DIGITAL MEDIA

Archive for February, 2010

Taking a page from the entrepreneur’s notebook, non-profit organizations are now utilizing digital signage, touch-screen kiosks and interactive donor walls to promote capital campaigns, enhance donor recognition, deliver important fundraising messages, attract new donors and bolster their bottom line.

The convergence of interactive technology with multimedia content has created a wealth of new fundraising possibilities.

For-profit corporations and leading retail outlets embraced the superior attraction capabilities of multimedia displays to increase profits and cut costs long ago. Now that the technology has matured, progressive non-profit organizations are implementing similar systems in an effort to compete for the increasingly scarce fundraising dollar.

While traditional donor walls and static signage will always have their place in non-profit organizations, self-cycling and interactive multimedia presentations are now being used to attract inform, inspire and motivate donors, visitors, volunteers and staff at first point of contact.

Imagine the powerful attraction, retention and emotion-generating capabilities of a medium that allows for vibrant graphics, animation, full-motion video, audio and compelling text messaging – one that also allows for interactive participation and instant updates.

An exhibit where contributors are recognized in dynamic fashion; where they share stories of hope, gratitude and the future; where history unfolds in an illustrated, moving chronicle; where a capital campaign is illustrated and advanced by animated timelines, moving testimonials, and current contribution results – in effect – a display that inspires while also reflecting an organization’s mission, culture, values and ideals.

Multimedia displays provide a powerful marketing, communications and fundraising edge that is limited only by the imagination of the content creators. The presentations can be delivered via plasma displays, LCD screens and touch-screen kiosks and can either be self-cycling or interactive. They can be also be integrated into traditional donor walls, recognition displays and capital campaign promotions or can be utilized as standalone systems.

With virtually unlimited capacity, multimedia displays solve the age-old non-profit problem of finding additional recognition space when needed. They are also quick and easy to update from the comfort of any office with an Internet connection, addressing logistical and budgetary concerns that include updating and editing donor names and keeping fundraising messages current. Electronic multimedia displays can now also feature integrated credit card swipes complete with printer. This enables a visitor to make a donation and collect a receipt while enjoying and interacting with the presentation.

Interactive and self-cycling multimedia presentations are quickly becoming standard occurrences in non-profits and charities. Prestigious organizations currently using dynamic multimedia displays to enhance their donor recognition, promote capital campaigns and communicate their important fundraising messages include, among others:

Harvard School of Dental Medicine (touch-screen kiosk); United States Air Force Memorial Foundation (multiple outdoor touch-screen kiosks with credit card swipes and printers); Glens Falls Hospital Foundation (plasma display), Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation (plasma display), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (digital signage), St. Boniface Hospital and Research Foundation (touch-screen kiosk and integrated plasma display), Shaarey Zedek Synagogue (electronic Yahrzeit memorial) and the Jewish Foundation of Milwaukee (touch-screen LCD display).

The future of donor recognition, capital campaign promotion and non-profit marketing – has arrived.

G Williams
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/nonprofit-organizations-embracing-interactive-donor-walls-digital-signage-and-touchscreen-kiosks-to-promote-capital-campaigns-enhance-donor-recogn-137728.html

I had dinner the other evening with some friends from New England. The couple splits its time between a home in the southern part of New Hampshire during the winter and a scenic farm in northern Vermont during the summer. In the past, I’ve had opportunities to visit both places and travel with them between their homes.

As dinner progressed, the conversation turned to the Old Man of the Mountain, a natural rock formation on the New Hampshire landscape that serves as a symbol adorning state highway signs and license plates. I’d stopped on several occasions at Franconia Notch State Park to view the Old Man from a distance.

In May 2003, erosion, wind and weather finally took their toll on the Old Man, when in an instant the rocks gave way and the landmark slid down the mountain and into history. At dinner, I asked in passing about the event and my friends told me a few things I had never known about the landmark.

The Old Man of the Mountain had existed in a tenuous state for years, my friends said. In an effort to preserve the landmark, the state had wrapped chains and cables around portions of the face to keep it in place. Plastic was strategically placed in an effort to prevent rain from penetrating crevices, freezing, expanding and making the face more unstable. Volunteer quarryman even regularly inspected the landmark and did their best to maintain its integrity. However, despite everyone’s best efforts, the Old Man of the Mountain collapsed in a heap May 3, 2003.

As my friends discussed the Old Man and the efforts to preserve it, I couldn’t help but think about the similarities between the fallen-away landmark and TV, commercials and digital signage.

As a mass medium television is the undisputed champion, but I see signs of erosion, unstable features and steps at preservation that ultimately are likely to prove futile. TV is in a state of transition, and the medium as it’s been known for the past 60 years or so is undergoing radical changes.

Sure there’s the transition from analog to digital that the government has mandated for February 2009, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m referring to a transition being forced upon the medium that’s about as welcome as the rain and snow were to the Old Man.

Since it’s inception as a commercial medium, television in this country has been linear. Programs have a set starting time and known finish –for the most part. In between show segments are commercial breaks; and in between shows are more commercials. Networks and stations have relied on this structure to build program lineups, audiences and desired demographics that advertisers wish to reach.

However, with the roll out of digital video recorders over the past few years, viewers –not network programmers- are in charge of when a show gets watched. Worst of all for the marketers and the networks, viewers can use the same recorder to “zap” or zip by commercials. Each time a viewer does so, it’s like another drop of rainwater penetrating a crack in the Old Man’s face, wearing away the underlying soil and rock holding the structure in place.

Add to that the growing availability of video-on-demand from cable and satellite TV operators, TV network Web sites that make popular shows like “Lost” and “Grey’s Anatomy” available on-demand via streaming broadband connection, and the countless shows, movies and events available for download via file sharing, and it’s easy to see the cracks are growing and the edifice is nearing a shift.

To be sure, the networks rolling out the chains, wrapping up their franchise tight to hold the status quo. Shows like “American Idol” garner huge ratings and encourage viewers to buck the VOD trend by asking them to call in and vote for their favorite performers live. But that strategy raises some interesting questions, like how broadly can it be applied, and doesn’t it just feed the desire of viewers for interactive control over the content they view?

Technology and interactivity are only two of the elements eroding the status quo. The other is demographics. Closely tied to technology and interactivity to be sure, the highly sought after younger demographic is fluent in technology. From text messaging to gaming, on-line chats to music downloads, younger audiences are immersed in the stuff. Unfortunately for television networks and their advertisers, this group also appears to be less interested in television than older viewers.

All of these shifts, as gradual as they may be, are good news for digital signage networks. On one level, digital signage gives marketers who may grow uncertain about the stability of the Old Man of Television a refuge for targeted advertising. On another, digital signage bears a close resemblance to television and can easily take advantage of the cache of the medium without falling prey to the elements eroding its stature. On yet another, digital signage displays can be configured to work in hybrid mode, offering the benefits of linear program playback, which can be interrupted with something as simple as a touch of the screen and sent into an interactive, digital kiosk mode. This in particular, positions digital signage to capitalize on the propensity of younger viewers to feel at home with interactive technology, and thus offer marketers direct access to a highly desired demographic.

Will television slide down the media mountain just as the Old Man did in New Hampshire? Perhaps, but I can’t say when with any more reliability than the surveyors 100 years ago who predicted the demise of the Old Man. What I can say is this: The forces buffeting the edifice of television are growing in strength. Whether or not that media landmark can withstand them in the long run, television and its traditional business model are likely to continue changing. As they do, the prospect of digital signage networks to offer marketers an attractive alternative will only grow.

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/digital-signage-payoff-whats-a-challenge-for-tv-may-be-a-boon-for-digital-signage-networks-115866.html

Out-of-home advertising –the nice-sounding term for all types of advertising consumed away from home, including digital signage- is likely to become an even more important component of the advertising landscape with this week’s announcement that Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings will roll out digital billboards in four more cities: Akron, OH, Columbus, OH, Memphis, TN, and Wichita, KS.

Making up the digital billboard network in each city are:

• Memphis: five 14-foot-by-48-foot digital displays;

• Akron: six 14-foot-by-48-foot digital displays;

• Wichita: six 12-foot-by-24-foot digital displays;

• Columbus: six 12-foot-by-24-foot digital displays.

While the size of Clear Channel Outdoor’s displays and its ongoing commitment to building digital billboards networks are impressive, what’s more impressive is the flexibility the new medium brings to the advertising community. The company plans to rotate advertising copy on each network display in an eight-second loop, totaling a minimum of 1,250 advertising spots every day!

Compare that staggering number to the paltry 23 advertising messages the signs would have carried for weeks or even months if they had been made of paper and ink.

What’s clear from the Clear Channel Outdoors example is the dramatic impact technology is having on the way advertisers can communicate their unique marketing messages to people away from home.

The same is true of indoor digital signage networks. They combine the appeal of television –graphics, text, animation, sound and video- with a growing presence in retail stores, malls and other venues where consumers go to shop. Perhaps even more important, just like the Clear Channel digital billboards, the messaging on digital signage networks can change frequently –even more than a thousand times per day if required.

The flexibility to update messaging easily throughout the day is huge in retail. Consider only a few examples. First, many large retail stores spend seemingly countless hours changing thousands of printed signs in various departments to keep their promotional and marketing messages in line with their retail goals. digital signage can slash the time spent on this activity. Second, updating or replacing signs at different times of the day to match the changing demographics and desires of patrons is at best difficult. Imagine a café in a mall that must post its specials on a placard outside its entrance three times per day –once for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now extend that concept to other retailers in the same mall that would like to target their messaging to seniors in the morning, students after school and families in the evening. With printed signs, such day parting is nearly impossible. But with digital signage, day parting marketing messages is simple and fast. Third, consider ROI. Traditional signs do not lend themselves to advertising support in a retail setting. Digital signs do, and best of all because they’re easy to change, advertising messages can be sold again and again.

There’s one other important component of Clear Channel Outdoor’s announcement that relates to indoor digital signage networks. The four newly announced cities join deployments in Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Las Vegas and Minneapolis/St. Paul. In total, the company intends to roll out networked digital billboards in at least 100 markets by the end of this year.

How long will it be before Clear Channel Outdoor’s parent company, which owns or operates 40 TV stations throughout the country, begins combining the sale of commercial TV time with the sale of networked digital billboard ads? What sorts of economies of scale and sales synergies would that type of approach bring?

In the indoor digital signage areas, how long will it be before competing, fractured digital signage networks coalesce into a unified market that can be sold in the same way? Just forward this column to Google. Given what they’ve been up to in the online, radio and television ad markets, they might just be the ones to pull it off.

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/printing-articles/digital-signage-strengths-resemble-those-of-growing-digital-billboard-networks-131161.html

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-tips-articles/digital-signage-goals-define-successful-measurement-716050.html

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/digital-signage-facing-the-challenges-of-2009-head-on-728809.html

Whenever I write these columns, I share a common predicament with those who create content for digital signs: How do I communicate my message to a mixed audience, some of whom have a detailed knowledge about my subject and others who at best have a passing familiarity?

I’ll do my best in this column to serve up some information that old hands and newcomers alike can take away that I hope will make the next few moments of your time well spent.

If you’re brand new to digital signage, struggling to understand where it fits into the communications landscape, here are five basic principles that will help you put digital signage into context –whether you’re thinking about using it to greet visitors in your company’s lobby or influence shoppers to make a purchase.

• Dynamic messaging: Digital signage transforms dull, static signs into a dynamic mix of video, graphics, text and animation that can communicate and influence viewers in ways more akin to television than a printed placard.

• Easily changed: Unlike signs that have to be reprinted to update messaging, digital signage text and graphics can be changed in a matter of moments to reflect the exact messaging that’s needed at any given moment.

• Scheduled to maximize impact: Because it’s easy to update digital signs, they can playback messaging needed to address an audience that changes throughout the day. For example, a digital sign outside a hotel restaurant can entice early risers to visit for breakfast in the morning, transition to lunch fare in the afternoon, display an elegantly appointed table with dinner specials in the late afternoon, and promote featured music acts that will appear in the lounge after dinner.

• Comfort and credibility: The very fact that digital signage relies on LCD and plasma panels and even CRTs for display –just like the one’s in the living rooms of most U.S. households- and that it can present messaging every bit as appealing as anything on television, imparts a degree of credibility to the medium that’s easy to take for granted but difficult for other new media to attain.

• Linear and interactive playback: Digital signage can be used to playback a series of pieces of linear content –that with a beginning, middle and end- as well as stand in for digital kiosks that give users access to branching interactive content to meet their needs. The same digital sign can do double duty in a hybrid application to attract an audience with linear content and deliver specific content in interactive mode at the touch of a screen.

For the old hands, here are five factoids about digital signage that are worth considering:

• Fine Art: With so much attention focused on the commercial aspect of digital signage, it would be easy to miss the fact that large flat panel plasma displays are currently being used as a digital canvass for the a series of 30 high definition video portraits at New York’s Phillips de Pury and Paula Cooper galleries and at the Ace Gallery in Los Angeles. The exhibit, VOOM PORTRAITS by ROBERT WILSON, underscores how the technology at the heart of digital signs is becoming increasingly common.

• Changing media markets: On their own, digital signage networks are becoming a significant advertising medium. Well-positioned to complement the skyrocketing online advertising market, which is expected to grow 35 percent this year, digital signage networks are coming into their own as a viable advertising medium.

• Proximity sensing: As hybrid interactive digital signs increasingly stand in for digital kiosks, the need to recognize the presence of viewers grows. Not only can such knowledge automatically launch a presentation, it also can control audio volume to prevent audio from closely spaced signs from competing with one another and creating an audio mess. Proximity sensors that easily interface with interactive digital signs can take control and create order from what otherwise would be chaos.

• Projector alternative: New technologies that allow projected images to be clearly seen on screens mounted in full daylight are emerging. Coupled with new technology that corrects for geometric distortion of projected images from oddly placed projectors, the new screen technology opens new opportunities for projectors to be used in digital signage applications.

• Flatter all the time: For the first time, flat panel displays have surpassed CRT-based televisions in consumer sales. Not only does that mean economies of scale will continue to make digital signage displays less expensive, it also means digital signage will continue to blend easily into the media landscape.

There you have it, five things you need to know about digital signage and five things you may not have known. Whether you’re an old hand or newcomer, I hope it was time well spent. If you have a digital signage topic that you would like me to research and write on, please provide feedback.

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/multimedia-articles/digital-signage-five-things-you-need-to-know-five-may-not-122187.html

“Just what do you think you’re doing, Dave?” Those words, made famous by the artificially intelligent computer HAL 9000 in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” resound in my ears every time I think about the topic of this week’s article: virtual assistants.

For those of you too young to recall, HAL was the artificially intelligent computer aboard Discovery in the film that attended to the myriad of details requiring oversight as the ship’s crew made its way to Jupiter. Its seemingly omnipresent red camera lens monitored all ship activity.

With HAL’s words still fresh in my memory, even after all of these years, it is with a bit of personal trepidation that I will discuss how digital signage can be used to add a virtual assistant to any sales or marketing process. But don’t worry, with this sort of application there’s no danger of getting sucked out into the cold recesses of space.

As in “2001,” the concept behind a virtual assistant is simple: make a complex process simple and manageable through the use of an efficient, “intelligent” computer. Putting that concept into practice here on earth is helping two Wichita, KS, area businesses extend their sales and marketing efforts and better serve their customers while freeing up personnel for other critical tasks.

At Walnut Valley Garden Center in Andover, KS, outside Wichita, an elaborate, interactive digital signage setup helps customers determine how much product they’ll need for a given landscaping or garden project by combining maps from Google Earth, a digital signage controller from Keywest Technology and an Orion touch-screen LCD panel with a data base of landscaping products that the store carries and their recommended coverage area.

Customers simply type in their names and addresses when using the system, and a map of their individual property is summoned from Google Earth. By touching the screen to define the boundaries of their project, customers trigger a computer to determine the types of products to use and how much they’ll need. For instance, by designating an area on the map, they can learn what type of fertilizer they need for their lawn and how much to buy.

For those who are new to gardening, the system cycles through digital signage presentations encouraging them to touch the screen to select one of 12 different types of gardens. After settling on a design, the system allows customers to interact and tells them exactly what’s needed -including plants, mulch and rocks- to build a similar garden in their yards.

At Randy Dean Construction in Wichita, another interactive digital signage system using a Keywest Technology digital signage controller, a touch-screen sensor interface from ELO and a 32in flat panel LCD greets potential buyers as they enter a model home. While Randy Dean’s sales agent can answer the questions of one buyer, the interactive digital signage system can take other prospective buyers on full 360-degree virtual tours of all Randy Dean homes, access and print floor plans, examine the builder’s home inventory and access the company’s Web site -all without taking the sales agent away from the prospective buyer.

Out-of-home media specialist DSX Media in Wichita designed and delivered both systems, including creating digital signage content, interactive branching and delivering digital signage hardware and software, touch-screen controller and flat panel LCD screen. In the case of Randy Dean Construction, DSX Media also sold advertising contracts to aligned businesses like mortgage bankers and title companies so their commercial messages could be interwoven into a loop of content that plays till the screen is touched.

While the specifics of both applications differ, they share the concept of using interactive digital signage -a hybrid of digital kiosk technology and conventional linear digital signage pages- to boost both businesses’ sales by in essence projecting the presence of a virtual sales assistant to answer many of the questions consumers typically ask. Doing so elevates digital signage to a new plateau, somewhere far beyond the role of an electronic equivalent of a printed sign, where it becomes an integral part of an orchestrated sales process.

Like all analogies, the one between the virtual assistants in Wichita and HAL eventually falls apart. While the garden center and homebuilder applications rely on some pretty specialized data bases to create content on the fly that’s relevant to shoppers, neither uses artificial intelligence like the fictional HAL. Still, the similarity in human-computer interaction, conjures up that all-seeing red camera lens in my mind’s eye.

Which brings me back to where I started this article: “Just what do you think you’re doing, Dave?” Unlike “2001’s” astronaut Dave Bowman, who disconnected the technology, my answer is to turn you on to the possibilities of using interactive digital signage to create virtual assistants like the ones at Randy Dean Construction and Walnut Valley Garden Center to boost your sales success.

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/digital-signage-can-extend-your-sales-success-91154.html

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Signage…
1) Can increase your company’s visibility,
2) Can help solidify your customer and vendor relationships,
3) Can deliver critical information more efficiently,
4) Saves time,
5) Attracts attention better than static signs,
6) Can increase the efficiency of your employees.

And, digital signage can be less expensive than what you are already using.

What do you think?

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/digital-signage-why-digital-signs-are-important-694009.html

Well it appears that the 800-pound gorilla Google has set its sights set on the digital signage market.

The New Scientist Web site broke the story earlier this month that the search-engine company has filed for a patent on a way to divvy up ads on a network of electronic signs. The ideas seems to be to give retailers and others a simple way to organize an advertising campaign to promote inventory on, for example, a digital signage network display or displays near their stores in a mall.

Just as Google allows advertisers on the search engine to specify characteristics of their online ad campaigns, such as what keywords to use, how much money to spend, and what to say in ads, the new Google system is likely to give retailers a way to get very specific about what product is advertised, how and where it’s advertised and how much will be spent to advertise it.

Granted, Google is only at the patent filing stage, and it’s much too soon to discuss this approach in detail. However, that’s not what’s important. The point is that Google’s approach is another sign that digital signage networks are organizing into a market that can be meaningful to advertisers. Google’s patent filing is further evidence digital signage is quickly transforming from an amorphous marketing concept into a concrete, definable reality.

Like the November ‘06 Screen Association announcement of the first directory of UK-based digital signage networks that accept third-party advertising and the news a month later of the formation of Nielsen In-Store to help marketers quantify in-store audiences, the Google patent move is a further indicator that digital signage networks are coming of age as a legitimate, quantifiable ad medium.

Another is the financial health of the out-of-home advertising market, which in 2007 is expected to be the second fastest growing advertising medium behind the Internet. A New Year’s Day article in MediaWeek quotes a forecast from private equity and mezzanine capital investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson as saying the out-of-home ad market will grow 6.7 percent to $7.25 billion, following a 7.9 percent growth rate in 2006. It goes on to say PricewaterhouseCoopers projects even stronger growth of 7.9 percent for 2007.

To be sure, out-of-home advertising encompasses many things, like digital and conventional billboards, cinema and mobile (i.e. bus, taxi, etc.) However, it also includes digital signage networks, which surely will stake out a growing piece of the out-of-home ad pie as they organize further into a media buy individual companies and ad agencies can measure and understand.

That could not come at a better time as ad agencies and ad buyers increasingly question how effective their traditional television and print ads are. Digital video recorders (DVRs) and video on demand are giving television viewers more control over what they watch and when. Zapping commercials -fast forwarding past them- continues to grow along with consumer uptake of digital video recorders.

Newspapers aren’t delivering the audience they once did. Circulation is down nationwide and that’s taking its toll on the commercial value of the medium. One need look no further than McClatchy Co.’s sale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune for about half of the $1.2 billion purchase price the publishing company paid in 1998 to see the impact of falling circulation.

All of these factors -including the congealing of digital signage networks into a quantifiable market, new convenient ways for retailers to ties their inventories to ads on digital signs near their stores, TV commercial zapping and the decline in newspaper circulation- point out that digital signage advertising is poised to skyrocket to new heights in 2007.

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/advertising-articles/digital-signage-market-poised-to-skyrocket-97239.html

A new trend in digital signage is emerging that combines the strength of digital signs with the interactivity of digital kiosks. For many areas, such as retail shops, the sum of the two holds greater potential for marketers than either of the individual parts.

Known in some circles as hybrid digital signs and by others as interactive digital signage, these combo systems can capture the attention of those nearby by playing back compelling linear content -for example an enticing commercial or news feed- and immediately switching to an interactive mode when triggered by an external input, such as the touch of a viewer, the mere presence of a passerby or even environmental conditions.

Like a standalone digital sign, a hybrid system allows communicators to playback a pre-built sequence of elements, including video files, graphics, text, animation and live television. Those staples of digital signage are the makings of an effective message that entices interaction with the very flat panel on which the content plays.

Once viewers touch the panel or step within its proximity, the hybrid sign automatically interrupts linear content playback and displays a digital kiosk-like interface that lets a shopper touch hot spots on the screen, launching a pre-built interactive branching presentation. Navigating through the presentation, shoppers can find the information they want like product recommendations, pricing and availability.

Depending upon the level of sophistication needed, such hybrid interactive presentations can link to company’s servers, pulling information needed for the presentation and collecting information about the consumer that can be stored on the server.

For instance, a hybrid system at an automotive retailer could send an inquiry to the store’s server to access a database of recommended filters and oil viscosity specified by each car manufacturer. Matching information the customer entered about his car with the recommendations in the database, the system could check inventory for the right products, retrieve availability and pricing and present the information to the shopper standing at the hybrid sign.

Prior to offering that information, the system could ask the shopper to enter his name and address and to grant permission to be notified of future specials. With that data saved on the server, the retailer’s marketing department can automatically send out coupons for oil and filters when next estimated time for an oil change rolls around.

What enticed the shopper to touch the screen in the first place? Perhaps it was a video playing back in linear digital signage mode of a favorite racecar driver discussing why it’s important to stay current on oil changes.

On the front end of customer interaction, the hybrid system cast a wide net, cycling through a playlist of content designed to sell oil, followed by tires, then batteries, air filters -the list goes on an on. Each linear segment is backed up by an interactive kiosk component that’s triggered when a shopper’s curiosity is piqued by one of these linear presentations and touches the screen. On the back end, the system uses data that’s collected to stay in touch with shoppers once they leave the store, offering special incentives to have them return. In essence, hybrid digital signage can help to extend the marketing reach of a retailer well beyond arm’s length from the display panel and into the homes of shoppers who are willing to interact.

Interactivity doesn’t haven’t to begin with a human touch either. Imagine a hybrid digital signage system in a ski shop at the base of mountain. Skiers donning their boots and gloves might see a digital sign in passing as it plays back linear content; however, their attention might be focused when temperature, wind and solar sensors at the top of the mountain report conditions and trigger specific presentations. Lots of sun could call up reminders about needing sun screen. Heavy snow might trigger another presentation that makes them think twice about leaving the store before having the right gloves or goggles.

The possibilities for interactive, hybrid digital signage are only as limited as the imagination of creative marketers. To be sure, this aspect of the digital signage market is in its infancy. However, with the recent availability of the hardware and software needed to bring together the separate worlds of kiosks and digital signage, hybrid systems will certainly play an important roll in the unfolding digital signage market.

David Little
http://www.articlesbase.com/multimedia-articles/digital-signage-hybrid-interactive-systems-amplify-marketing-impact-111863.html