Lamar Advertising

April 5, 2012

MGT 3830

Lamar Advertising

Lamar Advertising is looked upon as a successful company over its 100 years of existence. Lamar can be seen on billboards with the green and white logo across America. Little do people know, Lamar was created “with a mere toss of a coin” (17). A lost coin flip presented a profitable opportunity for Mr. Lamar to transform his small poster company into something extraordinary. This would allow a series of events that would become the company’s fundamental strategy. Pensacola, Florida was prosperous for its booming yellow pine forests. However, as the yellow pine forests began to diminish, Mr. Lamar had to leave his career at the American National Bank of Pensacola due to an economic crisis. This in turn led Mr. Lamar to turn his small poster company into something special. The “poster company, on the other hand, turned out to be the more robust and valuable of the assets owned by the erstwhile partners” (25). Mr. Lamar’s ability to take advantage of opportunities led him to be successful not only in his banking career, but also made Lamar Advertising into a billboard giant. Lamar Advertising took an ambiguous but clever approach in its path from being a small poster company into a national billboard giant.

In Pensacola, Florida, Mr. Lamar was a banker. During this time “he viewed the little poster company as a nice sideline, a little extra income” (22). The economy of Pensacola took a major fall when the yellow pine forests of West Florida depleted. Charles Lamar was greatly affected by this. He lost his beloved career as the president of American National Bank. Lamar experienced a great amount of debt. Lamar did not declare bankruptcy, enabling his poster company to prevail. America’s involvement in World War I called for patriotic advertising: “the outdoor advertising industry’s immediate objective was to help the country’s war effort” (59). Because of Lamar’s participation in...