Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
This month we welcome Marc Keenan, managing director, Forrest Media, Glasgow, Scotland.
- Can you tell us about your background and how you got into the Outdoor world?
I originally started working as a sign writer in the mid 1980s and joined the Glasgow firm of Trainer Advertising in 1985 – which means that I celebrate my ‘Pearl’ 30th Anniversary this year!
- I know that Forrest Media owns 90% of the real estate sites on which your out-of-home and digital out-of-home displays are located. How did that come about?
The heritage of our advertising division has its roots in the late 1960s, when our current chairman formed Trainer Advertising after many years working for Arthur Maiden Limited. For some 50 years, therefore, the company in its various guise has been acquiring land and developing freehold advertising sites.
- Forrest Group has several different divisions. What is the difference between Forrest Media and Forrest Displays? Their responsibilities seem to overlap.
The Outdoor Media Division, which I head up, splits into Forrest Media (our OOH media company) and Forrest Displays, (a signage production and installation company).
Although Displays is a separate business, it also operates on a sub-contract basis to the media company, so it carries out the entire servicing and support works for ‘Media’, including site manufacture, installation, ‘posting’, electrical, maintenance, landscaping, etc.. - And what is the difference between Forrest Development and Forrest Securities? They also seem to overlap in what they do.
Forrest Developments is the commercial property division within the Group which, for example, identifies out-of-town (ie. non-urban) sites suitable for the development of retail for companies (eg. Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Homebargains, Wickes, etc.) – in addition to hotels and smaller supermarkets – and then builds them. Forrest Securities invests in private equity (in this case, land) and is therefore the investment vehicle for the freehold media portfolio.
I believe it was Mark Twain who once said, “Buy land young man….They’re not making it any more!”
- Which division of all came first, and how did it lead to the other divisions? What is more important, the real estate sites or the signage/advertising on same?
Forrest Group was created following the sale in 1999 of Trainer Advertising Limited, which, as I mentioned earlier, was established in 1967. Our freehold advertising sites did not form part of our sale of the Trainer business, and therefore formed the foundation for the new Media group. Forrest Developments was established in 2001 and Chris Trainer, our Group CEO, and I formed Forrest Media in 2002.
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Can you tell us what the breakdown is in numbers between your digital screens, backlights and banners? How many digital ‘networks’ do you own?
By the end of March this year, we will operate nine giant format digital screens, all of which are 50 square metres or even larger, six of which will be in Scotland. None of our competitors currently operate giant format digital roadside in Scotland.
We also operate the largest portfolio of premium backlights across the country.
- Your company began in Scotland but most recently seems to be spreading southwards to the North of England. Do you see big opportunities for digital outdoor there? Can you pinpoint specific cities or areas?
Yes, indeed! We have recently developed a huge screen above the Newcastle Central motorway and our second Newcastle screen will be in place by April this year, in the heart of the city, just outside Newcastle Central Train Station. Our Manchester CityScreen was developed back in 2007 and has recently been replaced with a brand new 63 square metre landscape screen, overlooking Piccadilly Gardens.
We continued to seek out prime OOH development opportunities which would enhance and complement our portfolio.
- Who founded the company, when, and who owns it?
Patrick Trainer, our current chairman, formed the original business in June, 1967. His son, Chris Trainer, formed the Forrest Group in 1999 and the current Directors own the business.
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What was the first product your company developed? How soon did you progress to digital?
Under the Forrest brand, the first site to be developed was the Glasgow CityScreen – a 63 metre giant portrait display delivering full motion erected above Glasgow Central Train Station and overlooking the busiest street in Scotland. All eight of our subsequent screens have been developed under our trademark brand, CityScreen, and, of course, are all digital as well.
Forrest was not only the first company in Britain to develop large format digital roadside (at that time, the only other available large format digital was to be found at Piccadilly in London), but it was also the first to offer day-part advertising. To be honest, back in 2003, when I first started to market day-part digital, it became very clear that we were somewhat ahead of the market, and it wasn’t until the introduction, around 2007, of our Manchester screen and some competitor screens in and around London, that digital really started to take off.
- Whose software do you use for content management? Why? Or if your own, why and what advantage do you think it has?
In terms of software, we currently run Scala for our content management. We find it simple to operate, as it demonstrates a solid understanding of the digital out-of-home industry.
- By owning your own properties, do you run into less problems with city planners/governments when you want to erect displays? Or does it not make any difference?
We take great pride in our excellent working relationships with the various Local Authorities. I know that our reputation for delivering is recognized and, of course, site ownership demands that our media displays are better looked after than they would be were we to subcontract our services and operations. In simple terms, a tenanted house is never looked after as well as an owner-occupier property.
- What, if anything, does your Forrest Hydro have to do with your digital and/or other displays?
Again Forrest Hydro is a completely separate business. However, Group ownership of our Hydro Scheme effectively means that we generate more power than we consume across the group. In fact, we produce enough electricity (Mega Watt hours) to power a town equivalent to the size of Henley-on-Thames for a year.
We generate electrical power from a ‘run-of-river’ scheme in Perthshire, Scotland, which is subsequently ‘fed’ to and stored in the National Grid. We do not draw down on the power directly per se.
- What is the company’s basic strategy for erecting or adding digital outdoor? And for actually choosing real estate sites to buy and build on?
Forrest is only interested in developing top-end digital platforms for our clients and advertisers and, to date, as I said earlier, we have only invested in screens of 50 sq metres or over. A 96-sheet, for example is 36 square metres, to give you some idea of the size.
In terms of choosing locations for digital development, we do not simply go out and convert sites from static to digital. Most of our giant screens are brand new developments – in locations where no advertising structures have previously been in place. I am certainly not in favour of going down the route of simply converting a bunch of posters sites – be they backlit or paper 48 sheets or 96 sheets to digital – and re-releasing them to the market as something new and something different.
Our passion for what we deliver and our model of site ownership, not rental, is what makes us unique. Forrest is the largest owner of private advertising sites in the UK.
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Are you looking for outside financial investment? If so, for what would you mainly use it?
No, we aren’t looking for outside investment. Forrest is funded entirely from the business’s own cash resources and all our Group activities are (thankfully) cash generative.
The various component parts of the Group are complementary to each other. If you think about it, an advertising site is very similar to a property: you need a good location, a developer/owner, and a willing end-user – a tenant if you will (be they advertiser or shopper) to complete the loop and create value.
We are, I would say, a very modern family business. We have neither external debt, nor external shareholders. We are still relatively young guys, despite our many years in the business -.which might be down to our Peter Pan blood, or maybe Scottish air – but we remain fully focused on the next 50 years!
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