AArrow Inc. - www.aarrowads.com

Sign holding is perhaps one of the oldest forms of advertising, dating back to mid-evil 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. Unfortunately, the industry did not evolve much past that.

That is, until Max Durovic, an energetic teenager 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 that they too needed jobs, and saw how much fun Max was having with his. They too applied for sing-holding jobs, and within three months, a dozen became human advertisers. However, Max’s friends were reluctant to give up their extreme sports backgrounds, and began looking for ways to turn human advertising into something more dynamic.

The team began to develop tricks using their giant signs, 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.

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, turning street corners into stages 5 hours at a time.

In 2001, after his freshman year at Georgetown University, Max returned to San Diego with a new plan. The Sign Spinners decided to start their own company, called AArrow Advertising, using $500 that Max had saved up from tutoring. They made a skate-style video, and began to market their services to businesses throughout San Diego. However, no one seemed ready to contract the group of extreme teens.

Until the end of that first summer, when Healthy Back, a retail furniture store, decided to purchase a trial weekend. Although the contract was only for 10 hours of service and one sign, the Sign Spinners made the most of their opportunity. After just 30 minutes of work, a lady walked into the store and purchased the most expensive bed there from the CEO himself, who just 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 corner, handed Max a list of his over two-dozen stores nationwide, and asked which ones AArrow would be able to service. Healthy Back had four more locations in San Diego and an additional five in the Washington DC area where Max was going to college. AArrow was in business.

For the next four years, AArrow expanded its business in San Diego under the leadership of Mike Kenny, while Max braved the elements in Washington DC, even servicing locations as far south as North Carolina. In 2005, when Max graduated with a degree in International Business and Marketing, AArrow decided to take the business to the next level.

Max and Mike formed AArrow Advertising, LLC and began to expand to new markets. First on the list was Los Angeles, a natural choice because of its proximity to their home in San Diego. Las Vegas quickly followed, as home builders throughout the country began purchasing hours by the thousands.

Everyone seemed to be impressed by the work AArrow was doing. Newspapers, magazines and television shows across the country praised AArrow for their creative advertising, and their commitment to creating job opportunities for young people.

The trend continued, and by 2008 AArrow had operations in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, Miami, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Raleigh. With over 500 AArrow Sign Spinners across the United States, the time had come to go Spinternational.

In the Spring of 2008, AArrow began to execute campaigns in Europe, starting with France and the Netherlands.

The story continues...