Big Yellow Taxing Situation

Senior Technology Editor Darek Johnson and I attended the Lightfair show in New York City last month. We didn’t see much that seemed new, outside of GE Lumination’s LED PowerGrid system for cabinet signs (which had also been showcased at the International Sign Assn.’s Sign Expo in late April). Most everything seemed to be “green,” with incessant promotion of energy savings.

Being in NYC, we rode a lot of taxis.

This year, the metered taxi celebrates its centennial in the Big Apple. With it, Yellow Taxi’s 100-year mandate that nothing additional decorates its cars (rooftop ads don’t count) also ends. Which opened the door for Portraits of Hope’s Garden in Transit program to start.

Beginning September 1, 2007, NYC taxis can voluntarily have their hoods, trunks and roofs covered in MACtac-donated vinyl that carries a bright, floral pattern and the artwork of thousands of artists, primarily school kids, many of whom are hospitalized and/or handicapped. They can be a part of something tangible, yet the program also increases their (and maybe others’) awareness of 14 contemporary social issues, such as poverty, ethnic relations, the environment, foreign aid, etc.

Because Garden in Transit recruits cab owners to volunteer, and because it doesn’t start until September, participation estimation is difficult, but 13,000 possibilities exist. MACtac will coordinate all installation for the program, which will last from September 1 through December 31. But you can get the idea via some electronically enhanced images at www.portraitsofhope.org.

Portraits of Hope, founded in 1995 by Ed and Bernie Massey, is described as “utilization of art and poignant visual imagery for large-scale projects of social consequence.” Projects to date have included blimps, buildings, planes, tugboats and NASCAR racecars.

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Although the cabs are in NYC, the program is national. A special, May 23 session at Cleveland’s Jacobs Field (home of the Indians), attended by ST’s Curtis Penick and MaryKate Moran, will be featured next month, and, by the time you read this, a report will have been posted on www.signweb.com.

NYC cabs currently appear on Signweb for another reason. It has an article that announces VeriFone Transportation Systems as the first vendor authorized to market an integrated, passenger-information and payment solution for the interior of NYC’s 13,000 taxis. The official announcement came May 31, although Darek wrote this was pending a few months ago in his Technology Update column (see ST, February 2007, page 20).

These 11-in. Passenger Information Monitor screens will play 12 minutes of content, with five minutes devoted to advertising. They also allow passengers to pay their fare with a credit or debit card, with pre-set or passenger-determined tips.

Notice that the Portraits of Hope article appears on Signweb’s Vehicle Graphics channel. Whenever we deal with vehicle exteriors, the sign industry is a full participant. Notice that the VeriFone article appears on Signweb’s Electronic Digital Signage (EDS) channel. As alluded to in the Electric State of the Industry Report (in ST’s July issue, specifically Tables 13 and 13a (pages 89 and 90), when it comes to EDS, the electric-sign company still primarily remains on the outside looking in. I doubt if any of ST’s readers played a role in the VeriFone program.

This same phenomenon holds true for many types of signage. ST’s readers make all the signs for the outside of retail stores, restaurants, etc. But they rarely get their foot inside the door for anything else. (Architectural signage, such as wayfinding systems in a hospital, could be a conspicuous exception.)

Yes, POP advertising is a different arena, but much interior signage isn’t really POP. I see no reason why a sign company couldn’t also handle signage inside big-box retailers and grocers that identifies different departments. (I suppose you could debate whether fascia signs inside a mall are interior or exterior.) Sign companies may handle the exterior electronic message center, and all of the “exterior” restaurant signage inside a convention center, but how many have created signage for exhibitors’ tradeshow booths? Is there any reason not to?

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Of course, ST may be just as guilty. Our design contests don’t have any specific interior categories. We’re also announcing our first Vehicle Graphics contest, which will appear in our December 2007 issue. Every category concerns the vehicle’s exterior. Then again, how many graphics opportunities appear inside a vehicle?

Marketing 101 says it’s easier to sell more to an existing customer than to sell something to a new customer. Here’s a Portrait of Hope that the sign industry can expand the scope of its product line

To shamefully alter Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi refrain, “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you could’ve had ’til someone else beats you to it. You could have had paradise, but you stopped at the parking lot.”