Business

Best of the ISP-Lists

The Pink Flamingo WISP

Perhaps they were drinking punch as the summer sun went slowly down into the evening sky, but members of the ISP-Wireless list came up with some unusual WISP branding ideas in the latter days of August.

[August 31, 2001]

On the ISP-Wireless list in August, JD queried,

"How could you 'brand' your wireless solution without actually labeling it? Many cities don't allow people to have advertisements on their homes-and if they do, those ads must be under a certain size. Have you ever thought about painting your antennas a unique color, so that when people see that color antenna, they automatically recognize it as your brand? Or maybe a flag of sorts attached to each antenna mast? Something that isn't an eyesore, and that won't affect signal or safety of the system."

A number of respondents agreed, noting some other things to consider:

[MC noted] "We do paint some of our antennas for marketing hype. Krylon or Rustoleum work just fine; we use it for the panels and grids. By the way, if you're going to do this in bulk, dip painting is the only way to go: too much waste and time required to spray."

[CW warned] "Methinks you'd run into huge zoning/HOA issues if you had bright yellow, orange, or pink antennas."

[DO added] "DirecTV and DISH Networks have logos on their dishes. This has got me thinking; I may see what I can do to add logos to the patch antennas."

[RS offered] "Why not have a bolt on a sign that will fit onto the mast below the antenna? This would not affect the antenna performance, and could be retrofitted."

JD suggested that his idea really did have some merit, and urged others to run with it:

"If you use a white antenna that has some unique outer shape, like a lightning bolt plastic cover, you could have some branding. Maybe shape the antenna in the first letter of your business' name; if your name starts with U, make the antenna into a large U shape. Maybe paint them in zebra stripes or camouflage. Hang a couple wind-chimes, tie a few ribbons, glue a fake flamingo to each antenna…be creative!"

—End