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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 three-year partnership, they tossed a coin to determine who would get the Pensacola Opera House and who would get the Pensacola Advertising Company, which was the small poster company established to promote the Opera House. Mr. Lamar lost the coin toss, so he had to take the less lucrative poster company, which he 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 into one of the largest out-of-home advertising in the nation. Through generations of innovation, Lamar has changed the nation’s landscape while still maintaining the characteristics of a family business.

Founded in 1902, Lamar presently operates over 150 outdoor advertising companies in more than 40 states and Puerto Rico. Lamar has over 70 transit franchises that reach driving audiences across the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico through billboards, digital billboards, bus shelters, benches, and buses. Lamar is also the nation’s leader in the highway logo sign business, with operations in 19 states and the province of Ontario, Canada.