The Advertising Advantage of Moving-Message Centers

Editor's Note:ST is extremely pleased to announce Bob Klausmeier as our new Moving Message columnist. Bob's career in the electronic message center industry spans a quarter century, and they're thrilled to present you his knowledge and experience. Bob would love to be contacted at Klausmeier@prodigy.net.

Never has there been a better time to sell electronic moving message signs. If you take nothing else away from this article, remember that.

You know the old expression, "Can't see the forest for the trees." I think many of us in the sign industry have fallen into that trap as it pertains to electronic advertising signs. We focus more on the sign and less on its advertising value. Perhaps it's time to step back and take a long, hard look at what we actually sell.

Of course, a moving display is a sign. But that sign is really just the physical manifestation of an advertising medium — a powerful medium with an ever-increasing legitimacy as a promotional tool for a wide variety of businesses.

It's all about choice

Not long ago, businesses had few advertising choices. The traditional media of newspaper, radio and television dominated. Outdoor advertising could be three-dimensional, but it was static. After direct mail and magazine advertising, little else loomed. Those of us selling lamp message displays searched valiantly for quirky visionaries willing to branch out from the norm to try something different.

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Fig. 1: Media Dilution In the past decade, the number of players in any given medium has greatly increased. Consequently, the impact of advertising in any single entity has lost some of its value.
Medium	1990-1997 % Change
Houses with cable TV	+187%
TV channels per household	+530%
Total radio stations	+53%
Consumer magazines	+198%
Daily newspapers	-13%

Subsequently, however, the technology revolution steamrolled meteoric change into all of our lives. Central to that change has been a complete restructuring of the very concept of commercial communication. Today we have an unprecedented proliferation of communication vehicles. Virtually every medium has exploded with a plethora of new options. When you add to this chaos the impact of the Internet, the number of communications media focused at each consumer is staggering (Fig. 1).

Defeat media that compete

How does this affect moving-message signs? Greatly! Another old expression — "all things are relative" — governs the world of advertising. Each advertising dollar spent in one medium is a dollar not spent in others. All new media options compete with a proposed moving-message sign.

A salesperson must not only know the relative merits of a sign, but communicate a moving-message center's vast advantage over other options. Ironically, the explosion in media options is good news for the sign industry because each new advertising option draws its audience from other existing audiences. Additional media options further fragment the audience.

Conversely, moving-message centers don't suffer such dilution. Their audiences keep growing, because a moving-message display's audience is determined by its location, which determines, by traffic count, how many vehicles will pass it daily.

It's a place-based medium. Therefore, a business located on a highly traveled thoroughfare is exposed to a much greater audience than one that isn't. In all states, and in most counties and municipalities, traffic-count maps are a matter of public record. Traffic-count information can be obtained with a phone call.

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The Traffic Audit Bureau, which monitors such activity, says each vehicle averages 1.35 adults. Simply multiply the number of daily vehicles by 1.35 to determine the size of the daily audience at any given location.

Recent studies have shown the value of this mobile audience to be growing dramatically. The U.S. Dept. of Transportation reports:

• The number of daily vehicle trips and miles traveled has quadrupled the population growth rate.
• The number of traveling vehicles has risen six times faster than the population growth rate.
• The number of household vehicles has grown at six time the population growth rate.

Clearly, businesses located on busy thoroughfares have an exceptional opportunity with moving-message sign advertising. Moving messages are intrusive. They demand readership. The movement of a sign's copy draws attention from the audience that reads the message while approaching the business site. Not only does the sign bring attention to the business, it does so at the critical point-of-sale.

Compared to other media, moving-message display advertising is quite economical and easy to document. Advertising cost is typically measured in cost per 1,000 exposures (CPM).

Fig. 2: Moving-Message Center Costs

Business: Automobile dealership Traffic count: 55,000 cars daily (two lanes, both directions) Speed limit: 30 mph Traffic light cycle: 30 seconds Viewing distance: Clear in each direction for 0.25 miles Proposed display: Double-faced LED display of 28-in. characters on a 16 x 64 LED matrix Proposed cost: $80,000 Proposed lease cost: $80,000 x .0222 = $1,776/month for 60 months* Audience: 55,000 cars x 1.35 adults per car = 74,250 adults per day(74,250 adults x 30 days) ÷ 1,000 = 2,227.5 adults CPM = $1,776 (monthly lease) ( 2,227.5 = $0.78 * Lease figures vary, depending on the lending source, credit criteria and other factors.

Fig. 3: Competing Media Cost Per 1,000 (CPM)
Medium	Buy	CPM
Spot TV, 30 seconds	Prime time	$18.00
Newspaper, 1/4 page	B&W	10.80
Network TV, 30 seconds	Prime time	9.90
Consumer magazine, full page	Four color	8.70
Radio, 60 seconds	Drive time	5.30
Billboard, rotating bulletin	30 days	3.50
Billboard, 30-sheet poster	30 days	1.60
Moving-message center	30 days	0.78

Although a customer may purchase the display or finance it some other way, comparisons are most useful if we use a 60-month lease figure (a 12% rate lease = sign price x .0222). Multiply the daily traffic count by 30 (average days in a month) and divide by 1,000 (CPM). Divide the monthly lease cost by that number (Fig. 2). The higher the traffic, the lower the CPM. Likewise, the lower the display cost, the lower the CPM. In our example, the CPM is extremely attractive at less than $1 (Fig. 3).

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Technology: From old to ideal

As late as the mid-1980s, characteristics of moving-message displays became the greatest stumbling blocks to a sale. The only products available were high-wattage incandescent lamps and reflective discs. The lamps were energy sewers that required expensive, frequent lamp replacement. The discs were slow and less "eye catching." In short, the old technology was not ideal.

Today, just as technological change has impacted other media, it has dramatically improved the quality, value and impact of display systems. The 30-75-watt lamp displays have been, in part, replaced with 5-10-watt wedge-base technologies (Fig.4). Many of the old disc technologies have been discontinued entirely. Other disc suppliers, such as American Electronic Sign (Spokane, WA), now utilize enhanced, retro-reflective surfaces to attract readership.

Fig. 4: Electrical Usage Formula

Large-lamp display: A double-faced, 7 x 72 matrix of 30-watt lamps

7 x 72 x 2 = 1,008 total lamps 1,008 total lamps x 30 watts x 24 hours x 30 days = 21,772,8000 watts/month 21,772,800 watts/month ÷ 1,000 = 21,772.8 Kilowatts/month 21,772.8 Kilowatts/month x 0.85 (adjustment for nighttime dimming) x 0.48 (average percentage of lamps lit at any given time) = 8,883.3 Kilowatts/month (adjusted) 8,883.3 Kilowatts/month x $0.075 (average cost per Kilowatt/hour) = $666.25 per month for 24-hour usage

Single-line display: A double-faced, 7 x 72 matrix of 10-watt, wedge-base lamps

7 x 72 x 2 = 1,008 total lamps 1,008 total lamps x 10 watts x 24 hours x 30 days = 7,257,600 watts/month 7,257,600 watts/month ÷ 1,000 = 7,257.6 Kilowatts/month 7,257.6 Kilowatts/month x 0.85 (adjustment for nighttime dimming) x 0.48 (average percentage of lamps lit at any given time) = 2,961.1 Kilowatts/month (adjusted) 2,961.1 Kilowatts/month x $0.075 (average cost per Kilowatt/hour) = $222.08 per month for 24-hour usage

Matrix display: A double-faced, 24 x 80 matrix of 7.2-watt wedge-base lamps

24 x 80 x 2 = 3,840 total lamps 3,840 total lamps x 7.2 watts x 24 hours x 30 days = 19,906,560 watts/month 19,906,560 watts/month ÷ 1,000 = 19,906.6 Kilowatts/month 19,906.6 Kilowatts/month x 0.85 (adjustment for nighttime dimming) x 0.48 (average percentage of lamps lit at any given time) = 8,121.9 Kilowatts/month (adjusted) 8,121.9 Kilowatts/month x $0.075 (average cost per Kilowatt/hour) = $609.14 per month for 24-hour usage

Most display suppliers now premiere entirely new product lines featuring light-emitting diodes (LEDs). The new LED displays range in complexity from single-color text messages to full-color, full-stream video. LEDs are characterized by extremely long life, low maintenance and affordability. Time-O-Matic Inc. (Watchfire Signs) (Danville, IL), formerly the preeminent supplier of of disc technology, has discontinued discs entirely, in favor of LED displays.Time-O-Matic Inc. (Watchfire Signs)

The bottom line

This convergence of traffic-count and technological factors has given electronic, moving-message signs their greater advertising value ever. The value of traditional media has waned, while the technological advancements in the display industry have made moving-message technology more attractive. Altogether, this presents a fabulous opportunity for the sign industry.