
CASE STUDY
Circle City Outdoor
Case Study
Circle City Outdoor was formed in 2012 to operate an outdoor advertising plant in Indiana and Minnesota. The company owns and manages 48 out-of-home faces across two states, including 7 static billboard faces around Indianapolis, Indiana, and 41 static billboard faces along with 1 digital billboard face south of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.
44% Return on Capital from Retrofitting Billboards and 37% Return on Capital from Electricity Savings Alone
The Challenge
In 2019, Circle City Outdoor faced significant challenges with its billboard lighting systems. The lighting and controls were aging and inefficient, frequently failing due to outdated Holophane bulbs and unreliable timing clocks. Regular inspections and manual adjustments for Daylight Savings and repairs were time-consuming and costly, leading to high maintenance expenses. Additionally, the existing lighting systems consumed significant energy, resulting in elevated operational costs.


The Solution
To address these challenges, Circle City Outdoor partnered with Reliable Electric and Outdoorlink to implement a comprehensive lighting solution. Reliable Electric assisted in selecting and ordering appropriate LED light fixtures, completing rebate forms, and providing product specifications, ensuring high-quality lighting with various color temperature options. Outdoorlink contributed by providing Smart Controllers that enabled remote control and real-time monitoring of billboard lighting. These controllers automatically adjusted lighting schedules for Daylight Savings, significantly reducing the need for manual interventions.
The Results
The integration of LED lighting and Outdoorlink’s Smart Controllers yielded significant benefits for Circle City Outdoor:

Substantial Cost Savings
The company achieved a 37% return on capital from electricity savings alone. When considering the overall impact of retrofitting billboards with high-efficiency LED lights, the return on capital increased to 44%.

Enhanced Control and Efficiency
The Smart Controllers provided real-time alerts for power and bulb outages, allowing for quick responses and remote adjustments to lighting schedules, including automatic Daylight Savings adjustments. This reduced the need for manual inspections and streamlined operations.

Improved Financial Returns
The combined financial returns from energy savings, reduced maintenance costs, and fewer outages were significant, with the return on capital from these upgrades meeting and exceeding the company’s financial objectives.

Increased Ad Visibility
The brighter, more efficient lighting enhanced the visibility of advertisements, providing greater value to clients and improving the overall effectiveness of Circle City Outdoor's billboard network.
“The financial return from installing the Outdoorlink Smart Controller and high-efficiency lighting is remarkable. But to get the true return, you must factor in the ongoing maintenance costs of the old system, including parts and labor. You also have to consider the cost of not having a dissatisfied advertiser because their board isn’t illuminated—again! I think that’s worth as much, if not more, than the straight financial return.”
Duane Fredrickson, Circle City Outdoor Manager
The LED retrofit and Smart Controller integration provided Circle City Outdoor with substantial financial returns, improved operational efficiency, and enhanced client satisfaction. These high-quality, energy-efficient lighting solutions demonstrate the value of investing in advanced LED technology and smart control systems for outdoor advertising.