansion program that is just beginning.”

“Aaron and the team have built a great business and culture at Grandesign which has made the first stage of our integration plan pretty seamless,” adds Adrian Skelton, managing partner at Talon. “We are excited about developing the best working practices from both agencies to elevate the quality of work across our U.S. client portfolio, while looking towards growth with a structured new business drive.”

Grandesign’s founder and former CEO Aaron Gaeir, OOH Today Champion, interviewed last year, remains in the business as Chief Revenue Officer, reporting into Skelton,. Gaier adds: “It was refreshing to find a like-minded company that is driven by cultivating people and building a tempting work environment, but also had best-in-class technology, data, the big shoulders and the executive leadership for continued aggressive growth. This is the secret to clear competitive advantages and market dominance and will enable us to reach our goals of becoming the largest and most sophisticated #Out of Home buying service, not only in the U.S., but globally.”