00:40:08 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:40:08] S0: of [00:40:08] S1: And these there was no way what I was really skeptical of, maybe I shouldn't say this on air, but what I was really skeptical of is that we were told on the management side from my cousin, Bobby Switzer and from Kevin Riley Jr, that, oh, not only is this gonna work, but we're gonna get almost as much for a slot on the Digital Board that we do for a permanent. I thought it was crazy. The idea that you would get a third would still make the board much more lucrative than the old permanent board. But it's worked out that the power of the digital boards is, I guess, the attention span or the impact, the visual impact of the digitals is shown over time that it really is effective. And the other side of it is, which you deal with all the time, is that we went from being the slowest medium in the country to the fastest. So you can press a button and change your copy now. In some places, you have, it's my understanding and you have to correct me, when the agencies or the advertisers get pre approved, which they have to do to put their library up, they actually can press the button to change the copy. [00:41:36] S0: Yeah, absolutely. And it sounds like we're plugging podcasts within the podcast, but Bobby Switzer's cousin is a cousin, correct? [00:41:43] S1: Another cousin. [00:41:44] S0: Yeah, another cousin. And he's a great episode. And he talks about it because Bobby was the visionary or so he says, which I believe- [00:41:51] S1: He was, he was.
00:41:51 · Ian Dallimore
[00:41:51] S0: He was the visionary behind the rollout of digital billboard screens over twenty one years ago. And it's what I love about it again, because if you look back at the company itself, there's, and Sean talks about this all the time on earnings calls and boards meetings, and I echo it as well. We've been innovating since 1902, whether it's flip of a coin and changing from bill posting to hand paint and the next thing you know, you're evolving. What digital has really allowed us to do is obviously from a revenue perspective, it's fantastic from a visualization of the medium, it allows for the immediacy. But what I love in my eighteen years of doing this as well is just watching the evolution of the tech companies that have developed solely around digital billboards. We have companies like Vistar Media, PlaceExchange, these, we have the largest DSP in the world, Not Wall Garden, the trade desk that is now interacting and connecting to our screens where had we never made that decision and that jump twenty one, twenty two years ago, the evolution of the space may not have ever even happened. I would argue also there's a lot of what we call play space vendors that have screens in malls, they have them inside of elevators and health clubs. I would argue that most of that came from the evolution of the roadside billboard that then has really kind of opened up significant amount of tech companies brands, and it just continues to happen. I mean, the fact that Google is connected into our space is something that's very significant. When you look at the top five advertisers in the at home space, I think three of them are technology companies. You have Meta, you have TikTok and you have Apple that's spending in the oldest medium since the cave days, right? And we get to continue to evolve. So, it's gonna be fun for me. And it's my last question for you. It's gonna be fun for me. People ask like, what does it look like in twenty years when you retire and fifty years when this company's another level? And I'm like holograms, ads inside of cars. But like, could you think of the day when you were eight, nine, 10 and you realize your dad was running a billboard company, which sidebar, I think it's funny because when my kids were super little, they thought I owned billboard company.
00:44:09 · Ian Dallimore
I was like, no, dad actually drives a car to work every day and I'll work for that company. But it has to make you feel good as a small child being around that knowing this small little billboard company has evolved. So kind of a more personal family question, like what do you think your father and grandfather would think of where the company is today? I mean, yourself, would you have ever expected it to be to where it is? Not even from a revenue perspective, just people, technology.
00:44:39 · Charlie Lamar
[00:44:39] S1: Yeah, I never would have. And I'm certain that my... Well, I'm not certain. My grandfather and my father were visionaries in their own way. So in kind of a theoretical scale kind of way, they could maybe see it. I don't really know. But if they did see it, I know they would be blown away by not only the industry and how different it is and especially the digitals, but all the other aspects of the industry and how it's sold and how it's delivered up on process of calling on a client to having in their ad up on a image somewhere, whether it's permanent or digital, is just as tremendous. But as far as our company itself, that's the one that would really be even more amazing to them, I think, is just the access to, or just the fact that we're such a large element in the industry from their back to the old story, very old story in 1927. They were such a small element that the big boys just basically kicked them out of New Orleans. And there was absolutely nothing they could have done. It turned out to be good fortune, but they were gonna get forced out one way or the other. And that's not true today. Not only is it not true, not that we're forcing anybody else out of anywhere else, but we certainly have the resources both financially, but also talent wise. We're very fortunate. The family has been very fortunate to have talented people within the family. And we've been very fortunate to have very talented people on our team. So, it's beyond imagining the reality of today.
00:46:28 · Ian Dallimore
[00:46:28] S0: It's fun to watch. I do have to tell the quick story is when I first started, I'm very proud, still very proud of this company and really kind of act as if I'm a part of the family. And I think a lot of our employees could say the same thing. But I used to get so upset when we would go up to New York and John Miller and I would talk about to agencies and John would always use the expression like, oh, we're just this little billboard company. And I don't know if it's just my athletic competitiveness, but I'm like, we're not some little billboard company. Obviously, John was just saying it as a part of the story, but for me, was just like, we're huge, we are the outdoor company. When you think of out of home, you think of Lamar Advertising, when you look at talent, and you wanna work in the media side of business, we have people locally that are leaving tech companies in certain markets to come work in the out of home space. So just having that pride that is just like, it's not like we're given this mantra when we first start, but you just you have this feeling of going back to like 1902, to that flip of the coin to people like, your father, your grandfather, all the way up to Kevin and Sean, and you feel this pride and ownership. And I think it does help elevate the talent that wants to be a part of, again, simultaneously the mediums growing and changing, and it's a lot of fun. I would be remiss not to talk just because locally you do, and just because I'm at certain events and I see, but I do want you to touch on, you give a lot back, I know locally to the community and I know there's a handful of organizations that you personally touch and you guys have a foundation, the Charlie Lamar Foundation, and you guys give to the Alzheimer's Association, which is a massive, it's a big part of
00:48:14 · Charlie Lamar, Ian Dallimore
[00:48:14] S1: Alzheimer's services Greater Baton Rouge. [00:48:16] S0: Yeah, huge, and then you got Distinct from Alzheimer's Association. Association, thank you for fixing that part out. And yeah, so touch on that a little bit, just obviously you've been a part of the family, you've worked extremely hard to be where you are today. And here you are in an office on a Friday as we recorded this in the summer. And I know you're here for a very short amount of time, but maybe as we end the podcast, the importance of you continuing to have the Lamar name outside of the ad space? [00:48:46] S1: Well, I think my parents inculcated in me from a young age that you give back. We were very lucky to have the things that we have and the opportunities that we have. And so when we're successful, then we should try to give back. So I've tried to do that. And back in my general counsel roles, as I said, I did public public relations. So a lot of that was interacting with nonprofits in the community. Lamar's interaction is basically putting up billboards to advertise their events or their organization. But I grew to know some [00:49:29] S0: of [00:49:29] S1: the players here. And then once we went public, basically, I had a lot more financial resources than I had ever before in my life. And so I started being more active as a funder. And then we established the Charlie Lamar Family Foundation, which continues to make grants. And so yeah, it's just in my DNA, I think, And give I'm very, very pleased with my history here in Baton Rouge.