Jock Gibb on Formetco’s 50th Anniversary

Last Thursday Insider attended a party in Duluth, GA celebrating Formetco’s 50th anniversary.  Formetco’s VP Sales Jock Gibb gave a remarkable speech reviewing the company’s 50 years and recognizing the contributions of his father John Gibb, EVP Corporate Relations.  Here are excerpts from Jock’s speech.  Companies like Formetco make Insider proud to be part of the out of home industry.

Gina and Jock Gibb

Good evening and thank you all for coming to our celebration of 50 years.  We have  a lot of previous employees, current employees, customers, spouses, vendors and friends of Formetco here; and this 50 year milestone would not be possible without all of you.

I want to take a few minutes and tell you what I am proud of at Formetco.

Let me start with the team members past and present of Formetco.  I’m very proud of the team that has been assembled…This is where we get out product and service innovations and where we develop client relationships.

As important as these employees are, there is another group who we are extremely thankful for.  That group is the spouses of our folks.  Speaking from my wife Gina’s experience, putting up with late nights and travel is not easy.  It seems like the kids get sick or the big game is always when we are out of town and the spouse has to carry twice the load.  You are a very important part of our team and this doesn’t work without you, so thank you for all that you do.

I celebrated 25 years at Formetco earlier this year.  It’s been a lot of fun, but honestly it hasn’t always been easy…Back in 2008 Lamar was our biggest hardware client and we were just getting established in the digital billboard business.  I was out in Texas and Formetco President Matt Xander called me.  He had just spoken with Bobby Switzer over at Lamar…He told Matt that he didn’t think he had a dime to spend for the following year (or possibly two) and we had to be prepared because the industry was headed towards a major dry spell.  We had immediate pay cuts for everyone in hopes we would weather the storm.  I think it was the second or third round of pay cuts; all the departments managers were sitting in the boardroom and Matt was sending around a piece of paper explaining the next round of cuts.  Frank Everette, the operations manager of Peachtree metals, took his paper and flipped it over without looking.  Matt asked him if he wanted to know what the cuts were.  He said, as long as my guys still have jobs, that’s all I need to know.  I think everyone here adopted that attitude and we made it through…

John Gibb, Formetco EVP, Corporate Relations

Having a room full of customers like this and a microphone is a sales guy’s dream.  So, the plan was to talk about product innovation.  However there is a much bigger opportunity here as we celebrate 50 years.  I have the privilege of honoring a mentor,  boss and a friend of mine; someone who has been the face of this company and driving force since 1968, my father John Gibb who is celebrating a 50 year milestone today.

There is no one I have ever met who loves the billboard business like my father John.  My sister and I can tell you from experience.  During our childhood our family vacations were typically a two-week billboard sales trip with a weekend worked in at my grandmother’s house.  We spent countless hours as kids proofreading catalogs and brochures and filling binders with catalog pages.  The summers were spent working in the warehouse.

When John was inducted into the Outdoor Advertising hall of fame he was described as a change agent.  When he received the Lifetime Achievement award from the OAAG, Conner Poe said John changed the association and the industry for the better.  Some things that John changed are all around us in this building.  John and Bobby Switzer developed the FX6 poster panel on some napkins at a bar which was the beginning of the end for paper posters.  The entire industry changed as a result of that conversion.  John and Robbie sat with Billy Cole and worked on the metal apron and vinyl tension brackets that are on thousands of boards today.

When I first got my new job as VP of sales I went to Pensacola to see Bobby Switzer for some advice…He said: You know the thing I love about your dad?  It doesn’t matter what I ask him or what I want to develop, his answer is always yes before I can finish asking the questions.

I was meeting with Jim  Kuhn from Selective Structures a few weeks back.  He said, you ought to be very proud of your dad.  He has done so much for this industry and over the years may have been one of the most well-respected people in outdoor.  I thought about what Jim said…

  • I am proud of what John has done for our industry…
  • I am proud of what John has done to build and shape Formetco…
  • I am proud of what John has done for our customers…
  • I am proud that John has taught us all that a client with only a couple billboards is as important as the guy with thousands…
  • I am proud of the legacy he has left us with at Formetco.
  • And most of all I’m very proud to be his son.

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One Comment

  1. An amazing company that reminds me I am proud to be part of an industry that truly is FAMILY!