Francois Badeau
Photograph by Stephan Brown
This visionary talks about the sex appeal
of monorails
and why
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itting across from 52-year-old Francois Badeau
on a sunny morning at Laguna’s Montage Resort, I find it hard to believe that
the man in front of me is the visionary and main force behind one of
Still, like a $5,000 Valentino gown, it doesn’t fit all
occasions or locales. Badeau found this out the hard
way. In the ’80s, he tried to bring a monorail public transit system to
It curved him to Vegas, where all the elements seemed to
exist in favor of a monorail system: For the past decade it has been the
fastest growing city in the
In short, Vegas had the kind of thinking and dollars Badeau saw as essential for success. So, working “behind
the scenes,” Badeau’s favorite way, he led a team of
attorneys, accountants and researchers to get the state of
“This project was done so well,” says Badeau,
“I hope that it shows people what can be accomplished. We built above the
traffic, unlike a subway, so there was minimum disturbance to people on the
street. It’s clean, efficient, quiet, nice to look at,
and fun to ride.”
In fact, the cars will have very distinct looks. An integral
part of repaying the bonds is the sale of advertising space on the cars.
Starting at $1 million a year, they can be turned into a virtual billboard –
and major companies like Motorola and Bacardi are already along for the ride.
One of the first is Monster Energy Drink maker’s Hansen’s Beverages Co., who
have signed a $10 million contract and shrink-wrapped one 138-foot “Monster
Car.” Inside, the fun continues with video screens showing outtakes of the Vans
Warped Tour and surf events by Laguna-based Lost Enterprises.
But will the public stand for such in-your-face
commercialism? Badeau is betting yes. In many places
this might be too bold, but in Vegas, Badeau sees the
monorail as not just public transportation but another attraction. And the
flashier it is, the better.
And this, it seems, is the paradox that is Badeau. Though on one level he is very nonchalant and open
– he wears a casual shirt with rolled up sleeves and a baseball cap to our
meeting – he is also someone who has succeeded in business since the age of 16
through sophisticated and savvy marketing. “I never went to college,” he tells
me in the first five minutes, as if apologizing. “I just try to find a need and
fill it by doing things my own way.”
A perfect example is when, as a young man, Badeau’s Titan brand cross country ski
company was losing ground. He proposed making hockey sticks with the
equipment. His partners called him nuts, but Badeau
convinced them on the grounds that he saw not a hockey stick void, but massive
marketing mistakes. Most of the companies simply gave their sticks to players
and hoped kids saw them and then bought them. “But marketing is not that, it’s
control of your destiny, your messages,” says Badeau.
So he went to a friend, Pierre Lacroix
(now President and General Manager of the Colorado Avalanche), who knew hockey
well, and asked him to find three kids he thought had a future. Lacroix did; Badeau signed them
for $35,000 a year for five years each and actively promoted them. Two of those
three kids were Wayne Gretsky and Mike Bossy. Next, Badeau created “Clash of the Titans” commercials, videos
for stores and massive advertising and soon his new Titan brand hockey sticks
were the fastest growing stick company in
To the Vegas Monorail, he’s applied that strategy along with
decades of successful business sense. He sees the private backing of the
project not as an assault on riders but as a benefit for them. It will make it
exciting, clean and efficient, says Badeau, because
the advertising companies have their names literally on the line. So, he says,
people really will want to ride it. “They get a view, there are no red lights
or traffic,” he says. “With monorail, we’re above all that.”
The Q & A
Who is your hero? Sam Walton for his vision.
Whom in business do you
most admire? Warren
Buffet for his integrity.
What is your favorite
movie of all time? Trading Places with Eddie
Murphy and Dan Akroyd because it provided an
excellent perspective of life. It tells
us not take ourselves too seriously.
What future technology
do you think will change the world? Today, we
have so many technologies it is difficult to pick one. At the end of the day, however, changing the
world will require efficient human interaction, so I believe technologies that
improve transportation and communication will have the greatest effect on the
world.
What did you want to be
when you grew up? I always wanted to control my
own destiny so I wanted to be “independent” above all things.
Of what accomplishment
are you most proud? To take
something negative and make it positive. Transportation in most major
cities is perceived as a punishment. With the Las Vegas Monorail I believe
we’ve taken a negative and made it a positive experience for tens of millions
of people every year.
If you could have been
something different in your life, what would it be? If I had the talent I would like to have been a musician.
What is your life's
motto? Persis-tence
and integrity will always prevail.
What is the most beautiful place you've ever seen? There is no more beautiful place than the coastline of
Where is the place you'd
most like to travel to you haven't visited? I’ve
been fortunate enough to travel extensively around the world. I’ve truly
visited every place that I have ever wanted to see. With that experience, I’ve
picked the one place I wanted to visit more than any other in the world and
made it my home – the coastline of