JCDecaux UK

The UK business of JCDecaux, the world's largest out-of-home advertising company, known for London bus shelters, airports and rail stations.

About JCDecaux UK

JCDecaux UK is the UK arm of JCDecaux, which began in 1964 when Jean-Claude Decaux created "street furniture": bus shelters paid for by advertising. JCDecaux UK describes itself as the number one outdoor company in the UK. It sells advertising on bus shelters, billboards, rail stations, shopping centres, roadsides and airports, and it also provides services such as campaign management and technical specifications. A trade report says it delivers 46 per cent of the 1.8 billion weekly impressions of UK digital out-of-home advertising.

We did not find a formal mission statement. The company's own story page stresses innovation, improving public spaces and a "less is more" approach to design, and it has worked with more than 50 designers including Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid. It says it set out to make the UK "the global capital for digital outdoor". It also joined the RE100 initiative and says it met 100 per cent renewable power in the UK in 2019.

JCDecaux first arrived in the UK in 1984 with a bus shelter contract in Kingston upon Thames and has grown through purchases such as Titan Outdoor in 2010. Its UK contracts include London bus shelters for Transport for London, a London network of 900 digital bus shelter screens described as the largest of its kind in the world, Heathrow Airport advertising, Network Rail stations and Westfield London and Stratford City. The global headquarters is at Plaisir near Paris. We did not find a UK head office address on the pages we read.

A trade report on its UK leadership says the group has a tradition of "promoting internal candidates". Co-chief executives Spencer Berwin and Philip Thomas, in post since 2016, were succeeded by Chris Collins and Dallas Wiles. The company also runs UK programmes with names such as Nurture, which supported more than 500 UK growth businesses over ten years, and Social Impact. These are the company's own descriptions.

Roles in the UK include sales and planning teams working with advertisers and agencies, people who manage contracts with local councils and transport bodies, technical and field teams who install and look after screens and shelters, and marketing, finance and people staff. Students interested in design, cities, technology or advertising sales can see all of these in the street furniture they pass every day.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Bus shelters and roadside advertising in towns and cities.', 'title': 'Roadside and street furniture'}
• {'desc': 'Advertising at Heathrow and Network Rail stations.', 'title': 'Airports and rail'}
• {'desc': 'Screens that update in real time.', 'title': 'Digital out of home'}

Key facts

• Founded globally in 1964; entered the UK in 1984
• London network of 900 digital bus shelter screens (company story page)
• Holds Heathrow, Network Rail and Westfield London contracts
• 46% of UK digital out-of-home weekly impressions (trade report)

Website: www.jcdecaux.co.uk