Investing in messages

Outdoor advertising in Cape Girardeau is going digital.

Colorful digital signs with changing images have become popular with local outdoor sign companies, and businesses are using the technology to advertise more freely. The city is evaluating its current regulations to make sure these signs don't pose a threat to drivers.

"They sort of came up overnight," said Tim Morgan, Cape Girardeau's director of inspection services.

Over the past few months, Drury Southwest Signs in Cape Girardeau, Canedy Sign & Graphics in Sikeston and Coast to Coast Signs in Scott City have begun replacing more traditional signs in the area with RGB billboards.

The signs use light-emitting diodes or LEDs, which are brighter than regular light bulbs, last longer and are more energy efficient.

A new digital outdoor display at the northeast corner of South Kingshighway and William Street presents motorists with several advertisements while they are stopped at the traffic light. (Fred Lynch)

In recent years banks, churches and gas stations in Southeast Missouri have invested in message centers, signs with a red or yellow scrolling message or basic image. That allows businesses and organizations to change their message frequently without much physical labor.

The RGB (red, green and blue) billboards are much more vivid than the message centers and capable of video, but only show high-resolution graphics because of the city sign ordinance. The current ordinance, which was updated earlier this year, states animated messages are permitted on commercial and manufacturing property. If any given window flashes, it's supposed to hold for at least four seconds.

"Right now the only issues I have are the flashing of the image, the four-second rule and the brightness issue that's been brought up by some of the elected officials," Morgan said. "Some images are blinking much faster than four seconds."

Ellis Bradshaw, the general manager at Canedy, said Cape Girardeau was due to catch up with some of the advertising technology going on in bigger cities and expects that the signs will be all over the interstate in the coming years.

"The billboards attract people to businesses," Bradshaw said. "If you kill business in Cape Girardeau, you're killing the economy."

Bradshaw, who has been working with signs for 23 years, said this is the sign technology of the 21st century and joked that the letters don't fall off.

Mike Ketcherside, chief financial officer for Canedy, said the new low-maintenance RGB technology speaks volumes for the image of Cape Girardeau and thinks it may be a little late to be changing rules.

"Let's say a business has paid $40,000 for one of these signs, and the city turns around after the fact and says you can't utilize the technology to the full potential," Ketcherside said. "People have made big purchasing decisions."

At the end of January, Cozmo's Espresso Gelato & Deli had Canedy install a RGB billboard in front of the business on Independence Street. Trace Jessup, Cozmo's project director, said he started the RGB billboard trend in Southeast Missouri and uses the billboard to advertise his specials. The graphics have consistent motion. Morgan has not decided yet whether the setting needs to be changed.

Last month Drury Southwest Signs installed two much bigger RGB billboards at busy intersections in Cape Girardeau, one on the corner of South Kingshighway and William Street and the other on the corner of Mount Auburn Road and William Street. On these 12-by-24 foot signs, the image changes about every 10 seconds.

"People are in cars a lot more than they used to be," said Jeff Bohnert, president of Drury Southwest Signs. "The outdoor displays complement all the other forms of advertising. It allows the ad to come around full circle, where it's constantly on people's minds."

Businesses are getting one viewing per minute on the Drury billboards. Each message is shown 1,440 times a day.

A few weeks ago, Coast to Coast Signs installed an RGB billboard outside Realty Executives' new office on Independence Street. Realty Executives co-owner Bill Cole said it will announce new property listings and seminars. He changes the image directly from his laptop in about a half a minute.

See Cozmo's Ad

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137