Watchfire Digital Outdoor Meets Growing Demand for Digital Billboards on the Gulf Coast

Watchfire Digital Outdoor Meets Growing Demand for Digital Billboards on the Gulf Coast

INDIANAPOLIS – (February 26, 2008) – Expanding its footprint in the Louisiana market, Watchfire Digital Outdoor (http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com) today announced it has sold and installed four 19mm digital billboards at various intersections within the city limits of Lake Charles, La. AdSource Outdoor Advertising, based in Lake Charles, purchased the digital billboards, two of which are 10'6" x 36', with the remaining two measuring 12' x 25'.   Watchfire now has more than a dozen digital billboards installed across Louisiana.

This is AdSource’s first foray into the new technology, and the experience exceeded all expectations, according to Darren Gaspard, land manager of AdSource. “Watchfire made the entire digital purchase and installation process simple and quick,” said Gaspard. “Our digital billboards look far superior to our competitors’ digital billboards, which were made by other manufacturers.  As a result, clients are calling us to purchase advertising space.  We’ve already sold out of ad space on two of the boards and I’ll be surprised if we don’t sell all of the advertising space within just three months.”

In addition to the unmatched image quality, Watchfire’s digital billboards have opened up many new revenue sources for AdSource. According to Gaspard, companies that need to change their message frequently and that typically rely on television, radio and newspaper as their main advertising sources are now looking at digital billboards for advertising. Because digital billboards can be changed in an instant using a high-speed Internet connection, AdSource has added an entirely new mix of customers to its roster, including banks, casinos, stockbrokers and insurance companies.

“The key when moving from vinyl to digital billboards is to modify your sales approach,” explained Gaspard. “Recognize the dynamic nature of digital and reach out to new prospects: those businesses that need to update their advertisements regularly and can’t wait the two to three weeks necessary to change a vinyl billboard. If you invest the time to identify and target those industries, the payoff will be tremendous.”

“Watchfire is a perfect match for the Gulf coast region,” said Darrin Friskney, director of Watchfire Digital Outdoor. “We take great pride in the quality of our boards, not just from an image quality perspective, but also from an engineering and durability perspective. We think our boards handle the extreme weather for which the Gulf coast states are known better than any other manufacturer.  We stand behind each billboard with an industry-leading warranty. We look forward to many more digital installations with AdSource.”

Watchfire Digital Outdoor produces the industry’s only 19mm pixel pitch billboard—which packs 768 LEDs into every square foot—and is capable of producing 281 trillion colors, the most in the industry. It is the only manufacturer that fully encapsulates the LED module in a thick bed of silicone gel, which enables the LED boards to operate in extreme conditions: 180 days completely submerged in water, 60 days in a salt-spray chamber, and temperatures ranging from -40° F to 120° F. In areas such as Louisiana where heat and humidity are both high, the silicone gel protects the boards from humidity and moisture, eliminating the need for cooling units and allowing the boards to operate with less energy. All Watchfire boards feature unique cabinetry and streamlined electronics design that improves operation and simplifies maintenance. Watchfire’s warranty, lead-times, customer support, and no-fee software are considered to be the best in the industry.

For a free copy of “10 Things You Should Know About Digital Outdoor Before Buying,” go to  http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com/freetips6.

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About Watchfire Digital Outdoor

Watchfire Digital Outdoor engineers and manufactures the best looking and most durable digital billboards available anywhere. It is the digital billboard division of Watchfire by Time-O-Matic, which has been manufacturing outdoor electric signs for more than 75 years, has been manufacturing LED signs for 10 years, and has more than 12,000 outdoor LED signs in daily operation throughout North America. Watchfire Digital Outdoor is located in Danville, Ill. with marketing and sales operations in Indianapolis. For more information, go to http://www.watchfiredigitaloutdoor.com.

Linda Muskin Clarus Communications lmuskin@teamclarus.com

847.432.7300

For information contact: Clarus Communications Mara Conklin, 847-816-9411 mconklin@teamclarus.com Linda Muskin, 847-432-7300 lmuskin@teamclarus.com