Walk the sign

Ever wonder how some shaggy teenager donning headphones and holding a sign that says $5.99, two topping pizza, standing near the corner of a busy intersection, got suckered into doing such a mundane job. Or what about that guy in the hot gorilla costume dancing around the entrance to the Halloween store parking lot urging you in. Most times - It does catch my attention whether it be annoyance, sympathy for the sign holder or the actual impulse to buy something from the message on the sign.

It seems like recent years it has become more and more popular, but I had no idea it had blown up into such a big industry. Its called “sign walking”. Millions of dollars invested in research of consumer behavior shows that the majority of Americans are impulse buyers. Sign walkers feed right into this. Sign walkers are designed to attract attention and interest from impulse buyers like you and I driving around.

Essentially, sign walkers are uniformed event staff members waving 8 foot “sales themes signs” at business entrances and on the major corners of high traffic intersections surrounding your area. Sign walkers are a very strategic way to communicate to potential customers and draw the attention from every passer by for hours and hours each day. Other industry common names used to describe sign walkers include sign wavers, street signing, human directionals, sign twirlers, sign holders, sign guys, walking billboards, human billboards and directional signwalkers.

There are many promotional companies that specialize in sign walking – some to a level that they professionally train their employees to complete hundreds of animated tricks to attract the passer by’s; including spinning, kicking, dancing and tossing six-foot custom made signs.

After doing some research, I come to find out that “sign walking” isn’t such a new thing. Its been around since the 1800’s. In 19th century London, the practice began when advertising posters became subject to a tax and competition for wall space became fierce. The banning of posters from private property in London in 1839 greatly increased the use of human billboards or “sign walkers” as they are more modernly known.

Overall, sign walking or sign spinning is an interesting guerilla (no pun intended) marketing tool. It's a definite niche in the outdoor ad market, an alternative to permanent signs or billboards, but it’s not for everyone or everything.