Flynn Foster is on TikTok.
Don’t be fooled by the way he talks about it, like it’s some sort of disease—“I’ve been exposed to TikTok”— because the 52-year-old president of Guaranty Corp. willingly signed up for the social media app known for its Gen Z appeal.
“Broadcasting has changed over the past several years. Print has changed. … If we’re not online, one way or another, our customers are not going to find us,” Foster says.
Foster spends a lot of time reading, and here he’s half-quoting something he picked up recently about how consumers no longer go online, they live online.
“We’re trying to live online with our customers, our viewers,” he says.
At the core of that idea is the one thing Guaranty has long sought to do. As Foster puts it, “our mission has always been to serve others.” But how the Baton Rouge family-owned company has attempted to accomplish that has changed drastically in its more than 90 years of history.
Founded as an insurance company in 1926 by George Foster Sr., Guaranty’s business holdings have expanded and contracted to include, at various times, a tugboat operation, an energy company, a senior living facility, a TV station, a number of real estate holdings and five radio stations. Two years ago, Guaranty bought the digital marketing and web design agency Gatorworks. Most recently, the company grew to include chef Jay Ducote’s line of products and his Mid City taco restaurant.
It might be easy to look at this list and consider it erratic. But dig a little deeper, and a pattern emerges, because Foster is playing a different game with his business, he says, one with no end.
Read Business Report’s latest cover story about Foster, Guaranty and how this local business has managed to thrive for more than nine decades in Baton Rouge. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com.
