As to his legacy, after a succession of ownerships, the Duncan Hines Cake Mix line my father started is still going strong. It was sold by P&G to Aurora Foods in 1998, then acquired five years later by the Pinnacle Foods Group which in February 2007 agreed to be acquired by affiliates of the Blackstone Group for $1.3 billion. Ironically, the 2007 price of admission to the Forbes 400.
The media empire my father created was massive, but what’s left of it today is pretty small. Park Outdoor is one of the few remaining family-owned outdoor companies operating in New York State. Each year, the Central New York Business Journal, published in Syracuse, NY, selects fifty-two companies out of the hundreds of thousands operating in central New York to be featured as “The Business of the Week.” In the August 24, 2001, issue, our company was featured under the heading, Billboard Firm Profits by Staying Local. The article by Annemarie Kropf pointed out that the “sign business has been in the Park family for more than 35 years,” and said, “By focusing its efforts on local businesses, Park Outdoor Advertising of New York, Inc. remains a booming company despite the economic times.”
Elaborating on the status of the only business remaining that carries my father’s name, it reported, Though the Ithaca-based company sells advertising space to regional and national companies, over the last 20 years, revenue from local businesses increased from 20 percent to over 97 percent….
The company currently owns approximately 1,700 billboards covering 15,000 square miles in 21 counties throughout New York State and Pennsylvania.
Park’s father began the company in 1964 by acquiring billboards from General Outdoor and the estate of Max Andrews. Park Outdoor Advertising initially covered an area from the St. Lawrence River to the north, Jamestown to the west, and Scranton, PA to the south.
The article pointed out that “in 1984, the senior Park sold the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre market.” When that happened I acquired other territories in Watertown and Erie, PA, to make up the loss, and also expanded the company’s holdings in Binghamton, Syracuse and Utica. The article went on to say, Park, Jr. went on to purchase the company from his father in 1988, and in the 1990s began consolidating the operation, selling its western and northern divisions…. Concentrating on Utica, Rome, Syracuse, Binghamton, Elmira, Auburn and the Finger Lakes Region has proved successful.
Though the company faces competition from other media, including radio, cable television, and newspapers, Park says that many of these other venues also use Park Outdoor to put out their message. Advertising with outdoor based on cost and immediate impact is the most economical way for a local business to operate, he says. Park attributes his company’s success to the company’s employees, whom he says are long-term and dedicated. “The company is a family business, with our employees treated like family.” 53 One of the best things about Park Outdoor, that makes me proud, is the loyalty of our employees. Dave Feldman, the first person I met when I joined my father’s company in 1971, is still with the company as Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer. In a meeting in 2001, I told our managers, “Having worked under my father for seventeen years, and having been subject to his almost fanatical hands-on management, I have tried to go in the opposite direction and allow each of you to run your own division exactly as if it were your own company, for which you and your people share in the rewards. I respect your dedicated efforts, and can say the outdoor medium needs more examples such as you to keep the industry honest and raise its level of responsibility.
“Even in tough times, you have all come through for the company, and I respect your dedicated efforts tremendously. I thought it was interesting that in looking into our history, we have actually brought back or recruited over the last ten years a dozen individuals that have worked for Park Outdoor or Park Communications in the past. Six of you are in this room.”
I also urged them to continue to deal fairly and honestly with our suppliers and customers, to maintain humility in their dealings, and above all, to keep a sense of humor at all times. After all, as Mark Van Doren said, “Wit is the only wall between us and the dark.”
I think my father would have been proud at the way the company he started, and the one I ran for him for many years, turned out. And I think my mother may be pleasantly surprised, too.
I’ve often heard my mother use the expression when somebody starts complaining, “try walking in my shoes sometime.” I told our managers it’s good practice to put yourself in the other person’s place. This brief transference into the mind of another will help you gauge and understand how what you are saying or doing is impacting the other person. It’s helpful whether you’re selling something, giving advice or dealing with your employees, friends or family.