Letizia is president and chief executive of Mobile Billboards of Las Vegas, which offers mobile outdoor advertising services for an array of local clients. Unlike traditional outdoor advertising -- such as stationary billboards and street furniture or taxi tops and bus-boards -- Mobile Billboards operates a fleet of seven trucks equipped with special-display lighting that carry 10 feet by 20 feet images to strategically targeted demographics, which allows clients to determine where they would like their message to be viewed, and at what time of day or night.

Resort property clients such as Imperial Palace, for example, are likely to prefer to confine their message to the Las Vegas Boulevard corridor and surrounding areas, while clients such as Findlay Toyota are better served by reaching potential customers near the Auto Mall, on Sahara Avenue or at special events such as football or basketball games.

"It's different with every client, so we sit down with a traffic strategist," said Letizia, a former broadcast journalist who was formerly part of the anchor teams with Channel 13 and Channel 8. "For instance, our show clients want to be in front of the ticket booths when they have lines at 11 in the morning, and then we might start circling Fashion Show where people are eating and (convening) outside, then catch people when they come out in the early evening right before show time. We have 20 to 30 clients on the Strip and each has a different run."

Letizia said Mobile Billboards' concept of message delivery differs from traditional outdoor billboard advertising in that her company sells time instead of space, taking the message off of stilts and getting it on the streets at eye-level.

It also has other benefits over outdoor advertising such as taxi tops, according to Letizia, because one can't control the location of taxicabs or when they are on the streets.

"We have our messages targeted exactly where we want them to be," she said. "But we have struggled because of the old 1990s habits of the market because everyone has used taxis before so it's been about changing habits. But wouldn't you rather have your message on a 10x20 (foot) mobile billboard that can go anywhere you'd like?"

According to Rich Abajian, general manager of Findlay Toyota, the answer is a resounding yes.

"They do an excellent job of putting the billboards in front of people," Abajian said, adding that Findlay has been a client almost since Mobile Billboards' inception. "They plan their route around where the people are instead of driving randomly around town. I think that in marketing, if your advertising is done to the wrong people or where there are no people it's not effective advertising. Mobile knows the ins and outs of traffic flows and because of this we get many more impression in the demographic we are looking for -- the Toyota buyer.

"Mobile Billboards has made this more into a science than just luck or chance. They've really developed it and keep upping our odds of selling more cars because of the way they run their business. I know we sell more cars because of Mobile Billboards," he said.

Is the service cost-effective?

"Yes, or we wouldn't do it," Abajian said.

The Imperial Palace is also a client, having worked with the company since December.

"We have a couple of shows we're promoting, and a lot of the different properties can afford lots of billboards but our budget doesn't allow us to do that. So this is the best option that we've come across for us to hit our target market, which is the visitors who come to the Strip," said Jackie Brett, director of advertising and public relations for the Imperial Palace, adding that counts are up for both shows being promoted, the hotel's Legends in Concert and its Luau.

"The other thing that's very nice with this company is Marla has done an outstanding job of working her statistics, and if a convention is in town, say at the Convention Center, she'll change the route and you don't get that flexibility with a permanent billboard," she said.

Brett agreed that Mobile Billboards is affordable in addition to producing the desired result.

"Especially if you know the price of billboards," she said. "But what you do here is you're renting time and that's OK -- I don't need a permanent billboard from midnight to 6 in the morning. Marla also knows where her drivers are -- it's not a mom and pop, fly-by-night where they could go park (the truck) and leave it somewhere and go out to Lake Mead and spend the day. I also think they're rather ingenious because they did something where they found a need and they found a solution. I know Marla had an uphill battle when she first started because when you come out with a new idea people are resistant."

According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Inc. (OAAA) -- a trade organization in Washington, D.C. -- advertisers spent approximately $5.8 billion on outdoor advertising in 2004. Sixty-two percent of outdoor advertising expenditures derived from traditional billboards, while transit -- the product category which includes mobile billboard advertising -- accounted for 19 percent.

"The largest segment of the transit category is bus advertising, (while) taxis and the mobile trucks are probably neck and neck in the second tier in that category," said Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer of OAAA, adding that comparatively speaking, billboard advertising is more than 100 years old. "In terms of the mobile trucks, they've been around for a while but are still relatively new as it pertains to an audited and standardized medium. Within the last five years the segment has become much more accountable in terms of size and shape and delivery mechanisms."

According to Freitas, mobile advertising is indeed effective in reaching defined demographics.

"One of the real benefits is that it can provide a very targeted reach into specific areas or neighborhoods, which is great when you're trying to reach a targeted demographic, for example, people at the grand opening of a store or at a convention center or on the Las Vegas Strip, where there's not a lot of traditional advertising," he said.

"Think about it--you've got these huge beautiful billboards on wheels that can present compelling and provocative advertising messages to consumers. Advertisers are always looking for ways to target consumers more efficiently and this is a way to do that. (Mobile advertising) will continue to grow because of its targetability."So what prompted Letizia to form Mobile Billboards of Las Vegas and go after a piece of the pie?

The former anchorwoman, who resigned from broadcasting to raise her children, had been looking for professional opportunities as her children grew older, although she did manage to keep busy while her children were still at home, developing, producing and hosting the Parenting Network news series, which was eventually bought out by Warner Bros.

"So I wasn't just at home sitting on the sofa eating bon bons," she said. "But when I gave up my (anchor) career I had a little internal discussion with myself and made the promise I would stay home with those kids but knew that there would be something wonderful to do that was equally fulfilling when it came time for me to go back."

Unfortunately, broadcast journalism wasn't an option.

"I assumed there would be some great on-air position, but I didn't realize that when my daughter turned 18 I wouldn't be 28 anymore," she said. "In any case I realized that going back on the air was not what I was meant to do."

Her husband, who was the campaign manager of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, provided a viable solution.

"A guy with a single truck came to my husband and said, 'Wouldn't this be great for Oscar?' I thought my husband had lost his mind, but then I saw how the product worked and how people responded. It was one of the most memorable parts of the 1999 campaign and it had such a huge impact."

Eighteen months later, when Letizia was really looking for a project to sink her teeth into, she proposed the mobile billboard business to her husband, who was less than enthusiastic.

"I was just hammering him and he said, 'If you think it's such a good business why don't you do it,' and I was flabbergasted. The next thing I know I went into a trance and about six hours later at 3 in the morning I came back with a business plan that was born in my mind and said, 'Call the guy with that truck -- that's what I want to do,' and everything I penciled out in those six hours has come to fruition or is coming to fruition."

Initially investing less than $2,500, she formed a partnership with the man who owned the truck, eventually buying him out three months later. With clients lined up even before the official launch of the company, she sold out her available time slots in her first month of business and used the income to reinvest in the company.

Since launching Mobile Billboards of Las Vegas, its fleet of trucks has grown from one to seven. She anticipates operating 12 trucks by the end of 2005, and predicts the market could support as many as 25.

Costs vary but range from $500 to $1,250 per day depending on whether the client is buying paid positions or pre-emptable campaigns.

The company sells 420 time slots in any given month, and messages can be changed out in 10 minutes. In December the company surpassed 5,000 advertising runs, a figure that has grown to 7,500 since then. It has also sustained a steady 34 percent annual growth in business and revenue since its inception, and recently relocated into a 6,000-square-foot facility near Arville Street and Hacienda Avenue.

In addition, Mobile Billboards recently invented a prototype patented lighting system for its trucks so they no longer have to rely on the generators currently utilized for the display lighting of the vinyl on the trucks. In addition to mobile billboard businesses, she said the new lighting system also has secondary application markets, such as recreational vehicles and even the military.

The company has also recently designed and patented mobile billboard scheduling software.

"Our goal is to eventually take the company nationwide," she said, adding that Mobile Billboards of Las Vegas may eventually become Mobile Billboards of America.

Letizia credits the company's sustained growth and viability to the tangible results it generates for its clients.

"Our success would not be anything if the product and the way we dealt with the product did not bring results," she said, adding that company drivers are given five-part training sessions that emphasize corporate philosophy. "One of the things that we drum into their heads is that they are responsible for bringing clients success and that everything we do in this company is about the client, so their purpose is to keep their eyes out for market shifts and where is traffic shifting in the marketplace. It's not about us making money and growing and me being in the newspaper -- it's all about the fact that everything we do is for our clients, and if we bring our clients success we are successful naturally."

In summary: "I really think that when you're really passionate about what you do and the results you being for the people who give you their money and their trust, therein lies the true purpose of business," she said. "As a woman, I have to say you can have everything in life you want but you can't have it all at the same time, so now I'm thrilled to be doing what I am."