A couple weeks back I posted an article inviting guest writers to our Digital SignPost feed. We had a few respondents and you've probably noticed them posting fairly regularly. We have also put together an About the Authors at DigitalSignage.com page where we have posted bios of those who are currently posting to our various feeds here on the website. New authors represent digital signage companies from around the globe. Included in the list (or at least those who have currently submitted bios) are as follows:
Those of you subscribed to the signpost feed will recognize that others have started posting, but have not as yet submitted their biographical information to us. We are still waiting there (specifically we're waiting on Dave Weinfield and Sean Milstead...:) There are still spots available. Please contact us if you are interested in becoming a guest writer.
Paco Underhill's Why We Buy has an immense amount of insight into digital signage--particularly store layout, content loop times, and audience targeting techniques for the retail space. It's an excellent read for those looking to understand more fully how we can make digital signage a more effective message delivery tool. In the book, Underhill gives almost prophetic insight into technology that would be released long after his book was initially published:
“It’s no surprise that the number-one thing people look at is other people. That’s why some of the most effective signs in fast food restaurants are the ones sitting atop the cash registers–more or less at the level of the cashier’s face. Smart sign placement simply tries to interrupt the shopper’s line of vision and intercept her gaze.”
It is also general knowledge that people check themselves out whenever a mirror is around. Have you ever not looked at yourself for a moment as you pass a mirror? Better yet, how many times do you think you might slow down to look in a mirror as you pass? Almost irrespective of the shape and size of the individual, it is nearly impossible to resist looking at yourself as you pass a mirror.
It wasn't until a couple of decades after Paco Underhill's statement that companies like LG developed LCD televisions that could act as mirrors. First the display draws you in because you see yourself, then as you get closer, advertisements are displayed.
This technology has not yet been tapped in all its various forms. Think for a moment of the possible scenarios that could be played out here:
Public restrooms
Powder rooms
Locker rooms
Dressing rooms
Storefronts
Store Aisles
Outdoor venues
Any mirror can now become a digital signage display, used for targeting audiences effectively with reckless abandon. Paco Underhill knew what he was referring to years ago. The only difference is that now we have the technology to match the vision.
With the exhorbitant cost of 3D displays, it's not surprising that their total market will reach the billions. Of course, the research report is only centered on Japan and looks forward ten years. Still, $4.36B for 3D in one country alone is a pretty big deal.
Yano Research projected the Japanese 3D display market of ¥22.37 billion for 2014 and ¥432.15 billion (approx US$4.37 billion) for 2019. Compared with 2008, the market is expected to grow by about 16.5 and 318.9 times in 2014 and 2019, respectively.
Also, it predicted that the major applications of 3D displays will be game consoles in arcades and homes, digital photo frames and digital signage devices, etc, as of 2014. However, 3D home theater products and peripheral devices will not constitute a large portion in the domestic market in 2014, as they will be only at the early phase of introduction at that time, according to Yano Research.
The real numbers here may not come from digital signage at all, but will most likely come from the private sector as we see the barriers to entry for home theater enthusiasts drop, along with the prices of the 3D screens.
All told, the Land Rover effort was Twittered to more than 300,000 followers, Mr. Eliason said. Twittad used 15 different Tweeters with at least 5,000 followers, although the majority had between 2,000 and 4,000 followers.
Most won't get rich doing this anytime soon. One paid Tweeter,willconley777, wrote on his blog that he was paid $2.50 for letting Land Rover sponsor his profile page for seven days. Mr. Conley has 1,160 followers. Still, for those few Twitter users with huge reach, real money might one day be possible. The most-followed Land Rover campaign participant, queenoftheclick, boasts nearly 25,000 followers and was paid an amount "in the hundreds" for her participation, Mr. Eliason said.
It is a somewhat simple and comparitively inexpensive way to reach an extremely targeted audience who may already be interested in your product.
Upon securing his apprenticeship, Lee McQueen, Britain's most recent winner of The Apprentice, made headlines with his newest deal in digital signage with BP:
Lee led negotiations on the five-year deal with Simon Sugar, Sir Alan's son and the chief executive of Amscreen.
Lee said: "Although I played my part, this was very much a team effort and it's testament to the hard work put in by everyone at Amscreen.
"Since winning the Apprentice I have learnt a huge amount from Sir Alan and Simon Sugar and although it continues to be very challenging, I am loving every minute of it and I hope this is the first of many big deals to come."
Much like the USA Today insert on digital signage, this is another great opportunity for a high-profile exposure of digital signage technology.
The idea of widgets on television are certainly not new. Digital signage network operators have used them for sometime. In an article I wrote back in February, I outlined a little bit about how digital out-of-home and digital in-the-home are converging. There have been many-a-talks about digital signage's "long tail." Adobe Flash is seeing the opportunity here, much like Yahoo and they are jumping on board of screen-parting for digital signage in the home. By reaching into the homes of consumers, advertisers may be able to ignore commercials all together and just utilize a sidebar as the method for advertising to the customer. "In other words, you can imagine a future where you turn on your TV and in addition to video, on-demand programming, and a program guide, you can pull up weather, news, and other information provided through an Internet connection, as well as quick and easy access to web video from any site like ABC.com or Netflix that makes content available for the platform." Yeah, imagine that. Seeing Adobe get into this space is interesting. It makes you think, "do I really want to develop my own software, spend two years doing it, and $200k? Most likely not. Cause when players like Yahoo and Adobe have the technology already, is it worth it to reinvent the wheel?
Our last story for the week was posted via one of our users and is an interesting take on digital signage technology. It is a USB powered digital signage device. The cost? $50. I have not yet had the time to download their trial version of the software, but it's so cheap, it almost sounds like it's a free digital signage offering.
This week's digital signage news could be described with none other adjective than piebald. New and interesting news stories continue to flood in. Thanks for posting!
Recently, I came across an article outlining Google eye tracking studies. The write-up gave some reasoning behind why companies should wish to rank high for certain keywords. It's no wonder that SEO companies are literally "making bank" in their efforts to take companies to the top of the search queries.
The eye-tracking chart to the right indicates a change in the way people view a Google search. In 2005, eye balls were much more prone to search the entirety of the page, whereas 2008 search behavior indicates that online searchers spend most of their time on page one, more specifically they are spending most of their time above the fold.
Why would you want to rank high in searches, specifically Google searches?
1. In the United States, Google still holds between 70% and 80% market share. That means that if you're not in Google, you're a nobody.
3. Unlike 2005, 2008 searchers are only paying attention to the top five returned results. With that in mind, wouldn't it be beneficial to find yourself near the top when someone queries "digital signage"?
My point: Advertise with us today and get your company the exposure you need to get on top of your game. A copy of our media kit is available for download by clicking on the foregoing link. Please also feel free to contact us for lead generation and other partnership opportunities. We are open for ideas and suggestions on how to improve the effectiveness of DigitalSignage.com.
Bluetooth marketing is a proximity specific form of advertising that can be simply and effectively integrated into a digital signage network. Its potential applications for Point-of-Sale and digital signage are virtually limitless. The following post will discuss different methodologies of Bluetooth integration and some best practices dos and don'ts for digital signage vendors.
Any individual with a Bluetooth enabled mobile phone can instantly receive rich content which may include song downloads, short video clips, coupons, web apps, and links to micro-sites. Beneficially Bluetooth allows for specific-area, rich content to be disseminated to mobile devices without the high cost and complex issues had by other forms of mobile marketing. SMS and MMS are excellent ways to distribute advertising to mobile devices, but the cost is often considered astronomical. I read a news piece about a year ago that indicated SMS had a higher message transfer cost than sending messages to and from the Hubble space telescope--four times more expensive in fact. Quite literally, the costs of SMS and MMS are cosmically crippling. In contrast, Bluetooth technology allows for those in close proximity of a transmitter to receive media, both solicited and unsolicited. It is the "push" ability of Bluetooth marketers, along with its inexpensive nature of the ad medium that makes Bluetooth a double-edged sword technology.
An individual who has set their mobile device to "active" or "discoverable" can receive rich media messages from a Bluetooth broadcasting device. There are essentially four methodologies a digital signage marketer would need to consider when applying Bluetooth technology to a digital signage network. I have outlined the methodologies below along with their corresponding effectiveness.
Close-range positive interaction is the least intrusive form of Bluetooth marketing. An individual wishing to have rich content messages blasted to their mobile must first have the Bluetooth capability "switched-on." Secondly, said person must also wave the handset close to a Bluetooth device. These are usually followed by some sort of call to action and a clear explanation of what to do in order to receive rich content. "It is clear in this scenario that the consumer has chosen to interact by their action." This is key. Advertising without consent from the advertisee can do more harm than good. As digital media continues to become more interactive it also becomes more invasive, which is why protecting user privacy is key--most certainly with a device as personal as someone's cellular phone. The methods that follow just get progressively more "in your face."
Method 2: Close-Range, Contextual Bluetooth Activation Interaction
In the close-range, contextual blasts rich media via Bluetooth to any phone within the vicinity of a digital signage display. In this case, the blast becomes less like spam because there is at least another form of media pointing the consumer to the same thing. Mobile Marketing's best practices guidelines state: "Although a call to action is less technically necessary because the message is sent on the basis of proximity, it is still very much advisable to include one (e.g. a poster at station asking people to go to the Bluetooth zone) however this ‘in context’ application does reflect the consumer’s likely interest in, and relevance to, an advertiser’s message."
Method 3: Close-Range General Bluetooth Activation Interaction
Simply put, Method 3 could be referred to as a close-rage, out-of-context Bluetooth spam. "This is as [Method 2] but in a general environment in which the message is not necessarily in context. Arguably this would include a shopping mall but also raises privacy issues for consumers because there is no clear call to action - rather it is based on a general proximity only. Clearly this is subjective – a shopping Mall operator may argue that such an application is in general context however a consumer may argue the opposite and consider this the basis of a grievance." A very stern warning to advertisers is that this method will most likely do more harm than good. Your message will, more often than not, make consumers feel angry and violated--not a feeling you want to have them associate with your brand.
Method 4: Wide-Range General Bluetooth Activation Interaction
Like Method 3, Method 4 is simply Bluetooth spam that covers a much larger area. From the Mobile Marketing Best Practices Guidelines: "Although messages can be sent to anyone with Bluetooth enabled in that area, it is again still advisable to include a call to action because, without one, this general use runs the risk of being unwelcome to consumers who do not like – and would view these as - unsolicited communications. This is never advisable – in effect the only ‘action’ that the consumer has taken is to enable their device which, in itself, is not in our opinion a valid call to action. Whereas in [Method 1] and [Method 2] there is a clear action inviting – or at least potentially justifying – a Bluetooth message, in this case there is not."
My take is that anything beyond Method 1 is spam. If I walk past a digital display and receive some sort of advertising message on my phone just because it's considered "contextual" without my consent, I would probably not be super happy. In any event, this would be an invasion of privacy--even if it is considered "in context." I'll not even begin to delve into Methods 3 and 4. They are simply "right out." This brings us back around full-circle to idea of a the two-faced marketing medium that is Bluetooth. On the one hand, we have a method of sending out a necessary message. Opposingly, a message sent without "positive interaction" can be obnoxious and detrimental to the messenger who wishes to promulgate their message. The moral of the story: although it may seem inviting to participate in Bluetooth marketing spam, don't. You may find yourself shooting yourself in yourself's foot.
Despite popular belief, Ashton Kutcher's recent win in Twitter followers over CNN had less to do with the power of social media than the blogosphere claims. Initially, Kutcher, in an effort to beat CNN in the race for 1 million Twitter followers, put out a YouTube video in an effort to drive the 80,000 or so followers he needed to reach the 1 million mark. Interestingly, this did not seem to do enough to put him over the top. Kutcher was even blasted by Larry King, stating he was way out of his league in working to promote himself over one of the world's largest news networks.
More interesting still is what Kutcher did to put the nail in the coffin: he used digital out-of-home. Kutcher used over 1,100 Lamar advertising screens with the call-to-action, "follow Ashton Kutcher on Twitter." The issue I have with this is that social media is more about vitality and less about outdoor advertising and digital signage. Further still, if CNN wanted to beat Ashton Kutcher, they most likely could have easily used different forms of digital media as well and taken themselves over the top much more quickly than Ashton Kutcher ever could have. Why? Well, like Larry King said, they're CNN, not "Dude, Where's My Car?"
I think it's great that thousands of mosquito nets were donated to third world countries for malaria relief. However, let's give credit where credit is due. Viral social media had little to do with becoming Twitter's poster child. One great takeaway here: digital signage works.
I don't quite remember where I came across this, but it was so "slap-sticky" (which is right up my alley) that I just had to post it. It reminds me bit of the school of fish in Disney's Finding Nemo. Who says farmers in rural Wales know very little about digital signage technology?
I questioned at first whether or not this was legit. It looked at first like it was CGI, but after doing some reading, it looks to be. If anyone finds out otherwise, please correct me. This is certainly not too "baaaaaad" (sorry for the really baaaaad puns).
Anything to get some industry "buzz." Noventri touted that Madonna was showcased on one of their digital signage network. It reminds me a bit of when Helius did some co-branding with the Blue Man Group. Although, in Helius' case, I think the Blue Man Group was all about the cross-promotion. I do not know what Madonna's opinion was on the subject. I do know that David Haynes had some interesting thoughts about the ordeal. A portion of the press release stated:
"Madonna performed at the Minute Maid Park on November 16, 2008 for her Sticky & Sweet Tour. Noventri's Content Creation and Management Team, who continues to create and manage content for the stadium's menu boards, created digital menus that featured Madonna and her tour with a video feed that encapsulated the live concert to prevent fans from missing any part of the show."
I'm not really a Madonna fan myself and personally would not want my brand sitting alongside someone who has a reputation like hers. That's just me. Still, the PR served its purpose. Often, any news is good news.
When the world of B2B starts morphing from B2C, interesting beasts start to emerge. Such is the case with Sony's digital signage applications powered by PS3 software:
"At the show, held at Kensington Olympia in London, the company demonstrated how Ziris Canvas works presenting it on a semi-spherical, multi-screen display. The system can display content on HD screens using any layout size, shape and orientation. The spatial configuration of the displays can vary from 0 to 360 degrees. The sizes of the screens can also be varied. At the show the company had a nine screen display with screen sizes varying from 42-46in.
The Cell Processor power within the PS3 gives Ziris Canvas stability and high image quality. Josh Honda, digital signage solutions senior manager, Sony Professional, said: ‘The product is a great example of using a Sony consumer technology, PS3, in a serious business application, to create stable performance and outstanding computing power.'"
The picture at right shows visually what the system has allows Ziris Canvas the ability to do. Implementing such a system could have an applicable use in many environments heretofore undiscovered in the industry. Similar technologies were displayed at this year's digital signage expo.
Adcentricity jumps on the mobile marketing bandwagon with Impact Mobile. The solution is a full-service, cross carrier for mobile marketing. The press release showcases some benefits Adcentricity will gain from partnering with Impact Mobile:
"Working with Impact Mobile will enable Adcentricity to offer mobile capabilities in four areas. The first offering is based on calls to action including SMS, votes, sweepstakes, contests, coupons, promotions, text for information, surveys and call-back request.The next is retail and redemption offers comprising bar-coded mobile coupons, unique PIN numbers that drive to Web and ticketing.Content delivery including ringtone, wallpapers, videos and games is the third service. Finally there are mobile applications comprising mobile Web sites and smartphone applications."
Reports have shown that mobile marketing and digital signage will be nearly completely merged in the next several years. It will be interesting to see how Adcentricity is able to integrate mobile into the 80 or so networks they have aggregated for advertising.
With digital signage metrics requirements and numbers ringing constantly in our ears, CognoVision and BroadSign seemed to have found a good match in one another. Providentially, the two companies have come together in an effort to improve audience measurement. The central reasoning behind the union was to eliminate guesswork and increase advertisers' desire to utilize digital out-of-home in campaigns:
CognoVision's AIM system processes the data feed from the optical sensors embedded in the screens and generates anonymous viewership statistics. The aggregated data is then correlated with proof-of-play reports from the BroadSign network management software using CognoVision's web-based analytics tool, which is consistent with the Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau's (OVAB) Audience Metrics Guidelines. The reports generated in real time provide insights regarding what specific ads were seen, how long each ad was watched for, and viewer gender breakdown for each ad.
"The combination of our analytics application and BroadSign's proof-of-play data opens up unprecedented opportunities for marketers to gauge the effect of almost every ad dollar invested in a digital signage campaign," said Haroon Mirza, Director of Business Development at CognoVision. "By using our system, both network operators and advertisers can eliminate a significant amount of guesswork from campaign creation. They will see what content works better, what ad slot length is more effective, how long the loop should be for maximal impact, and can adjust other critical parameters. The audience data can also be processed against point-of-sale records to correlate the digital signage campaigns with actual sales lift."
It is certainly appropriate that BroadSign has taken a liking to one of the several audience measurement companies out there. For, in the future, digital out-of-home audience measurement will be the rule, not the exception. And, as such those who have not even dabbled in the technology at that point will be left in the dust, while those at the top of their game have prepared their networks and clients for the larger media buys that will certainly be coming.
iCOMPEL is the BlackBox digital signage software package. Much like Wirespring's EasyStart, it is created for taking digital signage to the mainstream. Mario Calabro, Black Box Multimedia Products Manager says iCOMPEL is ideal for any size user. “You can have one unit in one location or thousands of units playing different content around the globe." There is a big push by all companies involved in this industry to take digital signage to the total available market. This is a great push, but when will the tide of inquiries really flood in as research suggests? We have seen increases in Google searches for digital signage, but the total available market has not even begun to emerge.
Expansion just seems to happen when an industry is in a growth stage. Neo, the Canada-based digital ooh firm, is no exception:
"The US market has been in our sights from the very beginning," says Benjamin Mathieu, CEO of Neo Advertising NA. "We needed time to field-test various business models and establish a solid track record in Canada. We had also dedicated a lot of time and effort to researching the robust market south of the border. We are now confident that we can import Neo's success story into the United States. Strategically, it is also a good moment for such a move, as entry barriers for real estate acquisitions are lower when the economy slows down."
It seems this expansion has been in the works for sometime. Neo has ambitious goals to increase their dooh footprint in the United States like they have done in Canada and the United Kingdom.
This week had some great digital signage news pieces that came in. These stories, caught my interest particularly. Thanks to all those who keep submitting their stories. It's good to see the industry continue to expand outward. Keep the stories coming, all of us stand to benefit from the wealth of information all our users provide.
Twitter may be a great tool, but practically speaking, I have a few personal issues with the service that I feel I need to vent about. What better place to do it than on the digital signage blog for everyone to see. I thought that by using the service some of my concerns would have subsided, but I've found the more I use it, the more these issues bother me. However, I must say Twitter, when used effectively, can be a great method for driving Internet traffic. Here at Digital Signage dot com, we still receive between 25 and 80 daily hits from Twitter. Numbers that you can't shake a stick at. For that, at least, credit must be given where credit is due.
Some Beefs I have with Twitter:
It reminds me of AOL instant messenger from my junior high days. I'm not that old and when I was in middle school, it seemed the cool thing was to get on AOL every evening and IM with all your school friends over your latest secret crush and basically waste time shooting the breeze about nothing. Small talk isn't always bad, but when you're always limited to 140 characters, the conversation stagnates into a perpetual "small talk" holding pattern of sorts.
There are no "real" attributable links. The entire Twitter system is a self-contained link farm wherein the only real beneficiaries are Twitter and those who write widgets and apps for Twitter. All of the outbound links are "nofollow" making it like a Wikipedia for social networking. Consequently, Twitter passes no ranking onto sites using the service. Traffic: yes. Ranking: no.
A lot of hype with no profit. Twitter has certainly built a high ranking fluff website that still has not figured out how to turn a profit. Despite all this they are still receiving plenty of venture funding to continue the venture on. Of course, critical mass is a factor in gaining revenue later on, but I would much rather infuse cash into something that had a decent P/E ratio now, especially given our current economic climate. And, if Twitter ever starts doing advertisements, like some Twitter spam artists, I'll check out.
Twitter equals sales. Unless you think you can reach the masses of Twitter itself, I doubt you have seen a large increase in sales from Tweets--especially in a B2B environment. Salesmen equal sales. Traffic driving via Twitter and other SEO methodologies simply do not pack the punch of even the dumbest monkey-of-a-salesperson--especially for big ticket items. Now, gleaning leads via Twitter is another issue entirely--that's something that you can sink your teeth into.
Twitter can rot your brain. Twitter can be a great way to waste your time seeing what pointless conversations are being played out on the Twittersphere. Facebook sometimes has the same effectiveness as a tool for wasting time. In fact, I recently read an article on Slashdot wherein they claimed Facebook users generally have a lower GPA. I wonder if the same could be said of regular Twitterers.
So as not to rag on the service any longer, I will give it the traffic driving award. Optimized for traffic, Twitter can help your organization to connect with people in all walks of life, including those who may be looking for your product/service. However, it will never be a closing mechanism for making digital signage sales leads fall for you like a dead fish. Only John Doe salesman can do that.
Creative genius inspires and fascinates simultaneously. There have been those few in the world who have lived up to the mantra of a "creative genius." Both Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver are great examples of this. Still considered as one of the most prolific inventors in history, Thomas Edison holds 1,093 patents in the United States alone. Similarly, George Washington Carver was a great inventor in his own right, applying for approximately 300 patents alone for products relating to the peanut. In fact, it is still widely accepted that Carver was the originator of peanut butter. He's Jiff's bread and butter, so to speak (pun intended). But, what do these great men have to do with your organization? What can we learn from them as we continue to develop, morph, change, and innovate in the world of business and, in our case, digital signage? If the answer is not apparent, let me me spell it out: some innovate on such a minute level, their expertise in that niche is unfailingly questioned. G. W. Carver was such a visionary. In contrast, others realize product innovations are a result of imagination across a broad spectrum of creative ideas, each of whose discovery simply aids all fields of endeavor. Thomas Edison could be classified as such a innovator. The minds of both these men can help us understand our own pursuits and development projects.
Is your organization more like George Washington Carver or Thomas Edison? In other words, do you deal in peanuts or the "eureka" of a light bulb?
Are you a "one-stop-shop" who can take care of whatever a customer asks because you simply make it happen by adding it to your product set with some development time. Or, are you almost entirely attune to your niche market segment? We'll not only discuss why these questions are important, but why it is important for your organization to know how you fit into the spectrum.
Benefits to "Thomas Edison" Organizations
Platforms beat applications. Geoffrey Moore summed it up nicely:
"Applications are what an end user sees. They can readily gauge the benefits of them .And if the application fixes a broken, mission-critical business process, they can insist on its deployment in spite of an IT department’s reluctance.
Platforms, by contrast, are multi-purpose by definition. They are infrastructure and as such are the domain of the IT community. Charged with maintaining the security, reliability, and performance of the current infrastructure, this group is not quick to adopt disruptive technologies which require widespread re-engineering of systems."
Thomas Edison created platforms. His ideas were breakthrough, never-before conceived technological jumps. And not only did Edison see the vision of his work, he also exhibited the spirit of determination to see them through to the end. Edison himself commented on the long road to finding a proper filament for the light bulb, "I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Such a spirit of determination could, in some instances, be considered a liability. In the case of Edison, it was his crowning characteristic.
Tom Edison also advocated the principle of work. He is known for such statements as, "everything comes to him who hustles why he waits" and "genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Such an attitude would never leave any organization--large or small--completely devoid of success. As you consider your development processes, what role does your organization play in comparison to others? Are you working on what Evan Williams calls "the echo chamber" or are you creating something of value without the "me too" component?
Benefits to "George Washington Carver" Organizations
Although platforms beat applications, it doesn't leave the G. W. Carver organizations out of the loop. Expertise to the nth degree means the competition can do almost nothing. Playing catch-up, especially when the competition has already climbed a veritable Mt. Everest, is a pain in the butt to say the least.
So, whether you're building a digital signage solution from the ground up or you are simply creating an custom application for use across a single advertising network, you may wish to consider the lives of the great innovators of the past. Their demeanor and game-plan can help you determine how you want to go about development of your tailored signage project.
From my perspective, focusing on a refined and wholly specific niche is not as ludicrous as it may initially sound. In fact, it may be one of the greatest methods of differentiating your business from the "echo chamber." There are several advantages for building an organization founded on one solid principle with countless branching off-shoots.
1. Niches are the places to target. It's much easier to succeed when you know what you want. Going after potential clients at random is hurtful and foolish. Finding a niche and exploiting it, although often counter-intuitive, is sometimes the best way to ensure survival and success. LevelVision is an excellent example of focusing on a niche. They have done an excellent job of specifically targeting college campuses. And, more specifically, college campus bookstores. Niche targeting at its finest people!
2. The competition will have a hard time climbing your mountain. As an expert in your particular niche, you will be motivated and obsessed and continuously refining your knowledge and skill-set. Consequently, it will be extremely difficult for any one organization to trump your place in the industry. They could, but during the lost time, you will have made an exorbitant amount of sales in comparison to the competition.
3. You'll get leads. As an expert in peanuts, I'm sure Carver was the foremost on peanut facts. If he were still alive and I wanted some information on peanuts, I think I would either consult him directly or go to some of his written work. The same applies in any field of endeavor, including narrowcasting. Your expertise will become very known in your particular niche. Simply put, people will contact you for your expertise and advice in the niche market you represent.
Whether you decide you fit a mold of genius encompassing multiple fields of endeavor like Thomas Edison, or you feel your team represents the obsessively narrow-focused mind of George Washington Carver, you each have your place in any industry. Understanding your specific skill set, your role, and your company goals for development and marketing is vital for survival as well as defining where you stand between your competition in your industry. Often when you struggle it is because drifting from the fundamental strategy and skill set of your organization has crippled your known strengths. Exploiting your strengths is much easier when you are familiar with them and adhere to them religiously. Ignoring them may make Washington and Carver stir in their graves. Who knows...
I recently read an article at Mobile Marketing Watch wherein they touted the popularity of the DirectTV iPhone application. You can control your DirectTV DVR straight from your phone. Pretty cool.
There are already some really unique applications that have been developed for the iPhone that relate to digital signage. The one that particularly comes to mind is the app developed by Stimulant. Stimulant's app integrates an iPhone with Microsoft Surface. The iPhone app is used as a virtual "x-ray" device for objects being displayed the Surface. Stimulant's development team spoke with Microsoft a bit about their development work with the Microsoft Surface. Interestingly, Stimulant is not being too biased and they are working to bring both Microsoft and Apple products and applications together to create some interesting buzz.
Since Yahoo holds onto about 50% of the search traffic in the Japanese market, it would make sense for the company to do their first highly-measurable, extremely-targeted digital signage project in that country.
"Starting this fall, these camera-equipped billboards will take pictures of people walking past by them, detecting a person’s age and sex. Once these characteristics are determined, the billboards will display content tailor-made (as good as it can get) for the person in question. This is a creepy and intrusive way to use digital signage technology, but it’s most probably more effective than static billboards.
A Tokyo-based company called Comel has teamed up with Yahoo and is responsible for the hardware. NEC Soft provides the facial analysis technology. Yahoo Japan will start using a total of 500 billboards in train stations and shopping malls in Fukuoka (Southern Japan), displaying content like news, weather and--of course--ads."
McDonald's on the Emerald Coast of Florida not only received a facelift with some electronic billboards. In addition, Nanonation, the company providing the hardware for the deployment, received an award from POPAI. The press release goes into a bit more detail about the specifics of the deployment:
Each McDonald's location sports five to six digital displays in various sizes and formats (42-inch plasmas, 32-inch LCDs, portrait and landscape mode), all designed to enhance the customer experience.
The screens display a mixture of content ranging from video broadcasts in English and Spanish, and promotional and product information for the complete range of menu items offered by McDonald's. During special events held at each location, customer pictures are uploaded to the system in near real-time to make each patron a part of the experience.
This would be a most excellent opportunity for Nanonation to really get some numbers back and put together a very informative case study. I sure hope they consider it. It would be a wasted opportunity to, once again, show the effectiveness of digital signage in the retail environment.
Not only am I digging the idea of a flexible LED, I also think it's great that this new technology has so many uses:
Reflecting Traxon’s philosophy of combining exceptional product design with cutting edge LED technology, the Traxon Mesh RGB recently received the 2009 red dot Award for high design quality in the product design category. The red dot Award is one of the largest design competitions worldwide.
The product is available in three versions: standard Mesh and two String versions, with and without diffuser domes. Capable of being mounted on building facades, in displays or as room dividers, among other possibilities, the Traxon Mesh RGB can be mounted back to back to form a rigid surface
They make it sound like a nylon ad from the 1950's. Regardless of how "flexible" the uses (pun intended) may be, this technology will certainly prove to be a boone for digital out-of-home.
SureVu's technology provides a content verification system for digital signage network operators
One major benefit of this new “Are-You-On” feature is that operators can verify that content is being displayed at all times, and it eliminates the embarrassing call that the display is black and has been for days. Advertisers will be pleased to know that the correct content is being displayed without interruption, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based company said.
Read the release. The technology is great. It reads whether or not an image is being displayed by tracking small inputed images into the screen that cannot be seen by viewers themselves, but which are only picked up by the proprietary SureVu system. Interesting and powerful all at the same time.
I know we've heard about industry growth 5,001 times, but I had to mention this particular article we picked up last week. Mainly because my brother was quoted in it a couple of times. “It’s not just advertising, it’s also about informing. Screens are going up in doctors’ offices, airports and schools.” Ryan is a man of many words and deep insight :) You'll most likely be hearing much more out of him in the future.
That's all for this week. For more excellent digital signage news stories, you'll have to stay tuned to our feed next week.
It has been about a year since I started tracking search volume for terms relating to the digital signage industry. Since then, it has been interesting to see the upward trend for searches in Google, Yahoo, and MSN for keywords relating to the industry. They are certainly on the rise. In fact, about a year ago, I can remember average search volumes for "digital signage" were around 38k to 40k monthly. The current search volume monthly average for queries on "digital signage" in the English language is, according to Google, around 60,500. Something even more interesting is that search volumes for "digital signage" in March reached a whopping 90,500! Since Google holds approximately 70 to 80 percent of the search market, these numbers represent a great majority of the exposure the industry is currently getting.
Although, volumes like this may be simply indicative of industry incumbents and entrants trying to find where they rank amidst other companies in Google's complex search algorithms, it still helps to paint a picture: digital signage is growing.
A few more search facts relating to digital signage are worth noting:
Google search results return 2,270,000 results for "digital signage"
MSN gives us 5,560,000 results
Cuil retrieves 10,270,548
Yahoo results return a slammin' 35,700,000
From the recent USA Today insert on Digital Signage, we can see how involved and complex the industry is becoming, in a very quick time period:
Industry growth is being accelerated by the vast amounts of information and education being made available about digital signage. This has improved “best practices” while rapidly growing the number of network operators, end users, advertisers, suppliers, investors and professionals. Education such as “Digital Signage SPEED” and programs at associations such as OVAB, DSA, InfoComm, NAB, OAAA, AAAA and others provide access to practical advice and information.
MediaPlanet publisher Nicholas Read stated the following in regard to the digital out-of-home industry growth, “the digital signage industry is moving at such a rapid rate while still maintaining its focus and commitment to providing economic value.” Economic value, however, can be difficult as typical "growing pains" evident of a bull industry are felt. I believe what John Maxwell said is very applicable in regard to our current growth status: "If we are growing, we are always going to be out of our comfort zone." This will certainly be the case in the coming months and years ahead as the industry is finally able to streamline digital signage for mass appeal. And, if current search trends continue, we'll certainly see some uncomfortableness resulting from industry growth.
The word "consumption" was the overarching term used during the 1800's to describe disease. In record books you would often read, "Jane Smith, died of consumption." Now, when I think of consumption, disease immediately comes to mind. However, when it comes to LCD displays, "consumption" can be seen in a much more positive vein--especially in the wake of the recent predictions of LCD display purchases for digital signage. Digital signage is growing, and as it continues over the next couple of years we will see much more "consumption" of LCD advertising screens, sign media players, and digital signage software applications.
Considering both reports touted annual increases in hardware consumption for use in the digital signage space of approximately 1/3 every year for the next three years, we may want to pay attention. What were the numbers for 2008? Well, according to ABI, the digital signage industry consumed over 1.1 million LCD displays in the year 2008. This number is predicted to rise to a whopping 2.3 million by 2012. What does this mean for LCD display companies like LG, NEC, Samsung, and Toshiba? Well it means, as long as they avoid illegal activity like price-fixing, that they should have some good business coming in for the next several years. In addition, as older digital signage displays and media players require replacement in the next couple of years, there will be room for some business to be gained there as well.
Considering the growth of an industry already consuming 1.1 million displays annually, it would be wise to explore several different options prior to making your decision when it comes to your next digital signage deployment. As the industry continues to "consume" digital displays and other hardware pieces at an alarming rate, it will be up to digital signage vendors to make sure they can keep up in development and support of the networks, both small and large, that will be rolled out over the next several years.
Jeff Blankensop of NEC made a very profound statement during an interview with Alan C. Brawn of Brawn Consulting last year, wherein he stated:
"There are 25 to 27 million small businesses in the USA in terms of the TAM (total available market). The majority of the TAM that is available to us is not in the huge rollouts of displays rather in the bottom third of the TAM and relates to digital signage using less than 10 displays. In fact the majority of the volume is in the bottom one to four display level."
In terms of the TAM, digital signage has not quite reached the mainstream. And, the question that should hover in the minds of all digital signage vendors out there is, "how do we most effectively reach the total available market?" Is that not the golden question of the decade when it relates to digital signage?
Various distribution channels abound. The remainder of this post will focus on how we can use each channel to effectively target the TAM.
Value-Added Resellers as, Duh! Resellers
I have written previously on the importance as well as the struggle had with value-added resellers in digital signage. If your digital signage offering is too complex to sell without the aid of a sales engineer you may wish to simplify it first. If this is not feasable, catoring to value-added resellers may be your next best option. In my previous post I go into a bit more depth about effectively utilizing VARs, including local VARs.
Local VARs, as a rule, are not very good at marketing "high tech." VARs, in general, are somewhat problematic as mainstream distribution channels. Why? "Because of their inherent instability as an institution, their lack of strong financial underpinnings, and their lack of marketing, they are not normally appropriate as a mainstream market channel" (Moore, 177).
OEM (original equipment manufacturers) as Distributors
OEMs are great for small companies seeking to tap the established sales force of a giant player within any industry. However, there is a general struggle when it comes to the OEM. "The OEM sales force is likely to be focused on the big-ticket products that come out of the company's own R&D labs, not the add-on product coming in from another vendor" (Moore 180). This is true because platforms almost always beat out applications. Unless you get lucky with your Facebook widget or iPhone app, those making the greatest margins and reaping the benefits of the economies of scale are the platform providers, not the application creationists.
Consequently, the OEM sales force is not suited for distributing to a mainstream market. This is a good general statement because OEMs are often self-interested platform providers, seeking more big-ticket opportunities.
Systems Integrators for Digital Signage Distribution
Systems integrators are an essential part of marketing to the TAM. However, it is important to keep in mind that systems integrators are not a channel. Integrators do not generally sell the same thing twice. Accordingly, digital signage vendors need to treat them differently. "It turns out that the most important markeitng contribution to ensuring effective working relationships with systems integrators is a communications task, not a selling one" (Moore, 179).
When catoring to the digital signage integrators, it is also important to keep in mind that they are looking for a strong relationship with an industry leader. They will, in most instances, avoid half-baked solutions. I offer my sincere apologies and condolences to all the privately-traded companies in the industry--especially those new-entrants with a partly completed product. However as essential players in larger projects where revenues can be seen far in the future, integrators can set the stage for project implementation strategies and lineups for numerous deployments for years to come.
Direct Sales for Distribution of Digital Sign Products
For as long as I live, I'll always be the biggest advocate of direct sales. In former lives sales was the bread n' butter. I love the effectiveness of direct selling. Regardless of what you're trying to sell, nothing beats a warm body pushing the product. If you do have the available leads, what is to halt an actual person banging down the door of every interested party? Nothing! Persistance in salesmanship will always beat out the worlds best crafted online shopping cart or VAR--especially for a technology-driven, big ticket product. One of the greatest benefits of a direct sales force is that it is optimized for creating demand. The direct sales force also gives a company direct control over its own destiny (Moore, 168-170).
However, there are some limitations to the direct sales force. If you do not have enough sales leads to go around, your salespersons may resort to "thumb twittling"--not the most productive activity. And, "As price points lower," as they are currently doing, "it becomes increasingly difficult to sell through a direct sales force" (Moore, 169). Then what becomes the most efficient method of marketing to the TAM once the market begins to move into the mainstream?
The Internet as a Distribution Channel for SMB
There are many benefits from doing marketing via the Internet--especially when you are looking to target small to medium business (SMB). The Internet is a superb channel for small and no-name companies. The WWW gives smaller outfits an easy way for making a name for themselves. The Internet allows this to happen in a much broader way than even the largest direct sales force. Prior to hitting the mainstream, direct sales are essential. Once digital signage hits a mainstream audience, such channels, although still essential, will play less of a key role going forward.
"Crossing the chasm requires face-to-face meetings with the target customer to help diagnose their problem and prescribe an heretofore unavailable solution. There is a lot of orientation to get through and live dialoge is the only medium that can make that work. Moreover, post-sales services are always a significant component of a chasm-crossing whole product, which means the sales channel has to be able to show and supervise the reuslts. This undercuts the whole economic model of the Internet, which is to be 'hands-free' in its offers" (Moore 182).
As a "hands-free" method of distribution, the Internet, of necessity, must simplify and streamline the entire product purcahse process for a once "techie" product that has finally reached a mainstream audience. The question hangs: as digital signage reaches the mainstream, how will vendors target the TAM by streamlining solutions for online distribution? This will be key for taking digital signage to "mom and pop shops" worldwide. When the Internet becomes the main source for information, education, and purchase of digital signage product, watch out, because penetration and saturation of the total available market will take place shortly thereafter.
We all have had experience with the reward of purchasing something late. The total available market will be looking for ease of use and cost efficiency as digital out-of-home moves that direction. And, they will have it. The reward for waiting for market institutionalization and maturation is getting a simple-to-use product with small margins above cost. Keeping margins high enough, especially as prices continue to drop as a result of market maturation, can be extremely difficult. Similarly, maintaining a viable pipeline through various marketing efforts and distribution channels can be just as taxing. In attempting to keep margins high and the pipeline full, remember, it is better to be a little underdistributed to protect profit margins, than to get overdistributed and have them shrink or drop out entirely (Moore 184). If you become overdistributed, you end up becoming like Wal-Mart for digital signage: always competing for the lowest margins, only making up for it in volume. And, with the expenses industry entrants have earned over the last several years considered concurrently with digital signage sales leads, it may be best to take the seemingly conservative route of product underdistribution. Regardless of how it's accomplished, digital signage product distribution must be at least somewhat diversified betwixt the aforementioned methods. Otherwise, your digital signage organization may suffer the consequences from lack-of-distribution-itis--a rare, but deadly disease, striking the extremely young, the slow and old, and the weak and feable.
Many of the quotes herein have been taken from Geoffrey Moore's revised edition of Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers.
The integration and interplay between different mediums has always greatly fascinated me. And, as we are able to bring open source app programmers into the mix, it gets even more interesting. As such open source applications are able to be interface with digital signage, not only will ad impressions be much more meaningful, but digital signage and mobile apps will receive new legs as freelance programmers attempt to enter the space with money-making applications, much like the iPhone has already done.
As digital signage moves more toward a mainstream market, I'm positive these types of systems are what we will be seeing more of both for 2009 and beyond. Wirespring is certainly positioning themselves as a key player for the smaller deployment markets in the industry. And, as we see more demand for entry-level, cost conscious digital signage products, more press releases like this one will emerge.
Noventri had a nice deployment announcement this week that I feel is worth noting. The installation included several digital menu boards. According to the press release, advertising messages will show more than 150 times per day and are available in various sizes. The ad space on the signage is meant to be used as an additional revenue stream for show managers.
There seems to be a growing trend here: small to medium businesses are being targeted with wonton abandon! As software complexities and prices have decreased in recent months, we have seen more digital signage providers look to a much broader market segment. We will certainly be seeing a lot more of this going forward.
Gestural digital signage has the "cool" factor. Despite what some think, the technology is not new. From the interview with Gesturetek's CEO, John Vincent:
Over the past 20 years, GestureTek has been inventing, patenting and pioneering video gesture control with numerous different types of interfaces and cameras. In some cases, users simply point at the screen from a distance and accurately control the onscreen cursor to click and navigate content. In other cases, cameras are used to let people walk up to plasmas and projections and interact with their full body motions in front of the screen (or above the display if it is a projection on the floor). In other examples, immersion technology captures the user’s image is captured and placed right on the screen, where they can see themselves as they interact with the content that surrounds them onscreen.
Gestural digital signage applications are very beneficial in the signage realm for a number of reasons. First, they allow for the essential audience interaction. Second, their impressions are much more meaningful. Finally, they allow for an increase in digital signage ROI.
So, there you have it folks. Some of my favorite digital signage news stories for the week. Since we're aggregating feeds here, we get quite a few stories coming in via the aggregator, from our staff, as well as from submission by all of you. Keep them coming. We're enjoying the ride!
In a recent study put out by Helius Digital Signage, the company boasted saving JC Penny $20 million in training related expenses. "Using the distance learning model, JCPenney was able to close their regional training facilities, thus reducing overhead, cost of travel, and time lost." Media training is the method of the future. Out with the old, in with the new.
"Now corporate executives can reach out and maintain dynamic and recorded interaction with the entire organization in a quick and efficient manner. The existing infrastructure developed by Helius allows management to broadcast live or pre-recorded messages to all 1,000 plus stores simultaneously or on delay for maximum impact. Broadcasts can be recorded to allow associates who work different shifts to benefit from personal messages and critical information from the Home Office."
Another correlating benefit to installing the Helius media training software was an increase in customer service scores, scores which put JC Penny with top marks from the National Retail Foundation/American Express 2008 Customer Service Survey. And the trained associates are feeling the benefit as well. A recent study showed that 82% of JC Penny employees felt that the training they received had helped them be more successful at their jobs.
The real brain-busting claim of the project: JC Penny boasted "saving over $20 million in travel and other training related costs" with the use of Helius' media training software. These type of numbers are certainly an aide in distributing a media training solution, integrated with digital signage. Numbers like these are certainly nothing to balk about.
