Lamar Advertising is a national outdoor advertising company with a regional office here in Erie.

The local operation opened in 1997 when Lamar purchased Penn Advertising.

Lamar rents billboard space at about 1500 locations in a 13 county region of northwest Pennsylvania and parts of New York and Ohio.

All sorts of customers are eager to use outdoor advertising to reach an audience.

Lamar Vice-President General Manager Timothy Palochak said, "Pretty much any business or anybody who has a need for a particular message, they want to get out to the public."

The big change for the company in recent years, the increasing popularity of digital displays. Right now they are still a very small percentage of the company's overall business. But it is a fast growing segment of the business."

Many customers love digital. But the vast majority of Lamar clients still use traditional billboards. It is just a matter of choice.

But Lamar does not serve just businesses. It also donates billboard space to plenty of area non profits.

Palochak said, "That makes us feel good. And it helps the community because they are doing good things in the community and those non profits, they sometimes need help."