Quality That Lasts (And Lasts, And Lasts)

The year was 1993. Bill Clinton was president. Seinfeld was at the top of the television ratings. Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling were in the Mickey Mouse Club. It was also the same year that Clearwater Credit Union installed a Watchfire 5-Watt wedge base lamp, Model 7000 in Lewiston, Idaho. A lot has changed in 21 years, but Clearwater’s Watchfire sign is still there, and it’s still operating and promoting the credit union.

Allen Phillips, with Sign Crafters, was the original salesperson for their sign, and he’s been helping them maintain it ever since. “They still have an original model of the computer that operates the software and have not replaced anything on the sign but bulbs over the years,” said Phillips. When the sign was originally installed, it was Phillips who trained the staff on operating what was state-of-the-art advertising technology at the time. “The sign uses twelve inch characters so it can be somewhat limiting on messages, but it displays time and temperature and has been more reliable than anyone might have imagined in 1993.”

Clearwater Credit Union has been in service for 57 years. They support local residents with financial services including savings, low-cost loans, investments and online banking. They obviously know a good investment when they see one, because the sign and its original software (still on floppy disks) have outlasted two computers used to run it. Clearwater’s President and CEO, Sue Darrow, began with the credit union in 1996, 3 years after the sign was installed. In the 18 years that she has been supervising the sign, she has noticed a slowing in the software’s response time, but it is otherwise still reliably promoting their services. However, the replacement bulbs used in the sign are difficult to find now, so the Credit Union is considering a newer LED product to replace this reliable work horse. 

As a Watchfire dealer, Sign Crafters knows that the reliability and performance of a Watchfire product is standard. Both mechanically and electronically, our LED displays boast a streamlined design, low parts count and simplified construction that minimize maintenance and enhance reliability. In fact, we guarantee to support our products for at least 10 years from the date the last model shipped. That’s how confident we are in our company and our products being here for the long haul.

These features give Watchfire products unparalleled field uptime. Another standard feature of every new Watchfire LED sign purchase is Ignite software, which helps businesses create dynamic, attention-grabbing messages, giving them a competitive advantage. Given the track record of the Watchfire sign at Clearwater Credit Union, we are confident that a new sign will take them well into the future, with a more efficient and cost-effective LED advertising tool. Here’s to another twenty-one years of excellence in advertising at Clearwater Credit Union.

 

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