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I just came back from the ISA show and had the opportunity to listen to a seminar put on by Dr. James Claus. Dr. Claus has been a proponent and friend to the industry and has helped put the issue of the importance of signage to businesses in the forefront of the SBA. He has also encouraged the industry to stand up for itself and fight the legal battles that need to be fought.
He has an interesting viewpoint of the industry and many stories to tell about the history of some of the legal and internal political struggles he has experienced.
His main message in the seminar was that the sign industry is its own worst enemy. He is striving to create a paradigm shift in the industry to get us away from thinking that we are part of the manufacturing sector selling "nuts and bolts" and into believing and behaving like we are part of the advertising and marketing industry.
He wants us to realize that we are selling "speech". We are not part of the building industry selling structures. We are selling speech the same way that the advertising/marketing sector sells space in magazines, newspapers, tv, etc. The speech we are selling is simply displayed differently.
For all of us tired of complaining about our lack of respect and desire to charge prices that actually reflect the value of our product, we must listen to the "preachings" of Dr. Claus. He's doing his best to knock some sense into the collective heads of this industry.
How we do this is all written in the book entitled, THE SIGNAGE SOURCEBOOK. It can be obtained through the ISA and I would encourage everyone to buy it, read it and use it.
-------------------- Richard Swartz DeNyse Signs 4521 Industrial Access Road Douglasville, GA 30134 Posts: 101 | From: Douglasville, GA | Registered: Nov 1998
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