One of the most interesting types of billboard structures is the “wallscape” – in which the billboard is affixed to a masonry wall or similar fixture. By using the wall to hold the sign up, you save an enormous amount of money over a monopole, I-beam or wooden structure. In this Billboard Mastery podcast we’re going to explore how to successfully put together a wallscape deal.
Episode 114: How To Get A Wallscape Transcript
We all like to get a good deal. We love to go to Dollar Tree and buy something for a dollar that at a different store would be $5. And billboard owners are no different. This is Frank Rolfe with the Billboard Mastery Podcast. We're going to talk about what might be the least expensive way to enter the business. And that's with what is called the wallscape. Now, what's a wallscape? Well, the name's pretty descriptive. It's a billboard attached to a wall. Now, why would you want to stick a billboard on a wall? Well, think of it this way. Most of the cost of building a billboard comes from holding that big old sign up in the air. If you build a big old monopole sign, the majority of your cost comes from that big steel pole that holds that sign vertical. Same with an I-Beam sign, same with the good old fashioned wooden telephone sign. But when you mount something to the wall, that wall is what takes all of that weight, that pressure of the wind. So the wall of the wallscape is allowing you to avoid the poles or the I-Beams of all the different kinds of constructions, and therefore, it makes them very inexpensive.
Now, another benefit of a wallscape is sometimes they can be much larger because there is not any cost in the structure. So you can do wallscapes that are much bigger than you could typically afford with a regular billboard sign. So what's the downside to wallscapes? Well, the old original downside was, you had to paint them, and the masonry would have a texture. So if you painted your ad on a brick wall, you had the whole texture of brick into the ad. That was problem number one. Problem number two, hand painting them was hard because how do you get up on the wall to paint them? But with the advent of vinyl, it all changed. Suddenly, all you have to do with the wall is put in hooks that you then stretch the vinyl over, and no longer do you have those challenges that we had back when we used to have to hand paint them. Lighting wallscapes can be tough because where do you attach the lights to? And that is a true problem. So many wallscapes remain unlit, or they're kind of awkwardly lit, maybe from above with a Holophane fixture that's attached to the roof of the building, aimed down on it, some kind of a spotlight effect.
But the bottom line is that one of the most lucrative parts of the billboard industry has been and will always be wallscapes. So that would then beg the question, how do you get a wallscape? Well, just like all billboards, you have to know what the rules and regulations are. Some cities allow wallscapes and others don't. Some states allow them and others don't. And we're not going to break the law here. So the first thing we have to know before we even go on the adventure of wallscaping, is what the rules say. What are you, and what are you not allowed to do when it comes to building a wallscape? Now, there is one loophole in wallscapes, and that is that in some states, the federal highway beautification program only extends 660ft approximately from the right of way. And that's why sometimes when you get out in the country, ever see these giant billboards way, way off the right of way? Those are people who found that loophole because there's no federal control when you get beyond 660ft in many states. So as a result, what you're going to want to do with the wallscape also is not only know the law of the state, but also see if there's in fact the loophole.
Because if you can find that loophole, what it means is you might find some giant wall. I know you've seen probably at least a grain elevator or two where people go, and they put the ad on the grain elevators, gigantic. Those signs, maybe, I can't even begin to guess, 100ft tall and 300ft wide, they may be the size of a football field up on those grain elevators. And they're utilizing that loophole. They're putting that sign in an area where you can't put any other signs, because what they have is outside regulations. And they can only do it because they're attached to a building. They could never afford to build that if that was a freestanding sign. But the first stop at wallscaping is you got to know the laws. Number two, you have to figure out how to approach the property owner, because we're not now leasing ground space from them to put our own poles in in the sign. You want to put that thing right on their building or wall, and that's going to freak a lot of them out. They're going to say, well, you're going to ruin my building.
You're going to ruin that wall. It's going to get all kinds of drainage issues and things like that. So it doesn't hurt to have a nice portfolio of other wallscapes, it doesn't have to be the ones that you own. You could own none of them at the time, but other people's wall scapes just to get them familiar with the concept, and you have to find appropriate walls. You're not going to be able to put a wallscape over the windows of an office building. You actually can. You'll see in some cities they do. They have a material that actually you can see through. But you're probably not of that caliber yet. If you're just starting out looking for wallscapes, that's more of the bastion of the more of the larger companies. But as you travel down a road, you may find situations where there are legally zoned and spaced opportunities. But there's a building there, those are your targets. Or in states with the loophole, those things off the highway, which are massive, those are your targets. So you can pretty quickly build based on your knowledge of the laws. Going out to the area and driving around, you can start to see some wallscape opportunities.
You go to the people and try and get a ground lease on them. Now you can pay a higher percent on a wallscape than you can a traditional sign because of much less cost in it. Let's assume that you can build the wallscape. You can put the hooks in the wall and stretch the thing around it. Let's say it's non lighted and let's say you can do that for maybe $4,000. Well, that sure the heck beats $40,000 for a traditional sign. So let's say you can rent that sign then for $1,000 a month. Well, even if you paid the guy 50% of the revenue, it's still a phenomenal return on your investment. So you may have to take a little more outside the box when it comes to wallscapes. If that's what's holding you back is the economics, you can be a little more aggressive with them.
Now, how do you find advertisers for them? Typically wallscapes are memorable. They're different. You're not used to seeing ads on the sides of walls, so a lot of advertisers respond favorably to them. I'd say your biggest downside is the lighting. That's going to be your big problem.
Which means you're going to have to probably get advertisers who are not big on nighttime business. It's going to be a whole lot easier getting a car dealer on that wallscape than it might be a 24 hour Waffle House, because they're much more concerned about the lighting on it. Are there any repair problems to ponder? Not really, because the wall takes all the stress of the big windstorm. It's really hard to damage a vinyl on a wall of a building. And you have to remember that this is not something new. Wallscapes are one of the oldest forms of billboards. If you look at those old billboard books, you see a lot of them. In fact, all the way back into the 1800s, what was the most prominent way you put up a billboard was on the roof of a barn. So wallscapes may predate most of the entire billboard industry. And they're very time-proven and very effective. Now, you can also find wallscapes sometimes abandoned in some urban areas. And again, they operate just like billboards. If you can get that abandoned wallscape, if you can take control of that, if you can forge a new lease and rent out the space, they're almost always a good idea.
Now you might say, what about roof mounts, though? Those are also on buildings. Those have a slight problem. Because the roof mounts in many cities, they're thought to be too dangerous. They're not dangerous to operate them. What they're dangerous is in the event of fire. If the building catches fire, you got that incredibly heavy thing on the roof which may fall through and kill everyone. So a lot of cities have banished new roof mounts. They still allow you to service the ones that are there, but you can't do any new ones. So roof mounts actually are a lot different than wallscapes. Wall scapes don't have any fire issues, supported by the exterior of the wall. No downside as far as any health and safety that I can think of. But don't be thinking for a minute that roof mounts are different or the same. Roof mounts are very different in the way they're typically approached. The bottom line is, if you use a little creative thinking, think outside the box, look around a bit, you may find wallscape options, and those typically are really good money makers. Also, I will note that sometimes you can get variances for wallscapes.
Some downtown areas like the vibrancy. They like the look of having a environment where there are prominent creative billboards in them. Even big cities like Dallas have granted over time variances to allow wallscapes on buildings. So even if it doesn't immediately fit the law, it may be worth your while to inquire as to whether or not you could get a variance. But the bottom line is that wallscapes are in many cases a really good idea. They're an option of the billboard industry that people don't give a lot of thought to, but they can be very successful. This is Frank Rolfe, the Billboard Mastery Podcast. Hope you enjoyed this. Talk to you again soon.