Publicite Metrobus, the Montreal unit of Jim Pattison Enterprises’ outdoor group, is throwing its hat into the ring for outdoor business in that city.

The company is establishing a poster plant there and plans on going head to head against the more established Montreal outdoor suppliers, Mediacom and Omni Outdoor and Company.

‘We are a new player here,’ says Ray Doray, Metrobus sales manager.Metrobus has placed about 20 10 x 20 posters in the city since last November and plans on establishing about 80 more by the end of the summer, Doray says.

The company has also signed a contract with the city of Laval and seven South Shore municipalities to create 420 bus shelters over the next two years.

Metrobus is not new to Montreal, and, in fact, had the contract for transit advertising in the city from 1987 until the end of 1993, when it was taken over by Mediacom.

A two-year moratorium imposed on building any outdoor advertising structures in Montreal prevented Metrobus from expanding its billboard services until November of last year when the municipal government revised the bylaw.

Metrobus is moving quickly to establish itself as a big player in the billboard market.

‘We’re looking at 100 faces by the end of the summer,’ Doray says.

‘There’s no doubt about it – we’re going to have more street level advertising in Montreal, and, eventually, we’ll have giant, backlit billboards,’ he says.

Doray says The Outdoor Partnership, which has members from Victoria to Montreal, will soon expand to Quebec City where it already has a limited presence, and eventually Sherbrooke and Chicoutimi.