Company: Stark Outdoor
Markets: Eastern Texas.
Headquarters: 914 Lake Air Dr, Waco, TX
Phone: 800-559-1013
Email: glenn@swiftoutdoor.com
Stark Outdoor operates a plant of 44 double-stacked billboards with 176 faces in eastern Texas. Glen Browder bought the company in 2016 from Herb and Wilma Stark. Browder also owns Swift Media in Texas.
How did you enter the out of home business?
I was introduced to the billboard industry in 2006 by Brad Tooley of Choice Outdoor. Brad was in Waco and was looking to purchase Swift Outdoor from Stan Swift. Brad contacted me about a magazine company I owned. He told me his son Kris would be moving to Waco to run Swift Outdoor and that he liked print media and wondered if I would be interested in selling the magazine to him. We did and I stayed on to help in the transition of the magazine and to help sell the billboards. In 2010 Brad and Kris wanted to focus most of their energy in the West Texas market and gave me the opportunity to purchase some of Swift Outdoors inventory. With Waco being centrally located it was decided that I would have billboards here and work to the East and Kris and his dad would work from here to the West. That way could offer our customers billboards across the state.
You’ve grown via acquisitions
In 2016 I had the opportunity to purchase Stark Outdoor from Herb and Wilma Stark. I’ve run Stark Outdoor since then. In 2019 I purchased Wow Outdoor and Pro Search Marketing which added boards to the southeast of Stark Outdoor. This increased our coverage of the East Texas market to the south down to almost Houston. We then purchased Day and Night advertising from Cal Staggers in late 2019. The purchase of Day and Night gave us our first board in Louisiana.
How has Covid impacted your business?
We have not had any noticeable effects of Covid. We had a great 2020 and 2021 is starting off strong.
What are some of your goals for 2021?
To update all of our assets. In 2020 we painted our structures and added all the latest safety equipment. In 2021 we are going to add LED lights and the Smartlink software to all of our structures. We will continue to try and grow our plant from building new structures and acquiring other billboard companies.
Whose digital signs do you use and what have you learned?
We have 5 digitals and use Formetco. I’ve learned to go as big as the market will allow. We put in some 8′ by 16′ signs. I wish they were 10′ by 20′ or more. Small businesses will go on a small digital but larger businesses want a larger digital.
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