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Whether you’re new to digital signage or an experienced digital signage user, there’s always something to learn.
Whenever
I write these columns, I share a common predicament with those who create
content for digital signs: How do I communicate my message to a mixed audience,
some of whom have a detailed knowledge about my subject and others who at best
have a passing familiarity?
I'll do
my best in this column to serve up some information that old hands and
newcomers alike can take away that I hope will make the next few moments of
your time well spent.
If you're
brand new to digital signage, struggling to understand where it fits into the
communications landscape, here are five basic principles that will help you put
digital signage into context -whether you're thinking about using it to greet
visitors in your company's lobby or influence shoppers to make a purchase.
- Dynamic messaging: Digital
signage transforms dull, static signs into a dynamic mix of video,
graphics, text and animation that can communicate and influence viewers in
ways more akin to television than a printed placard.
- Easily changed: Unlike signs
that have to be reprinted to update messaging, digital signage text and
graphics can be changed in a matter of moments to reflect the exact
messaging that's needed at any given moment.
- Scheduled to maximize impact:
Because it's easy to update digital signs, they can playback messaging
needed to address an audience that changes throughout the day. For
example, a digital sign outside a hotel restaurant can entice early risers
to visit for breakfast in the morning, transition to lunch fare in the
afternoon, display an elegantly appointed table with dinner specials in
the late afternoon, and promote featured music acts that will appear in
the lounge after dinner.
- Comfort and credibility: The
very fact that digital signage relies on LCD and plasma panels and even
CRTs for display -just like the one's in the living rooms of most U.S.
households- and that it can present messaging every bit as appealing as
anything on television, imparts a degree of credibility to the medium
that's easy to take for granted but difficult for other new media to
attain.
- Linear and interactive
playback: Digital signage can be used to playback a series of pieces of
linear content -that with a beginning, middle and end- as well as stand in
for digital kiosks that give users access to branching interactive content
to meet their needs. The same digital sign can do double duty in a hybrid
application to attract an audience with linear content and deliver
specific content in interactive mode at the touch of a screen.
For the
old hands, here are five factoids about digital signage that are worth
considering:
- Fine Art: With so much
attention focused on the commercial aspect of digital signage, it would be
easy to miss the fact that large flat panel plasma displays are currently
being used as a digital canvass for the a series of 30 high definition
video portraits at New York's Phillips de Pury and Paula
Cooper galleries and at the Ace Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibit, VOOM
PORTRAITS by ROBERT WILSON, underscores how the technology at the heart of
digital signs is becoming increasingly common.
- Changing media markets: On their
own, digital signage networks are becoming a significant advertising
medium. Well-positioned to complement the skyrocketing online advertising
market, which is expected to grow 35 percent this year, digital signage
networks are coming into their own as a viable advertising medium.
- Proximity sensing: As hybrid
interactive digital signs increasingly stand in for digital kiosks, the
need to recognize the presence of viewers grows. Not only can such
knowledge automatically launch a presentation, it also can control audio
volume to prevent audio from closely spaced signs from competing with one
another and creating an audio mess. Proximity sensors that easily
interface with interactive digital signs can take control and create order
from what otherwise would be chaos.
- Projector alternative: New
technologies that allow projected images to be clearly seen on screens
mounted in full daylight are emerging. Coupled with new technology that
corrects for geometric distortion of projected images from oddly placed projectors,
the new screen technology opens new opportunities for projectors to be
used in digital signage applications.
- Flatter all the time: For the
first time, flat panel displays have surpassed CRT-based televisions in
consumer sales. Not only does that mean economies of scale will continue
to make digital signage displays less expensive, it also means digital
signage will continue to blend easily into the media landscape.
There you
have it, five things you need to know about digital signage and five things you
may not have known. Whether you're an old hand or newcomer, I hope it was time
well spent. If you have a digital signage topic that you would like me to
research and write on, please provide feedback.
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