“How I Got in the Billboard Business” – Owners share their stories. Rex Media
Today, we have Mohadib Bakali from Rex Media in Bassett, CA. Rex Media has 1 structure with 2 faces – both digital.
What is your first memory of having an interest in the advertising industry?
Growing up with a passion for architecture and real estate, I pursued that calling at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles — and it was through managing our family’s property that I first stumbled into the world of out-of-home advertising. Looking for creative ways to maximize what we had, my research led me straight to OOH, and one evening on my commute home from campus, stuck in classic LA freeway traffic, I spotted a new billboard going up and something just clicked. What started as pure curiosity quickly became a career-defining passion, and I’ve never looked back.
What led up to you deciding to start an out of home advertising company?
Once I discovered OOH through managing our family property, starting Rex Media USA felt like a natural next step. My background in real estate development — spanning residential, commercial, multifamily, and mixed-use projects — gave me a lens that most billboard operators simply don’t have. I kept seeing untapped value at the intersection of real estate and media, and how rarely anyone was treating billboard infrastructure as a true development asset. Rex Media USA was built to close that gap: integrating outdoor advertising directly into the development pipeline, and building media into the fabric of the properties we develop.
What is one of your favorite projects/campaigns you’ve worked on?
If I’m being honest, the process of getting a billboard approved is not for the faint of heart — and looking back, there’s equal parts humor and hard-won pride in how it all unfolded. It took us nearly four years to navigate the approvals — working through cities that didn’t allow signage, battling zoning restrictions, and grinding through the planning and building departments one requirement at a time. I felt like a complete fish out of water more times than I can count. And just when you think the hard part is over, you build your sign and then wait six months for power to be connected. We weren’t about to let that stop us — so for the first two months, I was personally driving out to the site every few days to manage the generator, handle any issues, and coordinate fuel refills just to keep the lights running. Not exactly what I imagined when I pictured owning a media company. But then came the punchline: four years of planning, approvals, and headaches — and once we broke ground, the entire structure was built and operational in under three weeks. The moment I saw it lit up and running, it was indescribable. And now, hardly a week goes by without a friend, family member, or colleague telling me they spotted the sign on their commute. That kind of real-world impact — seeing your work embedded in people’s daily lives — is something no metric can fully capture.
What’s your impression of the current state of our business? Are you seeing growth, future predictions, etc…
OOH is in a really exciting place right now — and honestly, I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of where it’s headed. The appetite from advertisers is strong, and in SoCal especially, I see so much room for growth that still hasn’t been tapped. For us, the focus right now is expanding — we’re actively looking for partnerships with landowners and real estate developers who want to do something meaningful with their properties, and we’re in the middle of responding to several RFPs with municipalities and educational institutions in the region. The real estate and media convergence model that Rex Media is built on opens doors that a traditional OOH operator just can’t walk through, and that’s what gets me excited about where this is all going. The opportunities are genuinely endless — we’re heads down and full speed ahead.
-Mohadib
