June 22, 2015 Vol. 18, NO. 16
Ross Video’s winning
playbook
Smart acquisitions, strategic thinking have made Ottawa
manufacturer a global powerhouse while competing against the
likes of Sony and Panasonic
BY DAVID SALI
[email protected]
W
hen rookie cornerback Malcolm
Butler intercepted Seattle Seahawks
quarterback Russell Wilson in the
dying seconds of Super Bowl XLIX, the New
England Patriots clinched their fourth NFL
title in franchise history.
But Tom Brady and Co. weren’t the only
big winners at the University of Phoenix
Stadium this past February.
Ottawa’s own Ross Video had a pretty
good Super Bowl Sunday as well. A local
company that designs and manufactures
equipment for live events and video
productions, Ross Video had a hand in
virtually all aspects of NBC’s game-day
broadcast, which drew the largest television
audience in U.S. history.
Ross equipment dominated the
network’s control room. Ross technology
created the on-screen graphics and
generated the “augmented reality” image
of a giant Vince Lombardi Trophy. Ross’s
mobile trucks were also on scene, producing
Sports Illustrated’s live streaming coverage
of the game and surrounding events.
All of it was done with equipment
manufactured at the firm’s 80,000-squarefoot plant in Iroquois, not far from Ottawa
on the St. Lawrence River.
Much like the Patriots, who have built
a dynasty despite not having the biggest
names or flashiest players at most positions,
Ross Video has forged a reputation for
punching above its weight by out-preparing
and outperforming its rivals.
When rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler
intercepted Seattle Seahawks quarterback
Russell Wilson in the dying seconds of
Super Bowl XLIX, the New England Patriots
clinched their fourth NFL title in franchise
history.
But Tom Brady and Co. weren’t the only
big winners at the University of Phoenix
Stadium this past February.
Ottawa’s own Ross Video had a pretty
good Super Bowl Sunday as well. A local
company that designs and manufactures
equipment for live events and video
productions, Ross Video had a hand in
virtually all aspects of NBC’s game-day
broadcast, which drew the largest television
audience in U.S. history.
Ross equipment dominated the
network’s control room. Ross technology
created the on-screen graphics and
generated the “augmented reality” image
of a giant Vince Lombardi Trophy. Ross’s
mobile trucks were also on scene, producing
Sports Illustrated’s live streaming coverage
of the game and surrounding events.
All of it was done with equipment
manufactured at the firm’s 80,000-squarefoot plant in Iroquois, not far from Ottawa
on the St. Lawrence River.
Much like the Patriots, who have built
a dynasty despite not having the biggest
names or flashiest players at most positions,
Ross Video has forged a reputation for
punching above its weight by out-preparing
and outperforming its rivals.
“It’s not what you’re doing
right, it’s also making sure
you don’t do anything
wrong. I can come up with
a couple of dozen things
that you can do badly and
it won’t matter whether you
do other things right. It’s
trying to make sure there’s
no stone unturned when
you’re pushing the company
forward. ”
— DAVID ROSS, CEO OF ROSS VIDEO
“When you’re playing a game at
multiple levels like that, it’s difficult for
our competitor who has slightly better
technology, a slightly shinier product, to
win, because there’s more to the game than
that,” says David Ross, the firm’s CEO and
majority shareholder. “We compete every
day with Sony and Panasonic – and win
more often than we lose.”
As with football, that means paying
attention to every detail. Mr. Ross takes
pride in doing his homework before making
any major acquisition, something he’s done
a lot over the past half
a dozen years – 10
deals and counting.
“Every one had
its challenges,” he
concedes. “It’s
what you do
about them
that’s the
difference.
David Ross has taken the video production equipment company his father
Out of
founded in 1974 and built it into a worldwide presence. FILE PHOTO
those 10
acquisitions, we have had zero failures.
with a smile. “It’s not what you’re doing
Every single one of them has grown or has
right, it’s also making sure you don’t do
benefited Ross in some huge way.”
anything wrong. I can come up with a
At the Super Bowl, for example, Ross’s
couple of dozen things that you can do
mobile trucks used technology the firm
badly and it won’t matter whether you do
gained through its 2013 acquisition of
other things right. It’s trying to make sure
Florida-based Mobile Content Providers.
there’s no stone unturned when you’re
That computer-generated Vince Lombardi
pushing the company forward.”
Trophy? It was brought to the screen
Today, he likes to say, Ross Video is a
courtesy of products pioneered by Unreel
“technology company that really focuses on
LLC, a company Ross bought last year.
sales and marketing.”
Before he considers any deal, Mr. Ross
It’s a far cry from the place where he
says it has to meet two key criteria: the
started.
company must align snugly with his firm’s
“When I joined Ross Video in 1991, we
corporate culture and must generate no
had maybe three or four people in sales and
more than 10 per cent of Ross’s revenues.
marketing, but we put a ton of emphasis
That mitigates the risk if a deal goes south,
into research and development and
he says, and it eliminates “all sorts of
products,” he says. “I used to get people
political problems” that often crop up when saying to me, ‘You guys are the best-kept
big companies merge.
secret in the broadcast industry. I love your
“What I like to do is buy relatively
stuff. Too bad more people don’t know
small gems that have great potential that
about it.’ And it just bugged the hell out of
would benefit from the Ross brand and
me.”
integrating with the Ross suite of products,”
Mr. Ross says that even though his
he says. “If you were to buy a (market)
background was in engineering, he began
leader, what do you get out of that? You
spending time learning about the market
get maybe the efficiencies of saving some
and the firm’s competition and doing
sales and accounting. It’s not the same
demos of the product in the field.
thing as seeing fantastic growth of a small
“That led to really recognizing the
company.”
value of building a strong sales force and
Those acquisitions have paid major
building your brand name. That paid off
dividends for Ross Video, which is closing
exceptionally well.”
in on the 600-employee mark less than two
Ross sales offices now span the globe
years after reaching 500. Broadcasters in
and the firm’s marketing force includes
about 140 countries use its products, and
more than 100 people.
Mr. Ross says the company’s annual sales
“When you have that sort of a market
are “well into nine figures.”
presence and feet on the ground around
The firm his father launched in 1974
the world, you know what’s going on and
has averaged 17 per cent year-over-year
have great relationships with your business
revenue growth since he came on board
partners,” Mr. Ross says. “But the other
in the early ’90s, an impressive feat in any
thing is, you start to attract interest from
industry.
companies that want to partner with you.”
“Not bad for a tech company,” he says
A winning formula? You bet.