Music Speaks Music Speaks Music Speaks Music Speaks Music Speaks Music Speaks Music Speaks
The high school cafeteria scrolling marquee sign announced the new name of the show choir event.
After ten years of being called Singsation, the Omaha, Nebraska, show choir competition had to rebrand itself. Threatened with a lawsuit by a larger school district in Illinois who claimed that they owned the rights to that name, the Nebraska school district decided that they would rather comply with the Illinois school’s request than spend money in a legal battle.
The problem, however, was how to change the vernacular of a group of high school students, their parents, and their community. The same marketing team that helped the school design the new name, the new logo, and the new colors suggested that the use of two different scrolling marquee signs that the school already owned. The one in the school cafeteria would help make the new name familiar to the students and the staff. The much larger scrolling marquee sign that sat at the main intersection closest to the school would familiarize the parents and community.
The strategy worked. After two weeks of continually flashing the new name of the competition amid the other dates that were advertised, Music Speaks was now rolling off the tongues of the students and their fans.
Signs for Churches, Schools, and Other Government Offices Direct Visitors
Even when we do not mean to, most of us tend to read signs. We read road signs as we drive, store signs as we walk through the mall, and scrolling marquee signs as we wait at the airport. Proof that we read these signs is evident when we can unexpectedly tell someone the location of restaurant that we have driven by but never stopped; a store that we have walked by but never shopped; and an airline terminal that we have never visited.
Because they are so valuable and can answer so many questions, signs for municipalities like churches, police stations, schools, and government offices are often required. In fact, many public locations have to follow sign guidelines, including markers for tornado shelters and emergency exits.
Advertising Relies on Signs of All Kinds to Attract Customers
Because of their effectiveness, it comes as no surprise that advertisers depend on signs to draw their customers into stores and to highlight special items and special prices. Consider these statistics about the strength of signs:
- 35% of people indicate that they would not have discovered a business had it not been for their sign
- 85% of a business’s customers work or live within a five-mile radius of its location
- 37% of people indicate that they look at an outdoor advertisement each or most of the time they pass one
- 32% of people responding to a poll indicate that they visit the retailer they saw on a billboard later that week
- 58% of people responding to a poll who are 18 years or older indicate that they learned about an event they were interested in attending from a billboard
- 68% of people responding to a poll indicate that they frequently or sometimes make shopping decisions while in the car
Advertising is so prevalent in our society that drivers can exit the interstate without having a specific destination in mind. If they want to get gas, they simply drive until the find a good price. If they want to stop and eat, they simply drive until the family agrees where they should stop. In today’s world, if a business does not have a sign they simply will not get noticed.
Whether you are a school group trying to get the word out about an upcoming event or you are a new business trying to advertise your grand opening, you will have little success without signage. According to marketing research, in fact, the value of an on-site sign is is equal to paying for 24 full-page newspaper advertisements each year. Today’s technology offers signs that blink, signs that light up, and signs that scroll. Some signs even change between three or four images during the time that a car sits waiting for a light to turn from red to green. The businesses taking advantage of the best signs get the best results.