Written by David Little
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
The new Pew Poll may have important implications for those who wish to market their products with digital signage.
A couple of weeks ago the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press released the results of a major survey about how people in this country consume news.
While the focus of the study was on the news media, I believe the research reveals some important demographic currents that digital signage marketers would do well to recognize and understand. The survey revealed four types on news consumers: News-Integrators, Net-Newsers, Traditionalists and Disengaged. I'll disregard the disengaged for the sake of expediency and concentrate on three remaining groups because they are where the message for those concerned with digital signage lies.
The two groups offering the most fertile ground for digital signage marketers are News-Integrators and Net-Newsers. Together these two groups, which account for 36 percent of total, show a high propensity for using multiple media types to find the news they desire. According to the results, both groups are well-educate and relatively affluent -qualities most digital signage marketers will find attractive.
Where they differ is in the degree to which they rely on a combination of media technologies when seeking out news. For example, News Integrators view TV as their primary source of news, but supplement it by visiting Web sites most days. Net-Newsers, on the other hand, regard the Internet as their primary source of news. In total, 92 percent of Net-Newsers go online daily to find their news. Other sources, like television, are regarded as secondary. In fact, this group relies so much on the Web that more of them are likely to watch a news story online than sit in front of their TVs and watch the nightly news.
Traditionalist, who account for 46 percent of news consumers, are older, less well-off and less educated than Net-Newsers and News Integrators. Television is the dominant source of news among Traditionalists, and although they own computers, they rarely go online to find out what's happening.
From my point of view, digital signage marketers can take a few lessons away from this survey. First, most people depend on TV as a valued news source. That's good news for digital signage communicators because their signs are indistinguishable from TVs at first glance. Secondly, 36 percent of the audience, which happens to be the most affluent portion, likes using a combination of media to get the information they desire. Digital signage marketers can take advantage of this attraction to multiple media sources by adding a broadcast or cable channel into their signage presentations. By using TV in an on-screen digital signage zone, they can grab an audience's attention while simultaneously conveying their own messages in the remaining zones on the sign.
Third, up-and-coming Net-Newsers and News Integrators show by their news consumption patterns that they are tech savvy and enjoy using technology to determine which media they consume. Hybrid, interactive digital signs adds the perception that the audience is in control of what's displayed, something that dovetails nicely with this preference.
From my point of view, the results of this survey point out some characteristics about the news audience that can serve as guideposts as digital signage communicators define their message and their approach. Taking advantage of the affinity of these respondents for television news puts digital signage in the game. Using the tools that are available to make it interactive, positions digital signage to excel as an influencer.
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Written by David Little
Monday, 08 September 2008
If a digital signage system is to fulfill its mission of communications, smart managers will plan for keeping content fresh.
Any manager knows there are costs associated with buying a piece of equipment that go well beyond the initial purchase price. Regular maintenance, parts, additional operating expenses are some that come to mind.
In the digital signage realm, there're some additional expenses smart managers should keep in mind as they add or expand a system. Fortunately, since the technology behind digital signage is so computer-centric, there aren't many mechanical parts to fail or be replaced. However, there is an expense that can be easily overlooked. Unless you happen to have a background in media, you may be completely unaware of this recurring demand on resources, and if you don't plan for it, it can become a constant drain on your operation.
What's this mystery expense? It's constant content creation -an action I like to call feeding the beast. It's something that must be done regularly -definitely weekly, probably daily and maybe hourly depending on what you're specifically trying to accomplish with your digital signage communications.
Generating and inserting fresh content into the playback schedule of a digital signage system is an essential component of the sign fulfilling its reason for being. Without fresh content, customers, employees or whoever is your target market will quickly tune out the sign and your communications. Think of it this way, how willing would you be to watch your television if every time you turned it on you saw nothing but the same program?
The same is true for your digital signage communications. Granted, no one is going to stand in front of your digital sign completely mesmerized by your message the way they would sit in front of their television and watch their favorite show. But if you stand a chance of grabbing their attention and holding it for the few precious moments they glance at the sign, it better present something new, fresh and interesting.
What this means for an enterprise committed to communicating with digital signage is making a commitment to creating the content necessary to achieve the organizations goal -weekly, daily or hourly, depending on the mission at hand. For an organization, that translates into channeling the appropriate resources to the process, including skilled people, the right tools and an appropriate amount of creative time. To shun this burden is to cripple your communications effort before the first digital sign is turned on.
Fortunately, there are some practical tools and approaches at the disposal of an organization to freshen content and attract recurring viewer interest without busting the budget. They include:
- Television - many digital signage systems include a television or cable TV tuner so a portion of the screen will always include something new.
- Subscription data feeds - whether it's news, stock tickers, sports scores, temperature or traffic conditions, there are a variety of data feeds available to stream new information continuously.
- RSS feeds - in the same way data feed subscriptions can keep content fresh, free Internet RSS can deliver headlines, weather and scores. However, taking this approach removes the comfort of predictability that's available with a data subscription.
- Existing marketing materials, television commercials and training videos. Excerpts of these existing corporate resources can minimize the need to shoot and edit original video content - especially in the initial phases of system rollout.
As with so many things in life and in business, digital signage requires balance to be achieved. Organizations employing digital signage successfully have learned to allocate the appropriate number of resources to maintain content freshness without generating unacceptable expenses. By using some or all of these suggestions, finding that balance should be a bit easier.
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Written by David Little
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Could the addition of traditional linear digital signage content drive the transaction value of self-service kiosks even higher than the forecasted $1.7 trillion by 2012?
If you've been reading my blog postings for some time now, you now how excited I am about the potential of hybrid, interactive digital signage.
For those who haven't ever before read my blog, let me summarize. Combining the ability of traditional digital signs to playback segment after segment of linear content (in other words, Item No. 1, Item No. 2, Item No. 3, etc.) with the interactivity normally associated with kiosk is hugely important. The traditional digital signage content can attract an audience; interactivity can hold them and direct them.
In June, new research from market research organization IHL Group underscored exactly why interactivity is an essential element in the future course of digital signage and the nearly unbelievable potential for upside growth. According to the researcher, transactions at self-service kiosks will exceed $607 billion in North America this year.
I hope you're sitting down for this next tidbit. IHL Group projects the value of these self-service kiosk transactions will more than triple to in excess of $1.7 trillion by 2012. According to IHL Group Lead Retail Analyst Lee Holman, the research confirms what's been seen over the past couple of years as all manner of self-service kiosks -everything from automated movie theater ticket sales kiosks to $1 DVD rental machines- grow in consumer popularity. In Hollman's words, "consumers are showing a preference for self-service kiosk activity of all kinds."
The research, "2008 North American Self-Service Kiosks," documents how self-service kiosks are being used in six particular areas: self-checkout systems, ticketing kiosks, check-in kiosks, food ordering, postal systems and other retail kiosks. While the traditional digital signage component might not be appropriate for every self-service kiosk, it amplifies the potential of others.
For example, consider the movie ticket sales kiosk. Add the linear playback component of traditional digital signage and this sales kiosk instantly transforms into a sales promotion tool by playing back movie trailers of what's showing in all the glory a high-definition display panel has to offer. Take that kiosk out of the theater lobby and place it in malls across the country, and you have a dual-purpose movie marketing machine that reaches potential customers who might not otherwise have given going to the movies a serious thought.
Or, consider an airline ticket kiosk. How often between flights have you walked by these kiosks and seen no busy travelers nearby. During these opportunities, couldn't these kiosks offer linear playback of travel related goods and services? Certainly, the linear digital signage content should in no way detract from the primary mission of these kiosks, but a well organized implementation could prevent that and offer the potential of increased revenue in the form of advertising sales.
In my mind, the bottom line is this: The full potential of self-service kiosks may be even larger than IHL Group forecasts. If the interactivity of the self-service kiosks is matched up with the "carnival barker" role traditional digital signage can play, it's conceivable that in the right situations this hybrid, interactive digital signage can drive the value of these sorts of transactions even higher.
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Written by David Little
Wednesday, 09 July 2008
Interactive, hybrid digital signs offer marketers a real-time way to take the pulse of shoppers.
Here's an interesting concept: Base in-store promotions on what shoppers actually want, not what some marketer thinks they want. That's the bottom line on findings from the recent consumer intentions and intended actions survey from Worthington, OH, -based BIGresearch.
Survey findings, released in May at the Promotion Marketing Association's first annual Shopper Marketing Summit in Minneapolis, show something that --while seemingly obvious-- often goes overlooked: every retailer has a unique customer base. In other words, not all grocery shoppers are alike. Nor are all sporting goods customers, clothing buyers, houseware hunters, and on and on.
For example, BIGresearch found 71.6 percent of Kroger shoppers say coupons sway what they buy, while 59.2 percent of Safeway shoppers say they influence their purchasing decisions. Such insights into one's customers are invaluable to marketers as building blocks for marketing campaigns, according to BIGresearch senior VP Kim Rayburn.
So if understanding what factors influence shoppers to make their buying decisions is so important, why aren't shoppers constantly polled by clipboard-carrying researchers traversing the aisles of stores or springing out from between the discount racks? Part of the answer could be attributed to the cost of doing research, some to not wanting to annoy, and thus drive away shoppers, and perhaps a bit to respect for the privacy of shoppers.
What marketers need is a tool to help with customer researcher to inform the direction of their campaigns but doesn't cost too much or drive inconvenienced shoppers from stores before they make their purchase.
Interestingly, interactive hybrid digital signage can play an important role in determining the desires, habits, likes and dislikes of customers. Interactive digital signage combines the strength of linear content presentation in attracting an audience with the interactivity normally associated with a kiosk. At little less discussed aspect of the interactive component is the ability to collect data about the customers' request.
Consider the power of tracking how interested consumers are in a special offer, the types of coupons they seek out, how much money they are interested in spending, the types of items they're interested in at certain times of the day --the list goes on and on. In the hands of a skilled marketer, such information is invaluable, forming the basis for future marketing campaigns based on the real-world consumer data.
With the right bit of programming, interactive hybrid digital signs can record such data, store it and send it at any desired interval -weekly, daily, hourly or even minute by minute- to marketers who can use it to strategically map out far-reaching campaigns or simply tweak existing digital signage marketing messages to take advantage of opportunities as they arise.
Years ago it was not uncommon to be approached in a shopping mall by a lady or gentleman with a clipboard who asked for a bit of cooperation in participating in marketing surveys. Today, similar data can be collected in a far subtler manner simply by recording the selections consumers make when they interact with a hybrid interactive digital sign. Doing so will equip savvy marketers with the information they need to succeed while their less informed competition continues to struggle in refining their marketing approach.
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Written by David Little
Monday, 09 June 2008
As consumer electronics and television programming get more interactive, digital signage must adopt interactive touch capability to remain competitive.
Perhaps you have a friend like mine. It seems no matter what we do, whenever I'm over at his house, the TV is on. No one may be watching, but the set alternates between some talking head delivering the news and commercial blaring out their sales pitch.
When I question him about why the set is on, he never has a very definitive answer, just some nebulous comment about background noise. Without question, my friend -and millions upon millions of other Americans- have found a way to tune out the endless stream of information, commercials and promotions and selectively focus in long enough if something arises to pique his interest.
I've often compared and contrasted television and digital signage in this space, usually pointing out the benefits of the latter, such as its ability to reach audiences at the point of purchase -when they're actually looking to spend money. Sadly, however, digital signage has the potential to suffer from the same "tune out factor" my friend integrates into his normal TV viewing. Without the right messaging, it's possible that digital signage will blend into the background and fail to connect with its audience at the most opportune moment.
Fortunately, good news is at hand -literally. A recent forecast from market research firm iSuppli shows that by 2013 global shipments of touch-screen display modules are expected to double, or 833 million units. By way of comparison, in 2008 worldwide touch-screen module shipments will reach 341 million units, about $3.4 billion in value, according to the research organization. At symposium in Los Angeles last month put on by the Society for Information Display, nearly 60 companies promoted their particular touch-screen sensor technology.
When coupled with digital signage technology, such touch-screen sensors can transform ordinary linear digital signage content (in other words, a succession on visual and audio elements presented one after another) into dynamic, interactive content that let's the public seek out the information about a product they desire. Interactive digital signage combines the best of the kiosk world -namely touch-screen interactivity- with the power of consistent messaging delivered when the sign operates in a traditional linear mode.
The significance of the iSuppli data is that it quantifies something we all intuitively know. People like to touch screens, interact with technology and get what they want. Look at the incredible success Apple Computers has had with the iPod, the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Those products have hit a nerve with the public. Simply touch a screen, interact with the interface and satisfy a desire.
Even the monolith of linear program presentation -the television industry- has been forced by technology to re-evaluate its business model and begin making the transition from so-called "appointment TV" to the anything, anytime model of video-on-demand. Spurred by DVRs, VOD, pay-per-view, IPTV, and cable television, those whose business it is to generate revenue from commercial television sales are working hard to develop a business model that makes the most sense. While all of the details are being hammered out on a daily basis with each new media sale, it's safe to say the future of TV will be built on interactivity.
Consider the ramifications from digital signage content. Marketers who rely on the presentation of endless linear digital signage content are likely to find their messaging becoming less effective as their audience increasingly finds their experiences with consumer devices, like an iTouch, and their television, to be more interactive.
Simply put, to compete in the battle to influence the buying decisions of consumers, digital signage content producers will soon be forced to incorporate interactivity into their presentations just to stay competitive.
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Written by David Little
Monday, 12 May 2008
So,
you've decided your business or institution will be well served by adding a new
digital signage network. Now what?
Where to
turn and what to do can be confusing, especially if you're responsible for your
organization's communications or IT department, but don't really know anything
about a digital sign. While there are many good companies in business to help
you achieve your goals, you can make the endeavor easier and far more
successful if you avoid the problems many before you have encountered when rolling
out and maintaining their digital signage networks.
Having worked
with hundreds of customers on their digital signage needs, we've seen a lot of difficulties
that could easily have been avoided -along with the associated delays and added
expense- with a little knowledge up front. As the saying goes, forewarned is
forearmed. So, keep these Top 10 Digital Signage Pitfalls in mind as you plan
your new digital signage network to make the experience smooth and rewarding.
No. 1: Lack of a clear purpose
Someone
in your organization, has read digital signage can make marketing messaging
more effective. It can reach potential customers at the point of purchase,
promote desired behavior, target different demographic groups associated with
different times of the day, and do so many wonderful things.
But what
exactly does your organization need to accomplish with digital signage? That's
the seminal question. Without clearly defining the purpose of a digital signage
network, it is impossible to find success in any phase of its deployment or
use.
Taking
the time up front to define the expectations for the system and write them out
on paper for the approval of key management will provide direction and focus
effort on attainable goals. Struggling to fulfill a nebulous purpose for the
digital signage network will rack up unnecessary expense and leave everyone
connected with the project frustrated.
No. 2: Taking on digital signage
as an IT project
"Digital
signage network," the very words sound IT oriented. While there's a lot of IT
technology involved with digital signage, taking on a digital signage network
as an IT project is dangerous.
While
highly skilled, the typical IT manager does not have the background nor the
experience needed to roll out a successful digital signage network. There's a
powerful temptation on the part of IT managers to look at digital signage
playback as if it were a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. It isn't.
PowerPoint
does an excellent job at making business presentations, but how many TV
stations rely on PowerPoint to create and playback the programs, commercials,
news and promotions you see nightly? Exactly zero. With respect to playing back
video, graphics, text and animation, layering multiple visual elements and
building and maintaining a playout schedule, a digital signage network is much
more like a TV station than a boardroom with a projector and a PowerPoint
presentation. Keep that in mind if an IT manager volunteers to take on your
organization's digital signage project.
No. 3: Lack of content
Congratulations.
You have a digital signage network. What are you going to display? Having a
digital signage network without content is like having a newspaper without
print. There's just a whole lot of nothing and overwhelming sense of emptiness.
Communicating
in some form must be part of the reason behind the decision to add a digital
signage network. However, there is no communication without content.
Fortunately, many organizations have existing resources to draw upon that can
be repurposed as digital signage content. Logos, commercials, promotional
video, print advertising, plans and drawings can all be reused in whole or part
to communicate a message on a digital signage network.
Additionally,
RSS Internet feeds are a tremendous resource for updating a digital signage
network with fresh "newsy" content, weather and sports scores that can give an
audience a reason to take a second or third look.
Regardless
of where it comes from, content is critical to the success of a digital signage
network. Knowing where it will come from is as important as actually having the
digital signage network in place.
No. 4: No one assigned to manage
the project
While
it's not like designing the International Space Station, putting a digital
signage network in place can be a complex undertaking. For that reason, it's
essential that any business or organization taking on a digital signage network
assign someone to manage the project. Having an individual identified to own
the project will minimize the impact of the unforeseen problems that inevitably
creep into any complex undertaking.
Just as
bad as having no one assigned to manage the project is its closely related
cousin: management by committee. Offering up conflicting directions from
multiple individuals will leave your system integrator bewildered and your
project incomplete.
No. 5: No one to update content
While RSS
feeds and subscriptions to news wire services are two sources of fresh
information for a digital signage network, where will updated content conveying
your company's specific messages and current offerings come from?
A digital
signage network that attracts attention has an insatiable appetite for fresh
content. Thus, it's essential that an organization taking on a digital signage
network assign a qualified, competent person to the task of creating that
content. Without someone in charge of the network's content, the text, graphics
and video being displayed will soon grow tired. Stale content will have the
opposite of the desired result for a digital sign. It actually will drive
viewers away and impart a sense of "been there, done that" that will be
difficult to reverse.
No. 6: Taking the cheap way out
There's
nothing wrong with being budget conscious about a digital signage installation;
however, selecting products, including displays, controllers and software, and
services like content creation solely on their price tag can result in a system
that in the long wrong will cost an organization dearly.
Systems
designed solely on the price of the component miss the point. Digital signage
networks are about communicating information -perhaps a marketing message, maps
and directions or instructions- to their intended audience. Spending money on
an inexpensive system just because it's cheap could cost a business or
organization far more than the money saved in lost opportunities.
No. 7: Not knowing the locations
of the signs
Knowing
where your organization wants to locate the flat panel monitors in its digital
signage network is important for a few reasons. First, locating the digital
signage content players needed depends on where the sign or signs it's
controlling are located. The length of cable runs between player and sign must
be taken into account. Clearly defining the location of the signs will allow
you to minimize construction/renovation expense and avoid paying for "do
overs."
Second,
understanding exactly where the signs will be positioned will make it easier to
understand what will be needed to mount the flat panels in use. Are wall studs
available where a sign will be located? Or, will a freestanding structure be
required? What's the condition of the wall studs? Is electrical power
available? What's the status of ambient light sources? Will a window or
skylight need to be shaded to reduce glare?
Third,
not knowing where the signs need to located may be a symptom of a bigger
problem, namely not having a clear idea about the purpose of the digital
signage installation.
No. 8: Installers without general
contractor capability
Installing
digital signage can be messy. Drywall and plaster may need to be cut. New
electrical plugs with isolated grounds may need to be installed. Beyond those
obvious construction challenges, less apparent structural modifications may be
required. Those can vary from relocating HVAC ducts to re-enforcing walls.
For that
reason, choosing a digital signage installer without the skill and experience
to serve as a general contractor for the project can be a big mistake.
Depending on the specific installation, it's not unreasonable to assume
carpenters, electricians, plumbers and even heating and cooling contractors
might need to be involved to make necessary structural modifications. Having an
installer who can serve as a general contractor to bring those diverse
resources together and manage them properly can save lots of time and
expense.
No. 9: Failing to allot adequate
time to learn the system
Far too
often, the people responsible for new digital signage installations at
businesses or organizations are so excited about their systems that they can't
wait to show them off to upper management. After all, a significant sum of
money went in to making the digital signage network a reality. So showing it
off as soon as possible only seems natural.
However,
creating content for a digital signage system, scheduling it and making changes
to playback along the way require some skill. It takes time to be properly
trained to use a digital signage network. Failing to allocate sufficient time
to learn how to use the system not only could be embarrassing in front of
management, but disastrous to your communications efforts with the general
public, if they're your first audience.
No. 10: Failing to keep future
expansion in mind at the time of initial design
Designing
yourself into a box when first contemplating a digital signage network can be
costly. Without casting an eye towards future needs, it's possible that
portions of the network might need replacement before they've been amortized to
accommodate expansion.
Without
exception, experience shows that businesses and organizations that fund the
addition of digital signage networks express interest in expanding their
systems after they're installed.
There you have it, the Top 10 Digital Signage
Pitfalls. Take these lessons to heart as you proceed with your digital signage
rollout, and you're much more likely to have a successful experience. More importantly,
your company or institution will avoid costly mistakes that will delay the installation
and prevent your communications from having their desired effect.
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Written by David Little
Friday, 25 April 2008
Successful digital signage
communication demands content that meets an audience’s expectations.
Whether
it's suspended from the ceiling of a retail store, positioned near a gate in an
airport terminal, or stationed in a hotel lobby, a digital sign has one basic
function: to communicate.
Clearly,
the types of communication -informational, promotional or advertising-related-
are unique and different. What's the same is the expectation of the person
responsible for the digital sign that it will convey a bit of information to
its intended audience. All other expectations for the sign -like connecting
emotionally with a viewer, branding a store or a product, or promoting a
specific product or offer- are built on this single foundation.
However,
identifying the core function of a digital sign is quite a bit easier than
actually executing that function. Why? Simply stated it is because digital
signs exist in a media milieu that inundates, saturates and dominates the
comings and goings of the public as it attends to its daily affairs. In other
words, a digital sign has to compete with hundreds of other messages bombarding
its audience throughout the day, cut through the noise and connect -even for
one brief moment- with its audience just to deliver a few bits of information.
Granted,
if that information is something a member of the intended audience is seeking
out -such as directions or information to confirm what's going on in a specific
conference room- making that connection will be much easier. But if the goal is
to promote or advertise a service or product that passersby are only mildly
interested in -or even worse- unaware of, making that connection to communicate
becomes a more difficult challenge.
Fortunately,
the tools and expertise to communicate with text, graphics, animation and video
are widely available, relatively affordable and well understood. With 60-plus
years of television under the nation's belt, both those imparting information
with video and those receiving that communication have a long track record of
communicating via TV.
Without
question, digital signs aren't television, but they're about as close as one
can get to TV without mounting an antenna to a tower and firing up a transmitter.
As a result, digital signage communicators can use the common elements digital
signs share with television to present their messages in a visual shorthand that
anyone who watches TV understands.
It is
worth mentioning, however, that the visual shorthand of television is in flux.
The old nearly square picture tube that dominated the living rooms of America
for the past six decades is giving way to the wider, clearer flat panel display
that's capturing a growing share of the home TV market. In fact, that latest
survey from Frank N. Magid Associates finds that 25 percent of U.S.
television households now own HDTVs. That's 28 million dwellings in the United States
where television viewing is done on a sharp, wide television screen.
The same
survey found that the pace at which younger adults -ages 21 to 34- are buying
HDTVs has quickened. It also found 28 percent of those buyers purchased an HDTV
to connect the high definition set to a game console, such as a Sony
PlayStation 3 or Microsoft Xbox 360.
The
growth of U.S.
HDTV households in general and the significant number of younger adults
connecting them to a game console speaks to other side of the digital signage
expectation equation: specifically what the digital signage audience expects.
Those
responsible for digital signage content must take into account that their
audience is developing an increasingly sophisticated visual appetite. Where
standard definition video was once the cost of admission into the video game,
high definition video will soon become the base line. Where organization of
content on a relatively square, relatively low-resolution screen dominated TV,
digital signage content increasingly will be organized into zones on a
high-resolution, rectangular screen.
And
finally, where rather artificial representations of reality once dominated TV animation, true-to-life-looking animated
elements are quickly becoming the norm. Given the Magid finding related to how
many young adults are buying HDTVs to connect to a game console coupled with
the stunning, life-like animation that's common in video games like Madden NFL
08 from EA Sports, it's clear the bar is being raised dramatically.
None of
this is to say that digital signage content producers must hirer teams of
digital cinematographers and 3-D artists. Rather, it's only a reminder of where
the visual tastes of digital signage audiences in this country are headed.
Keeping the viewer's expectations foremost in mind while creating digital
signage content is the first step to realizing the only reasonable expectation
a digital signage user can have: namely, to communicate.
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Written by David Little
Monday, 07 April 2008
New
flexible active matrix displays promise to change the shape of digital signage.
Research firm iSuppli boldly proclaimed last month
that 2008 will be known as the year flexible active matrix displays coalesced
into a global market.
According to the El Segundo, CA, -based market
research group, market for flexible displays worldwide will climb from $80
million last year to $2.8 billion by 2013 -a whopping 35-times increase.
Applications for the flexible displays will range
from the way-out-there clothes made out of wearable displays to more
conventional display applications like digital signs, electronic display cards
and digital shelf labels and end caps.
If you're not familiar with flexible active matrix
technology, here's what they are in a nutshell. After much research and
development, electronics giant Philips developed a technique for producing
super-thin, rollable active matrix (i.e. pixel addressable) display that can be
wrapped around objects --for example, a pillar in an airport concourse or a
human body in a shirt.
Just this month, a paper in a nanotechnology journal
laid out work of researchers at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN,
Northwestern University in Chicago and the University of Southern California
who had successfully developed the first nanowire transistor-based active
matrix display. The organic light emitting diode (OLED) display reportedly is
every bit as bright as a flat LCD screen or CRT but has the added benefit of
flexibility.
Think for a moment of the countless new applications
there will be for digital signage based on this sort of flexible display.
Architectural structures, such as pillars, supports and hand rails and even
entire buildings; vehicles, such as tractor trailers and automobiles; personal
items, such as apparel and umbrellas, all become potential homes for new
flexible digital signage. While some surely will fail as appropriate homes form
digital signage along the way, these sorts of applications are sure to
contribute to the 35-fold growth iSuppli envisions.
As this technology matures so to will its
performance characteristics. Tighter curves and smaller bends surely will
follow with successive generations of these flexible displays. That in turn
will lead to a whole new class of objects upon which the displays can be
mounted. Eventually, it might even be possible to wrap a flexible active matrix
display around a sphere to transform a ball into a globe displaying a computer
graphic representation of the Earth -complete with landmasses and oceans. Or,
21st century equivalents of sandwich-board men, could don
head-to-toe body wear to display unique promotions and ads. Imagine how that
approach could be used to advertise the popular, traveling museum exhibit of
plasticized human bodies.
As these applications unfold, there will be a need
to address the problem of mapping a two-dimensional image onto a 3-D surface.
Here too technology can conquer the challenge. Software applications, such as
X-WARP, exist today to correct for such geometric distortions. In fact, such
software is being used today to correct geometric distortions created by
projecting an image with a video projector onto oddly shaped objects.
However, for the time
being it's enough to know that 2008 will be the year flexible active-matrix
displays make it out of the lab and into the mainstream. If iSuppli is right,
it's entirely possible that before the end of this year we all will have
wrapped our heads around the notion that video, graphics and text no longer
must be confined to a flat display technology. Where that leads will only be
limited by our imaginations.
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Written by David Little
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
A new
report from research organization iSuppli identifies two significant hurdles it
says must be cleared before digital signage ad networks get respect among
advertisers and agencies. But maybe it's time to rethink the issue.
A new iSuppli report finds two significant obstacles
remain before digital signage advertising can takes its place among other bona
fide media buys by advertisers and ad agencies: a lack of variable audience measurement
techniques, and a quandary on the part of ad agencies about how to get paid for
placing digital signage ads.
The report, "Digital Signage Ecosystem
Report," by Sanju
Khatri, principal analyst for signage and professional displays for iSuppli, outlines the opportunities for
digital signage networks as well as the challenges that must be transcended
before they realize their potential.
In a press release promoting the study, iSuppli
identifies the problems and how they are related. According to the research
company, "advertising
agencies are very comfortable in the traditional arena of mass media and print
advertising, and are not compelled enough to insert digital signage into the
plans of their clients. More importantly, these agencies don't necessarily know
what their commission will be with digital signage."
iSuppli
goes on to explain that without an effective way to determine the number of
consumers being reached by digital signage networks there is "no effective
means" to show advertisers that the dollars they are spending on the medium are
reaping a quantifiable reward. In other words, determining the return an
advertiser can expect from an investment in advertising via digital signage
networks is currently impossible. This lack of a way to measure ROI impedes the
growth of the medium.
According
to iSuppli, those participating in the market have begun partnering with
organizations like Nielson, Arbitron and POPAI to develop metrics to make
determining ROI doable. However, there seems to be little agreement about what
exactly must be measured.
While the
lack of audience metrics and the difficulty ad agencies have in determining how
to get paid shouldn't be underestimated, there seems to be an overarching issue
at play here -one that if addressed could reshape the conversation. Specifically,
the entire notion of jamming the digital signage ad network medium into the box
used to define and sell other media -in particular television- seems a bit
misguided and stifling.
Granted,
there is an incredible temptation to lump TV and digital signage together.
After all, on the face of it -literally- they look identical. But the
differences quickly become apparent when you get past their physicality and
begin to consider much less superficial issues, such as how an audience
consumes messages each conveys, the types of information, entertainment and
commercials each display, where each physically resides and how much time
viewers spend with each.
Simply
attempting to count noses in an effort to support an ROI model built on the
60-plus year history of commercial television, seems to miss the point. Digital
signage advertising networks are a new, different medium. They deserve their
own unique formulas for determining ROI.
One
component of that equation has to be propensity of a digital signage ad network
"viewer" to actually buy something. Isn't a smaller audience with dollars in
its hands and a desire to buy something in the very near term more valuable to
advertisers than home after home of passive TV viewers who increasingly are
skipping through their commercials with a remote control and a DVR?
In terms
of the comfort level of ad agencies when it comes digital signage ad networks, who
cares? Look at what Google has done in a matter of a few short years to ad
buys. Single-handedly Google may have done more to call into question
advertising business as usual than anything that's happened in recent memory.
Perhaps
decisions about ads on digital signage networks would be better left to
corporate marketing folks with expertise in point-of-purchase promotional
displays. Certainly, that business resource has vast experience in determining
the ROI of promotional messaging at the point of purchase when compared to an
agency concerned about television.
To a certain
degree, digital signage ad networks may have themselves to blame for these
hurdles. Selling something new is often difficult, so it's understandable that
there's a powerful temptation to draw analogies with the familiar when making
their pitch to agencies. When it comes to digital signage and advertising
agencies, the familiar is naturally television. To extract itself from that
limiting, stifling box will require digital signage advertising networks to do
much more than address metrics and commissions. It will require taking control
of defining the medium as it's own, distinct entity and value.
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Written by David Little
Monday, 25 February 2008
New
high-gain screens make projection a practical solution for outdoor digital
signs.
In cities all across America, digital billboards are
springing up, bringing the benefits of instantly changeable digital graphics,
images and text, to a medium where advertising contracts were traditionally
sold for months or longer at a time.
As of January 2007, about 400 digital billboards populated
the U.S.
landscape, according to an article
in The New York Times. Quoting a
forecast from the Outdoor Advertising
Association of America, OAAA, the article reported that about 4,000 digital
billboards will be in use in 10 years.
A recent example of the use of a digital billboard
probably encapsulates the reason why they're so appealing better than a
10,000-word treatise on them ever could. Digital billboard operators in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque and Waterloo, Iowa, teamed up Jan. 3 to deliver news from the Iowa presidential
caucuses that was updated every seven to 10 minutes till the process was
complete and Senator Barak Obama and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
were declared the winners.
Having access to that sort of immediacy on such a scale in
the outdoor advertising arena was unthinkable a few short years ago. What that
translates to on a commercial basis is the same digital sign can be used to
advertise hundreds and hundreds of products in the same day -not the same
product for months on end.
To date, the dominant display technology responsible for
these digital billboards is a particularly bright, particularly responsive
light emitting diode -LED. Just as TVs -whether their LCD or plasma flat panels
or old-fashioned cathode ray tube televisions- make pictures based on tiny
discrete picture elements called pixels, light-emitting-diode-based billboards
rely on an array of LEDs to display text, graphics and video. (Video is a major
application in stadiums; it's more doubtful how useful or safe it would be if
the intention was to communicate with drivers zipping down the interstate at 70
miles per hour.)
While highly effective, large LED signs are quite
expensive and power-hungry. A Washington
Post article last spring quoted an executive with CBS Outdoor, one of the
three largest outdoor advertising companies in the world, as saying a
14-by-48-foot LED digital billboard costs about $450,000. With that sort of
price tag, it's easy to understand why the OAAA forecasts their number to grow
to only 4,000 in 10 years while there are about 450,000 billboards across America. It's
also not too hard to imagine that full-on, high-quality video-, text- and graphic-based
LED signage may be out of reach for literally hundreds of thousands of other
outdoor signage applications.
However, there is an alternative. New high-gain projection
screens, such as the XL-A-Vision screen from AccelerOptics in Carthage, Missouri,
have the ability to reject enough ambient light -even the intense noonday sun-
to make the use of video projectors a practical, affordable alternative.
Depending on the type of configuration specified, this approach to outdoor
digital signage can cost in the tens of thousands or dollars, not several
hundred thousand dollars as with the LED-based approach.
Recently, the first major outdoor application of an
XL-A-Vision screen went online in Grants
Pass, Oregon, where the developer of a
modern office complex installed a double-sided outdoor projection-based sign
based on the high-gain screen. The 10.5-by-15-foot sign, which the building's
owner has dubbed "The Paragon," offers all of the advantages one would expect
of a digital sign, including the opportunity for ad sales to offset the cost of
the display.
However, what really drives home the point of why this
approach to outdoor digital signage is significant is the fact that the
building's owner, Consolidated Financial, did not have the budget to pay for an
LED-based digital sign. If projection-based signage made possible by a
high-gain projection screen technology had not been available, the company
would have abandoned the idea of installing an outdoor digital signage.
While the number of digital billboards using
LED-technology will climb over the next 10 years, think of how many more
applications for outdoor digital signage will be enabled by this revolutionary,
affordable approach to projection screen technology. High-gain projection
screens, like those used for The Paragon, may have as big of an impact on the
outdoor advertising landscape -if not bigger- than LED-based approaches.
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