Digital billboards hit city's landscape

One billboard, owned by Baton Rouge, La.-based Lamar Advertising Co., went up in October at U.S. Highway 65 and Chestnut Expressway. The other, owned by North Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based AD Venture Media, went up in December on South Glenstone Avenue between Target and Friendly Ford. Both billboards are about 10 feet by 36 feet.

Richard Rice, vice president and general manager for Lamar in Springfield, said he doesn’t anticipate adding any digital billboards in Springfield because of tight regulations on off-premises outdoor advertising, though he plans to add a couple to Branson’s landscape some time this year. Branson doesn’t have any digital billboards yet, he said.

AD Venture Media, however, is more hopeful of adding digital billboards in Springfield, according to Katherina Kalman, an independent marketing consultant hired by Boulineau Outdoor LLC, which is the registered owner of AD Venture Media. Kevin Doolittle is the local partner in Boulineau Outdoor and managing owner of AD Venture Media. Doolittle also owns Buckingham’s Smokehouse at the corner of Glenstone Avenue and Kearney Street.

AD Venture Media’s plan calls for 10 digital billboards in Midwestern metropolitan areas during the next five years, though Kalman couldn’t disclose specific plans for Springfield.

Electronic billboards, which hit the market about five years ago, still account for a fraction of the nation’s outdoor advertising. Only about 800 of the 450,000 billboards nationwide are digital, according to Jeff Golimowski, communications director for Washington, D.C.-based Outdoor Advertising Association of America.

Citing high construction costs, Golimowski expects a slow build-up of several hundred per year in high-traffic areas over the next several years. He said they cost about $250,000 each to put up, or 10 times more than traditional static billboards.

Rice said Lamar invested about $275,000 to reconfigure its Springfield digital billboard from a static billboard, while Kalman said AD Venture Media spent $500,000 to erect its dual-sided digital billboard.

The upside to the large investment in digital is a potential revenue multiplier effect.

Rice said Lamar was charging about $1,500 per month plus production costs for the traditional billboard at Chestnut and Highway 65. Now, he said, Lamar charges between $2,000 and $3,000 for monthly advertising spots on the digital billboard. Contract lengths can very between two hours and 12 months. Lamar’s digital billboard displays a rotation of six advertisers in eight-second intervals.

AD Venture Media’s digital rates fall within the same range, with seven advertisers getting exposure for seven-second intervals, according to Kalman.

The real advantage to advertisers is flexibility, Rice said. At no extra charge, advertisers can change their displays. Both billboard companies control the content remotely via secure Web sites.

Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts, one of the advertisers on Lamar’s billboard, changes its advertisements to feature current shows, according to Director of Marketing and Promotions Deb Gallion.

Gallion said she doesn’t plan to forsake using traditional billboards, even though she’s happy with the results of the new technology, which she called “very exciting” and “gorgeous.”

The digital billboards also allow advertisers to target audiences. Advertisers can buy spots during rush-hour traffic only, for example. Motion ads are prohibited by federal and local regulations, Rice said.

While this appears to be the next evolutionary trend in billboards – succeeding single-display static billboards and tri-vision static billboards with rotating panels – Lamar’s Rice called the digital signage “a whole different medium.”

He added, “This may look like it’s the evolution, but to me, it’s something far past that. ... I think it cuts it short by just calling it an evolution in the industry.”