jocund ? \JAH-kund\  ? adjective : marked by or suggestive of high spirits and lively mirthfulness

Issues with the Wal-Mart Kiosk Trial

Wally World has had some privacy issues with their most recent kiosk trial. According to the press release the newest kiosks would have two way communication with Wal-Mart's CRM, allowing for sensitive information to be sent to and from the kiosks. Sound a bit big brother? Take a look at the details: 

The initial version of the kiosks collect payment card information as well as drivers license data. Even setting aside the potential future POS/CRM access, the payment and highly-sensitive driver’s license data will force some of that debate right away. How secure are the kiosks? Who is ultimately responsible in the event of a security breach, both from a legal and PCI perspective?

Beyond lawyers and assessors, consumers and the dollars they control will likely blame the retailer for any problems that started with a kiosk in or right next to its store. Wal-Mart officials are stressing that the Wal-Mart logo will not be used on any of the trial kiosks, although the Wal-Mart blue and yellow brand colors will absolutely be used. “This is not Wal-Mart’s machine,” said Melissa O’Brien, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart’s entertainment division. “We are leasing space to them in our store vestibules just like with do with other companies.” And that nuanced distinction will be explained to every Wal-Mart customer how?

Text Messaging with CBS Outdoor

You've just gotta love it when text messaging appears on digital signage. Although SMS, RFID, MMS, Bluetooth and mobile marketing on digital signage are not new, it's good to see that some of the "big boys" are getting the ball rolling here. 

CBS Outdoor’s txt2go is an add-on feature that creates an affordable new avenue for advertisers looking to package into their media features like digital couponing, sweepstakes, direct response and point of purchase, the company said. The technology also will allow advertisers to track responses to their out-of-home marketing in real time.

“This is a win-win scenario for our clients,” said Jodi Senese, executive vice president, marketing, CBS Outdoor, New York. “Out-of-home media have been choice marketing outlets for local businesses, and we are ramping up the effectiveness of our signage by giving our clients ways to further engage consumers with direct response messaging and compelling offers. 

“More specifically, if someone is interested in a product or service advertised they can receive a coupon, free merchandise or another offer simply by texting in a short code, giving the company ongoing communication with an interested consumer.”

The Akoo Ad Platform 

Akoo is currently available throughout the food court environments of 50 high-profile malls in top 25 DMAs. The network will be deployed at 150 of the nation's highest-traffic malls by December 2009, reaching an audience of 490 million annual viewers with an average engagement exceeding 30 minutes.

The Akoo network has proven to drive measurable engagement, activations, and transactions with a media-elusive, predominantly 18-34 year-old demographic. The platform's ability to capture actionable behavioral data and deliver targeted advertising across digital screens and user mobile devices - steps away from the retail point of sale where purchase intent is highest - provides marketers with greater measurability of marketing impact and ROI.

Helius Wins Two IMS Awards

Helius, a company well known for their corporate communications niche even prior to digital signage, busted the guts out of the industry when they claimed to save JC Penny $20 million with their VOD training software. In fact, they recently received an award for the JC Penny deployment as well as some work they completed for CCES (Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sports).

"It is an honor to be recognized by the IMS as a global leader in the training and learning field," said Mike Tippets, president, Helius. "Helius continues to provide innovative solutions that help today's leading organizations provide anytime, anywhere education solutions for their learners. We are pleased to have the opportunity to work with great organizations like JCPenney and CCES in meeting unique training objectives."

Zoom's Acquisition

Since literally everyone has been talking about this bad boy, it might be good to throw something up here in reference to it. This purchase follows their purchase of Alloy's Nightlife Network and ClubCom, both finalized last year. From the release: 

“We are thrilled to acquire the leading provider of health and wellness editorial to fitness facilities,” said Dennis Roche, President of Zoom Media & Marketing.  “Health and wellness is the defining ethos of the health club environment.  Venues and patrons alike find this information engaging and useful.  It will be an outstanding complement to our existing programming content.”

The integration of the WHEN content also provides an additional platform for advertisers and sponsors to leverage across Zoom’s digital fitness offerings.  “Health and wellness information is a big area of growth for advertisers,” said Dan Levi, Zoom’s SVP of Digital Media & Strategic Partnerships.  “WHEN provides Zoom’s advertisers with relevant editorial content targeting health conscious consumers during a heightened state of awareness.”

When we get a request in for a specific project I'm always surprised at some peoples' lack of understanding of how "things" work. Not business or digital signage specifically, but how "things" in general work. Common sense things like putting the seat down when you are done so you can have a more blissful domestic life. Or that "waiting rooms" serve the purpose of what they explicitly imply: a place to wait. I'm simply surprised people are ignorant to some simple facts. So, hopefully this post will alleviate some of that problem.

There is an inextricable connection between cost, quality, speed, and safety. Ignoring that principle in your digital out of home project will have you out of budget, out of time, and--in some cases--out of a job. Wouldn't it be nice to have a six sigma signage solution where you can have your cake and eat it too (I also want that toilet where I am putting the seat down to be made of solid gold, but that's not in the cards at this point). In a perfect world you could have your pilot and deployment with all your needed software right now with the best possible flawless software at $200 a license. Wouldn't that be nice. I hate to burst your bubble, but some of us need to stop the insane fantasy! 

The connection between cost, quality, and speed is simply this: you want to increase one, you generally get what you desire at the expense of the other. Do you want all your hardware and software by the end of the week? You better be expecting to pay more for it. Do you want your software to be the easiest to use and have all the whistles and bells? Then, expect to shell out more dough. The general business principle is that you can only have two out of three. That is, if you want a fast, high-quality deployment, it's gonna cost ya. 

Think of it in this light: 

• If you want your signage fast and high quality, don't expect a low price. 
• If you want solution cheap and high quality, don't expect to have it at your doorstep quickly.
• And if you want something to be cheap and you want it done quickly, be prepared to sacrifice at the alter of quality. 

Digital signage may have "turned the corner", but immense work remains. With the current economic crisis, choosing and maintaining your business model may be a trait necessary to avoid extinction in the current fray. There are many companies who, without understanding the competition, will enter the digital signage market intent on a profit, but who lack understanding of a very broad industry. Although this is not uncommon, it is rather disturbing to see the same business models practiced repeatedly with the same effect: network death. Education is important, but not the end of what is necessarily a difficult decision.

Another tell-tale indication of that your business model will not survive is that your leadership lacks the fortitude and guts to see it through. One of my favorite books is "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. In it he indicates that is often is not the plans that fail, but the people that fail:

vatic ? \VAT-ik\  ? adjective : prophetic, oracular

Digital Signage Association's New PR and Marketing Chair

Tim Burke of Electronic Art is now the new public relations and marketing chairman for the Digital Signage Association.

“Our industry has grown tremendously in the past three years and is expected to double in size by 2012. I want to help lead the organization meet its mission and play a role in that industry growth,” Burke said.

The purpose of the Digital Signage Association (DSA) is to accelerate the growth and advance the excellence of digital signage deployments worldwide. The DSA strives to help those deploying digital signage solutions be as successful as possible. The Association is built on three pillars: advocacy, education and networking.

Electronic Art is a Cincinnati-based interactive agency specializing in kiosks and digital signage as well as many related online services. Originally founded in 1998 and incorporated in 2002, Electronic Art began primarily as a Web studio offering high end custom programming, ecommerce, and design. Electronic Art provides custom solutions for many industries in kiosks, digital signage and website development. Sales of kiosk and digital signage hardware allow for a complete solution from one vendor, and an onsite IT staff handles build, integration and support needs.

Purchase Agreement Signed by Altierre for Digital Price Tags 

Digital price tags were only a matter of time and cost. It looks as though someone is finally breaking into this market. This would certainly help companies like WalMart as they are always "rolling back their prices." Altierre will be services over 1,000 retail chains nationally with their RFID and digital signage product, aimed at making price tags more efficient through converting them to digital. Altierre Chairman and CEO, Sunit Saxena, had the following to say regarding the digital price tags.

"These inexpensive, battery-powered signs are easily mounted on retail shelves and other display areas and can be relocated around the store or re-assigned to a new product just as easily. Our wireless infrastructure eliminates the need for expensive and restrictive wiring and makes it possible for retailers to update thousands of signs across the country instantaneously. In essence, we can bring a web page to every shelf edge or rack in the store."

EYE Adult Shopper Profile Study Results Released

Conducted by Arbitron, the EYE shopper profile study was aimed at getting shopper psycho graphic and demographic information from adult shoppers, in particular those who were shopping in the current economic situation. The test was performed in November of last year. The study focused on 18 to 64 year olds. From the study, Arbitron found three groups of shoppers existed: carefree shoppers, power shoppers, and value shoppers. The press release had some interesting information regarding the three segments found by the EYE/Arbitron Study.

The carefree shopper tends to be between the ages of 18 and 24 and belongs to one of the segments of the population least affected by the economy. While half of the segment has jobs, they may still receive supplemental financial support from parents. That additional support and a relative lack of obligations allow them to spend around $500 each month at EYE malls.

Power shoppers skew female, tend to be between the ages of 25 and 44, and are more likely to have children in the household. The power mom shops for the entire family, visits more stores per mall visit and spends over $9,000 per year in EYE malls.

The value shopper specifically looks for sales while shopping and is twice as likely to buy items on sale as other shoppers. Even with these sale strategies, the value shopper spends nearly twenty-five percent more than the average shopper as they are triggered to spend more than they intended when they see good value in an offering. Almost three-quarters of value shoppers are female and are likely to be between the ages of 25 and 44.

EnQii's Customer Advisory Board

I have always had a hard time spelling EnQii. Not only is the "Q" capitalized, but I have a hard time not wanting to naturally place a "u" after the "Q" when I spell the stupid thing. All jokes aside, it looks as though EnQii has found a way to give customers some advice while at the same time make some dough in the meantime. Certainly the company has the ability to do so. January's $3 million in funding marked EnQii at the $20 million mark now. The advisory board aims at providing "EnQii's customers with world-class strategic advice in advertising sales, digital merchandising and out-of-home strategy. David Hearn, current chairman of EnQii, will also work closely with the Advisory Board to advise EnQii's customers." I really like EnQii's open source model for digital signage, something Wirespring has also leveraged. It has been a while since I've had a demo of EnQii--and I'm sure the software has improved in the last 18 months--but the company surely is making strides and will continue to do so with their great management team and global presence.

Scala Reaches 100,000 Software Players

Scala reached a very significant milestone this week: 100,000 software licenses. In fact 15,000 of the licenses have come through in 2009. Not too shaby.

"Not only is this an exciting milestone for Scala, it marks a great advancement for the digital signage industry as a whole," said Gerard Bucas, Chief Executive Officer of Scala. "We've been committed to increasing the reach and prevalence of digital media networks, and it is rewarding to see the number of deployments, screens and success stories continue to rise."

Digital signage network operators have struggled for sometime to determine what the best business model is in digital signage. Recent studies have shown that the next couple of years the money inflow will not be in the advertising. Hardware and software sales, on the other hand, are expected to grow substantially, doubling the industry's footprint by the year 2012. And with many industry incumbents shifting their focus to the SaaS model of digital signage, we are seeing a shift in revenue appropriation. We are seeing the digital signage industry shift from an industry which makes its money in software and hardware sales to an industry working toward the "razor and blades" business model.

King Camp Gillette is sometimes referred to as the "father of Freebie Marketing." While working as a traveling salesmen in the 1890s, Gillette saw opportunity in making money from a disposable product. His first idea was spawned from the bottle caps he saw get thrown away. He integrated his idea with a problem he saw in the need to consistently sharpen his dull straight-edge razor. Although it took him a few years to develop the disposable blade, Gilette discovered he could make more of a margin from the disposable blades--a recurring used item--than he ever could from the standard blades that needed constant sharpening.

Gillette co-founded the American Safety Razor Company in 1901. Production began in 1903 and in that year he sold 51 razors and 168 blades. In 1904, he sold 90,884 razors and 123,648 blades. His success was attributed to several factors: automated manufacturing, low prices, and good advertising techniques. The "razor and blades" business model was born of an idea housed in the mind of a traveling salesman. The Gillette company was sold to Proctor and Gamble in 2005 for a mere $57 billion. Gillette's business model seems to be sound (that was laced in sarcasm).

Different forms Freebie Marketing have been used by Comcast and crack dealers alike and have aided many companies in establishing a recurring revenue stream. Digital signage will be no exception going forward. The "razor and blades" model references Gillette's use of the disposable razor blade as a method for gaining residual revenue. Gillette practically gives away the razor, just so you will keep using the blade. Those of you that may have used the Mach3 or Fusion razors realize the margins are so high it makes me sick to my stomach. Inkjet printers, Comcast cable, Dish Network satellite television, and affiliate marketing all utilize similar business models. My former experience in the satellite industry was no exception: give the hardware away for nearly free to glean recurring revenues over an extended period.

There could be a few issues with thinking your recurring revenues will come back for 10 years. Hardware wears out and software becomes obsolete. Many networks are still fairly new, but will certainly be searching for new solutions as their equipment, including software starts to wear out and go belly-up. The recurring revenues only last as long as the hardware and software. Digital signage is here to stay. The question is: What will be the surviving business model in five, ten, and fifteen years?

Will digital signage SaaS be the norm? Will full server, player, and software solutions, with annual maintenance fees of 10% be the "in" gig? Will the industry, much like he current state of Internet hosting, be forced to drop its prices down to $5/month just to deal with the competition? What do you think?

There's been a lot of talk lately regarding entry-level digital signage solutions and how to market to mainstream customers. The articles and thoughts have not just shown up here, but I've seen them as a general trend over the last several months across the web. It is only one indication that digital signage is shifting to the total available market. As we transition, there are some features I keep seeing pop-up which will be necessary for companies wishing to target the SMB (small to medium business) sector. In particular, one specific software/hardware feature which will be necessary for the SMB is the TV tuner input card.

Some think of TV tuners as an additional hardware/software cost when doing an initial price analysis for digital signage. While this is true (this usually ups the initial cost of a deployment anywhere from $100 to $500), we also need to "pull our heads out" and look at the larger picture. In many cases, especially in smaller deployments, TV tuners embedded into a digital signage player can actually act as a cost reduction mechanism. Here why: TV tuners eliminate the need for regular content creation and management. For smaller deployments this is a HUGE. Does the local dry cleaner even care about the Content Strategies Summit? Of course not. He wants to push his own content, but needs a way eliminate possible "clerk burn." Those unfamiliar with "clerk burn" need to read Lighting Up the Aisle. "Clerk burn" refers to the annoyance of employees caused by a never changing digital signage loop. 

Television tuners not only eliminate "clerk burn" by regularly displaying new and enticing content but they also reduce recurring costs. Some may argue that a TV tuner is a hardware issue, I contend that the TV tuner is a content creation issue. Regular content creation for a digital sign network can be a costly proposition--especially for the SMB. In fact, content creation for the SMB is almost always more costly per unit than it is for large signage networks. Why? The SMB cannot take advantage of economies of scale.

Smaller networks cannot spread the cost of a custom template over a network of 100 screens like Wal-Mart or Target. Lack of scalability for small networks means companies doing dynamic media feed subscriptions like Screenfeed will be important for the SMB in the future. Whether content is pulled from a dynamic media feed or a cable/satellite signal, new and refreshing content must needs to be readily available for the small guys. This is the biggest reason TV tuner cards inputted into digital signage players will play an essential role marketing to the total available market (TAM). 

In addition, super simple content creation tools like Helius' MediaAuthor (a PPT to flash converter) and premade templates will be essential in catering digital signage to the SMB. So, if you are still developing your software and haven't yet given consideration to making a live television feed or dynamic media feeds a feature, think again. It may cause a faster death of your product than you had originally feared.

Which keyword gets more searches in Google "digital signage" or "digital out-of-home"? I asked this question myself about a week and a half ago and decided to use Google's keyword selector tool to find out. Lo and behold, the following results were spit out at me. 

It appears that "digital signage" beats "digital out-of-home" by a whopping 100%, given the fact that not enough searches are performed each month for "digital out of home" to even show up. The unpopular "Not enough data" reading is the only relevant information we are able to glean from Adwords. Other than the fact that advertisers competition for the phrase "digital signage" is fairly stiff, while it looks like not too many persons really are vying for the keywords: "digital out-of-home." 

Just some observations.

otiose ? \OH-shee-ohss\  ? adjective 1 : producing no useful result : futile 2 : being at leisure : idle *3 : lacking use or effect : functionless

NTN Buzztime Purchases i-am TV Assets

This brings me back to the good ole' days with RS&I distribution when I was in the satellite industry. NTN Buzztime was being distributed by RS&I at the time for interactive gaming within the restaurant industry. It looks as though the company has acquired around 1,400 of i-am TV's network of screens located in around 360 of the company's high traffic venues. From the release: 

“Our acquisition of assets from i-am TV has the potential to take our advertising sales initiative to an exciting new level. By expanding our digital broadcast network into numerous prime locations in the top 15 DMAs, we are gaining critical mass to provide major national advertisers with uniquely powerful event, promotion, and sponsorship opportunities,” said Terry Bateman, CEO of Carlsbad, Calif.-based NTN Buzztime. 

“The acquired i-am TV assets are an excellent strategic fit with initiatives we have underway to provide advertisers with sponsored media events and promotional opportunities,” he continued. “We will be offering our proprietary Buzztime content to operators of the acquired screens, potentially contributing to the growth of our overall network viewership. In addition, the assets acquired from i-am TV network include high-quality television screens located in prime locations in major U.S. cities which we believe will ultimately extend our network and enhance our value proposition. 

ICON Snatches Gridcast 

Can you say acquisition...again? One of the largest media firms in Canada, Gridcast, was snatched up by ICON print, a world leader in large format printing technologies. The A Peter Evans, one of ICON's founders said the following in the recent press release regarding the acquisition: 

"We are really pleased to offer the services of Gridcast to our clients. Digital signage and interactive complements static printing in a unique and dynamic way.  By adding a moving component, we are able cut through the clutter of a retail environment and allow our clients to draw attention to their brand and ultimately increase sales in store."

Started in 2005 by Praveen Gupta and Shawn O'Brien, Gridcast Media has quickly developed a strong customer base of media companies and brands, providing custom solutions and managing many projects from the initial strategy stage through to execution and ongoing management. Gridcast's work can be seen in everything from international airports to major department stores. 

Gridcast has developed a particularly rich skill-set and experience base with large format and interactive projection displays - a subset of the digital signage sector still in its early stages but poised for explosive growth as the technology evolves. 

Web-to-TV to Penetrate 24 million homes in 4 years

If you are looking for a place where digital signage technology can work in the private sector, you have found it. I have posted previously on ConnectedTV, Yahoo's Cinematic Internet Service. Digital signage technology is often pigeonholed into just digital signage. It's possibilities are endless. That's why a leap over to the private sector may be a good move for some of our friends in this space. Roku has already "been there and done that." From the press release: 

As consumers expand their viewing of on-demand content on sites like Hulu and YouTube, and broadcast and cable nets face continued cannibalization of ad revenue, cable companies and networks will begin to change their business models. While currently, they view online TV as additive to pay TV services, web-to-TV will ultimately force a complete restructuring of today’s video services.

Tifton, GA got their first digital billboard and Magic Media sold it out. The sign, which has approximately 25,000 cars pass it each day was sold out. The ads were sold to local banks, jewelers, investment companies, clothing retailers and restaurants. 

“We were impressed with how smoothly the entire sales to installation process was with Watchfire,” said Magic Media’s division vice president David Hornkohl. “Once installation day arrived, our board was installed and we began displaying our customers’ messages immediately. That was important because it meant we were able to keep our promise to our clients and have their ads running on the busiest shopping day of the year — the day after Thanksgiving.”

Lyle Hits His 500th Home Run! 

Congrats are in order to Lyle Bunn for hitting his 500th trained individual for his "Digital Signage SPEED Training" course. I met with him right after he had trained # 500 at the Digital Signage Show. What a nice chap. I think everyone who's ever met the guy can only say the nicest things about him. He's a gentleman and a digital signage scholar. I was not able to attend the SPEED pitch because I only attended day 2 of the digital signage show, but from the other lectures of Bunn's I was able to attend, I found myself quite impressed with his understanding of the signage industry. From the release:

"With Lyle's informative program, Harris was able to assist partners new to the digital signage and digital out-of-home market vertical in laying a solid foundation, and for those already involved, to expand their expertise in successfully addressing digital signage and digital out-of-home opportunities and growing their businesses,” said Kathy Bienz, director, channels management, Americas, Harris Corporation. “Our channel partners were thoroughly impressed with the program — we heard several of them exclaiming ‘I finally get it.’"

Normally, I don't like spam, but there is one blanket spammer I quite enjoy. It's our Clippings friend Mr. James Van Etten. I'm not really into male enhancement emails or sleek, imitation Rolex watches, but James' daily email is great. There are always interesting pieces I glean from the internal links he sends out. From Van Etten's website: 

Clippings is a daily collection of news links from the media and digital signage industry. This collection sent direct to subscribers by e-mail once a day. We check on the average of 30,000 industry websites and blogs each day.

The digital signage industry, now dynamically advancing at an-ever increasing pace calling for daily updates for entrepreneurs. This technology is advancing at a blinding speed constantly opening new markets and opportunities. CEO's and Sales staff need to remain abreast of the market to remain in business.

private-label verb:  a label associated with a specific chain store ; also : a product or service produced by one company (the producer) that other companies (the marketers) rebrand to make it appear as if they made it.

In software, often white label solutions are reserved for online dating and Internet gaming sites aimed at B2C commerce. In the realm of B2B, the white label concept is similar, but often less "turnkey." In the digital signage world, we are seeing an emergence of more turnkey, flexible options when it comes to marketing to the mainstream customers. This is starting to include private label offerings.

Benefits of White Labeling Digital Signage for the Producer

Two words: increased distribution. In the realm of product marketing, there is almost no lengths to which people will not go to find another way to get our product seen and sold. Allowing your brand to become a private label for a third party can give the increased exposure you desire. There are heretofore untapped niches in almost every industry that could be siphoned if the right individual or company were brought on board and allowed to rebrand.

Another very obvious, yet beneficial aspect of allowing your brand to be white-labeled is that support is pushed to the third party representative. In the event of a rebrand, most "producing" companies require Tier 1 and often Tier 2 customer support to be passed on. This allows for an increase in sales and revenue with a smaller relative increase in support and management costs. That is, if your network and software are reliable.

Benefits of White Labeling Digital Signage for the Marketer

Digital signage resellers will find great benefits when seeking out opportunities with those vendors who provide digital signage white label solutions. The following includes only some of the benefits of a digital signage white-label reseller program:

Low cost of market entry. How much does it take to develop your own digital signage software solution? How much does it require to test it to the point of exhaustion to ensure it is not only bug-free, but secure? These requirements will vary based on how you would like the software to operate and on what operating platform you would like the solution to run. You also avoid the complications--which also include generally large sums of money--that may come from both development and product testing.

Boost recurring revenues by jumping on the SaaS wagon. Many resellers can purchase the servers, the players, and all associated software directly from the vendor, allowing them to charge for hosting on their own regional sign network. It is estimated that by 2011, the SaaS community will be worth an excess of 1 billion dollars. It is also foreseen that 25% of new business software will be delivered as a service (Gartner, Inc 2006). With this in mind, do you think digital signage will be any exception? The contrary is most likely true: digital signage SaaS opportunities will be huge.

Automated billing, provisioning, and servicing of business customers. Many times private-labeled software packages will already contain customer management solutions built into the interface, allowing you to track revenue, RMAs, and other service related issues as your signage network expands. This is one more benefit that you will not have to engineer into your own solution.

Quick deployment. No development time means quick deployment. Whether it's quick website deployment, business plan deployment or digital signage network deployment, you can literally be up and running immediately with many private labeled solutions.

Multiple languages, geographies, and currencies. Much like the automated billing option, many white-labeled software applications already allow for multiple language support, giving you the ability to market to your customers worldwide.

Marketing and sales support. Product PDFs, hardware and software information, tutorials, and on-site training are some benefits offered to those who become white-labeled resellers.

Rebranded user interface. This could include using your own domain name as your brand, inserting your company's logo in the software's backdrop,

Specify your own pricing structure. One of the greatest benefits of a digital signage rebrand is the chance to be the master of your own digital signage universe by setting your own pricing structure, thereby determining your revenues.

In short, any private labeled software solution allows for a marketer to have greater responsibility and control over the decisions made regarding software deployment. I believe it was Jack Welch who once said, "control your own destiny or someone else will." There are many benefits of reselling any software solution if there is profit to be made. In fact, the world of the reseller can be a very profitable business indeed. Better still is the world of the white-labeled rebranded reseller who can realize his opportunity and take full advantage of selling another's product as his own.

Issues with White Labeled Digital Signage

While the benefits to a rebranded software approach are great, there are also a few downsides to such a program that are worth mentioning.

Competition for the same customer base. Sometimes our greatest benefit can also work against us. In the case of white-labeling, low cost of entry for a solution also means more competition for the same customers. In the case of those looking to secure deals for digital signage hardware and software, those seeking a solution will be competing with identical software unknowingly under a different name.

Development is out of your hands. With a white labeled solution, software development is in the hands of the software owners and developers (go figure). That means any custom work and tweaks from your core build need to be done by the parent company. This tends to bring up headaches, especially with larger clients who'll most likely need at least some custom work done.

Supplier power. Have you ever studied supplier power? When you decide to go with one company as the supplier for your digital signage software, you are giving the provider of your solution too much power. Why? Because they then know you are relying on them solely for their needs. This means prices could significantly jump, if legal documents are not implemented to prevent this from happening.

White label can be a great way for smaller networks to work within their own brand in smaller geographic areas, to ensure they can increase their brand's effectiveness. However, certain failsafes must be put in place, including territorial, development, and pricing agreements to ensure your company is fully protected from failure. With the increases in white-labeled and private-labeled branding the phrase has oft been quoted, "the future is bright, the future is white." Such may be the case in digital signage. What do you think?

bombast ? \BAHM-bast\  ? noun : pretentious inflated speech or writing

Digital Signage Deployer of the Year 

Of all the finalists picked a the Digital Signage Show this week, the only deployment I had personally seen just happened to be the deployment that won the motherload grand prize. The Library of Congress' COO, Jo Ann Jenkins was the recipient of the coveted digital signage deployer of the year award. Click on the link to see photos of the Library of Congress' digital signage deployment. 

High Pump Top Ad Recall

Much like their competitors at Gas Station TV, Outcast has successfully produced its own custom research numbers from surveys given to those who've seen their ads on the pump tops. Out

76% say Outcast is entertaining

72% say that Outcast is a good source of product information

71% say that Outcast makes pumping gas a better experience

87% of Outcast viewers say that they would watch Outcast media again on their next visit

The survey also showed that, as might be expected, viewers of at-the-pump digital signage are on the go: 61% were heading somewhere other than home after leaving the station, and of those that were going somewhere other than home, an average of 1.2 stops were planned.

Wireless Ronin Releases First Quarter Financials Slam, slam, slam. Wireless Ronin gets beat up again as witnessed by the release of their first quarter financials. It looks they have reduced their operating costs by a substantial amount. This may be in part to the huge layoffs that have taken place over there. The concern I have is that they have not increased their revenues from the same quarter last year. They have done a good job in reducing, but in their situation, they'll need some boosts from more than just the 35 additions to their KFC network in Las Vegas. It's going to take a bit more than that.

Cineplex Acquires Onsite 

An aquisition has taken place between Cineplex and the Onsite network. The release gives some insight into Onsite's extensive digital signage network: 

The Onsite network includes a sports stadium network with 1,000 screens located at GM Place (Vancouver), Pengrowth Saddledome (Calgary), Rexall Place (Edmonton), Scotiabank Place (Ottawa) as well as a high-rise office tower network which features approximately 200 screens located in public concourses and food courts throughout 22 office towers in major metropolitan areas. Encompassing marquee properties in Toronto's vibrant PATH system, high profile locations along Calgary's PLUS 15 walkways, and Ottawa's downtown core, the Onsite networks will add more than 120 million annual impressions to the current Cineplex Media offerings.

As this industry continues to expand and become more complex, the digital signage news stories continue to be more intriguing every week. Thanks for posting everyone!

Those familiar with placed-based media might be sick of hearing about the integration of digital out-of-home with mobile devices. However, my interest is always piqued when I pick up information on the subject from a source other than a digital signage blog. It's a bit refreshing, in fact. That's why when I read the following on GigaOM, I just had to do some reiteration here:

Indeed, if you take all the emerging technology trends — multitouch, wireless connectivity, cheap silicon, better batteries, location-based services and a move toward open-source operating environments — and marry them to the explosion of digital information taking place, what you have is the opportunity for yet another screen in our increasingly digital lives.

Similarly, Dave Weinfield recently posted his perspective on where the smartphone is headed with placed-based digital media networks. It's a great post, well worth reading. More perspectives on the whole issue will continue to emerge. My thoughts on the subject include the following: 

1. Emergence of one means eventual convergence with others. When one type of technology emerges in the digital evolution, someone will find a way to marry the stupid device with something else. Hence, the Smartphone and digital signage have a predestined betrothal. 

2. Target the senses: sight, sound, touch, small, and even taste. About 9 months ago I remember reading an article about a Japanese firm that had implemented a digital sign with smells. Eventual we may have a scratch and sniff screen. Or, better still a lick-able LCD digital signage screen. I know it sounds like a mix between Willy Wonka and the Consumer Electronics Show, but as the technology expands, the broad uses and true "long tail" will continue to emerge. 

3. RFID integration with digital signs will become more prevalent. 

4. SMS integration will be important. Although I personally feel SMS will eventually die, I strongly feel that interoperable communication with a digital signage screen via a mobile device will be extremely important for future marketing campaigns. In the case of the smartphone, SMS will be replaced by some other messaging app that could be easily downloaded and interfaced with an interactive sign. 

5. Bluetooth, however intrusive, will be increasingly used in out-of-home campaigns. We can only hope that privacy is maintained when it comes to Bluetooth Technology.

Providentially we have only hit the tip of the iceberg here. And as we continue to discover new forms of communication, we will eventually see how these forms will implement effectively and efficiently with existing mediums.

I drummed something up a couple of months ago in reference to the "long tail" of the digital signage industry, touting how digital sigange is not always about retail and advertising. While this will hold true through the recession, it falls apart like water in your hands when you start to market digital signage to the mainstream. As an audio/visual consumer communications channel, digital signage will always be pushed as a way to advertise. So, regardless of whether we're looking at digital signage for government and corporate communications, it will nearly always be "pimped out" as the ad medium--regardless of how pure some may feel the technology is. As a form of advertisement, digital signage is nowhere near where it needs to be and where it will one day be. And, I know I've posed the question more than once previously. But, bright ideas are important here because we've not yet reached critical mass: "how can we take digital signage to the masses most effectively?"

Penetration and Trickle-Down

Here are some indications digital signage has begun to impact a broader segment, albeit slower-than-desired:

• Screen parting has begun to be implemented into in-home entertainment. Yahoo has Cinematic Internet with ConnectedTV, Adobe has Flash Widgets for TV, and Roku has partnered with Netflix for set top box players. These three are blatant indications of  the digital signage digital signage technology creeping in from other areas. Certainly the technology crossover and redundancy will be heavy indeed.
• Traditionally expensive solutions have started introducing "lite" versions of their software, in attempts to lure. Broadsign (SaaS kits with IngramMicro), Wirespring (EasyStart Simple Digital Signage), and TheRedPost (digital signage in a box).
• We have seen partnerships take place between major players in an effort to take digital signage to the masses. The Scala partnership with FastSigns is just one example.
• There has been greater emphases on free digital signage software than we have seen in the past.
• Searches in Google for "digital signage" have more than doubled in the last 9 months. This is an indication that the industry is gaining more exposure.
• Prices are dropping for digital signage SaaS. Late adopters of any technology get the benefit of a solid "core" build at a lower price. That is the reward for their patience.

Overall, however, no one has figured out “the formula” — the business model for successfully selling to the long tail. We’re getting closer, however, and falling prices just make it easier. 2009 into 2010 will prove to be a huge turning point for this industry that, to date, has been mired in a muck of broadcast-style thinking, top-down implementation, and little innovation.

Successfully marketing, especially in a doldrums, can be a difficult task. I have a few thought, however foolish, on what I believe will and won't work as we manage our marketing push to the mainstream:

flocculate ? \FLAH-kyuh-layt\  ? verb : to aggregate or coalesce into small lumps or loose clusters

Harris and Orlando Magic Install Signage Network

Another sporting venue is now feeling the digital signage love train. The Orlando Magic recently installed a state-of-the-art digital signage network:

"We are pleased to team with the Orlando Magic to create this state-of-the-art entertainment venue," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications. "For Harris, the Orlando Events Center will be an incredible showcase of our unique ability to power an end-to-end, advanced media workflow. For the Magic, this one-of-a-kind venue will enable the team to achieve unmatched customer/fan intimacy, realize many new revenue-generating opportunities and position the Magic as the most progressive professional sports organization in the industry."

UVU gets Digital Signage Network

This one has a bit of relevance to me because it's so close to where I went to school. Utah Valley University recently installed a digital signage network. The company: Scala. I received my undergrad no less than 5 miles from UVU at Brigham Young University. In fact, I have had several close friends and roommates who have attended college there and am very familiar with the campus. The press release discussed the university's reasoning for choosing Scala as their digital signage provider:

In order to utilize their new network efficiently, UVU administrators wanted to give members of the campus community the ability to control content. Scala software's user-friendly interface and design capabilities would allow approved members of the university to develop and schedule their own content and select which screens it would play on.

"By using Scala software for content generation and distribution, UVU's administrators and information technology officers have found digital signage offers a low-cost and efficient way to deliver fresh, relevant information to students, faculty and staff," said Marcello Gasperini, Sales and Marketing Director for Capta-Vision.

Moving forward, UVU is hoping to use digital signage in its college of business for a finance lab that emulates the Wall Street experience. Only two other universities in the U.S. have these labs, which include video walls, RSS feeds, touch screens and a host of other digital signage hardware and software technologies.

Keywords: Naked + Pizza + Twitter + Billboard = Interesting News

A pizza shop followed Ashton Kutcher's lead from last weeks news, where in Kutcher used digital out-of-home to increase his Twitter following online. The most interesting part of the story is that the pizza shop is called "Naked Pizza." Who wouldn't follow a naked pizza on Twitter. From the press release:

...I’ve confirmed with the New Orleans sign company that installed it that it’s real. And while it’s still a pretty strange sight to behold, it makes perfect sense. With the growing ubiquity of smart phones, free 411 services, and Google Local on the computer, looking up a restaurant’s phone number is trivial. And phone numbers only form a very fleeting bond with the business, anyway.

But if a business can get a customer to add their Twitter handle, it gets a free channel to constantly remind them that they exist. By tweeting out promotions a few times a week, Naked Pizza will maintain a presence in the customer’s consciousness, and the customer gets a chance to score some cheap pizza.

This isn’t the first time Twitter has been featured on a billboard. Just last week, Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter handle was displayed on thousands of digital billboards across the country in support of his quest for 1 million Twitter followers.

McDonald's Goes Interactive at London's Piccadilly Circus

McDonald's claims to have a digital billboard that is "the first of its kind": "People posing for photos can appear to interact with images displayed on the giant LED screen. These include a birthday cake with candles, a hammer, bowler hat and 'think' bubbles containing McDonald's menu items such as fries. McDonald's said the campaign...is the first of its kind." For some reason, I doubt it is the complete first of its kind. It doesn't seem that innovative. I guess it could be the first. I have never heard of anything exactly like it. The interesting thing is what the fast-food chain hopes to accomplish with the billboard. They are encouraging folks to take pictures with the board and post such pictures on the web to gain even more exposure to the company's brand and the unique campaign they have designed. Well, it seemed to have worked at least to some degree because we've blogged about it here...

The McSignage Pilot

And, yet another plug for McDonald's and Harris. The fast food giant has begun a digital signage pilot using the Harris' sign software. From the press release we read:

Harris InfoCaster technology will drive broadcast-quality video content to displays installed throughout each restaurant. Designed around file-based workflows that merge television technology and IT infrastructure, the new systems will be designed and managed by Harris Broadcast Communications and Harris IT Services, and Harris IT Services will supervise the entire operation from the Harris Advanced Media Center in Melbourne, FL. Managed services include reception of programming and so-called interstitial content, quality assurance, content scheduling for every display in the network, and remote monitoring for each location.

“The McDonald’s-Harris relationship has been essential to getting this project to the pilot stage,” reported Brad Hunter, West Division Marketing Officer for McDonald’s. “It is comforting to know that Harris can manage this end-to-end platform, allowing McDonald’s to focus on the day-to-day operation of its restaurants.”