F.M. Light is THE store for western wear in Northern Colorado. Located in Steam-boat Springs, their fame is driven, in part, by a family tradition started more than 80 years ago. It was 1928, and Clarence Light, the founder’s son, made a trip to the hinterlands of Colorado, planting signs within a 150 mile radius of the family store. The bright yellow signs, with simple black lettering, still dot the Colorado landscape.
Each summer, members of the Light family retrace Clarence’s original journey by surveying each of the 100 signs that still remain. Maybe it’s planting a new post, or repainting a faded message—but the tradi-tion and importance of that early marketing effort remains the bedrock for the successful family store that flourishes on the slopes of Colorado.
“House of Cards” is one of the hottest television shows in America. Now in it’s second season, it was produced and distributed by Netflix, the online alternative to cable television. Incredibly, Netflix released the entire second season all at one time. Thus, fans of the show could watch all 12 episodes of the new season immediately. Even more incredible is the fact that the show has no commercials! That’s right, the entire season is being offered to Netflix subscribers as part of the monthly subscription.
The television audience and investors alike appreciate what they are seeing. House of Cards won numerous awards, along with a growing audience. And Netflix, as a stock, was the top performer in the S&P 500 for 2013.
So, what does all this have to do with billboard advertising? House of Cards and Netflix are evidence of the audience trend that is reducing access for advertisers. Netflix can now produce their own con-tent without national or local advertisers. Audiences 30 and younger now watch television via Netflix, get their radio from the internet (Pandora, iHeart), and their news from Facebook. Billboards are the last respite for effectively and efficiently reaching the market audience. Tra-ditional media channels have merely become …….…...a house of cards.