• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 27, 2020

Independent Out-Of-Home specialist Talon has struck a deal with Havas Media Group North America to provide OOH services to its clients.

The non-exclusive agreement marks an expansion of an alliance between the two firms that began nearly two years ago when Talon began providing OOH services to Havas in the UK. The success of that arrangement led to talks earlier this year about a North American partnership.

Talon, founded in 2013 in the UK and with backing from Omnicom, has been expanding rapidly in North America the past couple of years and now has five offices here including New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Denver and most recently Chicago. Omnicom no longer has a stake in the firm but utilizes its services in the UK.

Jim Wilson joined the company in January as U.S. CEO from Tegna’s Premion, the first-in-market over-the-top (OTT) advertising and technology platform.  

According to Wilson Talon will help Havas “focus on un-siloing out-of-home to unlock value” in part by integrating OOH strategy into the broader “upstream planning cycle.” Value should translate to growth and clients boosting their usage of OOH, he added.

Talon provides a soup-to-nuts menu of OOH services from planning, precision targeting and buying to creative, data and analytics. How clients use those services will vary by campaign, but Wilson is confident that “our consultative approach and proven ability to deliver integrated campaign strategies” will resonate with clients.

Prior to the agreement with Talon, Havas had an in-house OOH unit and also worked with Project X, although an agreement with the latter lapsed over a year ago.

Peter Mears, CEO Havas North America said the partnership “fits into our global operating system that provides our clients the tools to build more meaningful media experiences creatively and at scale.”

Talon clients in the U.S. include Wendy’s and brands in categories like food & beverage (but no other quick service restaurants), regulated industries (cannabis, alcohol), travel and tourism, finance, education, health care, entertainment and technology.