Jones Sign does more than the name suggests

Rich Palzewic

Staff

October 5, 2022

DE PERE – For anyone driving down Interstate 41 in De Pere, it’s hard to miss the larger than life Jones Sign marquee outside its corporate offices.

That larger-than-life presence on Highway 41 is equally matched by the De Pere-based company’s reach as a go-to for signage solutions.

It’s a responsibility, Laura Myers, director of marketing, said the company takes very seriously.

Under its parent umbrella – Jones Sign Company, Inc. – Myers said the company has provided services for signage, lighting and architectural elements to entities throughout the country since 1910.

She said the company offers way more than its name suggests through a handful of divisions.

“The name Jones Sign is kind of a misnomer,” Myers said. “That’s the parent company name, but we have six business entities in all – we do so many other things.”

Jones Sports
One area of the business making a splash recently is Jones Sports – which as the name suggests, deals with sports.
“We have a reach across all sports,” Myers said.

A few weeks ago, with the kickoff of college football, the Jones Sports division completed three naming rights projects at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and Fresno State University and Snapdragon Stadium in California.

Myers said turnaround time for the three was of the essence.

“We had a few short months to complete these projects, start to finish,” she said. “These were incredibly demanding timelines and trying on our teams, but we had people going 24/7 to get them done on time, within scope and budget – there were opening games to play.”

Myers said in addition to the three recently completed projects, Jones Sports has done work at Fiserv Forum (Milwaukee Bucks), American Family Field (Milwaukee Brewers), Lambeau Field (The Green Bay Packers) and Climate Pledge Arena (Seattle Kraken).

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Jones Sign created and installed a Miller Lite wall made with empty beer cans inside Lambeau Field. Jones Sign Photo

?“Depending on the venue, the scope of the work varies,” she said. “It’s usually not just signage, but naming and sponsorship branding elements, custom facades, wayfinding, restaurants, pro shops and concessions within the venue.”

Other divisions
Myers said the company also specializes in national sign work for major accounts and clients like Menards, AutoZone and Kohl’s.

“We also have a division called Jones Architectural Creations,” she said. “We design and fabricate unique architectural elements that could include signage.”

Other divisions include Jones Lighting Services, National Mallfront & Design and Jones Digital Outdoor.

“The lighting business is located in Montgomery, Alabama,” she said. “The mallfront division is in Phoenix, Arizona – we design, engineer, build and install facades and work with metals, glass, wood and entire custom storefronts. We bought that company last July. Jones Outdoor is the outdoor advertising component of Jones Sign that does business primarily in Wisconsin.”

The process
Myers said Jones Sign has 11 locations across the country and Mexico.

“We have six manufacturing facilities in North America and other offices as well,” she said. “Two of our manufacturing facilities are in Mexico.”

Myers said when a business or venue works with Jones on a project, the company manages the entire process from estimating, designing, engineering, fabricating, installation and maintenance – start to finish.

“We’re a turnkey company,” she said. “Similar companies might only be able to design or install a sign, but we do it all. We get involved early in the process and stay to the end to ensure customer expectations are met.”

Despite having a pair of manufacturing facilities in Mexico, Myers said Jones Sign stays mostly domestic.

“We’ve done work in Europe, but it’s not our focus,” she said. “Logistically, if you think of the shipping and freight of these huge, fabricated components, going overseas is difficult. Because we have large manufacturing capacity, we can easily serve all areas nationwide.”

Myers said a lot of the work is done at the De Pere facility.

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The new Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego, California, opened Aug. 19, with Jones Sign providing signage. Jones Sign Photo

?“(De Pere) is our largest and most sophisticated facility, so for some of our bigger projects, we might fabricate the work here, even though it’s for a different market,” she said. “Taking everything into effect, we weigh out which facility best suits a particular project.”
 
Packers’ connection
It’s no surprise that the company’s just-up-the-road neighbor is one of its tenured clients.

Myers said Jones Sign has been doing work with the Packers since the 1930s.

“We partnered with Mitsubishi Electric to fabricate and install the scoreboards and work with the Packers on an ongoing basis,” she said. “We installed a Miller Lite wall with empty beer cans and designed a custom bar last winter. There’s a lot of work we’ve done at Lambeau Field over the years, including the big clock (on the outside of the stadium facing Lombardi Avenue). We’re proud to work with our hometown football team.”

Myers said Jones has more than 500 employees spread across its multiple locations which includes project managers, installers, fabricators, designers, drafters, engineers, sales and marketing professionals, as well as managers and support staff.
More information about Jones Sign can be found at jonessign.com.