Company of the Day: Adams Outdoor/Fairway Outdoor

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Company:  Adams Outdoor Advertising/Fairway Outdoor Advertising

Markets: Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin

Headquarters: 500 Colonial Center Parkway, Suite 120, Roswell, GA  30076

Phone: 770-333-0399

Adams Outdoor Advertising (AOA) operates an out of home plant in 7 eastern and midwestern states.   Adams was founded by Steve Adams in 1983 and is privately held.  In 2015 Adams partnered with GTCR Partners to purchase Fairway Media Group (FOA) which operates 17,400 displays in 19 eastern and midwestern states.  In January 2017 FOA swapped its Atlanta plant to Clear Channel Outdoor for Clear Channel’s Indianapolis plant as part of a transaction valued at $120 million.  Kevin Gleason is President and CEO of both companies.  He has over 36 years experience in the out of home industry.  Gleason started his career in advertising with D’arcy McManus and Masius and joined Naegele in 1979 as vice president of sales.  Gleason serves on the Board of Directors of Geopath and the OAAA.

Kevin, how has the integration of the Indianapolis assets Fairway Outdoor acquired from Clear Channel gone?
The acquisition of the Indy assets folded in beautifully with our legacy FOA assets in Indiana creating a fortress position for FOA in Indiana. It also enhanced the FOA portfolio of markets as Indianapolis is highly attractive for OOH buyers at both the local and national level.
Lots of companies are trying to develop systems for automating the sale of outdoor advertising.  What’s your take on the future of automated out of home advertising sales?
AOA/FOA places a premium on human contact. We understand and support the industry’s  focus on bringing a more sophisticated and  intelligent data base/buying platform to buyers enabling more productive buying decisions.  We also recognize a “universal currency” would be helpful in easing the buying process and we feel Geopath is leading the charge on both of these issues. I just hope we don’t ignore the intelligence of the OOH sales rep as it relates to their market expertise in this process. Nothing replaces the idea of a buyer and seller sitting down and having a discussion on how to meet an advertisers expectations and using their collective intelligence to formulate creative solutions.
What’s topics are at the top of your mind heading into the Geopath/OAAA Convention?
One thing; unity among OOH companies. I would be disappointed if OOH companies splintered off into their own world of “geopath impressions” including other data providers/measurement vendors-which would completely fragment the industry’s measurement system and destabilize Geopath not to mention the negative impact it would have on the media buying community.
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One Comment

  1. Gilbert Nichols
    February 23, 2018 at 5:04 am

    Congratulations Kevin Gleason on your acquisitions and accomplishments. You inspire me to pursue greater heights than I’ve been accustomed to in recent years.

    To your success!