Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, has announced the signature of a strategic alliance, including the acquisition of a majority stake, with French start-up Displayce.
Displayce was founded back in 2014 and has been exclusively dedicated to the purchasing and optimisation of DOOH campaigns. It is the leading French programmatic platform in terms of the technology, expertise and number of digital displays proposed throughout the world, with more than 600,000 screens in over 50 countries.
Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “We are delighted to enter into this alliance with Displayce as we share the same entrepreneurial spirit and to bring our support to Laure Malergue, Marie Gaestel and Hayssam Soueidan in the development of their business model, the enhancement of the customer-experience and simplification of media buying. Displayce is a pioneering and recognised technology platform which has managed to accelerate its programmatic development in DOOH in France and internationally. As the number one outdoor advertising company, JCDecaux has a major role to play to accelerate and facilitate the access to DOOH, the media with the second highest growth after mobile advertising, ensuring its development for advertisers and their agencies. This transaction is part of JCDecaux’s digital transformation strategy. It will strengthen the Group’s technology and programmatic ecosystem, for the benefit of brands, media agencies and partners, in the constant pursuit of impact, efficiency and activation, thanks to the quality and efficiency of DOOH. Autonomous in its operations, Displayce will benefit from the support of JCDecaux, especially for its international development, to become the benchmark DSP open to different DOOH market systems.”
We are told that the aim of the alliance with JCDecaux is to significantly accelerate the development of Displayce so that it becomes the benchmark DSP in the outdoor advertising market, while continuing to offer complete and direct access for advertisers and media agencies to all DOOH media.
This alliance will also support the international expansion of Displayce, via the implementation of a commercial acceleration plan to be launched from today. In addition to its current business in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Spain, Displayce intends to pursue its development on other geographies, starting with Europe in 2022.
By entering into this alliance with Displayce, JCDecaux will significantly strengthen its commercial approach, offering its national but also its local customers a full-stack solution, from DSP to SSP, as well as simple and efficient access to new purchasing methods and smart planning.
Within the framework of this alliance, Displayce, located in Bordeaux, will keep its operational autonomy, with the founders maintaining their shareholdings alongside JCDecaux and the management of the company.
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