Digital Signage

Digital advertising growth drives new kiosk application

Posted on Aug 19, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

SelfService.org’s Caroline Cooper has posted an article about how savvy kiosk makers are now seeing digital signage and digital out-of-home advertising as part of their marketing mix:

As advertising continues to go digital, some kiosk makers are realizing a unique opportunity to combine a simple self-service concept with digital-out-of-home applications.

“Savvy advertisers now see digital signage and digital out-of-home advertising as part of their marketing mix,” said Digital Signage Association executive director David Drain in a contribution to USA Today earlier this year. “With an 11.2-percent growth in 2008, making it a $2.43 billion industry in the U.S., according to PQ Media, digital out-of-home is forecasted to have a 12.9-percent compound annual growth rate through 2012.”

In recent years and months, kiosk companies such as Hercules Networks and Nuvo Technologies LLC have watched the DOOH growth. Now the two are offering kiosk deployers a chance to leverage that growth to create an entirely new revenue stream.

Both companies offer cell phone-charging kiosks that feature LCD screens on which ads or brand promotions can be run. The kiosks feature as many as 10 to 24 charging tips, depending on the company and the model, and are compatible with at least 90 percent of mobile devices on the market.

Where and how to deploy the kiosk

Scott Calhoun, managing partner of Nuvo Technologies, says kiosks can be ideal for many different deployment environments. For instance, Nuvo has worked with Six Flags, United Airlines, college campuses and bars around its hometown of Baltimore, Md., in addition to convention centers and hotels. But the company is narrowing its focus.

“In the past, what we’ve done is placed them in different types of environments to see what we thought would work best,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun says airports, hotels and convention centers proved the best environments and, thus, will now be areas of focus for Nuvo.

Hercules Networks also has worked with Six Flags, and recently completed a deployment with AT&T in the Boston Celtics’ TDBankNorth Arena.

Paul King, Hercules’ CEO, says the kiosks also can make an impact in a retail setting.

“For a retailer, it’s a vehicle for them to stand out among the competition — to draw traffic into their store for a different purpose than they normally would,” King said.

A charging kiosk deployer has myriad options from which to choose. Deployers can either sell ads themselves to outside entities or to run their own branding messages and promotions on the kiosk displays. King says the choice depends on the specific goals of the business.

“Are they going to make more revenue from outside advertising or from their own advertising?” he said. “It’s case-by-case, and it ultimately comes down to a balance between customer service and revenue.”

Deployers also have the option of running the ads through a Hercules-operated network or updating the content manually via USB or Flash drive themselves. With Nuvo, deployers are provided access to a Web-based system that provides tools to manage the content independently. Deployers can access online training videos or particpate in a user blog for service and maintenance instructions.

Deployers also can associate fees with cell phone charges, or they simply can offer it as a free service. Ryan Doak, another of Nuvo’s managing partners, says more often than not, offering the charge for free is the best option for a deployer.

“Most people will find that when they deploy these, to charge a fee is probably not always the best idea,” he said. “You’re going to generate more revenue by selling advertising. We’ve found that a lot of companies will sell advertising, and now instead of making two bucks, they’re making 2,000.”

Interactive options

Both Hercules and Nuvo have also experimented with interactive applications.

“The bigger request lately has really been for touchscreen applications,” Doak said. “They use them at tradeshows, so the charging aspect would pull people into a tradeshow booth and then while they’re waiting for it, they can do an interactive application to learn more about somebody’s product or service.”

The kiosks also can incorporate text-messaging or Bluetooth capabilities. King and Hercules are working with one retail department store on an application that will detect Bluetooth-enabled devices in range and push out promotional offers from retailer to the devices’ owners.

Nuvo’s application also allows for text-message interactivity, and Doak says it can open up new avenues for deployers to engage with their customers.

“We can go back to the customer and say, ‘Hey, you’ve had 500 people text in this month,’ and not only do they know they have interest, but they have all the cell phone numbers of these people who they know are interested in their product or establishment, and they can directly communicate with them at that point.”

Content is King: Part Two

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

Digital Signage Today’s Paul Flanigan went to the Digital Signage Content Strategies Summit in Las Vegas last week, and has broken down his insights, thoughts, and discoveries into two posts. Day One can be found on the May 27th post here, and on the Digital Signage Website. Day Two is featured on the Digital Signage Today website, and right here:

Day Two of the Content Strategies Summit seemed to be two things overall: First, a practical application of some of the best practices (Target’s Mark Bennett showed a dozen clips that emphasize his best practices) and a much deeper dive into theory and research.

It’s not point of sale, it’s point of experience.

In 45 minutes, Al Witteman, managing director of Retail Strategy at TracyLocke, showed me that the next step in understanding the impact of digital signage and DOOH is to leverage the incredible research behind shopper marketing. It is widely known that approximately 70 percent of all purchase decisions are made in the store. Mr. Wittemen’s argument is that the emtire environment is the sales pitch, not just a sign on a shelf. Instead of creating “Digital Signage,” he would like the industry to use the term “Digital Experience.” (This may be a late entry into Dave Haynes’s post about what to call ourselves.) The environment has morphed into a holistic engagement device designed to ensure that your decisions are certain, perfect, and will have a positive impact on your loyalty in the future. It’s not “point-of-sale” any longer. It’s “Point-of-Experience.”

What I learned: This is the next phase of digital signage/experience. The industry has spent the past several months grinding away at the basic foundation of what it takes to put the content in the environment, but has yet to really work on impact – what makes the customer tick, and how we can create interactive and engaging experiences. Al asked which one of us would go into work, apply shopper marketing insights, put a stake in the ground, and drive the industry to the next level.

I will. I hope others will too.

Target is spot on. (Pun intended.)

Mark Bennett, group manager of Media Production for Target, presented Target’s best practices for Channel Red, Target’s in-store multi-channel network. His points confirmed much of how we should conduct our process for digital signage (I echo several of his points in managing my own programs). But what struck me about Mark’s presence at the conference was not so much the presentation, but the fact that another major retailer is coming forward to learn and educate on industry best practices.

You can find a detailed account of his presentation on Bill Gerba’s site here, written by Christie Liu. The article opens with, “In a rare appearance…” I think Target’s presence will be much more frequent. Like Peter Müller-Brühl’s discussion on Mercedes-Benz during Day 1, major brands will help shape the future of this industry and lay a foundation that all retailers (even the small ones) can model after. I hope that Mark and Chris Borek will continue to drive the industry forward.

What’s more valuable? CPM or REM?

Paul Ryan, President of Retail Engagement Architects, in collaboration with Retail Media Consulting, presented a solid argument for understanding the value of a message. By creating a grounded process by which measurement is achieved (not just imagined), we can move from measuring reach (CPM) to Relevance, Engagement, and Measurability (REM), or Impact.

What I learned: Building the understanding of impact starts in the process, not at the store. By creating a process aimed at a measurable result, you not only get your desired results, but you will also set the standard by which other content impacts the viewer. Plan for measurement now, not after it hits the store. An important lesson, indeed.

The five items you need in a supermarket

Remember that I asked you to list those five things you need tonight at the market? I’ll take a stab at what you wrote: bananas, milk, juice, eggs, cereal. Those were my five. Here’s the question: How many of those are listed as brand name items (instead of “juice,” you wrote “Tropicana”)? Chances are you wrote very few, if any, brand names on your list.

Hearing Mr. Witteman speak about shopper marketing research opened the door for me to see where I think the industry needs to look to build impact and value with content. Christopher Gray, Psy.D., vice president, Shopper Psychology with Saatch & Saatchi X, signed, sealed, and delivered that message.

Dr. Gray explained how we have the potential with Digital Signage (Experience?) to fill in that brand name blank. With the shopping exercise, he was, “demonstrating that brand preferences are not guarantees once a shopper is confronted with all of their choices at shelf. The fact that we tend to write down categories of items rather than specific brand names is significant and suggests that on some level, consciously or subconsciously, we are not fully committed.  As a result, there is room for influence. How to do that successfully is where the real work begins.” When we walk in a store, we not only have a frame of mind about what we want, we spend a considerable amount of time “deselecting” extraneous brands and products. That deselection state is a death knell for brands.

How can Digital Signage help brands avoid the deselection phase?  Dr. Gray presented a compelling series of arguments on how digital signage can keep a brand at the forefront of the customer’s mind when shopping.

Echoing Mr. Wittemen’s statistic that 70 percent of all purchase decisions are made in the store, and with a time span of approximately three seconds for the shopper to move into that area of impact and make that decision, how can we utilize digital messaging to cut through the clutter? Thought provoking, to say the least.

Quite frankly, Dr. Gray’s entire presentation is a series of blog posts on its own. His insights on shopping behavior and how Digital Signage relates to those behaviors was nothing short of fantastic. I hope we hear much more from Dr. Gray, Saatchi and Saatchi X, and TracyLocke.

What I learned from this: With the need to understand evolving customer desires in an ever-changing environment, we must embrace the experience and expertise of marketing insights. We can then truly begin with the end in mind.

Oh, and I need to get Tropicana 100% Pure and Natural Orange Juice with Some Pulp at the market tonight. In case you’re wondering, that’s one out of 64 Tropicana Juice and Drink varieties I can choose from. My head hurts. A little.

Context comes first

Rob Winston, senior account manager for Arbitron Out-of-Home, explained that if content is king, context is emperor. Without context, you lose the efficacy of content.

Mr. Winston noted that our culture has moved from content consumers (watching ads on a program pre-TiVo) to content customers (actively deselecting those pieces of information we choose not to see/hear). It warrants a discussion on what we consider engagement. Mr. Winston believes that engagement is where the audience makes a commitment, not just a response.

All of this wraps into context, something that seems obvious, but in reality is very difficult to achieve. How many of us have hung a TV somewhere in a public space because we knew viewers wanted to see something cool on it, and how many times did we actually consider the space around it? I’m guessing all of us have been down that road before.

Mr. Winston provided a set of simple questions that we should be able to ask and answer in any given situation where we plan to provide the customer with a digital experience:

1. Who is your customer?
2. What are they doing?
3. What do you want them to do?

If you apply these questions not only to the screen but the environment around it, it’s easy to see Mr. Winston’s compelling argument that research lives inside context, and even the best creative won’t work without it.

What I learned: The paint on the wall is much more serious than just a color. It could very well be a deciding factor in whether or not you sell anything with your screen.

The summit – Final thoughts

This was the first slide of Mr. Wittemen’s presentation, and I understood it as soon as it popped up on the screen.

The industry has seen its fair share of “how to” white papers. I have read dozens of them myself. But I believe this summit called attention to the “why behind the buy,” and the need for the industry to leverage that information. Regardless of the presentation or source, every single person the stage brought more than just a pretty piece of video to look at. We heard insight on why content was created, why the customer needed to know something, and why something worked or failed.

What was refreshing was not hearing suspicions about the agency’s role in the process of content. Historically, agencies have been trying to find their place in the industry, and they (and we) are still working out the kinks. But having them at the same table as technology experts, retail experts and industry insiders makes me believe their role in the future of this industry is extremely valuable and growing.

There was a strong contingent of retailers and agencies in attendance, and a few production houses as well. What I saw was a common thread to understand that content can only be king when we have the following: Absolute mastery of the audience based on meticulous research and shopper insights; completely streamlined technology that allows us to create unique experiences and distribute to specific channels of interactivity; and common measurement metrics that work for both large and small environments alike.
And finally, that none of this can happen without everyone at the table.

Easier said than done, I know. But doable.

Paul Flanigan is the producer of in-store digital media for Best Buy and author of the Experiate blog.

This article in its entirety can also be found on Experiate.com.

Datacasting For Digital Signage

Posted on Feb 23, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

The following article, from Digital Signage Today.com, is by Lyle Bunn, principal and Strategy Architect for BUNN Co.  Bunn is highly regarded as an advisor and educator in North America’s digital signage industry.

Datacasting is emerging as an attractive alternative to DSL, satellite and cellular connectivity for digital signage/DOOH network operators because it combines the cost-effectiveness of multicasting with the addressable media transport associated with DSL/Internet. Datacasting offers the rapid, low-cost deployment that makes cellular attractive, but can provide much higher connectivity capacity and speeds.

One of the major players in this area of the digital signage industry is National Datacast, a commercial, wireless data broadcasting subsidiary of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). NDI has acted as a content delivery provider since 1988, but is turning its capabilities in connectivity service and media management to the digital signage and digital out-of-home sectors. National Datacast provides regional or national connectivity through partnerships with PBS member stations and their satellite networks.

While digital signage software from firms such as BroadSign, EnQii, Harris, Scala, STRATACACHE and others can provide flexibility and ease of use in designating display groups and specifying content spots for playout on even individual displays, I believe past connectivity options have not offered a cost-effective combination of network-wide media fueled with fast, player-targeted download.

Today’s connectivity model is a fundamental element of digital signage, in-store TV and DOOH dynamic displays since centrally-controlled networks are “media-fueled” to present information or ads according to pre-defined, often day-parted playlists.

The typical architecture is to forward media spots and a playlist file from a network operations center to media players at display locations, and then to add live inputs from databases or external feeds such as weather, news, sports scores or financial information.

Internet connectivity, such as DSL, and cellular treats each media transfer as a separate connectivity transaction, and as such requires large connection capacities to process network traffic.

Multicasting, the transmission of the same files to multiple locations at the same time, can offer media transfer value, but can add an overhead to media management at each location.

The datacasting model NDI’s datacasting network (short for “data broadcasting”) uses digital file transfer techniques that are similar to delivery of content via other means – that means a digital signage player can readily utilize content files delivered by datacasting. Datacasting applications are numerous and include transfer of video and audio files, corporate digital file transfer, updating of software, gaming and information, training and education, alert notification, safety and security and information services.

Datacasting empowers the capabilities of available software tools and offers operational cost-effectiveness that can allow digital signage/DOOH network operators to expand networks and better apply their day-parting capabilities.

This reliable, national infrastructure of commercial-grade digital connectivity has been used by a long list of clients such as Movie Gallery, Update Logic, TV Guide, Microsoft, Disney, VISA, IBM and others.

The receiving equipment is also very simple in nature. A standard antenna is connected using coaxial cable to a specialized digital television receiver which is then connected by USB to a media server or on some other type of content processing computer/ display. The antenna and receiver typically costs under $200 retail.

Other datacasting service features important to digital signage/DOOH network operators include:

Nationwide coverage that allows network operations in multiple regions to be provided by a single connectivity operator.

Transmission reliability is not affected by user volume, cable breaks or environmental conditions such as rain, snow, smog and dust.

Multicasting allows satellite transmission to deliver value to a large network deployment.

Multiple file formats can be transported, reducing the need for transcoding or file re-formatting, which increases overheads and can degrade playout quality.

Security at the highest level associated with an enterprise application.

The NDI Network Operations Center (NOC) can manage media distribution in any predefined display architecture.

PDM, EnQii Partner to Bring DOOH Media to Australia

Posted on Jan 19, 2009 by Jane Goodwin at 12:05 am

From Digital Signage Today.com comes an interesting article about the new partnership between PDM and EnQii, its purpose being to target the Australasian digital out-of-home (DOOH) media market.

EnQii has a customer base of over 100 customers in 14 countries, and a proven track record of over a decade.  This is due to EnQii’s RemoteTransfer™ software, which has had no system outages since its launch, in spite of a 75% increase in network traffic in 2008 alone.

“We have been aware of PDM’s outstanding work in the Australian marketplace for several years, and are delighted EnQii has been selected as the technology partner to support their remarkable growth,” said EnQii vice-president Asia Pacific, Joe Rossi. “We are also pleased to have secured the rights to PDM’s Acuity software, which automates the day-to-day running of a DOOH media network. To support PDM and to pursue other opportunities in the region we are also announcing the opening of our Melbourne office.” 

For more details about the PDM/EnQii partnership, click on over to DigitalSignageToday.com and read the article in its entirety.