Digital Signage: New Poll Reveals Growing Importance Of Internet In Gathering Information

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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Digital Signage: Keep Your Content Fresh

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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Digital Signage: The Potential of Self-service Interactivity is Enormous

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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Digital Signage: Customize Marketing Campaigns Based On Consumer Interaction

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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Digital Signage: People Like Interactivity

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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Digital Signage: The Top 10 Pitfalls

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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Digital Signage: What Do You Expect? What Do They Expect?

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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Digital Signage: Wrap Your Head Around This - Flexible Displays!

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, 21^st 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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Digital Signage: Metrics, Human Nature Remain Final Obstacles to Success

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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Digital Signage: A New Approach to Outdoor Advertising

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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