US speciality poster outfit opens in London

A US company specialising in one-off, specialised billboards is to open an office in London led by former More Group and Mills & Allen director Michael Higgins.

New York-based Van Wagner offers advertisers a small number of big, attention-grabbing sites in key locations such as Times Square as a foil to national or regional poster campaigns with wider coverage.

Higgins, who was previously sales director at Mills & Allen and most recently an executive director at the More Group, will recruit staff, including a head of development and a sales team for the UK operation. It will be based in offices in Soho’s Beak Street.

The company hopes to offer advertisers the style of poster that they want. This would include creating three-dimensional or shaped posters. Any initiative would be in place for longer than the aver age two or four-week billboard campaign.

Higgins says: “This is a niche area that no one else operates in. We will encourage advertisers to come to us with their creative ideas.”