Outdoor Media (OM) comprises the use of advertising structures (signboards / hoardings / lightbox / Prisma, etc.) in outdoor environments to promote brands and products.  These spaces may be public spaces (belonging to Municipalities) such as major traffic junctions or adjacent to highways; or private spaces (on privately owned lands) such as within compounds, on tops of villas etc.

Critical success factors
Location: this is a combination of place + visibility + eyeball traffic = maximum
impact
Size: the larger the billboard the greater the impact on the public
Electrical power: allowing the billboard to be visible both day and night
Quality of design: the more attractive the structure the better it reflects on the quality of the product
Ease of maintenance: the faster the graphics (the advert) can be changed the quicker the billboard can respond to promotions and tactical advertisements = the more money the brand will spend on advertising there
Population %: the percentage guarantee that a billboard will be used [populated] by a brand ‘before’ it is built
Competitive rate card: undercut the competition by offering the best location at the best price!

Brief History of Starkads
1.  Starkads founded in 2003 by Shaikh Ali: starting with two billboard sites (= 6 faces). 
2.  Ahmed Bin Hindi was soon invited into partnership: introducing bus-wrapping of the public transport system (a first in Bahrain). They appointed a management team to run business.
3.  2006: detrimental changes to advertising on buses: bus-wrapping in trouble as government regulations kept changing, preventing wrapping of windows and killing demanded for branded buses. Management team resigned.
4.  2006 New management team appointed: bus-stops were wrapped (another Bahrain first) to off-set the loss in revenue from buses.  Bus-rate card reduced by 60% to make buses competitive to billboards
5. 2007 billboard expansion: core competence in billboards supported with large expansion of assets (6 faces increased to 43 faces) lifting Starkads from 8th position to 3rd position
6. 2008 and beyond: decision to raise the game and make Starkads the first company in Bahrain to concentrate on street furniture of high-quality, aesthetic design and durability.

Current set-up
Starkads is a small company run by five people.  Our fixed expenses are modest, yet we have achieved a huge increase in our assets + net revenue size without any significant increase in company size.  Within the last 18 months our company has expanded 5-fold in asset size.  In mid-2006 we were ranked # 8th on the list of outdoor media companies – we are now ranked #3  as of February 2008.