Business have long used signs to place themselves on the map, draw attention, communicate with customers, and describe their services and locations. Everything from large road-side billboards to the small “open” sign that hangs from the window in the front door. Now, technological advances have finally made it into the business sign industry. The most recent advancement in outdoor advertising has been through the use of LED signs. Here’s a closer look at what all this means.
Just what is an LED sign? LED signs are made up of panels (usually square) that are place together to form a larger projection area. Conventional panels (with discrete LEDs) are most commonly used outdoors (and occasionally indoors as well), though there are also surface-mounted device panels (SMD). Conventional panels have individually mounted LEDs. Images and colors are displayed by thousands of clusters of red, green, and blue diodes. Each cluster forms one, full-colored pixel and all these diodes are evenly spaced from each other so that the end result, standing a distance back, is a seamless “screen” and viewing area. Because outdoor LED signs are just panels placed together, the size they can be built up to is virtually limitless (limited more by the computer that is needed to run such a large marketing medium). The largest LED display in the world can be found at the “Fremont Street Experience” in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is over 1,500 feet long. The largest LED television in the world is 11,520 square feet (160 x 72 feet), the Center Hung Video Display at the Cowboys Stadium. But back to advertising outdoors with these powerful lights. There is a difference, as mentioned, between an outdoor LED sign and an indoor one. The outdoor signs are made with larger diodes increasing their viewing distance and allowing the sing to be easily seen while competing with the sun’s bright rays.
Why do LED signs work? LED signs are an effective means of outdoor advertising for quite a few reasons.
1. Branding: Because of its high resolution, these modern signs are great for displaying anything involving your business, particularly logos and images of products and services. This high-quality advertising is very professional, neat, and crisp looking.
2. Versatile: As an LED sign is hooked up to a computer, what the sign displays can be changed as often as wanted or needed, instantly. This unlimited access also means no extra costs for putting up a “new” ad.
3. Unlimited: As these signs have unlimited changes, they also have a virtually unlimited number of ads that can be displayed at the same time, “scrolling” through numerous ads over the space of a few minutes. This means multiple ads can be displayed at the same time, promoting numerous products or services and targeting a whole host of demographics.
4. Cost-effective: These little lights pack a big punch. Compared to other types of lighting, these do not fade or flicker and actually use less than half the electricity traditional lights use (such as neon or incandescent).
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