Lamar Advertising acquires Colossal Media

Last week, billboard powerhouse Lamar Advertising acquired Colossal Media, a Brooklyn–based company specializing in hand-painted wall + mural ads. According to Kelly Peppers, Colossal’s CEO (who will continue to lead the company post-purchase), selling the company, which has worked with brands like Thinx and Cheetos, was “always in the founders’ minds.”

• Peppers told Marketing Brew the end game was always to sell Colossal to a larger firm.
• She said Colossal wants “to be in more markets with more premium walls,” adding that because Lamar is a company with more than 100 years of out-of-home experience,  it knows “the right people to call.”

For Colossal, the acquisition can open doors in cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Nashville. “It feels like the sun has come out, and there’s a rainbow, and a pot of gold, and a bunch of leprechauns here to help us.”

Why it matters

Colossal is Lamar’s first acquisition where it will be “hands off,” letting the acquired brand “stay intact and run autonomously,” Peppers claims. Lamar recently acquired California OOH company Stott Outdoor, per Billboard Insider, and bought a minority stake in Vistar Media, a firm that specializes in programmatic OOH, in July.

What’s in it for Lamar: Brian Rappaport, CEO of OOH agency Quan Media Group, told us Colossal will add “a big step up” to Lamar’s current inventory. That’s not only due to the allure of hand-painted ads in an increasingly digital landscape, he said, but also because Colossal has “some of the most prominent spots across the country,” with Rappaport citing Lincoln Park in Chicago as one of its most attractive locations.

$$$: Peppers declined to disclose how much Lamar paid for the hand-painted ad biz.—PB