Sign Shakers Dancing In The Streets Of Loveland

LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) - If you call Loveland's M&E Painting, you'll hear several prerecorded options.

If you know your party's extension, enter it now. Press 3 to be connected to an estimator.

But one may catch callers off guard.

"If you are calling to get your Tim Farnsworth professional sign-shaker fan T-shirt, press 6."

No, it's not a mistake. The T-shirts are real and feature a black image of a man, rapping with earbuds in and M&E Painting sign advertisement in hand.

That man is 25-year-old Tim Farnsworth, professional sign shaker.

Sign dancing or shaking -- you can call it either -- since 2007, Farnsworth started with M&E in 2009.

Then, Farnsworth ruled the corner of 120th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard, at Broomfield Plaza shopping center. That's where he said his fan base developed.

On Facebook, 7,734 people "Like" his page, "M&E Sign Guy on 120th and Sheridan."

What's it like to have a fan base of more than 7,000 people?

"It's not too bad," Farnsworth said with nonchalance.

He was on break and sitting on the grassy hill just behind his new post -- the intersection of Harmony Road and U.S. 287. Matt Shoup, his boss and owner of M&E, moved him north in June to get more exposure in the Fort Collins-Loveland area.

"I used to get more comments but now, not too much," he said, his signature folded bandanna stretched across his forehead, soaking up sweat in the 90-degree heat. "I'm losing fans, but I still have a lot on there, so I'm not really worried."

And he's not. He's just there to perform.

"I like being an entertainer," he said.

Farnsworth listens to a "bunch of underground rap," the Red Hot Chili Peppers and some Korn while he street dances.

On this particular day, Farnsworth hit the sidewalk with a 360-degree rotation of his sign. He mouthed lyrics as he rhythmically hopped and busted moves.

Children in a gray day care van pointed and smiled as they drove through the intersection. A dog craned its neck out a window to get a better view, and people in a gray Chevy Blazer honked the vehicle's horn, waving as they passed.

Once, in Broomfield, a person stopped and gave him a $100 tip, Shoup said, and another time, two girls exited their car at a red light, danced with Farnsworth and got back in the vehicle once the light turned green.

These reactions let Farnsworth know he is doing his job -- advertising a local business.

"I don't know how many people read the newspaper. I don't know how many people go on the Internet. But from what kind of reactions I get, it's just effective. It works," he said.

But does it?

While it's hard to say whether there are more than usual, sign shakers are out in full force on major streets in Loveland and Fort Collins.

Shakers are there for businesses buying gold, selling pizza, advertising new homes and more.

Colorado State University marketing professor Joe Cannon could not say definitively whether sign dancing is effective because he hasn't seen any research on the subject.

But it certainly creates awareness, he said.

"I think the question becomes one of whether you are getting the attention of the right target market," Cannon said.

For example, he said, pizza is at times an impulse buy. It's sometimes a planned purchase, but a person driving by a sign dancer advertising cheesy slices could change dinner plans in a second.

Buying a home is different. That's a long-term decision, for most.

"I would think people would go to a Realtor," he said.

"But maybe they're finding this does work," he said of the companies using the sign dancers.

Shoup, who hired sign shakers on a dare, said he got one or two phone calls a day for paint job estimates when he first put dancers on the street.

Now, not so many people call, but the living marketing has helped connect the company with potential and returning customers.

"We feel it's part of our image," said Shoup, who spends more monthly to pay sign shakers than he does to put ads on bus stops or benches.

Steve Rowan, manager of Loveland Jewelry and Coin, said the motivation to hire shakers is simple.

"People notice people, not signs," he said.

Loveland's Katie Lacy, who dances with the "We Buy Gold" sign for the jewelry store, said people have actually pulled U-turns and walked into the business after seeing her.

"I don't think there's a better advertisement," she said of her work.

- By Madeline Novey, Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

LINK: M&E Painting