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What do the Moon, electric signs, and a billboard and sign company have in common?
All three of those things help explain why Orde Advertising is selling signs on the Internet -- on a home page that has become perhaps the most popular Internet site in Northeast Wisconsin.
SignNet, at http://www.signnet.com (see graphic, page 23), (graphic omitted) gives Internet visitors an opportunity to order custom signs of several varieties -- banners, vinyl signs, large letters, message signs, neon signs, and Americans with Disabilities Act signs. SignNet supplies many of the same services Orde supplies at its new De Pere facility, but one doesn't have to be in De Pere or call Orde to order these signs; the home page visitor can design, preview and order signs at the World Wide Web site.
Jane Borowicz, an Orde vice president in charge of the SignNet project, said Orde president George French "is really an entrepreneur. He started dabbling in the Internet himself, and saw what the future might be. In our discussions, we realized we'd eventually be there anyway, and so we decided to be a pioneer in it."
"First of all, we have what I'd call a high-tech division, but it's more of a space division, and we're doing some outreach and educational programs for NASA," said French. Those "educational programs" include "Moonlink," a program in which high schools can receive datastreams from satellites measuring the Moon to Mission Control, before NASA plans to use it. "I thought if we're going on the Internet, and we're getting all these phone systems and data plugs, why don't we put our sign company on the Internet? It basically mirrors our company, and it doesn't have very high overhead, we do business on it, and you just never know."
"My objective was for exposure -- a marketing...