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Why Digital Signage Content is King Part 1
Written by David Little   
Friday, 14 June 2013 13:59
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The digital signage industry borrows its favorite cliché from the media folks, which is: “Content is king.” Maybe we should ask at this point, if content is king, who is doing the coronation?

Dynamic Signage Viewers When I was a younger man, a college professor warned me against the use of clichés in my writing. The problem with clichés, he said, is that they are by definition “hackneyed” and “trite." Leave it to a professor to send me back to my dictionary to figure out what he was trying to say.

Being worn out, however, seems to be a matter of opinion. After all, how many people drive cars with more than 100,000 miles, especially in today’s economy? How many patch the knees of their kids’ blue jeans? Who discards a dull knife?

To me, clichés become clichés because they succinctly bundle a truth into a few memorable words, which become used to the point of exhaustion because they so aptly describe something. To “reinvent the wheel” with an original phrase might leave you “looking for a needle in a haystack,” requiring you to become “busier than a one-armed paperhanger” when a simple cliché would have conveyed your point without the fuss.

The kingship of content is easy to understand. If you want someone to read your newspaper, listen to your radio show, watch your TV program or look at your digital sign, you’d better give them a reason. That “tried and true” reason is content. It better be fresh; it better be interesting; it better serve your audience’s needs; and it better look just as professional as the competition’s presentation. And just as important, quality content must be presented in the proper context or otherwise interesting content becomes irrelevant.

Those who are successful in the media understand these truths instinctively. However, the same can’t be said for the digital signage universe. Sure, there are digital signage ad networks being put in place by media groups. Professionals in these groups understand the importance of content, but there is another vast group of digital signage users who aren’t professional communicators. They run independent retail stores, car lots, local restaurants, bars, and any one of a thousand other small enterprises. These people “first and foremost” are business people concerned with all of the things that got them to the level of success they’ve achieved so far. Adding digital signage adds another responsibility, the implications of which may not be fully understood.

Obviously, these small business owners are adding digital signage because they understand the importance of promoting their goods or services. But they likely don’t have the time, understanding or expertise to develop the content that fully exploits the potential of the digital signage medium.

For small business owners, this raises a critical question: If digital signage is king, who’s doing the coronation? In other words, how does a small business owner with limited resources create –or afford to hire someone to create- digital signage content that attracts the attention of viewers, holds their attention and influence the process of making a purchasing decision? How do they make their content king?

While there’s no simple answer that meets the needs of all small business owners, there are some straightforward, logical steps to make clear, effective, professional digital signage content possible. I’ll review this summer some of those steps to help small business owners put together the messaging they envision for their digital signs. Till then, at the risk of using another cliché, “stay tuned.”





About the author:
David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:

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How Digital Tablets Can Help Your Business Work Smarter
Written by David Little   
Tuesday, 07 May 2013 09:51
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Digital Door SignAdding up current 2013 gross shipments of digital tablets from all manufactures, the tablet market has quickly grown to be about the same size as the currently shrinking PC market. The tablet market is also witnessing rapid growth of desirable performance, useful features and handy apps, yet pricing remains attractive. This is potentially good news for businesses that are looking to fulfill their agendas with these practical devices for digital signage.

Many short or long term business objectives can be achieved using digital signage applications, which properly programmed, can bring greater efficiency, enhanced customer experience and potential cost savings for

  • restaurant menus and ordering
  • conference room management
  • interactive kiosks in retail or service centers
  • POS signage
  • shelf talkers

Sam Ruggles, business solutions manager for an Android-powered digital door sign system, recently noted, “A key benefit of using digital tablets for door signs comes from the reduction of labor redundancies by automatically updating and displaying event and scheduling information using existing data.”

Ruggles makes reference to the networkability of digital tablets. Networkability provides access to databases of popular event management software (EMS) programs, such as, Microsoft Exchange Server/Outlook, Dean Evans EMS or MICROS Opera PMS, which gives digital tablets an instant source of vital event information to display at key locations for conference, meeting and training rooms—all automatically. This minimizes scheduling conflicts and participant confusion, empowering staff to do their jobs with greater effectiveness without putting more effort into it.

Just as we see with any digital device, there are a myriad of options and features that may or may not be useful in a business setting. That’s why it is important to consider selecting first a digital tablet vendor before splurging and buying a zillion units that may not fit your application.

A business should look for a vendor that is skilled at creating either Android or iOS apps that can be designed and customized to meet specific needs. Moreover, this vendor should know how to properly network the device, and if necessary, write coding to achieve system integration. This is a vital key to making digital tablets work smarter for your business.

Besides expert programming to interface tablets to existing databases, EMS, PMS and POS systems, a valued tablet vendor can also provide mounting devices that keep the digital tablets secured in a public environment. These mounting devices can secure tablets on walls, shelves, counters, and most recently, on stand-alone pedestals that create quasi-kiosk applications.

Another value-add from a competent vendor would involve the selection process for tablet hardware that best suits the needs of your business. Some tablets come with nifty ports that can enable system installers to plug in P-o-E (Power-over-Ethernet) to simplify the installation. Other useful features may include high resolutions screens and mini USB ports. Some features like cameras and docks, which are handy for consumers, only add cost and weight for business applications that may not require these features.

The fact is, there are endless ways digital tablets can help fulfill business agendas. The key to making this product work for you is finding a vendor that scales to your needs, has the expertise to program custom apps, and can properly integrate the hardware into a system for a winning solution.


About the author:

David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:
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Why Content Engagement Matters To Your Digital Signage Strategy
Written by David Little   
Friday, 22 March 2013 08:54
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Much has been said of the benefits digital signage offers marketers, but don’t forget the personal context in which digital signage viewers will likely see your message.

Consumer Engagement at the point of saleSuccessful marketers know their ads exist in a context that enhances the value of their message to consumers. For instance, a billboard lets Interstate drivers know a gas station is at the next exit. Or, a print ad for the latest smartphone runs in a magazine with a focus on high-tech gadgets. Even the nightly news has commercials relevant to its audience. Who doesn’t need an antacid or hemorrhoid relief after plugging into the latest news?

The same is true for successful digital signage ads. To succeed for the marketer, digital signage ads and messages must deliver value to the consumer. A freely available white paper from DigitalSignageToday.com entitled, “Key Ingredients For a Successful Digital Signage Campaign,” sheds light on putting together a digital signage network that delivers a value proposition for consumers.

According to the white paper, a successful digital signage network combines five key elements to convey clear messages to consumers and keep them entertained. To this end, digital signage captures the attention of consumers and focuses it on product features, specials, or some sort of infotainment that adds to the brand experience. So, by delivering an appealing message at the point of purchase to customizing a marketing message for a specific place and time, digital signage offers significant benefits to marketers and retailers. But a solid digital communication strategy only starts here.

For the growing medium to flourish, marketers would do well to deliver on the value proposition of digital signage for consumers: make their shopping experience better than it would have been without the presence of the digital signs.

One way to make the shopping experience better is to allow consumers to change the content of the digital sign. How so? Simply by giving customers choices in what kind of content they want to see on the screen, which is what interactive digital signage is all about. This enables the context of advertising, product information or infotainment to be personalized according to one’s whims.

In a recent article, A lesson from the agencies: creating successful DOOH content, published by OutputMagazine.com, author Geny Caloisi highlights several examples of how important engaging content is to a more meaningful consumer experience.

The article quotes Sophie Burke of Zoom Media, who says, “…the majority of truly successful and innovative media campaigns involve an element of spontaneity - whether it's copy which can be adapted dynamically based on real-time data, or an interactive component which allows the consumer to get involved."

Additionally, the article quotes Nick Mawditt, global director of insight and marketing at Kinetic, a UK-based digital-out-of-home media company, who suggests that physical interactions are more useful than the more hyped gesture interaction. Mawditt relates, "If you touch a screen, you are engaging in a more personal and private level, even if it's in a public space. With gesture, the engagement is brief and people can feel self-conscious."

So there you have it in a nut shell; in the same way that mobile and Internet media benefits from relevant interactive media, digital signage campaigns can benefit by adding interactions of many kinds, which lead to a better, more helpful, or at least a more personalized experience. This is why engaging content matters to a digital communication strategy and why you should consider trying it on your next digital signage campaign.


About the author:
David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:
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How Digital Signage Advertising Can Influence Your Customer More Effectively
Written by David Little   
Thursday, 31 January 2013 14:47
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Consumers have changed their diet of media consumption. If you haven’t updated your media mix in the last few years, your advertising dollars are being wasted.

Happy with the results from your TV, radio and print advertising? Ever feel like you aren’t getting the bang for the buck you envisioned?

Maybe it’s time to rethink your media mix. The concept of an advertising media mix is straightforward: Since no one magazine, newspaper, website, or broadcast outlet is likely to zero in on your target customer, choosing a variety of media based upon their ability to reach your desired demographic is more effective.

At leading advertising agencies, building the right media mix has become a near science where days untold time is spent honing, polishing and refining media selections to create a mix with sufficient reach and frequency to deliver. Gaining a thorough understanding of their client’s product and universe of customers, analyzing ratings data and circulation statements, and weighing certain intangible benefits each media candidate brings to the table, are but a few of the steps necessary to build the right media mix.

While the process has proven itself to be highly effective over the years, changes in technology that give consumers greater freedom to control media consumption demand new solutions and a rethinking of what goes into an effective media mix. Armed with remotes and digital video recorders, TV viewers easily circumvent commercials. Newspaper and magazine readers are now just a click away from the same content on the Web sans the full- or fractional-page ad adjacent to the article they used to pore over on the printed page. In effect, technology is short circuiting the rather simple media equation that implicitly promised advertisers the attention of customers as they consumed the content their medium had to offer.

Consider the impact of digital video recorders and remotes on the effectiveness of television advertising. A Nov. 13, 2012 AP article in USA Today reports that an estimated 45 percent of all households in the United States are equipped with digital video recorders (DVRs). If that weren’t enough to give pause to TV advertisers, another article from the New York Times reports that estimates hold “that 50 percent to 70 percent of viewers playing back shows zip through the commercials.”

The story isn’t any better in the print world.  “The State of the News Media 2012” from stateofthemedia.org puts it bluntly: “News websites saw the greatest growth, while print audiences stood out for their continued decline, which nearly matched the previous year’s 5% drop.”

We might ask at this point if Americans have lost their stomach for news digestion, or have they simply changed their diet? A Pew Research report states that the later is the case. For example, the transition to a full-on digital diet is changing consumption patterns dramatically. More than three-quarters of US adults own a computer. Additionally, about 44% now use smartphones and tablet adoption among adults is hovering around 18%. According to PEJ research, nearly one quarter of the US population gets its news on multiple digital devices. In other words, our digital diet has become a full-course meal.

However, there is a bright spot on the horizon if you have something to advertise, especially for those who are willing to rethink what makes up the media mix. An emerging technology that brings together dynamic display and media control at the point of purchase may be just the ingredient advertisers need to reinvigorate their media mix.

This dynamic medium is referred to most often as digital signage by the industry; however, it goes by different names. In the retail environment, it’s called In-Store Digital Media (ISDM). At hotels and resorts, it’s known as digital reader boards. In public venues, like a sports arena, it’s often called “TV” if the screen is small and “Jumbotron” if it’s large. But regardless of what you call it, advertising to people when they’re away from home, -often at the point of sale or somewhere close to the product- is where you may find the most bang for your advertising buck.

“Digital signage is the next evolution of multiplatform advertising,” according to Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer with MultiMedia Intelligence. “The integration of IP-based network management allows entire screen deployments to be centrally controlled, allowing for dynamic and simultaneous control of text, video and graphics.”

And it’s not just about advertising. Digital signage advertising adds value by providing additional information that interests consumers; it can enhance retail ambiance, provide interactive experiences that engage shoppers and provide a better experience.

Maybe it’s time you rethink your media mix alternatives. This may be the moment to redirect a portion of your advertising budget away from declining media mainstays and into alternatives on the rise, like digital signage.

About the author:
David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:
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-Newsletter
-Digital Signage News

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Why The Digital Signage Industry Will Grow In 2013
Written by David Little   
Wednesday, 07 November 2012 14:16
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As I peek at 2013 coming just around the corner, I cannot help but notice how downward price pressures are intersecting with demand and driving digital signage market growth. As many benefits continue to be realized, I believe some are more important than others and point to what we can expect in the coming year.

Digital Signage is Everywhere As in any tech-fueled market, reducing cost while increasing efficiency are major factors that come into play when talking about market growth. This fact is highlighted by realizing that digital signage fits well into the corporate mantra of “doing more with less.”

With digital signage, doing more with less is certainly one of the big benefits. And with noticeable price reductions in 2012 that are certain to continue in 2013, I concur with recent reports from IHS iSuppli, Platt Retail Institute and others who believe the demand will continue to build at a healthy pace.

Price reductions are being realized in every area of digital signage. For example, as hardware is getting more specialized for media playback on consumer-type products that are mass produced for a worldwide market, the digital signage industry either directly or indirectly benefits from the use of this mobile and media-centric technologies that have a considerable scale of economy in production. This scale of economy is being reflected in today’s prices of media players and displays used for digital signage. Even on the software side, the use of Linux and the recent emergence of Android on media players leads the way to extremely low cost albeit more basic offerings, putting a small turnkey system at about the same price as taking the family out for a nice dinner.

The most cited benefit of digital signage is to place information anywhere it needs to be updated often—automatically through an existing IT network—increasing workplace efficiencies by reducing time-consuming micro tasking of personnel who can now be reassigned to less redundant activities. The added benefits to the workplace doesn’t just save time and labor, it also increases the effectiveness of communicating, making digital signage a win-win proposition for both managers and consumers.

You don’t need a psychology degree to understand moving images are more appealing to one’s eye than static images. Combine this with media designed for a certain demographic and then scheduled to playout accordingly at the right place and time, now the effectiveness of the medium increases exponentially.

I believe we’re now at the tipping point where digital signage is no longer a nice to have but more like a got to have, e.g., “By using digital signage I get more bang for my buck by reducing production cost upwards of 50%. And this efficiency increases the more I choose to update my message.” Simply put, digital signage today just makes good business sense on many levels.

So what’s the bottom line for 2013? Well…the bottom line. Communicators using digital signage are better informed and more experienced today, which equips them to make wiser business decisions that are based on ROI or ROO, and this will drive the future of digital signage in 2013.

About the author:

David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:
-Digital Signage Blog
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Digital Signage Application: Summer Lull Offers Opportunity to Evaluate Emergency Communications Plans
Written by David Little   
Friday, 10 August 2012 10:05

Changes to the nation’s emergency communications infrastructure offer authorities a way to reach out to people on their cell phones, but digital signs remains a vitally important part of the mix.

Digital Signage Can Save Lives When Used for EASSummer is the time for fun, sun and relaxation. It’s also a good time to pause and think for a moment about the emergency messaging system your company, school, governmental agency or institution has set up to warn workers and visitors of possible danger.

Why contemplate trouble during such a carefree season? Simple, the summer lull gives many people a bit of a break from the volume of work they deal with the rest of the year.  Emergency messaging needs also become top of mind simply because of the number of severe thunderstorms and tornados that strike during the summer.

This summer in particular is a great time to reevaluate emergency messaging because of the work being done by the government and industries, such as the wireless and broadcast industries, to modernize the Emergency Alert System so agencies like National Weather Service and even state governors and the President of the United States can reach out to individuals’ cell phones and other mobile receivers to deliver vital information in a crisis.

With these improvements to the nation’s Emergency Alert System, one may wonder why digital signage should be added as a medium to convey emergency messages. In other words, if someone’s cell phone is going to warn them of imminent danger from a violent storm, what role is there for digital signage?

It appears there are at least three very good reasons that digital signage continues to play an important role in conveying emergency warnings. First, while many people have cell phones, laptops and tablets, there’s no guarantee that they will have them with them when an alert is issued. In fact, some people may work in a setting where they are required to turn off their cell phones and may not even be able to access them at all in stricter work environments.

Second, while cell phone coverage continues to expand, there remain many places where service is intermittent or non-existent. For example, some National Parks continue to have spotty cell coverage. Those visiting a lodge may not have access to their cellular provider but could see warnings of a wildfire along with instructions of what to do on digital signs located around the lobby.

Third, digital signs give enterprises the opportunity to target specific warnings at a targeted group of people. For instances, while a national EAS system that reaches out to individual cell phones might be great at warning people of an imminent terrorist threat, what is the likelihood that it will be used to communicate to 20,000 students and faculty in a particular university campus that there is school shooter outside their building? Digital signage, however, can be used to deliver the precise warning required to that group of students and faculty.

Digital signage will continue for the foreseeable future to play an important role in disseminating emergency messages to the public. Why let another summer go by without reevaluating how your enterprise will communicate to employees and patrons in the event of an emergency? And as you consider the options, remember that adding digital signage to the mix could mean the difference between life and death.

About the author:
David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:
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Digital Signage Wallpaper
Written by David Little   
Thursday, 28 June 2012 13:06

The latest Keywest Technology wallpaper alludes to the fact that digital signage can be found anywhere! Feel free to download and share.

Digital Signage Wallpaper

 
Digital Signage Advertising Hits Its Stride
Written by David Little   
Friday, 15 June 2012 14:47

The latest data from PQ Media reveal 2011 was a good year for digital out-of-home advertising, and 2012 is on track to be even better.

Move over Max, digital signage advertising is here to stayWhile stock markets around the world retrace, the financial picture of Greece and Spain flounders and the world holds its collective breath waiting to see if there’ll be an attack on Iran and a spike in oil prices, there is a piece of outstanding economic news for those involved in the place-based digital media market.

2011 was a great year for digital out-of-home advertising, and this year is setting up to be even better. Data from PQ Media released in April show that global digital place-based networks, billboards and signage operators saw revenue grow by 15.3 percent to $6.97 billion last year. This year, the revenue figure is projected to be even better, growing 19.2 percent.

In the United States, DOOH operator revenue climbed by 11.2 percent last year. According to PQ Media, an econometric research and consulting service in Stamford, CT, digital billboard operators saw double-digit revenue growth and operators of place-based networks saw a high single-digital rate of growth.

According to the PQ Media “Global Digital Out-of-Home Media Forecast 2012-16,” the compound annual global growth rate for the five year period will be 13.7 percent. Much of the revenue growth appears tied to a recognition of how important it is to reach consumers outside the home where they make purchases. "While TV remains the 800-pound gorilla of ad-based media due to its reach, scarcity and measurement, DPNs (digital place-based networks) offer brands opportunities to extend their reach by engaging target consumers with contextually relevant content in venues outside the home," said PQ Media CEO Patrick Quinn.

Digital signage networks were one of the fastest-growing ad-based media in the United States last year. While PQ Media acknowledged a deceleration in the rate of growth in the second half of 2011 due to cyclical economic events, it found digital place-based networks experienced a revenue increase of 10.7 percent from 2006 to 2011.

According to PQ Media, digital place-based networks are likely to benefit indirectly from the Summer Olympics in London and the U.S. political campaign this fall. Both traditionally inject significant revenue into local television stations as well as cable and broadcast networks. This time around, however, PQ Media foresees a scarcity of TV inventory. As a result, major brands squeezed off television could be forced to consider other video platforms, such as digital place-based networks, said Quinn.

The latest revenue tally from PQ Media is another in a growing string of positive developments over the past couple of years for the digital signage industry. Together, they wins demonstrate that digital placed-based media is a viable and being taken seriously by companies with products to sell and the advertising agencies they hire.

The growing availability of audience metrics for digital place-based media is adding a sense of legitimacy about this new medium for those who control where ad dollars get spent. The PQ Media ad revenue numbers, therefore, shouldn’t be too surprising.

Going forward, the next big test for this medium will likely be whether or not those responsible for buying ads will reallocate dollars from television to digital place-based media.

With the possibility of too few available commercial slots on TV in the second half of the year, there might be a hint as to whether digital place-based media can begin taking on the “800-pound gorilla” and winning.

About the author:
David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:
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www.hypersmash.com

 
New Data Reveals Impulse Buying To Be Important Element Of Shopping Behavior
Written by David Little   
Friday, 01 June 2012 13:14

Digital signs give retailers a powerful way to communicate with retail shoppers as they act out on their impulses to buy unplanned-for items.

Retail Digital SignageIf there were ever a question about whether or not it makes sense to communicate with customers via digital signs in retail stores, a new survey from the Integer Group and M/A/R/C should leave no doubt.

According to The Checkout, an ongoing shopper behavior survey, nine out of 10 shoppers report buying an item not on their shopping list. The research reveals several reasons why. Sixty-six percent of respondents reported buying off-list items because of a special sale or promotion; 30 percent said they did so because of a coupon offer; and 23 percent said they wanted to pamper themselves.

Digital signs are a great vehicle for retailers to tap into the opportunity this consumer behavior presents. They are a natural when it comes to presenting special promotions. Ditto for coupons. They can be tied into coupon-dispensers or used to display virtual coupons based on QR codes that can be photographed with a mobile phone camera and displayed at the checkout stand. And they certainly are a powerful medium when it comes to presenting products in their best possible light to tap into the desire by many shoppers to pamper themselves.

Craig Elston, senior vice president with Integer summed it up this way: "Our data shows 61 percent of off-list shoppers purchase an additional one to three items. This shows that if you reach a particular shopper at the right moment with the right message --for example, using in-store signage to play into their desire to pamper themselves, it can end with that item being added to their basket."

For retailers, this sort of data is critically important as they evaluate their marketing budgets and make decisions about the return they can expect for their investment in digital signage technology. Without data on consumer buying behavior and how many more items shoppers are likely to buy, calculating an ROI equation of digital signage becomes an exercise focused on identifying costs of competing alternatives and determining which is the most attractive.

With findings like those presented in the latest Integer Group- M/A/R/C research, it is possible to add an evaluation of potential added revenue to the mix. It would be helpful in future studies if these researchers or others could compare the effectiveness of competing signage solutions, i.e. traditional printed signage, Duratrans backlit signs, digital signage and others. Insight into the average dollar value of additional items purchased would be helpful as well.

Even without that data, however, it's not a stretch to say that all things being equal, digital signage should produce the most attractive ROI in retail. After all, it is more responsive to changing messaging needs, is less expensive to use in terms of updating messages, and can be centrally controlled with local input to provide messaging consistency across retail chain locations while still offering an avenue for individual stores to respond to local needs.

The new Integer-M/A/R/C data should motivate retailers to re-examine how they are informing, educating and enticing consumers at the point of purchase. If dynamic messaging on digital signs in retail isn’t part of the mix, retailers should reevaluate their approach to maximize their presence at the point where shoppers reach into their back pockets or purses and act on their impulse to buy.

About the author:
David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate their unique marketing messages. For many more helpful digital signage tips, examples and solutions, keep in touch with Keywest Technology:
-Digital Signage Blog
-LinkedIN
-Twitter
-Newsletter
-Digital Signage News

 
Smartphones, Tablets are Likely to Impact Direction of Future Digital Signage
Written by David Little   
Friday, 27 April 2012 13:41

SignWave by Keywest TechnologySmartphones and tablets present digital signage with new opportunities to evolve.

The broad adoption by consumers of media tablets and smartphones, such as the Apple iPad and iPhone, is certain to impact digital signage in ways that today aren’t fully imaginable.

However, there are a few important data points about these devices that offer a clue as to what some of the effects will be and their potential magnitude.

First, the number of media tablets and smartphones in use is staggering. In the two years since they have become available, 55 million iPads have reached consumers’ hands. IHS iSuppli forecasts 275 million tablets worldwide (all tablets, not just iPads) will be sold by 2015. At home in America, 65 percent of the population, some 200 million, will have smartphones and/or tablets by 2015, an In-Stat study says.

Those numbers mean that whatever the ultimate impact will be of these devices on digital signage, it’s bound to be huge.

Second, these devices are changing how people like to interact with technology. Multi-touch screens, a critical component of the success of tablets and smartphones, will likely become an important component of some digital signage applications, too. After all, people by the millions are being trained by their devices on how to interact with screens.

Soon the desire to have multi-touch will shift from a want to an expectation in the minds of consumers who access information via a screen. This naturally will carry over to digital signage, particularly hybrid digital signage used in interactive kiosk applications.

It’s worth noting that the popularity of multi-touch is nearly overwhelming –literally. In late March, IHS iSuppli reported that the “runaway success” of the iPad and iPhone has created a boom in the shipment of touch screen display. That in turn will cause the market for the silicon that makes multi-touch possible to nearly triple in size over the next five years –from 865 million touch screen controller integrated circuits in 2010 to 2.4 billion in 2015.

Smartphones and tablets also will likely affect digital signage by giving this emerging communications medium a way to reach out to consumers in the proximity of a digital sign and wirelessly deliver information, coupons and QR codes. With so many smartphones and tablets in the hands of consumers, doing so seems like a natural way for marketers and other communicators to extend the digital signage experience beyond the public square and into the purses and pockets of the general public.

To be sure, my crystal ball is as clear as the next fellow’s. But it seems to me you don’t need to be Nostradamus to look a little bit down the road and see that smartphones and tablets will play an increasingly important role in the direction of digital signage.

While predicting exactly how these new devices will shape future digital signage developments is impossible to say, it is certain that digital signage vendors and the people who communicate with these signs will be hard at work seeking to find ways to benefit from the swelling ranks of their users.

David Little is a charter member of the Digital Screenmedia Association with 20 years of experience helping professionals use technology to effectively communicate. For further digital signage insight from Keywest Technology, visit our website for many helpful tips and examples. For more in-depth research from Keywest Technology, download our free digital signage white papers and case studies.

 
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