Hot Seat: Glow-Bench Brings Cool Neon to New Advertising Medium

Glow-Bench International Inc., Miami, makes the wait for a bus or shopping partner an "enlightening" experience. The company's patented idea evolved from CEO James Fite's commercial interest in adbenches and a personal interest in neon art. His brainchild brings electronic signage capabilities to the bench back. Glow-Benches are being placed in multi-use facilities, indoor shopping malls, and sports and entertainment venues such as Yankee Stadium.Advertisers can utilize the Glow-Bench to depict their product in actual mechanical motion or illusory neon motion. The system can feature fluorescent backlighting, LEDs, and even has the ability to talk. Voice activation circuitry was developed using an infrared proximity switch that acts as a heat and motion sensor. Under ideal conditions, the switch is tripped from as near as 10 feet away. The ensuing message can last from 20 seconds to one minute.A time delay has been built-in to prevent the recording from perpetually repeating and causing a nuisance. Once the message is completed, the voice is not re-activated until the sensor detects some sort of movement. A bench in Puerto Rico's airport, for example, welcomes travelers in several different languages.A Glow-Bench for Pepsi-Cola is a typical mixed media effort. An 18-inch-long Pepsi can was cut from acrylic and attached to a gear motor to simulate a pouring motion. Swirling backlit neon supports the image. Neon is also used to spell out the Pepsi name. Translucent vinyl serves as a bold backdrop to the scene. "Every sign is a challenge ... a work of art," says Mike Spatucci, vice president of production.The Glow-Bench base is cast concrete that weighs 400 pounds and securely holds the sign fixture in place. A quarter-inch-thick, powder-coated-aluminum extrusion frames a 10-square-foot area available for advertising space. Patrons lean back on a quarter-inch-thick pane of tempered glass that is sealed with a special 4-mm-thick piece of 3M Co.'s hurricane film. The housing design assures that weather will not affect the artwork. In fact, Glow-Bench offers a five-year guarantee against fading or other weather-related damage. In addition, heat caused by lighting cannot penetrate the sturdy glass back.Spatucci says that the glass is not susceptible to breakage under normal circumstances. He explains that the compact 5-foot-by-2-foot sheet size means there is little flexural resistance compared, for example, to a storefront picture window. "If you hit your elbow on the glass as hard as you can, you'd break your arm before you'd break the glass," he says. "This is our strongest selling point, though. Because of the glass aspect, it's perceived as being fragile." If the glass does break, however, 3M's hurricane film keeps it in one piece.The company even addressed the issue of graffiti. Unsightly spray painted designs are easily scraped off with a straight edge razor blade without scratching the glass surface.

Hot Seat: Glow-Bench Brings Cool Neon to New Advertising Medium

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