The Sign Me Up Podcast: Recent Episodes
Kieffer Starlite
The Hurry and the Wait of Due Diligence with Courtney McDaniel of Kieffer | Starlite
The “diligence” in “due diligence” is one of the most crucial aspects of signage, especially when dealing with multiple municipalities. On this episode of MarketScale’s Pro A/V podcast, Courtney McDaniel, Director of Client Services for Kieffer | Starlite, sat down with Sean Heath to discuss the fact that a quick and thorough start to a permitting process can help with the unavoidable wait that follows.
In today’s fast-paced environment, clients can get ahead of themselves when pursuing their signage goals. A recent situation demonstrates the need for information before beginning construction, McDaniel said. “What they did not know, what they did not ask before going into construction, was that the roof line comes into play for this city and their signage could not go above their roof line.”
The value a signage expert provides is quite substantial, explained McDaniel. “With our expertise, in terms of city codes, and also, taking it a step further, with our manufacturing and installation logistics, we can execute a signage program that’s just going to run so much more smoothly and be that much more effective.”
Municipal regulations can be a significant factor in a customer’s decision to open a location in that city.
“We have certain cities here locally, in North Texas, where they restrict what colors can be on a given sign,” McDaniel said. “We can inform the customer if they might be better off just looking elsewhere. Even just moving a couple of miles east or west of where they’re going, so they fall into another city’s jurisdiction.”
Protecting the look, feel, and essence of an organization means maintaining brand standards. And to do that, a brand book is essential. Lisa Billings, National Account Manager for Kieffer Starlite, and Kelly David, Kieffer Starlite’s Branding and Signage Specialist, walked Hilary Kennedy through the process of developing and maintaining a brand book.
A significant part of David’s role at Kieffer Starlite is managing a brand book. “Brand books are the guiding foundation for any company,” David said. “They can be as comprehensive as you’d like them to be. It helps with your employees all the way to your external customers about how you want your brand to look in the marketplace, every interaction you have, and how you expect that brand to perform.”
While a brand book consists of all the particulars of representing a company’s look, from colors to fonts to logos, it also serves as an instruction guide for preparing things such as signage, something Kieffer Starlite creates all the time. “We specialize in the signage aspect of someone’s brand book, and we help them create specifications, or even sharpen up their specifications to ensure that brand is always the same for a customer no matter where they’re at,” David said.
And if a particular customer doesn’t have an existing brand book, Billings said Kieffer Starlite is there to help. “We can work with them,” Billings said. “What we need is their logo, in a vector format, and then any other branding they have, they can send that over to us. We can offer up some cost savings and some different ideas, so if they don’t have one, we can make one up from scratch.”
Protecting the look, feel, and essence of an organization means maintaining brand standards. And to do that, a brand book is essential. Lisa Billings, National Account Manager for Kieffer Starlite, and Kelly David, Kieffer Starlite’s Branding and Signage Specialist, walked Hilary Kennedy through the process of developing and maintaining a brand book.
A significant part of David’s role at Kieffer Starlite is managing a brand book. “Brand books are the guiding foundation for any company,” David said. “They can be as comprehensive as you’d like them to be. It helps with your employees all the way to your external customers about how you want your brand to look in the marketplace, every interaction you have, and how you expect that brand to perform.”
While a brand book consists of all the particulars of representing a company’s look, from colors to fonts to logos, it also serves as an instruction guide for preparing things such as signage, something Kieffer Starlite creates all the time. “We specialize in the signage aspect of someone’s brand book, and we help them create specifications, or even sharpen up their specifications to ensure that brand is always the same for a customer no matter where they’re at,” David said.
And if a particular customer doesn’t have an existing brand book, Billings said Kieffer Starlite is there to help. “We can work with them,” Billings said. “What we need is their logo, in a vector format, and then any other branding they have, they can send that over to us. We can offer up some cost savings and some different ideas, so if they don’t have one, we can make one up from scratch.”
Steve Born, Vice President, Client Services at Kieffer Starlite, and Daryl Foreman, Senior Vice President of Sales at Principal LED, gave host Hilary Kennedy a quick tutorial on lighting retrofits for signs. Born dove in with an explanation on what exactly an LED lighting retrofit is.
“An LED lighting retrofit is an upgrade to an existing sign when we want to update to a more efficient, effecting lighting source in your existing sign,” Born said. “Typically, we see that with channel letters on your building, but it is not limited to that. We also do retrofits on cabinet signs for buildings [and] for pylon signs and monument signs. So, any ground signs and whatnot.”
The retrofitting process includes:
· Swapping the lighting with the new LEDs
· Getting all the wiring in place
· Cleaning up the existing signage to make everything look as good as new again
Foreman said that there are two crucial factors to weigh when considering a retrofit: energy savings and savings on maintenance.
“Just as important as those hard numbers are, sometimes the soft benefits of LEDs will convince a customer to switch,” Foreman said. “The sign is the frontline of a company’s image, and no customer likes for their sign to be out. One benefit of LEDs is they typically do not fail catastrophically like the fluorescent lamp or like neon. They will slowly fade over time, but that’s a long period of time.”
With all of the benefits of retrofitting an existing sign’s lighting to LED, it makes sense not to start from scratch just because the lights went out.
Steve Born, Vice President, Client Services at Kieffer Starlite, and Daryl Foreman, Senior Vice President of Sales at Principal LED, gave host Hilary Kennedy a quick tutorial on lighting retrofits for signs. Born dove in with an explanation on what exactly an LED lighting retrofit is.
“An LED lighting retrofit is an upgrade to an existing sign when we want to update to a more efficient, effecting lighting source in your existing sign,” Born said. “Typically, we see that with channel letters on your building, but it is not limited to that. We also do retrofits on cabinet signs for buildings [and] for pylon signs and monument signs. So, any ground signs and whatnot.”
The retrofitting process includes:
· Swapping the lighting with the new LEDs
· Getting all the wiring in place
· Cleaning up the existing signage to make everything look as good as new again
Foreman said that there are two crucial factors to weigh when considering a retrofit: energy savings and savings on maintenance.
“Just as important as those hard numbers are, sometimes the soft benefits of LEDs will convince a customer to switch,” Foreman said. “The sign is the frontline of a company’s image, and no customer likes for their sign to be out. One benefit of LEDs is they typically do not fail catastrophically like the fluorescent lamp or like neon. They will slowly fade over time, but that’s a long period of time.”
With all of the benefits of retrofitting an existing sign’s lighting to LED, it makes sense not to start from scratch just because the lights went out.
Neon signs conjure images of days past at illuminated drive-in restaurants glowing orange, red, and blue, but many people don't realize most all modern signage uses neon.
On this episode of the MarketScale Pro AV Podcast, host Chris Reeves sat down with Rob Fehlman, Director of National Service of Kieffer | Starlite to discuss changes he's seen in his 15 years in the industry and what's next for signage.
Kieffer | Starlite is a national sign company that specializes in manufacturing, service, and installation since 1956. In addition to sign installation and repairs for retail and hospitality industries, they do building and parking lot lighting, an essential function for public safety. Today, the Texas-based company has evolved to include LED reader boards.
"When I started here, it was neon exclusively," Fehlman said. "The industry has made a lot of leaps and changes from there, using incandescent bulbs to doing chasing signs... From neon to LED lighting. from incandescent to full color HD displays. It's incredible what you can do with LED technology."
But technology extends beyond the signs themselves. Kieffer | Starlite uses GPS location to help track sign vendors or installers and equips them with iPads and smart tablets in the field so they can upload photos and have manager signoffs.
"There have been huge changes just over the past 12 to 15 years," Fehlman said.
On this Pro AV Jobcast, host Tyler Kern explored open positions at Kieffer | Starlite with vice president of client services Steve Born. Kieffer | Starlite is a national sign company that specializes in manufacturing, service, and installation since 1956 -- and today they’re looking to hire a client service manager.
This position, which has available openings in Illinois, Texas, and North Carolina, is responsible for all sales administrative duties associated with repeat national accounts, which includes working with the company’s design, manufacturing and installation management departments to facilitate a smooth sale from start to finish.
"We're looking for someone who is very well-organized, able to self-manage, multi-task, and handle large volumes of work," Born said, emphasizing self-management because the company doesn't micromanage its employees. "You do your thing day in and day out."
Born said the ideal candidate has two to three years' experience with at least an Associate's Degree, which means this could be a great starting position for someone with great customer service and troubleshooting skills looking to enter the Pro AV industry with a well-established signage company. The position is Monday through Friday with rare occasional weekends and extremely limited travel.
Listen to find out what 90s metal band Born mentioned when he answered our signature question -- If the company was a band, which one would it be -- and find out to how to get in touch with Born directly to discuss the open positions.
Dallas’ Lakewood neighborhood is home to the circa 1938 Lakewood Theater, a long-standing piece of North Texas history. Not everything is brick and mortar though; when its iconic neon marquee needed refurbishment, owners turned to Denton-based Kieffer | Starlit.
On this episode of the Po AV Podcast, host Sean Heath sat down with Mark Jackson, national account manager for Kieffer | Starlite, to recount how they helped bring the theater’s iconic neon sign back to its former twilight glory.
“There was certainly pressure to maintain the nostalgia,” Jackson said of starting the project in November 2018. “We wanted to maintain the originality of what the sign is.”
Kieffer | Starlite set about repairing the neon lights that panel the tower and replacing the lights found in the light ball atop the sign. They used one of the last full-functioning neon plants in Dallas to hand blow the glass tubes used for this unique lighting solution.
Jackson shared insight into the artistry as well as outdoor practicality for using neon in signs, rather than replacing with LED.
“Neon just has a certain quality that’s not the same with LED,” he said.
Maintaining its nostalgic cache was vital for a project like this, Jackson explained.
“What makes Lakewood unique is there are not many other neighborhoods that are so attached to things within their community like the Lakewood Theater,” Jackson said.