CRE Companies Become Creative with Signage

PHOENIX-One might think, at first glance, that signage in front of a shopping center showing a young woman carrying a plethora of shopping bags is some kind of promotion focused on good being sold (clothing, likely as not). This is not the case, however -- the sign in question is actually promoting the fact that space is available in this retail area, and for more information, to call Velocity Retail Group.

In an increasingly competitive landscape, brokerage companies are coming up with more creative ways to market space. According to Velocity managing principal Dave Cheatham, the move toward different signage came about due, in part, to the competition. Another factor was advances in print technology. "Our sign guy (specifically, PRI Graphics in Phoenix) was explaining how they could put images on the signs with not much more cost, so we said 'let's get creative,'" Cheatham tells GlobeSt.com. Cheatham says Velocity is trying to break from the standard mode of promotion to a  lifestyle theme. After testing the visual concepts with clients – "we did an underwriting period with different groups of people to see what was most effective," he says – Velocity is rolling out the new signage on most of the properties it's marketing.

While Velocity opted for the lifestyle view, Retail West in San Francisco has gone in another direction, using creative, if somewhat unusual, signage.  One such sign, promoting space at Munras and Webster in Monterey, CA, shows a half-eaten ice cream sandwich with the words "delicious infill" and an arrow pointing to the ice cream center. "We're trying to catch people's eyes in a different way rather than simply with a phone number," says Thad Logan, a partner with the company. "We try to be different from the more stoic, 'information availability' sign." Logan tells GlobeSt.com that not all of RetailWest's properties sprout ice cream sandwich signs, however. "It's on a case-by-case basis, depending on the property," he said. "If there's something fun or catchy about the property, we can incorporate it."

Both Logan and Cheatham point out that their respective companies have received an increase in phone calls based on the signage. Cheatham says most of the comments have been positive so far. "In just a few weeks that these have been out, people have called to tell me they never noticed the signs before, and they like him," he says.

Logan acknowledges that while calls to Retail West in response to the signage are positive, for the most part, others point out that the signage doesn't adequately convey the right message. Still, "they're attention-getting," he says. "If the sign leads to a phone call or an inquiry, then it's doing the job."