I take several phone calls a week from people seeking billboard loans. Some callers are much more organized and professional than others. Here’s a seven sentence script which will make you sound like a pro during your initial conversation with a billboard lender. “(1) Hi, I’m (your name) from (your […]
Author: Dave Westburg
Outdoor revenues increasing faster than print, radio and magazines.
Buried at the end of this Wall Street Journal article on the second quarter 2014 financials of CBS Outdoor and Lamar are some interesting stats which show out of home spending is outperforming the economy and other media sectors. Here are 2013 numbers supplied by the research firm Kantar Media: […]
Top 6 US Out-of-home advertising cities
See if you can name Media Life’s six top out-of-home advertising cities. The first three markets are no surprise: 1. New York – Lots of signs, lots of tourists and lots of buzz. 2. Los Angeles – Bad traffic is good for billboards. 3. Las Vegas – Lots of conventions […]
The risks of non-conforming billboards – part 2
In a previous post I discussed the risks of owning legal, non-conforming billboards using a recent case where the city of Kokomo, Indiana ordered 15 storm damaged billboards to be taken down. Here’s a newspaper article updating the situation. The city has allowed 9 of the billboards to be repaired or […]
Six Basic Rules of Billboard Advertising
Here’s a link to a terrific Paul Suggett article in About.com on Six Basic Rules of Billboard Advertising. The rules are designed to help your customers to place effective billboard ads. 1. For billboards, six words or less is ideal. Drivers don’t have time to read complicated messages. 2. Get […]
Add Dragonfly signs to the list of domestic digital sign manufacturers..
Recently learned from a client that Dragonfly signs is active in the digital sign business. Their manufacturing plant is in Pennsylvania. Dragonfly joins Formetco, Daktronics, Vantage Digital Sign, Watchfire and Yesco on the list of domestic digital sign manufacturers. I encourage all my clients to buy domestically produced digital signs […]
Trimming Trees Can Get You Into Trouble
Here’s a newspaper article about how Clear Channel got into trouble with the city of Catskill by illegally trimming trees which blocked a billboard. Clear Channel paid reparations to the City for illegally cutting the trees. You need to make sure that your leases give you the right to trim […]
Billboard Leasing Do’s and Don’ts
Here’s a link to a 1997 paper on billboard leases which was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association. The paper is 17 years old but gives a lot of good advice about leases. Write a lease not a license because leases are harder to terminate. Get […]
Outdoor revenues up 1% during first quarter 2014
US outdoor advertising revenues grew 1% during the quarter ended March 2014. This is below the 4% growth the outdoor industry achieved during 2013 and reflects weak economic conditions. US Gross domestic product remained flat during the most recent quarter. US radio revenues were also flat. I have heard from […]
Dave Westburg Discusses Economics of Digital Signs in Out of Home Magazine
A writer for Out of Home Magazine interviewed me on the economics of digital signs. You can read the results of the interview on pages 21-27 of Out of Home magazine’s MAY/JUNE issue.
