Norton’s executive vice president, Mike Norton, selected Watchfire after considering the other qualified manufacturers in the business. “We’ve always been drawn to the image quality and durability of Watchfire’s boards. With the latest release of Watchfire’s Ignite™ Online software, we’re convinced that Watchfire offers outstanding displays, as well as outstanding software, which allows our customers to use this media platform correctly.”

Watchfire operates like a trusted partner and consultant, even working with Norton as a sounding board during the development of Ignite™ Online.

“We first experienced their partnership approach when we were invited to provide input into their software offering. They were able to incorporate everything that we asked for,” explained Norton. “They continued to impress us during this recent installation when they volunteered to help us with brightness tests and other key analyses that were critical to the zoning process. Working with Watchfire has been a great experience and we certainly look forward to working with them again in the future.”

With its True-16mm, True-19mm and new E-16mm, Watchfire has an entire line of digital billboard products to suit most any need. All Watchfire Digital Outdoor billboards produce 281 trillion colors and utilize state-of-the-art whole sign color calibration. Watchfire is the only manufacturer that fully encapsulates its LED module in a thick bed of silicone gel, enabling the modules to operate reliably even in the harshest conditions. Durability is further enhanced by Watchfire’s streamlined engineering, which focuses on driving down parts counts and connections, improving projected reliability. All Watchfire boards feature lightweight extruded aluminum cabinetry that complies with IBC 2006 standards and allows for low cost, fast installation and streamlined maintenance. Watchfire’s warranty, lead-times, customer support, and software are considered to be the best in the industry.

For a free video that shows how Watchfire Digital Outdoor manufactures the best-looking, most durable digital billboards in the industry, go to http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/norton.

About Watchfire Digital Outdoor

Watchfire Digital Outdoor engineers and manufactures the best looking and most durable digital billboards available anywhere. The company is the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, which has been manufacturing outdoor electric signs for more than 75 years, has been manufacturing LED signs for 12 years, and has more than 30,000 outdoor LED signs in daily operation throughout North America. Watchfire Digital Outdoor is located in Danville, Ill. with marketing and sales operations in Indianapolis, Ind. For more information, go to http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com.

The City Council’s Blueprint Denver committee has initially approved a new ban on LED billboards in Denver. It now must move on to the City Council for a final vote.

Denver currently has only three LED units, and a total of 550 billboards in the city limits.

But Denver is no stranger to permit and code problem disagreements with sign owners. There are currently no less than 11 lawsuits in court over various billboards in Denver. And this issue may also end up in court depending on the council’s vote.

The back-to-back billboards measure 10′6″ by 16′ in Watchfire’s 19mm model. The digital billboards are appealing to outdoor advertisers because they can be updated simply and remotely in minutes using software and a high-speed Internet connection. Digital billboards also allow multiple advertisements on the same board, and because the messages can be changed quickly they work well for advertisers with time-sensitive messages or multiple product lines.

The idea for converting to digital billboards came to Trellis Realty’s owner Allen Kasiewicz after he lost an advertiser on an existing vinyl billboard and posted an ad looking for a new advertiser. “By the time I drove home, I had four phone calls waiting from interested advertisers. Within the next couple days, 15 new advertisers had contacted me about the board space. One of the calls came from someone who wanted to lease my land and permit and put up a digital billboard.”

His curiosity piqued, Kasiewicz researched this new concept and then contacted a number of digital billboard manufacturers and put them through their paces, eventually purchasing two boards from Watchfire. “The Watchfire boards look terrific,” said Kasiewicz. “From all perspectives, it was clear that the Watchfire products are engineered beautifully. Unlike other manufacturers, when I opened the board up, the Watchfire unit was neat and organized with only two cables connecting each LED panel, which means fewer potential points of failure. Also, Watchfire is the only manufacturer that fully encapsulates their LED panels, which really helps protect these units against the harsh New Hampshire winters.”

The two boards, although back-to-back, run independent ad schedules. Current advertisers include several local restaurants, a multi-store recreation sports company, a LEEDS Certified construction company, a ski resort, an independent high school and several local events. The summer schedule adds the famous Laconia Motorcycle Week and a large, world-class resort. “The local commuters are ‘a buzz’ about the vibrant images,” Kasiewicz said. Trellis also is providing public service message space on each board to the City of Belmont and is presently working with the NH State Police to develop a tie to the national AMBER ALERT system.

T-Bones, a restaurant chain and early advertiser on both Trellis digital billboards, provides evidence of the power of the new medium. Although the chain has restaurants in several locations throughout the state, only the Laconia location used the Trellis digital billboards to advertise their annual St. Patrick’s $9.99 corned beef dinner special. That location saw a 300 percent increase in business over last year while business at the other locations remained flat.

Kasiewicz expects to invest in other digital billboard locations. His advice for other independent operators thinking about going digital is to resist the temptation to buy the cheapest billboard and instead buy quality. “Do your homework and look at how the board is made and how it operates; consider the warranty and who’s going to provide on-going service and the start-up support and training. There really is a big difference,” Kasiewicz said.

Watchfire Digital Outdoor produces the industry’s only 19mm pixel pitch billboard—which packs 768 LEDs into every sq. ft.—and is capable of producing 281 trillion colors, the most in the industry. It is the only manufacturer that fully encapsulates the LED module in a thick bed of silicone gel, which enables the LED boards to operate in extreme weather conditions: 180+ days completely submerged in water, 60 days in a salt-spray chamber, and temperatures ranging from -40° F to 120° F. In areas where heat and humidity are both high, or where winters are harsh, the silicone gel encapsulation protects the boards from moisture and salt, greatly improving projected reliability. All Watchfire boards feature unique extruded aluminum cabinetry and a streamlined electronics design that improves operation and simplifies maintenance. Watchfire’s warranty, lead-times, customer support, and no-fee software are considered to be the best in the industry.

Watchfire Digital Outdoor offers a free digital billboard financing guide. The Top 10 Things To Know About Financing Your Digital Billboard is available at http://watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/TrellisOffer.

About Watchfire Digital Outdoor

Watchfire Digital Outdoor engineers and manufactures the best looking and most durable digital billboards available anywhere. The company is the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, which has been manufacturing outdoor electric signs for more than 75 years, has been manufacturing LED signs for 10 years, and has more than 15,000 outdoor LED signs in daily operation throughout North America. Watchfire Digital Outdoor is located in Danville, Ill. with marketing and sales operations in Indianapolis. For more information, go to http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com.

DANVILLE, Ill. and COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – (October 27, 2009) – Roland nd Advertising, located in Cookeville, Tenn., has installed its first digital billboard, manufactured by Watchfire Digital Outdoor ( http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com). The 19mm 10′6″ x 30′ billboard is located on I-40 in Cookeville, which is the mid-way point between two of Tennessee’s largest cities, Nashville and Knoxville. Approximately 25,000 cars pass by the billboard each day.

The Cookeville area already features digital billboards from Watchfire competitors, but because this billboard is uniquely positioned at eye-level, finding the board with the best clarity and resolution was top priority for Dave Roland, owner and president of Roland Advertising.

“I did months of research before deciding which digital billboard company to choose,” said Roland. “After all the due diligence and visiting Watchfire’s plant twice, I knew without a doubt that I had found the best digital billboard on the market today. Watchfire is a U.S. owned and operated company and provides a far better product at a competitive price compared to other manufacturers in this industry. That is a winning combination for me.”

Roland started out using the billboard as a community communications tool to showcase the board. Within hours of the billboard being unloaded from the truck, there were advertisements up and running for local events and services. Since then, Roland has received tremendous feedback from local advertisers who cite ease of use, flexibility and fast turn-around as the key benefits of digital advertising.

“Working with Watchfire has made this entire process easy, fast and ultimately lucrative for my business,” said Roland. “The quality of the sign and the myriad of services I can offer existing and new customers are tremendous. I would encourage any billboard operator, small or large, to make the leap to digital, because even in these lean economic times, you can make money by expanding your customer base and offering flexible packages that work for everyone.”

Watchfire Digital Outdoor produces the industry’s only 19mm pixel pitch billboard—which packs 768 LEDs into every sq. ft.—and is capable of producing 281 trillion colors, the most in the industry. It is the only manufacturer that fully encapsulates the LED module in a thick bed of silicone gel, which enables the LED boards to operate in extreme weather conditions: 180+ days completely submerged in water, 60 days in a salt-spray chamber, and temperatures ranging from -40 degree F to 120 degree F. In areas where heat and humidity are both high, the silicone gel encapsulation protects the boards from humidity and moisture, greatly improving projected reliability. All Watchfire boards feature unique extruded aluminum cabinetry that comply with 2006 IBC codes and a streamlined electronics design that improves operation and simplifies maintenance. Watchfire’s warranty, lead-times, customer support, and no-fee software are considered to be the best in the industry.

For a free video the shows how Watchfire Digital Outdoor manufactures the best-looking, most durable digital billboards in the industry, go to www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/Roland.

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About Watchfire Digital Outdoor
Watchfire Digital Outdoor engineers and manufactures the best looking and most durable digital billboards available anywhere. The company is the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, which has been manufacturing outdoor electric signs for more than 75 years, has been manufacturing LED signs for 10 years, and has more than 15,000 outdoor LED signs in daily operation throughout North America. Watchfire Digital Outdoor is located in Danville, Ill. with marketing and sales operations in Indianapolis.

INDIANAPOLIS – (November 3, 2009) – Watchfire Digital Outdoor, manufacturer of the best looking and most durable digital billboards, is once again blazing the trail in the billboard industry by unveiling its 3rd Generation digital billboards, which are more energy efficient, more technologically advanced and more user-friendly than ever.

Across the product line, Watchfire has introduced key new features of the 3rd Generation billboards that make the best even better. They include:

Serviceability of the boards via front or rear access cabinets, which simplifies maintenance, improves appearance and lowers overall weight of the structure.

38 percent reduction in energy requirements. Already an industry leader in efficiency, Watchfire’s bulletin size billboards now require less than 100 amps of electrical service.

Higher efficacy LEDs, which provide truer colors and improve angular readability without distortion.

Ignite Online, which already offers operators instant remote accessibility, now gives users an even easier interface and more control. Ignite Online enables billboard operators to control billboards from any location, perform advanced scheduling and day-parting functions, and enables advertisers to schedule and upload their own art. The ability to display RSS feeds for real-time data, such as breaking news, sports scores, stock quotes, weather forecasts and updates, also is included.

In addition to improvements across its existing product line, Watchfire also has introduced the E-16mm, a 3rd Generation billboard product designed for medium- to long-range viewing. The E-16mm features a patent-pending image processing algorithm and a sophisticated LED layout, which dramatically extend the resolution at a price point that gives billboard operators more options than ever before.

With its True-16mm, True-19mm and new E-16mm, Watchfire has an entire line of digital billboard products to suit most any need. All Watchfire Digital Outdoor billboards produce 281 trillion colors and utilize state-of-the-art whole sign color calibration. Watchfire is the only manufacturer that fully encapsulates its LED module in a thick bed of silicone gel, enabling the modules to operate indefinitely even in the harshest conditions. Durability is further enhanced by Watchfire’s streamlined engineering, which focuses on driving down parts counts and connections, improving projected reliability. All Watchfire boards feature lightweight extruded aluminum cabinetry that complies with IBC 2006 standards and allows for low cost, fast installation and streamlined maintenance. Watchfire’s warranty, lead-times, customer support, and software are considered to be the best in the industry.

For a free video the shows how Watchfire Digital Outdoor manufactures the best-looking, most durable digital billboards in the industry, go to http://watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/3rdGen.About Watchfire Digital Outdoor

Watchfire Digital Outdoor engineers and manufactures the best looking and most durable digital billboards available anywhere. The company is the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, which has been manufacturing outdoor electric signs for more than 75 years, has been manufacturing LED signs for 10 years, and has more than 30,000 outdoor LED signs in daily operation throughout North America. Watchfire Digital Outdoor is located in Danville, Ill. with marketing and sales operations in Indianapolis. For more information, go to http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com.

The campaign began in 1954, and ran up to the voluntary removal of all tobacco billboards in 1998. During those 44 years, drivers could tell a Marlboro billboard from a mile away, literally, just based on the profile of the Marlboro Man, normally dressed in cowboy hat, chaps and gloves.

In fact, the brand became so memorable that, for a period in the 1980s, the billboards changed to just a profile of the cowboy with no supporting copy – you really didn’t need it. Marlboro even paid, through long-term leases, outdoor companies to install cut-outs of the Marlboro Man on monopoles by removing their normal 30-sheet display. It is one of the few times in outdoor history that the graphic of the ad became the whole message (another would be the Amalie can, which we discussed last week).

What is most interesting about the Marlboro campaign was that is was initially a woman’s cigarette in its launch of 1924. And the brand’s main battle was the effeminate image that filtered cigarettes had up to that point. The macho cowboy was really a method to make filtered cigarettes seem O.K. to millions of male consumers.

Equally as memorable as the Marlboro Man himself, was the red and white logo for Marlboro. Again, drivers could simply see the color red, and the white “M”, before a sign was in any way legible, and immediately know it was an advertisement for Marlboro. This enormous visibility allowed Marlboro to become one of the best selling cigarettes in the world – an amazing ending for a product that showed little promise in 1924.

I have my own piece of Marlboro memorabilia – many old outdoor operators do – which is the hand of the giant Marlboro man that used to be on Knox Street in Dallas. When they were tearing it down, I asked if I could have a piece for my collection of billboard memorabilia, and they gave me the hand. To give you an idea of the scale, the hand is about two feet wide and four feet long.

Again, I’m completely against smoking. But I have to admire a billboard campaign that can etch itself into the American public as well as Marlboro did.

Once they started painting their billboards on barns, they really threw the program into overdrive. At the height of the program, there were 20,000 barns painted with the Mail Pouch Tobacco message, spread out over 22 states.

Mail Pouch Tobacco did not pay big ground rents to the landowners back then – about $1 per year. But the farmers weren’t in it for the money. Their agreement with Mail Pouch was that it could paint its message on any two sides of the barn, but it would paint the entire barn for free. To keep his barn painted with a protective coat of paint, the Mail Pouch program was a terrific value for the farmer. It was one of America’s first “win/win” transactions.

Although the program began in 1890, it reached its highest volumes of barns in the 1960s! The program was over 70 years old by then – which may also make Mail Pouch one of the longest running outdoor advertising programs in U.S. history. And nothing had changed much in the actual creative over seven decades. The words “Chew Mail Pouch And Treat Yourself To The Best” was about as complicated as it ever got.

Harley Warrick of Ohio painted over 20,000 barns for Mail Pouch. And he got so good at it, that he could paint the entire barn, including the copy, in a total of six hours! Warrick, and others, were so proud of their work that they wrote their names and the completion date nearest the roof.

The program ended in 1992, mainly because Warrick retired and the company had no one else to do the painting at an economical price. Many of the barns, with the ads on them, are registered as National Historic Landmarks.

What’s different is that Ricoh’s billboard will utilize solar and wind power to create its own energy to light the sign every night. Four wind turbines and 64 solar panels will do the job.

So just how much power can a billboard create each day? This sign will create enough electricity to power six homes for a year, and save the sign owner $12,000 to $15,000 per month. There is one problem, on days in which there is no wind and no sunlight (and how often does that ever happen?), the sign will have no lights. That’s a gamble Ricoh is willing to make.

Other impacts will be the 18 tons of carbon that will no be released into the atmosphere each year, due to this renewable energy source. And the fact that the billboard may ask other advertisers to consider also going “green”.

While conservation is popping up in all sorts of products and industries, few would have ever imagined a “green” billboard in Times Square. So our hats are off to Ricoh for dreaming it up. Maybe, one day, there will be other green signs out there of this magnitude. Ricoh may sell copiers, but perhaps it can also spur “copy cats”.

Well, it all started with my favorite paperweight on my desk - A giant case-hardened bolt out of the group sent down to erect my first 14′ x 48′. There was a spare one, so I kept it. It weighs a ton, but it looks cool on my desk.

Thereafter, whenever I see or hear of a billboard being town down, I try and get a bolt from it to keep as a souvenir. I’ve got the bolt to one of the ancient 1920’s billboards over the Trinity River in Dallas. And one from a billboard at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. I’ve got all kinds of bolts from famous signs. And I use them all as paperweights.

Since nobody sells historic billboard bolts on ebay, I can’t really expand or sell the collection easily. And not everyone wants to have a desk filled with, sometimes rusty, bolts. But if you enjoy billboard history as much as I do, it’s kind of nice to have them to look at while I’m on the phone.

I drove through Gibsland, Louisiana once – where they shot Bonnie and Clyde. Souvenir hunters still steal something from the site constantly. They’ve even stolen the historic marker. But I’ve never seen that type of passion for billboard artifacts. Of course, Bonnie and Clyde might have seen my billboard bolt while passing through Dallas at one time – maybe I should lock it away.