Signs Light Up Vegas Night

Diane Taylor -- Tradeshow Week, 10/3/2008 10:47:00 AM

The Young Electric Sign Company will exhibit at the Global Gaming Expo, Nov. 18-20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, but does the city’s biggest sign maker really need a booth?

Its handiwork is downtown, on the Strip and on most of the town’s electronic billboards. Even the popular “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign is Young’s handiwork (leased to the county).

How important are the city’s landmark neon signs to the tradeshow industry? According to Jeremy Handel, the LVCVA’s public relations specialist, “Aside from images of the Las Vegas skyline, our most requested images for convention brochures and Web sites (are of) the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.”

“Las Vegas is sign heaven,” said Rene Merritt, Young Company vice president of sales. “Much of the town’s excitement is generated by the large colorful signs at every large venue. Interior decorators are also insisting that all interior signs, including ‘slot toppers,’ blend with the chosen decor.” 

Among Young’s most visible Las Vegas projects, are the original Vegas Vic “Howdy” sign downtown and signs for Caesars Palace, Circus Circus Las Vegas, New York New York Hotel & Casino, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and Wynn Las Vegas. “Every single digital billboard in town and every sign at Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa was built by the Young Company,” Merritt said. “Upcoming, we just received the contract to build an art piece facade for the new Fontainebleau Las Vegas, our largest project to date.”  

The closely held firm that has been in founder Thomas Young’s family for three generations started in Utah in 1920 and opened its first office in Las Vegas in 1945. “We have 10 factories and 1,600 employees nationwide,” Merritt said, “with 520 based in Las Vegas.”

Conventions play a large role in the company’s marketing efforts. In addition to Global Gaming Expo, Young also exhibits at three Natl. Indian Gaming Assn. tradeshows, Digital Signage Expo and the Outdoor Advertising Assn. of America Trade Show. Merritt said the company has no plans to cut back its tradeshow participation, even though it is anticipating some “softness” heading into 2009.

Young’s eye-popping signs are “not for the faint of heart,” Merritt said, when it comes to the price tag. “We say we make signs that cost from $60 to $6 million, but signs such as the Wynn sign can double that top figure.”

Maintenance is a major part of the business too. “Every evening, a team of Young Company employees drives through the area noting any burned-out bulbs, quivering neon or other imperfections,” Merritt said. “The company maintenance crews then repair the signs covered by our maintenance contracts and offers to repair those that are not.”