First Baptist Church, Woodstock, GA

When the original digital displays began to fail, the church turned to Southern Signs Systems of Marietta, Ga. for a new solution that would look great, be easy to program, and would pass the city’s new zoning ordinances. The company recommended two 16mm full color displays from Watchfire Signs.

The original digital signs were 30mm red monochrome displays that the church’s graphics team found frustrating to work with. Not only did the signs limit the types of graphics that could be displayed, but they were updated using a slow dial up service.

Now, First Baptist is able to post full-color, attention-grabbing graphics for its many ministries and events, and the results are impressive. The organization’s “Celebrate Recovery” group recently gained 10 new participants after promoting the ministry on the new signs.

Doug Whitney, creative services director at First Baptist, was sold on Watchfire after visiting several boards in neighboring towns. “The Watchfire signs looked so good, and they are well constructed,” he said.

Whitney is especially happy with the Ignite content management software that comes with every Watchfire sign. “Scheduling our previous boards was a horrible experience,” said Whitney. “With Watchfire, I can schedule messages from my mobile phone and get notifications if something happens. I’ve even been on vacation and realized I needed to change a message, and was able to quickly take care of it.”

Kimberly Dumett, owner of Southern Signs Systems, says she specifies Watchfire for projects with digital displays. “As the owner of a family-operated company, I take pride in what I sell and don’t like to specify boards I wouldn’t own myself,” said Dumett. “I know that Watchfire provides great customer support both before and after the installation.”

An example is Watchfire’s involvement with meeting the city of Woodstock’s new signage codes. In order to be approved, the new signs had to exactly fit the existing structure. “Watchfire provided amazing support during the permitting process, and its engineers custom made cabinets that fit perfectly for no additional charge,” said Dumett. “If boards from any other manufacturer were selected, we would have had to build our own cabinets.”