Neon Signs gone wrong!

Neon signs are a great way to let the world know you are in business... but what kind of business? Here are some funny broken neon signs that will give you a laugh. Don't have your business sign being laughed at. Call  Naturalite Neon today for any of your service needs.

 

Happy 26th Anniversary to Naturalite Neon!

We are proud to announce that we have been doing what we love for 26 years! Since 1984 Naturalite Neon has offered distinctive Neon and Electric Signs. Now equipped with a fleet of contemporary Service units and Leading Edge plant fabrication systems, Naturalite Neon continues to provide the most enduring signs and quality illuminated and non-illuminated displays, installations and maintenance service. There is never an obligation when you contact Naturalite Neon for a review, design or quote for your current or next Neon Project, Electric Sign or Electric Sign Service, Repair or Upgrade. From stunning architectural lighting to dramatic signs and neon displays, Naturalite Neon can provide the finest in products and service for your business. Including expert municipal ordinance interpretation, site surveys, and sign permit applications. Design and design consultation always available. Call us today 602.278.8866 for some of our special offers!

Signage Education/ Building Sign Options

Most businesses, in some fashion or form, have an exterior sign to mark their location. These signs in some office buildings or office parks are often nothing more than a small panel on a tenant sign or directory. But in some cases, a company is able to place their name or some other message on the exterior wall of their office. Maybe you own your building or your tenant agreement allows for some exterior signage (many landlords will have very specific guidelines as to what you can and cannot install for your exterior sign), what kind of sign should you create?

The first consideration for an exterior office sign is whether or not you want or are permitted to install an illuminated sign. In many retail centers and commercial properties, an internally illuminated sign is permitted. In most cases, you will want to mount a Channel Letter Sign for your company. Channel Letter Signs are individually fabricated metal letters with neon or LED inside to provide the illumination. Although, white is usually the easiest to see at night, you may also use other colors to draw attention to your business. Discuss these options with our sign company consultant (David Glover) who will help you choose the best styles and techniques.

Another lighting option is using “reverse illumination” and this can be achieved using channel letters or other materials. The lighting is mounted to glow out the back of the letter providing an attractive “halo” effect to the sign. Again, check your landlord specifications to determine what kind of lighting you may be able to consider for your sign. Often, these kinds of signs are first mounted to a raceway behind the letters that houses all of the electrical elements of the sign, and then the raceway is what gets mounted to your exterior wall. This allows for easier access if ever a repair was needed, and also it needs fewer holes into the fascia of your exterior wall.

Non-illuminated building signs can come in a myriad of styles and materials. Custom cut metal, acrylic, PVC, sign foam. In each of these cases, your sign can be cut to very specific detail, your logo, custom font, colors etc. We recommend cutting these materials with some kind of dimensional depth. Flat letters on a wall do not have the same “pop” that some dimensional depth can provide. Depending on size you can go as thick as 1″, but sometimes a simple ½” thickness is adequate.

Sign foam is a cost effective way to create a building sign and can be painted to your specific colors. The use of a laminated face can offer you a way to get a metallic look without having to buy metal letters. The laminate faces can also come in colored/painted acrylic. The same goes for the cut PVC. Laminate can improve the overall look and give you an enhanced letter or logo.

In any of these variations, the work requires attention to detail and good planning and a good sign company like Naturalite Neon can help you design the best sign for your business.

Neon vs. LED?

 

Proof on why Naturalite Neon believes Neon is still better.

Naturalite Neon: Marketing Neon In The New Millennium

LED vendors have done a masterful job of marketing their technologies, but the neon industry is fighting fire with fire.

With the rise of LEDs and fiber optics in the illuminated sign field, neon has come under fire. Some county sign ordinances are even outlawing neon. But the industry is not rolling over and playing dead. In fact, neon manufacturers and fabricators are fighting back with marketing strategies that promise to keep the industry’s light aglow in the 21st century and beyond.

“Nothing will ever take the place of neon. It’s going to be around forever,” says Tim Piper, chief executive officer of Neon Design-A-Sign, a sign shop in Laguna Nigel, Calif. that also peddles LEDs and fiber optics. “Neon is an art form and it’s the brightest thing you can get ­ period.”

Marketing strategies will play a large role in the adoption of lighting technologies in the future. The problem is that many consumers and sign shops are new to neon and don’t understand the advertising benefits associated with this artistic light source. That’s because while LED manufacturers have been making a broad marketing push, neon manufacturers have been narrowly focused on competing against one another.

“The neon industry needs to stop fighting amongst itself and unite and teach the customers,” says Jym Howe, president of FABCO Neon & Cold Cathode Fabricating Company in Sanford, Fla. “Designers and sign shops don’t care what they sell.”

Teaching the customers
That’s just what the neon industry is doing. An informal initiative to educate architects, designers, sign shops and end users about the benefits of neon is gaining momentum. Presented with all the facts, the industry believes decision-makers will continue opting for neon for most applications.

“With the advent of different lighting technologies, be it LEDs or fiber optics or standard florescent lighting, we have to re-educate young designers on a light source that has been out there for a long time,” says Kevin Rourke, national sales manager for EGL Neon, a leading manufacturer of neon products in Berkeley Heights, N.J.

The first part of this education strategy is combating so-called false information perpetrated by the LED industry. LED manufacturers claim their technology is 90 percent more efficient than neon and can run for more than 100,000 hours. But Rourke argues that this is misinformation.

“We can’t all sit back and just let LED manufacturers sell their products without contesting their unsubstantiated claims,” Rourke contends. “Where did they come up with the claim of 100,000 hours? There are no signs that have been up for 100,000 hours. It’s all based on laboratory tests, not real-world applications.”

Neon, on the other hand, was introduced in the 1930s and has a 70-year track record of success.

Admitting the shortcomings
Of course, part of any truthful education initiative is disclosing the challenges along with the benefits. Nothing is perfect and denying shortcomings backfires in the long run because the competition will dwell on them. That said, the drawbacks don’t have to be sale-killers if they are communicated properly.

“You have to educate customers on some of the pitfalls, like the delicateness of the glass,” says William Cherry, president of New Marketing Technologies, a marketer of custom neon signs in Miami Lakes, Fla. “But most importantly, you have to educate customers on the value of neon versus other forms of lighting for advertising purposes. Nothing beats neon for advertising purposes!”

SGIA (Specialty Graphics Imaging Association) Expo 2010 in Las Vegas

Another downside of neon is the safety factor. But there are new technologies that help reduce the risks. “It’s difficult to overcome the safety stigma,” admits Piper. “But there are better transformers now that bring the voltage down to the equivalent of a 70-watt light bulb.”

Technology’s role in neon manufacturing
New technological advances are helping neon manufacturers remain competitive with alternate light sources in areas beyond safety. While neon has always been recognized as an efficient lighting source, solid state power supplies is resulting in energy consumption reductions of up to 50 percent.

High-output phosphor technology is also giving the neon industry a boost. New colors for channel letter usage are increasing lumen brightness by up to 50 percent. “LED is very limited in its color palate,” says Rourke. “The main advance that LEDs have made is with red.”

The ability to match corporate colors becomes another important marketing advantage because LEDs can’t yet distinguish between Coca-Cola red and Target red. Rourke says neon still comes much closer to Pantone standards for consistent corporate identities.

For all the high-tech advances, some neon shops are competing with low-tech strategies that leverage neon’s niche as a classic art form.

Roadhouse Relics, an Austin, Texas-based neon sign restoration company, is catering to filmmakers with its vintage 1940s style signage. Roadhouse Relics Signs is a small shop, but its signs have appeared in major motion pictures like Spy Kids, The Rookie and Miss Congeniality.

“We studied old signs and use old type styles, colors and weathering techniques to create vintage-looking signs and restore original neon signs,” says Todd Sanders, proprietor of Roadhouse Relics. “Neon will never be threatened as an art form. Neon has a quality to it that is mesmerizing and hypnotic.”

Marketing with customer service
Education and technology aside, the neon industry is beefing up its customer service to keep its current clients and attract new ones.

Hudson & Hudson Inc., a neon element wholesaler in Houston, makes free samples for sign companies so they can wow their customers. Hudson also allows clients to re-order replacement channel letters from its web site. The company keeps the letters in stock, ships them to the customer the same day and contracts with a local company to install the product.

“We are implementing direct shipping strategies because, after analyzing what LED manufacturers were doing, that was the only thing in their package that we weren’t competing with,” says Loren Hudson, president of Hudson & Hudson. “We make neon, but we market a relationship. We market customer service. If they need it tomorrow, then they’ll have it tomorrow.”

The Neon Shop in Syracuse, N.Y. markets itself as a one-stop shop for neon, handling everything from design, development, installation and servicing. The Neon Shop also offers competitive rates and fast turnaround on custom work and views large sign manufacturers as allies rather than opponents.

“Many large manufacturers and sign companies do not have a dedicated neon operation or skilled neon specialists, so they outsource a lot of the work to me,” says The Neon Shop proprietor Camille Sleilati. “I can provide the customization that they need.”

Safe for now
Since LED is still evolving, it would appear that the neon industry is not an endangered species. As with any new technology, many companies won’t make investments until the prices drop, the product matures and learning curves are overcome.

“Neon is older technology, but its technology that works,” stresses Rourke. “It’s up to the neon industry to get out there and educate people about neon and the advantages.”

Times Square Billboard Goes Solar. Check it out with Naturalite Neon.

The Ricoh Eco Board, Times Square’s first solar-powered billboard, incorporates Cooley Group’s thin-film photovoltaic technology.

Times Square has notched another first. The Ricoh Eco Board Times Square billboard, which measures more than 6,000 sq. ft., is powered by entirely by the sun.
Located at 3 Times Square, at the corner of 7th Ave. and 42nd St., the 47 x 126 ft. billboard is powered by 62 solar panels and 24 thin-film, photovoltaic solar modules, and illuminated by 16 LED floodlights.
Design constraints that were overcome included the sign’s curved surface and heavy windloads.
A special ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Eco Board will take place on June 8 in Times Square.
The Cooley Group (Pawtucket, RI) designs, develops and manufactures high-performance flexible composites used worldwide in such applications as outdoor advertising, environmental containment, fuel and water tanks, medical products, commercial roofing, signs and awnings.
Cooley, which has developed the Enviroflex printable billboard substrate, partnered with Ricoh Americas Corp. (West Caldwell, NJ), Takara Media (NYC), Lamar Advertising (Baton Rouge, LA) and Xunlight Corp. (Toledo, OH) to install this lightweight, solar-powered billboard system. Cooley’s proprietary, flexible-membrane technology is integrated with Xunlight’s thin-film, photovoltaic panels to create a solar-powered, electricity-producing system.
Jeff Flath, Cooley Group president, said, “As the evolution of TFPV (thin-film photovoltaic) technology advances, the integration with our flexible composites will make our products more affordable to a larger percentage of applications. We have been working on TFPV integration for the last several years and are now introducing systems for commercial roofing, outdoor advertising, and military tents.
Bryan Rose, VP of Cooley’s Commercial Graphics business, said, “These lightweight systems could be installed on some portion of the 450,000 billboards currently in the United States. Each of these billboards would generate clean renewable energy to either power the billboard lighting system or would be sold back to local utility companies through net metering or feed in tariffs programs.”
Dr. Xunming Deng, Xunlight’s president and CEO, said, "Xunlight is very excited about Cooley choosing Xunlight’s flexible, lightweight, environmentally friendly, thin-film, photovoltaic product.”
signweb.com
by Susan Conner

To find out more on LEDs contact Naturaliteneon

2520 West Holly Street

Phoenix, AZ 85009