For Rob Merto, signs were just the family business.

Then, he found CrossFit (and a warehouse gym in dire need of wall-ball targets) and what started as a summer job became an art — and the go-to signage and brand-packaging solution for CrossFit gyms and competitions around the world, including the CrossFit Games. Athlete placards, lane markers, floor decals, banners — if you’ve seen it on a wall or the competition floor, Rob (and his team) probably made it.

“There was that one year at the Games where we had to do the rig reveal,” Rob says. “We had to basically hide a rig. We called it the barbecue cover.”

But while often considered little more than an afterthought, signage plays a pivotal role in the customer experience, Rob says.

“There’s so many things you could talk about when you walk into a gym,” he says. “Like, maybe you have an entryway that has a neon sign, or a cool desk with a sign on it right when you walk in. So we try to think through those types of things as you come into the gym. … How can we make it look cool, and how can we give that customer, or that new athlete, a journey as they walk through your gym before they even take the first class?”

Listen in as Rob and co-hosts Tony Ronchi, Cary Hair, and Andrew Charlesworth swap stories from the old days of CrossFit — and discuss how something as seemingly simple as a sign can help affiliates tell their stories.

--

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro.

5:11 Rob’s origin story.

7:31 Serendipity and the 30-hr project.

17:04 Is AI the death of designers?

27:70 Hiding the A-frame and the nostalgia of CrossFit culture. 37:03 Signage and brand identity: the quintessential afterthought.

45:48 Brand identity and the customer journey.

--Signs Rx: https://www.signsrxusa.com/

--

Infinitely Scalable Podcast: Helping entrepreneurs, creatives, and humans everywhere find freedom.