Type Private Founded 2001 | Industry Advertising | |
Genre Out-of-home advertising Fate Merged with Control Group to form Intersection, acquired by a consortium of investors led by Sidewalk Labs Headquarters New York City, New York, United States Services Sales, marketing, creative, research and maintenance of advertising on bus, rail, bulletins, telephone kiosks, bus shelters and street banners Profiles | ||
Titan was an American advertising firm that specialized in out-of-home advertising, headquartered in New York City, New York. A privately held company, it was the largest transit advertising company in North America.
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The company claims to provide national and local clients with "creative outdoor advertising media solutions" in the United States (Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis–Saint Paul, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Seattle) and Canada.
History
It was founded 2001 by the executives who ran TDI, which in the 1990s was the largest Transit Advertising Sales company in the world, and ultimately grew to $800 million in annual sales. TDI was sold to CBS Corporation in 1996 and in 2001 Bill Apfelbaum founded Titan with Don Allman joining as Titan's chief executive officer in the fall of 2002.
In 2004, the company won the exclusive right to sell advertising for NJ Transit in New Jersey.
In 2005, it won the exclusive right to sell advertising for King County Metro in Seattle, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia and the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) in Orange County, California
In 2006, the company won the exclusive right to sell advertising for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) in Los Angeles and Pierce Transit in Seattle.
In 2007, it won the exclusive right to sell advertising for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in Chicago and Metro Transit in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area.
In 2008, the company won the exclusive right to sell advertising for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) in Dallas, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in San Francisco, and PACE Transit and PACE Street Furniture in Chicago.
In 2009, it won the exclusive right to sell advertising for Community Transit in Seattle; Long Beach Transit in Long Beach, California; Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit); and San Francisco Municipal Railway in San Francisco. Titan also won the right to sell advertising for the Big Blue Bus in Santa Monica, California.
In late 2010, the company won the Street Furniture contract with the City of Philadelphia making Titan a powerhouse in the market as it already had the SEPTA Bus and Rail and the Port Authority Transit Corporation (PATCO) Rail contracts.
In April 2011, it was awarded a five-year contract by the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), for the exclusive right to sell advertising on the city's buses, and light-rail vehicles. The advertising agreement covers exterior and interior bus and exterior advertising on the CATS light rail system as well. CATS had not allowed advertising on its vehicles for over 10 years prior to this award.
On June 23, 2015, Titan and Control Group announced their merger into one company, known as Intersection, and acquisition by a consortium of investors led by Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.. Sidewalk Labs's rationale for the acquisition centered upon Titan and Control Group's involvement in the LinkNYC project, which will aim to provide free, ad-supported Wi-Fi across New York City.
Products and services
The company provides sales, marketing, creative, research and maintenance of outdoor advertising on bus, rail, bulletins, telephone kiosks and street banners. It also leads the way in the development and successful introduction of market leading digital outdoor platforms.
2009 recession
During the recession of 2008–2009, the company renegotiated each of its transit contracts. All were successfully negotiated apart from the MTA in New York City. In July 2010, it successfully completed a consensual restructuring with its banks and investors.