https://billboardinsider.com Everything you need to know to thrive in the out of home advertising industry. Mon, 04 May 2026 07:05:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Blubrry PowerPress/11.16.2 Dave Westburg - Billboard Insider false episodic Dave Westburg - Billboard Insider billboardinsider@gmail.com © 2018 Billboard Insider, LLC © 2018 Billboard Insider, LLC podcast https://feeds.podcastmirror.com/~images/2340221769680139.jpeg https://billboardinsider.com TV-G Bi-Weekly 8cd6dd7b-16c5-5a22-964f-471bfb03f732 https://billboardinsider.com/anna-bager-we-need-to-go-to-market-with-a-simple-crisp-message/ Wed, 14 Feb 2024 08:05:53 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=104281 On today's Billboard Insider podcast, OAAA President and CEO Anna Bager highlights the out of home stories to watch in 2024 and what brands are saying about out of home. What are some important stories to watch in 2024 2024 is an election year that's going to be huge and will be very interesting to follow.  It's not only a presidential election year in the US, it's an election year globally.  Next year over half of the world's population will be voting which means that messaging is going to be incredibly important.  It's a huge opportunity for our industry especially I think in the US as...signage that we can put out there for the elections will be incredibly important....It's an Olympic year next year.  The Olympics typically drive a lot more ad dollars so that's something for us to watch... OAAA President Anna Bager What brands and agencies are saying about out of home.   They still feel that our medium is a little hard to understand...we talk about airports, we talk about place-based, we talk about roadside, we talk about transit. We're all out of home...there's no need to increase fragmentation - to make ourselves look more complicated.  We need to make ourselves look more simpler and go to market with a very simple crisp message and that's something we hear from brands a lot...We are making ourselves a little hard to understand and we're not talking maybe enough about what we can do for them but rather who we are... I think that something else that stands out is - lead with creativity... we have some incredible creative tools and canvases in our industry and...brands think that we should push more... ...More brands want to buy out of home programmatically...programmatic is on the rise and if that's how brands and agencies want to buy us we should make sure that we that we're up for that... Measurement is still a very big factor.  How do we simplify our measurement?  What are the metrics that matter and how do we bring those forward to brands?  How do we make them feel that our the medium is not just measurable but also comparable to other platforms they're buying... MRC accreditation that will be happening...probably early March of this year so in about a month from when this is being recorded...that's a good first step...but you know we still have a lot of work to do. The April 2024 out of home conference We're going to be in an absolutely amazing place beautiful resort in Carlsbad outside of San Diego and in the end of April... a nice place to both network learn more about the industry hopefully do a lot of business and relax and have fun...we're in the midst of programming right now we're still very open to new ideas...this year we're going to have more brands than we've ever had...we'll also have a lot more folks from the agency side The OAAA Independent Media Company Advisory Group The independent billboard operators are hugely important part of the OAAA they're a big part of our member base...It's led by Diana Stevenson from Grace Outdoor...it's 20 or some companies that meet fairly regularly and talk about what's happening in the different markets what would they like to see from the OAAA what are concerns, what are things they're excited about, how are the different types of verticals responding to out of home..Just kind of getting together to talk about the market.  It's super helpful for us at the OAAA...If there's somebody listening who feels that they really want to be a part of it please ping me and let me know.  The members are listed on our website. To receive a free morning newsletter with each day's Billboard insider articles email info@billboardinsider.com with the word "Subscribe" in the title.  Our newsletter is free and we don't sell our subscriber list Paid Advertisement   full 19:50 https://billboardinsider.com/kevin-gephart-says-out-of-home-cold-calling-isnt-dead/ Wed, 09 Aug 2023 07:05:53 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=89179 On today's Billboard Insider podcast, out of some sales expert Kevin Gephart answers reader questions on cold calls, sales compensation, finding a job after a layoff and how best to coach out of home sales reps. Some of the highlights. Is cold calling dead? No. If you want to sell sales training in books and seminars, advertise that cold calling is dead and you'll get tons of people that sign up and want to hear what you have to say because we all want cold calling to be dead.  Cold calling isn't dead. I don't have any business purpose for calling you is dead...My boss is making me make this call is dead...I don't have any thoughts about your business is dead.   So intelligent cold calling is alive and well and it's one of the tools in the toolbox....You've got referrals you've got networking you've got e-mail marketing social media you've got affinity group marketing. Those are all tools but cold calling is the one that really relies on your initiative...My father used to say do something even if it's wrong. So pick up the phone call somebody. Make an intelligent call and have a well-planned, well-targeted message to that person and you'll cut through. What's a good compensation plan for out of home sales reps? Companies want to use straight Commission.  Straight Commission is also permission to not sell. You want to create a salary plus bonus based on activity. You want to create a a salary that is 80% of the livable wage in your market area. You need to know what the livable wage is in your market area and you also need to know what are the average incomes of the media people within your marketplace. When you know that then you can develop a compensation plan. Now the other 20% of the compensation plan should be based on achieving KPI's and they're very important: the number of self-generated cold calls, the number of meetings weekly that you have with a qualified client...the number of qualified proposals and then your sales numbers... 20% is bonus based on achieving those KPI's...  Should a sales manager call with sales reps. Absolutely, but when you're on a call with a sales Rep do not salvage the call yourself as the sales manager. I've been on sales calls which are going south fast so I dive in and save the call. No sales call is worth the price of sacrificing your sales person's experience and education. They're going to leave that call knowing that they failed.  You can coach them on why they failed...They're never again going to make that mistake. Another thing that a sales manager brings is importance.  If I own a I own five hardware stores in town and all of a sudden a sales rep is coming out to call on me and they bringing their manager if conveys that I am important. You convey an importance and a just an overall importance that is hard to get any other way so you should absolutely go on sales calls. The best sales managers I know of do it on a regular basis they have a regular rotation and the sales reps know they're going to be taking the manager.  It's just a part of the culture. Why it's important to ask out of home sales reps "what's the biggest objection you hear?" Ask your sales reps individually what is the biggest objection they hear.  They're going to tell you something that may not be what they hear most often.  They will tell you the objection that they have the hardest time dealing with. Give them training and strategies to answer that objection and then you're preparing them for their next sales call. An OOH sales training program for $74.95 per rep! Leading OOH sales organizations have adopted “The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide” as a 35+ segment sales training regime: Comprehensive, sequential sales training chapters Designed for regular sales training/meetings in 30+ minutes each Proven, actionable sales strategies and ideas; providing a huge return on training investment No travel cost/minimal sales time lost Q&A access/support with Kevin Gephart throughout the training to clarify/expand on the teachings OOH sales organizations find huge value in learning from an OOH sales pro who has “been there, done that.”  See Kevin Gephart's credentials at OOHSalesFaster.com.   To receive a free morning newsletter with each day’s Billboard insider articles email info@billboardinsider.com with the word “Subscribe” in the title.  Our newsletter is free and we don’t sell our subscriber list. Paid Advertisement   full 22:45 https://billboardinsider.com/john-james-on-how-to-improve-your-out-of-home-marketing/ Wed, 17 May 2023 07:04:18 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=83420   On today's Billboard Insider podcast, SignBird founder John James talks about how drones can help you market your out of home company more effectively. John give us an overview of SignBird and what you and your team do. John James, SignBird We capture out of home on camera: drone in the sky; camera mounted on a car; or boots on the ground.  SignBird's job is to improve the way out of home is captured on camera. What's new at SignBird over the past year? Last September we were acquired by Outdoorlink.  It's been a fantastic transition.  We're grown our team.  We've added new clients...All SignBird employees are remote or here in Tuscaloosa. Can you take pictures nationwide? We're an Alabama based company...We've been able to recruit some of the nations top drone pilot photographers.  30 states and counting.  Someone asked me the other day how many pilots I have in my network...we have hundreds. How can drones help an out of home company? When we take that drone up in the sky we're showing different types of value around a billboard location.  We can see the long drive times.  We can see the Walmart, the Chic-fil-A, the gas station, the grocery store that a traditional approach shot can't capture.   We can see all the commercial and residential development happening around a billboard location...When a media buyer approaches a billboard company they ask for two things when a campaign goes live...an approach shot and a glamour shot.  I think we're approaching a time when an additional drone shot is going to be requested by the media buyers... Drone footage of digital billboard filmed by SignBird Not everyone can fly a drone There is a safety issue flying a drone.  There is an insurance issue.  You've got to be licensed...When you fly a commercial drone you're entering...a new legal hoop... Are there places you can't fly a drone? Absolutely.  Any time you go to an airport.  If a US president is in a given market you can't put a drone in the sky.  We've had that happen several times in Atlanta. What's the key to taking good digital billboard pictures. It's all about controlling the brightness of the screen.  The way we combat that is using filters that darken the shot... Advice on photos and videos I have a free guide you can download on our website: 5 Tips To Improve Your Billboard Photos. Invest in good equipment.  The iPhone can come a long way but I think there is no substitute for quality equipment...Hire an intern...someone to get good with that camera. You're spending six figures on a structure and LED yet you don't want to spend $500 on a good camera?   To receive a free morning newsletter with each day’s Billboard insider articles email info@billboardinsider.com with the word “Subscribe” in the title.  Our newsletter is free and we don’t sell our subscriber list. Paid Advertisement full 19:35 https://billboardinsider.com/anna-bagers-out-of-home-issues-to-watch-in-2023/ Wed, 04 Jan 2023 08:05:55 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=71981   On today's podcast OAAA President and CEO Anna Bager talks about the top stories of 2022, issues to watch in 2023 and new initiatives for independent out of home companies. What are some out of home stories to watch in 2023? Anna Bager, President and CEO, OAAA Keeping an eye on the economy...I have a strong sense that we're going to be fine... Signal loss, cookies going away, changing to IOS 14 and now changes in Android will happen...mobile ID's are going away...this is an issue...You are seeing the results of that signal loss...in particular on the digital side. On the privacy end there is...a likelihood that there will be the start of some attempt to create federal regulation...which will be good because privacy laws today are very different in every state...I think this is a big opportunity for out of home because we are not suffering from some of the same problems that traditional media does...We need to be aware of how we are using data and how we are talking about it so we are not putting ourselves in a bad light. P&G's Mark Pritchard gave a speech where he talked about reaching underserved and underprivledged audiences where they are.  People that don't have access to a computer or access to the internet...Out of home is a big part of being able to reach those communities. The category that I'm excited for next year is Pharma...It's a bit tricky with Pharma with all the disclosures but I still think it's a big opportunity for out of home. Accreditation and Measurement That's a huge storyline and a huge step forward...The MRC has leaned in to create better standards for out of home...There will probably be a standard in Q1 of next year...if everything goes to plan...That does not mean that they are creating measurement.  They are creating a process that's expected for advertisers and agencies to have faith in our medium...So getting that standard in place is a huge win for the industry...A lot of advertisers don't want to transact unless there's MRC accredited measurement so it opens up a whole new pool of advertising for us...I think we're making huge strides when it comes to measurement...all the exciting work that Geopath has been doing... What's your message to independent out of home companies? We need you.  Out of home is about scale, it's about reach and it's about location and we need companies that are everywhere in every little nook and cranny of the country because that's how we're going to be successful.  It's about 70% of the spend in out of home.  Local is a big part...and independent out of home companies are a big part of this industry. We're your trade association.  We want you to be involved.  Give us feedback and help us drive the industry forward.  There's often a misconception that we're only for the big 3 or the big 5 or big 6.  We're not.  We're for the whole industry. There's no other trade organization that can do what we do...protecting the industry...maintaining the Highway Beautification Act, lobbying on things that matter to real estate and first amendment issues, infrastructure.  We are also very focused on taxation both on a state as well as the federal level...and then obviously privacy is an area that we are increasing our focus on... We've talked about conference and events.  It's a nice place to mingle and talk to colleagues and exchange ideas and we want to create more opportunity for independents to do that in the coming year.  We are actually putting together an advisory board for independent billboard operators that will help us guide the output that we are putting out for webinars, sales training and research...   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 21:03 https://billboardinsider.com/jim-johnsen-the-pool-of-buyers-is-better-than-ive-ever-seen/ Wed, 02 Nov 2022 07:05:01 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=67647 Today's podcast guest is Jim Johnsen, a managing director at the out of home investment banking firm Johnsen Fretty talks about out of home valuations and the out of home debt and equity markets. Here are the highlights. A healthy out of home transactions market. The market is healthy with lots of buyers and sellers at the moment.  On a scale of 1 to 10 it's somewhere between an 8.5 and a 9. Jim Johnsen, Managing Director, Johnsen Fretty Where are billboard cashflow multiples Somewhere between 10-13 times is where we are seeing things go off... An active pool of buyers The pool of buyers is better than I've ever seen it.  For example JCDecaux stepped up for its first acquisition in the US...They were in a joint venture with Interstate and Interstate put their half on the market and they ran it through a process and I heard it was a very close competition...Clear Channel has been active as of late.  They've been on a long hiatus...it's good to see them back in the market.  OUTFRONT has been selectively buying and of course Lamar has always been the perennial acquirer...And beyond that you've got guys like New Tradition with their purchase of Regency and some follow-on transactions that they did with us recently.  We closed a deal with Vector recently.  Branded Cities is buying.  Trailhead, MH, Keystone, McWhorter, Big Outdoor, Link, Adams, Lindmark, Las Vegas Billboards, Orange Barrel, Azalea, Tier One, Creative and a whole host of others. Private equity is interested in out of home but has trouble scaling I can't count a week that we don't get 3-4 calls from private equity firms saying "hey, we've done a white paper on the out of home business...or we bought some Lamar stock and that worked out well so how do we get in in a deeper way."  So the interest is really, really, strong.  The dilemma for the private equity business is how do they get scale.  Getting scale in the out of home business is hard...there's only so many Adams out there...The size of companies drops off pretty quickly.  Most of the private equity firms want to write a $50 million check, a $100 million check and upwards...They need a pretty sizable company...We have seen several groups come down market.  Instead of requiring $10 million of EBIDTA they are doing $1-2 million of EBIDTA. Lamar I believe Ross Reilly is being groomed to be the next CEO of Lamar.  My interactions with him have all been super favorable.  He's a business friendly guy.  He likes to think outside the box.  Smart, affable, well liked... OUTFRONT I love them.  From a forward thinking sales and marketing organization I think they get it...they are not selling space...they are selling a product with lots of sex appeal...The MTA product looks phenomenal.  I'm in New York city riding subways often...one thing they do right is station domination.  Generally they're trying to sell the entire environment to one advertiser at a time and making a gigantic splash... Clear Channel Outdoor They are the Tiffany collection of assets...the asset is good.  They've had so many challenges for so long...their capital constraints have been deleterious...when they spun off certain markets in 2018 when you talk to Jim at Ashby Street or some of the Lamar guys who bought the assets they were in shock with how good the assets were and how much lift there was on the assets by applying some more capital and hard work. What about Clear Channel Europe? I'd sell it at whatever the clearing price was, but I'm sure the lenders have something to say about that...my sense is that out of home advertising in other parts of the world is different...it's more agency than asset...it's lower margin...if you're trying to run an out of home company in Europe like you're trying to run an out of home company in the US it's a bit of a mistake... Link Media They're being selective as to what they go after...Scott Lafoy has done a dynamite job...I think they've thought that during this feverish period of acquisitions where Lamar and OUTFRONT and others are swinging pretty hard at things they may not have the ability to compete at the same level...it's a slow and steady wins the race philosophy Adams I love Adams.  I love Kevin Gleason.  I had the good fortune to meet Steve Adams back in the day...They would go off at a super premium price if they were ever to go to market.  I don't think they will go to market any time soon.  Great company. What out of home firms are people not paying attention to that they should... Number one on the list is Orange Barrel.  Orange Barrel is a phenomenal company that was hand built from scratch and people would be shocked if they knew how big it is now.  Super quality assets.  Their reputation in the marketplace is stellar. New Tradition.  A New York city culture as opposed to a Columbus Ohio culture but still a great company.  They way they were able to sneak in there at the last minute and construct a dynamite deal on a lot of the Regency assets was phenomenal.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 31:53 https://billboardinsider.com/dj-jennings-and-john-james-on-outdoorlinks-purchase-of-signbird/ Thu, 22 Sep 2022 07:05:12 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=66474 On today's Billboard Insider podcast we talk with DJ Jennings and John James about OutdoorLink's recent purchase of SignBird. Here are the highlights. DJ Jennings, Chief Revenue Officer, OutdoorLink DJ Jennings on OutdoorLink's history OutdoorLink was created by my father Dwight to service the billboard industry to help operators with the day to day pains they have managing inventory - things like managing lights, making sure their clients are happy with illumination issues, rising utility costs... Billboard Insider: Our out of home plant in Minnesota and Indiana uses your product.  It adjusts all our lights automatically based on sunrise and sunset.  We don't have to reset timers.  It pings our manager every time we have an outage.  And we can turn off signs remotely if we have a vacancy so we don't have to pay for utilities. That was why OutdoorLink was started and created.  My father was an independent operator for years and years and when he sold his plant he wanted to get back into the business and decided he was going to solve some of the issues he faced every day. Managing digital billboards The SmartLink is basically a smart control device that allows users to customize inputs...From time to time digital billboards have issues.  That may be freezing up.  The ad copy not displaying properly.  A security threat.  A board hack.  It gives you a quick failsafe method of rebooting or shutting down the face without having to roll a truck. Why OutdoorLink bought SignBird. John James is what stood out for me.  SignBird has a great product, a great service.  That is undeniable.  From the time John and I first spoke we just connected.  I found somebody who was passionate about this industry and who was just as dedicated to his clients as I am.     What does the SignBird acquisition mean for Outdoorlink clients. Where Outdoorlink has historically been operations focused, insuring lights are on.  Reducing utility costs.  Focusing on the bottom line expense.  This allows us to aid clients with their top line.  New revenue.  Pitch to proof.  Helping with the sales pitch. John James, Founder and CEO, SignBird John James on SignBird's history. The journey for SignBird has always started inside of a billboard company.  I worked as an account executive for a large billboard company.  There needed to be an improvement on the way out of home is being marketed to advertisers.  We were pitching inventory on a four week flight on a digital...for $3,500/slot...but we were using a 15 year old photo to market the premier digital location in out DMA...That is the origin story of SignBird.  SignBird is in 27 states and counting...I'm excited to plan out the future with a phenomenal partner like OutdoorLink. SignBird and independent out of home companies. The small to mid-sized independents are one man or one women armies.  They are the real estate person.  They are the sales person.  They are the billing person.  They are doing all of these things...Marketing tends to be on the back burner.  SignBird has positioned itself to be the marketing engine for a billboard company to take advantage of... Will SignBird remain an independent brand? SignBird stays the same.  The name's not changing.  I'm not leaving...We just have a fantastic parent company to help us develop new products and services. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 13:58 https://billboardinsider.com/dr-rick-wilson-on-attribution-and-what-advertisers-should-do-in-a-recession/ Wed, 07 Sep 2022 07:05:18 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=66130 Today's podcast guest is Dr. Rick Wilson, Associate Professor at Texas State University San Marcos, has written extensively about the impact and effectiveness of out of home advertising. Here are some highlights. Rick Wilson, Associate Professor of Marketing, Texas State University How did you get involved in studying out of home advertising? The short answer is that my dissertation to get my doctorate degree...was on out of home advertising...I've always been fascinated by out of home.  I love the physicality of it, they way for it to reference the activity you are doing, the way for it to...break through the clutter. You did a 2019 attribution study for the OAAA.  What did you do and what did you learn? They asked me to review a number of case studies where the media partners that they used looked at various promotions to see which types of out of home advertising was able to drive sales or recognition or recall and compare that to a control group that was not exposed to the same out of home advertising.  Across the 45 different case studies...there was a dramatic increase in whatever variable that they were measuring to judge effectiveness and in some cases the most popular variable looked at was store visits and that increased by 89% compared to the control group...There were a number of difference outcomes they looked at beyond store visits.  For example, recall of the brand...they saw a 39% lift...and then also purchase intent...that saw a 23% increase compared to the control group. Creativity does not to increase ad effectiveness unless out of home is placed properly. The industry frequently...uses as a selling point that out of home is a creative medium and can really break through clutter and get noticed and while that is the case some of the research that I reviewed...suggested that...creativity by itself isn't going to break through the clutter unless the ad is situated in an environment where it is more prominent.  Whether that means the size of the ad or billboard...it's in the line of sight...and it's not in an environment where it is visually complex...It's one thing to develop an ad that's creative.  But it's another thing to make sure that the ad is placed somewhere where it has a greater likelihood of being seen...Advertisers and media planners need to take a stronger role in selecting media locations for ads...It's not enough to just buy a bunch of billboards in a market to get coverage.  I think you need to think a little bit deeper. Advertising in a recession. When we see a recession, it's not the time to reduce your advertising budget.  It's the time to think differently about your advertising budget, because what are consumers doing.  They're doing things differently.  Their behavior is changing.  They are looking for ways to save money.  They are still spending but just spending differently...Think about the message that you are delivering...They are thinking about value as opposed to some of the functions and features which they have been thinking about in the past...Think about how the activities are changing.  We saw this during the covid epidemic.  People were driving less or they were driving differently. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 26:08 https://billboardinsider.com/nick-gonzales-is-bullish-on-out-of-home-lending/ Wed, 24 Aug 2022 07:05:26 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=65862 On today's Billboard Insider podcast out of home banker Nick Gonzales talks about the out of home debt markets.  Nick's bank seeks $1-20 million out of home loans. Here are the highlights. On July 1 Metro Phoenix Bank was acquired by Alerus Financial Corporation. What does the acquisition mean for out of home borrowers? Nick Gonzales, Alerus Financial Corporation We're really well positioned to reach a much larger swath of the out of home industry...It's going to give us the capital...to reach some of these bigger operators...A little bit about Alerus.  They are out of Grand Forks, North Dakota.  They've been around since 1879.  They started as Bank of Grand Forks...We expect our conversion, branding, everything...to be formalized in late September.  This acquisition takes Alerus to about $4 billion in total assets. How does the acquisition change your legal lending limit? It essentially doubles it overnight.  Whereas at Metro Phoenix Bank we were scraping to get to $10 million loan size...it really gives us a lot of independence on how we structure deals. As a bank lender how do you view the strengths of the out of home advertising industry? We feel bullish about the industry...the reasons why are...cashflow number one, value creation, market demand, overall profitability...those are the strengths. What about cyclicality? We understand that in a recession ad rates can soften, particularly if you don't have a good sales team.  At the end of the day we think that risk is small and mitigated by the fact that if you have an advertiser that's been in a location for many years they're not going to give up that prime location for a bad quarter or two... What sorts of out of home loans are you seeking? We're most comfortable with traditional out of home - static, digital billboards...we'll take a look at any deal which makes sense...We're going to look at cashflow, collateral value, advance rate, strength of guarantors...We are going to heavily weight our underwriting to focus on the operational experience of...the management team...If we don't have historic cashflow and it is a true proforma deal but this operator has lead sales for a different operator...we can lean on that strength. Interest rates Our pricing is going to be based on the wall street journal prime rate.  We're going to have a spread usually between 1 and 2.5 percent based on risk profile. Fees We're going to have an origination fee.  We're going to have a documentation fee.  We're going to have a collateral inspection fee...Typically we're going to be around 2%... Do you require an appraisal? We do...not for approval...We do that after approval and as a condition of close...We can go up to 65%.  Our preference is to be in the 50-55% range... What borrower information do you want? First and foremost we want to see what industry experience you have and it doesn't necessarily have to be operational experience.  Maybe you've had sales experience.  Maybe you were an installer...We're going to want to see financial statements, tax returns, an inventory package.  Sales sheets are always good, they have pictures, they have addresses, they have coordinates...We want to see leases.  We want to see permits.  A personal financial statement if we have a personal guarantor. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 18:48 https://billboardinsider.com/chenault-saunders-giant-signs-sell-themselves/ Wed, 29 Jun 2022 07:05:03 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=64476 On today's Billboard Insider podcast, Blackbird Media CEO Chenault Saunders and President Prentiss Nelson talk about giant digital billboards. Some highlights of the interview The Nashville Sign Blackbird Media owns a spectacular 36' by 38' digital sign in Nashville.  Tell us the story about how it came about. My grandfather...bought that sign in the 50's...It had been a coco-cola perm.  It was a big static thing.  It had a time and temp.  So he operated a business there for many years.  We started to explore the opportunity to take it digital and ended up having ot go and lobby the metro council here in Nashville...and ended up getting a special provision in the code here in Nashville that allowed us to do digital...after looking at a lot of options...we made the decision that we would try to dgo it along.  I started a little company - Blackbird Media.  Me hired a couple of folks from the radio business.  We went up with the sign and it's been quite an adventure...It's at the intersection of West End Avenue and Broadway....It looks right down the middle of the largest, most important street in Nashville... Nashville sign during digital construction. Photo courtesy of Selective Structures, the sign's fabricator The Digital Install. First it was taking a sign down and it was pretty amazing because a lot of it was made of plywood and we peeled back multiple layers, actually got all the way down to the original coca-cola sign that was there.  We had to buttress the structure that was there.  It was very challenging.  The hardest part was that this property had been used for automotive purposes since the 30's.  We were trying to sink these metal pilings into the ground right in between 14 different underground storage tanks which we could not break. Getting city approval I got a call from our land use attorney and he said, look, there's a bill floating through the city council that would outlaw digital billboards in all of these zones and this would apply to you.  We went and we talked to them and we said look, this sign has always been here.  It's a part of Nashville.  It's used as a wayfinder.  Why should Nashville not have the best quality sign.  The Council and everybody was in favor of it... How do you sell a spectacular? These giant signs - if they are in the kind of places where we have ours...they sell themselves...We have a dual selling plan.  We have a national sales plan and a local sales plan.  The local sales plan is where we are out in front of the community reaching out, trying to understand when the big events are...with the nationals it's a different animal. What you think about the automated sales platforms (e.g. blip, onescreen, vistar, adomni, adquick…) We've been kind of dipping our toe into automated stuff.  It has not been particularly effective on our spectaculars...On the rest of our plant that is more standardized we have dipped our toe in with Vistar, Adomni, Place Exchange through Apparatix and our IBO relationship.  We've had some success with that.  We're still figuring out how to optimize...We have used Blip...and we've had great success with that especially as of late...We've been pleased with how that's gone...It's money from the sky that we wouldn't have had otherwise. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 21:11 https://billboardinsider.com/kevin-gephart-on-the-ideal-out-of-home-client/ Tue, 21 Jun 2022 07:06:30 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=64260   On today's Billboard Insider podcast we talk with out of home sales expert Kevin Gephart.  Kevin has 37 years experience selling advertising including 12 years selling our of home advertising.  He co-published The Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide together with Billboard Insider. Some highlights of our interview. On the importance of qualifying prospects We had a phenomenal rep in our sales department.  She was fearless.  She would get on the phone with anybody.  I heard her back in the corner saying these incredibly brilliant things to these prospects on the phone and she was getting very frustrated and I had to tell her she's saying all the right things to all the wrong people. Figuring out who your ideal customer profile is seems very basic but I will tell you that when you work in a large company in a larger market they are going to say go after 3M, they're based here, you got Best Buy, go after those people.  Those companies are very encumbered with ad agencies and with multiple levels of marketing people.  You won't crack those companies in your lifetime.  Similarly, the one and two poster for 4 week customer is not going to pay the bills... Somewhere between the one at a time and the Fortune 500 companies is the sweet spot.  For me it was multiple locations retail and it was also regional brands.  There are a lot of regional brands.  Regional coffee companies, candy companies, snack food companies, beer companies, liquor companies.  These regional brands will really be excited about what we can do for them... The other thing you want to do when you qualifying is be sure that you find a company who's big enough to matter but also small enough or accessible enough for you to get to the business decision-maker.  If the business decision-maker is in Schenectady and you're in Baton Rouge it's not going to work.  Make sure you know who you're ideal customer is and have access to them. The myth that sales stops with the sale. You renew an annual contract 52 weeks a year...Sell 52 weeks a year.  We all face cancellations.  I have a chapter in the book about what to do when you get the dreaded cancellation phone call.  But we should know if we're adequately checking in with the customer we should never be blind-sided by cancellations.  It happens but it should be a rarity... You can purchase a hard copy of the Ultimate Out of Home Sales Guide for $69.95 by emailing info@billboardinsider.com. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 23:43 https://billboardinsider.com/mike-hershey-on-6-out-of-home-issues-to-watch/ Wed, 13 Apr 2022 07:05:12 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=62688 On this week's Billboard Insider podcast OAAA EVP Government Affairs, Mike Hershey talks about 6 out of home issues to watch.  Here are the highlights. Political Spending OAAA EVP Michael Hershey Let's compare 2020 to 2016...we saw an almost doubling in political campaign spending in the most recent presidential election.  In 2020 we had $14.4 billion, a doubling from previous.  US House and Senate races similarly saw a doubling of dollars - $8.7 billion spent just on house and Senate in 2020 versus $4.1 billion in 2016.  ...It's a very tried and true way of getting name ID, furthering your message, maybe even countering an opponent and I think the digital platform...gives greater ease not only in getting up a positive message but countering...How are we positioned in 2022...we have some very, very competitive states...some very competitive senate races... I'll give you one great data point spending January 2022 as compared to last year, out of home is up 31%... Billboard Cases at Supreme Court The obvious one is the city of Austin versus Reagan National.  The case was heard by the court in November.  The underlying issue is the constitutionality of the Austin ordinance and whether or not...they can treat an on-premise digital sign differently from an off-premise one.  ...We're projecting a ruling some time in April or sometime in May. There are two other cases of deep interest to us in the billboard industry that are pending...The city of Baltimore in 2013 levied a tax just on billboards...a few years later Cincinnati did the same.  Those were challenged...and went up through their State Supreme Courts and were ruled differently...In Baltimore their authority and their tax was upheld.  In Cincinnati their tax was struck down...The Supreme court seems to have taken both cases under consideration and are holding them presently.  The thinking is that once they issue a ruling...in Austin Reagan they will also likely provide direction on the Baltimore and Cincinnati cases... State budgets States have has more revenue...they've had a lot of covid program funds that they've received...States find themselves...more flush with revenues than they have in decades...If you look back at the two tax cases that we've mentioned...those resulted from localities that were trying to look for ways to bring in money...Now with states flush with cash...it would seemingly take the...pressure off them to looking for ways to generate excess revenue... Infrastructure Bill The Infrastructure Act has $1.2 billion in funding priorities that would go from the federal government to the states...Everywhere that we are in advertising stands to gain through the federal investment...the federal government is making a big investment in electric vehicles...they want to use the interstate highway system and a network of fuel centers that already exist to try to have an electric vehicle charging station every 50 miles on the interstate highway system.  So as an investment goes into alternative vehicles...they are looking at the backbone of interstate highways and places where we already have an advertising presence to achieve that... Privacy The state level has had more developments.  Utah has just signed a privacy law.  It's the fourth state to do so.  California, Virginia Colorado, now Utah.  Iowa...may not be far behind in being the fifth state. What's new with cannabis? The best way to answer that is to direct listeners to the OAAA website and a dynamic interactive map that we keep up to date which will allow you to click to a state and see what they have passed... [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 29:32 https://billboardinsider.com/digital-billboard-marketing/ Thu, 31 Mar 2022 07:05:08 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=62344 On this week's Billboard Insider podcast Dave Westburg interviewed SignBird founder John James and Formetco Digital Billboard Sales Manager Britt McConnell about how to effectively market digital signs. John James, Signbird John, what's in a good sign photo? The common denominator that everybody can agree on is that...there should be traffic in every photo and brakelights.  There should be cars in every photo because that is who we are trying to reach...That is so crucially important whether it's a approach photo or a closeup photo or a glamour shot or a drone shot.  The common denominator...is the traffic. How do you capture traffic in a sign photo. We mount a camera on the exterior of the vehicle.  The reason we do the exterior is that windshields can get a little dirty and it's hard to get rid of that on camera. You use drones as well It's in our name.  Signbird.  A bird flies around a billboard...The drone aspect of Signbird is huge.  It's a big part of our service... Tell us about the joint venture with Formetco. That has been a partnership that we were working on for quite some time...We have been huge fans of Formetco...It started with Signbird is serving the out of home industry.  So is Formetco.  For very different reasons we were crossing paths...I was asking the question to Formetco "how can we serve your current clients"...and we came up with a...strategic partnership.     Britt, what trends are you seeing in digital billboard sales. Britt McConnell, Formetco Digital Billboard Sales Manager We're seeing a lot of growth in the independent space.  Local municipalities have been challenged a lot lately...they're starting to allow digitals where they aren't currently allowed.  Resolution is definitely getting tighter and urban locations are on the rise.  You're seeing some trends towards 10 mil...There's been a lot of unique builds...We've done some really neat three sided ones...We've also constructed a lot of four sided ones...You're starting to see a lot of verticals.  When a client has got an issue with a setback or a power line, you're starting to see people go vertical...You're also seeing some really neat structures with embellishments. Talk about the Formetco/Signbird joint venture. I'm always thinking of ways to help our customers...grow their business...This will give clients some great drone photos, ride sheets, amazing approach photos of their newly installed digital billboards... If I buy a Formetco digital billboard do I get a Signbird promotional package? Correct...We started that back in January.  Every single digital billboard which is purchased from us will include that...it really helps the smaller operators who don't have an artist department...the videos are so unique they can be embedded in an email signature...the drone video is really cool.  The money shot is when you're hovering about the billboard looking back at the traffic approaching... [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement       full 17:18 https://billboardinsider.com/justin-powell-on-growing-to-1800-faces-in-13-years/ Wed, 16 Feb 2022 08:05:43 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=61174 Today's podcast guest Justin Powell talks about founding Huntington Billboards in the middle of the 2009 great recession and growing the company to 1,800 displays over 13 years. Some of the highlights. How did you enter the out of home business? Justin Powell, Founder and President, Huntington Outdoor I graduated from college.  I was 20 years old...  I made a big list.  I called it my new venture checklist.  Everything from restaurants...to insurance companies, on and on and on...my cousin and uncle actually came to me and said Justin there's this billboard down on 75.  That seems like a fair business.  Why don't you buy that.  It was an on-premise sign and I couldn't purchase it for off-premise advertising but that got me thinking... Talk about your first location I found my first location in this town of New Carlisle and very dear landowners who are friends to this day...It was 8' by 20' and a 2 pole structure and cost three times more than it should have and then I spent the next two months knocking on doors trying to rent it. Small Signs I tie everything back to numbers...We are going to build the minimum size sign to derive the best returns.  A log of times an 8' by 20' sign will do just as fine as a 12' by 24' if the location is close enough to the road and the visibility is good. How do you find winning locations? CISD.  We desire to build billboards on curves.  That's the C.  On intersections.  That's the I.  And then the S is speed.  Lower speed.  If we can get billboards along roads that are 25 mph or 30 mph...And then the last one is Demand...As we install locations we have a weathervane as to what the market can bear and where we have demand... Growing Pains About the time I got to about 70 billboards my occupancy rate was atrocious...It was 40% or something.  It was absolutely awful because I was doing everything.  I would have nice clothes on and talk to an advertiser and then I would change out of my nice clothes in the car and change into climbing gear and change out a vinyl and then I would chop down trees.  I would do land leasing.  I would do everything.   My little sister at that time - Jena was 17.  She looked at me and said "Hey Justin, why don't you let me take over sales.  And I'm like yeah sure.  She became a partner in the business.  And then my brother, he was 16.  He came to me and he said, Justin, I think I can build these things for you.  Let me do that...On that foundation we continued to build and build and build.  We got to about 500 billboards and my sister Jena got elected as State Representative...So we hired a General Manager at that point...things have transitioned a bit. Digital Billboards We had not done digital until the end of 2020.  We had some really good locations that needed to be converted...End of 2020 we built our first two signs.  We learned a lot from them.  And then in 2021 - last year- we put in 22. Whose automated platforms are you connected to. Vistar, Blip.  Blip to me is fascinating.  It's a very fascinating platform...Whether it's Blip or any of the other services that we use, it's like one ad or two ads for a day and they're paying you $20, or $50 or $100.  It's where our industry needs to go...It's found money.  It's money we never would have gotten.  I think about movie releases...it's reminder advertising... Whose signs We use Formetco.  Formetco has done a very good job for us.  They look nice and have been very reliable.  Formetco seems to know what they are doing...All of the nightmares I thought we would have...we haven't had. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 35:29 https://billboardinsider.com/paul-wright-says-post-pandemic-values-will-exceed-pre-pandemic-values/ Wed, 22 Dec 2021 08:05:37 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=59888 On today's podcast billboard valuation expert Paul Wright from SignValue gives his opinion of the big three and says that post pandemic values will be higher than pre-pandemic values. Here are the highlights. On Lamar Advertising Well, Lamar, like the other public companies had a great third quarter compared to 2020 but that can be a little bit misleading with all of the companies.  Revenues are up two and three fold at each of the public companies.  But Lamar has done a good job of controlling lease costs.  Their revenues are growing up 23-24% in the third quarter and they’re just managing things very well…We like the deployment of digital they are doing.  They’ve had 135 digital units go up in the first three quarters…And we think that will continue into next year.  They’ve also made 100 million in acquisitions through the third quarter. Paul Wright, CEO, SignValue OUTFRONT Outfront is recovering really well.  They’ve had a pretty solid year again comparing third quarters….Their revenue is up substantially…They’re controlling their lease costs really well and continuing to deploy digital…They put up 34 new digital billboards in the third quarter…I think that transit has also improved for them substantially.  We probably saw the biggest overreaction in the transit market…things are turning around for OUTFRONT and we are optimistic about their performance next year. Clear Channel Outdoor Similar situation.  They are continuing to improve and turn things around.  Not quite as impressive as OUTFRONT.  They’ve still got some troubles as you know.  They’ve got quite a bit of debt.  They put up 17 new digital displays in the third quarter…We like the direction they are headed.  One of the issues that we’ve seen with Clear Channel is their lease costs.  That has not gone down as much as the other two in terms of a share of their revenue.  So they’ll need to work on lease costs a little bit and see where they can improve... The independent out of home companies The other independents are extremely active.  We’re seeing a lot of activity from Trailhead and Lindmark and others who are recognizing opportunities and seizing them.  And we’re continuing to see much smaller independents who are starting to aggregate signs where they can and make a more efficient plant where they can by doing so.  So I would say that 2021 will probably end up being one of the record years in terms of transactions.  It’s been a good year for independents to go out and either buy or sell depending on what their strategies are… I can’t let an out of home valuation expert off the podcast without asking about out of home valuations. As I mentioned, the public company multiples peaked in the first quarter.  So we’ve seen those trail off and slow down in the second and third quarters and get back into kind of a normal range in terms of multiples or revenue and multiples of cashflow…In terms of values at the end of the day we end up with higher overall values in both the public companies and the independents than we were at in late 2019, pre-pandemic. Is a 10-12X cashflow multiple reasonable for out of home and a 10-14X cashflow multiple reasonable for easements? Yea.  That’s reasonable.  We’ll see anything from a low of 6-7 times cashflow to highs of 14-15 times cashflow.  Generally speaking you’ll see it in the 9-12 range.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 21:49 https://billboardinsider.com/collin-huber-on-what-to-ask-when-you-buy-or-replace-a-digital-billboard/ Wed, 08 Dec 2021 08:04:13 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=59346 Today’s podcast guest is Collin Huber, Out of Home Advertising Market Manager for Daktronics.  Collin talks about what to ask when you buy or replace a digital billboard and why mils matter. Here are the highlights What are some questions digital billboard buyers overlook? Collin Huber, Market Manager - Out of Home Advertising, Daktronics From a product perspective it’s important to ask what capabilities of this display exist to make sure the sign is looking as good at the end of its life as it does when it is first fired up. Another thing to consider is what the expected lifetime really is.  Displays are going to perform differently when they are in different environments.  And just because a display may be sold with a brightness guarantee and even a 10 year warranty that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to last that long, that it’s going to perform, that it’s going to look as good when it ages… Another question to ask is are there any exclusions in the warranty coverage…There are certain components on the sign that are very expensive to replace…at Daktronics we cover everything that we ship whether its something manufactured here or something that we add on. Also it’s good for a buyer to ask “how can my display be future proof?”  Does my control system allow for the need for more memory and processing power or have the ability to transition to a third party operating software. Lastly, it’s important to partner with a company that’s involved in the support of the out of home industry.  What other things does the company do to help owner operators to be successful…You recently published an article that touched on Daktronics and our signage legislation team and how we are sometimes able to assist with certain regulatory needs… How should a company think about the replace versus repair tradeoff for a digital billboard? There are three options to consider when you’re getting to the end of the life of a display… Replace it, you can replace the aging digital billboard with new technology.  If you go with this option it allows an owner to have a display that has improved image quality, the latest control system capability and in general an overall lower cost of ownership. The second option would be continued maintenance of the aging sign.  And in some situations you may be able to extend the life of the display by getting replacement parts ahead of time and refreshing the display…just cleaning the face.  As dirt and dust build up on the louvres it will cause the display to look aged…You can use some calibration capabilities that most digital signs have the ability or even moving a discolored older module around the face into an area where its less noticeable… The third option would be to chose to move this aging sign to another location, maybe it’s a secondary location, and maximize the lifetime by getting a couple more years out of it where it’s not competing against some newer displays… What are mils and why do they matter?  When you refer to mils, its millimeters and it’s the distance between the LED pixels on the face of the display.  So the smaller the number…the closer the distance and the better the resolution…What an owner actually needs is pretty subjective…there is a trend in the industry to go towards a higher resolution product…but you have to keep in mind what your application is. A bulletin alongside a freeway or highway…can get by with less resolution because your audience isn’t going to be very close to it.  It’s not going to be able to tell much of a difference between a 20 or a 16 or a 13…Smaller format signs that are closer to the traffic…they are going to need a higher resolution product such as a 16 millimeter.  And when we go to smaller format signs or urban type displays we…use 10 millimeter or even less than that which is typically built using a surface mount technology. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 16:22 https://billboardinsider.com/jonathan-gudai-says-with-a-return-of-audiences-there-is-a-return-of-dollars/ Wed, 28 Jul 2021 07:05:53 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=55968 On today's Billboard Insider podcast Adomni founder Jonathan Gudai talks about how out of home is recovering and what he thinks of the capital flowing into programmatic out of home. Here are the highlights. How is out of home recovering from covid? We feel like we are back right now.  We expected Q3 and Q4 to have the lions share…but we were surprised by Q2…there was a huge spike and audiences started to move earlier in Q2 than we had forecasted…there are certain venue types that are stronger: digital billboards rode out the wave in a lot more stable way than indoor.  But…people are going to restaurants and shopping malls and gyms.  With the return of audiences there is a return of dollars. Jonathan Gudai, Founder, Adomni The US out of home industry is $8 billion.  If out of home captures just 1% of the $200 billion digital ecosystem (search, online display, social media), US out of home grows by 25% That’s right.  Out of home is $8 billion but only 30-40% is digital.  So let’s call it a $2.5-3 billion market.  We see an opportunity to take it to $10 billion and do that in a five year time frame. Lots of capital is being raised by programmatic out of home platforms. I look at these different startups that are entering our space with energy and a desire to improve the experience of buying digital out of home and they have their own ideas and I was in those shoes 6 years ago…Any new entrants in the marketplace who want to enhance digital out of home…we should welcome.  Innovation can come from a lot of different places and oftentimes its from the outside. What do recent capital raises (Vistar/Lamar, OneScreen, Place Exchange) say about programmatic out of home. They’re great signals that a media owner like Lamar which has great business intelligence and market intelligence is saying “this is a very important piece of the ecosystem – we need to support Vistar media…”. For Place Exchange I believe it was a venture backed investment so that’s…having VC’s say this is something that we believe has great growth potential…And OneScreen is an early stage…We see this as not only really good but necessary… Could we see an announcement from Adomni? Yes.  You probably will…This is a growth engine…the smart money is realizing that. Are you worried about privacy issues with Lamar investing in a sales platform used by its competitors? This isn’t the first media owner whose made an investment in a technology or platform.  It won’t be the last…There needs to be a level playing field…I think Lamar and the other media owners realize that the ecosystem needs multiple players…Lamar has been an incredible partner to Adomni and several of our competitors.  They were an early pioneer.  Even though they are the largest billboard company in the US they also act in many ways like a startup…I’ve found them to be honest with high integrity…I don’t have any reason to believe that they would make some moves that would change that…We were not at all alarmed by the Vistar investment by Lamar... [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 22:29 https://billboardinsider.com/john-james-on-his-proudest-out-of-home-sale-and-what-your-website-needs-to-effectively-market-your-signs/ Wed, 16 Jun 2021 07:05:48 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=54874 Today’s podcast guest is John James, the founder of SignBird.  Today John talks about selling billboards for Lamar, his proudest out of home sale and what your website needs to effectively market your signs. On getting into out of home My first job out of college – I was working on political campaigns and I was doing different things…in some of our marketing for that particular campaign we looked at doing billboards and that was mainly because the competitor was using out of home.  And that’s where I first took a deep dive into what out of home is all about and ended up working at Lamar shortly after… John James, Signbird The out of home sale that I’m proudest of. It was during my time at Lamar.  I was just new on the scene and I had inherited some accounts from a sales rep before me…I didn’t want to be a phone rep.  I wanted to be boots on the ground.  I would travel all these different outer markets…One of the accounts I inherited…was a small marina…It was renewal time and so I put it on my calendar and had the appointment set…This account had been waiting on somebody from the billboard company to walk through their doors – it was a bad situation…his ad copy had come off the board two months too early and he never had the opportunity to renew the ad space…he basically fell through the cracks…I got called every name in the book.  It was just a terrible experience.  But here’s the thing.  This is why I’m proud of the sale…Because after I took it on the chin and got called every name in the book I listened…I walked out of the office…I got to truck and I told myself, I’m not going to take no for an answer.  I’m going to do everything I can to solve this client’s problem.  And so I walked back in there and you could have heard a pin drop…I said hey man I know you fell through the cracks.  I know we dropped the ball, but give me the opportunity to make it right….It turned out he renewed for another 12 months.  We kind of became best friends over that situation. What are the keys to taking good sign pictures? The main key – traffic.  Put yourself in the shoes of the advertiser.  If they’re going to invest their advertising dollars in out of home they want to make sure that investment is working and a great way to imply that out of home is working is that any marketing material, photography, video…we have to make sure that there’s traffic.  I see a lot of photos out there…it looks like someone stood right underneath the billboard and pointed the camera up.  That’s great from a proof of performance perspective but when it comes to putting this in front of advertisers we have to make sure that traffic is in the frame of the shot. Three musts for an out of home website Content.  Good quality content. Call to action.  Are you asking for the phone call.  Are you asking for the email? A lead generation chatbox.  It allows advertisers to speak to you in real time.  We can put a notification on your phone just like a text message.  If somebody is on your website they can go into that chatbot and they can enter their information and immediately have a conversation with the owner of the billboard company…I did that this morning while I was having coffee.  Someone was looking at our website and I had a text message conversation with a potential client. To learn more visit signbird.io or call John James at 256-509-9730, john@signbird.io. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 20:44 https://billboardinsider.com/jay-johnson-on-out-of-homes-resilience-sustainable-leverage-and-cyber-risk/ Mon, 24 May 2021 07:05:48 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=54181 Today’s podcast guest is Jay Johnson, CFO of Lamar Advertising.     Here's what Jay said about out of home's resilience, managing through covid, sustainable leverage, cyber risk and the acquisitions market. What was your biggest surprise about out of home coming into the industry? The resilience of the out of home industry and billboards in particular.  You look at this past year it is simply shocking as you look at the rebound that has occurred in out of home…really a testament to the product that we provide…Having spent the last decade at lodging REITs you can imagine how that side is going right now…you just don’t see the same resiliency in other REIT asset classes as you’ve seen in out of home… Jay Johnson, CFO, Lamar Advertising Responding to Covid.  ...Lamar already had an existing playbook.  We had gone through the global financial crisis and we had a lot of operating leverage to pull and so we began to draw on that experience during 08-09…It was all hands on deck.  Everyone chipped in.  We made some difficult decisions.  One of the things that I’m proud of is that none of the named executives took a cash bonus last year.  And I look at some of my counterparts in the lodging industry and I’m somewhat shocked at some of the retention bonuses and things that were paid so I think, you know, it really was a testament to the steady hand of the Reilly family as well.  We’re in it for the long haul. Sustainable leverage for an out of home company. When you think about out of home we are closely tied to GDP and how the economy operates.  And that leads to a little more of potentially volatility in our earnings.  And so it would be very prudent to run lower leverage.  From our perspective our target is between 3.5 to 4 times.  We kicked above that for a moment in time during the pandemic.  We finished Q1 right at 4 times.  And really with a full year of covid 19 EBIDTA in our LTM calculation now that should begin to trend down for the balance of the year and we should finish the year handily below 4.  So I think, I think, you know that we feel that operating below 4 times is optimal.  It allows us to go through the cycle to do a number of things (1) to not have to issue equity which we did not have to do during the covid 19 pandemic, (2) to sustain out dividend which we were able to do, right, we did cut it but we sustained our dividend, and then (3) hopefully play a little offense when those times of disruption come about so we’re fans of lower leverage. Jay, what risks are you thinking about right now? Obviously financial risk, right.  For me it’s about protecting the balance sheet.  And I think we’ve done that....But aside from financial risk, we’re thinking about cyber.  Right.  That should be at the top of every management team and board’s mind with the things that are going on.  We’ve all seen what’s happened with Colonial Pipeline in the last week.  So we’re starting to think about, think very seriously about cyber and what that means and really what that means for our digital network.  If there’s one that keeps me up at night...its cyber but we are doing our best and we’re mobilizing to take it head on. On the acquisitions market and the lack of distressed sellers ...The pipeline is accelerating.  Q1 was light.  In the last several weeks we are starting to see more opportunities.  But you hit something that’s really critical here.  You look at our margins and you look at where Lamar operates.  At the onset of covid 19 everyone thought that there would be distress amongst the middle market independent out of home operators.  And quite frankly, they have done OK.  They’ve done just as well as we have.  You think about, if they are in our markets.  And so you’re right, there is no distress, there is no gun to anyone’s head.  And so I think a lot of potential sellers are taking the view I’ll wait until I get back to 2019 levels before I test the waters around potentially disposing of assets. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 16:59 https://billboardinsider.com/denise-levine-things-are-coming-back/ Wed, 05 May 2021 07:04:05 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=53535 Today’s podcast guest is Denise Levine, Chief Revenue Officer of Branded Cities a 20 year old out of home company which specializes in iconic urban out of home locations.  She talks about what it's like selling iconic urban out of home assets. Here are the highlights. Review Branded Cities history and current plant. Denise Levine, Chief Revenue Officer, Branded Cities We’re 20 years in the out of home industry.  Founded in 1999 by Steve Ellman in one single market, in Phoenix Arizona.  That’s where our corporate headquarters are…We have 9 sales offices now and are in 15 markets.  We are going on over 3,000 assets, spectacular, iconic, throughout the US and Canada…We’re about 50% digital in the US.  Things have been really moving for us… What it’s like selling iconic locations This is what clients are looking for.  It’s a significant amplification in their social media.  Clients, celebrities…They’re doing these so that they can stand in front of the boards and post on social.  Some of them are getting millions of views…That’s our portfolio. How are your markets been recovering from Covid? Things are coming back.  We are seeing real estate…Airbnb, the alcohol industry, all of the fantasy sports gaming – FanDuel, BetMGM and Draftkings have been really kind and good to the out of home industry.  It’s been coming back full force because of all of the digital activity…Fortunately due to the profile of our sites we didn’t feel the squeeze as much… What’s necessary for out of home to take more of the total ad spend?  We have to make out of home inventory easier to buy for the buyers, for the agencies, for the clients direct.  We have to support inventory by continuing to be audited.  We need media operators to continue to invest in technology whether it’s digital or back-end systems…We need to invest in the right people…We formed a revenue growth committee within the OAAA…it’s the first time that all the chief revenue officers get together…as a team to help grow this industry.  Anna Bager has done a great job pulling us all together… Branded Cities Harmon Corner Billboard, Las Vegas   There's still a role for vinyl They are just as in demand.  Something that can’t be replaced either.  There’s an impactful message there…Some of the top DMA markets don’t allow digital…so if you have an advertiser who is focusing on and needs that DMA…We can still offer that… What tips do you have for a young person just starting in out of home sales. The person should be nimble and agile and keep up with trends.  Able to take no for an answer and have the strength and the force to move on…and have the courage…to go to clients and reach out to clients directly, and to call on agencies and buying services…to ask for strategies.  When you have those meetings with clients to find out what the strategies are so we can go back to our creative teams and we can actually come up with some brilliant, clever, different ideas to present…I always say plant the seeds.  Because if you’re planting the seeds, even in a time of covid, they will grow. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 22:13 https://billboardinsider.com/melody-roberts-since-the-new-year-has-started-its-been-completely-different/ Wed, 28 Apr 2021 07:04:07 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=53209 Today's podcast guest Melody Roberts, Owner | Chief Creative Officer, of Out of Home Creative talks about how to give out of home clients a great creative experience. Here are the highlights. How did COVID impact your business? Melody Roberts Owner | Chief Creative Officer Out of Home Creative Probably like most, I had a downturn through June. And then, in July, I started seeing an uptick in requests and reaching out to clients and billboard companies to work with them on how we could use digital billboards to target businesses, whether it was in-kind or paid. By the end of the year, things started picking up. Because my clients are all over the country, it was a very different outlook than being in one specific market, and so with that, we were all sharing that we were seeing an increase in business. And now, since the new year has started, it's completely different. I've been very busy with work. How do we give our out of home clients a better creative experience? By talking directly to clients about creative. A recurring issue across my desk is that I'm being contacted by a business after they have hired a designer or the outdoor company offered to do the creative, and the client is not happy with the outcome. You'd be surprised to know that most of the client's frustration is because they couldn't talk to a designer. By this time, they've gone through several revisions, they're frustrated going back and forth and running up against the posting date, and now they are contacting me to start the process all over again. So for me, it's engaging and talking with your client. What is the optimum role for the sales rep? Including the salesperson on the project and the call helps the overall process. The salesperson knows where you are as far as proofs, revisions, approvals. I think it also helps sales learn how the designer asks their questions to focus on what the advertisement should portray. I've worked with really creative salespeople who want to be involved, and I've worked with some who don't. Either way, listening in on calls can provide helpful tips when talking to another client. I've been in meetings where the client has appreciated that the designer, salesperson, and sales manager were all present. It speaks volumes when everyone is working as a team. It also minimizes revisions because everyone is not going back and forth because something wasn't communicated properly. Once I get one or two emails on something, I'll schedule a call at that point. When clients don't like an Ad: A lot of times, clients can kneejerk a reaction and say, "I don't like this." But when you talk to them and say, "what didn't you like," they say, "I didn't like that color," or "I don't like that font." It isn't that they don't like the concept. But they don't know how to put it in words in an email. It comes back to communication. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 18:24 https://billboardinsider.com/auz-khans-tips-for-generating-more-out-of-home-sales-leads/ Wed, 14 Apr 2021 07:05:13 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=52921 Today's podcast guest Auz Khan, CEO of Adwatch Media gives tips on how to use your website to generate more sales leads and what to put on an available billboard. Here are the highlights. Auz Khan, Founder and CEO, Adwatch Media What is Adwatch Media and how can it help out of home companies. Adwatch Media is a digital advertising and marketing company that white labels its services and sells them to local businesses via out of home companies.  You have an out of home company and you can actually resell out services under your brand.  That’s what white labeling is all about.  So if they want a website built.  If they want online advertising.  If they want facebook advertising.  If they want google advertising.  If they want etsy advertising, amazon stores, you name it…then your out of home company can actually provide that and we at Adwatch will service it.  How can an out of home company generate more leads from it's website? Always put a phone number as a link because 90% of all those searches for billboards are looking on a cell phone and not on a desktop…Have a way that they can do a single click and dial. Number two is there is something called Google my business and it is something which is becoming a trend…that is an extension of your website.  Keep your Google listing up to date.  It’s the new yellow pages…people go on google, they search for billboard companies near me or they’ve just driven by your billboard and seen the name of your billboard company down at they bottom of the billboard where you have your little signage and then they’ll go search for it and the first thing that google will show is the map listing which will give the website and the phone number. Keep your phone tag up to date.  Keep some pictures.  And keep your Google listing up to date.  You’re bound to generate a good number of leads… On out of home website chatboxes. Chatboxes are good...a lot of people tend to chat because they are texting…I encourage having a chatbox on the site.  Just make sure that if you’re not available at that time that the individual who comes to your website should be able to leave a message…The other trend to that is people search at night.  So if you’ve got a local business and they want to advertise on your billboards you will notice that they are sending you a message in the chatbox…after 8 oclock in the evening because that’s typically when business owners are searching. Put your website, not your phone number on available billboards. I’ve talked to several out of home operators and one thing that I’ve noticed is that out of home companies focus on their assets today.  Rightly so.  If they have 20 or 100 billboards their first goal is to sell those billboards but then there is space and they put up “available”…Numbers are very hard to remember….Put your website…People find it easier to remember your website than numbers splashed across the screen.  You don’t want to put just the number up… To learn more about what Adwatch Media can do for your company email auz.khan@adwatchmedia.com or call 404-480-4064 [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 21:46 https://billboardinsider.com/stephen-freitas-says-make-the-medium-easier-to-transact/ Wed, 31 Mar 2021 07:04:02 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=52180 Today's podcast guest, Stephen Freitas (Executive Advisor to the OAAA and Partner in OOH Capital) says the out of home industry needs to make it easier to transact.  He also tells a great story about Malcolm Gladwell. Is the out of home industry doing a good job marketing itself? Yes....If you take a step back and look at what the industry has been doing over the last decade and look at where the industry was before the great recession in 2009 and where the industry is today I think that transformation has really been like night and day…there’s been consolidation in the industry in terms of how it thinks and how it presents itself... Stephen Freitas, Partner, OOH Capital If you could magically change one thing about the way out of home is bought and sold, what would that be? ...I think the magic comes from making the medium simpler to transact.  Easier to buy and sell…The data piece is only part of the equation.  The other part is simplification.  Because you want the buyer seller relationship to be streamlined as much as possible…We need to as an industry think bigger and think about ourselves as a channel…Yes it might be true that one media company has a streamlined buy/sell process in place.  But brands and agencies want to evaluate the total out of home ecosystem for all formats that are in the market…we have to step away from those walled gardens that some of the larger media companies have and think about the total media landscape and all that out of home can offer… OOH Capital We want to help cities understand how out of home can be integrated into their long term thinking about smart cities, franchises and planning and how out of home can be part of successful smart city buildouts.  We want to help real estate developers understand more about out of home.  We want to help companies that are investing in the space to better understand out of home… Sponsor of this Billboard Insider Podcast. Reach potential customers where they live work and play with AdWatch Media’s Digital Marketing Services. The top OOH story for 2021 The top story is the rebound after the covid lockdown.  Vaccines are going in arms now and communities and businesses are opening…and summer is coming…I have no doubt out of home is going to thrive.  I thing we’re going to see a strong rebound…The recovery was very slow after the great recession.  The industry was down in 2009 about 18%.  It actually took…until 2015 before the industry passed it’s pre-recession levels.  I think we’re in a better shape this time with the pandemic.  We could certainly see a rebound to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022 or early 2023… You’ve attended lots and lots of OAAA conferences and events. Any fun stories? It’s a fun story now but I was having high blood pressure at the time.  We had booked Malcolm Gladwell, the famous author of the Tipping Point and other books…He was very very expensive…He’s very low key.  A nice guy.  We always have the hotel tell us when the speakers check in so we know they are on-site.  I tried to reach out to him that night, “Hey Malcolm do you want dinner.  I’m happy to buy your dinner.”  “No, no, I’ll just eat in my room.”  He’s very quiet.  He likes to stay to himself…The next morning he was the keynote speaker.  He was going to lead things off…We always want the speakers there at least 30 minutes early.  He wasn’t there.  Where’s Malcolm?  No answer in his room.  Where’s Malcolm?…The clock strikes.  The house lights go down.  "Please welcome Malcolm Gladwell"…I'm backstage going oh, my gosh, what are we going to do?  And here he comes sauntering up the aisle from the back of the theater and he just took the stage and took over and spoke and mesmerized everybody… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 25:04 https://billboardinsider.com/evan-richheimer-and-luis-cerda-we-always-wanted-to-be-entrepreneurs/ Wed, 17 Mar 2021 07:05:13 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=51777 Today's podcast guests are Evan Richheimer and Luis Cerda, Co-Founders of New Tradition Media an out of home company which operates a large format out of home plant in 16 large US cities.   They talk about getting started, the Regency signs purchase and how they secured One Times Square.  Don't overlook the value of a cold call! Luis Cerda, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, New Tradition Media Luis Cerda on the company's history New Tradition is a New York based company.  We actually just turned 11 this month.  We have a wonderful staff that’s spread between New York, Los Angeles and Chicago…I’d like to tell you a little bit about our partnership group.  There are five of us and we really all have complementary backgrounds.  Evan and I, we came from Titan in New York…Vince Mastria came from JCDecaux.  He was in national sales out of their New York Office.  Brett Richheimer…came from the banking world.  He came from Barclays Capital.  And then Scott Allesandro came from Van Wagner in New York…Scott passed away last June.  He fought a courageous battle with cancer.  Scott was a great friend, he was a great partner and he was one of the great real estate developers in out of home…We always wanted to be entrepreneurs…We founded New Tradition in March of 2010.  And about a year later we convinced Vince to join us…The three of us spent the next year operating a niche business that really focused on consumers at beaches and ski resorts around the country…Looking back on those early years when we were just selling beach and ski we could never have imagined the way that it looks today where we manage iconic properties like One Times Square and Union Station in Washington DC and The Reef in Los Angeles (the largest digital billboard in America), Hollywood and Highland and now the Regency assets in Los Angeles… Sponsor of this tBillboard Insider Podcast.  Reach potential customers where they live work and play with AdWatch Media’s Digital Marketing Services.   Evan Richheimer, Co-Founder and CEO, New Tradition Media Evan Richheimer on New Tradition's first really big win. One Times Square.  Home of the new years eve ball drop.  The single best asset in the world.  Our office is at 1407 Broadway on 40th street.  And I lived on 44th and 2nd at that time.  And to save money every day I wouldn’t take the subway.  I would walk…Day in and day out I would look at the retail signage on 42nd street that Walgreens occupied…I start dialing – daily – the real estate manager at Walgreens to no avail…After probably the 150th call I got him on the phone and scheduled a meeting…At that point in time we didn’t even want to spend on two plane tickets.  Scott went by himself.  Made the pitch with Walgreens and they gave us the opportunity to sell their signage…Lou, Vince, myself, all went gangbusters to sell this…We hit the cover off the ball…just selling it based on its merits…Fast forward one year...we sat with the owners of the building…and they were like can you accomplish this on the front of the building…We brought it to market and the rest is history…and that was solely based on a cold call. On covid and New Tradition …In this last economic downturn…we didn’t have to furlough an employee, we didn’t have to let an employee go, we didn’t have to not pay bonuses.  That was one of the most proud moments of this entire journey for me.... The Regency signs purchase We always admired the Regency plant…it is truly an irreplaceable footprint in the heart of Los Angeles…it is legal non-conforming so it can never be duplicated…it complements our plant extremely well.  We predominately work with national advertisers and this is what they buy. The covid crisis created opportunity At the end of the day we were fortunate that we’ve been thoughtful about commercial structure as we’ve built one sign after another with out own capital.  So we came into this crisis with next to no leverage.  We knew that opportunities…were going to present themselves. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 22:59 https://billboardinsider.com/colossal-media-wants-to-grow/ Wed, 03 Feb 2021 08:06:42 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=50371 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   full 26:16 https://billboardinsider.com/jon-odom-on-billboard-structures/ Tue, 19 Jan 2021 08:05:12 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=49834 Today’s podcast guest is Jon Odom, Founder and President of Productivity Fabricators, a family owned and operated steel fabricating business in Richmond, Indiana.  John talks talks about how to design and maintain your billboard structures. Give an overview of productivity fabricators. Productivity Fabricators came into being January 1, 1994.  I had worked for the previous owner for 8 years as the general manager and he decided to retire and gave me the opportunity to buy the business…The previous owner got into building sign structures for 3M advertising.  That was our first customer and for the first few years they were our biggest customer. A mistake companies make when designing billboards What I see a lot with sign structures is there’s not a lot of consideration being given to being able to work on that structure.  We design structures so that they can be accessed…the ladder comes up and comes to a walkway or access platform so that the guys can safely transfer from the column ladder to the head structure.  I see a lot of them that aren’t that way.  Guys have to jump or step further than they should. What’s the most difficult out of home build you’ve ever done? A few years ago we converted a roof built structure to a monopole.  That was quite a challenge.  The sign itself was built on a row house…a three story structure and the sign had beams that ran across from wall to wall and then there was a 20’ by 60’ face on top of that…The row house was burned out by a vagrant and was condemned and was going to have to come down…What we ended up doing was filling the basement with concrete and putting a bolt cage in there and then dropping a monopole down through the burned out roof.  Then we took a horizontal pipe, a torsion pipe, and welded it to the cross beams and patched it to the column…and they knocked the building down and the sign still stood up. What are the elements of a good out of home maintenance program. The biggest challenge is to make sure that you inspect it regularly.  I lot of things can happen to a sign structure from the elements – the wind and the rain, snow and ice… When you send a guy out to inspect the sign he should have a document that tells him what to inspect.  We’ve found that the best way to do that is to ask questions…that done regularly.  We recommend once a year at least…or if you’ve had a big storm that’s a good time to go our and make sure that the head bolts have not stretched… By the way if you find any bad bolts or loose bolts don’t just tighten them, replace them…once that bolt is stretched it’s not nearly as strong as it should be. The biggest thing that affects signs is rust.  If you find any rust on your sign structures it’s the time to give it a good sanding and repaint. Corrosion at the base of billboard structure Fertilizer corrodes steel. We had a customer call us and say that the tenant at this restaurant was complaining that he thought he saw the sign moving in the wind.  We went out and looked at it and…we found that it was on a bolt cage and the bolt cage was buried and they decided to improve the looks of the property so they built a flower bed around this sign and the bolt cage was under about 2’ of dirt.  Well, you know how flowers grow.  You fertilize them with calcium and that kind of stuff.  That just ate up those bolts and that bolt cage.  We had to dig it all out and see what was going on.  If I remember right there were about 10 bolts on that bolt cage and only 2-3 bolts were holding the sign up. Keep the base of your signs clear We always recommend on any new installations that you bring the concrete up above the dirt level and slope the concrete away from the pipe…Try to get it up so that any of the moisture or water that become present flows away from that pipe and keep the dirt away from it. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 17:59 https://billboardinsider.com/signvalues-2021-out-of-home-forecast/ Wed, 30 Dec 2020 08:05:12 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=49336 Today's podcast guests are Paul Wright and Carson Frost from SignValue, the out of home appraiser and broker. Some highlights from the conversation. Are we seeing 8-14 times cashflow trading multiples in this recession? Yea.  Those multiples have held fairly constant…We’re talking about stabilized cashflows, not current cashflows. Paul Wright, SignValue Five Trends to watch in 2021. We’ve thought about the adoption of programmatic by the big three and how they could apply that to some of their smaller local advertisers when they’re doing a by for a traditional…vinyl display.  We think that the big three especially…should be putting the emphasis on the adoption of programmatic for their vinyl displays…The days of a pdf quote or an excel file quote and then going back and forth and signing a document…that probably ought to be all wrapped together into some kind of supply side programmatic system. Funds have been held back on digital deployment.  That’s just waiting to burst.  We think they’ll likely start to put in orders and start buying next year and make up for lost time. We are not as optimistic about the revenue potential for growth…as some of the other experts…We see numbers at 16-22% increases.  We just don’t think that’ll take place.  If we have a 4-5-6% growth next year we would be thrilled…  We will see a shift in market share from other media that is market based. More out of home in new places…malls, offices, elevators, garages, school campuses, stadiums, convention centers.  Digital displays are becoming part of the fabric of the architecture in new developments.  We are just inundated with calls from developers who want to incorporate out of home in their designs… Lamar Lamar was very fortunate this year…most of their revenue was coming from traditional roadside signs and so they didn’t suffer as deeply and they won’t suffer as long.  They were in perfect position to weather this storm.  Lamar’s footprint has positioned them to not be effected as harshly as the other public companies…Lamar’s focus on secondary markets has really helped them… OUTFRONT Media OUTFRONT was hit pretty hard and that’s mostly because they have…transit assets.  They are in subways and major markets and a lot of folks just didn’t want to get down in the subways…we think it will come back, it’s just going to take a little longer and people will have a harder time trusting coming back into those places…Prior to covid you saw a lot of millennials flocking to major cities.  And that trend has taken a complete reversal due to covid…I know Florida right now is getting a lot of people that were up in New York… Clear Channel Outdoor Clear Channel was obviously struggling financially before the pandemic and so they were probably the least prepared…and it was probably the hardest on them.  They have a lot of airport assets and as you know airport travel is way down.  They are struggling and will continue to struggle… Sponsor of this Billboard Insider Podcast Link Media Link Media has weathered the storm far better than the big three.  That is apparent in their desire to remain very active in the acquisition market. Carson Frost, SignValue The independent out of home companies. Many of our clients have told us that they’ve returned back to normal faster than the big companies have.  Some companies have even seen growth this year over their performance in 2019…We continue to see some of these larger and midsized companies remain very active in M&A.  We’ve also seen some new entrants into the marketplace.  I’ve dealt with a couple of different law firms this year that are out looking for assets to purchase… What advice do you have for independent out of home companies? This year is a fantastic time for independent companies to be collecting, cleaning and managing their data…A good location list is critical to being able to analyze a billboard company’s value.  I see it a lot where billboard companies will have a location list in excel and it’s not what I like to call clean data…We’re happy to help our clients with that if they want some tricks on how to keep their data clean. Another recommendation that I’ve got for every independent family owned or smaller sized billboard company is that they should have a clear cut exit strategy and/or an emergency plan in place…so when it’s time to sell your plant you’re ready to do so. Another thing these companies can do right now is to refinance any outstanding debt…Interest rates are extremely low and it’s a very good time to think about any high debt you have.   [wpforms id="9787"]     full 28:32 https://billboardinsider.com/collin-huber-we-are-seeing-a-good-amount-of-activity-with-independent-out-of-home-companies/ Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:05:46 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=49023 Independent Out of Home companies have remained active through covid says today's podcast guest Collin Huber, Daktronics Out of Home Advertising Market Manager. Here are the highlights. There's been an increase in replacement activity One of the trends – we’re just getting into the first wave of replacing some of the original digital displays that were installed in 2007-2009.  As we go for that replacement process the products we manufacture today in South Dakota perform way better and last longer… On buying a new display versus retrofitting an old display. At least 80% of the cost of a digital billboard is in the module, so once you do that and you start factoring in the labor to do these re-facings, it’s almost easier and cheaper to just buy a new display. Independents have been active during covid We are seeing a good amount of activity with the independent out of home companies.  A lot of this is regionally based.  Some areas of North America are impacted a little bit more…but in general we are seeing a lot of positive happenings with the independent out of home companies… Where digital billboards make sense Digital billboards make sense anywhere you have the right amount of heads that can see your display…It can be traffic count or a notable intersection or a corridor within the city that is well known or just near an area where people gather…Some of the other criteria that I’d base it on are the criteria that Ike Wingate mentioned in a previous Billboard Insider podcast: no visual obstructions, knowing the local regulations and a location and a sign where you can maximize your ROI…You don’t need to build the largest sign out there if it looks good and it is easily seen.. Daktronics Urban Billboard, New York City On urban billboards We’ve developed a product we refer to internally as an urban billboard.  These would be for any applications that are close viewing…slower moving traffic, that would require a higher resolution product.  Some examples would be a wallscape downtown or a monument type location…We use an 8 or 10 millimeter product for this.  It’s a surface mount technology rather than the three individual red, green, blue thruhole product.  And it has all the attributes that a normal billboard would.  It has a webcam, smartlink, front and rear accessibility…and it comes in 1 or 2 sections so you’re not having to cobble something together on site. On the useful life of a digital billboard If you look at any digital product specs there’re going to rate them at 100,000 hours.  And if you do the math that’s 11 years.  That means that they’ll be at their half-brightness at that timeframe…It depends on where you’re at in the United States…It they’re facing the sun and more sunny conditions the degradation process is probably going to be a little quicker…And it’s going to depend on the market.  If there’s new signs getting installed nearby…it’s probably going to be a little bit more sensitive as well. We have a couple signs out there, I think I just saw one yesterday – one of the independent operators that said he’s going into his 14th year. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement ch full 19:03 https://billboardinsider.com/anna-bager-the-strength-of-our-industry-is-still-there/ Wed, 02 Dec 2020 08:05:44 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=48221 Today’s podcast guest  Anna Bager  reflects on an eventful first year as President and CEO of the OAAA. Anna says the the US out of home industry is coping well with covid and she identifies out of home trends to follow. Here are highlights. How is the US out of home industry coping with covid? I think the industry is coping with covid very very well…Of course there are parts of out of home that are hurting and have been hurting and it’s important from the OAAA perspective to give those areas a little extra support…place based and cinema for sure.  Definately hurt by this.  Transit badly hurt too – a little bit dependent on what sort of transit…Even in areas like the New York subway or the DC Metro where the numbers are down by a lot it’s still picking up and there’s still great ridership.  So there’s still a story to tell.  There are people there…Roadside has been great.  I think street furniture is good too…Then the whole digitalization our medium has been sped up by the pandemic.  I do believe we’re going to see a lot of growth in programmatic coming from that… On 2021 All the fundamentals are still there.  The strength of our industry is still there.  The power of our medium is still there and if anything we’ve grown stronger…I think we’ll come back strong…look, brands are going to have to get in front of consumers…come 2021, I’m thinking March, April, May, whenever the vaccine is deployed on a broader level, it’s going to be a whole new world…I think we’ll have a good 2021 and I’m really impressed by the companies in our industry who have really ridden out the storm… Sponsor of this Billboard Insider Podcast   What are your priorities for the out of home industry for next year. It’s about growth.  Getting us back on that amazing growth track that we were on. We’re going to continue to do the virtual events, making sure that we are in touch with our members and trying to provide them with weekly useful information at least until the middle of next year.  We’re going to do a virtual convention and virtual OBIES in the middle of April, gathering the industry again, even if it’s only in a virtual format. We’re going to participate, not just in our own conference but go to others.  We’re going to work very closely with the ANA.  We have an annual partnership with them…Next year we’re going to do an out of home day with them.  We’re going to continue our cooperation with DMexico, with Adweek, with the Brand Safety Summit, with other entities that can help us get in front of the right people. Continue to do good research and thought leadership that can get into the press…I am a big believer in research selling advertising.  So putting out more solid research that can help our members and the agencies. On the government affairs front…lobbying on the highway beautification act…We’re probably focused quite a bit on taxation next year because we think in the aftermath of covid advertising taxes may try to be raised…we have an increased focus on privacy as well as cannabis… And then really working with groups of our membership.  Transit operators.  The people in the airport field.  We did an independent billboard operators event earlier this year and we’re doing one next year. What are some out of home trends our listeners should be following. Everything that’s happening around digital is important to us. I think 5G…it’s here soon and its something that’s going to affect our industry…Out of home is about signage.  And when everything can be connected and you can put a sign up anywhere and communicate with that sign easily, seamlessly, smoothly, it’s going to be an opportunity for our industry. Looking at what’s happening in the broader advertising world…Look at how others are selling.  Look at what advertisers are doing and think about how out of home can play a bigger role… There’s going to be a vaccine…There’s going to be a population that needs to get vaccinated…So our medium, just because of the reach that we have…makes us a great platform for education…and the vaccine.  That’s a big thing for our industry to sell on. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 18:17 https://billboardinsider.com/bill-may-on-defending-the-out-of-home-industry/ Thu, 19 Nov 2020 08:05:31 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=48279 Today's podcast guest is Bill May, the retired executive director of the Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association.  Bill tells how Missouri out of home advertising companies rallied to defeat a Scenic America anti-billboard initiative in 2000.  He also gives tips for effective political action.   What happened in 2000? Bill May, retired Director, Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association The anti-billboard groups, Scenic Missouri and Scenic America, had been trying to ban billboards legislatively in Missouri...In 2000 they were able to gather enough signatures to get it on the ballot.  It was called Prop A.  And what it would have done was ban any new billboards, make all existing signs in Missouri non-conforming and change the state outdoor advertising law so that the primary emphasis was removal of non-conforming signs… A discouraging start Once we knew that it was something that was on the ballot…we commissioned a poll and to our horror we found out that 72% of people supported it…That was quite discouraging. Making the case for billboards. We formed a campaign committee…all of our members pledged 5% of their prior year’s revenue to our campaign.  All of our members understood that if this were to pass, it was the end. We hired an economist who is a professor at the University of Missouri to do an economic impact study…we found out that this proposition if it passed would have a negative economic impact in Missouri of over $600 million…that was one of the biggest influencers in our focus groups.  The other was the impact that this would have on businesses that rely heavily on outdoor advertising.  Fast food, restaurants, motels..at that point, tourism was the number 2 industry in Missouri.  People understood that. We sought out allies.  Our big advertisers.  People like the Missouri gaming commission.  The Missouri restaurant association.  Those kind of people also chipped into our campaign. ...We recruited a speakers bureau from our members…OAAA sent in a professional media trainer to work with those people...I think I probably did an interview or meeting with every newspaper editor in the state…We had willing people like Independent Service Company that’s based in Missouri.  People like Lamar printing.  They provided us with posters and vinyls that our members put on their structures…at one point we had at least 600 out of home displays on Missouri highways…We bought television time, we bought radio time…we were able to raise and spend a total of about $6 million… Opinion begins to change We continued to do polling…we started seeing the numbers move.  It went from 72% in favor down to 63% and then it was 60% and the last poll we did was about two weeks before the election and we were only behind by one point. Election Night We did really really well in rural Missouri.  Most of the votes in favor of Prop A tended to be in Kansas City and St Louis.  So as votes would come in from different areas we would be ahead and then we’d be behind.  We only wound up winning by 1.2%. What lessons can the Out of Home industry draw from the Missouri experience? You have to get all of your people involved.  You have to get as many businesses that rely on you involved as you can.  You have to get OAAA involved…  When we started the Association the Industry was engaging in too much litigation…I heard at one point that MODOT had something like 70 attorneys that were handling outdoor advertising cases…It really alienated MODOT… We had no presence in the legislature.  Our people simply were not involved politically.  You have to know who your legislators are.  You have to make a trip to Jefferson City every once in a while and talk to those people.  You have to tell them your side of the story… What do you remember about the Prop A campaign?  What lessons are there for the out of home industry?  Let Insider know using the form below. [wpforms id="8663"] Paid Advertisement full 24:47 https://billboardinsider.com/tierones-jesse-london-on-raising-capital/ Wed, 04 Nov 2020 08:05:23 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=47723 This week's podcast guest is Jesse London, CEO of TierOne Media, a startup which recently purchased 5 out of home companies in the Southeast United States.  Jesse talks about why he became an entrepreneur and what it was like raising a high seven figures amount of debt and equity. What made you want to become an out of home entrepreneur? I always wanted to be in business for myself…I love outdoor.  With all the experience I had at Clear Channel, OUTFRONT and before that at CBS Outdoor I worked with a lot of great people.  I worked with good leaders.  I’ve picked up over the years some best practices.  And what I’m trying to do is to put it to work…If I can work harder and make more for myself and have more control over the business all that much better.  I’ve reached the point where I really want to have more say in my destiny… TierOne's acquisitions We bought in really good stable markets…For instance the Florida operation, which was K2, which is Pensacola and the emerald coast – Ft Walton and Destin – this area has first of all fantastic tourism.  We’re not talking about get on a plane and fly here tourism…Solid tourism that really did not miss a beat this summer.  There’s really an amazing military presence there, there’s a number of bases around the area which just brings a level of stability to the market…I think the South and the Southeast are really robust.  Montgomery.  We bought Mashburn Outdoor…extremely thriving economy.  Really jumping.  Tremendous retail.  High end housing.  Country clubs…Being that it’s the state capital there just seems to be a big buzz and a lot of business.  And the third market, Mobile…we basically bought a lot of development there.  The business is healthy.  The market looks healthy.  There’s a lot of activity.  There’s a lot of opportunity for building.  I come from New York.  There’s no such thing as spacing that allows for more permits… Finding Debt Metro Phoenix Bank is the bank in our space.  They’re well known.   Basically I just reached out and introduced myself to the bank.  I spent some time with them.  I worked with Rico at Metro Phoenix Bank for a couple of months.  We would speak and I would bring him ideas and helped me think about the financial side of the deal…He came in with the President of the bank and we had lunch in Times Square.  They were looking at something in Times Square…When the time came to ask for the loan it was sort of a quick meeting.  Everything had been set in motion before we got in front of the loan committee. Finding Equity At one point I looked at the money I was putting in and I looked at the money they were going to lend me and I called Rico and said “wait a minute, I’m coming up short.”  And he said…”you got to find an equity partner.”  And he suggested Ken Anderson.  Ken was looking for an operator.  Boy, I really hit it off with Ken on the first phone call…We’d spend an hour a day every day looking through the plan…His group is terrific.  They were easy to work with…They complement the areas that I’m weak in…I know how to run billboards.  I know how to build billboards.  I know how to sell ads on billboards.  But I was a little weak when it comes to putting together financial statements…and that’s where these guys come in…The other thing about DirectTech is I share their vision for the digital future.  I have a big background in place based digital out of home…I believe in that business.  These buys are reinventing that business…I think that once we have good billing and a good foundation with our big format we can start to develop some small format…   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 34:49 https://billboardinsider.com/chris-cowlbeck-says-independents-coming-throug-pandemic-in-good-shape/ Wed, 28 Oct 2020 07:05:44 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=47357 Today’s podcast guest is Chris Cowlbeck General Manager at Look Billboards an Oklahoma based out of home company  and the IBOUSA a networking group which addresses the needs of independent billboard operators.  Chris says independent operators have come through covid in good shape. Chris Cowlbeck General Manager Look Billboards and Independent Billboard Operators USA The IBO just held its fall conference.  The number one takeaway was thank you, thank you, thank you.  People are so tired of being holed up.  The sales people can’t go out and talk to people, the company policies, whatever.  Many got permission to come…and it was resounding that it was very much appreciated…even though we were about half the normal folks in attendance. How are members handling Covid? Everybody had a positive story to tell about coming through this pandemic.  Yes, we all felt a month or two.  Look Billboards had a little hit – we really only lost one customer which was a casino and they weren’t a significant account.  A couple of boards.  But we’re up on the order of 5-10% now over last year…The same story I’ve heard repetitively.  Now the ones that were more highway oriented that dealt with interstate and the highway traffic for hotels and restaurants have been impacted more greatly than the rural folks but that is a lot of the makeup and nature of the group as we are more suburban and rural… Are national campaigns coming back? They are…We had budgeted for our…coop marketing network group of all the different operators…Terry Carmody of Integration Media is our agency representative in New York city.  That fell off for a couple of months.  But you're starting to see that come back.  They didn’t cut the money.  They just shifted it…We’ve delivered money to over 52 members of our group.  The smallest amount being about $1,300 and several of them with over several hundred thousand.  We’re excited about what we are doing as a group and what’s we’re doing to assist these guys revenue wise. Initiatives  to help members grow revenues Lisa Rondina was a great get for us.  I gave Lisa Rondina a list of 10,000 ad agencies…She is our enterprise marketing advocate, meaning she’s not a sales person.  Her primary function is to make introduction to ad agencies and let them know that we’re the second largest company they’ve never heard of…and the ease with which they can get availability from us…Our upside is tremendous by getting he message out to these agencies that just don’t have the staff…They just can’t call.  Yes, it’s easy to call the big three.  It’s really hard to call 500 other small companies. You’ve connected 44,000 faces into IBOUSA? And we have significantly longer legs to grow that.  We call that IBO Speedway.  Not a marketplace.  We want to have easy, quick, fast access…we function as an old wheat farmer coop, a rural electric coop.  The participants in the program know that there’s an overhead that carries the expense of the people…If they don’t have to answer RFP after RFP after RFP and we can connect with these buyers directly…they can very easily save 5-15%...There are at least 85,000 faces in our footprint.  We’ve got 225 companies.  We think there are maybe 800 companies out there… To learn more about IBOUSA Go to our website, www.ibousa.org, click on the about us.  There’s some videos there.  There’s a contact us button.  The phone number is 580-226-2234.  When they call in they’ll be greeted by one of three people: Daron Henry who handles a lot of our applications…Kaylee who handles a lot of the health care stuff or online Frequence stuff and then Becky who handles Speedway and the inventory… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 30:15 https://billboardinsider.com/grey-vick-on-small-market-digital-billboards/ Wed, 21 Oct 2020 07:04:47 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=47232 Today’s podcast guest is Grey Vick the founder Grey Outdoor, an independent out of home company with 260 billboard structures in North and South Carolina.  Here are his thoughts about digital billboards and small markets. On Digital signs. Grey Vick, Owner, Grey Outdoor We’ve got a few digitals and we’re going to be doing more…We’ve got around 10 or so digitals…it’s different because you’re updating them constantly and the best results for these advertisers are to update it constantly.  I like digital.  I really do…I’ve got both Formetco and Watchfire.  We like both of them…Formetco’s been really good to us and Watchfire has a really good product as well.  We’ve had very little issues with both of them. Advice on buying your first digital To not put one where you don’t need a digital…Don’t put a digital where a static board should be.  You want something where the traffic can kind of slow.  You can put a digital in a high demand area but if you can only see one or two flips on the digital…you’re going to have a hard time keeping advertisers on it…they want that long open read…Intersections are the best.  Everybody knows that because people just stop and they have nothing else to do but just sit there… Just because you can put a digital on one face doesn’t mean you want to put a digital on the other side. 100%...I’ve had to learn that myself, but the hard way.  And now, most of the new digitals we’re going up with I’m going up with one digital.  I did notice that I might have a 2 sided digital – and could be bringing in the same revenue with one digital right there…There’s not going to be as much directional as a static board.  The directional are not going to be as prevalent in digital…Start with one, make sure you can fill it up and then go to your second one. Automated sales platforms like Adomni or Blip. Right now it’s a little bit incremental revenue for us.  I’m using Blip.  I really like the system that they have. It’s really easy to upload ads from my phone.  I’m on the go a lot trying to manage all this – myself and one other person – so the ease of their software, the system that they use is great.  I believe in the future that’s going to be a huge amount of revenue for our industry… [wpforms id="9787"]   Paid Advertisement full 23:52 https://billboardinsider.com/russell-abdullah-on-what-samsung-is-doing-to-advance-programmatic-out-of-home/ Wed, 07 Oct 2020 07:05:31 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=46725 Today’s podcast guest is Russell Abdullah, Head of Strategy and Planning -Display Division at Samsung Electronics America says that Samsung got interested in digital out of home when it saw how out of home advertising boosted store visits.  Here are the highlights from Russell's interview. Review Samsung’s history with out of home. Russell Abdullah, Head of Strategy and Planning, Display Division, Samsung Electronics America Samsung is the #6 most recognized brand in the world…The way specifically Samsung got involved with the out of home space…was during the Galaxy S9 launch when they actually started to adopt that ad delivery protocol.  And what they had noticed from an ad and marketing perspective was that by implementing programmatic advertising digital out of home they saw an 8% life in consideration, a 6% lift in purchasing intent but most importantly a 15% lift in in-store visits…we saw a 15% lift in in-store visits by just putting a billboard or a kiosk signage in the right place serving the ad at the right time.  15% is a big deal for us….If you think about the new phones, the Galaxy S20, it’s been a bit of time since we took our first foray as a media buyer.  And so over the course of the last 3-4 years we’ve started to think about the value proposition that we can have to our end customers on the display side…out of home LED or indoor LFD or hybrids…and we wanted to start considering how can we increase the value proposition in a very crowded marketplace… What trends are you seeing in the out of home industry? The biggest trend we are starting to see is the digitization of billboards…what you’ve seen is…roughly a 38% increase from 6,400 to 8,800 between 2016 and 2019 while at the same time you saw a 7% decrease in the number of billboards. What trends are you seeing in programmatic out of home? We’re seeing the same trends in digital out of home that we’ve seen in some of the more traditional ad platforms that I grew up in.  If you look back about a decade ago, most of your desktop web display was…ad agency contacts the publisher, an ad is agreed upon and it’s set.  It’s a specific buy each time an ad campaign needs to run…Fast forward about 10 years and now programmatic serve 84% of every ad you see on your desktop.  Mobile followed…and now 60% of every mobile ad you see is served through programmatic.  Same with video, primarily youtube…all that’s done through programmatic…Now digital out of home is probably a little further behind…the out of home market is $1.2 billion…if you look at the potential for the digital out of home market you’re looking at a $42 billion industry…we’re only in early days here. What is Samsung doing to help out of home companies take advantage of programmatic advertising?  So we have arguably the largest commercial signage footprint, at least in the US…we have the opportunity for our expansive end customer base to start realizing this opportunity… Samsung is partnering with Vistar Media. We went through a fairly exhaustive…selection process and we arrived at a company called Vistar Media…I’m partnering with them to build a native solution within our content management system, our delivery system, magic info, to be able to open up all end users to the programmatic ecosystem.  We went live with the integration in March…Most recently we’ve started putting really earnest development on the Prismview part of the solution If I buy a new Samsung Prismview digital sign does it have a pipe installed into Vistar? Magic info and Vistar’s partnership is alive and working….I think what we have with the Prismview solution is the ability to reach a broader market...the opportunity to access the advertising dollars is now being realized by the...smallest player. Impact of privacy measures on out of home.  I think there’s less of an impact…Privacy is super important…What these privacy laws are really focused on is exposing our PII, our personally identified information…in out of home we don’t generally have that problem.  We’re not using PII to reach the broad base.  We’re using…assumed demographics…Let me give you an example.  If there’s a Taylor Swift concert happening at an arena I’m…likely to guess that there’s going to be men and women age 18-25 going to that concert.  That’s not PII…Digital out of home doesn’t fall into the scope of what desktop is doing…where it gets a little grey is if you using a camera…I believe what we’re going to see is counting tools than actual physical cameras that are looking at human beings. To discover how you can generate value from your digital display download Samsung's free guide to programmatic advertising.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 26:50 https://billboardinsider.com/rob-jackson/ Wed, 23 Sep 2020 07:05:14 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=46250 Today’s podcast guest is Rob Jackson the founder and Creative Director of Extra Credit Projects talks about humor, out of home design mistakes and why his firm never tires of doing good. Your firm is marked by an impish sense of humor. We try to get attention…not always humor.  You might call it wit…many times its humor.  Because we all, especially now, long for that…If you can genuinely strike that in somebody you just might have a chance in them remembering it, talking about it…Humor breaks through to us all. Extra Credit Projects Design for Great Lakes Neurosurgical What are some common mistakes you see in out of home design. Complexity.  Not quite understanding the medium.  And it’s not just make everything big.  That was lost long ago….it’s relevance…its context…Unexperienced out of home advertisers are trying to do too much on the boards all for the right reasons.  They want to say everything they can.  Many times they end of saying less.  To this day you see the national advertising dilemma.  It’s a big blanket buy.  It’s a big brand and it just doesn’t seem like the put the effort into the outdoor…One example right now.  I love the insurance category.  They way these guys duke it out creatively.  State Farm – the new Jake.  Right.  I look at the outdoor.  It’s not the real deal.  They could plow that idea just a little further…to really make the TV and the social work harder. Rob Jackson, Founder and Creative Director, Extra Credit Projects   On why context is as important as content. Through the out of home lens we’ve always been infatuated with the contextual work.  There’s now even a contextual OBIE category.  Placement.  The mixture of the planning art and the creative art.  In our shop we call it the medium urge.  When the idea meets the media.  It’s early in the process…that can be as literal as the placement of the board or the timing of the board and now with digital..possibilities are endless…We’ve always seen that in this medium even before digital.  It was how quick can we get that ad up. OBIE Contextual Award Winning Campaign for Panera Creativity is a business imperative. It certainly is for us.  We get too complacent.  Our ideas get mediocre.  In our brand we’re not giving the extra.  Everything falls down.  We have a little exercise called the three legged stool.  A three legged stool stands equal on three legs…creativity, client and consumer.  We design and speak to the consumer.  We work for the client…But the third leg, creativity, the third C is the most important to us…you have to really ring the bell…There’s one little quote that I keep on my monitor.  And when it goes away, when we clean too much I bring it back.  And it’s “The most creative thing you can do for your folks is run a successful business.”  If there’s no business sense to it, if there’s no work, if there’s no revenue, there is no creativity. The phrase “Never let us tire of doing good” is posted in your studio.  Why? It’s certainly part of our firm’s Christian belief but moreover it’s a part of our work effort.  We’ve always been known for some public service and we give away countless hours a month doing that.  It’s a labor of love…But there’s even more.  There’s a little extra and it’s why our name has remained Extra Credit Projects…There’s always a little more.  There’s always a little extra in the basement that we can pull out… The current advertising climate Slow and steady.  Every month it feels like it’s moving forward…I think advertising’s rich.  I think it’s a great time for advertising.  It’s always a great time for great ideas…Outdoor is as powerful as ever.  When you do it well, people talk. Rob has published a book with his thoughts on design called Reflect.  You can buy it at Reflectbook.org.     full 23:07 https://billboardinsider.com/jonathan-gudai-affirms-programmatic-out-of-home-will-double-in-2-to-4-years/ Wed, 09 Sep 2020 07:05:57 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=45904 Adomni founder and CEO Jonathan Gudai affirmed his prediction that programmatic out of home will double in 2-4 years on today's Billboard Insider Podcast. Here's a selection of his comments. What happened to programmatic out of home during COVID?  How did Adomni respond? Jonathan Gudai, CEO, Adomni In March when the governors started telling people you must stay at home and everyone was hoping it was going to just be for a short while just to flatten the curve a lot of the advertisers responded in a very extreme way.  Across the board.  You saw companies saying we need to pause anything and everything right now until we figure out what’s going on.  So there’s some channels where hitting the pause button could happen in literally minutes.  You see that in the online programmatic world and in our world as well...That was the first wave – March April May.  And then what we started to see is that there were little nibbles in terms of marketers asking for outdoor at first.  Billboards being the most prominent media out there and as people started to say I can’t stay in my house any more, I’ve got to get out, I’ve got to take the kids out of the house, I’ve got to just go for a hike or whatever it was, we really shifted our sales and approach to saying look, these roadside digital billboards in some cases have more audience than they did before covid happened…our sellers and our marketing was getting behind sure there are some media types that are not open yet, whether it’s cinema lobbies or gyms…but hey, we’ve got billions of impressions of billboards… In 2019 you claimed that programmatic can double the DOOH ad spend.   Want to revisit that forecast? I think that we can more than double…I think that’s possible even within the next 2-4 years. How does that happen? In the US we’re somewhere between $2.5 and $3 billion across all of digital out of home….What do we need to do to go from $2.5 billion to $5 billion…For us it’s thinking about how do we bring new buyers into the marketplace…The first is the programmatic online digital media buyers.  Those are the companies that are buying mobile ads and now they’re buying connected TV ads, display video ads by going into a platform and building their campaign…In the US along over $50 billion a year is spent on just online display ads…When marketers are buying their display banner ads the average click through rate on a banner ad…is around 0.3%.  One out of every 300 people who see a display banner ad will click on it…Display ads are billboards.  If 299 out of 300 people aren’t clicking on it then marketers are OK with a medium that’s pretty much an awareness/billboard type model… On Apple’s privacy moves. It’s a concern with Apple with what’s about to happen with IOS 14 and then trying to clamp down with some of the location access.  That’s a multi-billion dollar question…For us in our of home the thing that really matters to us is that Geopath – the trade group that measures and provides estimated impressions – they’re heavily reliant upon mobile…And also our ability to quantify for attribution studies and for lift studies…it just means that you might have to have a larger campaign with more time or more ads served in order to measure it with statistical significance.  Which is definitely is the wrong direction that we want to be heading in.  We want smaller campaigns… Is privacy an issue for non-IOS phones? Non-IOS phones mean mostly Google Android.  Google primary business model being ad sales I think they recognize the importance of supporting the ad community… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 28:58 https://billboardinsider.com/tg-shaw-the-biggest-mistake-you-can-make-in-selling-out-of-home-is-not-knowing-your-inventory/ Wed, 26 Aug 2020 07:05:41 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=45498 Today’s podcast guest TG Shaw, President of Reeves Shaw Media, talks about selling out of home and mistakes people make selling out of home. How did you get into the out of home business? TG Shaw, President, Reeves Shaw Media I grew up in the northern suburbs of Atlanta and when I graduated high school I went to Valdosta State University in South Georgia.  And down at Valdosta I majored in marketing and during my senior year we were tasked with putting together a marketing plan for a local company…I was in charge of gathering advertising costs and that’s when I reached out to Lamar which started my interest in out of home…After graduation I moved back to Atlanta and stayed in touch with the Lamar Atlanta office until they were ready to hire me…in this case persistence paid off. What impact has covid had in your markets? Covid has been tough on everyone…we do a lot of national business and that was the first to go when all this hit in mid-march…So what we’ve been trying to do is be as flexible as possible…we’ve also pivoted and tried to go after more local sales because local sales are up in the market.  We’re starting to see national come back.  We’re starting to see more RFP’s.  Quite a few holds…we’re excited and hopeful for the return of the national dollars… What are the keys to selling out of home? To clearly explain the benefits of the medium and to be a trustworthy, dependable source of information for clients…it’s a different process working with a national agency versus a local HVAC company.  Knowing how to talk to people across the spectrum of business is key…We see our inventory on a weekly basis and never stop working for our clients…Being available and responsive is half the battle. What are some of the most common objections you hear to out of home and how do you mitigate them? With our main market being Atlanta which is one of the most competitive out of home markets in the country the most common objection I hear is typically price.  The units we represent are some of the biggest and oldest in the market but I always do my best to find options for any budget.  In a market like this it’s usually out of home company versus out of home company as opposed to our of home company versus another medium. Tell us about a time you made a mistake and what you learned from it. The biggest mistake you can make when selling out of home is not knowing your inventory.  I’ve made the mistake of selling a board that I thought was a good read but I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes in quite some time…trees grow significantly in a year.  The board was not worth what I sold it for.  I made it right with an alternate but that’s not a conversation you want to have with a client, especially with a new one…Just own up to your mistakes…if it’s my mistake I’m going to own up to it and I’m going to make it right…own your mistakes and make them right. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 18:05 https://billboardinsider.com/lafoy-on-acquisitions-were-looking-now/ Tue, 11 Aug 2020 07:05:49 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=45119 Today’s podcast guest is Scott Lafoy a 35 year out of home veteran and CEO of Link Media Outdoor says Link Media is always looking for acquisitions and it's looking now.  Here are the highlights of our conversation. Talk about your career and why you came to Link Media. Scott Lafoy, CEO, Link Media Outdoor I started with Peterson Outdoor in Orlando (which is now Clear Channel) almost 35 years ago.  That was my first job out of college.  I started off in real estate and quickly moved into sales and after a few years I became manager of one of Peterson’s plants...A couple years later Peterson was sold to a group headed by Jim McLaughlin and renamed POA.  Jim was my direct supervisor and was also…my mentor……POA was sold to Universal Outdoor…Universal ended up being bought by Clear Channel…and my final supervisor there was Karl Eller.  So in 1999 I started Lafoy Outdoor Advertising with John Peterson…the company grew to include inventory in five states…After 16 years I sold my company to Fairway…and I stayed on as the GM…my initial supervisor there was Kevin Gleason.  How many of us by been direct reports to Jim, Karl, and Kevin?  In 2018 I joined Link to head up the M&A effort.  Jim McLaughlin was the CEO.  And he’d told me about Link and Boston Omaha’s owners and the long term view they had on the business…In December of 2019 Jim retired at which time I became the interim CEO, then the CEO…The folks involved, Adam and Alex, are just tremendous people.  I enjoy working with them and the outlook that Boston Omaha has for its business is just rock solid… Link Media spent $10 million on acquisitions in 2019 down from $142 million in 2018.  Will Link be more active in the next year or two. Link has never stopped, and we won’t stop being active in acquisitions.  That’s the horse we rode in on and that’s what we’re going to continue to do.  We’re always looking and we’re looking now.  Most of our 2019 activity resulted in tuck-in acquisitions form the markets acquired in 2018…On the other hand there’s no asset or set of assets that we absolutely have to have.  We’re very disciplined in diligence in our investments…We’re really not limited by any hurdles to entering any markets and Boston Omaha is well-capitalized…to do any sized project…It’s got to make sense business wise. Is the M&A market thin because sellers are reluctant to sell? We’re very very busy.  I look at this every single day.  You may not see as many closings but we’re certainly active. How would you explain Link media’s culture to a potential hire? Link is young and vibrant and we’re one of the fastest growing out of home companies in the country.  Our culture is in our people…we want to do big things but we can’t do them without the right people.  We need the brightest, hardest working, creative, problem solvers we can find.  We believe in our people and we take care of our people.  We have in my opinion one of if not the most comprehensive incentive systems in the business and we’re committed to providing lasting and rewarding career opportunities…Our staff brings extensive experience form a variety of out of home companies…we value experience but we love enthusiasm and we’ve willing to bring in people from outside the out of home business…out culture is unfinished.  We’re growing and with that our culture is growing. Centralized or decentralized management? First and foremost we’ve been establishing local managers for each of our primary markets where before we had regional management in the past.  Not having regional or centralized management helps Link to better understand our markets and out customers.  We really believe it’s important to have local leadership that’s part of the fabric of the community, someone who customers and landowners see in the grocery store…We have a corporate office but it functions are a resource for the local markets.  We’re here to serve them. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 19:25 https://billboardinsider.com/jim-poage-on-how-to-minimize-osha-fines-and-keep-your-employees-safe/ Wed, 22 Jul 2020 07:05:20 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=44433 Today’s podcast guest is Jim Poage, Safety Director at Formetco, Incorporated.  Jim discusses how to minimize OSHA fines and what to do to keep your employees safe. OSHA issued 81 citations with $280,000 in fines to Display Advertising companies during the past two years.  What jumps out at you. You pointed out that Virginia was one of the leaders in citations.  That was really not too surprising because Virginia is a state plan. They are required to have a state program that is equal to or exceeds the Federal program…There are a number of state programs that almost lost their charter because federal OSHA felt like they weren’t enforcing policy…Virginia had been kind of lax for a while…so now they are going to the other extreme and they’re writing a lot of citations…I’ve had a number of Virginia companies come in and sit through the week long training class that we do and they did it as part of an abatement agreement with OSHA… Why is OSHA anxious to publish citations? Duke University did a study that was published in the Stanford school of public policy that said one press release on OSHA violations resulting from and inspection has the same effect with other employers as 210 inspections… So if OSHA has a really tough inspection with a company, that results in lots of fines and citations, approximately 210 other facilities will take a look at their operations and try to make corrections on their own. Fall protection is a leading source of OSHA citations. Fall protection and fall restraint is one of the top 2-3 reasons for citations in the outdoor industry…A lot of companies are trying to break the old mentality that people had in the past that as long as I can hold on to the structure really good, I don’t need fall protection…One of the companies that was acquired by Clear Channel back when I was working with them was a perfect example of that though process.  One day before the acquisition paperwork was signed there was an operation gentleman that was training a new hire on posting ad copy on a Saturday.  The new hire gets out his harness and begins to put it on and trainer says what are you doing?  You don’t need to wear that stuff today, OSHA doesn’t work on the weekends…They walked up on this board and as they were getting ready to change the ad copy and the guy who had just made that statement walked off the end of the deck because he wasn’t paying attention and fell to the ground breaking his back… Are fines negotiable? They are absolutely negotiable.  And that’s a misconception that a lot of people have whenever they get into an inspection/citation situation…At the closing conference the OSHA inspector will say “I’ve concluded after my OSHA inspection and talking with your employees that these are the things we are going to issue you a citation for,” and they’ll run down the list and they’ll say you’re looking at a potential citation amount of $10,000…When your final paperwork comes in and you’ve got OSHA citations that are specific to the paragraph of what they say you violated you can determine if you really have a violation or if it is something you’d like to discuss with a high level person at OSHA… You can then request an informal hearing with the area director…and if you have evidence to support you claim, you can say I think these citations may be extreme, or I feel these citations should be dismissed… If the area director agrees, it becomes more of a bargaining issue.  I’ve had people…come to my class as part of an agreement during an OSHA citation where they said how about I spend the money on training rather than write you guys a check…OSHA is always negotiable on both the penalty and the citation. How does Formetco help keep out of home workers safe? Since 2017 Formetco has been doing week long operations training sessions.  We have people come in we do an OSHA 10 hour course that’s geared to the out of home industry.  We do CPR and first aid, we do best practices for operations, we do beginner and advanced climber training, we do all these different types of hands-on classes…In addition…I have helped a number of companies as an advisor on everything from how their policies should be constructed to how to respond to OSHA…We have a number of different safety products like harnesses and lanyards, and some proprietary equipment such as our Ladder Stabilizer and our Ladder Grab safety cable system.  We are committed to keeping workers as safe as we possibly can.  We have recently constructed our own 310 pound drop test mannequin to further test the equipment we supply. We are currently planning our next safety seminar so we encourage everyone to get on the Formetco email list…We have recently revamped our website to include a great deal of information.  If you go to formetco.com and click on hardware you  will see a safety link that shows you where you can click on my safety blog and find safety talks, safety tips, answers to safety questions, and we’re posting a bunch of videos there in the near future. Tomorrow Jim talks about what to do when an OSHA inspector shows up. Paid Advertisement full 34:48 https://billboardinsider.com/stephen-johnson-on-building-your-first-digital-billboard/ Wed, 08 Jul 2020 07:05:40 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=44049 Today’s podcast guest is Stephen Johnson of Waller Outdoor.  He talks about what he's learned while building and running his first digital billboard in Waller, Texas. Stephen how did you get interested in a digital billboard. Stephen Johnson, Owner, Waller Outdoor My parents started to work in the newspaper business when I was a little kid.…Years later I got married and my wife worked for them for 10-12 years.  One day I was going to the airport and I ran across my first…digital billboard.  I literally exited the freeway and went back around and sat under it for about 5 minutes.  I was so taken with it…A couple days later I told my wife I needed to show her something…We got in the car…and I showed it to her…I don’t think anyone cannot see one of those digital billboards and not be mesmerized…That was the beginning of 7 years of us researching and trying to figure out how we could become an owner/operator ourselves. How did you choose the location? I began researching the Texas code…I found out that our community had outlawed billboards 10-12 years before that.  I started looking at all these adjoining communities.  One day someone approached me locally and they talked about expanding into other types of advertising like a digital billboard because some of these businesses can do these on premise boards.  I said no the local city doesn’t allow them.  And they said…it doesn’t hurt to ask.  I did approach them…So I presented my idea to them and they said they thought it was fantastic…So we got before the governing body and they approved a waiver…They also required that we do it on our property.  It had to be our property and it couldn’t be leased…It just so happened that I owned two parcels of land in the central business district…As it turned out…a 35 mile per hour speed limit and a red light right in the middle of town were perfect for digital billboards. Which manufacturer did you use and why? I went with Daktronics…I’m the kind of guy I will research something until I’m blue in the face…When I started googling manufacturers, several times I came across the phrase for Daktronics “the top US manufacturer of digital signage".  That stuck with me because I wanted to go with the best…I’ve never been one of the go the cheapest route kind of person because it always seems to get people in trouble.I had a wonderful salesperson.  Brittany VeneKamp…She answered all of my questions…She was patient.  She was kind.  She was diligent to get back with me if she didn’t have the answer…I wanted them to be a partner with me after the sale and they’ve done that. How big is the sign? I have two.  Back to back.  And they’re 10’ by 20’…One of the requirements for our municipality was they had to stay pretty close to what their original on-premise sign ordinance said.  That sign ordinance said 200 square feet…Second to that I had done quite a bit of research on 35 mile and hour speed zones.  The 10’ by 20’…was what was a trend…At a 35 mile speed limit you can read it…For me being in that business district, matching the ordinance, the cost, it all fell into place easily. How’s the billboard doing? Absolutely wonderful...For the past year we’re sold out 80% of the time…We don’t have any trouble selling these ads...  People see them and then call us.  With this Covid we expected a decline but we were busier…I think it has to do with your clients…Our realtors in our area have all told me that they have been booming since this Covid has happened…I have two of those that are full time.  I have a church that is full time.  I have an auto mechanic…They are also customers with our newspaper that have been with us 10-20 years. Any tips for someone who is looking to install their first digital billboard? Number one, don’t go the cheapest route…If I can give you an example there’s an on-premise sign in our area that did not go with a US manufacturer.  He’s been in operation a month longer than we have…His sign – you can see where the different modules connect – it’s a terrible example of not going the most professional route. Secondly, getting the right lender.  That can be the biggest burden…it helps to have a lender that understands the business and can comfort you…In your case, Billboardloans.com told me early on that you’d only finance a reliable manufacturer. The third thing would be…you’ve got to put a lot of value in your community relationship.  Because without the community you are not going to do it.  We’re not going to make it…You have to include them, make them feel like there’s value in it for them…be an integral part of the community.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 27:08 https://billboardinsider.com/smartlink-a-made-in-america-success-story/ Wed, 24 Jun 2020 07:05:16 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=43675 Today DJ Jennings, Chief Revenue Officer for Outdoorlink talks about how the company's Smartlink product helps out of home companies cut costs and improve service. Smarklink Founder Dwight Jennings Smartlink is an amazing made in America success story. It started with my father Dwight Jennings.  He started in the industry in 1971 when he was right out of college.  He was 22 years old.  He started as a bill poster for Creative Displays…He was with them for about 15 years…When they sold in 1983 he took his stock and he started Jennings Outdoor here in North Alabama.  Jennings outdoor grew to 600 faces then in 1997 he sold to OCI…  My dad was reading a magazine one day and he saw this article on how utility companies had developed this collar that they would put on the load center of houses and if the accounts were delinquent…they’d just drive by and hit a button and would kill the power…they didn’t have to get out and physically go to the house…He thought it would be a good application for billboards…He developed a product for combatting the rising utility costs we face, the unreliable time clocks that are always going bad and need to be reset, and being able to turn off unsold faces…We started as a lighting controller and we’ve evolved into much more...digital signs, tri-faces and now we are on everything from solar to restaurant management, property management groups and our newest division is transit – bus shelters, airports.  We have 600-700 clients.  That’s everybody from large clients to people who have one billboard....Everything we do is local in the United States.  We have a sales office in Seattle and our lighting crews…are spread out throughout the country…Our corporate office is here in Huntsville. DJ Jennings Chief Revenue Officer, Smartlink How does Smartlink work? Smartlink is a computer and it has a cell phone in it.  It interacts with our web portal and you can send commands for it to monitor lighting, digital displays, solar consumption…it is monitoring your asset 24/7 to let you know if there are any issues…like bulb outages, power losses…a player locks up or freezes…so you just have total control… What are the benefits for out of home operators. Every operator finds something unique…If you would have asked me that 10 years ago I would have said utility savings.  When we take off a timer or photocell you can expect to see anywhere from 25-75% utility savings…To some clients it’s the fact that they don’t have to ride lights any more or it’s the peace of mind knowing they don’t have to wake up in the morning…and get a call from an upset client because lights aren’t working…People love the fact that it enables them to be in control of everything…Whenever a photocell goes bad it goes bad in the on position so you don’t find out until you have a $400 utility bill…or if you have a timeclock and the site loses power you have a time delay…what our unit does is…every night it checks in, it gets it’s sunrise and sunset times based on its gps coordinates and that makes sure you are getting that illumination to the minute for the area that board is in. Intrusion Detection This is a benefit of smartlink that we didn’t find out until some of these things started happening…if someone were to hack or take over the unit the smartlink operates totally independent…you can blackout the screen, shut it down, whatever you need to do to respond immediately.  We have camera system that can detect, motion detectors that can detect if somebody’s been there… Smartlink and solar. We have solutions for ongrid and off grid solar.  On-grid we’ll measure what’s been produced versus what’s been consumed…For off-grid battery powered locations we do a lot of solar powered bus shelters…what the unit does it is monitors the battery levels and it can adjust those lights to make up for it, it can reduce the burn time, it can send alerts to you. Smartlink's crews help out of home companies with lighting retrofits. Outdoorlink installation services has 14 two man crews.  Each crew has a bucket truck.  They travel the country doing LED upgrades, installing smartlink.  They’s been doing it for 6-7 years.  They install ladder safety systems, upgrades to digital displays.  I think they’ve installed 200,000 upgrades to LED fixtures…I’m pretty sure that we can do it faster cheaper and high quality than just about anybody out there… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 21:40 https://billboardinsider.com/joe-mancino-on-working-with-city-hall/ Mon, 08 Jun 2020 07:05:45 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=43165 In addition to starting and running Chicago-based GreenSigns, Joe Mancino just finished 11 years as Mayor of Hawthorn Woods.  On this week's podcast Joe gives tips for working with city hall and running a sustainable out of home advertising business. Tips for working with city hall. Joseph Mancino, CEO I’m going to start off with one that seems obvious but many forget.  When you're dealing with city hall and you’re dealing with folks at the counter level the first thing you need to remember is be nice.  Be nice.  There’s a lot of entitlement out their in our industry…Just because you have the right to get a permit doesn’t mean they’re going to make it easy on your.  So be nice to these folks.  They work very hard. Always be straight with these folks.  It’s the staff and the professionals at the counter level that are going to get you through a permitting process.  It’s not the fact that you know the mayor or that you know the council person…in fact that is the worst thing you can do…you never want to go in for a permit dropping names of the mayor or names of other elected officials.  That immediately will get you to the back of the line.  There is a definite live between staff professionals and elected and you don’t want to mix them. Getting to yes with a city Municipalities look at billboard companies very different than they did 10-15 years ago.  We used to not be treated so well.  Billboards were considered a form of pollution.  Many folks didn’t like seeing signage going up.  It was reflected in how we were treated…That way of thinking really changed over the years and especially after the 2008-2009 real estate crash which cost municipalities tons of revenue.  Now they started to look at billboard companies as potential revenue…and they started talking with billboard companies about signage.  And many billboard companies missed that nuance…and didn’t have the tools…to work with the municipalities… At Greensigns we’ve had great success with a few local municipalities in doing billboards there that technically weren’t legal…we achieved a special use permit or some kind of amendment to allow the permit…we did it in a very different way than just going in for a billboard permit.  We went in thinking like a developer does when they are dealing with municipalities.  What can I do to help this municipality…When we approach a municipality we get educated about who they are.  What they are.  What they do.  We read their comprehensive plan…We approach them from a partnership and development perspective. I’ll give you an example.  We had a location in Rolling Meadows, Illinois where I had a lease for 10 years and we could not get a permit…The municipality had created a sign zone district on the opposite side of the highway that did allow billboards…I kept saying hey, if you just expand that zone over about 300 feet to this side of the highway I can do my sign, isn’t that great?  And they kept saying no…After some experience as a mayor I went back with a development proposal and I said look Rolling Meadows, this property has massive problems.  It is an old fashioned office complex.  Single story.  It has an occupancy of only 50%.  The parking lot is demolished.  It looks horrible.  It’s gravel.  It’s not even blacktop.  It has 150 dead trees on it that were killed by the Emerald Ash Borer…The roof needs to be done.  The AC needs to be modernized.  We went in with the property owner to the municipality and said look, if you can help us get a permit for this sign the property owner has committed to take the first three years of revenue and pour them right into his property.  He’s going to redo his parking lot.  He’s going to tear out all the dead trees and plant 100 new beautiful trees. He’s going to updated his roof and AC…We also offered a donation – an impact fee as well…Once we approached it that way it was a completely different story…It was received much, much differently…we were able to build the sign – a double sided 14 by 48 billboards.  We made the impact fee to the city.  We paid three years up front of rent to the property owner who immediately took the money and did what he said he was going to do…It was a complete win all the way around, because we didn’t go in just saying we want a billboard permit…we’ve duplicated that across the Chicago region. Tomorrow we'll print Joe's thoughts on running a sustainable OOH business. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 32:25 https://billboardinsider.com/ian-dallimore-advertisers-believe-in-the-data-andtheyre-not-cancelling/ Wed, 27 May 2020 07:05:24 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=42623 Today’s podcast guest is Ian Dallimore, sneakerhead, father of triplets and VP of Digital Growth at Lamar Advertising.  Ian is excited about the future of out of home. Here are the highlights. Ian Dallimore, Director of Digitial Media Growth, Lamar Advertising How have improved data tools helped Lamar communicate with clients during the covid crisis. Lamar has a large sales force.  We have over 1,000 sales reps across the US.  So obviously data has played a huge role…One of the tools we’ve been able to use was Geopath and it’s daily mobility tool.  The ability to share this at the local level and up to our national clients – that was key for us…It helps us compare daily miles traveled in every CBSA across the us compared to the previous year…Over the last few weeks we’ve seen an increase across all 50 states compared to the previous week... Brands and advertisers, they believe in the data and they’re not cancelling contracts and fleeing for other media…it’s a testament that people believe in the medium… The automated sales platforms have been hit very hard by the covid-19 crisis. The benefits of programmatic are also it’s weaknesses…Clients have the ability to pause campaigns with no contractual obligation…I don’t look as this as a negative…I think the ability to pause and unpause campaigns are very hard to come by in the media world…We’re beginning to see shifts in funds…as cities and states come into phase one…we’re seeing increased activity....We’ve had some pretty significant campaigns that were playing right until Covid.  And it’s not a cancel…Remax – we just had our campaign paused.  Let’s wait until we’re in phase two and then unpause… Lamar's programmatic partners. I don’t expect us to change our focus with programmatic and out partners…We enjoy our partnerships with Vistar, Hivestack, Place Exchange and Broadsign. What is hyperlocal messaging and why is it important?. This is one of the many positives that we can take away from Covid 19.  Customers are more hyper-local than they ever have been.  They want to help their local restaurants.  They want to build back their neighborhoods first…In Baton Rouge where I live we have our restaurants that we hit up.  We have our small boutiques…I think we’ll see more national brands focused on local markets with their creative efforts.  For example in south Louisiana you may see a Walmart or a Target ad now promoting…Ponchatoula strawberries or Anheuser-Busch promoting products that are only available in certain markets or certain pubs… What would you change about agency out of home buying? More transparency and access to the brands they represent.  And what I mean by that is more access to the briefs and more collaboration with the agency to go present side by side why out of home…I think that’s so powerful…There are some agencies that do this today.  And they’re amazing.  They’re true partners.  I wish more did this.  We have to move away from the spreadsheet world of transactions…out of home is so much more than a location on a map and a rate… One of the other things that I’m excited about is a handful of…these out of home specialist agencies are…moving more towards automation in the RFP process.  They’re building out dashboards…That frees up these agency planners and buyers from the day to day spreadsheet world to selling…now we can talk about the technology, now we can talk about the creativity of our medium… I honestly think that we’ve going to find ourselves higher up in the conversations at the holding companies especially coming out of this covid 19, because there’s going to be pent up demand, people are going to want to be out and about….I’m excited about the near future and future for our of home.  It’s almost like a great reset for us. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 23:40 https://billboardinsider.com/allyson-baker-and-ken-klein-update-on-out-of-home-and-the-paycheck-protection-program/ Mon, 18 May 2020 07:06:02 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=42559 The government’s fast-moving effort to deliver “Paycheck Protection” relief to small business has created confusion, even headaches. Billboard Insider invited Ken Klein of OAAA and Allyson Baker of the Venable law firm to answer questions and clear the air. Allyson Baker, Venable Law Firm Can I still apply?  Yes, but do so quickly.  The first $349 billion was exhausted by April 16; about half of the second tranche has been committed. Contact your bank immediately; banks are processing Paycheck Protection loans for the Small Business Administration (SBA). Will I be audited?  Borrowers who receive more than $2 million from the Paycheck Protection Program will be audited, according the latest guidance from Treasury. If I pay expenses with Paycheck Protection funds, are those expenses deductible?  IRS says no. But Congress intended deductibility, and is likely to clarify that proper expenses paid with Paycheck Protection loans are deductible, Klein predicted (“Better than 50-50 chance”). Ken Klein, EVP, OAAA What steps should I take to assure forgiveness to Paycheck Protection loans? Keep careful records, to show that the funds were used for payroll and other allowed expenses (up to 25 percent for rent, mortgage, and utilities). Don’t co-mingle Paycheck Protection money with operating accounts. Why have some recipients returned the money?  Because they had access to other capital and-or to protect their reputations. What about fraud?  Yes, there have been fraud charges, in Rhode Island, Texas, and elsewhere. These allegations involved false documents and-or creating a company from whole cloth just for the purpose of applying for Paycheck Protection funds. If you played by the rules, and believed in good faith that your business faced uncertainty due to the pandemic, then you should be fine. Where can I get resources? Go to: OAAA.org, click on “COVID19 Resources” Venable Update May 6, 2020 US Treasury Forgiveness Application for PPP loan [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 25:54 https://billboardinsider.com/jennifer-sloane-our-industry-will-be-just-fine-once-the-industry-reopens/ Mon, 04 May 2020 07:05:08 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=42070 Today’s podcast guest is Jennifer Sloane, an attorney with more than 20 years experience practicing out of home law.  Here are her comments on 4 mistakes out of home companies make in leases, when you have a legal case against your regulatory authority and what the future is for out of home. What are 4 legal mistakes out of home companies make in leases? (1) Not getting a memorandum of lease signed and recorded in the public records. This is very crucial so that a subsequent buyer of the property is put on notice that there exists a lease agreement for the sign structure. (2) Another mistake I see operators making in their memorandum of lease is failing to state in that document that the physical sign structure is owned by the operator. The purpose of this memorandum of lease is to make sure someone buying the land doesn’t think that they are getting this steel structure that is permanently fixed to the land. (3) Failing to get the written approval of any lien holders on the real property. If Mr and Mrs Smith own a parcel of land and you want to lease it for billboard purposes if Mr and Mrs Smith have a mortgage…most lender documents require a written approval by that lender of any sale or transfer of any interest in the real property to a third party. And the lease agreement would trigger that clause. (4) The lease does not give adequate consideration to make the lease binding in a situation where you are signing a lease and you don’t plan on paying rent for 6-8 months during construction…Your lease should have a binder fee – some kind of consideration – and often times it’s just $100…It should be substantial enough to make it so that you have given valid consideration… What sort of facts help an out of home company when it challenges a local municipality. The biggest factor is their vested rights.  Someone can have the perfect legal argument as to the unconstitutionality of an ordinance but if their rights – the permit – have not vested, then the operator is going to lose the war.  Vested right is a matter of state law…In Florida a right to a permit can vest in one of two ways.  It can vest when a party has reasonably, detrimentally relied upon existing law creating equitable estoppel…If you cannot create a vested right based on equitable estoppel the only other way you get that right is if the government acts in bad faith.  This is the situation where you drop a permit application at the desk, the ordinance says you’re entitled to this permit.  The ordinance says the local government must give a response to an application within fifteen days and then they hold that application past fifteen days while they work on getting a moratorium in place…That can also get you your vested right. If you’re going to file a legal challenge you need to make sure you have these vested rights otherwise you’re going to file your lawsuit and the local government is going to say “Oh, that’s unconstitutional.  Fine, I’ll change it.”  And they’ll change it and they’ll file a motion with the court saying "I’ve changed it and the issue is moot" and the court will say you’re right. Any other words for listeners. Despite what’s happening in our economy right now I am an advocate, a cheerleader and a firm believer in our industry...our industry will be just fine once the economy reopens.  Over the years doing this I have seen highs and lows...But the key point is that the highs keep coming, and the high moments keep coming because we are an effective platform for an advertisers message to a large percentage of the population in this digital era…We will survive this pandemic…because we are a staple, we are a known entity, we are a workhorse that has successfully helped advertisers for decades and we will continue to be there to providing an effective service for all of those businesses that are going to be emerging from the dust of this pandemic… Tomorrow we'll post Jennifer's thoughts on out of home purchase and sale agreements. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 34:10 https://billboardinsider.com/rod-rackley-noone-should-doubt-their-inner-strength-and-ability-to-get-through-this/ Wed, 22 Apr 2020 07:06:49 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=41648   Today's podcast guest is Rod Rackley the President of the Out of Home Division of Circle Graphics.  Rod answers some of my questions, gives his advice on managing during the COVID-19 crisis and talks about the future of billboard printing. Here are some excerpts from the interview. Rod, chart your career for us. I spent my 20’s in school and working for my families publishing business. I spent my 30’s at Lamar in their corporate office in Baton Rouge Louisiana which is my hometown.  At Lamar I worked for Kevin Reilly Jr, Bobby Switzer, Sean Reilly and a bunch of incredible folks…Lamar has some of the finest people around. When I turned 39 I wanted to do something a little more entrepreneurial so I left Lamar and I spent the decade of my 40’s working at Circle Graphics where I was our Chief Revenue Officer. We built the company into one of the largest out of home printing companies in the US. I took the last five years off -- everyone thinks I was sitting on the couch, but I actually co-founded a company called Anthem Displays. Anthem manufactures digital billboards in Boulder, CO and North Carolina.  We manufacture right here in the US versus bringing them in from China. We have over 250 digital billboards around the country. That brings us up to late December when I rejoined Circle right before this pandemic crashed the economy…great timing! You’ve been through 9/11 and the great recession.  What advice do you have for OOH companies managing the COVID-19 crisis. The quote that I’ve recited a few times internally is from Seneca, one of the great Stoics.  He says “We suffer more in our imagination than in reality.”  Times are tough right now for everyone but no one should doubt their inner strength and their ability to get through this and come out stronger. On a tactical front I think that if the duration is on the shorter side the billboard companies would be wise to hold rate if they can. It amazed me that it took something like six years until 2014 for out of home to hit our pre-2008 top line. I hope also that out of home buyers can take this time to look at their workflow.  There are a lot of inefficiencies that remain. Virtually every campaign we get is being initiated by large spreadsheets. Smaller orders are usually initiated by emails with the order details in the body of the email.  Dave, this is equivalent to sending a fax. We have to do better. How has coronavirus impacted Circle Graphics? It’s been one of the most difficult periods we’ve gone through.  We furloughed 3 out of 6 factories.  Our flagship Colorado factory remains open. Three quarters of our printing has been in providing COVID related messaging.  Cities like Austin and Los Angeles that don’t have digital billboards have to put something on the street. We’ve got some nice offers out to hospitals to do directional signage. We’ve done a lot of printing for the Ad Council and the Foundation for a Better Life. In North Carolina we have a large factory that is primarily doing the wall décor business. We’re also making 1,000 face masks a day. One fun project we’re doing with the folks at Lamar Baton Rouge in conjunction with LSU is supplying billboard material for hospital gowns.  LSU is mobilizing the entire university. So there’ll be some folks being protected by billboard material. What questions should an out of home company ask when they are choosing a printer? The table stakes these days are quality, speed and low price.  You have to have all three.  You can’t tell a customer to pick two. You have the right to expect some additional things from a printer. You don’t want a printer that’s going to go to market directly to your customers.  That issue came up in a recent article you did. Your printer needs to be responsive.  If there’s an issue with production your printer needs to fix it.  Fix it fast.  Not quibble about who’s fault it is. Your printer should have some excess capacity so you can get your production out of time when things are busy. Does printing plant location matter? It mattered when we only had one factory and we were losing business to LA based printers or New York based printers. Now that we do have four factories just on out of home including our most recent one in Ohio I think it does matter. It matters for freight costs which is a large portion of the bill. Freight is a tough one and the only way you can mitigate that is to be within 1-2 days ground shipping.  We pretty much are. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 21:17 https://billboardinsider.com/matt-schulze-on-4-mistakes-owners-make-when-building-out-of-home-structures/ Wed, 08 Apr 2020 07:05:55 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=41168 Today's podcast guest is Matt Schulze, a partner at Selective Structures.  Matt talks about the impact of coronavirus on sign fabrication and the 4 mistakes that operators make when they build structures. Matt you have an entertaining story about entering the out of home business. Matt Schulze, Partner, Selective Structures It is kind of a little crazy.  I got in the business in 1991.  I was working for a radio station, selling airtime...We were selling live remotes.  I sold a live remote to a mobile home dealership…and nobody was coming to this live remote.  I was starting to get a little worried…So I went and got a bear suit.  I got on top of the billboard on the property and started waving people in.  They sold 8 mobile homes in one day during the live remote…I went back the next Monday and collected the $500 for the live remote and said hey, let’s do this next weekend.  And he said Matt, I’m not going to do it…Nobody came in from the live remote.  They came in because you were up on the billboard.  It was a lightbulb moment.  So I left there and went straight to the billboard company and he hired me…after 7 years I was running it… Tell us about Selective Structures. We started in 2002.  We’ve got 5 great partners, great salesmen, great support staff, great shop.  We’re located in Athens Tennessee…If you’ve been in the billboard business since 2009-2010 you’ve learned a lot along the way.  We opened doors in 2002.  In 2003 we started doing scoreboards which transitioned us into the digital age…We’ve going to do our 7,500th structure sometime this summer…We’re probably doing 5-7 structures a week. What impact has coronavirus had on your business? We stay about 6-8 weeks booked out so as of today we haven’t been affected.  I think we’ve had a couple get delayed.  Last week we delivered five structures.  This week we’re set to deliver 7-8 structures…Here’s the encouraging thing.  Last week I started calling clients…They’re offering free space to struggling businesses and I believe this will pay huge dividends cause people will always remember who helped them in a hard time…Right now there’s an opportunity just like in 2009.  In 2009 companies spent a majority of their time doing lease reductions.  This is an opportunity to grow your business.  Landowners see the value of getting billboard mailbox money more now than ever before…Dave I’ve been in this business a long time, I’ve been on the sales side, I’ve been on the development side, I’ve been on the manufacturing side…and I think we’re going to have a monster summer.  People are going to want to get out.  They’re going to go to bars, they're going to do to restaurants.  And these small business have to replace this income that they lost.  There’s no better industry than ours to help them…I want to challenge all the companies to use your digital platform to send positive messages, even after the quarantine is over.  Because we’ve been bombarded with weeks and weeks of sensationalized news. What common mistakes do out of home companies make when they put up a structure? The biggest mistake is they don’t get a survey.  We have had signs that we’ve built and they thought is was on the property and it wasn’t and we had to move it…and that is not an easy fix…It costs $500-1,500 to do a survey.  It’s one of the best things you can do when you’re building a sign. Not tall enough or too tall.  You can’t determine what’s going to happen down the road.  We like to have the client pull a local on premise sign ordinance to see if a business comes next door how big will their sign be…We like to go 5 feet above any on premise sign… Sound walls are a huge problem.  It makes no sense where they’re building them.  The last 3-4 signs that I built in a city I try to get the client to build them for a future 20-30 foot raise.  So in case they anticipate a sign wall being built in the next 5 years…all we have to do is put another column in it to raise it up. I’ve been preaching this for years Dave.  I which everybody built their structure digital ready.  Because you never know what’s going to change down the road.  I see companies spending 5 times as much money to fix it, to do a retrofit, than it was if they would have built it…On a 14 x 48, standard center-mount…to go from a static to a digital might be $1,500…the little bit of money that it costs now is worth it… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 23:59 https://billboardinsider.com/oconnor-the-momentum-the-medium-was-seeing-prior-to-the-virus-is-going-to-be-accellerated-coming-out-of-it/ Mon, 30 Mar 2020 07:05:16 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=40859 Today’s podcast guest is AdQuick co-founder Matt O’Connor.  AdQuick was founded almost four years ago to automate out of home ad buying.  Matt talks about the impact of coronavirus on automated selling and what the industry and advertisers need to do now to be prepared when quarantines clear. Matt, explain what AdQuick does and how it benefits an out of home company. Matt O'Connor, CEO and Co-Founder, Adquick AdQuick’s mission is to make it easy to buy out of home advertising.  We focused initially on the buyers…where we wanted to give them better, faster, cheaper and more attributable experience in the out of home space...We have hundreds of clients varying from local businesses up to 20 state national buys…agencies to in house media buyers…On the inventory side we’ve grown our integrations from the larger companies – Lamar, Clear Channel, OUTFRONT – all the way down to really local operators with 1-2 billboards in a market. What are some misconceptions out of home companies have about AdQuick? (1) One is that it’s difficult to on-board.  So most companies think it’s a really big decision.  And we have built in a lot of reverse compatability where you can onboard using our media owner tools…but also you can continue to use your own existing system and still work and see the benefits of the platform. (2)  Some operators are concerned that they’ll lose control over pricing or visibility data and with AdQuick we put the power in the hands of the media owner so they’ll control which locations they want to propose and at what price. (3) That we’re digital billboards only.  But in fact 80% of our customers are buying static…We're agnostic as to media type, static versus digital….Given the breadth of inventory that is static – it’s above 90% still – it’s kind of constrains the optimization of any campaign when you’re looking at 10% of locations. What impact has coronavirus had on automated buying? It’s definitely a gut punch.  Advertisers are sitting on the sidelines waiting.  You can’t imagine someone who is launching a new product or a new message or a brand revamp in this climate.  With out of home…people aren’t out and about…so it’s definitely a curve ball and a gut punch but I think there’s a lot of opportunity and that the momentum that the medium was seeing prior to the virus is going to be accelerated coming out of it…I don’t think there’s any stopping that trend. You closed a $6 million funding round in February. Yes.  Grateful for that. What campaigns are you running now on your boards? Just today we worked with Ro, the telehealth company that...is offering COVID testing and screening and putting out PSA’s in 7 major markets…This was only planned within 72 hours in a national campaign. What’s the process for boarding an out of home company at Adquick? The onboarding is pretty simple.  We take inventory information from what would be a simple grid, with lat/long’s, impressions, descriptions, photos.  And we digitize that and we create a customized portal for any media owner.  We have about a 100 predominately regional and local operators but the software scales to any size company.  It can happen as quickly as 24-48 hours.  There’s a bunch of other power tools like an onsite widget to allow you to showcase your inventory, there’s contracting, invoicing…the investment we took on earlier is going to allow us to take on the risk of non-payment. Who should out of home clients call if they want to have their boards added to AdQuick’s system. They can email vendors@adquick.com or if they want to see a little more they can go to adquick.com/sell. If the experience of China and South Korea is any guide we’ll be back at work in 45 days.  What should out of home companies and advertisers be doing now to prepare. Getting on-boarded to AdQuick is one of the best things that they can do.  We are driving a lot of new national business to all types of markets across the country…On the advertiser side…it’s going to force the hand of flexible marketers.  The days of booking and planning campaigns 9-12 months out are gone…Plans made in the summer of 2019 for summer of 2020 aren’t going to be the same…Having a game plan and a mechanism to be nimble and flexible is vital…That’s one of the things that AdQuick helps a buyer do.  You can plan and execute a national campaign in as little as a few days.  They need to have their marketing plan laid out and be ready to execute on a more short-term horizon…It’s a crazy time but I do think that the industry - and AdQuick in particular – is well positioned to come out the other end… You’ve got a great widget on your website called How much does a billboard cost. That was after answering the question probably hundreds of times from talking to customers, that was the first question we got…So we wanted to make that a tool which was easy for anyone to see…When people see the cost they are actually pleasantly surprised…It’s a search engine for OOH costs around the country.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 25:00 https://billboardinsider.com/richard-rothfelder-coronavirus-legal-implications-and-5-mistakes-in-out-of-home-leases/ Wed, 18 Mar 2020 07:06:32 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=40353 Today's podcast guest Richard Rothfelder of Rothfelder Falick reviews the impact of the coronavirus on out of home contracts and 5 mistakes out of home companies make when they write out of home leases. On the impact of coronavirus on out of home contracts Richard Rothfelder, Rothfelder and Falick Coronavirus has generated a lot of issues in the billboard industry as well as…commerce in general.  You are going to find a lot of issues arising with performance of contractual obligations, delivery of services or goods, especially from overseas and implementation of force majeure contracts.  Provisions in leases or contracts for excusing performance under force majeure or acts of God in this case the coronavirus….you can certainly situations where the coronavirus can be offered as a reason not to perform…readers would be well advised to check their force majeure provisions, their insurance coverage issues, and finally they should be very conscious of situations where employees will want to work remotely and avoid contamination…the employer is going to have to be making reasonable determinations as how he can best protect employees and operate his business. What are 5 mistakes out of home companies make when they write locations leases to put up a billboard? (1) The biggest mistake is not recording the lease or at least not recording a memorandum of the lease with the real property records which in turn provides the world with notice that the billboard company has effectively encumbered that ground with his leasehold interest... (2) The second mistake that out of home companies make...is to not have a renewal provision…Typically the billboard company might have a primary term of 5-10-20 years, the longer the better… But they also like to have a provision that gives them the right to renew, hopefully on similar terms after the primary term (3) A third mistake...is a situation I’ve seen in many billboard leases where the companies attempt to probably overreach including in their leases a unilateral and perpetual right to renew…I’ve seen a lot of leases which give the billboard company the sole right to renew the lease time after time on the original provisions by simply giving notice some 30-60-90 days before the primary term that they are going to renew.  It doesn’t give the landlord by contrast any opportunity to reject that renewal and instead the billboard companies have the extreme bargaining advantage…to effectively renew forever…Now that has been subject to a lot of litigation.  I’ve handled a lot of it myself and there’s cases going both ways. (4) The next mistake I see is usually…the operator reserving his right to remove the sign upon the expiration or termination of the lease.  But for some reason the old forms included a provision which went on to say that the parties agree that the billboard is the personal property of the lessee and can be removed on the expiration or termination of the lease.  The characterization of the billboard as personalty or realty is unnecessary to reserve the right to remove the sign and it certainly creates a lot of confusion for other purposes like condemnation and taxation. (5) The last provision that I criticize is the commencement versus effective date of the lease.  More specifically I would include in the ground lease that it is effect upon execution of the authorized parties…You want to have the landlord bound, but you don’t want to be obligated to start paying your ground rent until the governmental permits have been issued and the sign has been constructed.  So have two separate provisions which recognize those two different times.  Have a nominal exchange of consideration upon the execution of the agreement…say $100-500.  But once again, don’t obligate yourself to make those rental payments until you’ve received the governmental permits and commenced operations. If you develop out of home advertising sites you need Billboard Insider’s Guide to Leases, Easements and Real Estate.   This 130 page Guide tells you what's in a good out of home lease or easement and discusses lessons from 28 legal cases and Billboard Insider articles on out of home leases and easements.  The guide also contains a sample out of home lease and sample out of home easement.  The Guide costs $79.95 and is available in pdf and ebook formats.  You can learn more about the Guide here. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   1 1 full 29:51 https://billboardinsider.com/ike-wingate-on-growing-an-independent-out-of-home-company/ Wed, 04 Mar 2020 08:05:18 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=39641 Today's podcast guest, Ike Wingate, founder of Wingate Media Group, represents the best of the new breed of young independent out of home operators.  Today Ike talks about what makes a good billboard site, why less can be more when it comes to digital billboards and keeping work in perspective. Ike Wingate, Wingate Media What makes you think “that’s a good site.” I look for places that otherwise couldn’t be used for anything else.  A little strip of grass between two pieces of property…Before I do that I make sure I understand the local regulations.  What I can and cannot do…I made the mistake early on of calling the local planning office and asking some advice on some things.  They never want to help you with that kind of stuff and will give you bad information on purpose…You look at visual clutter.  See what’s around.  You look at traffic speed.  I’m OK with big billboards but you don’t always have to put a tall billboard there.  And so if I can build a great billboard without having to go 50’ in the air and it’s right in the windshield of the viewer I’m going to do that.  9 times out of 10 in the places we’ve done that we’ve been able to charge very close to the rate we would be able to charge if it was twice as big…The return I get on smaller signs is fantastic. Ike, you’ve got some smaller sized  digital billboards as well as some large 14 by 48 billboards.  How did you decide which size to install and what’s been your experience with the smaller digital billboards. A lot of it comes down to the local regulations.  Sometimes I come across regulations that say OK if you’re gonna build over this size you’re going to have to be 50 feet off the right of way…We’ve experimented from the small digital size in a case where I can get right up next to the road as long as I’m under a certain square footage…I’ve got great friends in the business that might say that’s crazy…especially some of my friends that sell structures for a living.  I understand their point of view.  But the numbers would disagree with that.  In some cases you can build a great sign and still be under 100 square feet and be close to the road…We used Lightking in this particular case because of the way they light up.  They don’t do a triangulated pattern.  They do them in a straight line.  So it made them better quality, better resolution than a 16 millimeter that was separated…I actually saw some other signs by the same manufacturer in person before we decided to buy…It’s going to pay for itself in the first 12 months…Sometimes in business the obvious things aren’t obvious.  It comes down to can you get someone on there and keep them on there.  If you’re having to churn people constantly that takes time.  What value does your time have?  If I can build a smaller sign and get 80% of the revenue but always have it full…that’s delivering the other 20% of value back to me in time. You’ve written in Billboard Insider about work/life balance.  How do you manage it? When my wife and I made our decision to go out on our own and do this full time the one thing I wanted to make sure of is that the business didn’t run me.  That I ran the business.  We’ve put a lot of processes in place. a lot of automation to be able to step away from the business when we need to.  To be able to address the business remotely, through Google Drive, through Apparatix…One of our four values for our company is God, family, work, in that order.  So we try to live it out…Nobody on their deathbed says I wish I would’ve worked more. Tomorrow Insider will carry Ike's thoughts on the God is Dead Billboard controversy and when to run and when to decline to run a billboard ad.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement     1 1 full 31:25 https://billboardinsider.com/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-a-digital-billboard-but-were-afraid-to-ask-with-jeff-rushton/ Wed, 19 Feb 2020 08:05:16 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=39455 Today’s podcast guest is Jeff Rushton, President and Co-Owner of Media Resources, an integrated digital billboard manufacturer, sign installer and large format printing business with operations in Canada the US and Asia. Jeff, talk about Media Resources and how it got into the out of home business Jeff Rushton, President and CEO, Media Resources Media Resource has been around since 1967…it started as a sign installation business in Canada…now we’re in 37 American States and in all Canadian provinces and we’ve grown over the last 8 years about six-fold. What are the steps in making a digital billboard. The first thing begins with engineering.  You have to think through each and every component…if you don’t spec the right components…you’re not going to survive the effects of solar load and heat moisture on your product. Second is material selection.  You have to get those sub-components from the right suppliers…or you’re going to have failures in the field.  Third is module production where you’re going to take the LED’s and insert them into a keyboard and put them into a module mold that creates a finished module.  Now you move into the assembly process…We assemble the extrusion frame, aluminum face, aluminum doors into a cabinet.  The cabinet is stood up and we put in all the components… After that we do a multi-day testing…before the product is shipped to the customer. For new markets or new customers we send a digital technician who supports the installation process and trains the local technician. The actual installation…is a pretty simple process.  It’s about an hour for a poster or 10.6 x 36 and sub two hours for a 14 x 48. We do most of the manufacturing in our Toronto facility but I’m excited to announce that in the second half of 2020 we’re going to start manufacturing in our Charlotte facility. Media Resources 400/Highway Series. What impact have tariffs had on the market? There’s a couple of extra costs for a couple of the sub-components, but generally it’s been business as usual in North America…If the US-Mexico-Canada-Agreement didn’t get passed that would be a different thing…Hopefully this is becoming less of an issue. Has the coronavirus had an impact on the market? Thus far no.  But we think it will….Regardless of who you are there are some components that come from China.  Chinese factories have been shut down for a month now.  They are starting up now…When they’re company back to work if there’s one person in that factory who ends up getting the coronavirus the entire factory and all the people will be quarantined for 14 days…so you don’t know where this goes… What components of a digital billboard need to be replaced and when. Ourselves and our North American manufacturing competitors are trying to drive to a higher quality product…With proper selection of components and LED's a 10 year life is not a big deal.  However there are many overseas competitors who are building products with much lower quality LED’s, much lower quality components, that can cut that lifetime in half or less…It’s going to be the modules and LED’s which degrade first…the computer system is another one because you’ll have the end of life on the operating system, and then another one is potentially power supplies… On preventative maintenance. You can’t get away from preventative maintenance.  If you do a great job of preventative maintenance you can extend the life of that display by 1-3 years…if you keep the heat out of that system you’ll extend the life… Light trespass Our chief engineer Cheng saw this as an issue many years ago…We take a location, we do a light study about what kind of dispersion you’re going to have…we sometimes go to the local council meeting…we do a custom module optimized for that location…we’ve been 100% successful.  There have been some great news stories… Media Resources 20mm Siteline Unit 6 trends in the digital billboard market In North America I see a general movement to a standard module size.  It think that’s…a very good thing. Second…as digital becomes more accepted and moves into urban environments you’re going to see a move to what’s called surface mount…They have better image quality, better vertical view images, better on the side…Every other market in the world…they’ve moved to surface mount. Another trend we’re seeing is…more curves and more custom sized displays. They next one is more transparent products for windows in buildings.  That’s big, especially in Asia…The last two weeks we’ve quoted 18-20 projects - they’re big projects - here in North America. We’re also seeing a movement to fine pixel pitch outdoor…Transit shelters generally use LCD televisions…The problem is that heat still is an issue.  So we’re seeing sub 2 millimeter outdoor becoming feasible. And the last thing we’re seeing is...indoor coming on strong…Everything from transit to malls to stadiums for the billboard industry. Media Resources 16mm 320 series. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 24:20 https://billboardinsider.com/steve-mcneely-the-future-has-never-been-brighter/ Wed, 12 Feb 2020 08:05:07 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=39210   Today's podcast guest Steve McNeely has 30 years experience investing in out of home companies.   Steve talks about his newest out of home investment, what he thinks of the public out of home companies and private equity's biggest issue with out of home. Last July you assisted Blackbird Media in purchasing the iconic CNN sign in Atlanta. CNN sign in Atlanta which was purchased by Blackbird Media A gentleman, Chenault Sanders - you did an interview with him 6-7 months ago, his family had developed the Nashville Sign, which is a 35 by 35 digital in a prime location in Nashville Tennessee.  Chenault was a lawyer by trade and decided to develop this property and learned it the hard way by his bootstraps…he developed social media to where he now has 10,000 followers…He was looking for other opportunities and came upon the CNN sign…a static sign on the south end of Centennial park.  And Chenault was looking for advice and a partner…the demographics in Atlanta were exceptional and there was no competition essentially, sitting there in proximity to the Mercedes Dome, State Farm Arena, College Football Hall of Fame, Centennial park and on and on and on. On developing locations There are ways to develop that are tasteful in a supportive complementary way and then there are sticks in the ground.  And that’s how the industry got itself in trouble back in the 80’s.  Getting a Marlboro or Camel contract and going to a bank to get a loan and put a stick in the ground. On Blackbird Media’s Growth Plan We want to continue that model in other municipalities…Instead of having 10,000 conventional leases have 10 leases in high profile urban areas…we’re looking for opportunities in the Atlanta market which still has some spots as well as some other metro areas.  We’re not really interested in going to New York or LA…or Vegas. Steve McNeeley, Tantara Capital What’s the future like for independent operators? I think their future has never been brighter…There’s some excellent independent operators.  I give the Independent Operators Association a lot of credit for bringing the independents together so they can take advantage of group buying or group benefits…People say OAAA is just the big guys.  Well it’s not.  OAAA does a phenomenal job of representing every operator across America.  So it’s extremely important that the independent association and the OAAA work close together. Lamar Lamar is just a great, interesting family company that is very successful…in secondary and tertiary markets and looking at local markets and blocking and tackling.  How can you fault their financial success.  I looked today and they are trading at $94-95.  They’ve doubled in five years…You look at their operating margins, return on equity, the dividend yield, they’ve got their debt under control.  My hats off to Sean and his team. OUTFRONT The was the Arte Moreno, Bill Levine plant that grew up through Viacom and CBS…Jeremy has had some record quarters…He chose to go into the transit business in the major metropolitan areas.  They’re looking to focus on…the top 25 markets.  You can’t argue with his success…they’re trading at a 52 week high.  Good margins, not as good as Lamar’s because you’ve got the transit business…It’s a great company. Clear Channel Outdoor It’s kind of stuck in the middle in some respects…I got a lot of phone calls when they were going through their reorganization – what should we do – and my consistent comment was hold onto this thing for 18-24 months, try to fix it, get your margins up...I would sell the international group in a heartbeat just like OUTFRONT did.  I don’t call it diversification.  I call it dilution and exposure. Link Media/Boston Omaha  The two guys that founded it are in the Warren Buffett model…Investing long term in cash rich businesses and out of home cashflows to complement their insurance and finance business…They are an interesting regional player. Standard Diversified/Standard Outdoor They were 350-450 faces and then they bought the last two Fairway markets that added 3,500 to them.  And I’m still scratching my head as to why they did it. Adams. It’s a private company. They are a strong regional operator…with some outstanding margins and some outstanding people.  I don’t know what Steve (Adams) immediate plans are but a REIT would seem to make sense to providing a liquidity event… Private Equity and Out of Home Except for the high multiples things are going well as they are in love with it.  That’s the biggest issue right now.  If you look at what Lamar is really trading at, on a trailing EBIDTA basis, 16, 17, 18, that’s a big number…Some of the recent transactions I’ve seen – you may find one down in the 7-8 range, but there’s a reason it’s trading at 7-8.  They’re typically in a 10-12 kind of range…That’s the biggest issue right now with outdoor and private equity… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   1 1 full 31:26 https://billboardinsider.com/steve-haggard-the-billboard-banker/ Wed, 22 Jan 2020 08:05:33 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=38161   Today's podcast guest is Steve Haggard, President and CEO of Metro Phoenix Bank.  He talks about making loans of $1-10 million to out of home advertising companies. Talk about Metro Phoenix Bank Stephen Haggard, CEO, Metro Phoenix Bank We are active with outdoor advertising media lending.  We have actually been involved with that asset class since inception.  The bank started in 2007…we were founded by local investors, business owners and fortunately some of these business owners happened to be involved heavily in the outdoor media industry.  On our board of directors we have people who are involved in the steel manufacturing side, the fabrication side as well as an outdoor media owner operator with a portfolio of billboards… What is prudent debt capacity for an out of home company? Debt/Worth ratio is a key component of our analysis…Leverage is good.  We’re in the business of lending…but it can get out of hand…We go up to 3-4 times debt to worth ratio…If my liabilities were 10, my net worth would be 3-4…We do an appraisal or market value assessment on their assets…On a debt service coverage ratio, we’re looking at about a 1.5 times coverage…Traditional commercial lending you’re looking at a 1.25-1.35 debt service coverage ratio but this industry is a little bit atypical so we bump it up a little bit. Do you use appraisals If everyone is comfortable proceeding we go out and engage a full-blown appraisal.  And those appraisals aren’t cheap.  We’ve got 5-6 people throughout the country that we’ll use for valuation… Metro Phoenix wants to deal with experienced operators If it’s a newbie coming out of the gate.  They don’t have any experience and it’s a startup operation, it’s probably not a good fit for Metro Phoenix Bank.  But if it’s someone that has some years under their belt and are looking to expand, they want to acquire another company, they want to take out a partner or they want to convert a bunch of static signs to digital signs.  Those are the types of scenarios that we’re seeing… What are typical out of home terms We’re in a space right now where our average deal size is $3-5 million.  That said, we’ve done transactions as low as $300,000 and as high as $12 million…The typical transaction is a 15-20 year amortization, we’ll usually have a 10 year balloon.  We are seeing rates…in the high 5’s.  Prime right now is 4.75%.  Regardless of fixed or variable, our maximum fixed period is five years.  Our average deal is Prime plus 1% which is 5.75%.  And anywhere from 1.25% to 2% on the origination fees…Monthly p&I payments…If they’ve got short term leases they’re not going to be seeing long term amortization from the bank. How do you collateralize a loan? Sometimes we take a deed of trust if it’s a real estate transaction.  If it’s a perpetual easement we will file a lien of perpetual easement.  If it’s a lease we’ll take an assignment of lease.  We’ll file a UCC on the fixtures and assets.  Many times we’ll get an assignment of the permit or take a UCC on the permit… Personal guarantees? 9 out of 10 times we’re going to request it.  Sometimes there are negotiations…If you’ve got a compelling argument as to why you don’t need a guarantee we’re going to listen to you…Let me give you an example.  If someone comes to the table…and we’re looking at a very very low loan to value and exceptional cashflow and it’s been in operation for 20 years OK, we’re going to at least listen to that argument…there have been situations where there’s a corporate type of structure and there’s not a principal or individual that’s going to be a 20% owner… On the economy I keep saying that next year is going to be a slow down year…I think we’re going to see some setbacks here and that may be post election.  This cannot go on forever.  These growth rates we’ve seen over the past 7-8 years are tremendous… To learn more about Metro Phoenix Bank Our dedicated lender is Rickard Strom.  He can be reached at 602-346-1828…our website is metrophoenixbank.com.  We’ve got a section there that talks about our out of home media lending. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement         full 28:57 https://billboardinsider.com/out-of-homes-fairy-art-mother/ Wed, 08 Jan 2020 08:05:15 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=38157   Today's podcast guest Wendy Hickey is known as the fairy art mother.  Wendy talks about how her company ArtPop Street Gallery helps artists showcase their work on billboards and digital signs.  She also give some sales tips based on 18 years experience as an out of home sales rep and sales manager. Talk about your background and how you got into out of home. My background was in retail sales management and fashion merchandising and I was a a time where that was really not bringing me a lot of joy and I looked into Adams Outdoor Advertising and was hired in Adams Outdoor Advertising in a sales role back in 1998. Where did the ArtPop idea come from. When I was with Adams I moved several times…I was working in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania..and I was serving on the board of directors for the Pocono Arts Council and I was thinking what can I do to truly serve the local artists in our community…I thought, wow, it can give local artists billboards. How does ArtPop work? When we go into a city we do an open call for artists to submit their work.  And then we have…a panel of jurors who judge the work…We feature the juried artists artwork on billboards, newsstands, at airports, any out of home that we are able to negotiate in an area.  Our program has evolved now so it is just not ad space that these artists receive but we also offer each of our artists a two day business course with an organization known as artists university to teach them how to live sustainable lives…Now in one of our cities one of those spots is offered to a senior high school artist who is in transition to study the arts in college.  They get all of the adult benefits and we also provide a scholarship. What sort of a response do you get for a call for art. In Charlotte, North Carolina we just had our 2020 announcement…We’ve received 139 submissions and only 20 spots can be filled. Who pays for the vinyl. Typically ArtPop pays for the production.  We do that through donations and grants…Since 2014 we have served 368 artists on over $20 million of donated advertising space from the out of home industry…the out of home company donates space and installation. Why do out of home companies participate? They love ArtPop for many different reasons.  So nobody wants to see a blank billboard…when it’s covered with local art from the community in which the artist lives in it’s a win for everybody…Many things change but one of the things that doesn’t change is traffic…we’re in need of inspiration…While everybody is going about their days being able to see art in a place where you do not expect to see art is delightful, it’s thought provoking, its also a chance for the 70 plus percent of our population who never goes to a gallery or museum…to be able to see art… How has ArtPop grown? We started our very first program in Charlotte in 2014 – 20 billboards for 20 artists.  We have been in 14 cities in 11 states.  We’ve served 368 artists…It’s not strictly static billboards any more.  We use digital billboards, airports, newsstands, shopping center displays… Give some ArtPop success stories. Our ArtPop nirvana is when an artist is able to go full time being an artist.  That their art is not a side hustle, it is their career…We have had an artist that has had so much success from ArtPop in 2015 that she opened up her own art gallery and many of the artists that are featured at her gallery are ArtPop artists as well. What can an out of home company do if it wants to support ArtPop.  A couple things.  If we have a presence in a market we would love to have any space that we can feature an artist on.  One of the things that we are doing that is fairly new is digital out of home operators across the country that we are connected with through the OAAA or the IBOUSA – we are able to provide creative.  So all they need to do is get in touch with me and provide specs…and feature our artists on their billboards right now.  From a financial standpoint of course we always need funding.  So if someone’s inspired enough to donate to ArtPop financially…we would be grateful for that. To find out how you or your company can be involved with ArtPop Street gallery go to ArtPopStreetGallery.com or visit @artpopstreetgallery at Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook.  Here's a video which explains what ArtPop does. https://vimeo.com/327448880 [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 23:28 https://billboardinsider.com/neil-bell-on-selling-out-of-home/ Tue, 24 Dec 2019 08:05:06 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=37805 New South Outdoor's Neil Bell had quite a bit to say about selling out of home on yesterday's Billboard Insider podcast.  Here's a selection of his comments. Neil Bell, Owner, New South Outdoor How to sell billboard advertising. One thing we always have to remember in this business is our success is tied to our customer’s success.  If the campaign doesn’t work they’re not going to renew…We have to do everything we can to help market their business…One thing I learned early on in pitching customers was that ideas and art sell…Hey, what if we run a promotion for this…Copy will help sell things…It’s a visual medium that we’re working with…It we can come in there with an idea on paper – look at how your business is going to be seen in the community – that to me is always sold… But don’t you need to ask good questions first to come up with good creative? Tommy Teepel was very influential to me and the training at Lamar…How can we pitch stuff without knowing all about a business?…You have to peel the onion and ask all those questions… What motivates this customer? What are they trying to accomplish? What are their competitors doing? What other promotions have they done that worked or didn’t work? Ask all these things so that you can do in their and propose something that fits their needs… What is the out of home sale you’re the proudest of? There’s a bunch of them.  One in particular – I had a check cashing place.  This is one of the first people I ever sold.  When I got in the business I was 22…I hadn’t every seen a customer have success with it.  I called on this check cashing place for two months.  Every two weeks I’d go in there…finally he decided to do a little poster showing with me.  I came in 2 or 3 weeks after the posters went up and he wanted to buy another 1 or 2.  He said, “I’m having all this success.”  After that I was able to sell outdoor so much better because I had seen results…Another that I can think of since digital has been out…I’d never had real estate on any of my boards.  I was able to go to a broker and say, look you’ve got all these listings, we can change these things on a regular basis…the realtor said we didn’t sell that many more houses, but we picked up so many more listings.  The reason was when a homeowner sees a realtor is going outside the box to sell their house on a busy road on a billboard they say I want that realtor to represent me…I’ve had a lot more success with realtors. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 21:05 https://billboardinsider.com/neil-bells-productivity-hack/ Mon, 23 Dec 2019 08:05:19 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=37690 Today's podcast guest Neil Bell worked for Lamar and Watchfire before founding New South Outdoor, an independent out of home company in Alabama.  He talks about finding sites, selling ads and the leading software tool which boosts his company's profitability. Some highlights Neil Bell, Owner, New South Outdoor What have you learned about securing new locations in 19 years in the out of home business? I love it…It’s like a puzzle, right, cause there’s state and local rules and height restrictions and what I’ve found is that restraints make you become more creative…I’ve learned that creativity is a big part of leasing…Another thing I’ve learned – I don’t really care to buy leases from folks that are just out there leasing.  I’ll tell you a story.  One of the first one’s I bought.  I bought the lease.  The sign crane showed up to put the sign up.  And the landowner says, “Hey, great to meet you, when are you guys going to build my fence?  The guy who leased me the property said you were going to build me a fence with the sign.”…New site locations, finding and leasing and building is the best part of this business for me. Talk about your Tiger Tail billboard in Auburn Alabama.  A great way to harness loyalty to a local university to build your out of home company. This is another one of those where we had to get creative.  We had to get creative.  There were a bunch of trees.  I wanted to build a 14 by 48 there, but half the sign would have been covered up.  And so the idea was let’s build it vertical…It just looked kind of plain.  This was on the main stretch going into Auburn University.  A college street.  I’m an Auburn grad…so we came up with a backlit can of a tiger tail running up the bottom of the LED and coming out of the top.  And it lights up at night.  And it looked great.  I’d like to do more embellishment type things for these landmark displays.   How have you used cloud-based software to run your business? Quickbooks has been a big one for us.  One thing I can say that’s been probably more impactful than I expected has been e-sign…Especially with digital boards…as soon as the contract is signed we’re ready to go up…In the past we’d email it to them and they’ve got to print it out and we’ve got to go by there and get them signed.  So you lose a day or two.  It just seems like it happens that way.  And the e-sign, we’re able to send it and they approve it and get them up that day…We use google docs a good bit…For content we use the manufacturers software...all my boards right now..are Watchfire. As far as the inventory and contracting software we use there’s a little company called Signdash that has just rolled out some great software that we’re really happy with.  It does a lot of what these other inventory software managers do.  It doesn’t necessarily have all the bells and whistles that you find with the other companies that are out there but what I find is that we don’t really need all that.  I know that my sales people like it.  They can see what’s available.  They can see what’s been proposed.  Once they get to yes they can send out an e-sign for a contract and it comes back pretty quick.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 21:05 https://billboardinsider.com/paul-wright-and-carson-frost-on-out-of-home-values-and-whos-buying-what/ Wed, 11 Dec 2019 08:05:48 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=37349   Today’s podcast guests - Paul Wright and Carson Frost -  talk about out of home values, who's buying what, how to conduct a smooth sale and trends to look for during 2020. Paul is the founder of SignValue.com and the Co-author of Billboard Appraisal: The Valuation of Off Premise Advertising Signs.  Carson is a sales consultant for SignValue. Some highlights. Paul Wright (left) and Carson Frost (right) of SignValue What trends have you seen in the out of home transactions market during 2019. 2019 has been a very strong market.  I get calls just about every week from buyers who want to know what’s available for sale.  What’s really interesting about the transactions market this year is that we’re not just seeing transactions which are coming from the big three that are buying independents.  We’re seeing a lot of independent owners that are also actively looking to grow their footprints.  Some of these independent buyers are trying to break into new markets while others are looking to sell off pieces of their footprint that don’t fit and to consolidate and buy in places that will create synergies. Values have historically been in an 8-12 times cashflow range.  Are we there? I would say that we’re still in that range.  We are probably pushing at the top end of it.  This is a very good time to think about selling.  It’s a very good time to think about consolidating a footprint or to get rid of those things that don’t fit in your current footprint…We’ve seen some things in the southeast that are in the lower end of that range.  We’ve seen some things in the major markets that exceed that range. On Lamar We think that Lamar got the best group of assets from Fairway…They came in early…we expect that they may have paid a little more than others and we think that they were the best of what was available.  Lamar has a good company culture.  I listened to your podcast with Sean Reilly.  Their general managers have a long tenure with Lamar and I think that’s because of the way the company is run… Outfront Outfront has had strong revenue growth recently.  In the past year their revenues have shot up quite a bit and I think that has something to do with their focus on major markets.  There’s a lot of movement right now with millennials moving to some of those larger major markets…I would add that Outfront still has some cost-cutting to do.  I think they have some opportunities to look at their expense growth… Clear Channel Outdoor We have been in talks with Clear Channel a few times and have noticed that they have been extremely conservative with their spending domestically… Link Media Outdoor We have seen a lot of big acquisitions come from Link Media.  I think that they are in the process of digesting some of those large recent acquisitions…because of their quick growth…they have missed out on some perfect opportunities. Fairway/Adams They do have one remaining group down in the Southeast.  And we anticipate that moving in the next six months.  In terms of the mix of assets and the way they’ve been managed we like Adams markets better than the Fairway markets.  That’s a good opportunity… JCDecaux JCDecaux is predominately transit oriented here in the United States.  They control a number of large airport contracts and I think that’s probably the direction they are going to be staying…They are good global citizens and are making a large push to be earth friendly and the make that part of their company culture…I think it’s going to take something like Clear Channel selling their assets to make them jump in. Other companies We’ve seen Reagan make the acquisition of some of the Fairway assets.  And we’ve seen Lindmark making some moves.  There are certainly some independents who are seeking opportunities to grow. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 26:01 https://billboardinsider.com/claude-dicks-on-the-gun-billboard-easements-and-a-satisfying-sale/ Tue, 26 Nov 2019 08:05:42 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=36953 Todays podcast guest is Claude Dicks, President of Allison Outdoor, an independent out of home company with 1,270 out of home faces and 29 digital billboards in North Carolina and Georgia.  Claude talks about moving from radio into out of home, the gun billboard, digital sign conversions, buying easements, sales mistakes and his most satisfying out of home sale. Tell us about the gun billboard controversy. That was a fun time…I was on a family vacation a couple thousand miles away when everything hit.  Our policy has typically been with billboards that might be stretching the bounds…to always run it up the flagpole.  Unfortunately, that one never went up the flagpole...it went up and got on social media and started making the news…It was a gun store in Murphy North Carolina and had the picture of the freshmen congresswomen…that started making news.  I’m getting texts from my friends saying “hey, is that you guys on the news.”  I knew we had an issue at that point…We started getting inundated with emails and phone calls for about three days straight.  At one point we had to turn off the phones because we were getting so many phone calls…We had been talking with the gun owner.  He wanted us to change the billboard very quickly after it went up…I decided on our facebook page to make a post saying that the board was coming down…We were working on new artwork in the meantime…It took a couple days to get the artwork straightened out…We were squarely in the middle which is not the place you ever want to be like this and were getting beaten up on both sides… What did you learn? The majority of the negative comments on both sides of the aisle were coming from people outside Murphy North Carolina and western North Carolina…Any politically motivated speech has to be run by us first and then we will apply the different steps that we have…The gun store owner had been working with us for five years…we had to have a good conversation about what’s going to be going up in the future.  He’s thrown out some ideas and then we’ve taken the idea and tweaked it a bit.  So far it’s working.  We haven’t made too much news since then so hopefully we’re doing things better. Claude Dicks, President, Allison Outdoor You mentioned recently that buying easements is a priority.  Explain. My grandfather always said you can’t control sales but you can control expenses…Our goal is to not have our expenses increase as much as our revenue…We’re setting some pretty strong goals for the upcoming year.  We’re working on one that pretty much fell into our laps.  Our rent with this one gentlemen doubled and he wants to sell the property and he wants the money from the easement…We feel over time we can create a better bottom line… What was your most satisfying out of home sale? I recall one where it was a small wine store.  They made their own wine.  I made a cold call.  He didn’t have a lot of money to spend.  He flat out said “I hate billboards.  I don’t like billboards.”  He even said he’d torn down a billboard in Florida…But my favorite part about that is we were making some headway…I laid everything out and said “this is what we can do for this price” and I laid the pen down and I didn’t say anything and it felt like 60 seconds and it was probably 15 seconds and he just grabbed the pen and he signed and he was a good customer for 2-3 years…There’s nothing better than making a sale…especially…if there was no interest and you turned their mind around and then you go from one board to two to three on annual contracts… Paid Advertisement   full 28:04 https://billboardinsider.com/dave-etherington-privacy-in-the-public-space-should-be-held-to-a-higher-standard-than-elsewhere/ Wed, 13 Nov 2019 08:05:55 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=36748 ­­­ Today’s podcast guest is Dave Etherington, the Chief Commercial Officer of Place Exchange.  Place Exchange is a programmatic out of home advertising platform spun off by Intersection approximately 2 years ago.  Dave talks about programmatic exchanges, privacy and whether static billboards can be sold programmatically. Give an overview of Place Exchange Place exchange is a pure play SSP (supply side provider) focused on bringing programmatic buyers to digital out of home…what Place Exchange seeks to do is take the vast diversity of digital out of home media and digital place based media and normalize it in such a way that it looks and works exactly like mobile and online and display and video within the biggest DSP’s... What kinds of out of home media owners does Place Exchange want to do business with.  We already work with the vast majority of the main players in the United States.  We work with the top 4 and then everything below…The medium is growing…It’s thrilling to walk though cities around the country and see taxi-tops and insider UBERs and street furniture…We would certainly look to work with anyone who reaches scaled audiences in novel and powerful ways..I’m excited to speak to any and all publishers who have networks of interest.  Send me an email.  Dave.etherington@placeexchange.com. How does Place Exchange Make Money? We don’t charge any buy side fees.  We only have sell side fees which are pre-negotiated and transparent. Who determines the price of OOH assets sold via Place Exchange? Absolutely the seller does. On Privacy We fundamentally believe at Place Exchange that the idea of privacy in public space should be held to a much higher standard than elsewhere.  It’s one thing to be exposed to tactics like retargeting in a one to one basis on a mobile device or on a laptop. It’s quite another for that tactic to be implemented where you live…walking up fifth avenue. Will static out of home be sold programmatically? I think you’re the fourth person to ask me that exact question today…There are many programmatic attributes that we can bring to non-digital out of home media. The ability to set up campaigns, reporting, attribution, would all work in the same way for static as it would for digital…You would lose the element to be able to optimize throughout the lifetime of the campaign, to test different creatives against each other…there will be a future state where they can begin to embrace the benefits of static…I think there is a future…I think it’s going to take…some evangelism…some hand-holding.  But there’s no reason why in the future this shouldn’t be a new source of revenue for non-digital out of home assets. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 18:46 https://billboardinsider.com/pat-odonnell-on-63-acquisitions-and-hot-button-legislative-issues/ Wed, 30 Oct 2019 07:05:01 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=36238 Today's podcast guest is Pat O'Donnell, President, YESCO Outdoor Media.  Pat manages an out of home plant with 2,250 faces  and sits on the board of directors of the OAAA and Geopath.  Pat talks about doing 63 tuck-in acquisitions, using Blip, priorities for the year ahead and hot-button legislative issues. Patrick O'Donnell, president YESCO Outoor Media YESCO has done several tuck-in acquisitions over the last few years.  What are you looking for? There’s three main components I look at…the first being is it complementary geographically for us, the second thing is can we absorb it without having to add significant infrastructure or overhead…and third, can we buy it at a multiple where there’s room to increase revenue and build value in the inventory…if you look at the footprint of the Rocky Mountains and the National Parks throughout Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, we serve those very well. How do you integrate acquisitions? I looked the other day and I know that we’ve done 63 acquisitions over the years.  We approach it the same way for a large or a small transaction.  Each department, our sales department, our real estate department, operations and administration…has a checklist associated with each new piece of inventory…  It’s not in the system until all of those things happen…The physical aspect is very important to us.  Branding is very important to us.  We want the best possible looking inventory.  It’s the idea that each structure is an easel for our customer’s artwork, and that easel needs to be well-maintained, well-lit, branded correctly.  That’s really important…The other thing is the personal connection.  We want to get to know the landowners and customers.  We’re looking for a long-term relationship. What are your top priorities for the next twelve months. We’ve averaged nearly 6% revenue growth for the last thirty years here at YESCO.  I’d really like to see that continue…we’re a family company and we’re never going to have the kind or growth – nor the volatility – that the larger companies have, but I’d like to see that trend line continue up.  I’d like to see more cooperation on companies in the industry in terms of measurement and to eventually get the accreditation.  I think there needs to be more support for Geopath.  I’d love to see an open access marketplace so that independent companies and our inventory, is available to buyers side-by-side with the public inventory.  In March YESCO is celebrating its 100th anniversary.  As that takes place we need to start mentoring our next generation of leadership. You're on the OAAA’s legislative committee.   What legislative issues are on your radar? Certainly the Thomas case which just came out of the appeals court is really important.  Anything that could dismantle the HBA (“Highway Beautification Act”) should be everybody’s concern.  I can’t even imagine what it would be like if…in every state in the country we had to get new law.  It would be chaos.  You may remember Dave a number of years ago when we had the debacle in Oregon.  I don’t think that benefits anybody other than those who would seek to ruin us. Also I think we all need to be concerned about government’s insatiable appetite for more money.  About their inability to curb spending..and the end result seems to them looking for ways to get more money out of our industry particularly through taxation…We’ve seen that not only in Cincinnati and Baltimore but in some smaller communities.  We’ve seen it up in Ada County in Idaho where arbitrary changes in valuation of assets and taxation increases have taken place…it can be very very expensive…It speaks to the need why we need to work together through our organizations.  The best way we can head these things off is when we can have local participation where we know personally the regulators and the legislators and that’s where the best work gets done to head off this stuff… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 23:02 https://billboardinsider.com/anna-bager/ Wed, 16 Oct 2019 07:05:30 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=35844 Today's podcast guest is Anna Bager, President and CEO of the Out of Home Advertising Association of America.  Anna talks about growing up with billboards, why out of home is a hot medium, why she joined the OAAA, where out of home is doing a good job and where it needs to improve. Tell us about your father and billboards My father has a farm in the very south of Sweden very close to the bridge that goes between Sweden and Denmark…for the most of the time he had 4 billboards on his land.  So I grew up with conversations at the dinner table.  Sometimes very positive.  Sometimes not so positive when they came in during harvest…It was a nice extra source of income to the farm. Anna Bager, President & CEO, OAAA On the strengths of out of home What is interesting about out of home is that it is a hot medium right now, just like digital was and is.  There’s a lot of new direct consumer brands that prefer the platform.  Gen Z seems to like it a lot…It’s literally in your face in a captive environment where you can’t do much more than look at the ads.  It’s very much inserted in our daily lives.  When we’re driving, when we’re at the store, when we’re waiting for the bus, whatever it is that we’re doing, it’s an interesting media that touches everyone. I see the power of the medium.  I also see that there is a lot of spending growth.  I just came from the ANA conference last week and every single presentation in the morning sessions during the first day had out of home in it.  And really great examples…   What are your top priorities during the year ahead? As much of an expert as I may be in running a trade association and digital advertising I am not an expert in out of home.  I’m going to get to know all of our members very well.  So the first top priority for me is to listen, to learn and then to lead.  I want to hear all the perspectives…I am very mindful for us not being perceived as an association for one of the mediums in out of home…whether you are a billboard company, a large company, a small company, other parts of place based, transit, the more we can speak with one voice…the more money we can get…Please reach out to me at abager@oaaa.org with questions, comments and your vision for the industry. On adding an OAAA office in New York. I really want to get closer to the buy side…We are opening an office in New York. I will be spending a lot more time there…Efforts around raising the perception of out of home with buyers and advertisers will be a big priority with me. More events. More going to places where they are. Not just having them come to us. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement     full 19:05 https://billboardinsider.com/andrea-messimer-henley-on-how-to-sell-out-of-home/ Wed, 02 Oct 2019 07:05:59 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=35556 Today's podcast guest is Andrea Messimer Henley talks about how to sell out of home.  Andrea is Sr Director of Sales and Business Development at Adomni. On the difference between posters and bulletins. Bulletins are larger...poster showings get more local penetration…A bulletin is like you use a hose to water one part of your grass.  But posters are like turning on the sprinklers.  You want to reach everybody at once… Andrea Messimer Henley, Sr Director of Sales and Business Development, Adomni. On keys to success in selling out of home. I go back to the basics.  Knowing your market.  Every inch of it.  And knowing where your inventory is…If you get out and drive the market not every day, maybe once a month things change…So you drive it once and that location was wide open.  Maybe three months later there’s a new walk-in clinic there…When you get in the car and drive around…you learn a lot…Become a consultant...versus a sign seller…Ask them what are your KPI’s what are your expectations….Look at your current clients.  What are their new initiatives…Once the billboard goes up followup in the middle of the campaign…are you happy…keep asking what the results are…If they give you positive feedback try to create a case study… My toughest out of home sale The one that comes to mind was Taco Bell. I was at Clear Channel Outdoor.  Late 90’s.  Early 2000’s.  I spent a lot of time with the agency – for almost two years.  They would buy short term, 1-2 months, when they had an opening of a store.  I kept talking to them about the value of poster showings.  They did a ton of TV back then…I stayed on top of it for two years.  We’d invite them over, we’d give them a tour of the plant…at some point it was like, man, I almost want to give up.  But I stayed on top of it…finally got an opportunity when Taco Bell increased their hours…The campaign was open later – 10pm to 2am…They did 100 showings for 4-6 months consistently…that’s over 250 posters, everywhere you turned you saw Taco Bell later…We had to add extra illumination on some of the posters...It was the hardest but it was the most rewarding. On listening to the client. When you go into the first client meeting ask what are you trying to achieve, what are your kpi’s, what’s your target audience, what’s your budget, what are you trying to accomplish – awareness, are your trying to get the phone to right, butts in the seats if it’s an event...Then once you’ve put the proposal together and come back to present it the best thing is to use their words: “Mr Customer, you said you wanted to reach this area, this location reaches that exact area.  You said that you wanted more traffic through your door.  This is going to accomplish that because there’s an offer on the billboard that says come in…” You marry their answers back into the presentation…The natural next step is to close a sale. On not being afraid to suggest alternatives. I got a request from an agency that said they wanted roadside billboards only…I looked at what our inventory was…There were just a few. But when I looked at our inventory we had bar and restaurant networks, we had college campuses which were perfect for their product.  I said I know you asked for roadside billboards however we have this bar and restaurant network which is 21 and up which is what you are looking for and the billboard inventory in the market is limited… How to keep your sales knowledge current. I try to look for people who are super authentic…People that have actually have done it.  I read a lot of industry publications like Adweek… Learning from other media is what I’m doing now.  I’m on a panel with Pandora and I’m learning what they are doing and how we can fit in with them… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement     full 26:13 https://billboardinsider.com/prismviews-szczepaniak-on-tariffs-and-trends-in-digital-billboard-design/ Wed, 18 Sep 2019 07:05:06 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=35113 ­­­ Today’s podcast guest is Don Szczepaniak, President and CEO of Prismview, a Samsung Electronics company which manufactures indoor and outdoor display products including digital billboards.  Don talks about what Prismview has done to reduce the impact of tariffs and trends in digital billboard design.  To receive a free Prismview white paper on trends in LED billboards click this link.   Review Prismview’s operations Prismview is headquartered in Logan Utah, about an hour and a half north of the Salt Lake City airport…our Network Operations Center is here in Logan, we have all manufacturing, all fabrication, all calibration, project management – it’s all out of Logan…We produce modules in Mexico, we produce modules and assemble and final design work here in Logan…Our sales people are based all over the country. China tariffs have been big in the news.  What’s the current impact of tariffs on digital billboard components. It was a huge issue last summer.  I spent a lot of time in DC testifying and working the halls of Congress as a representative of Prismview to get our message across as a US manufacturer headquartered in Utah which was being impacted by tariffs…at the same time we were looking at our supply chain….what Prismview did is we moved out of China…we shifted our excess production of modules.  We still produce three shifts a day in Logan but we shifted our excess production of modules from China to a facility in Tijuana.  It wasn’t the only reason we moved.  We shortened our supply chain.  We got quicker response.  We moved to a Samsung owned facility…but the tariffs contributed to our decision to move our production out of China… All LED manufacturers are still being impacted by tariffs on LED’s.  All LED’s get produced in China.  That impacts everybody equally…it is actually a scale that starts at 10% for some components and goes up to 25%...Because of the flexibility we have and the Samsung affiliate we were able to more our operations very quickly and avoid a tariff impact…We’ve made a statement to our customers that the tariff’s impact will not be passed along to them. What trends you are seeing in digital billboard design?  In the LED business it’s getting bigger, smaller, more and less.  All at the same time. You’re seeing a drive to higher resolution. There was a time in Times Square when a 16 mm sign was perfectly fine…We’re seeing more and more of the signs moving towards 8 mm. You’re seeing in spectaculars, not so much in highway billboards, a continuing move from tru hole technology to surface mount… We are testing some prototypes from some of our vendors that will deliver a reduction in power…in the billboard industry power is cost and cost is important.  So I don’t think we’re at the end of it yet. There’s one other trend which is important.  Outdoor to indoor and indoor to outdoor…The places and application for LED’s…is growing 25% year over year…It’s not because they signs are getting bigger.  It’s more places to put them.  And as you get indoor the pressure and the need for fine pixel pitch…is really important.  Fine pixel products will drive most of the growth in the digital out of home industry in the next few years. [wpforms id="9787"] full 20:29 https://billboardinsider.com/ran-ben-yair/ Wed, 04 Sep 2019 07:04:19 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=34922 Today’s podcast guest is Ran Ben-Yair, President and CEO of the location intelligence company Ubimo. Ran discusses how to use data to target out of home audiences, mistakes out of home companies make when using data and whether google will enter out of home buying. Here are the highlights. Ran Ben-Yair, Co-Founder and CEO, Ubimo Talk about Ubimo’s history  Ubimo is a location intelligence company.  We founded the company 7 years ago with the intention of trying to leverage how we can leverage location data and mobile data and turn it into insight about consumer behavior…there was this whole frenzy to replicate this the digital ecosystem from desktop to mobile but it was really focused on the online experience.  We felt that this was the first time in history that you have everybody walking around with a device that is sending location signals.  And for us it was really interesting to see how we can use the signal…and connect it with your digital experience to try to gain more insight about consumer behavior. How big is Ubimo The company was founded in Tel Aviv in Israel and today we are close to 55 people, 15 here in New York where are business center is at and then we have an R&D center in Israel.  The company was backed by Pitango which is Israel’s largest VC and we’ve had two funding rounds… Ubimo “helps out of home businesses sell audiences instead of property location by connecting the digital and physical world.” If you think about how out of home has been sold previously it was mostly how many eyeballs am I reaching.  Maybe there was some metadata about the nature of the neighborhood…We’re looking at an audience, let’s say an audience with a propensity to buy product X…we take that audience and we overlay it with the real world.  We test how it indexes against various locations including billboards or it can be stores.  And then we figure out which are the most relevant locations for that specific audience.  The minute you do that you turn the conversation from an offline impressions approach to an online digital approach.  You’re starting to talk the same language that a CMO will talk. What mistakes do out of home companies make when they apply data to out of home? There are two main mistakes…One is a lot of companies…looking at static data which is tied to a location which is not necessarily tied to movement data.  So devices that are passing through that area will tell a very different story… The other is…sometimes missing the opportunity to go granular and use custom data sets…or bringing in your own first party data…that’s the cutting edge… Will Google enter automated out of home buying? It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when..I think it’s just a matter of scale.  Once we get there we will see the big guys playing there. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 16:20 https://billboardinsider.com/diana-and-hal-stevenson-on-running-an-independent-out-of-home-company/ Wed, 21 Aug 2019 07:05:04 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=34677   Diana and Hal Stevenson own Grace Outdoor, a South Carolina headquartered company with 300 billboard faces in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.  On the Billboard Insider podcast they, talk about the importance of sales, being independent in a world dominated by the big three, cloud-based tools for managing your out of home business, and why you need to pay attention to Duke Energy Diana Stevenson On the importance of sales I view Grace Outdoor as a sales organization.  Without the sales there’s really nothing else.  You can have a great billboard.  If you don’t sell it, it doesn’t matter.  I look at sales numbers every day…I look at quarterly goals as well…The whole firm gets a bonus if we reach certain goals.  Our AE’s are the ones that are out there on the street…but we want everybody in the office to feel like there in sales too…if we get contracts processed and invoices out on time and if we have good collections…all of that helps…out creative helps in our sales effort, so we look at quarterly goals and we give quarterly bonuses for good sales results. On the challenge of being an independent company in a world where the big three (Lamar, Clear Channel and OUTFRONT) control two thirds of all billboards Hal Stevenson I was talking with an executive and one of the larger companies at OAAA and he said Hal we just get up every day with the attitude that we’re going to go out there and kick out competition’s butt.  I said that’s great but why don’t you go out there and kick the internet companies and TV stations and all those people because we’re no longer a threat to you.  We might be an irritation but we have more to gain by working together than we do by questioning our permits or pushing back with property owners…It’s been such a pleasure to be in the IBO and get to know a lot of other businesses which are just like ours… What cloud based services (scheduling, CRM, ad design, ad sales) does Grace Outdoor use and what’s been your experience? We started using Apparatix three years ago.  I can’t even tell you how much it’s helped us.  Keeping up with our contracts…It’s all integrated as well as production, work orders, all of that is in one system…it saves us a lot of time...We just converted almost all of our digitals to the scheduling program in Apparatix.  The girl who does our posting for us she’s coming to me telling me she’s bored and doesn’t have anything to do.  It’s saving us that much time…We’re almost paperless.  We used to have file cabinets with contracts and schedules.  And now we don’t even use those… Duke energy attended the last OAAA show and is entering the ad supported kiosk business in Columbia. Those kiosks were supposed to be installed in February…and they have still not been installed…It did concern us because basically…they were asking for a permit to erect…an outdoor advertising sign on the sidewalks of our streets…In our city it is extremely difficult to get an outdoor advertising permit and when you do there are all kinds of issues…It struck us the wrong way that here was this out of state company just kind of waltzing in here and getting a permit to put up a billboard…Fair ought to be fair for everybody.  If we can’t get permits… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 30:21 https://billboardinsider.com/jim-matalone-on-starting-running-and-selling-ashby-st-outdoor/ Wed, 31 Jul 2019 07:05:41 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=33881 This week's podcast guest Jim Matalone talks about starting, running and selling Ashby St Outdoor, an out of home company with 1,908 faces in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Talk about the formation of Ashby Street in 2011. Before Ashby St I had been running Next Media Outdoor which was owned by a radio platform…while we were building an outdoor platform and growing value the radio platform was slowly declining.  From that experience I learned that I needed to go out of my own and start an outdoor company where there was nobody but me and the investment money to worry about…I started looking for money…It’s easier said than done…PE firms want to see a deal first…the people that are selling want to see that you have money behind your.  It’s a little bit the chicken and the egg story. I cold called Ryan Fowler who had a company in Northwest Arkansas called Fowler Media.  It was a nice really well-built outdoor plant, very strong real estate portfolio.  And what caught my attention was…when I heard the average rates he was getting for static faces it was 20% higher than I was used to…that stuck out…we negotiated a price point pretty much that first day.  Getting the money and getting the deal together took another three or four months. On Ashby's lead investor Tinicum A great investment group.  I really got lucky there…There was equity money there but everybody was really cautious with it…What made Tinicum the perfect partner was they had been looking at outdoor for about four years…The Tinicum folks are going to be knowledgeable about any investment before they put their money in it…What I really liked about Tinicum was their pockets were deep enough where this acquisition wasn’t going to be it.  We could go after Fairway or Clear Channel. What was Tinicum’s due diligence like? I felt like I’d been put through the ringer.  They called every single reference that I gave them…I did a pretty in depth psych profile.  They wanted to know how I was going to run a company…They didn’t take what I said at face value.  They called former employees, former equity guys, they called everybody.  No one’s going to BS their way through that screening process. What were some operating steps you took during the seven years operating Ashby St to maximize its value. Digital deployment was a big part of our strategy.  Every year at Ashby our growth was driven by digital…we probably deployed between 40 and 50 organic digitals…we were prudent in each one we deployed…we almost always exceeded those projections…My overall growth plan was maintain static revenues and grow digital.  And we did that almost every single year. The second thing we did was by working with John at Apparatix that maximized our efficiency…We helped John expand how Apparatix could be used…John started writing for Nextmedia because he was in Fort Collins and we had a billboard plant in Fort Collins.  We needed a software package and the stuff off the shelf was really expensive and John said I’ll develop this from the ground up.  He wrote this to my specs…I didn’t want a software for real estate, a software for sales.  I wanted an all-encompassing operations system…John did that.  He spent three years in our office in Fort Collins…learning how our business worked…When I started Ashby I said let’s implement this here…with Apparatix the bigger you are, the more efficiencies it creates...If we convert a static to a digital it will show as a digital on the website.  The inventory is all married up there….On the sales side it communicates with the sales contact system and the proposal system.  Our sales people know up to the minute…I can see why a board isn’t selling.  Maybe we’ve got it priced too high…I can tell how many proposals have been generated on a specific piece of inventory so I can say it’s not priced too high, we’re just not pitching it enough…It was a big part of our efficiency… Tomorrow Insider will print Matalone's comments on acquisitions, selling to Lamar and what advice he has for the out of home industry.   [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 22:51 https://billboardinsider.com/mike-norton-on-running-a-family-owned-out-of-home-company/ Wed, 17 Jul 2019 07:05:43 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=33578 ­­­ Today’s podcast guest is Mike Norton, President of Norton Outdoor Advertising, an independent out of home company with 900 traditional and 14 digital billboard displays in Ohio.  Mike represents the third generation of Nortons to run the business.  Mike sits OAAA Board of Directors, Digital billboard and Innovations committees.  Mike gives tips talks about running a family-owned company and steps you can take to minimize operating expenses. Mike Norton, President, Norton Outdoor AdvertisingTips on running a family-owned out of home companyI would say don’t get too top heavy with family members in the business.  Everyone in the business needs to have a defined role matching their talents and they need to be accountable.  Especially in a small company like ours there’s no room to hire somebody simply because their name happens to be Norton…Family members need to hold themselves to a higher standard than non-family employees.  Secondly, you have to mentally compartmentalize business and family.  It’s really easy and tempting to talk about business nonstop 24/7 but it’s good to have a little separation and a little space. On growing up in an out of home business versus working for another company. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer…I think both ways can and do work.  In my particular instance with the exception of a short stint as a pizza delivery guy I came up in the business from the ground up, sweeping the shop floor when I was 14 or 15 and then cutting weeds with a machete the next 7 summers.  So I came up in the business… High efficiency LED lights. We have over the past several years changed out our lights to much more efficient lighting systems and it has taken our bills for electricity for our displays…down drastically.  If you haven’t done so already I would certainly look into that. Solar I looked at solar ten years ago…The technology wasn’t there, especially for the Midwest…My sense is that in this portion of the country with the amount of space that I would have on an individual billboard we might not be there yet but it is something that I want to look toward as an energy source. On using Smartlink My uncle Dan handles all this.  I do believe we are using Smartlink…Things like Smartlink where you make sure that the lights go on and off at a certain point – every thing adds up to being more efficient as a company and saving money. Business management software We use the same software program for our scheduling and our real estate and our billing.  We happen to use Quattro through Key Systems…We’ve used that for almost 20 years now.  We have recently gone to a new proposal software through DoMedia to streamline our proposal process and to make sure that we have proposals that have the same look, feel and data regardless of the account executive who is preparing the proposal… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 18:42 https://billboardinsider.com/sean-reilly-on-lamars-corporate-culture/ Mon, 01 Jul 2019 07:05:40 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=33329 On this week's Billboard Insider podcast Lamar CEO Sean Reilly talks about the search for a new OAAA CEO, Lamar's corporate culture, sustainability, programmatic out of home, Landmark Infrastructure, tariffs and what keeps him awake nights. You head the OAAA committee which is searching for a replacement for Nancy Fletcher.  How’s the search going? Sean Reilly, CEO, Lamar Advertising Let’s start with the fact that you can’t replace Nancy Fletcher.  She is an incredibly effective face of and voice for the industry for almost three decades.  So tough act to follow…I’m really pleased with the way the search has gone and we have settled on a candidate that I believe will rock the industry…We had a great committee.  We interviewed a half dozen excellent candidates…The candidate we now have on board is something special…We should have an announcement in the next several weeks. Lamar’s regional managers have been with the company for an average of 33 years.  We have senior leadership that’s incredibly well tenured…for most of them, their very first job they ever got was as an account executive with Lamar.  And beyond the regional tier of leadership if you look at our 200 general managers around the country, their average tenure is over 15 years with the company.  So how does that happen?  It starts with a great corporate culture…Number one is the golden rule.  Treat other people like you’d like to be treated…Another thing is we should leave it better than we’ve found it.  By this I mean the communities we operate in.  We are part and parcel of the communities we operate in.  It’s a privilege of us to be part of…that landscape.  We need to give back.  We do that daily, whether it’s volunteering or whether it’s putting up public service copy…Lamar does almost $150 million/year in public service copy…That leads be people wanting to be part of a company that they know cares…One other thing we do is we rigorously promote from within.  When a position comes open in Lamarland it’s going to be filled by somebody within Lamarland…. Lamar’s cashflow margin is 10-20% higher then the other public out of home companies.  There’s several things to talk about…first, we run a tight ship, year in and year out our expense growth is kept at or below 2%.  We’re well known for that.  So if you have expense growth that you keep below GDP and you grow your top line slightly better than GDP you’re going to get margin expansion…We think our margins after everything…corporate EBIDTA...should be approaching 45%... We compensate our GM’s slightly differently than the other companies.  They are treated as complete business people.  They hire, they fire, they turn on the lights, they turn off the lights, they have complete control of their P&L…That philosophy of being flat, decentralized business units…makes a huge difference. Now we do have some structural advantages.  We have lower ground lease expense because of our middle market focus.  Our ground lease expense runs give or take 20%...That the difference in running outdoor companies in places like Little Rock, Arkansas...versus places like Manhattan. And then we have an advantage in our mix of businesses.  We are more traditional out of home and less transit and airports and those have lower margins to begin with… On creating a lean company structure The business school books call it flat, decentralized organization chart.  I like to call it respecting the business judgement that is in the field and creating a corporate infrastructure that services the field…when I walk around our place here in Baton Rouge I constantly remind our corporate folks that at the end of the day if we’re not servicing folks in the field – our GM’s, our account executives, our production managers, our folks that are hanging vinyl – if we’re not helping them get better at their jobs then we don’t have a reason to exist…We’re not command and control.  When we pick up the phone, when we take a call from a sales manager or a general manager, the first words out of our mouth are “how can I help” not “here’s how you do it.” [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 25:59 https://billboardinsider.com/max-drachman-says-the-deal-market-is-incredibly-strong/ Wed, 19 Jun 2019 07:05:50 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=32935 The out of home deal market is "incredibly strong" says out of home investment banker Max Drachman on this week's Billboard Insider podcast.  Max has more than 10 years experience in out of home dealmaking with Kalil & Co. Here are some highlights. Your firm Kalil is also a large Radio, TV, and Tower dealmaker.  How does out of home compare to those mediums? The business model in TV has completely flipped…It wasn’t that long ago when these networks…used to pay television station owners to carry their content.  Now its completely opposite.  TV owners have to pay the networks for their content and then they go to the cable companies to get compensated…It’s a tough business. A lot of the revenue decline in traditional media is coming out of print…There’s still a lot of consolidation in that space. Radio has just had the two largest players – Cumulus and iHeart – get out of bankruptcy…It’s not a revenue base that features dynamic growth.  It’s mostly flat to increasing single digits. On positive out of home trends You look at outdoor financials over time and you see compression in expenses.  For instance lighting, printing, certain areas like that were they’re becoming more efficient…You also see revenue grow.   All of a sudden other income has picked up.  There are companies like Adomni or Blip or any of these other groups that are adding revenue… On the out of home M&A market It’s been incredibly strong.  Last year was one of our best year’s ever.  We did approximately $250 million in out of home deals.  The thing that was interesting for us is how much went to the big three – less than $1 million…There’s an incredibly healthy independent buyer pool out there. Scott Wells at Clear Channel Outdoor said recently that Clear Channel Outdoor may be more open to tuck-in acquisitions. I think they will…Now that they’ve got more freedom it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they came out of the gate swinging. Lamar does $100-200 million/year in acquisitions.  Do you expect this to continue? It depends on the deal flow.  Lamar’s not out there spending money just for the sake of it.  We see them increase their aggression as quality outdoor assets become available. What about Outfront Media? Outfront has been fairly selective for acquisitions going back ten years.  They’re hyper-focused on New York…I met with several of them at the OAAA conference last week and I’ve never seen so much excitement in their eyes…It wouldn’t surprise me to see those guys pick up several acquisitions. The other independents? It’s not just independents.  Last year we probably did $50 million in deals where mature businesses in other sectors acquired outdoor assets.  We had buyers coming from the tower space.  We had buyers coming from print.  We did a deal with a radio group…It’s people recognizing the value of out of home and wanting to deploy their capital in a space which is safe and viable going forward. What can you say about valuations? On that $250 million in deals we did last year most of them fell between 8 and 12 times billboard cashflow.  We did several deals below that and we did a couple deals above that. What are you seeing in the out of home debt markets? We get calls from banks all the time wanting to lend on outdoor deals and by the way they’ve got to have $10 million in cashflow.  So that’s the major banks out of Manhattan.  When you get down to the independent level most of these buyers are dealing with banks that they’ve had a relationship for 20-30 years.  It’s been difficult for your standard bank to get introduced to outdoor and get comfortable with it in a manner of time that won’t risk an operator losing a deal. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 20:36 https://billboardinsider.com/scott-wells-on-independence-a-new-board-and-next-years-priorities/ Wed, 05 Jun 2019 07:05:43 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=32572 On this week's Billboard Insider Podcast Clear Channel Outdoor Americas CEO Scott Wells talks about Clear Channel Outdoor's spinoff from iHeart, the benefits of independence, the new board and priorities for next year.  Clear Channel Outdoor Americas consists of the United States and the Caribbean with revenues of $1.2 billion and nearly $600 million in cashflow (ebidta). Explain the recent Clear Channel Outdoor spinoff from iHeart. This is something that people in the industry have been expecting for a long time…as iHeart went through its restructuring the creditors viewed iHeart as a key asset and wanted to have it separated…We were publicly traded before but we were known as a control company where iHeart had 90% of the equity and therefore had control status and therefore had us have somewhat different reporting requirements than a typical free-floating company which is what we are now. How will an independent Clear Channel Outdoor be different from Clear Channel Outdoor as part of iHeart? What’s really different know is that as a separate entity…we’re going to be able to be setting the priorities based on where we are able to create the most value for our investors and our stakeholders.  So we’re very excited about that.  There’s a lot of great things we can build on.  Things like our global digitization strategy our Radar programmatic sales strategy, our enhanced selling models… It must be a huge plus to be part of an independent company which doesn’t have to compete with other divisions for capital. That’s for sure.  We do have debt and we do have creditors so we’re going to be keeping a close eye on cashflow.  It’s not like we come out with unlimited ability to invest.  But it will be great for us to focus… Talk about the new Clear Channel Outdoor board.  What thought went into selecting the board.  The board was assembled by the new investors.  It was done in concert with management input but the investors were the ones really driving it.  And I think they did a great job.  They were looking for great executives in a variety of areas that would be relevant for our future…We have significant media expertise on that board, we have lots of data and analytics expertise…we’ve got tremendous finance expertise, we’ve got real estate expertise… Women hold are 42% of your board seats.  The average is only 11% for the Fortune 500 and 30% for the US public out of home companies. They’re a great group and we’re excited to have them on board. Clear Channel Outdoor Americas had a strong first quarter with revenue up 6.6%.  What accounted for the increase? It’s a number of things…First off, we’re seeing some large advertisers…shift their spend into out of home…Second, we’re in the middle of a bunch of major tech product and company announcements from companies that prefer out of home…Third, we’re seeing traction on initiatives…things like our direct client outreach, our Radar initiative, our programmatic work.  And finally…the local and regional markets have continued to be very strong… What's hindered the deployment of wireless antennas on billboards. That is something we’re doing…but it’s small.  A lot of our assets aren’t necessarily in the places that 5G rollout is most packed.  The issue is you need density in the inner part of a city…There’s a little bit of a mismatch between where the assets are and where the gaps in the networks are…It’s an opportunity for us still but I think it’s something people overhyped a few years back. What are Clear Channel Outdoor’s top priorities for the next year? There’s a lot of work to do to actually physically separate from iHeart.  We’ve financially separated but we’ve got to get all of our systems and our tools separate…From a US perspective we are looking to continue to innovate.  We will be evolving Radar from being one overarching brand into four distinct product lines…and we’ll be communicating those broadly over the coming months…We’re also growing our base of SSP and DSP partners so that we have broader reach.  We’re growing the team that focuses on new client development… You use multiple vendors for programmatic? We have three different SSP’s that we’re working with right now and more than 20 DSP’s. How does the US out of home industry to get a bigger share of the ad spend? I think you see us in the industry taking the steps we need.  We need to be accountable for delivering ROI.  Every CMO is being told by their CEO that they have to show that return…We have to be flexible on how we sell.  We can’t just sell it one way…we’ve got to be in multiple channels, we’ve got to have creative ways of marketing our inventory and we need to be visible with planners and strategists that shape the campaign spending.  That’s something different from this business a decade ago when it was a little bit more of an if you build it they’ll come kind of dynamic…Finally I think that the new Geopath currency is going to be an important part in helping to further enable this trend because it will give us a more robust currency… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 19:04 https://billboardinsider.com/ian-dallimore-our-medium-has-the-ability-to-tell-a-story-every-day/ Fri, 17 May 2019 07:05:03 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=32149 This week's Billboard Insider podcast features Lamar Advertising's Director of Digital Growth Ian Dallimore.  Ian talks about what needs to happen for programmatic buying to increase, how an out of home company can effectively use social media and a not-to-be-missed session at next week's OAAA 2019 show. Here are some excerpts from the 25 minute interview. Lamar CEO Sean Reilly thinks programmatic can contribute $8-10 million to revenues this year.  What has to happen for the programmatic buy to increase? Ian Dallimore, Director of Digitial Growth, Lamar Advertising Think about booking air travel years ago.  You started with a travel agent.  Then you had the likes of Obitz and other platforms.  Now you just go to delta.com.  That’s where we’re building towards…And we also put a heavy focus that we’re not cannibalizing out of home budgets…We want to go after digital agencies that are buying mobile and online and search and we’re complementing the existing purchases which are being made by our friends at the out of home agencies. The other thing that has to happen is there needs to be education of the out of home medium… Have we seen some 7 figure programmatic buys? We have…The perception that the industry has about programmatic is that its fake, it’s really just automation.  We’re truly living in a world where digital agencies are spending these six and seven figure campaigns and they’re using real time bidding and real time data to show and play on out of home just as they do on the mobile device…The other misconception is that these buys are only being done top 5 DMA level.  As most of your listeners know Lamar goes deep into 200 DMAs.  We’re seeing a ton of buys in the 100+ DMA’s because the data shows that these are…the locations that index highest towards a specific plan… Lamar seems to be more willing to use programmatic out of home vendors than Outfront or Clear Channel.  How can an out of home company use vendors productively when developing automated out of home buying. Seven years ago Lamar became the first large out of home company to partner with a programmatic company…Vistar and Vistar is still a partner today.  The important thing is that it allowed us to learn a lot…we continue to to that today with our other partners Place Exchange, Hivestack and Broadsign/Reach…Today we take the approach that we have multiple partners and rather than building out our own platform we allow the sales reps at a lot of these great SSP (“Supply side providers”)…to be the expert at selling the medium.  We come in along side them at the media vendor days. How can an out of home company effectively use social media? Locally and nationally we’re streaming live tweets to billboards. We’ve had a really cool campaign running with Cheetos where we’re streaming live tweets in real time about people interacting.  The ability to continue the conversation with social media is important… My other favorite one is the use of Instagram.  Instagram is the social out of home…For digital out of home it’s very simple, just like twitter.  You can have a specific promotion, whether it be coke and share a coke and you take a picture of yourself sharing a coke with a friend, streaming that live to the board…our friends at Colossal the hand paint company – I think that the way that they’re doing it is phenomenal.  This is an old school classic company that’s hand painting and they have so many of their campaigns that just go viral because people in New York are like, “this is a really cool paint job”… If you could communicate one thing to out of home clients and ad agencies what would it be. Our medium has the ability to tell a story every day.  And now even every minute of the day.  So brands are able to be more impactful…We’re the only medium that can talk to consumers at a relevant real time, with creative.  Some recent research has shown that when digital out of home campaigns use dynamic creative it increases the overall effectiveness by 48%...I’ll be moderating a panel at the 2019 OAAA conference with Dan Dawson at Grand Visual.  He’s the chief creative technology officer and Martin Porter who’s the SVP at Posterscope…The session is called creating a mind-blowing consumer experience…we’re going to take the audience and have them interact with us and we’re going to create a real live campaign. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 25:34 https://billboardinsider.com/paul-wright-says-out-of-home-values-are-10-11-times-cashflow/ Wed, 08 May 2019 07:05:08 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=31940 This week’s Billboard Insider podcast features Paul Wright, the top out of home valuation expert in the United States.  Paul’s firm SignValue.com appraises billboards, billboard leases and billboard easements.  Paul talks about out of home values, a tax case that could hurt values, Landmark Infrastructure and what he thinks of Clear Channel, Outfront, Lamar and Link Media Outdoor. Here are some excerpts from the 29 minute interview. Paul Wright, Co-Founder, Signvalue.com On the current M&A market There’s a lot of optimism about the industry.  We’re seeing a lot of interest from new groups that are in ancillary media.  Newspaper, radio, television – that are thinking…out of home is the place we want to be.  And so they’re moving dollars there.  Making more investments. On out of home values The market is increasing in terms of values.  We’re seeing values rise…There’s really strong revenue growth…We’re watching to see if the strong revenue growth is continuing and I think that’s likely because of the number two item which is a shift in ad spend.  We’ve always kind of suspected that advertisers were moving dollars from other media.  But I think this is the first sign that those dollars are coming from radio and television and newspaper…There are a couple of things that may slow down value growth.  One of those things is taxation issues…There was a recent case in Pennsylvania that concluded that the value of billboard lease income to the landowner can be considered in assessing the value of that property owners land…The other think is a recession looming.  I think that everyone knows that’s likely to happen in the next couple years. Am I right that multiples are 10-12 times cashflow (EBIDTA)? You are right…Our average is 10.5 or 11 and in term of revenue multiples I think we’re in the 5 to 5.5 times range…During the last recession we saw a spike in multiples.  We were looking at lower revenues and lower cashflows and buyers were anticipating that to be a temporary thing. Drivers of an out of home company’s value One of the original staples of analysis when looking at valuation is lease costs.  And that’s still one of the primary drivers that we look at…We want to know how much of that revenue is going to landowners…We’re also looking at market size and whether you’re in a major market… Is a wood plant worth less than a steel monopole plant? It is not the driving factor that a lot of people feel it is.  Now if you’re comparing apples to apples - you’ve got a wood plant in the same market on the same streets with the same roads you might see a half to a quarter point discount on a revenue multiple.  You might see a half point to three-quarters point discount on a cashflow multiple. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 28:47 https://billboardinsider.com/jonathan-gudai-automation-can-double-the-digital-out-of-home-ad-spend/ Wed, 24 Apr 2019 07:05:42 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=31481   This week's podcast guest is Jonathan Gudai the Founder and CEO of Adomni the online platform which automates digital billboard buying.  Gudai talks about how automated buying can grow out of home revenues, barriers to automation, how Adomni helped UFC sell 15,000 tickets in 4 days and whether automation comes to static billboards. Here are some excerpts from the 30 minute conversation. How big is the digital out of home market today and how much is automated? I’m on the board of directors of the Digital Place Based Advertising Association (DPAA) and our estimate is that…in the US, digital out of home is a $4-5 billion market…Less than 2% of the digital out of home ads which are being transacted are being done online by the platforms….We think that we can grow digital out of home from the $4 billion where it is today to over $10 billion within 5-10 years. Barriers to continued automation of digital billboard ads From an advertising perspective it’s just wrapping their minds around the “one to many” medium that we have…If they deal with the big three (Google, Facebook and Amazon), they’re thinking about one to one impressions and really pinpointed audience targeting.  The first barrier is getting people comfortable with “one to many” and that these screens are still very important to help drive the results.  But it’s not going to be on a one to one level where you’re going to get a report of exactly how many clicks and exactly how many buys you’re getting…We have to show people how out of home influences all the other channels because of the size and the site, sound and motion capabilities. Does automated selling ever come to static boards? We believe it does.  It’s a slightly different value proposition and selling model, just because of the printing and the installation involved…At the end of the day it’s inventory that’s not filled.  And there’s no technical hurdle to be able to list it and to be able to let people choose their dates and reserve space the way that they are booking hotel rooms…The last minute model that we’re all living in today.  That works for digital out of home.  For static, you have to understand that there’s a lead time and there’s also recognizing that if you want to change out your messaging, you’re going to need to wait for that to happen.     On making the case of out of home. When we’re talking to a digital agency or a digital ad buyer and they’re saying why don’t I just keep doing Facebook/Instagram/Google we say “Well, how about the study that just came out that said that 60% of the online digital ads are fraud.  How about the fact that you’re paying for ads that are underneath the folds that are on the page that no one is able to see.  How about how digital out of home has no bots that are roaming around being counted in our impression counts. Those disadvantages you have in online digital, you don’t have in out of home.” [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 29:36 https://billboardinsider.com/geopaths-kym-frank-on-geopaths-new-measurement-system/ Wed, 10 Apr 2019 07:05:44 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=31179 This week's podcast guest is Geopath President Kym Frank.  She talks about the mistakes which other media channels have made, new features of Geopath's Insights Suite, autonomous cars, privacy, the death (or not) of ad agencies, hyper-targeting and Dr Zizmore... Some highlights. Features of the new Geopath system When we first headed down this path there was this feeling that the tool was more focused on national buying and planning.  I think now that it's in front of everyone…they realize the opposite is true.  You can do great national planning that you could never do in our system before but the local data are awesome.  One of my members told me that they still have this old Arbitron study that they bought decades ago that they reference about where cars were coming from that were passing each of their pieces of inventory.  But now because we have the mobile data we know what neighborhood audiences are originating from so you can get a unique origin study for every piece of inventory you own.  And in so many cases we see that the audience is not coming from the zip code in which the inventory is sitting. Something else that I’m really advocating for people to use…we now have cross-channel media consumption as a target in our platform.  We talk about where we can target people who are in the market for a new car.  Or we can target people who are planning to go do college next year.  But we can also target people who aren’t watching television.  So if you have an advertiser who is maybe spending a lot of money in television you can look across your inventory and say where are the people who aren’t watching television, who aren’t on social networks…let’s say you have a big restaurant in town and they buy a lot of television.  You can identify where the audiences are that don’t watch television and you can also identify where the audiences are that are likely to eat at a restaurant…and find the overlap… Why does a small independent out of home advertising company need Geopath? What brings a lot of smaller operators to our organization is we’ve lowered our dues for operators, we’ve created new tiers for smaller businesses, but also because they’re getting turned away a lot from agencies because they’re not measured, or they’re using circulation counts….We provide a lot of consulting work on behalf of our members.  That’s been a huge new value for some of our smaller operators….To be able to reach out to a team of researchers who you can consider part of your own team and say to them “hey I got someone in town who won’t even take a meeting with me, do you have any information that can help me.”  And having someone here actually curate content so you can get that meeting….We’ve had a lot of members who have used that service. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 27:24 https://billboardinsider.com/melody-roberts/ Wed, 27 Mar 2019 07:05:48 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=30867 This week's podcast guest is  Out of Home Creative’s Melody Roberts. Melody discusses out of home design principles, common design mistakes, how digital and static design differ and how to effectively use a designer.  Click below to listen to the podcast on your computer or to subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or one of the other podcast providers you can click on any of the links shown below. Here are some highlights of the 22 minute interview. Melody Roberts, Owner | Chief Creative Officer, Out of Home Creative What are the principles of good out of home design? Strategic placement, balance, size and color… Strategic placement is important because generally people read left to right.  I usually put content on the Left and imagery on the Right.  If I am designing transit that shifts a little because I’m working up to down.   Balance is important because if you place content on the Left, imagery in the middle and more content on the Right it can appear chopped up. You don’t want to have elements off balance or aligned improperly, that can be difficult to the public on what they should focus on first.   Color and contrast go together, and they are different depending on whether you are designing digital or traditional OOH. For traditional OOH, I wouldn’t usually put Red on a Black background because dark colors on dark colors aren’t typically visible but on digital, I would because it will POP. Another example is colors that can vibrate the eye, a Yellow font on a dark Pink background may do this, but by simply changing the Yellow to White it contrasts better. Another example is fluorescent colors - unless you are paying extra for this through the printer it will come out muted (on vinyl) because we are using four color process. However, on digital, we are using a three-color process, and the fluorescents and neons come out beautiful.   It is helpful to understand the placement of the board and what’s behind it. If I’m designing a board where the city is behind it, I’m probably going to use more vibrant colors such as Purple, Pink, Yellow or White. If I’m designing a board that’s up in the sky (and the only thing behind it is the sky), then I don’t believe the board should be blue because it may to wash out. The size and scale are so important with OOH. It needs to be seen quickly for motorist facing. It’s the same with a photo. I had a client in the past that always wanted their bodies on the board.  If you’re putting a full body image on a 14 x 48 interstate billboard, you’re going to look very tiny.  My tip is to take a photograph from the chest up so you can see who the person is. What are some common design mistakes. Logos and phone numbers being the emphasis on structures that are motorist facing and/or high up on the interstate. Unless it’s a vanity number, I don’t believe most drivers have the time to write down a phone number. I don’t feel that companies design their logos with OOH in mind so most of the time they don’t translate well for outdoor. The "golden egg" is when your client’s name is their website.  You can make that the focal point and the public will remember that. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 22:52 https://billboardinsider.com/nancy-fletcher-on-40-years-in-ooh/ Wed, 13 Mar 2019 07:05:37 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=30414 This week’s podcast guest is Nancy Fletcher who retires at the end of this year after a 40-year out of home advertising career, which includes nearly 30 years as President and CEO of OAAA.  Here are highlights of our interview. What have been the industry’s biggest accomplishments over your tenure? Over these last almost 30 years the industry has reinvented itself.  Today it’s data rich, it’s measured, it has an exciting variety of out of home formats that are digital or static, and in that time out of home revenues have tripled while other traditional media is declining. The industry over the last three decades has done an effective job of turning what were government and community skeptics into actual partners of the industry.  We won that important fight for just compensation on Capitol Hill. All 46 states that have billboards now have just compensation. We beat back a statewide referendum ban in Missouri that would have spread to other states. We achieved a green light for digital billboards and rolled out a regulatory framework that is working at the federal level. We won a court challenge when Scenic America was not happy with that regulatory framework and tried to stop digital billboards via litigation. On the importance of the Thomas case This is a big case before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.  It’s called the Thomas case.  It asks whether billboard law is constitutional. The case comes out of Tennessee, and it’s important because it may actually make its way to the US Supreme Court. The industry stake in this case is nothing less than the protection of property rights that are included in the current law. We expect a ruling from the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals later this year. Where is OOH doing a good job giving women opportunities? We’ve made good progress, but we need to do more.  If you look at it just from a metrics perspective, the OOH industry has done as good a job or better than much of the advertising or corporate world in giving women opportunities.  I remember when I entered the industry in 1978, there were four women in senior positions.  And now there are hundreds.  You had a piece in Billboard Insider on almost 400 women in senior positions, and 58 were running specific operations.  You also published a story on how the public out of home companies are doing better than the Fortune 500 for the number of women directors.   Where can the industry do better? Diversity and inclusivity will be a central theme at the Las Vegas Conference.  We’ve partnered with the Female Quotient, which is a female owned enterprise committed to advancing equality in the workplace.  They are going to add important programming elements including a Female Quotient lounge that will be a side stage with panel discussions, career counseling, etc.  The CEO of the Female Quotient, Shelly Zallis, is going to be on the main stage talking to CMO’s from two or three Fortune 500 companies, discussing the importance of diversity in today’s ad business. Who have been some of your mentors? I have been blessed by working with Bob Naegele. He taught me the power of out of home and the power of urgency. Arte Moreno brought deep discipline and a service orientation to the business. Karl Eller, and his focus on the creative impact of the medium.  Bill Apfelbaum, who is one of the best salesmen ever in any business.  He lived the principle, and I learned from him that nothing happens until a sale is made. All of the Reilly’s are super savvy business people.  I’ve worked closely with Kevin Sr and Kevin Jr and now Sean Reilly. And then maybe most important of all, the many family owned company leaders who are really like family to me.  People like Tom Norton, who has been on the OAAA board since the day I arrived. What’s next? I want to take the next months to thank the industry…. This industry has given me such unforgettable opportunities.  I’ve had a great ride.  I wouldn’t trade a single day of it.  Even the most challenging days.  After 40 years it’s time for a change.  I’m ready for more time with my husband and grandchildren. I also anticipate some corporate board service and some work on non-profits. Any parting words? My hope for the industry is that all of you would remember to stick together and push yourselves to do even better all the time for our customers and communities and the public. [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement   full 27:05 https://billboardinsider.com/chris-cowlbeck-says-independents-must-sell-audience-and-support-standardization-episode-2/ Wed, 27 Feb 2019 08:05:09 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=29735 This week's podcast guest is Chris Cowlbeck.  Chris is General Manager for Look Billboards an out of home company with more than 100 traditional faces and 5 digital billboards in Oklahoma.  Chris is also General Manager of the IBOUSA a networking group which promotes the interests of independent billboard operators in the United States.  We had a wide-ranging 30 minute conversation. What does the IBOUSA do and how does it help out of home companies. Chris Cowlbeck, General Manager, Look Billboards and IBOUSA The IBO’s mission is pretty simple.  It is an effort to combine the synergies and energies of a number of our nationwide operator associates in a harmonic way to maximize our efforts, add some education and learning and have great friends and learn how to be more profitable…We have 160 companies…to date we’re about 50,000 faces and about 1,000 digitals. What is Media Rating Council doing and why should an out of home company care. Almost exclusively every industry veteran that I’ve talked to had never heard of the Media Rating Council up until  about 6 mos ago.  We have the folks there come and speak at our last convergence that resulted in the IBO becoming members of the Media Rating Council.    I now sit on the board of directors…I’m on the digital out of home committee and now the out of home standards committee.  The Media Rating Council has governed audience ratings since the 60’s….Our OOH standards committee  is coming up with the out of home standard to be released some time in the second quarter of 2019… We think it is very important…and I can see a significant reliance on validated transparent accurate believable data… What must out of home do to thrive in the next five years? We absolutely have to get behind the concept of selling by audience.  Right now, most of us that have been in billboards have sold by location…It’s the best spot.  It’s the busiest intersection, etc.  But to take me for an example, if I could go to an advertiser and say that we have these 500 locations across the country and you Justin Boots would be very well heeled to know that there are this many people that are 50 years old and have disposable income and love to wear cowboy boots.  How many billboards could we sell on a platform if we can give that information… We need to have our data standardized…and by having people convert into the workflows helps us do that across all those platforms…We waste millions and millions of keystrokes…We must have audience measurement…and we must have what I lovingly call the equivalent of a US government reduction of paperwork act. Will there be a recession in the US economy? Nobody can predict when that occurs…currently we are in the longest modern day recovery since we’ve been keeping records.  We could go into a recession at any time.  But it sure looks good when you start listening to the statistics.  Jobs are up.  I’m hearing good things from my advertisers.  Budgets are feeling good… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement full 29:20 https://billboardinsider.com/john-weller-on-the-out-of-home-debt-markets-episode-1/ Mon, 11 Feb 2019 08:05:51 +0000 https://billboardinsider.com/?p=29504 Today marks the debut of the Billboard Insider podcast. Our first guest is John Weller, co-publisher of Billboard Insider and a co-owner of Billboard Loans, LLC, an out of home lending fund.  John talks about out of home lending, what he thinks of the leverage of Lamar, Outfront and Clear Channel Outdoor and where we are in the lending cycle. John Weller In one word how would you evaluate the leverage of the three public out of home companies.  Let’s start with Lamar. Consistency.  The reason for that is they typically have lower leverage…their debt/cashflow is currently 3.3 times.  And that provides them with growth like we saw with the Fairway acquisition. How about Outfront? Aggressive.  They obviously have been making big bets on transit, particularly with their New York and Boston contracts, and leverage is a bit higher but it’s still in a reasonable range…they tend to run in the 4.5 range. And that brings us to Clear Channel Uncertainty.  They’re currently leveraged at over 8 times which is too high.  It needs to over time be brought down lower.  The uncertainty is what happens later this year when…Clear Channel separates from iHeart.  There’s a lot of opportunity but what happens may depend on their ownership group which initially will be made up of the iHeart lending group…I don’t think they’re going to be a very patient group and they may look to monetize their investment… Where are we in the current out of home lending cycle? As you go through a cycle you’ll come out of a recession..with practical, conservative lenders…They’ll stick to their knitting.  The next phase you’ll see will be lenders searching for growth.  And that will be when growth in profits is slowing from their existing customers and so you’ll start to see a push to bring in new business.  The next cycle, and this is where we are now, I would call the frenzy of growth.  Lenders become very aggressive in search for growth opportunities and start looking beyond traditional markets to maybe consider some other markets.  And we’re in this part of the cycle.  It’s been very favorable to outdoor.  And then typically as you enter into a recession there going to pull back and we’ll start the whole cycle all over again, but that pullback usually means that it can be a little difficult on smaller owner operators… [wpforms id="9787"] Paid Advertisement             full 22:00