Clear Channel Canada has partnered with Imagine Outdoor Advertising, a 15-month-old Calgary company specializing in premium digital out-of-home products, to launch eight new displays in Calgary and Edmonton.
The Calgary network will feature five displays located in high-traffic areas throughout the city, while the Edmonton network will be comprised of three “iconic” displays designed to complement Clear Channel’s existing street furniture network, which is comprised of 551 transit shelters and 100 super shelters.
“I’m truly excited to work with a world-class organization like Clear Channel,” said Imagine’s founder/vice-president and general manager Kyle Donnan, a first-time entrepreneur who previously spent nearly seven years as the Alberta real estate manager for Outfront Media. His career also includes approximately three years with Pattison Outdoor.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the displays will increase Clear Channel’s footprint in Western Canada. They also represent the company’s first outdoor digital offering in the region.
The new sign offerings include high-profile locations at the intersection of Stony Plain Road and 170th St. in Edmonton, as well as 32nd Ave. and 19th St. in Calgary, said Donnan.
Clear Channel’s current Western Canada portfolio includes a mall ad network in Vancouver, Cranbrook and Calgary, as well as the CBC News Express airport news network in Edmonton International Airport and transit shelter ads in Edmonton.
Paul Seaman, vice-president of real estate and public affairs for Clear Channel Canada, said in a release that the company plans to introduce additional displays over the next two years.
Imagine has already secured permits for 21 out-of-home locations throughout Western Canada, with the first eight displays set to go live by Oct. 1. Donnan said that the displays – which he described as “oversized” and “non-traditional” – make the Imagine/Clear Channel inventory “more iconic in nature” than standard out-of-home.
Donnan said that his goal is to have all 21 permitted signs operating by the end of the year. Sales will be a joint effort between Imagine and Clear Channel, he said.
Donnan is a native of Mississauga, Ont. native, who became fascinated with out-of-home advertising after seeing the billboards lining the Gardiner Expressway when making his way into the city as a grade school student.
“I’ve been enthusiastic about out-of-home my entire life,” he said. “I was given a great opportunity by the people at Pattison Outdoor and an even better opportunity by the people at CBS. They taught me everything I know, and I’m really grateful for that.”
He had been contemplating launching his own business for some time, but it was the unexpected death of a colleague and close friend several years ago that served as the impetus for the launch of Imagine.
“It was almost an a-ha moment, where I thought to myself ‘Why wait?’” he said. “We only have one life to live. You don’t have to see the entire staircase – you just have to take the first step. The one thing that made me take that first step was coming to the realization of how short and precious life is.”
“I’ve never been so tired, scared, excited, happy,” said Donnan, who also works with a silent partner on the venture. “It’s great yet horrible at the same time.”
