Colossal Media Wants to Grow

Today’s podcast guest is Kelly Peppers, the CEO of Colossal Media, the global leader in hand painted outdoor advertising.  Kelly talks about the company's growing pains, a successful capital raise and priorities for next year. Kelly, how did Colossal get into out of home. Kelly Peppers, CEO, Colossal Media We’re a Brooklyn-based media company credited for reviving hand-painted outdoor advertising. In 2004, Adrian, Paul and Pat pooled together about $3,000 and started the business. They were super-passionate about it. The first wall was on 13th St. and 6th Ave. in Manhattan.  Not only did they land a client, which was a video game brand, but they started a hand paint apprenticeship program, and that’s what Colossal Media is really known for. So basically, with $3,000 in starting capital and over 15 years of hard work, we’ve grown into a valuable creative partner for the world's largest brands with about 85 premium units in all the major US markets. Roots in New York but nationwide reach? Yes. Brooklyn is home, and some years ago we expanded to open a shop in LA. We literally are on the ground in both coasts. Our walls are all across the country. That’s one of my priorities right now: reaching new audiences. Any market that our clients really show an interest in, we investigate.  Can you paint in all weather? Yes…I remember one time a couple of years ago when the team made Chicago news because they were out painting in an insane snowstorm. While we didn't require them to paint in a snowpocalypse, they volunteered to do so for the love of the craft and a good challenge. Colossal was in the news this summer over an issue with a former employee. What happened and how did the company respond?   A former employee shared an experience he had at an after-work gathering five years ago. In conversation with others, a racial slur was used. His comment led to more and more comments by a lot of people who were angry, shocked, and upset. They wanted answers, and I understood why. I took the matter seriously: hired third-party investigators, lawyers, HR consultants. As a result, one employee was terminated, I hired a VP of People Ops, we added to our existing DEIB initiatives, and we started to have some really tough, honest conversations about our company, culture, and the world we live in. Every Town Hall, 1:1, bit of feedback helped us learn and grow. I'm proud of how far we've come to recommit to our values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.   Sponsor of the Billboard Insider Podcast You’ve raised some growth capital. What did you do and what does it mean for the company? Super-exciting. It’s the first time we’ve raised capital for the business. I look at it as defense and offense. Defensively, I want to put some money aside that’s really going to see us through COVID. I want money in the bank to keep us safe and to keep everybody employed. Offensively, I want to take advantage of opportunities where there are premium walls in new markets and add more painters to our team. Also, we want to take some chances, and we’re going to do that through strategic partnerships. What are some of Colossal Media priorities for the next year? First and foremost we want to expand to new markets. We just acquired an iconic wall in downtown LA on west Olympic and south Figueroa.  It’s the largest wall that we’ve ever added to our inventory.  I’m excited to see more premium walls added to our portfolio. Other priorities include growing our team, leveraging data and insights, and finding news ways to get creative with our clients and local communities. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement