Company: Busby Companies
Headquarters: 1734 Wansley Road, Laurel, MS 39440
Phone: 601.428.4014
Markets: Mississippi, Louisiana and Northwest Florida
Busby Companies is a local family owned and operated billboard advertising company in Laurel, Mississippi with over 30 years of experience in the industry. They also specialize in the design and manufacturing of sports arena displays, on-premise signage, LED fuel numbers, and LED marquee displays. Their inventory includes 68 digital and 79 static faces.
Insider caught up with Leonard Busby for an update on their operations.
Leonard, tell us about how 2019 treated the Busby Companies?
While 2019 was a challenging year in some aspects, overall it brought growth as far as new locations and insight for our future. In 2019 we bridged gaps and began building business partnerships with previous adversaries. Busby and Daktronics took a giant leap forward. This was accomplished through efforts of dedicated personnel, commitment to trade, and support of products and services.
Why have you been so successful in locating and permitting new digital locations?
Success is in the eye of the beholder. Permitting new locations and converting static billboards to digital in key locations is near impossible and by all means not an easy accomplishment. Success comes with failures, and that is why some perceive us as successful in this expertise. Each location, new or converted, is of great value, especially in markets that are considered “UNOBTAINABLE”. In terms of permitted locations, we have had our share of failures and successes when it comes to permitting. Our success is mostly due to determination and persistence to acquire permits.
Are you working with any of the progammatic companies? What is you sense on how programatic will impact your business?
Noting 2019 was a big year for OOH moving to programmatic platform; as far as it pertains to Busby, we sat back watching the market shifts and how it would affect the digital world and seeing how it would impact us as a company. We have not reaped the benefits of programmatic yet, but plan on pursuing it in 2020. We have taken a methodical approach to programmatic seeing as we have been in the digital advertising business for the last twenty years and in those years experienced some pains and hardships as a result of being a forerunner in the industry. OOH programmatic is unique compared to existing programmatic. Billboards are in between the traditional, non connected ads and the programmatic connected, targeted ads and we need to find the balance between programmatic and maintaining hands on relationships as we believe this is the key to long term success. We do see programmatic progressing in both traditional and digital media with a lot of businesses moving towards programmatic platforms. Currently, there are a lot of players in the programmatic digital advertising media and as it pertains to billboards, we are just getting involved so we see a lot of companies popping up and we are excited to partner with some or all of these companies. We do want to maintain a strategic approach so that we maximize the benefits of programmatic buying with a twist.
You included a picture of a new digital structure. What’s the story behind the structure?
In West Monroe, LA I was very fortunate to get approval of Stacked Digital Faces. Having two 10’6” x 36’ Digital Faces per side, was something I had never done before. We didn’t know if the faces would hurt each other or not, but this has turned out to be one of our most profitable sites. I love using the Drone to show our customers the traffic flow and that “NICE” little corner it sit on at this Major RED LIGHT.
What are three key goals for Busby Companies in 2020?
Three key goals for Busby Companies in 2020 are: growth and strengthening our portfolio with business relationships, partners, and customers, integrating with programmatic platforms for OOH, and focusing on long term support of products and services.
One of the greatest assets we have, is getting a Permit to install a Digital. I would say that going into 2020 I have spent 2 years on some sites, the majority of time on other sites would average out to 1 ½ years. I believe we have ready to go up (15) new sites or 30 Organic Digital sites, with about 4 plants I would love to purchase. Anytime I have gone into a meeting to get a Digital Permit, “Prayer” has always been my biggest asset, for His will to be done. Then I know I have done all that I should be doing.
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