We’re Going Big in Texas
We are thrilled, proud, ecstatic and setting off recycled-confetti cannons as we announce that this past November, Harbinger added Tim O’Donnell onto the company letterhead as Executive Vice President.
Like Roger Williams, Tim is a second-generation sign man. Beginning his career in 1976 at Heath and Company in Los Angeles, Tim worked his way through the service and sales divisions, creating an impressive vendor base, developing a keen methodology for identifying qualified contractors and establishing tight client relationships. He’s lived the sign business from the ground all the way up to holding the higher positions of vice president, general manager, chief operating officer, president and chief executive officer. Not to mention, being involved in mergers and acquisitions to take a small company to $70 million a year, is no small feat. We are blown away by Tim’s experience.
Tim will be bringing his consult-style game to our new Dallas office. Cue more confetti! That’s right, dust of your boots because we’re going to Texas, y’all. Harbinger’s past tells us that we have a customer base that is west of the mighty Mississippi River and they need us to be a little closer.
The welcoming of Tim O’Donnell to create our western presence is key to Harbinger establishing a national first-class, dedicated service center that will allow us to bring life to our vision of providing an on-call vendor-partner service network, sign and lighting maintenance, LED and parking lot light retrofits, and energy management of your Harbinger products. Our Jacksonville headquarters will support our growing network to offer high-quality products anywhere in the U.S. at a fair price and with a strong support system to stand behind them.
Long-term, this comprehensive oversight of maintenance, repair and retrofit by Harbinger will benefit our clients by reducing major maintenance, repair and energy costs. We want you to get a positive return from your investment. Your business is important to you, and you are important to Harbinger’s business.
We are so happy for this New Year we are beaming … in low voltage, LED of course.
Foretelling Four Signage Trends for 2012
New Year’s Predictions for Signage Trends
1. QR code integration
Quick Response (QR) codes have invaded our culture and are not a phase or a trend. QR codes provide an affordable way to maximize information while maintaining the visual integrity of promotional material. Harbinger believes that incorporating QR codes into signage is another way for our clients to link prospective customers to their brands. A customer merely captures a QR code with his or her smart phone and is immediately transported to the information the brand wants them to have. Customers are able to connect to something that catches their eye, without having to weed through a lot of excessive clutter. Your QR code can easily be incorporated into digitally printed signs, traditional signs, vehicle wraps and any other printed item.
2. In-store graphics
Interior and landscape architects are always trying to bring the outside in and the inside out. Why? Because it creates a seamless transition from one to the other. We are able to duplicate that same idea through the use of grand scale digital prints and graphics within a retail space. The storefront can be a teaser to the brand’s central nerve that is stretched throughout the interior space. The use of interior graphics provides a fluid and encompassing experience to customers. A company’s brand can be present at all angles or focused in determined areas.
3. Green … as in, environmentally friendly
Going green is all the rage, but what does it really mean? To customers, it means that you are being sensitive and aware of the waste that you create. Going green sends the message that your brand is responsible for what it does and is committed to more than the “cheap and easy.” But what does it mean to your bottom line? It can result in tax reductions and lower monthly overhead. Something as simple as using light-emitting diodes (LED) in your new signage provides a major reduction in carbon footprint because LEDs produce more light per watt than traditional fluorescent or incandescent lights. Not to mention that the expected life span of an LED light – 25,000 to 50,000 hours – greatly reduces the frequency of service and bulb replacement for lighted signage. Your monthly power bill will thank you, too. Another way to go green and get closer to that LEED certification is through the use of low-VOC paints, which contain far fewer harmful volatile organic compounds. What does this mean? Signs painted with low-VOC paints emit less carbon compounds into the atmosphere and, in turn, are more environmentally friendly while posing fewer health risks to those around the painted surface. The use of low-VOC paints is visually undetectable in the finished product.
4. Retrofitting existing signs
What could be more green than working with something that already exists? At a time when so many of our clients are looking to minimize expenditure, retrofitting a sign with LED bulbs can have a significant impact in reducing energy and ongoing maintenance. Powered by just 12 volts, LED lighting provides an estimated energy savings of up to 80 percent. Sure, to tweak existing signage isn’t free of cost, but the long-term benefit pays off big time. You avoid the cost of an entirely new sign, and can look forward to increased monthly energy savings in the years to come. For clients, such as for multi-location petroleum retailers and convenience outlets that run their bright signage from dusk to dawn, retrofitting is a no-brainer to boosting profit margin.
5 Ways Business is Better with Gas Price e-Signs
Remember when changing gasoline prices involved the "suction cup" method of using long extended poles or climbing up a ladder to slide numbers into a plastic slot on your sign? Or when it took employees nearly 30 minutes to make a price change while exposing themselves to physical dangers and inclement weather? How about when the prices weren’t changed fast enough to be competitive?
If those are today's realities instead of the "good old days," it's time to consider upgrading to digital gasoline price signage. New signage and existing sign retrofitting is available, making upgrades a fiscal reality for nearly any budget. Also, the business benefits are numerous.
Instant fuel price updates – Gasoline price changes can be done remotely in less than a minute and connect directly to the POS system. Stores can stay competitive, never having posted fuel prices 5 cents too high or too low for any amount of time.
Labor savings – Employees can concentrate on customer service and other essential duties because they no longer have to go outside to change fuel price signs. The store is never left unattended.
Reduced liability – Without the physical aspect of changing signs, workers’ compensation claims and other liabilities related to the dangers of working at heights and around heavy automobile traffic areas can be minimized.
Attract customers – Digital signs have a wider viewing angle, which can be seen from more vantage points. Also, some consumers equate state-of-the-art signage to modern, cleaner stores.
Product promotion – Prices and promotions for in-store products, such as cigarettes, soda or milk can be displayed along with gasoline prices.
Harbinger has converted or installed more than 120 digital gasoline price signs for customers around the country since 2009. The company works with leading component suppliers, such as Daktronics, Future Media and Watchfire2 to ensure the latest LED technologies are used. New signs or retrofitting options are available.
Business Partners for 30 Years
Harbinger and Gate Petroleum have quite a few things in common – both companies were founded in Jacksonville, they are family-run businesses and they have worked together for 30 years. What started as a sign for a single location – a tennis club – has grown to managing the signage program for Gate's Southern Division, comprised of c-store and gasoline stations.
"The partnership has been successful because we've always delivered high-quality signage at competitive pricing," explained Jerry Johnson, Harbinger sales representative who has worked with Gate Petroleum from the beginning and continues to devote his part-time day solely to the account. "As well, Gate has always been very receptive to our recommendations."
One example is Harbinger's recommendation that Gate Petroleum switch to using LEDs. Therefore, two years ago Gate decided to make the change. LEDs are now used in all new locations. Harbinger also is retrofitting existing signs with LEDs and upgrading Gate to electronic gas price signs.
"The low maintenance and energy cost savings of LEDs really convinced Gate to try the new technology. Also, eliminating the need for employees to go outside to change gas prices was appealing," Johnson explained.
Today, the signage program for Gate consists of electronic gas price signs, fascia signs, pylon signs and various interior signs, including the branded Beer Igloo sign.
Sign of Refreshment
The Caribbean Bottling Company in Nassau, Bahamas is the market leader for non-alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages. Harbinger manufactured a new exterior 5-feet by 4-feet Coca-Cola brand wall sign for the company featuring energy-efficient LED illumination and Earth-friendly low-VOC paints. The sign met the stringent requirements of The Coca-Cola Company regarding its Coca-Cola brand, including color, scale and size.
Eye Appeal (Chain Store Age)
Edwin Watts Golf Utilizes "One-Touch" Signage Program
Harbinger helps Edwin Watts Golf in times of crises, with an ongoing "one touch" program for exterior signage and by bringing ideas to the table. Below is an excerpt from the feature case study in Chain Store Age magazine's June 2011 issue:
“The prints — we call them window clings — were Harbinger’s idea,” [Therese] Grossman said. “They’re beautiful and very impactful for our customers.”
Grossman explained that Harbinger came up with the idea of the window prints.
“It proved an economical way for us to try something new while meeting budget,” she said. “One of the benefits for a very specialized retailer like us in working with Harbinger is that they have a very broad base of experience and of doing different things that they are able to share with us. They bring a lot of great ideas to the table.”
Trust of America’s Golf Club
The world’s largest individual golf retailer, Edwin Watts Golf, trusts Harbinger with its national, multi-location signage program. For eight years, this successful partnership has grown along with both companies. Today, Harbinger manages Edwin Watts Golf’s signage program for more than 75 locations, including new, converted and updated locations.
“We have created a ‘one-touch’ program for Edwin Watts Golf. They contact the dedicated Harbinger project manager to initiate any required signage service and we seamlessly manage the surveys, permitting, fabrication, installation and servicing of any sign at all locations,” explained Steve Williams, president of Harbinger.
The signage program currently involves the logo and letters on the exterior of the locations, and decorative window and interior imaging solutions to maximize the brand at retail.
For color consistency in the green and white logo and lettering, Harbinger converted Edwin Watts Golf signs from paint to translucent vinyl films, all applied first surface for both cabinet and channel letter signs. To stay “green” in other ways, all new signs use LED illumination, reducing Edwin Watts Golf’s carbon footprint, saving the company up to 70 percent on sign operating costs, and providing more reliable, consistent luminosity.
To enhance Edwin Watts Golf’s brand and seasonal promotions, Harbinger provides full digital window prints in an array of motifs. The prints are created on a 3M medium-adhesive product that allows them to be removed without leaving an adhesive residue on the windows. Harbinger also is working with Edwin Watts Golf on virtually permanent interior prints that can be applied to both treated and untreated drywall substrates, and can be fully removed without leaving any adhesive residue.
“Edwin Watts is the most trusted retailer in golf because of our employees’ knowledge of the golf industry and their commitment to customer service,” said Therese Grossman, director of construction for Edwin Watts Golf. “We expect the same of our partners. Harbinger is exactly that in the sign industry -- trusted, knowledgeable and customer-centric.”
A Harbinger of Efficiency (Sign Builder Illustrated)
Harbinger is profiled in Sign Builder Illustrated magazine's Going Green supplement. The story, A Harbinger of Efficiency, highlights the company's approach to research and development, its environmentally friendly solutions and Lean manufacturing practices.
Retail Stores InMotion
InMotion Entertainment, the country’s largest airport retailer of electronics and entertainment with nearly 60 convenient locations, has trusted Harbinger with its signage fabrication for more than seven years.
As part of the ongoing program, Harbinger fabricated a variety of standard-size storefront signs that fit a majority of InMotion’s retail locations. For those storefronts where standard just doesn’t fit, Harbinger creates custom signs. And, to optimize the storefront space at the retailer’s airport locations, Harbinger has produced 10-inch round dimensional logos, low-profile illuminated and non-illuminated blade signs, and interior header panels.
All of InMotion’s signage is designed to allow easy access to internal components for efficient maintenance. Also, the signs feature environmentally friendly, low VOC paints and use long-lasting LED lights, which also reduce long-term maintenance needs and are more energy efficient.
LED Lighting for Outdoor Signage (Chain Store Age)
A byline article by Steve Williams, president of Harbinger, was published in the online version of Chain Store Age magazine. He explains how retailers can save money through using LEDs in their outdoor signage, whether installing new signs or retrofitting existing signs.
For many years, light-emitting diodes (LED) were primarily known for their use in alarm clocks, flashlights and automobile taillights, but these bulbs offer more benefits than their small size and versatility. LEDs also are highly energy-efficient, and with no filament to burn out, their life spans far exceed those of traditional incandescent or fluorescent bulbs -- lasting 25,000 to 50,000 hours. As a result, they are playing an integral role in the green energy push and are now used by business owners in a variety of ways -- including for lighting in outdoor signage.
Read the full story LED Lighting for Outdoor Signage online.