One-stop shopping is a phrase no longer reserved just for retail, as Omnigraphics International has brought all aspects of sign selection and design under one umbrella. The Sarasota, Fla.-based sign and decal company specializes in store signage, fleet identification and corporate identity design services.
Additional capabilities - such as demographics research, production and installation - serve the client and the company itself, in that other sign companies must turn down jobs that require such a broad range of services.
"With our competition, anything beyond their basic production, they pass it by," says Michael Maggio, Omnigraphics' president. "The customers want elements that can't be provided."
So Omnigraphics put together the team that can give customers what they want.
The Process By teaming with its affiliate, Chicago-based Creative Marketing International, a full-service marketing firm, Omnigraphics offers sign selection consultation.
The two companies maintain a database that gives buying-power figures and forecasts through a lifestyle-based marketing analysis system.
Omnigraphics' product marketing services include strategic planning, program and creative development, package design, tracking and analysis, incentive programs, and special events. The company also handles lists management, printing, lettershop, mailing, fulfillment and shipping.
Market analysis and demographics research are conducted to determine the types of signage needed for a client. Then, Omnigraphics designers begin the phase of rough initial designs and continue through to final specifications, including colors, substrates and application techniques. The computer-generated designs are easily transferred to the production arena.
The Product Graphics, signage and store fixtures can be fashioned for single signs or decals to a complete rollout of retail signage. The company can produce vinyl letters/logos, computer-cut CAD/CAM dimensional letters/ logos, custom screen printing on substrates, photo enlargements, photo transparencies, and thermal and steel rule die cutting.
Once the production process has been completed, Omnigraphics creates computer-drawn elevations that illustrate graphic placement, trim, paint, etc., to ensure correct installation - whether performed in-house or by an outside contractor.
"We can do everything from demographics to determine what the signage should be, to proceeding through the design concepts," Maggio says. "It provides another arm of an employee."
The Customer Retailers know that their signage functions as an invitation for customers to come inside. Signage also helps customers remember stores. Toward that end, Maggio notes, Omnigraphics can update existing signage, incorporate fresh ideas or create a new signage system for a business.
In addition to large-scale exterior signs, the company offers interior informational or directional signs, be it fixture toppers or aisle identifications.
Several projects have involved upgrading existing signage to fit a new demographic or to provide a more upscale look. Omnigraphics did just this in an Illinois Jewel Foods.
Jewel-Osco, American Stores, Nicor, Eastern Mountain Sports, Sav On Drugs, Ulta 3, Osco Drugs and Eckerd Drugs are just a few of Omnigraphics' clients.
Regular clients have the benefit of the company's frequent buyers' discount and pre-payment terms allowing up to a 6% discount.
Omnigraphics' newest foray is in the field of website design. Services include design of the site itself, domain name registration, search engine registration, site updates, and site hosting (setting up homes for sites on the web).
The company's latest venture into cyberspace reflects a pattern in its 25-year history: staying in step with the signs of the times.