You are not supposed to look at a solar eclipse with your eyes, or any optical device. Why? As a kid, did you ever take a magnifying glass out into the sun and burn leaves? If so, you probably remember that when the focused sunlight coming through the lens was refracted and concentrated to a small spot, the energy available there was truly remarkable. Guess what? You have a lens just like that in your eye. If you look at the sun, your eye-lens will concentrate the sun’s light and focus it to a very small spot on the back of your retina. This can cause permanent eye damage or blindness. Additionally, there are no pain sensors back there so you won’t even know it’s happening!

But…. why not a digital device? By looking at the digital screen, you are not subjecting your retinas to the harmful light. You are just looking at an image of the sun. So, a digital phone or camera or any digital photo device should be safe enough to see an eclipse with. This has to be better than a pinhole shadow in a box.

Just to be safe, I’m taking my Iphone4 and setting it to photo myself. Then, with my back to the sun, I will direct the camera over my shoulder and watch the eclipse live, and safely.

Please feel free to comment below on this, and if anyone has reason to suggest this is a bad idea, please speak up!

Cheers!

Vern

New research from IHS iSuppli indicates growing adoption of digital signage around the world as professionals in the retail, hospitality, healthcare, corporate and government sectors look to the medium to communicate to audiences on the go.

Political watchers probably are familiar with that often-asked question -and even more often asked in an election year: Is the country on the right track or the wrong track?

I would propose that those who make their living communicating marketing messages, ads, information and even entertainment on digital signs should frequently ask themselves a similar question. Is digital signage on the right track or wrong track? In other words, is digital signage a growing, vibrant communications medium that is headed in the right direction as a viable communications choice? Or, is it losing favor?

A new forecast from display market research specialists IHS iSuppli suggests that, indeed, digital signage is on the right track, at least if its adoption is any indication. According to the forecast, digital signage will see impressive growth. Worldwide shipments of signage and professional displays this year will reach 17.2 million units, up from 15.4 million in 2011 and 13.5 million in 2010. For the year, the unit shipments will reach 12.6 percent, and by 2016 they are expected to reach nearly 26 million units, IHS iSuppli forecasts.

The research firm attributes the healthy growth to a few factors, including a greater need for digital signage in public spaces and the rapidly declining price of LCD panels.

The IHS iSuppli forecast also identifies the largest digital signage markets for 2011. They include retail, hospitality/healthcare and government/corporate. The forecast also finds the education, outdoor and control room/simulation markets to be important.

So why are those with a message to communicate increasingly adopting digital signage? A few reasons are clear. First, digital signage has the unique ability to reach the public with clear, impactful communications when they are on the go.

Second, because it’s a place-based medium, digital signage communicators can identify areas to locate signs that likely will be frequented by their target audience. For example, a restaurateur has a pretty good idea that the people entering the restaurant have eating on their minds, and the registrar of a college knows students entering the administration building at the beginning of the semester are likely interested in class registration information.

Third, digital signage offers communicators the chance to change messaging frequently -at little to no expense- which makes the medium responsive to rapidly changing requirements.

For all of these reasons and several others that have been well discussed in this space in the past, digital signage increasingly is being selected as an important part of an overall communications strategy.

As this nation enters the political season, journalists surely will report on the public’s response to the right-track-wrong-track question. I’m sure each time I hear one of those stories, I am will be reminded of this column and the clear evidence from IHS iSuppli that digital signage is indeed on the right track as a communications medium.

While prognosticating about the results of any of this political season’s races is a craps shoot, one thing is predictable. Digital signage as a communications medium will remain on the right track as long as professional communicators need to reach people on the go with their important messages.

Keywest Technology is a longtime member of Infocomm International with over 12 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate. For further digital signage insight from Keywest Technology, visit our website for many helpful tips and examples. For more in-depth research from Keywest Technology, download our free digital signage white papers and case studies.

Business storefronts (trademarked colors, logos, signage, and even standardized buildings) are themselves routinely sold in the marketplace.
The business format franchise is an excellent example of this phenomenon.
Midas Muffler is an example of this approach. While the business inside remains the same, merely adding a widely recognized storefront can increase business volume 15% to 40% – far more than the cost of the rights to use the storefront.
3
site in the marketplace – the price that a buyer is willing
to pay for exposure to potential customers – that must be
measured.
It is worth noting that business storefronts (trademarked
colors, logos, signage, and even standardized buildings)
are themselves routinely sold in the marketplace. The
business format franchise is an excellent example of this
phenomenon. Unlike many franchises, such as
McDonald’s, in which the head corporation owns the
majority of the property and leases the operation to a
franchisee, the business format franchise business and
property are independently owned and operated. The
business owner, in an effort to take advantage of branding
and national advertising, purchases the rights to utilize
a standardized storefront – in effect, purchasing
more effective exposure to potential customers. Midas
Muffler and Century 21 Real Estate are examples of this
approach. While the business inside remains the same,
merely adding a widely recognized storefront can
increase business volume 15% to 40% – far more than
the cost of the rights to use the storefront. The business
format franchise industry is possibly the most traceable
market for the buying and selling of storefronts.
The value of the visibility component of a retail site can
be determined by conducting a survey of rental or lease
figures per square foot for a
number of commercial sites,
including high-exposure, lowexposure,
and no-exposure commercial
property in the same
town as the subject sign and then
determining the square foot
rental differences between the
sites based on their visibility. It
is not unusual for a highly visible
commercial site to lease for 20 to
40% more per square foot than a
site with low or no visibility in
the same complex.
A matched pair analysis7 can be
used to produce the most basic
element needed to estimate the
contributory value of the visibility
component of a commercial
site. But great care must be taken
to assure that the comparable
sites are indeed closely similar.
The trick is isolating the variables
in a matched pair analysis
(including traffic flow, driver
profiles, building condition,
demographics, employment
rates, sign regulations, etc.) so that the visibility component
may itself be measured with confidence.
Anticipated Income
An investor typically purchases a business in anticipation
that the business will produce income. It is not so
much the business itself that is being purchased, but
rather its revenue stream. This is a far different
approach to a real estate investment than the approach
taken by people investing in residential real estate
(housing), where the focus is more likely to be on the
property’s substitution value (the cost of purchasing a
substitute property that is equally desirable and has fairly
equal features) and its yield (the total cashflow on the
property plus its increase in value).
One major, multipart study, “Research on Signage
Performance,” conducted between 1995 and 1997 by the
University of San Diego looked at the effects of onpremise
signage on the financial performance of retail
sites.8 The conclusion of the study was that “on-premise
signage has a statistically significant and financially
substantive impact on the revenues of a site.”
The income approach to appraisal in general is a valuation
approach based on analyzing the amount of rev-
Business sites with greater visibility attract more customers. More customers
translate into more profit.
4
enue, or net income, a property will produce over its
remaining economic life. This method of determining
the value as applied to on-premise signage valuation
involves establishing the percentage of business revenues
traceable to customers or clients who entered the
business solely because they saw the sign.
Gathering the information necessary to the income
analysis is intensive work because it is dependent in part
upon consumer research. One research tool is the pointsource
survey designed to determine what prompted the
stop of a first-time customer or client. While most nonchain
or nonfranchised businesses have some verifiable
knowledge of the sign’s impact on business revenues,
when working with a true mom-and-pop
business, the appraiser may need to commission
a separate market survey to
obtain necessary data. In the latter
instance, trade associations for such
independent, small-business enterprises
may be able to provide or verify information.
Retail sites with better visibility and
exposure to passing motorists almost
always rent for 25% to 50% more than
comparable sites in the same market with
poor visibility. This is true whether the
community is typical urban America or
exclusive enclaves, such as Carmel,
California. The ability of a retail store to
attract the attention of the passing
motorist via its sign and communicate effectively what
the store offers is a major factor in the overall level of
sales that store will achieve.
Even for large well-known chains, the visibility generated
by the on-premise sign can greatly affect profitability.
The San Antonio, Texas Best Buy store offers a pertinent
example. The store’s grand opening was held on
August 18, 1995. It was to have two double-faced pylon
signs visible to an interstate highway, and the signs
were, by contract, to have been installed by June 1,
1995. But the two signs were not erected per the contract;
one became fully operational the day before the
grand opening, and the other September 4, 1995.
An appraiser was hired to determine the compensation
owed to Best Buy for the lost exposures due to the delay
in completing the contracted work. The appraiser determined
that the delay cost Best Buy 34.4 million exposures
over the three month period. Replacement of those
exposures via newspaper would have cost $424,767.
The appraiser determined that a mix of alternative
media could have helped to recapture some of those lost
exposures for a more cost-effective $213,000.
Next, a survey of Best Buy customers was conducted,
which found that 25% said they first became aware of
the store because of the signs. An additional 32% said
the signs were “useful in locating the store.” The store
averaged $308,687 per month in sales its first year,
meaning that $77,172 a month (25%), or $224,000 in
sales, was directly attributable to the signs based on the
78-and 96-day periods under study.
Finally, the appraiser looked for comparable real estate
to help determine the value of the visibility component
of the Best Buy site. The store paid monthly rent of
$34,626, or $1,154.20 per day (approximately 75 cents
per square foot, or $2.46 per square meter). Comparable
buildings that did not require retail signage in the area
rented for 40 cents per square foot (or $131 per square
meter), for a daily rent of $620.27. This meant that the
value of the signage was an extra $533.94 per day, and
the rent directly attributable to the signs (25%) would be
$133.49 per day. In the final analysis, total damages
from the lost exposures were calculated at $227,536 .
The cost in lost exposure was greater than Best Buy’s
total rent for the same period.9
Cost of Replacement
This approach estimates the cost of replacing or substituting
an existing property interest with another of equal
value. In signage appraisal, the appraiser is not considering
the cost to replace the sign itself with another sign,
but rather the cost to replace the sign’s communication
abilities by other media. In signage appraisals, the cost
of alternate media is what appraisers would consider the
most significant part of the sign owner’s grievance.
Thus, we will focus most of our attention on this
“The exposures generated by the on-premise
sign not only cost far less than other
media exposures, they are also far more
effective. At least 98% of all retail sales are
place-based13 – and the on-premise sign is
right there on-site, marking the very location
at which the purchase could occur, and
only advertising to those who actually move
through the trade area.”
5
approach.
The cost of “exposures” is the one common denominator
among all commercial communication media,
whether radio, television, print, direct mail, outdoor
advertising, or on-premise signage. In advertising
terms, each person who sees a sign (or other advertisement,
for that matter) constitutes one “exposure” to the
sign (or advertisement). All markets measure their
goods using a common currency, or denominator. For
wheat, that denominator is the bushel. In land valuation,
it is the acre and in buildings, it is the square foot. In
advertising, it is exposures measured in increments of
1000, and is reported as the “cost per thousand exposures.”
Comparisons of costs-per-thousand exposures for various
advertising media also rely on frequency10 measures.
Frequency is important because without periodic reinforcement
of a message, it is eventually forgotten. Once
frequency data is assembled, the total out-of-pocket cost
for the subject medium is divided by the number of
exposures, or “reads” (per thousand) occurring during a
defined time period.
Costs-per-thousand exposures vary significantly among
media. The advertiser must determine if the cost of the
selected medium or media mix is generating desirable
returns, both in terms of retaining past customers and
obtaining new ones. Some forms of advertising will be
more effective or efficient for reaching the desired customer
base than others. For example, a local dog
grooming business would not necessarily advertise in
the national Cat Fancy magazine, no matter how inexpensive
the advertisement might be.
The fact is that no other form of advertising comes close
to matching the efficiency and cost-effectiveness, dollar
for dollar, of the on-premise sign. It is both the most
effective and least expensive form of communication
available to these businesses. The figures below represent
a typical cost comparison for a small business (rates
were gathered from Portland, Oregon area media
sources):

Newspaper advertising – the cost on average is about
$7.39 for 1000 exposures within a 10-mile radius of
the business location.

Television advertising – The cost on average is
approximately $6.26 per 1000 exposures.

Radio advertising – The cost is about $5.47 per 1000
exposures.

On-premise sign – The cost is less than $0.43 per
1000 exposures.11
Commercial and industrial interests currently spend
$600 billion a year on media advertising. To help put
the problem into perspective, consider that if all businesses
in the U.S. were, because of sign restrictions,
required to increase their expenditures on media advertising
by a mere 10% in order to avoid loss of customers,
the overall cost to the economy would amount
Even a supposedly destination-oriented business like Best Buy can attribute a large percentage of its business to its
sign. In Best Buy’s case, it was determined that 25% of its customers first became aware of the store when they saw
its on-premise sign. The San Antonio Best Buy found that $77,172 in sales per month were the direct result of its
on-premise sign.
6
to $50 billion a year. Of course, that 10% is going to
vary for each business. Some need more exposure to the
public, and others need less.
The number of exposures generated by a sign is calculated
using a careful and systematic process. First, an
average 24-hour (daily) traffic count must be determined.
This is then multiplied by 30 to establish a
monthly count. This is the number of cars that drive
past the business during the typical standard advertising
month. But not every car will have just one person riding
in it, so the calculation must be adjusted for “load
factors” that include whether the area is rural, incorporated,
or unincorporated, for example.
Typical numbers of viewers per vehicle are as follows:
Incorporated areas 1.38 – 1.6 persons
Unincorporated areas 1.7 – 2.9 persons
Vacation travel 3.0 – 3.5 persons
Traffic-flow maps for interstate and primary highways
can be obtained from most state departments of transportation.
In addition, cities and counties often publish
street-system traffic counts. And most municipal transportation
engineers can provide not only last-published
traffic counts, but also updates, which may disclose an
increase or decrease in traffic flow. (Other information
sources are the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB) and the
Outdoor Advertising Association of America
(OAAA)12).
A certain percentage, but probably not all, of the people
passing a business site can be expected to be potential
customers. If the business is a veterinary clinic, for
example, the calculation should be adjusted by the percentage
of people passing who own one or more pets –
a figure generally available from the industry itself.
Similarly, large trailer trucks are unlikely to stop a fast
food restaurants. Other factors that may require adjustment
of the figure include hours of business operation
and seasonal traffic variations. Before calculating a
sign’s cost-per-thousand exposures, the appraiser must
obtain reliable information on driver profiles in addition
to traffic volume. Origin/destination studies offer reliable
data in these circumstances.
The exposures generated by the on-premise sign not
only cost far less than other media exposures, they are
also far more effective. At least 98% of all retail sales
are place-based13 – and the on-premise sign is right there
on-site, marking the very location at which the purchase
could occur, and only advertising to those who actually
move through the trade area. Other forms of media have
a high waste factor, advertising to people who are far
outside a business’s trade area.
Sign Valuation Case Studies
Agoura Hills
Just compensation for the taking of on-premise signage
was the subject of Denny’s Inc., et al v. City of Agoura
For a local business situated in
Portland, Oregon the sign would reach
most people within the trade area. The
local Yellow Pages would reach the
entire metropolitan area, radio ads
would extend as far as the local
station’s signal could reach, television
would likely reach major population
bases in the state, and the newspaper
would reach the entire state.
Thus, the exposure to consumers as a
result of the on-premise sign costs a
business far less per exposure than
other media types such as newspapers,
radio and television, and the expense
of the sign is more efficient. The sign
not only points out the precise location
of the business, it also advertises to
those who are moving through the
trade area and who are most likely to
stop at the business. Other forms of
media have a high waste factor,
advertising to people who are far
outside the trade area and who would
never frequent the business.
7
Hills.14 A portion of the city of Agoura Hills is bisected
by U.S. Highway 101, locally referred to as the Ventura
Freeway. The City wanted to enhance its visual aesthetics,
and it enacted a sign ordinance which, among other
things, prohibited all pole signs, with the exception of a
few signs less than six feet in height. Certain business
proprietors were identified by the city as being in violation
of the ordinance, and their traditional pole signs
exceeded the new height limit considerably. Under the
new code, the pole signs became non-conforming on
March 20, 1985, and following an amortization period
of eight years, were subject to removal on March 20,
1992. Eventually litigation ensued.
The businesses alleged that the city’s sign ordinance
violated Section 5499 of the California Business and
Professional Code. This provision essentially prohibited
the removal of any on-premise sign on the basis of
height or size if topographical circumstances would
materially impair the visibility of a conforming sign, or
impair the sign user’s ability to adequately and effectively
continue to communicate with the public through
use of a sign conforming to the new code. If impairment
of visibility or communication would result as a consequence
of enforcing the ordinance, the original sign
could remain and would be deemed conforming, as a
matter of law.
Based on Section 5499 and its preemption of local law,
the businesses requested an injunction against city
enforcement of the ordinance against them. The city
concurred that the state code applied to its ordinance,
but countered, as a defense, that other merchants in the
area with conforming signs were enjoying vigorous
business and healthy sales. The trial court rejected this
argument.15
One of the businesses affected by the city’s ordinance
was a Burger King franchise located adjacent to the
Ventura Freeway. The subject’s pole sign was highly
visible to potential customers traveling north or south on
the freeway. Traffic counts showed that 88% of those
vehicles passing the restaurant did so via the freeway;
the other 12% passed by on local frontage roads.
Due to surrounding topographical circumstances (the
business site was lower than the freeway), a sign of the
type and height required by the ordinance would not be
capable of being seen by motorists traveling in either
direction on the freeway. Neither could the business
premises be seen until it was too late to safely exit the
freeway. Thus, forced removal of the pole sign would
render the site essentially invisible and incapable of
attracting the freeway motorist impulse buyer.
The Agoura Hills Burger King and its sign were specifically
built to service Ventura Freeway motorists, and its
profit structure was designed with that in mind.
Corporate field studies found that nearly 60% of the
store’s business was attributable to its on-premise sign.
Even after factoring down the potential loss in business
attributable to loss of the sign from 60% to 37.5% (a
compromise “averaging” of Burger King’s data and that
of the city’s expert), corporate accountants found that
The signs of Agoura
Hills litigants provided
important information
to drivers who, for
example, might be
running low on gas,
experiencing engine
trouble, or wishing to
eat before continuing
their journey. In
response to questionnaires
concerning how
they first became
aware of a business,
and why they
stopped, many customers
noted their
appreciation for the
sign as a “beacon” -
signaling the presence
of a place nearby to
obtain products of
services to satisfy an
immediate requirement.
8
the franchisee would lose a profit of $2 million over a
15-year period, the term left on the lease at the time of
controversy. Using the higher 60% business loss calculation
– a calculation the corporation believed more
accurate – the lost profit would equal $3.2 million. Due
to the reasonably foreseeable near-immediate downturn
in impulse trade upon removal of the sign, most of the
revenue loss would occur in the first one to two years,
almost certainly driving the franchisee out of business
long before the lease expired.
A comparison was also made between the Agoura Hills
Burger King and another Burger King in Camarillo, a
few miles farther down the freeway. As with the Agoura
Hills site, the Camarillo premises were not visible from
the freeway, and although the store had a pole sign, the
sign was visible only to southbound traffic and could not
be seen until the motorist had passed the appropriate
exit.
Because of both lack of visibility and ready access from
the freeway, the Camarillo Burger King relied much
more on the local population and local frontage road
traffic than the Agoura Hills store, and not surprisingly,
its sales were only 48% of the sales achieved by the
Agoura Hills site. The difference in volume tended to
support a finding that up to 60% of the sales of the
Agoura Hills Burger King flowed from its visibility to
traffic in both directions for distances great enough to
provide ample time for the unfamiliar driver or impulse
purchaser to exit safely. Additionally, the Camarillo
location was considered trade-area oriented, while the
Agoura Hills franchise was strictly “point of distribution”
or freeway oriented, and thus expected to draw
only a small percentage of the local consumer pool.
The studies and surveys provided by all other litigants
similarly found that extensive adverse impact to business
revenues and profits would result if their pole
signs, visible to the freeway, were removed. Among
these were McDonald’s and Texaco.
Plaintiff Agoura Restaurants, Inc., dba16 McDonald’s, is
located adjacent to a freeway off-ramp and uses a 75-
foot pole sign displaying its name and logo to signal
potential customers. The trial court found that the
restaurant is heavily dependent on freeway traffic for its
customer base, and that no sign or display conforming to
the city’s ordinance would be visible to freeway
motorists “at a safe and reasonable decision point for the
off-ramp.” Further, the trial court found that removal of
the pole sign would result in an immediate gross revenue
loss to the restaurant of 35%; a similar loss was
found likely for the Texaco station upon removal of its
sign. In Texaco’s case, the predicted loss in gross sales
amounted to $336,000 the first year of sign takedown.
For the McDonald’s restaurant, the first-year predicted
loss in gross sales averaged $1.1 million, based on a
35% reduction of pre-litigation gross revenues of $2.7
million a year. Corporate researchers calculated that the
first-year loss in gross sales would rise to $2.3 million
(or 85%) within five years as non-local motorist recall
of the site diminished. Such losses would force the
restaurant to close.
The trial court concluded that enforcement of the ordinance
would result in a material impairment of all plaintiffs’
ability to communicate adequately and effectively
While large national
corporations understand
the value of
on-premise
signage, many small
business merchants
and proprietors,
unfortunately, do
not. Every site
development
strategy will benefit if
the on-premise sign
is made the focal
point of the site. In
other words, if site
development or
renovation is sign
centric, the positive
effect on gross
revenues should be
immediately
recognizable.
9
with the public due to topographical conditions. These
conditions included trees, hills, concrete highway structures,
other buildings, utility poles and wires, vehicles
traveling the freeway, and any other visual impediment
other than the natural limits of human eyesight.17
The court then ruled that the attempted enforcement of
the city’s ordinance violated the Business and
Professions Code. It ruled that plaintiffs could keep,
maintain, and exhibit the disputed signs at their respective
business premises; that such signs would be deemed
in conformance; and that the city, because of its “wrongful
and on-going conduct,” was permanently enjoined
from enforcing the ordinance against the plaintiffs.
On appeal by the city, the appellate court affirmed the
trial court’s decision, deciding the case on
the narrow question of “material impairment
of visibility,” without reaching the
issue of commercial impact by the city’s
ordinance. However, the trial court clearly
paid attention to the economic research and
data submitted not only by the affected
businesses, but also by the city’s own
expert, who agreed that significant losses in
customer base and business revenues would
result from the loss of signage.18
In the Agoura Hills Burger King case, lack
of freeway visibility of the premises itself
precluded the business from overcoming the
sign height restriction by alternate forms of
signage. Had a signature building, for
example, been a viable alternative (if the
site itself were effectively visible to the
freeway, it may have been), the Agoura
Hills Burger King and other freeway merchants
similarly situated and adversely
impacted by the city’s height restrictions
may not have litigated for ten years – years
that were costly to both the businesses and
the city.
Do-It Centers
Matched pair analysis can effectively identify
the differences in value of comparable
commercial locations that are traceable to
the visibility component. An excellent
example of such analysis is provided by the
experience of a small, four-store independent
chain of home-improvement centers,
known as the “Do-It Centers” and located in
southern California.
The chain found itself faced with new competition from
the incoming Home Depot, which had moved into the
chain’s trade areas. The small chain owner decided to
go head to head with Home Depot, and initiated a total
remodel of his old stores to update their on-site marketing
techniques and present a modern storefront. The
chain’s stores were located in Cresenta Valley, Valencia,
Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. All of the stores,
before and after remodel, were approximately 44,000
square feet in size. Prior to remodel, signage for all four
stores was similar and gross sales were within 15% of
one another.
Because the stores were located in different trade areas,
with different municipal sign codes, the owner had to
tailor each store to fit the relevant code. Storefronts
Matched pair analysis is an effective tool in identifying the precise
features of a property that affect value. These four “Do-It Centers,” all
located in southern California, carried the same products. The
differences were pared down until a measurement of the financial impact
of the local sign code could be made. The findings showed that effect
was significant.
Cresenta Valley
Valencia
Simi Valley
Thousand Oaks
10
were somewhat standardized in terms of corporate logo
and colors, but the fascia and freestanding signs were of
varying sizes among the four stores.
Cresenta Valley had a liberal sign code which allowed
the chain owner to place a large storefront wall sign over
the main entrance and border wall signs listing products
(housewares, paint, electrical, and plumbing) along the
sides of the building. Alarge, double-pole free-standing
sign that included a variable message board was erected
adjacent to the street.
Valencia’s code was similar, and the owner was able to
place large wall signs over the main entrance and along
the sides. However, in contrast to the Cresenta Valley
location, the visibility of the freestanding sign was
somewhat blocked by a landscape median between the
street and the sign, as well as a parking barrier in front
of the sign, which was also somewhat shorter in height.
Simi Valley had a much more restrictive sign code; consequently,
the site’s storefront signage was considerably
smaller, limited to narrow border wall signage.
Although its freestanding sign was tall and close to the
street, the store was required to share the sign with other
businesses.
The sign code in Thousand Oaks was the most restrictive
of the four. The site’s storefront signage was limited
to a small entrance sign and two small “hanging”
signs at either end of the building. The freestanding
sign was located on a landscaped strip next to the road,
but the size limit of 36 square feet resulted in severe
masking of the sign by surrounding foliage.
Following the remodel, and despite Home Depot’s presence,
the Cresenta Valley store increased its sales by
45% and Valencia by 38%. On the other hand, the Simi
Valley store’s increase was only 20% and the Thousand
Oaks’s increase a mere 10%. Further, the difference in
sales volume between the Thousand Oaks site and the
Cresenta Valley site, which prior to remodel was only
15%, considerably increased. The chain owner had not
increased local media advertising, thus the disparate
increases in sales volume between all the stores could
only be attributed to the availability – or lack thereof –
of on-premise signage easily visible and readable to
street traffic.
In Conclusion
In their efforts to preserve the health, safety and welfare
of the community, municipalities make zoning decisions
regarding the appropriate and allowed uses of land in
various zones. The owners of the property have a right
to use their property consistent with the zoning.
Property owners have a right to use their property consistent with its zoning. The on-premise sign is essential if retail
or commercial property is to function as zoned. Moreover, both the municipality and the community benefit when land
zoned for retail or commercial use is used to its full capacity.
11
Moreover, both the municipality and the community
benefit when land zoned for retail or commercial use is
used to its full capacity.
The ability to communicate visually via signage is the
right of every business owner located in a retail zone.
Without that communication, the land very likely cannot
function as zone, and the business may fail.
Increasingly, experts and the Court are recognizing that
signage is far more valuable than the cost of the structure
itself. For this reason, a detailed approach to the
appraisal of signage has been developed and has repeatedly
been accepted as valid in courts of law.
Municipal employees are sworn to uphold the law and
the Constitution; therefore, they must honor the bundle
of rights associated with the use of private property and
must pay just compensation when that property
is taken for public use. Where signage
is taken, municipal officers are required to
seek a qualified appraiser who can accurately
determine the full and fair value of that
signage.
Endnotes:
1. Berman, Barry and Joel R. Evans (1992), Retail
Management. New York: MacMillan.
2. Lusch, Robert F., Patrick Dunne, and Randall
Gebhardt (1993), Retail Marketing, Cincinnati:
Southwest Publishing.
3. As Charles R. Taylor, Ph.D., Professor of
Marketing at Villanova University pointed out in his
groundbreaking book On-Premise Signs as Storefront
Marketing Devices and Systems (published by The
Signage Foundation for Communication Excellence,
Inc. and co-sponsored by the U.S. Small Business
Administration in 2005), on-premise signage functions
similarly to outdoor advertising in three ways: it
brands the business, it extends memory of the business,
and it prompts impulse sales.
4. Beaver Dam Raceway, Inc. v. Town of Beaver
Dam, 315 N.W.2d 727 (unpublished opinion,
Wis.App. 1981).
5. Most of the material in this Signline has been
excerpted from The Value of Signs, a book published
by The Signage Foundation for Communication
Excellence, Inc. and available for sale at
www.signs.org.
6. “According to common law concepts, ‘property’
includes the right to possess, use, enjoy and dispose
of a thing. Also included in the bundle of rights constituting
‘property’ is the right to exclude other persons
from using the thing in question. Indeed the
Supreme Court of the United States has indicated that,
for eminent domain purposes, the term ‘property’
includes ‘every sort of interest’ an individual may
possess.” United States v. General Motors Corp., 323 U.S. 373, 377-
8, 65 S. Ct. 357, 359-60, 89 L. Ed. 311 (1945). In Re:
Condemnation by Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission for
Pennsylvania, 1989 WL 225404 (Pa. Com. Pl.), 3 Pa. D. & C, 4th
653, p. 2. See also 44 Liquormart, Inc., et al v. Rhode Island et al.
(94-1140), 517 U.S. 484 (1996).
7. A matched pair analysis is one that compares the value of one
property to the value of another that is as similar as possible except
for the single factor for which one is seeking to establish value.
8. The Research on Signage Performance by the University of San
Diego School of Business Administration was sponsored by the
California Electric Sign Association, the International Sign
Association, the Sign User Council of California, and the Business
Identity Council of America. A summary of the findings appeared in
The Economic Value of On-Premise Signage, a compendium of
research results and articles on sign amortization and copyright and
trademark protection. The booklet was published jointly in 1997 by
CESA and ISA.
9. Wade Swormstedt, “Delays and Damages,” Signs of the Times,
March, 1999 at p. 52.
Signage is far more valuable than the cost of the structure itself. Its
value lies in its ability to communicate with prospective customers and
win their business. Often that value increases with the age of the sign.
12
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Annual subscriptions to Signline are available from ISA for $3
members and $4.50 non-members (plus shipping and handling).
Other signage resources are also available from ISA.
For more information visit:
www.plannersresource.org
Signline Staff:
R. James Claus, PhD
Susan L. Claus Thomas Claus, Esq.
Anne Marie Melmon Becky Miller
signage.help@signs.org
(866) WHY-SIGN; FAX (703) 836-8353
Several legal issues are discussed throughout ISA’s Signline series. Signline is offered for educational and informational purposes only and
not to be construed as giving legal advice to any user. Competent legal advice/advisors should be sought after and obtained by the user.
Signline is a public service publication of:
INTERNATIONAL SIGN ASSOCIATION
707 N. St. Asaph Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-1911
10. This measurement addresses how many times a typical viewer,
reader, or listener is exposed to the advertiser’s message in a given
period of time.
11. Assume, for example, that you spend $30,000.00 on a sign, and
that its useful life is about ten years. The amortized daily cost of an
illuminated sign would equal about $8.22. Add to this the daily cost
of electricity (approximately $0.20 for a new LED message sign),
thus giving a business a daily expense total of $8.42. With a daily
traffic count of 20,000 vehicles passing the business, it would spend
less than $0.43 per thousand exposures (counting drivers only).
Obviously, as the flexibility to change a message is increased, the
cost per thousand exposures for each particular message can also
increase.
12. The OAAA is an outdoor advertising trade association. Its Web
site is http://www.oaaa.org.
13. Despite the growth in Internet sales, they still account for only a
very small percentage of retail sales. <http://www.enterprisenetworksandservers.
com/ars/art.php?29> June 16, 2006.
14. 97 C.D.O.S. 6341 (1997), Second Appellate District.
15. In response to the city of Agoura Hills’ argument, the trial court
stated: “Just how commercially effective signs may be at other locations
is not directly relevant here … vigorous business and healthy
sales [of third party businesses] … may be generally true [b]ut that
is not the statutory test.”
16. “Doing business as.”
17. The trial court determined that the state code’s statutory language
minimally required “a circumstantial analysis of not only the simple
visibility of the sign, but also whether the sign will be noticed
[emphasis in original], and the message imparted to the viewer’s
brain … [T]he additional circumstances bearing on noticeability or
perceptibility would include the origin and nature of the customer
base and buying motivation, general visibility in the area, the highspeed,
high-volume nature of the freeway, location of decision points
for motorists along the freeway, identification time and reaction
time, and time to make safe lane changes.”
18. The trial court found “… as to each of the plaintiffs, there would
be a material impairment of the commercial effectiveness of a conforming
sign … [because] each of the businesses relies on its existing
sign to attract customers … substantially … from the freeway.”
Significantly, none of the trial court’s findings, including those
regarding Plaintiffs’ research, were overruled or otherwise excepted
by the appellate court.
The taking of an on-premise sign through eminent
domain can easily result in lost memory of the
business, lost impulse sales, and lost branding.

Exceptional 3D Glasses-Free 3D Display wins “Best 3D-Based DS Product” at DSE 2012 from rAVe [Publications].

It’s very flattering to know that our technology is gaining more recognition as something special, different and distinctly unique.

Exceptional 3D today announced that their patented auto-stereoscopic 3D display solutions were awarded ‘Best In Show’ at Digital Signage Expo 2012. The award was presented by raVe [Publications], a news organization that provides coverage of the commercial (ProAV) and residential (HomeAV) audiovisual trade industries via e-newsletters, blogs, video, social media, and a variety of other mediums. These awards acknowledge all the products and solutions they consider to be the ‘best of the best’ for 2012. Every year after DSE, raVe [Publications] gives out their annual Digital Signage CHAMPS awards. This year’s top honor in the category of “Best 3D-Based Digital Signage Product” has been presented to Exceptional 3D.

“We’re very happy to receive this award from raVe [Publications],” said Eric Angello, CMO for Exceptional 3D. “We know DSE offers a variety of very impressive digital signage technology and there are more 3D solutions surfacing every year,” continued Mr. Angello, “so we really worked hard to ensure that we could be a distinguishable glasses-free 3D digital signage solution at this years Digital Signage Expo.” Mr. Angello finished in saying, “it’s truly an honor to have these efforts acknowledged while being named alongside so many other first-class award recipients. It’s very flattering to know that our technology is gaining more recognition as something special, different and distinctly unique.”

Amongst several no-glasses 3D company’s present at DSE 2012, this award marks the first for Exceptional 3D being named as a ‘Best-In-Breed’ solution for their glasses-free 3D digital signage products. The acknowledgment backs up the company’s efforts since the onset of 2012 where the aim was to set a higher standard for delivering satisfactory no-glasses 3D products and solutions with one of the largest glasses-free 3D product lines. Exceptional 3D’s 2012 focus has been primarily on harnessing the ultimate ‘picture perfect’ experience and this award is a clear indicator of that effort. The award strengthens Exceptional 3D’s foothold as a premium choice for cost-effective glasses-free 3D digital signage solutions, which any customer or network operator can rely on with a great deal of confidence.

###

ABOUT EXCEPTIONAL 3D
Headquartered in New York, Exceptional 3D (http://www.exceptional3d.com) designs, produces and delivers a patented, leading-edge 3D auto-stereoscopic (no glasses needed) visual display technology. The company specializes in providing high quality auto-stereoscopic 3D displays, software and 3D content to resellers, system integrators, trendsetters and network operators for widespread adaptation at cost effective prices. Exceptional 3D hardware and software solutions are a ‘future-proof’ technology that enables flat-panel displays to show high-definition 3D content without the need for any eyewear or 3D glasses, while still being capable of supporting playback of standard 2D content. The company is ‘keeping it simple’ through first-in-class customer service and continual focus on delivering the best 3D experience for industries such as automotive, casino gaming, retail, cinemas, hospitality and a wide variety of additional vertical markets. More information about Exceptional 3D is available by visiting http://www.exceptional3d.com or following @exceptional3d on Twitter.

New rule changes to the Americans with Disabilities Act will improve services to blind or visually impaired patrons

On March 15, 2012, updates to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) went into effect. The new standards—known as the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design—focus specifically on creating wayfinding signage for the visually impaired.

The good news is that libraries are already doing well in compliance from a technology standpoint, providing visually impaired patrons with text-manipulation software and closed-circuit televisions to enlarge print. The better news is that these new standards offer more guidance in making traditional wayfinding signage more patron-friendly.

There are an estimated 21.5 million American adults who reported they are either blind or have difficulty seeing, even with glasses or contact lenses, according to the American Foundation for the Blind, which cites a 2010 National Health Interview Survey Preliminary Report.

Fatima Kukaswadia is one of those who will benefit from the standards. A senior business and economics major at North Park University in Chicago, Kukaswadia is legally blind. Signs that normally help patrons navigate through the stacks are not as simple for Kukaswadia, who has a rare genetic disease known as achromatopsia. The vision disorder prevents her from driving, seeing in color, and reading the whiteboard in her classes.

Kukaswadia told American Libraries that reading signs with glare is difficult. “I also have difficulty tolerating bright light and am forced to close my eyes when there is too much of it,” she said.

The new ADA standards will help Kukaswadia, because they require a non-glare finish on all signage and recommend a 70% contrast between the sign background and lettering. To meet the 70% guideline, the ADA provides a formula that uses light reflectance values to determine contrast. The formula was published in the 2002 amendment to the 1991 standards (Appendix, 4.30.5).

“My eyes can easily pick up objects that are in high contrast,” Kukaswadia said. “I can usually read a sign with lettering that is highly contrasted to its background.” For example, she explained, red or black text against a white background is easily viewable, but red on a black background is not. (As a general rule, think “dark on light” or “light on dark.”)

Visual and Tactile

The new ADA standards include several differences from the 1990 rules, which became enforceable in 1992. Perhaps the most noticeable change is the recognition that signage created for the visually impaired needs to accommodate those who read by sight, those who read Braille, and those who read raised characters—particularly because only an estimated 10% of all people who are blind read Braille.

“The raised characters are very important to people who have become blind later in life, who have lost finger sensitivity, or who just never learned,” Sharon Toji told American Libraries. Toji is owner of Access Communications, an ADA consulting firm, and a voting member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the organization that set the new ADA standards.

Characters used in signs produced under the 1990 rules “had to do double duty for visual and tactile readers and were an unfortunate compromise,” Toji said. Tactile letters had no requirements for stroke or character width, and they were often much too bold and sometimes highly condensed. “They really were not very readable by touch and were almost invisible to many visual readers who are blind,” Toji said.

New signage must now include large, bolded characters in both upper- and lowercase (for those who read visually) and thin, beveled, and widely spaced lettering (for tactile readers). Additionally, legally blind visual readers benefit greatly from no-glare, high-contrast signage.

And if a location normally requires visual and tactile characters, that area must now have either two separate signs or one sign with both visual and tactile characters—with each meeting its own set of standards. Before this change, it was acceptable to have signs with a combination of visual and tactile elements without either meeting any usable standard.

Going forward, Toji said she would like to see better rules on glare and contrast in the next set of standards. (ANSI will have committee meetings to set the next ADA-accessible design standards beginning in August 2012.) She also wants to add new requirements for video phones and wants to have induction-loop equipment hardwired in library buildings. The equipment would transmit sound free of distracting background noise to patrons who wear a hearing device.

Meanwhile, Kukaswadia said she is “excited about these new changes. The library already does a great job providing me with the technology I need, but having signs I’ll be able to spot right away will make it that much easier to find what I’m looking for.”

LIZ HUMRICKHOUSE is a Dominican University GSLIS graduate and a Reference and Instruction Librarian at North Park University in Chicago.

SIDEBAR:

Accessibility tips

Libraries remodeled or newly designed after March 15, 2012, must comply with the updated rules. For all other libraries, there are steps that can make existing signage more patron-friendly. (The tips below, and others, can be found on the ASCLA website.)

• Employ nonpermanent signs with low-glare and a high contrast for legally blind visual readers
• Train library staff to assist visually impaired readers when necessary. This includes:
  • Offering to guide patrons to their intended destinations
  • Offering a variety of resources including print, electronic, Braille, audiobooks, music, and text-enlargement software
• Ensure all signage is placed in well-lit but not overly bright areas
• Enlarge the font on call number signs located at the end of each bookshelf

For more information about how to make your library more accessible, see the ASCLA tip sheets. You may also want to attend the 90-minute “Serving Blind and Visually Impaired Patrons at the Library” workshop June 13, sponsored by ALA Editions.

The City of Phoenix faced a dilemma not unusual for large metro areas with significant suburban populations — how do you get people back downtown to revitalize the city center?

For Phoenix, digital signage held part of the answer.

Inspired by other cities that have created entertainment districts, such as L.A. Live in Los Angeles, Phoenix partnered with two of its major sports franchises to create the Legends Entertainment District in the city’s downtown area, charged with changing the perception of the city’s center.

Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks and the National Basketball Association’s Phoenix Suns have collaborated with the city over the last year and change to transform the Jefferson Street corridor in downtown Phoenix into something more bright and vibrant than before.

Combining approximately 7,000 square feet of full-motion LED digital signage with about 55,000 square feet of new static signage, the Legends Entertainment District has created quite a splash in the downtown area, said the district’s general manager, Judd Norris, and digital signage has played a major role.

“The digital format allows the creative resources and content resources that we have in house between the two teams to really design some visually appealing things, that quite — frankly what we’re really trying to do is to get poeple to have a reason to come down to the games or events earlier and stay later and if you create a vibrant energized area its going to make them want to do that,” he said.

With the Diamondbacks’ Chase Field, the Suns’ US Airways Center and the Phoenix Convention Center all set along the Jefferson Street, the number of events at all of the venues together provides plenty of compelling content for the LED signs, Norris said.

The convention center boasts a mid-size LED display standing just above street level, facing the two sports stadia across Jefferson Street. On the street side of Chase Field hangs a 35-foot-by-73-foot LED board, dubbed the “Big Board,” that shows district content and advertising.

There are also three 50-foot towers outside Chase Field and the US Airways Center, each featuring three 13-foot-by-22-foot LED boards, in addition to top and bottom LED halo rings. The towers display 30-second content segments from each facility’s respective team, the Legends Entertainment District and content partners, and the bottom halos also feature scrolling tickers.

And there are two massive, 4-foot by 125-foot LED tickers on the Jefferson Street parking garage set between the US Airways Center and Chase Field.

According to The Arizona Republic newspaper, the district’s first phase was an $8.6-million, first-year investment, with the city providing $2 million for the initial investment and the rest coming from the Suns, Diamondbacks and investors.

“We could not be more pleased with the look and the results,” Diamondbacks CEO Derrick Hall told the paper. “There’s definitely a continuous flow of energy.”

All of the signage is centrally managed from a control center in Chase Field, running X2O Media software to power content on Panasonic LED displays installed by YESCO, Norris said.

The choice to go digital was an easy one, Norris said, especially once the city gave permission to use full-motion, full-color digital displays, essentially digital billboards, in the district, as opposed to the run-of-the-mill static images that change every 8 seconds mandated on many digital billboards.

“It was the immediate choice for us to choose large-format full digital because we could visually let the consumer, whether it be a pedestrian or someone who’s in a vehicle or someone who’s visiting us from out of town, see visually what happens in these multiple blocks,” Norris said. “You see downtown, you see light, you see vibrancy, you see energy; it makes it be a place to want to go, and it’s all done by technology. It’s a perception changer.”

Watch a time-lapse video of the district below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp7nJeXh7Oc

According to The Wealthy Dentist, dental marketing with good signage is the easiest way to add new patients to a dental practice. The new “The $1,000,000 Dental Sign” program shows doctors all of the factors that go into good signs – locations, traffic flow, most effective types of signs, building location and orientation to the street, zoning codes and much more.

The two-part video tutorial was designed by dental marketing expert Jim Du Molin, who has more than 25 years of dental management experience. He and his wife Suzanne Du Molin, a C.P.A., M.P.A. and Certified Financial Planner have advised hundred of dentists, and have spoken on the topic of dental practice marketing at dozens of North American dental associations and universities during the past three decades.

“The economics of good dental signage are too important to just wing it,” says Jim Du Molin, Editor-in-Chief of The Wealthy Dentist and founder of dental marketing resource Internet Dental Alliance. “A well-designed set of signs — you’ll notice the plural, meaning more than one — can easily put $1,000,000 extra into your pension fund for retirement.”

The program offers dentists valuable advice on a topic that seems simple on the surface, yet can have a major impact on profits over the life of the dental practice. It covers topics such as how to negotiate with local signage companies, what to consider when contracting for a new facility, how to draw “walk in” traffic, how to use office windows to promote the practice and how to how to update “tired” signs for minimum cost.

Bonus items include full-color examples of good and bad dental signs, access to the “Sign Design Gallery” showing the latest pictures of signs submitted by other doctors who have used the program. There are several downloads, including an MP3 audio to play while driving,, a printout of the slide show, and a transcript of the video that can be printed out and used as a reference.

“The right signage can make all the difference,” added Du Molin. “To tell the truth, many dentists underestimate the importance of their practices’ signage – probably something like their patients underestimate the importance of flossing and brushing.”

About TheWealthyDentist.com

Jim Du Molin — Editor in Chief of TheWealthyDentist.com — has been giving hype-free dental marketing and practice management advice since 1985. He helps dentists attract more new patients and manage their practices more effectively. With the power of the Internet, The Wealthy Dentist can deliver this dental marketing training directly to you at home or in your office, at a fraction of the normal cost.

MODESTO — On Tuesday, the Modesto City Council could approve the installation of 25 markers for the Historic Graffiti Cruise Route and downtown walking tour.

The markers would tell tourists about the history of cruising in Modesto, which was depicted in the George Lucas film “American Graffiti.” Business owner Chris Murphy leads a committee that raised the money for the signs. If the item is approved, city workers would install the signs in June for $3,000.

Murphy said the walking tour would allow people with smart phones to look at video interviews and photos. Lucas, a Modesto native, provided a video introduction for the tour.

However, these organizations do much more than just pick, pack and ship digital signage products.

“A full-service distributor’s main functions are to fulfill availability at any time, offer a credit line and technical service and support,” said Mike Zmuda, Director of Business Development for Itasca, Ill.-based NEC Display Solutions of America Inc. “A lot of key distributors are seriously looking at digital signage and gearing up for it. It’s good to see all of them getting excited about the industry, because it’s one of our key targets. We look at distributors to have products available for the reseller community. That means making sure the mainstream products are always in stock. Second, we want to make sure they can provide the proper credit line to help resellers and integrators finance digital signage solutions.”

At the beginning of the distribution chain are the manufacturers, known as vendors to the distribution channel. These are companies and OEMs such as LG, Samsung and NEC.

The biggest problem that vendors have, industry experts say, is that they are selling displays or mounts or software products, and it might not be easy for them to have access to all of the components required to provide a full solution. With a distributor, such as global technology distributor Ingram Micro Inc., they have not only the displays, but all of the complementary products required for a full solution. Distribution takes the responsibility from the vendor to piece together total solutions for resellers or end users.

Distributors keep all of their products in warehouses, usually spread out across the geographic service area, so shipments can be fast and all come from one place.

A fair picture
Keven Yue, senior business development manager for Ingram Micro, doesn’t think the marketplace has a fair picture of the digital signage distribution channel.

“The services side is more than pure product procurement,” Yue said. “So they could be offering credit and sales expertise for what products work in a specific solution. Services also include providing managed services and access to vertical markets. When an end user engages a reseller, he usually sees the IT guys that do networking and storage. But behind each reseller are one or two or three partnerships that they leverage that really sell this arsenal.

“In a sense, it gives them access to the full solution, which they can then pass on to the customer.”

The distribution process
The distribution chain for digital signage is very similar to that of other IT products. A vendor sells its product through a distributor, who sells those products to its reseller base. The resellers then sell the complete solutions to their end users, which could be restaurant chains, airports, schools or other types of businesses.

Digital signage distributors can help make the deployment process seamless between vendors, resellers and end users. Samsung Electronics America Inc.’s Richard Hutton, senior channel marketing manager for the Ridgefield Park, N.J.-based company, explains the digital signage distribution channel from the eyes of a major screen vendor:

First, professional large-format displays come from South Korea or Mexico. The machines are stored in a warehouse before being sent to the distributor.

“One of the key things in this space is working with our distribution partners on forecasting,” he said. “So, if you get a piece of 72-inch, die-cut glass, we want to make sure we sell that through. Nobody wants it sitting in the manufacturer’s or distributor’s warehouse for a long amount of time.”

Because material can be stored at the distributor’s warehouse, Samsung does not have to have warehouses across the country. Instead, the company relies on partnerships to ensure distribution of material across the United States.

“Sales and purchasing work very hard to make sure we don’t have too much inventory in Illinois when we need it in Los Angeles,” Hutton said. “On occasion, if a deal is large enough, we may ship it directly from the factory to the reseller site or end-user site. The ability to do that is all through the distributor and reseller. For deployments that require preconfigured aspects, like outdoor deployments, the distributors can often configure those things at their sites. Larger rollouts are usually done onsite to cut out the logistics piece. But the distributor manages that process.”

From the distributor to the resellers
In the next step of the channel process, a distributor markets products to its reseller base on behalf of the vendor. The company also does a fair amount of marketing for itself on its value-added benefits. These could be financing, logistics, customer service and installation, to name a few.

Working under a distributor like Ingram Micro is a network of thousands of resellers, who are the ones who actually market and provide digital signage solutions to end users. These groups are responsible for designing and planning solutions that best fit the needs of the end user.

Resellers then go back to the distributor with the solution requirements.

“The goal is for the distribution channel to be seamless for the reseller and end user,” said Robert Nishida, president of Woodland Hills, Calif.-based HDDS Design, a value-added reseller for Ingram Micro. “End users call a reseller and they have a number of items to be ordered and maybe even a preconfigured idea of what they want, and then it ends up on their doorstep and everything’s done.”

Resellers have consulting responsibilities on both ends of the equation. First, they listen to end-user requirements and walk end users through possible solutions. Then, they consult their distributors to see if the solution is a reality and how they can work together to provide it.

“End users call me and then we get into a pretty detailed discussion on what we’re trying to accomplish,” Nishida said. “A lot of times the clients want to do something, but it’s not practical, or it doesn’t make sense. They don’t realize the cost of technology. A lot of people are under the impression that they can buy a home HDTV and put it in their retail environment and play it for 12 to 18 hours a day and it’s good to go. But they don’t realize that they may want these displays in a portrait orientation, or have content over three displays, and that there is technology behind altering the content for that. It’s not as simple as hanging displays and going with it.”

And the process doesn’t end with product procurement. Nishida and HDDS usually develop a pilot or prototype version of the solution. If all is well after the results come in, the total solution is rolled out to all end-user locations.

“We like to run through a prototype phase where we send out products to end users and test what they want to do, make sure the content looks how they want it to and make sure they can run the content from their home offices,” Nishida said. “Then comes the actual distribution of the displays to their locations. Or we can do a project management piece where we schedule the install and send someone to the site, or they can go to one of my service partners, who can deliver, hang the displays, test, train them and then they’re out of there.”

(Excerpted and adapted from the recently re-published DigitalSignageToday.com guide, “Digital Signage Distribution.” To read more, download the free publication.)

Usually, there are various factors which need to be put into consideration before solving the puzzle. The first inclusion is the value of the premises that it is located in. Premises are very vital for survival of any firm and they therefore contribute a very huge percentage when assessing.

Free cash flow that ends up in the hands of the owner must be calculated as well. Depending on how adverts, sales and location all work out the profits can be much or less. The sum is usually a secret that many owners prefer to know only by themselves but it should be counted.

Whatever has been stocked must also be summed up before coming up with the final result. Stock is usually the main investment for the owner because money comes in with each sale. You can also consider the labor force available especially for those in the service industry.

Should the firm be having inventories then they should also be included. Inventories are usually an opportunity for the firm to expand in the future. Multiplying factors are also needed so they can be used to calculate the depreciated or appreciated value since it was started.

All outstanding payments from the people indebted to the firm must be included. From the last additional value you must deduct all debts that are owed to suppliers and creditors as well. All this aspects solve the mystery of what is my business worth. Big firms should consider hiring auditors.

Stop by our site to find out more what is my business worth