Business Spotlight: Lamar brings advertising to Springfield area drivers

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The year was 1905. J.M. Coe and Charles W. Lamar Sr. decided to dissolve their partnership and divide the assets of their two businesses.|ret||ret||tab|

Dissolving a partnership can get a little messy, so they decided to keep things simple. They would flip a coin. The winner would get the opera house, the more lucrative of the two businesses, and the loser would get the advertising company, which promoted coming attractions at the opera house. |ret||ret||tab|

Coe won the coin toss and got the opera house, which later was destroyed by a fire. Lamar took over the advertising company, which will mark its 100th year in business this year.|ret||ret||tab|

Founded on March 5, 1902, the business originally was called Pensacola Advertising Co. Lamar renamed the company Lamar Advertising after the partnership dissolved.|ret||ret||tab|

Lamar Advertising's Spring-field office opened in February 1998 with the acquisition of Pioneer/Superior Outdoor Ad-vertising. In June 1999, the Springfield office expanded again when Lamar Advertising acquired Porter Outdoor Advertising.|ret||ret||tab|

Four generations of the Lamar family have headed the company, which has its headquarters in Baton Rouge, La. One of the largest and oldest outdoor advertising companies in the United States, Lamar Advertising operates 152 outdoor advertising companies in 44 states |ret||ret||tab|

Lamar Advertising has five divisions that provide customers with a wide variety of services ranging from transit advertising on city buses to real estate advertising. The Spring-field office focuses primarily on outdoor advertising. |ret||ret||tab|

"We are truly a mass media advertiser," said Kent Ayers, general manager. "Everyone who drives around town has probably seen one of our billboards."|ret||ret||tab|

The Springfield office covers one of the largest areas in Lamar Advertising's mid-eastern region, with its territory extending north to Collins, south to Harrison, Ark., east to West Plains and west to Aurora. |ret||ret||tab|

Lamar Advertising's Spring-field office employs 22 people. Most of these employees work on one of two crews that maintain the company's billboards. These crews use a fleet of 12 vehicles including one crane and two bucket trucks.|ret||ret||tab|

"Most crew members are cross-trained so they can help wherever they are needed," said Karen Davis, administrator at the Springfield office. |ret||ret||tab|

"The crews have been known to post more than 80 posters in a week despite less-than-optimum weather conditions."|ret||ret||tab|

In recent years, Missouri has passed legislation limiting the number of billboards in the state. |ret||ret||tab|

The city of Springfield also has taken steps recently to limit the number of billboards citywide. Lamar Advertising supports these measures. |ret||ret||tab|

"It's really about supply and demand," Ayers said. "If there's too many billboards, advertising becomes less effective. It also costs a great deal to maintain all of the structures."|ret||ret||tab|

Ayers said legislation has succeeded in closing many of the loopholes that allowed advertising companies to continue to build billboards. |ret||ret||tab|

Now that these loopholes have been closed, Lamar Advertising plans to reduce the number of billboard structures it has in Missouri. |ret||ret||tab|

"We would have done this sooner, but it does us no good to take a structure down only to see another company come along behind us and rebuild it," Ayers said. "Our intention over the next several years is to begin removing some locations so the actual number of billboard structures in the state is reduced."|ret||ret||tab|

Lamar Advertising also follows some self-imposed limitations. For example, the company doesn't place ads for adult beverages on billboards located close to schools or churches, according to Ayers.|ret||ret||tab|

"This is a family-run, family-oriented company," he said. "I think that's one of the company's greatest strengths."|ret||ret||tab|

Lamar Advertising believes in supporting the local community, Ayers said. In 2001, the Springfield office donated $100,000 of free outdoor advertising to nonprofit organizations in the area. |ret||ret||tab|

The company also supports the national Multiple Sclerosis Society. Ayer's wife Trish, who has MS, has her own "Team Trish" that participates in the annual Springfield MS 150 Bike Tour, which raises money for multiple sclerosis research. Lamar Advertising donates billboard space to promote the event and many of the company's employees support Team Trish through their donations.|ret||ret||tab|

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