By Claire Sherman
A simple flip of the coin in Pensacola, Florida, landed Charles W. Lamar Sr. the opportunity of a lifetime. In 1908, when Mr. Lamar and J.M. Coe decided to dissolve their business partnership, a coin toss was used to divide their assets which included the Pensacola Opera House and the Pensacola Advertising Company, a small poster company created to promote the Opera House. Mr. Lamar lost the toss and was left with the less-lucrative poster company, which was later renamed Lamar Outdoor Advertising Company. Over the course of the next century Mr. Lamar and his descendants built Lamar Advertising from a small sign company on the Gulf Coast into one of the largest providers of Out-of-Home advertising in the nation. Lamar Advertising (Nasdaq: LAMR) with over 351,000 displays across the United States and Canada, offers advertisers a variety of billboard, interstate logo, transit and airport advertising formats helping both local businesses and national brands reach broad audiences every day.
Locally Lamar has been operating on and off in the Panama City market since the 1930s leasing sign sites, constructing billboard displays, and selling space to advertisers. In addition to its traditional Out-of-Home inventory, Lamar also offers its customers the largest network of digital billboards in the United States.
After the devastation of Hurricane Michael, Lamar had the unique opportunity to rebuild the Bay County market, with the vision to build a prototype “market of the future” featuring state-of-the-art digital displays and modern advertising opportunities. Lamar Advertising of Panama City now offers 54 digital billboards and more than 500 premium static billboards in Bay County and the eight surrounding counties.
One of the greatest advantages offered by billboards is the ability to have a constant presence 24 hours a day / 365 days a year. Billboards can’t be turned off, tuned out, ad blocked, or thrown away. Advertising messages work for you all day, every day to reach consumers. With over 550 billboard locations in the Panama City market, Lamar can find the board or grouping of boards to hit any target audience.
Lamar Advertising of Panama City has been operating under the leadership of General Manager Claire Sherman for the past 14 years. Claire started with Lamar in 1997 as an Account Executive, before being promoted to Sales Manager and then VP / General Manager. She is extremely active in the community having served on numerous boards, in multiple leadership positions, and on the Board of both Chambers. Moreover she is proud of her Lamar family and co-workers. Building strong relationships, providing excellent customer service and delivering value to the customer is what Claire and her team aim to provide every day. “We live by the Golden Rule, and we operate with honesty and integrity in every aspect of our business.”
Do you want to break through the clutter and magnify your voice to your consumers? Do you have commercially zoned property and want an additional revenue source? If you answered yes to either of these questions, give us a call: (850) 763-6617 or visit www.lamar.com/PanamaCity.
