Two Signs Made Me Think About Visibility

The other day my wife and I were driving through town when we found ourselves talking about a sign. Actually, two signs.

The first one belongs to a Dunkin'. Like many businesses, the message on the sign changes regularly. Most of the time, I couldn't tell you what it says because I don't pay much attention to it. The message changes, I drive by, and life goes on.

Recently, though, something caught my attention. The sign was advertising a Zero Sugar Energy drink, except the word ENERGY appeared as ENEGY because the "R" was missing from the physical letters on the sign. Whether that was intentional or not, I have no idea, but I suddenly found myself reading that sign every time I drove by. Not because I was interested in the drink or the promotion. I was checking to see if the "R" was still missing.

A few miles away is another sign I've been driving past for years. It's the sign at Thousand Island Café. The lettering is weathered and sun-faded from years of exposure. The sign reads "Best Gyros in Town" and "Breakfast Anytime." And honestly, they're not kidding. The gyros are the best in town. My wife and I eat there from time to time, and plenty of local residents do as well.

For a long time, I would have told you that I didn't really read that sign anymore. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that wasn't entirely true. I read that sign too, just for a completely different reason.

Every time I drive by, part of me is checking to see if it still looks exactly the same as it did yesterday. The Dunkin' sign had become a question. The Thousand Island Café sign had become a reference point. One made me wonder if something had changed. The other made me wonder if anything ever would.

That realization stuck with me because it changed the way I was thinking about visibility.

At Aid-Local, we're often involved in conversations about advertising, search visibility, media placement, audience targeting, and visibility positioning. Those conversations matter, but this observation reminded me that visibility often starts somewhere much simpler. People notice things for different reasons.

Sometimes they notice something because it's new. Sometimes they notice something because it's different. Sometimes they notice something because it's familiar. Sometimes they notice something because they want to see whether it has changed.

The two signs aren't competing with one another. They're doing completely different jobs. One has become a small mystery. The other has become a landmark. One draws attention because something is unresolved. The other draws attention because it has become part of the community landscape.

I don't know if the missing "R" will still be gone the next time I drive past the Dunkin'. I don't know if the Thousand Island Café sign will look any different a year from now. What I do know is that both signs made me think about visibility, and I've been thinking about them ever since.

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