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(April 2006) posted on Wed Apr 05, 2006

Electronic media may hurt signmakers' business.

By Darek Johnson

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Last week, Butch Anton, the owner of Superfrog Signs and Graphics (Moorhead, MN), briefed me on an interesting theory."I heard this at a business seminar," Butch said, explaining the theory that suggests three types of people exist in any given population: followers, comprising 80% of society; troublemakers, 12%; and leaders, 8%.

The lecturer explained that followers are the hard-working people who obey rules and pay their bills. Troublemakers, he said, are the self-centered ones — four-year-olds, bullies, angry terrorists and freeway tailgaters. The leadership category included all varieties of parents, teachers, managers, clerics, magnates and presidents.

Presumably, understanding the divisions helped the attendees become leaders.

However, all theories have a flaw, and here's how Butch and I saw this one: Most of us slalom between the follower and leader tracks daily, and, indecorously, we often become troublemakers when we shouldn't. We offer opinions where none are wanted, for example, or angrily tailgate some fool who's driving slow in the fast lane.

"Be wary of theories," Butch said.

Static and lifeless signs may not have the attention-grabbing appeal they need to capture and draw today's consumers, says a brochure I picked up from Media Signage Networks, a Malaysian-based company that exhibited at the recent Digital Retailing Expo (DRE), held in May, at Chicago's Navy Pier. Media Signage Networks was one of 83 companies, many of which were presenting flat-panel LCD and plasma screens to the Expo's 1,500 attendees. ST's sister magazine, VM+SD, co-sponsored DRE.

Attendees included "decisionmakers" from RadioShack, CompUSA, Best Buy, Sears, JCPenny, Federated Department Stores, Target, Marshall Fields, Wal-Mart, Meijer, True Value, Menard's, Checkers Drive-in, REI, Walgreens, Office Depot, Circle K, Walt Disney, Bell Canada, Advance Auto Parts, the U.S. Postal Service and Tesco.

Media Signage Networks, using flat-panel LCD and plasma displays, produces its electronic digital signs (EDS) — "MediaSigns" — for use in hospitals, train depots, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, airports, corporations, retail stores, malls and theaters. Its customers include Philips Electronics, Carlsberg Beer, Exxon Mobil, L'Oreal Cosmetics and the 300 Kenny Rogers Roasted Chicken restaurants owned by Berjaya Group, a Malaysian investment company.