Digital Signage: Facing The Challenges Of 2009 Head On

With no apparent break in the economic storm clouds, a 2009 forecast with a silver lining is overdue.

Many people and businesses are entering 2009 with a healthy dose of trepidation about what lies ahead --and with good reason.

Billions upon billions have been pumped into the financial system to keep banks afloat. The nation’s auto industry is on its knees, pleading for government loans. New and existing home sales are tanking. Foreclosures continue to rise. The number of people unemployed is mounting. The list goes on and on. No wonder many get that gnawing feeling in the pit of their stomachs when they consider what the new year will bring.

But before you hit the panic button, consider this: even in declining markets and times of economic contraction, opportunities exist to survive and thrive. While it’s beyond the scope of this space to discuss all of the ways a business might go about this, it does seem like a good time to reiterate that advertising, promotion and marketing are not luxuries that are easily dispensed when times get tough. Rather, they are essential components of surviving and even increasing market share while competitors succumb to a slowing economy.

Even in a severe recession, there is economic activity. People continue to buy and sell, albeit to a lesser degree than during an expansion. The question for business really is how to best spend limited marketing, promotional and advertising dollars to achieve the greatest return on investment. Note that during economic recession this question isn’t really much different than it is during an expansion. The difference lies in the added importance on answering the question in a way that reflects the realities of how consumers change their behavior in response to the tougher economic environment.

Over the past few years, digital signage has established itself as a viable alternative to traditional forms of advertising and promotion. Digital signage has distinguished itself as the only medium to offer dynamic messaging that reaches consumers when they are making purchasing decisions. During a recession, this presence at the point of sale along with three other advantages –immediacy, responsiveness and economy- make digital signage a critical tool to help businesses succeed.

When it comes to in-store immediacy, digital signage cannot be beat. Printed signs, banners and point-of-sale displays require relatively long production times. Add to that the time needed to coordinate special offers from suppliers with these sorts of promotional materials and the time from concept to fruition extends further. Digital signs, on the other hand, offer the ability to respond immediately with messaging appropriate to special offers, unexpected new merchandise that shows up on the loading dock and corporate decisions to offer sales on items that somehow don’t get communicated to sales floor managers. During a recession, the ability to respond immediately with appropriate messaging keeps managers and shopkeepers nimble, which can translate into sales that otherwise might be delayed and ultimately lost.

Such nimbleness is at the core of being responsive to changing conditions in the marketplace, allowing retailers to promote new pricing, new offers and new specials. But this responsiveness isn’t limited to these types of circumstances. Digital signs can also meet the individual consumer’s need for specific information by fulfilling a dual role as a digital sign and an interactive kiosk. For example, a digital sign playing back linear promotional content, can be interrupted with a simple touch or via a signal from a pressure-sensitive or photo-electric sensor to switch into an interactive mode, offering consumers a way to find the information they require and facilitate the sales process.

Finally, consider the economy digital signage brings to messaging. No one would argue that a flat panel display and digital signage controller costs less than a single printed sign. However, consider how many signs must be printed in a year in addition to the labor involved in replacing old signs with the new, and the economic equation begins to shift. In my experience, it is not uncommon for many organizations that frequently update their printed signs to reach a break-even point with their investment in digital signage within a year’s time.

So while 2009 promises to see the recession continue and potentially deepen, there can be a silver lining in these economic storm clouds for those individuals and business that can adapt and take advantage of opportunities when they are presented. One tool essential to doing so is improving the effectiveness of promotions, marketing messages and ads. Digital signage offers a powerful means to do just that.

Syndicate David's articles

Digital Signage: Goals Define Successful Measurement

Success is within your grasp with digital signage if you know precisely what you wish to accomplish.

Perhaps you've read a few interesting articles about digital signage and have the notion that getting your message out with this exciting technology is a great idea. Or, maybe you work for an organization where a key manager has done the same thing, except that manager is delegating the responsibility to you.

If so, may I offer a bit of advice? Know the precise purpose of your digital sign or network of signs. It's tough to state this anymore bluntly: You will waste thousands of precious dollars, hundreds of hours of unproductive work time and aggravate managers, co-workers and even yourself, unless you have an exact, clear understanding of what you wish to accomplish with this new communications tool.

It's not good enough to "sort of" have a goal. You must know up front -before you ever spend a dime, take the time of your co-workers asking for help, or even pick up the phone to call a digital signage vendor- what it is that you wish to accomplish. My reason for feeling so strongly about this advice is simple. Success with digital signage will only come to those who can recognize it.

Without understanding precisely what you wish to accomplish, you will never be able to judge how well your sign is performing. Increasing sales, raising awareness, communicating effectively, improving your organization's image are all fine goals as far as they go. But they aren't specific enough.

Why? Because without quantifying these goals, without measuring the status quo pre-digital sign -whether it's sales volume, profitability, consumer perception, level of knowledge- and without measuring the results post digital signage installation, you'll never know whether your individual digital sign or network of digital signs network has achieved its purpose.

Once you've identified your goals, write them down. Schedule a meeting with your management team and discuss these written goals. Ask for management's input in further honing these goals down to a sharp edge. By involving management in this early phase before a single monitor is purchased or a single cable run, you are getting them to invest themselves in the success of this project. Be sure to have your management sign off on the specific goals you jointly identify.

Doing should insulate you from misunderstandings about the nature, purpose and value of the digital signage installation down the road. However, let's be clear. Management isn't signing off on achieving these goals. That's your job. It's simply confirming in writing that these are the goals for the project so you have a quantifiable, measurable goal to achieve.   

Digital signage is a powerful communications medium. It can inform, brand, sell, educate and entertain. It can attract attention, build interest, brand a product, explain a concept and even give people a reason to stop what they're dong and pay attention. In fact, digital signage literally can do hundreds and hundreds of different things. But the one thing it cannot do is succeed without a clear understanding up front about what defines success.

If you are seriously considering adding a digital sign to your organization, the first step is defining your goals. Doing so will make it possible for you and your new digital signage system to succeed.

Syndicate David's articles

Digital Signage: Opportunity In The Face Of Recession

A downturn in economic activity demands marketers re-evaluate how they use their resources to maximize return on investment.

It often seems that everywhere you turn the latest economic report shows  weakening: higher home foreclosure rates, a teetering financial system, government bailouts, lower gross domestic product, the list goes on and on.

However, a new report focused on digital signage shows robust growth in the number of displays sold in 2008 for use as digital signs and predicts that while the market may hit a rough spot next year, significant growth will return in 2010 and beyond.

Despite an economic cold wind this year, the digital signage market has remained strong and is due to grow with 1.1 million new displays being put to use in signage applications, a 34 percent increase in display unit growth from last year, according to the study from MultiMedia Intelligence.

The Scottsdale, AZ,-based market research firm forecasts that by 2012 the digital signage market will account for the use of nearly 2.3 million digital displays. The report, "Network Digital Signage: Infrastructure, Displays, Software and Technology," contends the effects of the global economic downturn will sap the growth in new digital signage hardware deployments next year, but will resume a robust growth rate in 2010, turning in a double-digit increase.

While the report and the general economy point to tougher times next year, this should not be a signal for marketers to panic. Rather, times like these demand re-evaluation of marketing strategies, tactics and budgets because it's likely that old communications methods will no longer the right solution for today's economic reality.

Digital signage is likely to fare much better than traditional media during this re-examination for three reasons. First, digital signage gives marketers the opportunity to reach consumers at or very near the point of sale. When and where shoppers are most likely to make a purchasing decision, digital signage can be there to influence the buying decision. That fact alone makes digital signage an attractive alternative to traditional media.

Second, digital signage can reduce expense and increase market responsiveness. Rather than making recurring purchases of printing services, digital signs can be updated with a few keystrokes. A closely related, added benefit is that by relying on digital signage rather than print, marketers can be far more responsive to changing consumer desires and tap into those trends long before it would be possible to print, distribute and display a traditional sign.

Third, a slowing economy is likely to make digital signage systems and networks less expensive to deploy. If consumers pull back on spending next year, display manufacturers that have been ramping up capacity to anticipated strong consumer demand for high definition televisions may find themselves exposed with excess capacity and product. Responding with lower unit prices will make deploying flat panels in digital signage applications less expensive.

For marketers facing a downturn in the economy, digital signage offers an opportunity to be more effective with their messaging -reaching shoppers where they make their purchases-and with their media budgets. A contracting economy should concentrate the minds and efforts of marketers on how they achieve their communications goals with limited resources, and there's no better way to that than with digital signage.

Syndicate David's articles

Digital Signage: Why Digital Signs Are Important

Digital signage is emerging as an important new communications medium. Here's a look at the basics of why that's so.

Often in this space, I explore a small slice of digital signage development, such as the role of digital signage in meeting the evolving media appetites of people; the ability of digital signs to blend the functions of traditional signs with the interactive aspects of digital kiosks; or the potential of digital signage to command an increasingly larger slice of the media budget of marketers.

While those are important topics, this month I want to get back to the basics of digital signage -specifically why should professional communicators turn to digital signage to convey their important messages? Actually, there are several reasons, including:

-To increase a company's visibility. One of the biggest problems retailers have when it comes to self-promotion is cutting through all of the marketing noise generated by every other business -be it on radio or TV, in newspapers and magazines or from competing store front signs. Digital signage can cut through those distractions by attracting and directing the attention of the most important potential buyers of all -those in a store who are ready to spend money on a purchase.

-To help solidify relationships with customers and vendors. Consider an auto dealership waiting room with customers seated waiting for their cars to be fixed. With well-positioned digital signage messaging -as opposed to an ordinary TV displaying a cable news channel- the dealership can promote special offers aimed at its captive digital signage audience as a reward for choosing to do business with the dealership. Or, in a corporate setting, a digital sign in the lobby can be used to welcome scheduled vendors, guests and other visitors as they arrive -a simple move that builds goodwill.

-To deliver critical information more efficiently. In times of emergency, an existing digital signage network can be a lifesaver, providing critically important messages alerting employees, customers and other patrons of exit locations, storm shelters and other vital information.

-To save time. Preparing a static, printed sign is labor-intensive, expensive and time-consuming. The same message can be created and displayed far more quickly with a digital sign. Add to that the recurring expense of printing new signs as needs change versus simply updating a digital sign with a few keystrokes and it doesn't take long to begin earning a tidy ROI from a digital sign.

-To attract greater attention than is possible with static, printed signs. The other drawback of print is that it is static. Human brains are programmed for motion. Our eyes are automatically drawn to moving objects. Digital signs displaying full of motion video are dynamic not static. They tap into something that is innately human to demand attention and hold it.

-To increase the efficiency of employees. Imagine a small industrial plant where management wants to communicate vital information to hundreds of workers. Perhaps it's production quotas vs. actual performance; perhaps it's mean time between accidental employee injuries; perhaps it's delivery information regarding vital components that are en route. In all of these instances -and others too numerous to recount here- digital signage has the ability to convey important information to a workforce that is vital to employees maintaining a safe, efficient environment.

There you have it -several reasons why digital signage is an important, effective communications alternative that professional communicators cannot ignore. Sometimes it's good to get back to basics.

Digital Signage...
1) Can increase your company's visibility,
2) Can help solidify your customer and vendor relationships,
3) Can deliver critical information more efficiently,
4) Saves time,
5) Attracts attention better than static signs,
6) Can increase the efficiency of your employees.
 
And, digital signage can be less expensive than what you are already using.
 
What do you think?

Syndicate David's articles

Digital Signage: Let IT do it - no way!

If you truly want your organization to succeed with digital signage, ignore the do-it-yourself instinct of some IT professionals and focus all of the individuals in your company on their core competencies.

The other day I walked into a large national retail store, which I am choosing not to identify, and there in all of its glory was the retailer’s implementation of a digital signage system.

Unfortunately, the digital sign wasn’t doing much other than occupying precious wall space. I shook my head knowingly, did my business at the store and left thinking back about the history of that retailer’s network of digital signs. You see, I know a few things about it because my company nearly won the contract to install hundreds of digital signs and digital signage network servers at this company’s retail locations around the country.

In a nutshell, what happened is this retailer’s IT department learned that their co-workers in the marketing department were about to sign an agreement for a large digital signage installation. That was all it took to derail the deal, and sadly the potential for digital signage to help the marketers at this retailer achieve their communications goals.

What would have taken a few months and a few dollars turned into agonizing delays, systems that didn’t perform as IT promised and most importantly years of lost opportunities to communicate with customers, which continue to this very day. Why? It’s all because of the IT department’s knee-jerk reaction to get territorial and take on the project rather than turning to proven expertise.

Please understand, I am not relaying this story as an exercise in sour grapes. Nor am I recounting it to tout my company’s digital signage products. I am telling this story to help you identify and avoid a major trap before it happens.

The lessons of this anecdote boil down to two easy-to-remember principles. First, just because there are monitors, networking and computers involved in digital signage doesn’t mean digital signage is an IT function. There are literally thousands of man hours of coding that go into the digital signage software needed to schedule, manage and play back video, audio, graphics, animation, text, to name a few media elements, in a way that is reliable, effective and serves the organization’s larger communications goal. Why should an IT department feel as if it must re-invent the wheel, and why should marketers with important messages to communicate have to wait?

Second, which is closely related to the first, know your core competency. If you are an expert at retail, spend your time and effort selling your product. If you are an expert at management, devote your time and effort to the making your organization more efficient and profitable. If you are an expert at IT, manage your organization’s information technology –the hardware and software that makes its back office run. But for goodness sake, if you’re not an expert at digital signage, don’t think you can simply roll your own.
To do otherwise is to wander from your core mission, and even more importantly, to squander opportunities your organization otherwise would have to benefit from digital signage. Organizations can’t afford to the missed opportunities presented daily as they wait for their IT departments to reinvent the wheel.

Syndicate David's articles

Digital Signage Pitfalls You Will Likely Encounter--Learn How To Avoid Them

New Keywest Technology white paper identifies leading traps encountered when planning and implementing a digital signage system

 

'Digital Signage: The Top 10 Pitfalls' identifies the most common problems and offers the right prescriptions.

 

The new white paper is available for FREE from the Keywest Technology Web site.

Regardless of the industry you work in or where your company resides, if you're the one charged with implementing a digital signage system, you must come to grips with a set of universal pitfalls that can sabotage successful completion of your project. These pitfalls, if ignored, will turn your digital signage project into a nightmare of delays, missed opportunities, added expense and compounding frustration.

That's why Keywest Technology's new white paper, "Digital Signage: The Top 10 Pitfalls," is so powerful and important. The result of our years of experience working with customers, this white paper distills the most commonly encountered problems down to 10 easily identifiable pitfalls and presents proven, common-sense strategies for avoiding them.

Before you move forward on a digital signage project for your organization, you owe it to yourself to read this informative report. The brief amount of time you spend reading it can save you weeks or even months of delays and unnecessary frustration.

Keywest Technology is offering "Digital Signage: The Top 10 Pitfalls" as a FREE download from our Web site.

As always, if we can be of any assistance with any of your digital signage needs, simply email us or click on the Ask an Expert button to the right or call 800-331-2019. We'll be happy to help.

Syndicate David's articles

Digital Signage: Retaking Control of Advertising Really Matters

A recent report forecasts digital out-of-home advertising via digital signage networks will be the only medium to see real revenue growth over the next five years, and it's not too difficult to understand why.

A report published in late August by media industry analysis Screen Digest forecasts digital out-of-home revenue will quadruple in Western Europe over the next five years and by 2012 will account for 10 percent of all out-of-home revenue.

The report "Digital Signage in Europe: opportunities for digital out-of-home advertising," points out that net revenue generated from digital out-of-home advertising in Western Europe on digital signage networks in airports, train stations, supermarkets, hotels and other public spaces will grow from about $200 million in 2007 to more than $781 million in 2012, or a compound annual growth rate of 32 percent. In fact, the report foresees that the out-of-home advertising sector, driven by the migration to digital technologies, will be the only traditional advertising media to experience real revenue growth over the next five years in Western Europe.

While the report is confined to forecasts for Western Europe, it is noteworthy because it illustrates the increasing prominence of digital signage networks as a legitimate advertising medium -good news for marketers grappling to understand how best to take advantage of changing media usage patterns among consumers.

As technologies like DVRs encroach on traditional television viewing patterns, more and more newspaper readers let their subscriptions lapse, and the public turns in ever greater numbers to the Web for news and entertainment, tried-and-true media strategies are becoming less effective. Marketers are being confronted with how best to reach potential buyers in a media environment that's rapidly developing into something that's far more active than passive, more user-centric and friendly than media-centered.

Digital out-of-home advertising on digital signage networks gives marketers the opportunity to reach potential customers at or very near the point they make their actual buying decisions without giving the shopper the opportunity to zap past their messaging or browse to something of their own liking. To the degree shoppers in a retail store are inclined to linger near racks or shelves of merchandise, for example, they become a captive audience -without a remote. To the degree commuters stand on a platform waiting for their subway train to arrive, they're a captive audience -without a remote. To the degree those waiting for their cars to be repaired sit in a waiting room, they're a captive audience -once again without a remote.

Not to belabor the point, but it should be clear that one of the key elements digital out-of-home advertising reintroduces into the marketer-audience equation is a significant amount of control. Certainly, it's akin to the level of control over messaging in the traditional TV viewing experience. No marketer could force a viewer to watch an ad, but it took a little bit of effort on the part of a viewer to escape it.

Without question, digital out-of-home advertising on digital signage networks offer a number of other benefits, such as the ability to organize messaging around a desired or known demographic, the ability to quantify audiences and develop a cost-per-thousand or cost-per-million type of rate structure, the ability to daypart messaging and many others. But the fundamental advantage this form of advertising brings to marketers is an element of control and a degree of confidence that the viewers of their messaging won't simply zap or browse away from their advertising.

Syndicate David's articles

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.  

Syndicate David's articles

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.

Syndicate David's articles

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.
Syndicate David's articles