Randy Burkett has 42 years experience in the out of home business. Last week he talked about using Blip to increase revenue. Today he talks about the importance of scrutinizing what copy goes on your signs.
An Out of Home mistake and what I learned.
Running the wrong copy on a sign. I learned the hard way on that. I put up a sign for a client that said “Welcome to the great state of Texas. Liberals please continue on I-40.” I showed up in the office the next day and I had over 100 voice messages. Some were great job, others called me a bigot. I took a lot of heat. Fox news, USA Today…they all called and I talked to all of them.
The other day a church here in town sent me some new ads to publish on a digital sign I own. Without thinking much of the content I ran it then got bombarded with calls, emails, etc. I quickly removed the ad and worked with him to tone it down and make sure his ads and any of our other client’s ads are not attacking or controversial. At the end of the day, its not worth running ads you know are going to ruffle feathers. Plus, dealing with the fall out (even if you agree with the ad) is stressful and not worth the headache.
Helping son Beau Burkett get into out of home.
Beau was a junior all American golfer and had just signed a golf scholarship at Texas State. While we were down there we noticed a dilapidated 8 sheet plant. An old on premise guy had them and he wasn’t taking care of them. Beau saw it as a great opportunity to take them over, get his feet wet and see if he liked owning and operating a batch of small signs. He was a freshman at the time, he bought it and operated it for about two years and sold it for a profit and then he was hooked. He started building 14 by 48’s / larger monopole bulletins. He had already sold two times before he graduated. He just took to it and really found he enjoyed the outdoor business. He sees the value in these assets. Its been a lot of fun to have the career I’ve had and now see him making his mark, we talk all the time and are really close. Its fun for both of us to have so much in common and be able to talk shop!
Have you ever made a mistake running copy which you regretted? What rules do you use as to what copy to accept and what copy to reject. Email davewestburg@billboardinsider.com.
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Great article on Randy and Beau Burkart. As a 35 year veteran in the business, I wish many times that my two sons were in the business so we would have that commonality, talking shop. I’m sure family gatherings can be interesting and enjoyable.
We call it the ‘ick’ factor in Australia. We of course have very different rules around content as we don’t have your first amendment but nevertheless honoring the privilege to be in the public space means you have to take into consideration all the public who will see your board. Great article. Commonsense and taking a long view rather than a short term view of let’s book it and run it.