(First published Feb.'98)

As the energetic president of the five companies that make up Jim Pattison's Outdoor Group, Dave Woods spends a lot of time travelling: He takes three-to-five trips of one-to- five days per month from his home base at Gould Outdoor Advertising of Toronto to visit Seaboard Advertising of Vancouver, Hook Outdoor Advertising of Edmonton, and Métrobus of Montreal.

That's about to change. Woods will still be travelling, but it will be between the Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Montreal offices of a company consolidated under one name, soon to be announced. One of the reasons he was lured in May/97 by CEO and managing director Jim Pattison was to bring the various outdoor companies and properties together and show the depth and breadth of the company that competes with Mediacom for top position in the Canadian outdoor market.

The Pattison companies hold about 43% of the Canadian outdoor advertising market compared to Mediacom's 45%, but move ahead when Pattison's transit properties in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary are factored in, says Woods. (The balance is held mainly by Omni (about 6.5%) and Urban Outdoor (about 2%.)

"We have a wider range of products than our competitors and are even bigger with our recent buy of the new fifth company, Merchant Media's mall posters," Woods says. "People don't know the depth and breadth, but if we have one umbrella, we can be better recognized.

"One name should also make it easier for its sales people in the various cities to sell national campaigns. Pattison wants a better piece of the advertising mind when advertisers and agencies are planning campaigns. And to get this, the sales team must be recognized as a group instead of each going its separate ways.

"One umbrella will help show what we are: an aggressive, entrepreneurial company."

The Pattison Outdoor Group companies offer products in seven of Canada's provinces, covering all from New Brunswick west to British Columbia. Among them, their products include billboards, mall posters, painted units, backlits, street ads, transit shelters, bike racks, electric message boards, airport advertising and exterior bus cards. They allow advertisers to buy a complete network of products reaching almost coast-to-coast with a choice of locations.

Growth in the outdoor industry in the past year was 19.8%, with about $200 million in business in fiscal 1997. The Pattison Outdoor Group is one of some 45 diverse companies that make up the Jim Pattison Group, based in Vancouver, with 17,000 employees and sales of $3.4 billion in 1996. (1997 figures haven't yet been announced).

"Our outdoor companies have been growing in all markets, adding both products and people," says Woods who manages more than 300 people in offices and/or plants in the aforementioned cities and in Calgary. "And we working hard at being as efficient as possible.

Former Mediacom Executive

Jim Pattison has known Woods since the mid-1980s, when Woods repped at Mediacom Inc.. When Pattison started looking for someone to fill his Outdoor Group's presidency, Woods fit the bill. After starting his career at Ripley's "Believe It or Not!", he has worked in almost every aspect of the outdoor business, largely at Mediacom and then at the Gannet Co. in New York. With a financial background, he at one time or another has run the national production, sales, operations and financial sectors of outdoor media. He was executive vice-president of Mediacom in Toronto before moving to Gannett Outdoor where he was senior vice-president finance and production.

"Outdoor is becoming more important in the U.S.," says Woods. "Outdoor advertising's market share was half of what Canada had. Now, five years later, it has about two-thirds market share (about 2%-2.5%) compared to its share in the Canadian media mix at about 3.5%. It has more opportunities for growth in the U.S.."

Nevertheless, Woods left Gannett to work back in Toronto on development of investments for the Interactive Media Corporation (Telepersonals). He was there only a short time when Pattison came calling.

"At Pattison, we acquired six companies in the past year," says Woods. "Everyone has key objectives and a vision of where we're going. We're bringing people together to share ideas, especially tailored to the sales area. As soon as we accomplish something, there's always something new being added to our list. We're being aggressive, but we're not about to tinker with what has made the business successful in the past."

Woods is fostering the entrepreneurial spirit throughout the company.

"I'm pretty independent, and I expect those who work with me to be independent and to delegate all the way. It's important that people can make their own decisions. It helps to keep people motivated, and everyone here wants to be better than the competition. It's also important to be knowledgeable about each sector of the business.''

Look and Listen

While Pattison's Outdoor Group has no properties outside Canada, Woods is keeping his eye open for opportunities. He's also keenly interested in the kinds of outdoor products that he sees elsewhere that might be adapted to be part of the Canadian landscape.

"You have to get the blinders off and look everywhere for new ideas," he says. "You have to have a wider vision."

He also listens. With the World Outdoor Advertising Congress coming up in Montreal in June, Woods wants to take in as much as possible, seeing it as a great opportunity for learning from the delegates worldwide and hoping to gain new ideas.

"It's important to get to such events, but it's also important for me to get around to get the flavor of what goes on in the various communities across Canada, working with local management to help develop their good ideas and see if those ideas can work from one market to another."

For relaxation, Woods takes to running and, particularly, to mountain biking, often in the Credit River and Humber River regions, or, he says, "anyhere I can find a trail."

Though he's on the road a lot, family plays a big role in his life. Father of two teens and a 20-year-old, he makes it a point that Sunday nights are one time when the whole family is together. But the rest of the week it's business.

"I've been described as a driver," says Woods. "I like to think of myself as a 'subtle driver'. I'm harder on myself than on others. I get along well with people in general, and usually see what they want. Being in sales helped. I try to listen to what people want, and then, 'let's get the tools in action and get the job done'.

"But I'm not as patient as I'd like to be. I'm working on that. I'm not where I want to be with it, but I'm better than I was, and I'm really trying hard. I ask people if I'm being patient enough and then try to see if there's a better way to do something differently so the next time will be better."

Woods is driven by challenges.

"Any business has its share, and outdoor seems to have more and more roadblocks and issues," says Woods. "Sometimes it involves dealing with people, or things like more sensitivity to the environment. You can't go off and shoot from the lip. What you say has impact and must be planned. It makes for being a more responsible executive."

These days Woods has been dealing with merchandising his media, initially trying to integrate the five operations: Merchant Media, Métrobus, Gould, Hook and Seaboard, into one. It takes a lot of sitting down trying to understand what all the company has and the issues around each.

"For example, the 3,000 mall poster faces we now own carry the same size products but they all look different," he says. "We have to look at how the product can be packaged, what advertisers want, and all the different sales strategies to try to find one, and yet still be flexible. Everyone is looking for innovation and ways to stand out from the clutter."

Woods is looking forward to the new industry reach and frequency model soon to be released by the Canadian Outdoor Measurement Bureau. It should be good for outdoor media buying, since all agencies will have access and the ability to compare one outdoor company to another.

"Outdoor's share of advertising dollars in Canada, with about 3.5%, lags far behind many other countries," says Woods. "For example, in Scandinavia, outdoor holds 10%-to-12%.

Creative Holds the Key

"To improve in Canada, we should encourage and. educate all the young creatives to do dynamite creative. We should get the best creative that intrigues and shows humor. When more advertisers see how outdoor can tell a story, if you get the right components, they'll be more interested. I'm a big believer that creative is a big component of the medium.

"We also have to provide research that shows that the medium does move products. We have to show sales figures. We have to reel them in with a hook."

It will be a lot easier, he figures, when advertisers realize what all they can get under that new one-company umbrella.