Imagine you’re one of twelve businesses in a shopping center.
Your business has a permanent place on the property’s roadside pylon. Your name is visible to passing traffic. Technically, you’re receiving exposure every day.
But how much value is that exposure actually creating?
If your business occupies only one-twelfth of the available sign area, your logo and name may be relatively small. At roadway viewing distances, they may be difficult to read. And surrounded by eleven other businesses, your identity can easily become part of a visual directory rather than a compelling marketing message.
Being on the sign doesn’t necessarily mean being seen.
The Problem With Dividing Sign Space
Traditional shopping center pylons are built around a simple concept: give each tenant a piece of the sign.
As tenant counts increase, however, that piece gets smaller.
A pylon designed for four businesses can communicate their identities reasonably well. Add four more, and each tenant receives less visual real estate. Add another four, and the sign begins to resemble a directory.
The physical space hasn’t changed.
The traffic hasn’t changed.
But the marketing impact of each tenant’s space has declined.
Eventually, the question becomes whether having a small panel on the sign is actually accomplishing the objective.
Exposure Isn’t the Same as Impact
A common argument for static signage is that every tenant is visible to 100% of the passing traffic.
That’s true.
But visibility isn’t binary.
A driver can technically pass a sign without actually processing a particular tenant’s name or logo. The message must be large enough to see, clear enough to understand and distinctive enough to register within the few seconds available.
This is where impact becomes more important than simply counting exposures.
Consider two scenarios.
Scenario One: Small and Permanent
A tenant occupies 1/12 of a static pylon.
Its name is present every time someone passes.
But the logo is relatively small and competes visually with eleven other businesses.
Scenario Two: Large and Scheduled
The same tenant receives 1/12 of the available digital display time.
When its message appears, it occupies the entire display.
The tenant can use a large logo, a promotional message, a product image, a call to action or another message designed specifically for the audience.
The tenant isn’t visible during every second of the day.
But when its message appears, the entire sign belongs to that message.
Which creates more value?
That’s not a question that can be answered simply by counting impressions.
The Value of the Message Matters
A static tenant panel generally has one primary job:
Identification.
It tells people that the business is located at the property.
A digital display can still provide identification—but it can also deliver a marketing message.
For example:
FRESH FOODS
can become:
FRESH FOODS
Fresh strawberries $2.99/lb.
Today Only
Or:
YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD PHARMACY
Flu shots available today.
Or:
20% OFF SELECT SERVICES
Ask about today’s special.
The display isn’t simply telling people who you are.
It can tell them why they should visit.
That is a fundamentally different marketing opportunity.
Trading Space for Time
Digital signage changes the allocation model.
Instead of asking:
How much physical space does each tenant receive?
the property can ask:
How much display time should each tenant receive?
A tenant doesn’t necessarily need to own a permanent piece of the sign.
It can own a share of the schedule.
That creates an interesting possibility for shopping centers with different-sized tenants.
A large anchor tenant occupying a significant percentage of the property could receive a proportionately larger share of the display schedule.
Smaller tenants could receive smaller allocations.
The physical property allocation becomes a framework for allocating digital visibility.
Space becomes time.
And the Sign Can Do More Than Serve Tenants
Once the display is digital, the property isn’t limited to tenant identification.
The remaining inventory can potentially be used for:
- Shopping center announcements
- Seasonal promotions
- Property events
- Community messaging
- Special tenant promotions
- Brand partnerships
- Third-party advertising
The sign becomes a flexible communications platform rather than a collection of permanent panels.
That creates the potential for the same physical asset to serve multiple purposes throughout the day.
Digital Modernization Doesn’t Mean Bigger Signage
The answer isn’t necessarily to build a larger pylon.
In many locations, increasing the physical size of a sign may create additional zoning, permitting, structural or site challenges.
Digital Modernization takes a different approach.
Instead of asking how to create more physical sign space, it asks:
How can the existing sign footprint produce more marketing value?
A properly designed digital conversion can allow the available visual area to be used much more efficiently.
The sign doesn’t have to become physically larger.
The message can become larger.
The Real Question
A tenant doesn’t necessarily need to be visible to every passing vehicle to benefit from digital signage.
What matters is whether the exposure creates enough visibility, recognition and impact to accomplish the marketing objective.
That’s why the comparison isn’t really:
100% of the traffic vs. 1/12 of the traffic.
It’s:
Small, passive exposure vs. large, active communication.
And sometimes, a small piece of physical space can have so little visual impact that its theoretical 100% audience reach has very little practical value.
Digital Modernization creates another option.
Instead of dividing the sign into smaller and smaller pieces, share the display over time.
Because sometimes 1/12 of the time on 100% of the display can be worth far more than 1/12 of the display all of the time.