Last week out of home legend Charlie MacIntyre talked about getting into the out of home advertising business. Today he talks about finding billboards sites.
What was your first billboard site?
It was a drive-through smoke shop. People from Illinois would drive to Indiana to buy their cigarettes. I didn’t do the best job negotiating lease terms because I wanted the site so bad but it was my first billboard. That billboard was in the group that I sold to Adams. Here’s something that I noticed. I’m thinking like 99% of the billboards that I’ve been involved with are still there. They don’t seem to ever come down.
What have you learned about finding sites
When I started it was just a blank canvas. My competitor would have two sites in a small town and they didn’t want a third site. Well I’d pull into that town and I’d want a site in there. Today they would probably put up a couple units and then convince the city that they shouldn’t allow anymore. There are opportunities. You’ve got to find them. Sometimes it’s a needle in a haystack. Sometimes I’ll drive by an intersection for 10 years and one day I’ll say wow that would be a good spot for a billboard. But be careful about building ahead of growth. Sometimes you put a billboard in and you’re there and you wish you weren’t. The area never grows.
You built your signs bigger than your competitors. Was that intentional?
Everybody else in the market was 12×24—that’s 288 square feet. But Indiana allowed 300 square feet. So I thought, why would I do 12×24. I built 12×25. When you advertise to a client, they hang a message that’s 10×22—220 square feet of display. I’ve got 300 square feet and they’ve got 220 square feet. You get more for your money with my structure.
What’s the toughest site you ever developed?
It was near wetlands. The contractor ran a 4-foot auger down into the ground and drew the dirt out and water came in. He’d go down again—more water. Getting the trucks and the crane in on ground that soft was something else. But it wasn’t too bad in the end. Wet ground near wetlands—you just deal with it.
What have you learned about staying on good terms with landlords?
The proudest moments I have are the ones where you sign a second and third lease from the same guy—because you did what you said you would do. He trusts you. You said you would pay, and you paid. So he comes back. There’s room for another sign. How about that site? That’s a pretty good feeling.
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