My Daily Tribune did an article on Rocket VII Interactive last week.  Rocket VII Interactive operates a movie theater, a web design business, an ad agency and five Formetco digital billboards in Gallipolis, Ohio.  Two points in the article are worth comment.

• There can be synergies if a small company owns billboards and radio and a web designer and an ad agency.  Mollman Communications owns radio stations and an outdoor company.  Design Angler owns an ad agency and a billboard company  The same sales reps call on both businesses.  Being in ad design helps you suggest effective ad ideas to clients and allows you to capture additional revenues.  Insider thinks the synergies break down at larger companies because of a silo mentality.  Clear Channel reps tell Insider that there is little cooperation between Clear Channel Outdoor and Clear Channel Radio because they reps aren’t bonused to cooperate.  An outdoor rep doesn’t get commississions on radio revenues generated from outdoor clients and a radio rep doesn’t get a commission on outdoor revenues from radio clients.  This problem goes away at small companies with just one sales force and no division heads fighting over budgets.

• Rocket VII and the digital billboards are good for the local economy.   At the hearing to get the first digital sign approved Rocket VII’s owner Robbie Pugh told the Board of Zoning Appeals that the digital sign was the first step in growing a business.  The result?  The Daily Tribune quotes Pugh:

“Now, two years later we have five boards.  We have an office downtown.  We have a website designer and graphic designer.  We have a director of social media marketing for all of our businesses.  We have an account representative.  So everything we told the Board of Zoning Appeals has come to fruition so far.  We’re really excited about that.  I have five people at my office who are graduating from college and they’re probably going to have jobs coming our of college, because of that first billboard on Eastern Avenue.”