We saw Deanna Berry’s linkedin post on the sale to Trailhead and asked to reprint it. Deanna credits the employees and vendors who helped McWhorter thrive and grow. A great read if you are new to the out of home business or are thinking of starting your own out of home company. It’s important to pick the right employees and vendors.
By Deanna Berry, COO, Horton Outdoor Advertising & McWhorter Capital Partners
This is the part where I’m supposed to say that this is a bittersweet moment, but, quite frankly, I’m still not to the point that I can see anything sweet about it. I’ve shed many a tear, and I’m sure there are many more to come.
I love my Horton team. Kelly Hemphill, Kristy East, Hunter Horton, Charlie Callari, Wayne Myers, Rachel Bailey, Chase Rierson, and of course, the guy who started it all, Josh McWhorter…they are my family. They make work fun. I also love the industry. It perfectly challenges and stimulates both sides of my brain…the creative marketing side and process driven operations side. I will miss it dearly.
Our journey in OOH began back in 2015 when Josh was convinced by one of our dearest and most vocal investors to purchase seven billboards in Cartersville, GA. The investor was Eric Horton.
We had no idea what to do with these boards. Only a couple were wrapped, and those were faded and falling off. To us, these were just real estate assets…and we treated them as such. In fact, our first advertising contracts were modified residential lease templates.
I called around town and found a few businesses that were interested in advertising, pulled out one of my RocketLawyer contract templates, and signed them up. Next, I figured we’d just order some banners like I’d always done for events and sponsorships…only 15-20 times as big. So, I called a few local printer friends for vinyl pricing and wow, oh wow…talk about sticker shock. Luckily, we were soon introduced to Paragon Printing…and they’ve been taking care of us ever since. We negotiated a landed price that, to this day, makes people’s jaw drop. And for more than six years, we never saw a price increase.
Next, we needed someone to hang the vinyls. Who even does this kind of stuff? Crazy people? Adrenaline junkies? Well, kind of both. We were given the phone number for a guy named Timmy. Turns out, Timmy was quite a character…but from the moment we made that phone call, Timmy Baldwin has been part of our Horton family (even though he has a full-time job somewhere else). He’s sent me pictures from atop a 150’ billboard during a tornado watch and even harnessed me up one time and let me climb with him (not the 150’ board). He’s the best. Literally.
A year later, we bought five more billboards. Then two more. Then 43 more. Wait…this is really a thing now, isn’t it? We decided these assets needed their own company and their own team (I’m talking about you, Marshall Henderson), so McWhorter Outdoor was born. Sadly, it was about this time that our good friend, Eric Horton, passed away. As quickly as those McWhorter Outdoor imprints had gone up, they came back down and were replaced with the only thing that seemed appropriate… PMS 289 blue background with PMS 158 burnt orange letters outlined in white that read “Horton” in Galliard Roman font. Hint: War Eagle. Our team was later blessed with the addition of his son, Hunter – and boy would his dad be proud to see what he has been able to accomplish.
Moving on. I love software programs. I knew we needed a system that could manage our contracts, schedule our ads, provide reports, etc. I was sure there was something already out there…but what’s the fun in that? Building something exactly the way we wanted it would be so much more fun! Enter a friend of a friend, coder extraordinaire, Eric Hazelwood. Eric had built something kind of billboard related for a business he was involved in that managed ads on tv screens in restaurants…so we started there. What we have today is a system perfectly suited for what we do, yet incredibly flexible. I’ll always be proud of what we built and grateful for Eric’s patience and willingness to tweak, create, and improve as we went.
Next up for the newly formed company was a plant of 13 billboard structures that introduced us to the world of digital OOH. It was also at this point that we were introduced to the fabulous Leslie Morris, Skydragon Design for graphic design and digital scheduling. This girl and her team are second to none. I’m not sure when she sleeps…or if she sleeps, but I’m blessed to call her friend. Down the road a bit, she introduced us to another graphic designer, Adam Owen. Now, I do graphic design myself so I can be a little critical, but not with these two…Leslie and Adam never disappoint. True artists and true professionals. If you ever have a chance to work with either one of them, do it.
So, now we’ve grown a pretty impressive plant. The digital acquisition put us in three states, and it was time to build a few billboards of our own. This is when I’m introduced to a few more “best in the business” guys. Matt Schulze and Marsha Cole with Selective Structures have built some amazing structures for us and taught me so much about the process along the way. They also hooked me up with the best install guys in Georgia and Alabama. No one can dig a hole and set a 30 ton steel structure in the ground quite like Marcus Hardin with J-Mar Craneworks and Larry and Brandon Dyar with MasterBuilt Billboards. They’re all just good people. Combine them with Jason Cheek and Southeast Electric, and you have the billboard installation dream team.
Rewind a little to that digital acquisition for a minute. This is also when I met this guy named Britt (who I referred to incorrectly as “Brett” for probably a year). I didn’t really like him when I first met him. I thought he overpromised and would surely under-deliver. I’m not often wrong about people…but this time I was. Britt McConnell has probably been my most valuable resource in learning the ropes of the industry, and he’s one of my favorite people in general. He and Jock Gibb welcomed me to the OOH community and treated Horton Outdoor like it was their #1 customer – knowing good and well we’re probably not even in the top 20. I’ve looked at several different digital manufacturers along the way, but none come close to offering the level of product and service that Formetco does.
Fast forward to today. Twenty four fun-filled acquisitions (with the best closing attorney known to man, John T. Mroczko, fourteen new builds, and four digital conversions later…we pass off our 146 structures, 324 faces and 661 ad spaces to Trailhead Media.
During the negotiations, there was some discussion about trade secrets. I thought that was a little odd considering it was an asset purchase and not an equity buyout…but here are my trade secrets:
- Find good people who understand your vision and want to see you grow as much as you do. Be loyal to them and they’ll be loyal to you.
- Use your boards for good, and be an asset to the communities that you serve. If you support them, they’ll support you.
- Don’t let your own bias interfere with accomplishing your mission as an outdoor operator – which should be providing unfiltered messaging for businesses and organizations that seek growth. It’s not about you.
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got.
I’m not sure what lies ahead for me and what McWhorter Capital Partners will get into next. I’m sure whatever it is, I’ll learn to love it…but I’ll always be a fan and a cheerleader of this thing they call OOH.
As for those 146 billboards…Please take good care of them, Trailhead. They were built with a lot of love.
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