AllOver Media acquires competitor

Article by: DAVID PHELPS , Star Tribune
Updated: July 17, 2012 - 9:21 PM

The deal gives the Maple Grove company access to more than 50,000 gas stations and convenience stores. Terms were not disclosed.

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A wraparound ad for Chevy trucks at a Mobil station in Minnetonka.

Photo: Jeff Wheeler, Star Tribune

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AllOver Media, the Maple Grove-based gas station and convenience store advertiser, acquired its main competitor Tuesday in a deal the makes AllOver the dominant player in the specialized outdoor advertising category.

Terms of the purchase of GSA Media were not disclosed. But the transaction gives AllOver access to more than 50,000 gas stations and convenience stores in virtually all corners of the United States.

"This is a huge opportunity. It changes our whole scenario," said AllOver CEO and founder Tony Jacobson in an interview. "Instead of beating each other up and fighting over the same stations, we can deliver a message in virtually every ZIP code."

AllOver places advertisements in nontraditional locations such as the tops and handles of gas pumps, ice freezers, store floors and restrooms as well as on the sides of trucks.

It is an advertising segment that has boomed in recent years as advertisers and store owners realized they had a captive audience at those pumps when consumers filled their gas tanks or made quick trips to the store for small items.

Jacobson said the merged company will have revenue of $35 million to $40 million, up from $25 million to $30 million that AllOver generated by itself last year and will employ 85 full-time people, including sales, printing and operations workers.

GSA is already located in the Twin Cities, so operations of the two companies will be combined in a new AllOver headquarters building yet to be identified in a western Hennepin County suburb.

According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, the "out-of-home" outdoor advertising category is a $6.4 billion a year market.

"It's not just about TV, radio and print anymore,'' said Claire Goldsmith, senior broadcast negotiator for the Compass Point Media unit of the ad agency Campbell Mithun in Minneapolis. "There are so many new [advertising] vehicles that people are using. ... Who would have thought that gas station advertising would be relevant? But you've got people sitting there basically doing nothing. What is the easiest way to get to people on the go?"

Privately owned AllOver Media has seen revenue increase 47 percent the past three years, Jacobson said.

It does not do outdoor digital advertisements at this point "because the economics are not there," said Jacobson.

The acquisition of GSA, which is a division of San Francisco-based Brite Media Group, is AllOver's fifth purchase in two years.

Jacobson said GSA brings a notable client list, including the supplier for Wal-Mart's retail gasoline business.

David Phelps • 612-673-7269

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