Photos courtesy Signage Foundation
In early October, the Signage Foundation’s 2012 National Signage Research and Education Conference (NSREC) presented information about the sign industry from a number of perspectives.
NSREC is designed to bring together signmakers, their suppliers, governmental regulators, planners, students, marketing specialists and businesses that use signage. This year’s event was held at the Kingsgate Marriott Conference Hotel on the University of Cincinnati (UC) campus, where representatives from UC, Texas A&M University and the University of Oklahoma discussed their research into the economic value of signs, whether or not electronic message centres (EMCs) affect traffic safety and how to base sign codes on real-world data.
The Signage Foundation—a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization aligned with the International Sign Association (ISA)—unveiled The Economic Value of On-Premise Signage, prepared in collaboration with UC’s School of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) and Economics Center. Based on an 18-month study that surveyed 225 companies representing 60,000 retailers, franchises and other small businesses that use signs to identify and promote themselves, the report includes the following findings:
- Approximately 60 per cent of respondents suggested upgrading their signs had increased their business by an average of 12 per cent, with improvements not only in profits and numbers of transactions, but also in employee hiring.
- The most cited reasons for using signage were to make a business stand out and to help customers find its location.
- Companies with multiple locations cited branding as an important reason for signage.
- Respondents reported the most important factor for signage was clear readability, followed by conspicuity.
The researchers suggested their findings should be taken into consideration when sign bylaws are developed or revised, as restrictive ordinances could have the unintended consequence of limiting local businesses’ economic potential.
“Our industry has an important story to tell about the positive impact signs can have,” says Lori Anderson, president and CEO of ISA, “and this research provides plenty of data to reinforce that idea.”
The report also features case studies exploring the use of signs by hotels, banks, specialty stores and car dealerships. UC plans to conduct more research on the economic value of signs to businesses in 2013.
Texas A&M, meanwhile, studied EMCs and traffic accident data over a four-year period at numerous locations, finding no statistically significant impact of the former on the latter. The results were presented by Dr. H. Gene Hawkins, an associate professor in civil engineering.
Finally, city planner and land-use attorney Dr. Dawn Jourdan, with the University of Oklahoma, presented an evidence-based sign code in support of content neutrality and argued “local governments must prove that any harm they seek to address with an ordinance is materially advanced by the proposed regulations,” rather that simply allege concerns for traffic safety or esthetics.
The Signage Foundation announced the full reports would soon be made available through its website, www.thesignagefoundation.org.
