Outdoor Promotions opens in Vegas, sells local account

Outdoor Promotions is a Northern Colorado company, Fort Collins-born and -raised. But the ever-evolving company couldn’t resist the bright lights of Vegas.

The outdoor-advertising firm recently cornered the coveted Las Vegas bus-shelter market, and in the process sold its hometown stake.

Gary Young founded Outdoor Promotions in Fort Collins in 1984. The company stands out in the world of outdoor advertising in that it focuses solely on what the industry calls street furniture – bus benches and shelters. Many companies that handle bus-shelter advertising are more heavily invested in large billboards.

The billboard medium makes up 62 percent of the $6.2 billion outdoor advertising business, according to industry association Outdoor Advertising Association of America Inc. Street furniture claims the next largest slice at 19 percent, or almost $1.2 billion annually.

Outdoor Promotions has contracts to advertise on and service street furniture in Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and, until recently, Northern Colorado. The bus-shelter contracts for Salt Lake City, Denver and portions of Las Vegas were acquired from Baton Rouge, La.-based Lamar Advertising Co. in 2004.

“Since that time, we won a bid for the unincorporated Clark County account,” Young said. “The best part of that opportunity is the Las Vegas Strip.”

The contract was previously held by CBS Outdoor, which the OAAA ranks as the second-largest outdoor advertiser in the country. As a result of winning the Clark County account, Outdoor Promotions also acquired the remaining portions of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Young explained that CBS Outdoor is more focused on billboard advertising, so the company was not interested in holding onto the street-furniture markets that were not in the Las Vegas tourist corridor. Altogether, Outdoor Promotions now holds 1,600 shelters in the market.

“Having this market is just an amazing opportunity for us,” Young said.

It’s also a good opportunity to try something new. Young said the company is working with AT&T Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co. to install flat-panel displays, connected to a wireless network, to replace the traditional signage panels on the shelters on the Strip.

The new technology will allow Outdoor Promotions to offer sound and video advertising at the bus shelter, as well as up-to-date transportation information, and update its advertisements remotely.

“We’ll have the ability to change that message almost instantaneously,” Young said.

Playing for higher stakes

The opportunity to introduce this cutting-edge technology into such a desirable market was like a dream come true for Young. Unfortunately, to expand in such an aggressive way meant having to cut back in others. Outdoor Promotions sold its Northern Colorado markets of Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont to NextMedia Outdoor Inc. in January.

Not such a bad gamble. Young estimates that the Las Vegas market, once integrated, will draw around $15 million in revenue annually, compared with the $1.4 million from the Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont markets combined.

The buyer is not new to the outdoor advertising industry or to Northern Colorado. The OAAA ranks NextMedia as the seventh-largest outdoor-advertising company in the United States.

“We’ve been in the Fort Collins market since 2002,´ said Scott McArtor, chief operating officer of NextMedia Outdoor Inc., when the company acquired Flack Outdoor’s billboard-advertising business.

McArtor said there isn’t any pressing need to upgrade any of the local street furniture.

“I think Outdoor Promotions has done a great job over the past few years,” he explained.

NextMedia now employs about 20 in its Fort Collins office, including about five employees who were handling the market for Outdoor Promotions.

Despite its new focus on Las Vegas, Outdoor Promotions has not cut all of its ties to Northern Colorado. The company’s headquarters remain in south Fort Collins.

“We do all of the billing, payables, poster printing and graphic design (in Fort Collins),” Young explained. “The people that I have there have been with me for several years.”

Young moved to Las Vegas in April and spends most of his time there now, but kept his home in Fort Collins. He doesn’t plan to live in Sin City for more than another year or so. He anticipates working out of Fort Collins when he returns to Colorado.

Young admits that it might make sense to close the Fort Collins office and move its operations to one of the three active markets, but he appreciates the people who have helped him build his company.

“It’s not about just making money,” he said. “It’s about the relationships. Ultimately, people are the only priceless resource of a company, and we’ve got a great team in that office.”

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