Digital Is Driving The Applecart

It’s always fun to hear the success of a little company, and one we are keeping an eye on is LOOK Advertising LLC ^[1], in the little town of Ardmore, Oklahoma – population of somewhere between 25.000 and 30,000.

When we first wrote about LOOK back on Oct. 15 ^[2], the company, which has 130 traditional billboard faces across southern Oklahoma,, had just erected its first three digital billboards. The local Ardmore population was fascinated with seeing the changing ads, parking nearby just to watch them change, while the messages are also seen by about 60,000 cars passing the locations daily.

“We filled up rather quickly and have had a nice waiting list of local advertisers,” says Chris Cowlbeck, LOOK’s general manager. “For a small town, we thought we were done. However, just before Christmas we decided to pull the trigger on two more digitals in our market that cater more to the restaurant row and Interstate traffic. They’ll be installed close to the first of March”.

“The existing three make a rotary digital network for the central business district, we are calling it the Triple Play,” says Cowlbeck, using a baseball analogy. “The new ones will be the rotary digital Double Play and, of course, those wanting a rotary package across all locations can enjoy the Grand Slam”.

“This has been a lot of fun for sure. We’re doing a lot of small business packages, that in this economy, are in high demand. The advertisers want high impact for a very, very affordable price.”

Cowlbeck says that the company originally was worried that the digital boards might cannibalize advertisers from the traditional boards. But that hasn’t happened. The company only lost one traditional advertiser to digital, while those on digital started adding traditional to their mix.

“Digital is driving the applecart,” says Cowlbeck. “And the advertisers are learning more about the way digital works. Sometimes a printer or car dealer watches a loop and thinks his ad isn’t seen often enough, and we have to remind him, that while he was waiting to see his ad on one board, it was also being seen on two other boards in other places. So selling is also an educational experience”

“For a little town of our size, we’re tickled to have a formula that is desirable, affordable and stunning. Also, we’re learning a lot about what is making our boards successful, other than hard work.”

While the company has yet to attract any national campaigns on its digital boards, with LOOK’s drive and enthusiasm, we expect it’s only a matter of time.