History

In the beginning: 1999-2002

Sign holding is perhaps one of the oldest forms of advertising, dating back to medieval times, and has had a presence in a number of different cultures. Even in the 1990s, people could be seen lackadaisically standing on the side of the road advertising for different businesses.Glory days of human advertisingThe industry did not evolve much beyond that until Max Durovic, an energetic entrepreneur living in Ocean Beach, California, decided to get a summer job as a sign holder back in 1999. While the pay was decent, standing on a street corner in the summer heat quickly became mundane and boring. Max searched for ways to make his job more entertaining and began to dance with the sign; using his youthful energy to attract more attention. Meanwhile, all of his friends were hanging out at the beach, surfing, skating and playing basketball.

It was not long before Max's friends realized they too needed jobs and saw how much fun Max was having with his. They applied for sign-holding jobs and within three months a dozen became human advertisers. Max's friends were determined to infuse their extreme sports background with street performance to catch attention of spectators and communicate a targeted advertising message.

The team began to develop tricks using their six-foot signs by spinning them around and flipping them high into the air. The friends began to compete to see who could do the best tricks; all the while attracting more attention to themselves.

Early AArrow Advertising

The friends eventually came up with names for their tricks; modeling them after their favorite skateboard moves. They also came up with a name for themselves: the sign spinners. For the next two years, the sign spinners worked all throughout San Diego and turned street corners into stages for five hours at a time.

AArrow Advertising is born: 2002-2005

In 2001, Max returned to San Diego after completing his first year at Georgetown University with a new plan. The sign spinners decided to start their own company: AArrow Advertising. They made a promotional video and began to market their services to businesses throughout Southern California.

Becoming the first client, Healthy Back, a retail furniture store, purchased a weekend trial. Although the contract was only for 10 hours of service and one sign, the AArrow Sign Spinners made the most of their opportunity. Max Durovic in the AArrow early daysAfter just 30 minutes of work, a woman walked into the store and purchased the most expensive bed there from the CEO himself who happened to be conducting a surprise store inspection. The CEO was so impressed with the effectiveness of the advertising, that he instantly walked out to the the sign spinner and handed a list of his two-dozen stores nationwide asking which ones AArrow Advertising would be able to service. With store locations bi-coastal, AArrow Advertising was in business.

Over the course of the next four years, AArrow Advertising expanded its business in San Diego under the leadership of COO Mike Kenny, while Max braved the elements in Washington D.C. and serviced clients up and down the Eastern seaboard.

Planting the seeds: 2005-2008

Max and Mike formed AArrow Advertising, LLC and began to expand to new markets. First on the list was Los Angeles and Las Vegas Early Las Vegas group shotquickly followed as home builders throughout the country began purchasing hours of AArrow Advertising's Signature Sign Spinning Service by the thousands.

People everywhere seemed to be impressed by the new innovative advertising method and spin on an age-old concept. Newspapers, magazines and television shows across the globe featured AArrow Sign Spinners and praised the company's mission statement and commitment to creating job opportunities for young people.

The trend continued and by 2008 AArrow Advertising had operations in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas, New York City, Washington D.C., Raleigh and Miami. With more than 500 AArrow Sign Spinners across the United States the time had come to go SPIN-ternational.

Volkswagon promotionIn the Spring of 2008, AArrow Advertising began executing campaigns in France, Holland, England and Spain. AArrow Sign Spinner's natural ability to make people smile translated very well and all of the campaigns were a huge success.

Demand for AArrow Sign Spinners was now coming from all over the world, and Max and Mike knew that they needed to maintain a structured business model to assist in training all of the sign spinners to provide the best service possible for all of the clients. They began offering franchise opportunities.

Becoming a global franchise: 2009-present

AArrow Advertising's first franchise opened in February of 2009, with Robert Graham purchasing the rights to the entire Phoenix area.AArrow's first franchisee Other entrepreneurs began to realize the benefits of running an AArrow Advertising business and within a month franchises were open in Phoenix,Miami Beach, Northern Virginia, Baltimore, Virginia Beach, Orlando, Little Rock and San Antonio. Currently, AArrow Advertising operates in more than 25 locations.

Meanwhile abroad, AArrow Advertising was creating a buzz in Asia. A group of students from the acclaimed Yong-In University in Seoul, South Korea decided to bring AArrow Advertising Mike Kenny spinning in Seoul, South Koreato their home in the far east. After six months of preparation and research, AArrow Advertising Korea is fully operational and experiencing the same success as its U.S. counterpart. AArrow Sign Spinners have become increasingly popular and even appeared on one of the country's most popular shows: Star King.

AArrow Advertising continues to grow each day by expanding into new markets, advertising for new clients and creating more opportunities for young people.

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Testimonials

“The AArrow Sign Spinners more than doubled our weekend walk-ins! They were extremely reliable and talented. Without them, we would not have sold out as fast as we did. We would highly recommend them to anyone thinking about using outdoor advertising and we intend to keep using them on other projects.”

Kami Knopf
Ten Ten One Grosvenor

“AArrow Sign Spinners are helping us save lives and end breast cancer forever!  AArrow is a company that cares about San Diego and is first to give back to the community.” 

Laura Farmer
Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure

"We had half of our restaurants increase in the number of lunch buffets purchased. This company has some awesome people."

Renae Scott
Round Table Pizza

 “AArrow Advertising has provided professional, interactive and engaging sign spinning services to our locations throughout San Diego. Their sign spinners have consistently provided their best effort to attract passersby to our stores and dealer locations and raise overall awareness of our store presence within communities and neighborhoods around town. The services they provide help bring our brand to the forefront of people’s mind and also help indicate the physical location of our stores and dealer locations."
 
 

Milica Pugh
Cricket Communications

Thank you, the leasing team secure 12 leases last week!

Stefane Spano
Riverstone Residential

“Having volunteer AArrow Sign Spinners at our blood drive increases the number of blood donors we get and helps us save lives. The sign spinners are energetic, friendly and we love having them around.”

Mary Walter Brown
San Diego Blood Bank

“Thank you AArrow Advertising of the Tri-Cities for helping Real-to-Reel Cinemas with our Kick Ass Movie Campaign. I can't believe how quickly the AArrow Sign Spinners were able to get our campaign on the streets and directly in front of the people. The exposure was fabulous, the lead time remarkable and the effect was both interactive and fun! Sign spinning is a new, exciting and affordable way to advertise and I will absolutely recommend AArrow Advertising!” 

Vickie Harrison
Real-to-Reel Cinemas

“AArrow Sign Spinners have the look of a more professional and respectable company to do business with. When we use spinners it helps people locate our events and also raises questions about the chamber and AArrow Advertising .I first saw AArrow Sign Spinning on the corner of 2nd and Beech and I was attracted by how motivated the sign spinner was and how he was enjoying his job, while advertising for a condo complex. Anyone looking to promote their business or event in a professional manner should use AArrow Advertising. AArrow Advertising does a lot of good for the community and the county by helping young kids with jobs and responsibility.”
 

Tony Petruzzelli
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce

“Working with the AArrow Advertising Denver crew was streamlined, effective and reliable. In a crazy April blizzard, the sign spinner showed up 10 minutes early for his 7 a.m. shift. We were able to effectively increase our location's visibility and land a fairly sizable corporate account. All of this was based completely off the exposure the AArrow Sign Spinner created. We will continue to use the services of AArrow Advertising to draw attention to our retail locations.”

Jessica Reimer
Revolution Cleaners

"AArrow Sign Spinners provided a great boost of traffic to all of our store locations and helped us get our foot in the door in the San Diego market."

Shannon Spisak
Cricket Communications

"Your staff was very friendly and energetic. We recieved excellent customer feedback. Your serivce drew in a lot of business thank you!"

 

Store Employee
Super Cuts

“AArrow Advertising, through Mike Kenny’s leadership and commitment, has hired many job seekers by offering youth employment, an attractive wage and the desire to succeed.”

David Eder
Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board

“We built an entire concept around the sign spinners for our recent McDonald’s campaign.  We thought we would have to go out of town to find the kind of talent we were searching for.  The personality, energy, and spirit exhibited by the AArrow Sign Spinners brought our campaign to life.  They were so much a part of the campaign that it allowed us to utilize them for additional PR as well. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for future projects.”

Ronda Farthing
The Lavidge Company/McDonald’s

“We were delighted to work with the team of AArrow Sign Spinners for Cojean’s operation: let's get physical. The idea was to put forward our fresh fruit juice manufactured in our juice bar. With the help of the AArrow Sign Spinners, the operation was a success and Cojean's overall sales increased by more than 21 percent. The total sale of fruit juices jumped to 50,000 ; an increase of more than 75 percent from the previous year. Our customer traffic and sales success this year is attributed to using the AArrow Sign Spinners. ”

Frederic Maquiar
Cojean Restaraunts

“I am amazed by the attention the talented individuals from AArrow Advertising bring to our stores.  They are true professionals from their field of work and we have witnessed an increase in revenue and customer traffic at stores where the sign spinners have been located.”

Walter Kinzie
Mattress Firm Inc.

“It was a record turnout!  Shawn the spinner was great.  The sign looks perfect and I am one happy camper.  It was the first weekend the home was on the market and by Monday morning we were entertaining offers!  I thought the real estate market was supposed to be slow. Thank you for a job well done!”

Keith Woolgar
Century 21 Award

In our first week using the sign spinners, we received 35 phone calls with an average call length of 3.5 minutes.  We also signed a 12 month lease for an apartment that first weekend. 

Amy Earp
The Donaldson Group

“The L.A. D-Fenders were happy to have the world famous AArrow Spinners at our home game. The different spins, tosses and tricks were very entertaining to our fans.” 

Duy Phan
Los Angeles D-Fenders

“We started with AArrow Advertising because I was impressed with the job they were doing for a nearby business. We even get compliments from traffic that comes by as a result of the sign spinners. Telling us that they have specifically come in because they saw the guy on the corner and they got a smile from him. I think that speaks volumes about them, their company and their employees. We’ve been happy to work with them and recommend them to anyone who is looking to draw traffic and attention to their business.”

Halé Richardson
San Elijo Hills

 

We had a great turnout!  Our clients saw the sign spinner, and were very impressed with our efforts to sell their houses.

Tracy Taylor
Weichert Realty Andrews Agency

“I continually use the word effective because being effective is so important to us. We are not on a busy street, we are tucked away off the busy street so what AArrow sign spinners do is basically create a stir and we use the term ‘drive the train’. Basically AArrow drives the train of people to our property. People spend millions of dollars on TV advertising and you really hope that certain type of clientele is watching. But when you are in a car at a stop light and you see someone point in the direction of the product, you think, I’m in my car right now; I’ll go take a look. It’s amazing, that’s what we really wanted and that’s what we are getting.”

Rich Castro
Sovereign Capital

“Typically we use spinners near our locations to attract business. We’re targeting both blue and white collar clientele. On days we use them we see a drastic improvement in sales. Up to $600 a day.We use AArrow Sign Spinners to direct traffic to our stores first thing in the morning.  It’s perfect for us because we are able to reach our target market on their way to work and help them start their day out with a smile.  Stores that use AArrow Sign Spinners have had a 30-40% increase in sales whenever the spinners are out there.  Not only do the spinners attract tons of attention, but AArrow’s staff is polite and responsive to company needs.”
 

Dave Vickers
Dunkin’ Donuts

“We had customers purposely driving into our stores to comment on the AArrow Sign Spinner’s level of energy and entertainment. It's not easy to impress me on the ability to provide exceptional customer service, but I thrive on being able to provide positive recognition when it's due.”

Armando Serrano
Cricket Communications

“Sign spinning has become a cost-effective, successful and fun way to advertise.”

Louise Pennell
Fox Business

“I would happily recommend AArrow Advertising for any communities advertising needs.  They offer prompt, courteous service with a smile and definitely help us increase our traffic, phone calls and occupancy rate above 96%.  Their sign spinners are the best in the business and really give it all they’ve got come rain or shine!”

Christina C. Wagner
Gables Point Loma

“It is pure entertainment and our customers commented about the AArrow Sign Spinner’s talent all day long.  They were great and our traffic definitely increased the days we used them to promote our event.  I would highly recommend their services.”

Shawn Pensinger
Ashley Furniture

“We ask on all of our guest surveys on a daily basis where they heard about us and usually about 60 to 70 percent is from our sign spinners. It just wouldn’t be the same without them.”

Jen Linderman and Cindy Cook
Century 21 Award

“Some of the things that set AArrow Advertising apart from other companies is there training methods, new trick list and the professionalism of their employees. You don’t see that with any other company. The interaction and the energy that these guys create is just amazing.”

Diana Radestock
D.R. Horton

We utilized AArrow Advertising Sign Spinners to generate brand awareness for our Grand Opening campaign for our new Great Clips location in Concord , NC. The AArrow Sign Spinners brought great energy and professionalism making our campaign successful. We are very happy with the service we received and will be using AArrow again in the future.

Jim Naylor
Great Clips

“In more than 13 years of business, the sign spinners from AArrow Advertising have been the most effective type of advertising we’ve ever used. They bring more customers into the store and we make more sales. They’re fantastic.”

Paul Heller
Sundown Sunglasses

“The sign spinner was something totally foreign to marketing efforts at State Farm and CA became the first Zone in the Enterprise to use this tactic to reach consumers.  Not only did it help increase the awareness of our rate reduction campaign, it became such a huge hit with our Good Neighbor State Farm Agents, many of them wanted to create their own signs and have their staff "spinning" messages.  Along with the billboards and aerial signage we bought over the 4th of July weekend, the sign spinners fit perfectly into our plans.”

Bobby Wilkinson
State Farm Insurance

Thank you for working with us by presenting the best sign spinners in the country to our businesses.  We know schedules have been hectic lately but we have seen a dramatic increase in our revenues from what you bring to us.  Sales are climbing so fast we can barely keep up and most new customers inform us that the sign spinners are the reason they stopped in to see us.  For that, we would like to continue utilizing your company for our advertising efforts at both locations.  In addition, we are currently in the process of expanding to 2 additional locations within the next month.

Jeff Pyles
Tennessee Gold Refinery

“Because of AArrow Advertising’s amazing commitment to the non-profit sector and the community, our participants easily found the location and enjoyed watching the exciting talents of the sign spinners. Their staff was involved through the entire process and helped to coordinate everything. The day of the event she helped to make everything as seamless as possible!”

Leslie Dykstra
Best Buddies California

“The AArrow Sign Spinners are 100% Kultivate and their way of super interactive marketing helped us showcase our brand concept: conformity kills. When the sign spinners were in Barcelona for Kultivate, they created a lot of exposure that helped get the attention of potential buyers at the fair, when we didn’t even have a booth there. AArrow has a unique way of grabbing attention in front of large crowds, being infinitely more effective than traditional 'static' advertising!”

Jeffrey Heerkens
Kultivate Clothing

“AArrow Advertising’s employees donate valuable time to provide a Work Readiness Training Program to students at Point Loma High School and University City High School.The training provided is a valuable resource to our high school students to help them prepare for future employment opportunities with AArrow Advertising or other employers.AArrow Advertising has provided a valuable and affordable service to businesses by providing them with a mechanism for advertising and has made a significant difference in the lives of many youth and adult job seekers in our region."

Desiree Romero
San Diego City Unified School District

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