The business success story telling how Lamar Advertising grew from a tiny poster company into the biggest billboard business in the U.S. in terms of number of boards, with revenue of some $1.1 billion in 2006. Encountering numerous financial crises in its 100-year history (starting in Pensacola, Fla., in 1902), the company managed to get past the dangers and capitalize on the corresponding opportunities that usually accompany such crises.