Daktronics 50-Year Anniversary: Jerry Young Reminisces
Jerry Young appreciates the relationships and skills Daktronics has provided him. Read more about his experiences.
9/26/2018
Categories: Out of Home Advertising
Daktronics hired Jerry Young in 1985. He remembers that the company’s parking lot was
just gravel at the time. Down through the years, Jerry held a variety of jobs, including
designer, working with the mechanical design group, project manager, and currently,
out-of-home account manager.
Flexibility required
Because Daktronics had around 100 employees in the 80s, people filled many roles. The labor force was often short when large projects came in, and everyone had to pitch into help.
“After our work day at the office, we’d go to the plant for a few hours in the evening or
on Saturday, doing whatever it took to get the project done,” Jerry says.
Times Square renaissance
As the project manager in Times Square, New York, he found himself overseeing an
explosion of high-profile, land-breaking projects. Daktronics sold displays to Morgan
Stanley, Samsung, Coca-Cola and Dow Jones.
Jerry enjoyed working with Morgan Stanley the most. In1996, Daktronics installed three
tickers on their facility, running the entire length of the block between 47th Street and
48th Street along Broadway. Morgan Stanley used the spectacular to run financial news,
stock quotes and headlines.
“It was a project that pushed the envelope of what we could do,” Jerry says. “It was
our first major attempt doing large format LED displays . . . we started out with virtually
no product and ended up about 18 months later with an installation in Times Square
that lasted for over 18 years.”
Out of Home
Jerry has been an out-of-home account manager since 2005, working with Lamar and
Clear Channel. Lamar ordered a large purchase from Daktronics in 2006. At the time,
the product was standard—not specific to OOH. Jerry worked with Lamar and other
customers over the years to develop a product capable of withstanding a 24/7
environment. He continues to work with Clear Channel to develop display
diagnostics and improve ease of installation.
The most notable market change Jerry has seen is the reduction of ownership cost that
allowed static signs to convert to digital. As for future trends, lower-cost product will
continue to allow more conversions. Also, customers want higher-resolution displays.
Good memories
Jerry appreciates that Daktronics gave him the opportunity to see places most people
could never visit. But what means even more to him is “travelling with Daktronics people and having good relationships and a good time as we travelled.”