.jpg)
What began as an idea for two friends and a truck with a trailer full of LEDS evolved into an empire led by titans of their industry. Media Resources is a full-service company, providing engineering, manufacturing, printing, and installation services.
Recognized by Deloitte Fast 500™ and Fast 50™ in 2017 as the fastest-growing company in North America, with innovation as a key driver for the selection process, Media Resources is a leader in end-to-end market solutions to the sign industry. The company took home four of the top accolades at the 2021 Best of Canada’s Sign Industry Awards, acknowledging the company as strong and dominant in the Canadian billboard industry.
Oakville Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club of Oakville West presented the 2022 Oakville Award for Business Excellence to Media Resources for their advanced LED display board technology, with regard to sustainability, as well as an appreciation for bringing high-skilled jobs to the community, while operating on a global scale.
“Their succession planning, leadership development KPIs and overall operations ensures continued growth and success.”
What are the company objectives?
President and CEO Jeff Rushton shares, “Our goal has always been around creating great products and services for customers and providing a great place to work for our employees.
Innovation is a huge portion of our values. A customer presents technical issues the business is experiencing, and Media Resources creates a solution.
The goal is to be the most respected and most innovative firm measured by new product development and the perception of our customers and employees. At some point, I wouldn’t mind if Media Resources was acknowledged as one of Canada’s best-run companies ”
How can the public glean a better understanding of the application of Media Resources work?
Rushton explains, “We are an integrated science service business that sells to sign companies. We support industry through end-to-end service offerings of indoor/outdoor retail displays and all forms of printing.
We don’t develop the product first and market it, we have long-term, multi-decade-long relationships with the customers we work with. We listen to the requests of customers and build to those requirements. We have a brilliant team of staff led by Chen Qian, Chief Product Architect.
The Canadian government recognizes what we do, awarding our company the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Program Grant. Only 1 of 30 companies in Canada win the Large Value Contribution Award, helping with funding to develop the next generation of fine pixel outdoor technology.”
Some of their work can be seen in Nordstrom’s windows in New York City, for Disney, film production installations, on 3D sculptures for the billboard industry, as an integral part in an NHL project, and as the Ford building signage in Oakville, Ontario.
What are some of the innovations Media Resources are responsible for?
To name a few, we are first to introduce tri-vision signs – that 3-sided flip. The first manufacturers of digital displays, done in our robotics space in Oakville – most advanced in the world.
Digital displays for outdoor can give a light spillage effect to unintended areas like residential communities. Media Resources created a product called SITELINE™ that blocks the light from the road. We’ve found that this application has helped people across North America get permits for signage, enabling people to remain respectful of the environment around them.
Indoor light digital displays are exploding. We created a product called VISIONIQ TruView™, a flip-chip technology display that captivates viewers with its sharper, realistic images that are clean, non-static, and hygienic. This technology is being used in corporate lobbies, conference centres, auditoriums, sports arenas, houses of worship, and airports. It’s our most innovative game-changer we’ve done to date,” Rushton describes.
As a business, how did you react to the pandemic?
“The company's resources span Canada, the U.S. and the Asia Pacific, with 14 offices in total. With travel restrictions in place and the inability to move equipment outside of Canada, my partners and I took the opportunity to reinvent the company. We took a leap of faith and invested $11 million back into it for the purpose of coming out of the pandemic stronger and being able to better service our customers and for a better experience for our employees.
We also launched an integrated safety program and became ISO 45001 Certified. We installed an automated manufacturing plant, built two new assembly facilities, a global enterprise resource planning system, formed a fine pixel pitch division with our TruView™ product and launched it, bought 2 companies, and more.
Myself and my partners, Keith Edwards now retired, Steve Gallow Managing Director and Partner, and Will Thomson Senior Vice President of Operations, have a ton of passion for our business and we invest in it because we believe in it and the employees that run it.
During the pandemic, I’m not sure that we laid off any salaried or hourly employees. Some hourly employees left to find other work while we were closed as a non-essential business. At the Oakville location, we, in fact, hired 120 more salaried and hourly people in 2022, with a total of more than 300. Many of which are Oakville residents,” Rushton reveals.
What’s next for the company?
“Our next area of growth is to invest heavily in Canada and the U.S. We plan to expand sales of digital displays in other parts of the world like Australia, the UK, the Middle East, Germany – Europe generally.
We’d like to have a bigger position in the sports market to replace previous technology with our fine pixel pitch system.
We consider ourselves true entrepreneurs who are fairly fearless. We don’t sit idle,” remarks Rushton.
There are acknowledgements by the company of accomplishments and contributions made by individuals on staff. What is management’s philosophy when it comes to its employees?
Rushton doesn’t hesitate to respond, “We don’t have a lot of turnover in salary staff or in hourly staff. I personally track it weekly. The partners and I conduct an orientation with new employees. We walk the floor to keep in touch. We believe in the dial-up employee experience because human capital is really going to make the difference between a great company and an awesome-ranked company.
It is the employees who truly make it happen,” he continues. “Leaders take the investment risk and identify the markets to go after, but it's executed through a great team.
During COVID, with the government’s financial assistance and a contribution from the company we were able to keep most employees if not all. Some hourly staff left to do other things when we were initially classified as non-essential. Most salary staff remained. Those who stayed had a temporary pay cut, helping us to help them, which has since been gradually all given back.”
Why do you believe that Media Resources deserved the 2022 Oakville Award for Business Excellence?
Rushton responds, “My business partners and myself knew that the business would come back, so our commitment to supporting our customers and employees during a pretty tough time and investing in the business to make it better was a good thing to do.”
Rushton adds, “We are committed to Oakville and committed to driving employment. Media Resources is a great place to work, and if you need a job, we have openings – salary and hourly. We have a shortage in engineering, and we offer competitive salaries. Specific job postings can be found on our blog.”