Company: Look Billboards
Market: Southern Oklahoma
Headquarters: 1500 W. Broadway, Ardmore, Oklahoma
Phone: 580-226-0222
LOOK Billboards operates 100+ traditional faces and 5 digital rotary-networked billboards in the following Oklahoma markets: Ardmore, Atoka, Caddo, Durant, Healdton-Wilson, Lone Grove, Madill, Springer and Sulphur-Davis. Most of the billboards are 12 by 24. The company’s digital signs were the subject of several industry write ups shown on the LOOK News web page in 2010, including being one of three Watchfire Madmen that year. In addition to running Look Billboards, Cowlbeck is also the General Manager Independent Billboard Operators found at IBOUSA.org (website updating in the next few weeks).
Chris, how did you get into the outdoor advertising business?
Our main family business started 45 years ago now with my mother founding our real estate company in Ardmore. We had terrific response to our yard signs, and had one hand painted 12 x 24 bulletin beside our office (now a location of one of our digitals), which we knew worked well. A grade school friend of mine and now business partner, Charlie Clowe, attempted to get the local tourism effort to build some billboards to generate revenue to promote the city, and when we couldn’t build enough interest, we said heck, let’s do it ourselves.
What’s it like to operate in a rural market?
It can be both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Ardmore is a trade center for about 5 counties on Interstate 35 and was ranked one of the nation’s most affordable places to live a few years back. That really sounds great until you figure that it’s very difficult to raise rates. Being in the oil patch hasn’t helped buffer this, so we developed some unique ways of selling that includes becoming a good marketing consultant for our advertisers who can’t afford it. Here’s a link to our Hop to Your Market page that we have honed over the years to be very effective. In fact, many of the techniques are what we now use in our IBOUSA arena.
You’re a big fan of the Apparatix out of home management software. What does it do for your business?
Apparatix has been a tremendous time saver for us and it has freed up some time for me to help run the IBOUSA. We can access all our information whether at home, at the ranch, on the road or at the office. We don’t miss billing anymore as all our contracts evolve directly from avails and the proposals we send electronically. We don’t need paper files anymore and their support-first business model is not only unique, but effective. We have adopted their core engine for our IBO Cooperative Marketing Platform where we can now manage avails in real time for our participants and are able to do some nice regional buys. Our operators give us tons of ideas and they are terrific at listening to their customers. Who wouldn’t be a big fan?
What’s new at the Independent Billboard Operators Association (IBOUSA)?
Where OAAA is our industry’s trade organization, IBOUSA differs in that it is primarily a networking group that operates on a not-for-profit basis. We meet a couple of times a year to share ideas, have fun and figure out how to make money differently. In recent years we have grown tremendously to around 90 companies and have a bit of a waiting list at the moment due to the demands of budget and venues secured. We have however, introduced an alternative way to connect with the group called the IBO Market Club which will allow folks that don’t have the budget or travel time to interact and benefit from all the good synergies that are produced. More information will be available in the new website release. We be sure to update you Dave when that occurs.
What else is new with you?
You know you’re getting old when you have your first grand baby boy, Jack Adam, which really puts the family in perspective. I’m glad we are hiring some folks to help me out with some daily admin duties, and it will free me us a bit to do some dove hunting down in Throckmorton, run my bird dogs or fish up a new lodge we found in Canada where we caught pike, musky, walleye and smallies. In fact, we are planning a trip there for the IBOUSA folks next summer.
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