Those Krazy Indiana Interstate Billboards…

Today we went west to visit Mom. It was Mother’s day. She’s doing very well. So is Dad. We had a nice visit.

Traveling through the short slice of Northwest Indiana along I-80 I-94 between Michigan and Illinois you will notice billboards spaced about 100 yards apart selling everything from fireworks to casino gambling to table-dancing sex clubs to insurance to personal injury attorneys to H-D motorcycles all within a thirty-mile stretch in both directions.

Imagine what cross-country travelers think of Indiana. Sex, explosives, outlaw bikers, personal injury litigation and casino gambling must be all we have to offer if you evaluate my state from the billboards along the route. Depending on the politics of the traveler some may see Indiana as a hot bed of sin. I think of it a bit differently. What we offer in Indiana is individual freedom and personal choice.

One of my first posts for LITGM was about the Indiana fireworks retail businesses. Their billboards sprout this time of year right about the time the dogwoods bloom and the bass start to bite. The markup on fireworks has to be huge.

Krazy Kaplan is one of many pyrotechnic retail dealers here in Indiana. If you evaluate his success based on the number of billboards he has one would assume he is the biggest single pyrotechnic retailer in Indiana. As far as I can tell he has all of four outlets. I could be wrong.


Last summer my son was home for a weekend. It was one week before the 4th of July. We took the Indiana Toll Road heading westbound for Pastrick Marina in East Chicago with the boat in tow. Our mission: perch fishing on Lake Michigan.

We counted 24 Krazy Kaplan billboards traveling westbound between the I-80 interchange near Portage and Cline Avenue, about fifteen miles or so. At times you can see up to four billboards for Krazy within sight at one time. What would this billboard buy cost Krazy? I wondered.

I checked the Lamar Outdoor Advertising website just to get an idea of how much Krazy might spend on billboards. It does not specify exactly where the billboards are against how much they cost but they have a price range for Lake County Indiana.

For the sake of discussion let’s say that the billboards along I-80 94 are the most expensive in Lake County Indiana, due to the high volume of traffic on that stretch of busy interstate highway. Lamar prices their best billboards in NWI at $14,366. per month. They list the GRP rating of their best boards at 100. So let's say that the price for one prime I-80 billboard in NW Indiana is $14,366 according to Lamar.

Multiply that by 24. Considering that price, Krazy spends $344,784 for one month of billboard advertising for 24 billboards. This only applies to the billboards we counted in the westbound lanes last year. He probably has as many in the eastbound lanes as well. That would add up to $689,598 for one month. Include the many boards on local highways and let’s say KK has a one month outdoor budget of over one million dollars.

This is one hell of a profitable business he has considering his out-of-house advertising budget.

I have no bone to pick with Krazy Kaplan, his business or his marketing plan, in fact I admire his ambition and determination to make a legal buck. He operates a legal business and makes a lot of money from Illinois pyrotechnic loving residents. So bring ‘em!

Mayor Dick Daley has to be pissed. His loyal subjects come to Indiana for cheap explosives, alcohol, tobacco and firearms. They return to Illinois as criminals with empty wallets and pay no illinois taxes on their legal Indiana purchases.

Thanks for visiting Indiana! Y’all come back.