Digital Signage: Shark in the Water...

This morning an article was posted to The Street.com which announced the official entrance of Cisco Systems into the digital signage market via the acquisition of Tivella. Whoa..... if ever a validation of the market was to be made, this is it.

I guess this is really no suprise. I've been to several tradeshows of late only to find Cisco teatering on the edge of a true digital signage product via their new ip telephony and training applications. They have also drilled me with questions and I had a suspicion their interest was beyond just learning about the space.

Now I don't know much about Tivella but a quick read of their site tells me their product is more geared towards the Corporate Campus. It is also built from the ground up on Cisco equipment and technology. Another check mark on the "makes sense" scale for a Cisco acquisition.

My conclusion on this announcement is that the consolidation game is on for real in the Digital Signage space. The race has been on years now but the big boys are going to start coming hard. We only have to look at NEC, Planar and now Cisco to see that writing on the wall. This is definitely a good thing for the industry. More money, more talent and certainly more visibility will propel our products and opportunities at an even faster rate than before.

If you would like to read the article about the acquisition, you can find it here

Digital Signage: Ad Agencies Say They Are Taking the Leap; Sounds good to me!

I’ve been in the marketing business for quite some time now and I’ve always pushed a non traditional product of some sort. I fully believe that the more unique the promotion can be, the more memorable your product will be. I also continue to preach that the combined effect of a unique and memorable promotion will make for a more successful impression on your audience. The problem is that the “unique and memorable” media vehicles are often difficult to measure, lack the longevity necessary to prove a concept and do not offer the reach needed to create the buzz across a brands target audience which exceeds the expense of each event. In other words, you might remember the inflatable Dean’s milk bottle mascot at the football game (obviously I do) but there is little chance you will find Dean’s Milk dumping the greater percentage of their ad budget into funny mascots.

Now please do not misinterpret my comments from above; I am not comparing an inflatable milk bottle to digital signage. But I am saying the in many respects we have been lumped in with other interesting and innovative advertising vehicles that are believed to make an impression but have yet to be measured with any uniformity.

Digital signage, in my opinion, has been a bit of a leap of faith on the part of both vendors (like me) and customers that implement the technology. By leap of faith I mean that we have been pressing along without the advantage of hard statistics generated from years of studies performed under the direction of similar or universal rules. As I’ve repeated many times on this blog, until we have a set of principles in place, the fragmented state of our industry will remain. This fragmentation becomes particularly challenging as advertising agencies start to take part in the review and introduction of digital signage products for their customers. .

Ad agencies are in business because they sell and create media. That media might be in the form of a local ad in a small newspaper or a Super Bowl ad. Regardless, when they go to a multi-million account for approval of their media plan, they are hesitant to risk the entire account for an untested vehicle. That has been the state of affairs for many decades but a recent article from Adage suggests things might be changing a little.

Today, no one can deny that grabbing the attention of a consumer via advertising is more difficult than ever. In order to be successful, a brand must be focused in their message, placement and delivery. Advertising agencies know this and are eager to find a vehicle which can alleviate the declining rate of return being presented by traditional Print, Radio and TV. With that in mind, they have turned at increasing levels to digital forms of media.

To date the digital media I just referred to has been on the internet. That media has also been effective and measurable. I think it would be difficult to find an agency of any scope which does not have a department dedicated to purchasing of media on the internet as well as generating media plans which include increasing percentages of budgets directed towards online initiatives and advertising.

From my perspective, the success of this media sets the stage for Digital Signage to be the next great vehicle. We still have a few years to go until true convergence comes to fruition but we are getting close. One by one we have to each continue to push customers, vendors and agencies to take the leap of faith. If we can do that, statistics and principles for gathering statistics will certainly emerge. That emergence will close the chasm which sits below the person or entity taking the leap of faith with Digital Signage.

You can find the link to the Adage.com article here .

Digital Signage for Banks: A Report from the BAI Retail Delivery Show

I spent last week exhibiting at the BAI Retail Delivery Show in Las Vegas. For those of you not familiar with BAI, it is the largest show in the financial industry which is focused entirely on technology designed to improve the customer experience at the retail branch level.

I’ve been to this show before and it is always interesting. You see everything from Check 21 systems to ATM’s and fraud detection systems. But this year, the growth of digital signage at the show was very interesting. The expected names in the industry were on hand but the thing that really grabbed my attention was the attempt by other product vendors to make an effort to consolidate digital signage technology into their products.

This was most visible among coin counting companies like CoinStar and Magner. Both showed up with an approach to digital signage yet each was very different. I had the opportunity to speak with the founder of Magner during the conference and he is making use of an existing software product from AdCue which controls his counting system as well as displays messaging during the wait time associated with counting the coins. I think this has value.

Magner took the path of least resistance. They simply mount a 32” LCD to the top of their coin machine and then AdCue integrates their software with that of Magner. I was not able to confirm if they connect the units to the internet on every installation but I assume that they push for it. AdCue functions much like our product and it is necessary to utilize the internet for media updates.

As for CoinStar, they went to the opposite end of the spectrum from Magner. While I’m not sure what software package they are using or if they wrote their own, what is clear is that they are serious about selling digital signage with their product. CoinStar fully integrated a screen into their coin machine.

Here is where I will admit my ignorance of coin counting machines. I have never even opened up the cabinet of a counter before. With that said, I feel confident that there are plenty of moving parts in there and it probably creates some heat and vibration. Unfortunately heat and vibration are both enemies of digital signage systems. That being the case, I have to assume CoinStar spent some time and money to develop a product that will be stable and reliable and that can’t be cheap. I guess time will tell as to whether they get their money out of the initiative.

Regardless of the true success of this approach, I find it very encouraging to see more and more vendors embracing digital signage as an augmentation to their product portfolio. If you have been reading my blog, you will remember my recent post about vending machine integration. To me this is very similar as it validates the strength of the digital signage within the retail space.

I expect to see many more attempts by myriad manufacturers over the course of 2007 to integrate digital signage software with their offerings in an effort to maximize the retail impact of their products as well as offer additional ROI opportunities.

As always, I will post those findings when I come across them.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Digital Signage: ABA Study Confirms Budget Growth

A recent study published by the ABA (American Banking Association) definitively states that marketing budgets among community banks has been growing for the last few years. According to the study, budgets grew with in banks with less than $100 million in assets by 61.5% from 2003-2005.

As a company we are very involved in the financial industry and I have no problem believing the numbers quoted in the study. Now I need to find some numbers on what percentage of marketing budgets with in the space is being allocated to alternative media and digital signage in particluar. I am hoping the second part to Steve Platt's initial study released last month will give some insight to this. You can be sure I will post the new study (at least what I can) when it is released.

In the meantime, you can find the full ABA study here

Digital Signage: A Framework For A/V Contractors

I came across a good article from Pro AV Magazine this morning which covers many of the issues involved in selling and fulfilling a digital signage project. As the article suggests, digital signage is cretainly a growing wave in the A/V world, but it still remains little understood.

I suppose that any technology in it's beginning stage should expect to have some confusion populated in the marketplace. It is not that we don't have knowledgable professionals working hard to ensure education of the market happens, but the speed with which changes are taking place within the digital signage industry. Our application has had 7 new releases in 2006 and we're expecting 2 more before the end of the year. The challenge of keeping just employees up to date on that type of change is daunting enough. Now take that example and multiply it by the mountain of competitors which exist or are entering the space and it becomes clear that the digital signage industry has it's hands full as we grow.

The good news is we don't have to look too far in the past to see examples of this scenario. I compare it to the telecommunications industry in the late 1990's. Back then, equipment and capabilities changed so quickly, it was possible to quote a solution one way and 3 weeks later have a totally different approach available for the same customer. Then the challenge became to determine which one best suited the requirements of the customer and deciding if the introduction of a new solution would add vvalue or cause confusion on the part of the customer. In the end, some telecommunications providers would suggest the newest solution and others would go with what they knew. It was very possible for an IT professional to face a decision to go with the newest (but unknown) or the standard (but possibly less effective) solution. The problem was, the decision they made also controlled their job stability.

I don't think Digital Signage has quite reached the now ubiquitous critical nature of internet connectivity and dial tone but I'm not sure we are far away from that. As more installations such as the one described in the Pro AV Magazine ( University of Tennessee's Football Hall of Fame) take place we may start to face the same issues on a bigger scale than they exist today.

Click here to find the article written by Mike White of Multimedia Solutions

Digital Signage: Equipment Plays Role In Exposure Growth

An interesting article was published the other day by Automatic Merchandiser regarding the growing interest in digital signage among vending machine companies. To me this is a natural fit and I look forward to seeing it work.

But regardless of this initiative's long term success, the attempt by several manufacturers within the space is an initial validation that digital signage has a place in most any retailing experience.

The full article can be found here

Digital Signage: This Smells Big

I'f you've ever walked down the aisle of a grocery store with a specific task in mind only to find yourself enamored by the smell of the pig in a blanket stand 2 rows over, you've experienced the power of the olfactory sense (smell) within a marketing program. Now it seems, some big names are taking the power of smell to the next level and some of them including digital signage.

Advertising Age published an interesting article this morning about the growing number of companies taking an aggressive approach at an age old tactic. One such company, called Smellavision (sorry, I couldn't find the link to this one) says they are going to 8,000 "scent delivery systems" in Kroger stores over the course of 2007. And if that isn't ambitious enough they've also named 2007 "The year of the scent" :).

Whether you take this approach seriously or not, the likes of Mars, P&G, Kraft and Pepsi Co. are giving it a sniff. Those brands do "stink" of enough cash that they would be able to support the introduction of such systems. It will be interesting to see if the scent of this one lingers or fades away like the smell of the last cold pig in a blanket from the sample stand.

The article in Ad Age can be found here

Digital Signage: Minicom Gets a Mighty Investment

Anyone involved in digital signage knows that the flow of investment capital into the market is growing at a fever pitch. It seems that anyone with a decent bank account, or access to one, is starting up a business and putting their proverbial hat into the digital signage ring. Most of the investment news has centered on new product launches and new start-ups or, more recently, acquisitions. I guess some of these new products must have had some sticking power because some traditional players are raising money and ramping up development and sales efforts. Minicom is the latest.

Minicom is an Israeli company that has been around for many years. Their core product category has been in the Audio/Video space and it sounds like digital signage applications have been good to them so far. The company manufacturers equipment that helps to amplify and distribute video signal over CAT5 which greatly increases the viablity of digital signage applications where distances from the player to the screen(s) are greater than 50 feet.

With that solution in hand, as well as several other strong KVM products, Minicom went to Intel Capital and raised $7 Million in Venture Capital. The article from Globes Online does not specify if the investment will focus on digital signage products or the other areas of it's portfolio but I'm guessing the digital signage industry is playing into this move heavily.

Digital Signage: We're Snowballing Now

The digital signage advertising model seems to have no limits. Companies have put them in bars, malls, bathrooms, and everywhere in between. Now comes along a company that has decided to put a bet on installing digital signage in the lift lines at ski resorts across North America and beyond. That company is called Sitour.

When I first saw this article I had no idea who Sitour was. It turns out that they are a multinational company involved in selling advertising at over 1,000 resorts in 14 countries. Wow. Oh yeah, they've been around since the 1960's too.

Now I've seen a lot of advertising models based on digital signage over the last few years (uhh umm, I'm guilty of trying it as well...) and most of them have failed or are floundering. If you've read my blog before, I have repeated the fatal flaw of advertising business models. That flaw in my opinion is lack of scale and reach offered by fragmented network operators. Without the scale of many hundred displays it is not possible to offer the reach required by large advertisers which is where the real money is. From the looks of Sitour, we may have a player beyond Walmart and Captivate Networks that can give some solidity to digital signage as an advertising medium.

For now I'm happy to sit on the sidelines and watch how the advertising model develops. I'm convinced it is here to stay but I do think further maturation is necessary before we see a true convergence. This is certainly a step in the right direction.

The article I came across on this subject was Media Life Magazine and can be found here.

Digital Signage: Statistics for Banks

The most recent publication from the American Banking Association's "Marketing Journal" included an interesting article from the highly regarded Platt Institute about the use of digital signage within a branch.

The article itself lacked in specific measurements but was quite informative about the method which financial institutions should employ as they consider the implementation of a digital signage network. For those (like me) that have experience working with financial institutions the emphasis on method rather than hard numbers will not be a suprise. As the article suggests, each instution needs to develop their own specific agenda and execute their digital signage initiative according to that plan.

With the above said, I hope the next article published by the ABA in conjunction with the Platt Institute will have gone through the motions with several institutions on method and measurement. Although it is certainly a challenge to generate solid numbers from an industry that does it's best to sell "relationship" and not "product" like banks, I hope that as time passes the real numbers will start to graduate into the public forum.

You can find the ABA article here

Digital Signage: As Panel Prices Decline, Signage Shipments Increase

According to a study released today by iSuppli, combined shipments of flat panel displays and digital signage are to increase at a CAGR rate of 3.6% through 2010 and produce revenue of 13 Billion. That number is up from 10.6 Billion in 2005.

The study goes on to project a continued decline in pricing for flat panels but does not make mention of price pressure for digital signage software applications. It does estimate that the market for digital signage applications will grow at a blazing 24.1% CAGR. A Compounded Annual Growth Rate of 24.1% over a 5 year period is phenomenal. I suppose we will need to wait and see what happens.

To find the full article, follow this link to DigiTimes.

Digital Signage: Impart "parts" From Advertising Model

Impart Media Group released comments about anticipated 4th Quarter results early yesterday in a press release stating they have changed their business model. Impart had a heavy weight towards advertising revenue and had made a strong push to establish itself as a leading network operator of digital displays over the last 18 months.

If you look at Impart's 2nd Quarter results, it is easy to see why they have had a change of heart. Although revenue increased by $700,000, their net loss went from $161,00 for the first 6 months of 2005 to an incredible $5.9 million loss for the first 6 months of 2006. To be fair, it appears they made a few acquisitions along the way but let's face it, a cashflow negative company balloning their loss to 5.9 million over 6 months is a monster issue to face regardless of future revenue projections.

I believe the lesson to be learned here is that the advertising model demands that the cost of the equipment necessary to operate such a network must be absorbed by the customer who hosts the equipment. In otherwords, convince the venue of the value of the software for their need and then sell advertising as a way to offset the cost of the equipment and software. Unless the location has some "skin in the game" they will be reluctant to help with advertising sales, equipment upkeep and other issues that may arise.

If the value delivered is software first and advertising second, I believe the medium has a chance to proliferate at a much quicker pace.

Digital Signage: Let's Define & Measure not Measure and Compare

If you've visited my blog in the past, you've probably come across an article or two about statistics. Statistical data is the key success factor to any form or media. It is what fuels value in the eye of the media buyer both within Fortune 500's and small Mom & Pop stores. Without a benchmark to reference, the successful sale of an advertising or marketing vehicle will be difficult at best.

Thankfully, the Digital Signage industry is now at the point of transitioning out of early adopter technology and into mainstream. With this progression, there have also been a flurry of statistical studies. Over the last 2 months alone it seems like the study of Digital Signage has really ramped up and it is very encouraging. The problem is, the industry can't seem to decide what is mainstream.

Is Digital Sigange an advertising tool which generates revenue from the sale of time on a network of screens? Is it a corporately controlled medium designed to push product at the right time and in the right location? Is it an interactive technology which executes a transaction itself? Is it a combination of all three? The answer is probably a little of each. But more important than coming up with one complete answer as to the targeted use for Digital Signage, I tend to think we need a set of measurements relative to our medium which will help both vendors and consumers to hash out useful applications.

The above soapbox type rant is a product of an article published this morning by Media Post. The article is a basic overview of the recent survey by BIGresearch entitled "Simultaneous Media Usage Survey". The survey is meant to be a representation of 'In-Store Media" and it's influence capability on consumers within a retail environment.

The study itself is very informative but I would be interested to know the metrics used to compare what they call "In-Store TV" as it compares to the other marketing vehicles included in the study which cover everything from "Product Sampling" to "Parking Lot" and Sidewalk Events". As our industry grows and large deployment implementation decision cycles acclerate, we are doing ourselves a disjustice to allow traditional metrics to control our medium's success.

In the end, we must respect the traditional statistics and work to understand how Digital Signage can best augment the reach of a customer message.

The article from Media Post I've referred to in this posting can be found here

Digital Signage- Statistics That Hit Home

For those of you who have frequented my blog in the past you know that I have commented about digital signage statistics (or better said the lack there of). I am always interested to hear the findings of our fellow industry partners and encourage each to continue gathering data so digital signage can continue to move towards an accepted and measurable medium.

The success of media has always been reliant on measurement. Looking to traditional media, many a company has been formed to generate elaborate measuring schemes designed to determine the success or failure of a particular campaign. And although the viability of these measurements can be debated, each additional study furthers the strength of the measured medium. It appears that digital signage is finally being added to the measurements being made by third-party statistical houses.

In my recent post entitled “Neilsen completes measurement study”, I addressed the need for more third-party studies. I’m happy to post another report which was published by Arbitron and is much wider reaching than the information currently available from Neilsen. For those not familiar with Arbitron, they are a company with equivalent credibility to Neilsen when it comes to media measurements which help advertisers justify their investment in a particular medium.

I’ve listed what Arbitron calls “Significant Highlights” below but you can download the entire report for free here.

For those interested in more statistics, we’ve started another blog focused entirely on reports on the industry. We’ll keep that updated daily and be sure to post the big stories over here or at least reference our other blog articles.

Significant Highlights

One-third of Americans have watched in-store video. Thirty-three percent of consumers recall seeing video screens in a store--not counting sets for sale in the television department.

One in 10 shoppers make a habit out of watching retail video. Ten percent of consumers who have seen video screens in a store say they either always or frequently stop to watch. Another 32% sometimes stop to view video screens they pass in a store.

Most video programming viewed featured products sold in the store. Eighty-one percent of shoppers who have seen retail video say the programming focused on merchandise available in the store. Almost half (47%) recall learning about specials or sales from the video displays.

Over half of retail video viewers think more stores should install displays. Fifty-two percent of the cnsumers who have watched in-store video feel that more stores should run video programming.

More than three-quarters of retail video viewers find the screens helpful. Sixteen percent of the consumers who have seen video in a store feel the displays that feature product or sale information are very helpful, and another 62% find them somewhat helpful.

Close to 30% of retail video viewers have made an unplanned purchase. Twenty-nine percent of the consumers who have seen video in a store say they bought a product they were not planning on buying after seeing the product featured on the in-store video display.

If given a choice, 42% of retail video viewers would prefer to shop in a store that has video displays. Over 40% of consumers who have seen video in a store say that in the future they would choose to shop in a store with video screens versus one without.

Consumers are most insterested in video that focuses on store sales, product information, and special events. Eighty-one percent of all consumers, regardless whether they have already experienced in-store video, are most interested in seeing video programming for the store they are in--including sales and specials (81%), product information (72%) and special events (68%).

Young adults are interested in watching music videos while they shop. Seventy-two percent of consumers age 18-34 are interested in watching music videos on video screens in the stores where they shop.

Almost half of male shoppers are interested in sports news and scores. Forty-six percent of men are interested in getting sports updates from video screens while shopping.

More on the Ad Revenue Model

There are many companies today making efforts to create a company based on selling advertising on digital signage networks. We receive frequent calls from prospective customers with high hopes for building signage networks. Unfortunately few of these companies achieve their goal.

In my opinion the model is viable yet premature at this point. It is a capital intensive project to start and has an extended ROI based on the ramp up time for both installing a decent network and getting traction with advertisers. To date most of the major brands have shyed away from digital signage for several obvious reasons. I've listed a few below:

1- Lack of scale- Major brands are not interested in purchasing time on 10 convenient store screens within a market. They want scale. By scale I mean penetration into the majority of MSA's (Metropolitan Statistical Area) in the USA or atleast the top markets. To reach this level is expensive and difficult to achieve unless you can convince a retailer like Kroger or Walmart to get on board. Luckily for the model, those two retailers are already testing the waters.

2- Fragmented ownership- I've seen advertising models where the ad company gives away equipment (PC, Screen, even internet connectivity) to 3rd party locations and then shares a portion of the ad revenue with that location. This is a precarious model depending on what type of location is being added to the network. As time goes by those operators tend to loose interest in protecting the equipment or helping out with a network issue. Possibly more important is they do not have the knowledge nor time to help trouble shoot an issue which can then prompt an expensive truck roll out to the location.

3- Lack of metrics- Although Digital Signage is becoming more popular for out of home advertising, the industry as a whole lacks defined metrics. In my recent post about Neilsen, I referenced a study completed by Neilsen which tracked performace of a network controlled by SignStorey and located in Albertson's. This study was a positive step in the right direction but the industry needs many more examples. Until recently most of the metrics published in the marketplace have been done by digital signage companies themselves and lack the power of 3rd party studies.

In addition to the above reasons, I suggest reading an article from the folks over at Networld Alliance. You can find that article here http://www.selfserviceworld.com/article_16268.php

Digital Signage: Information for A/V contractors

The world of digital signage and Audi/Visual are so close sometimes it is scary. But even scarier is the miscommunication that can occur between solution vendors and the Audio/Video professional managing the actual implementation.

I don't think any A/V contractor would deny the opportunity that digital signage presents. In an age of declining equipment margins, the Audio/Visual world is more than happy to see another layered service which will fuel equipment sales and augment monthly service contracts. On paper, everything looks great.

In reality, there continues to be a void between an equipment solution and the fully managed digital signage solution which includes not only equipment but content creation, media asset management and software scheduling . Unlike a traditional A/V installation, the real work in a digital signage project starts AFTER the equipment is in place.

Below is a link from an article I came across at Canadian Technology News which does a great job of describing the digital signage market as it sits today as well as where it is projected to go over the next several years. This is a great article for A/V dealers and professionals to read because it speaks to channel partners rather than end users.

Digital Signage: Nielsen completes measurement study

In the marketing world one of the age old challenges is measuring impact. Whether it is managing a network spot purchase or scheduling media to a network of digital displays, the impact can sometimes lie within the gray area. As a consequence, it is no suprise that one of the most often asked questions I hear is "Do you have statistics to back up digital signage?".

The answer to that question is of course yes. With hundreds of our Codigo systems installed across the US and abroad, we have done many studies in many different verticals. We do know that now just our system but digital signage in general can do wonders to boost sales and brand recognition when done right. Now comes the tricky part. Nearly all of the statistics we offer our customers as proof of impact are studies we have done and not a removed third party.

It is for this reason I am so pleased to see Neilsen get involved in measuring the impact of digital signage. I can only hope that we see more studies done by independent houses such as Neilsen and Arbitron over the coming months and years.

Below is a recent article from aka.tv which describes the Neilsen study.




Two Thirds Of Shoppers
Influenced By In-Store
Networks, Says Nielsen

Nielsen Media Research is finding out that digital signage does influence consumer behaviour.
The researcher – a prominent player in the measurement and assessment of traditional advertising, to which many agencies and ad-buyers look for media justification – recently conducted an examination of in-store media, specifically in the grocery sector.

In its first customized analysis of supermarket data as it relates to digital signage, Nielsen studied shoppers at Albertson’s and Pathmark, two U.S. grocery chains that utilize digital-signage technologies from SignStorey.

The researcher found that 68 percent of those surveyed said in-store messages would help sway their product-purchasing decisions. A further 44 percent said they would switch a product they previously intended to buy for one advertised.

Overall awareness of the in-store networks was close to 40 percent – a figure which included those who briefly glanced at the screens, as well as those who listened to messages or watched intently.

Many in the digital-signage business have called for formal studies such as Nielsen’s to provide the advertising community with the necessary metrics to determine the effectiveness of in-store digital networks.

Don Graves aka.tv staff

Digital Signage: When will Technology and Media truly converge?

I came across an interesting article today from the folks over at signindustry.com entitled Digital Signage and Brand Building. The intriguing aspect of this article was Lynn's comments about the new found convergence of knowledge among both the tech folks that design and build the software that runs these great systems and the media people who use them day to day. Traditionally, digital signage companies have been primarily composed of people heavy on technology and light on application. This is in all actuality why I started my company 4 years ago.

This next part is not meant to be a shameless plug, it is simply true. Until recently we felt as if we were one of the few vendors in the industry to have a strong understanding of both media and software. Although I am reluctant to start relinquishing our claim to fame, Lynn points out that more and more digital signage companies are starting to hire the talent needed to truly understand the media mindset. I am pleased to see other companies start to put more weight on media. Ultimately this convergence will help fuel the ever growing rate of adoption for digital signage.

I hope you enjoy the article. Check back soon!



Digital Signage, sometimes called In-store TV or Digital Display Networks, is of critical importance to brand managers and retailers because of the new capabilities it brings to branding, their success and to the definition of their relationships with retailers and markets.

Digital Signage, sometimes called In-store TV or Digital Display Networks, is of critical importance to brand managers and retailers because of the new capabilities it brings to branding, their success and to the definition of their relationships with retailers and markets.
Branding and merchandising and other information in video, text or animation can be presented on electronic displays that might include multiple regions, each controlled by playlists that can present different content files every few seconds if need be. Digital Signage is not just a new “better than static signage” display capability that exploits the inherent economies and flexibility of “digital”, but is a dramatic shift in the business communications that underpins retailing.

It’s all in the branding

To brand is to gain a favored position with consumers for a product, service, experience or organization. Branding is to create revenues that are sustainable with positioning for greater growth at contained costs.

Not only can dominant brands stay in that position, but any advertising in the brand’s category supports the brand leader.

That is, unless the sale is made by a challenger. In-store profile offers an immediate opportunity to motivate the sale, and create a new customer in the best way that brand management can persuade.

This new “on-location” alternative display medium, presents a significant threat and opportunity to brand management because it is “outside-the box”. It changes display processes, improves display location and reduces the entry level of investment for consumer branding and sales activation spending. It heralds an enormous change in marketing communications ­ a paradigm shift, or what the Harvard Business Review called a Blue Ocean Strategy in an October 2004 article.

Digital signage has emerged as an integration of technologies in response to the business need for lower cost, more reliable, more flexible, more cost-effective marketing communications. Early providers of digital signage (though this is changing) are not the people who deeply understand “audience”, “consumers” and “categories”, as brand managers do; but are those who can bring enabling tools that better business processes. It is a sharper tool for the hands of capable marketers.

Enabling technologies take hold when the value in using them exceeds their cost, and when the capabilities, cost and availability of component technologies can be effectively integrated. Digital signage has been at this point for several years, the greatest impact being the ongoing reduction in the cost of electronic displays. Digital signage is in the “killer app” category. It is a proposition so compelling that it heralds a widespread shift in business processes, supply chains, partner collaborations and the speed of transactions.

Leverage of technology

Technology advances have reduced the costs and improved the effectiveness of communications. This has occurred as the pace and critical nature of training, education, merchandising, branding and stakeholder communication have increased, and the need for investment effectiveness (ROI), and return on communications effort (ROCE) are under growing pressure. With its dynamic content, controlled playlists and day-parting, digital signage enables message targeting to preferred demographics at the point of choice, of consumption, where and while consumers shop ­ at the “moment of truth”.
As such, Digital Signage approaches consumer communications differently ­ much closer to a retailer’s way of thinking than that of brand thinkers, which interestingly is where brand thinkers try hard to be.

Successful brand managers stay very close to retailers. The partnership is essential to the brand because of the growing power of the retail location provider to impact the success of the brand.
In-store Digital Signage is like jet engines for retailers. When shelf space is allotted and stocked, and customers are in-store, digital display generates sales, increases basket size, improves the shopping experience and deepens the retailer’s relationship with the customer.

But the “moment of truth” is of greatest importance to the brand. It is the last three feet of the marketing plan, the point at which all planning, production, distribution and marketing dollars have been spent. At the moment of truth, revenue is achieved and a customer gained, or not. This moment of truth merits investment above all.

Digital Signage focuses on revenue acceleration in the retail environment using digital technology. So the management of organizations who make their money from consumer spending such as retailers, brand managers, ad agencies, marketing service providers, franchise and chain store operators, must look carefully at the competitive impact of Digital Signage. It will work for them or against them ­ it is not neutral.

The great rewards are realized when all disciplines gather around the opportunity together ­ including brands, creative, display owners, location providers, research, ad sales and technology providers. Because digital signage does something new, that is delivering dynamic images to the at-shopping experience, traditional approaches to creative, display, measurement and pricing are not adequate.

Communicating

The communications areas of marketing display, staff training and business collaboration have generally developed independent of each other (from both organizational and objective standpoints). But the common characteristics of these business communications applications are that:

1- Content originates from a single location.
2- This content is delivered to many (all) locations.
3- The minimizing of cost related to the downlink is very important in containing ongoing operating cost.
4- The communication is primarily display based, and can include an instructor or a spokesperson, as well as visuals such as video, static or animated graphics.
5- The content should compel a behavior. Whether training, education or merchandising, the intention is to motivate a behavior in the interest of the organization.

Digital Signage infrastructure can also be used for sponsored event private broadcast, instruction, staff training, subject-focus edutainment and business collaboration, therein providing multiple contributions to the development of the brand.

The customer experience and their relationship with both the brand and the shopping experience change when digital signage infrastructure is used for other communicating.
So long as there is production overcapacity and market opportunity, marketing that is cost-effective in achieving branding and merchandising goals is attractive, if not essential.
Patrons and staff can be trained through sponsored events and distance education. Customers can be acknowledged and entertained through private in-store broadcast. Locations and personnel can be merchandised and the distance between suppliers, management and staff can be reduced through business television.

Reaching people is the new domain of digital signage in supporting brand building.

Lyle Bunn is BTV+ Director, Digital Signage and Rich Media. He has published over 25 articles and Whitepapers on Digital Signage, presents at all primary Digital Signage events and is formerly Chair of the Education Committee, POPAI North America Digital Signage working group. . lbunn@canbtv.com

Back in the Game

Captive Indoor Media has been humming along at an incredible clip the last few months and suffice it to say that I have completely neglected our blog. For those of you who do frequent our site for information, I apologize and promise a new found conviction for updating our blog on a consistent basis.

In the spirit of the above statement, I am going to start doing more to not only author articles on what I see taking place in the marketplace but to also post articles which are of value to our industry as a whole. One such article was recently published in Media Post and speaks to the broad acceptance digital signage is starting to enjoy.

For the last several years, digital signage has been at top of mind for many retailers but often the larger roll outs lagged behind and many of the RFP's never developed into full roll outs. I believe the 4th Quarter of 2006 will be the beggining of the true tipping point for digital signage and this article certainly backs that up.

Please enjoy the following article and be sure to check back soon. I will be posting as much as possible and at least once each week going forward.

Digital Ad Boom Shifting From Online To Out-Of-Home
by Joe Mandese, Tuesday, Sep 12, 2006 9:02 AM ET

THE HOTTEST FORM OF DIGITAL media on Madison Avenue isn't online. It's out-of-home. Digital out-of-home networks are popping up virtually everywhere: in stores, in theaters, in health clubs, in office buildings, and perhaps most importantly of all, on media planning flowcharts. The new networks, a subset of the outdoor media industry that is sometimes referred to as place-based television, are growing at a rate of about 10 new per month, according to a new report being released this week by marketing consultants Profitable Channels. The report estimates that the 700 digital out-of-home networks launched since 2002 will account for $1.2 billion in national ad spending this year, making it the size of a major network TV daypart.

"The 700 number is probably low," says Stephen Diorio, a partner at Profitable Channels, and the author of the report. "It's a lot like when all the dot.coms were coming out. Anyone with a venue and a good audience is launching something and calling it media."

In fact, digital out-of-home networks are popping up everywhere from high-rise elevators to gas station pumps to public rest rooms, creating new places and states of mind for marketers to reach their consumer and business prospects. The growth is being spurred by a combination of entrepreneurial zeal from venue operators looking to tap the fast-growing advertising sector, as well as from increasing demand form advertisers and agencies seeking alternatives to traditional media. Much of the growth is coming from retail-savvy marketers such as packaged goods companies seeking to get closer to where their consumers are making their purchase decisions, but it also is giving rise to new units within major ad agencies and media buying shops that have begun consolidating or integrating their out-of-home operations into new "shopper media" divisions.

"All the major agency networks - Interpublic, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP - have established within their network 'centers of excellence' that are equipped to deal with the unique nature of planning this media," notes Diorio.

One of the key drivers influencing the growth of the new networks is their ability to deliver conventional sight, sound and motion advertising that big TV advertisers have grown accustomed to, as well as their ability to deliver an extremely relevant message to consumers at a decisive moment in their purchase cycle.

"A gas station isn't going to be the right venue for every advertiser, but for certain types of products - oil additives, etc. - they can be super highly relevant," says Diorio, who interviewed more than 50 senior marketing and media executives while researching the 700 networks covered in the report.

"It is one of the smallest segments, but it is also one of the fastest growing segments," concurs Leo Kivijarv, vice president-research at Stamford, CT-based PQ Media, which is planning a similar report on digital out-of-home networks. "Anecdotally, what we've heard is there is a difficulty selling this stuff to advertisers the first time, but once people try digital out-of-home, they are re-upping at a very high rate because they are seeing a stronger ROI."

Kivijarv says PQ looks at the market slightly differently, grouping the new digital outdoor billboards being rolled out by companies such as Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor in with digital video networks. And unlike Profitable Channels, it does not include cinema advertising in the category. However, if cinema advertising was combined with PQ's estimates for digital out-of-home networks, Kivijarv calculated that the total market would be about $725 million.

Profitable Channels estimates that cinema advertising currently accounts for about half of the digital out-of-home market in the U.S., but that in-store networks such as In-Store Broadcasting Network (IBN), Premiere Retail Networks (PRN), and Sign Storey represent its fastest growth and greatest reach potential. While cinema advertising networks currently available in the top 40 markets, they only have the potential to reach 32 percent of the U.S. population. In-store networks are currently only available in the top 25 markets, but Diorio estimates they have the potential to reach 93 percent of the U.S. population, making it a broader reach medium than the burgeoning mobile marketing sector.

The rapid growth of digital out-of-home networks has even spawned its own trade association - the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau, or OHVAB - which Diorio says is trying to bring some structure to the emerging marketplace the way the Interactive Advertising Bureau did for online advertising in the 1990s and the way the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau did for cable TV in the 1980s.

"I think we're at the tipping point," says Diorio. "This is a market that is poised to explode."
While Profitable Channels doesn't forecast the advertising market potential, PQ Media has begun to calculate the market's future growth, projecting that in-store advertising networks are growing at an annual rate of about 45 percent, while other alternative forms of digital out-of-home networks - gas stations, convenience stores and unconventional locations such as rest rooms - are growing at a rate of 15.2 percent per year.

Joe Mandese is Editor of MediaPost.

Screen placement for digital signage in the branch. What works best?

Screen placement is a critical issue for any digital signage project implementation. Amazingly however, we’ve found it is sometimes overlooked by customers in the design stage This is especially common when an industry professional has not been involved in the initial phase.

Because of our recent experience changing poorly placed screens or replacing less than optimal video distribution environment, we suggest that there are 2 elements to screen placement of overwhelming importance in a branch implementation. The first is where and how your line forms. The second is general branch structure and layout.

The good news about screen placement is that most any area can be used to hang a screen. The mounting equipment available today is very flexible. From floor mounts and reticulating arms to ceiling and flush mounts, all are proven to last and look good. Additionally, there are several ways to distribute media from the player out to your screen(s). A good A/V company will be able to consult you on how to best get a quality image to your screen(s) and get past limitations such as distance and interference. With the help of a professional, it is possible to deliver quality media over everything from wireless VGA to CAT5.

An Initial study

In the Financial Industry, we generally deal with 3 types of digital signage installations. Those include: new construction, remodel and existing infrastructure. Each of these has their own unique considerations which should be studied before an install can take place.

When addressing either a remodel or existing infrastructure installation, you many have the luxury to conduct a site survey over a 3-4 week period. If this is possible, we strongly suggest it is done. During the course of the study, take notice of how lines form and where customers gather. Answer questions such as; does line formation change throughout the day or week? Does the line curl mainly to the right during lunch yet wrap around on the afternoon of paycheck Friday? Is there a brochure counter which designates how the line will form? Do customers mingle before and after a transaction? To gather this information, it often takes little more than patience. Stand in the back of the branch and get a clear vantage point. Then move to behind the teller counter then over to each corner. What direction does the line grow in? Does it split evenly around the brochure counter; grow left, right or straight back?

In new construction, we highly recommend talking to a design/build partner to help you map out the structure of your digital signage initiative. Our customers have had great success with their digital signage initiatives when they work with companies like Weber Marketing, DEI and Level 5. Professionals such as these will help you determine not only placement but full integration with your overall branch merchandising goals.

Branch structure/layout

Even with the help of creative mounts and knowledgeable professionals, there are still instances when the top choice for screen placement is not possible. . Some frequent barriers to placement are listed below:

Security cameras – Make sure your proposed screen will not block or cause security cameras to be moved.

Power – In any scenario, your screen will need a power source. This seems elementary but when a concrete exterior wall is involved or a floor mount needs power delivered via conduit below the floor, getting power to the screen quickly and in an aesthetical manner is not always easy to do.

Installation Costs – Distance between the player and the screen(s) often dictates much of an installation’s cost. Coupled with the example above (power), another common hurdle is the installation height of the screen. When distance between your ceiling and floor is greater than 14ft your installation team may need a special lift which can be costly.

Glare – Today’s screen technology is better than ever. Higher contrast ratio and greater brightness make screens clear and crisp. Still, ambient light from windows and skylights can create competition for any plasma or LCD. Because of this, it is important to take note of how light enters your branch throughout the day. If you screen is placed directly adjacent to a large window, visibility of your graphics will be reduced.

As a rule we suggest doing one simple thing to help ensure a successful placement. Visit each of your branches to do the site survey and during those visits, take a few photos of your branch from different parts of the building. Once you have those pictures, use a tool such as Photoshop or even PowerPoint to superimpose an image of a screen in the area you are considering. Going through this simple process often can bring to the forefront issues you had not considered initially.

Advertising and Compliance. Can't we all just get along?

I am pleased to be able to post our fist guest article from our customer Republic Bank. Brian Waters, their VP of Compliance, was kind enough to cover some basic concerns of compliance as they relate to advertising in general. Going forward, my intention is to cover compliance issues as they relate to Digital Signage specifically. We are going to reach out to both current customers and industry experts to help us in our efforts. If you or someone you know would like to contribute to our efforts, please send your comments to me at brian@captiveindoormedia.com. Again, thanks to Brian Waters at Republic Bank and be sure to check back soon for more on compliance issues as they relate to Digital Signage in the branch.

Advertising and Compliance. Can't we all just get along?

Anyone who has tried to advertise a checking account or loan knows about the struggle that can ensue between trying to cover all of the federal requirements without turning the advertisement into a block of fine-point text. In truth, what needs to be said is often simple! Here are a few helpful hints for some common products.

It goes without saying, that any advertisement has to be accurate and not misleading. Also, be sure to avoid the use of the word “free” if there are any charges attached to the free service.

When advertising a checking or savings account, remember you have got to comply with the Truth in Savings Act. It sounds complicated, but it actually simple. As a rule, remember that any interest rate should be stated as the Annual Percentage Yield or APY and be sure to list the minimum balance to open the account. Also, if you have a bonus offer be sure to explain what your client need to do to qualify for that incentive. Finally, don’t forget to reference any penalties that may apply.

For consumer loans, be sure to check out the requirements found in the Truth in Lending Act. It clearly spells out the “triggering terms” that will require additional disclosures. It is important that you familiarize yourself with the triggers, because if your ad does not state them, you do not need additional disclosures! However, if you do trigger disclosures, you need to be sure to include the amount of down payment, the terms of how the loan will be repaid, and the Annual Percentage Rate. Finally, for mortgage loans, be sure to include the required Equal Housing Lending logo.

Advertising rules are fairly simple. They have been around for decades and rarely change. Just take a few minutes to embrace them and you can rest easy knowing you are in compliance without sacrificing the message you wanted your advertisement to convey!

Brian Waters,
VP, Compliance & BSA Officer
Republic Bank & Trust Company

ATM Advertising- Is it really so simple?

The use of ATM’s for the purpose of one to one advertising has gained momentum of late. On paper it seems like a great idea but in reality it requires great care in planning before a full scale roll-out can take place.

The transaction at the ATM is unlike any other customer activity within a financial institution. When a customer approaches a machine, they are interested in speed. Anything which impedes the delivery of their transaction can be interpreted as an annoyance. And, if the delay is related to the advertising being displayed, it could very well thwart the return of that customer to not only your ATM but your institution. This is certainly not effective marketing.

Still, the marketing opportunity which is presented cannot be ignored. It is for this reason customers continue to ask us if we can integrate our software with ATM machines. To date the answer has been no and I don’t see that changing in the foreseeable future. This is mainly because our system is built to distribute dynamic media. And, although our customers can and certainly do use still images on screens driven by our software, we like to see a heavier weight given to motion graphics. Today’s environment as it relates to ATM transactions simply does not allow this.

The bigger marketing opportunity appears to be the full integration of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications with ATM advertising. Under this scenario, the marketing message to be displayed would not be random but driven by the information delivered by the CRM application. Several of these types of products are starting to enter the market.

NCR is one manufacturer trying to make head-way with advertising on the ATM. Although I do no have hands on experience with the Aptra product from NCR, it appears to follow along the lines of what I am suggesting about integrating CRM with the ATM. In other words, don’t blindly push advertising to machines but make a product offers based on what you know of specific customer based on real time data. The value of this proposition has merit. There is a clear difference between “Ask us about our Home Equity Programs” and presenting a qualified customer with “You have been approved for a $10,000.00 Home Equity Line. Would you like one of our representatives to contact you?”

The systems that allow for this type of targeted messaging remain in relative infancy. I think it will be interesting to see how they develop over the course of 2006 and subsequent years.

Should You Use Television In Your Branch?

Should you use television in your branch?

Over the past couple of months the integration of television in the branch has been a hot topic. So hot in fact that we have begun development of an enhancement which will allow our customers to control when T.V. is displayed, the duration it is displayed and even the channel that is on the screen. Better still, this control will be available through our web portal. But this feature was not added without careful consideration of both our application and the effect this ability might have on the impact of marketing oriented media at the branch level. There were several large concerns, but the biggest ones fell into three categories; Competitive brand intrusion, effectiveness and control.

1- Competition- The unfortunate reality of television is that the advertising displayed during normal program breaks cannot be controlled by the user. In other words, there is no way to select that your competitors advertising does not display in your branch. This is something each customer will need to confront when deciding on the use of television. The only way around this is to purchase custom produced content which is available but very expensive.

2- Effectiveness- The vast majority of our customers (90%+) do not employ sound during branch hours. This poses a problem because T.V. by nature is very dependent on audio. And, although closed caption can certainly mitigate the confusion created by displaying television without sound, it is still is not as effective as intended.

3- Control- I have visited many a branch only to see Oprah being played on the screens in the branch when a news oriented channel like CNN or CNBC was intended. Without a method to control the channel at the corporate level, there is very little that can be done to ensure the channel your management has selected to play is actually being used.

Television integration and use in the branch is something we will most likely not be able to avoid in totality. Special situations such as severe weather storms, pressing news or sporting events will always be requested by customers. So, for those financial institutions which choose to use television in the branch, the critical detail is choosing a system that allows you to control, to the best of your ability, when, what and how often television is used. This control should help you control the frequency of competitive intrusion and help limit any drain on effectiveness.

With the above in mind, we have set out to build a feature in our application which will allow our customers to have this control. Through our web based interface it will be possible to schedule what plays on an individual screen or a group of screens based on various time/date parameters.

This feature will be available in August 2006 and we hope it will add control to the use of television in the branch. To learn more about this feature, please call your sales representative at 502-896-0947.

Content is King- Create and Schedule Media that Will Make an Impact

In the marketing world, presenting a unique and interesting message is critical to producing a positive result. Would be customers are bombarded with messages at an astounding rate and advertising, in any format, is often seen as clutter. With so many factors that play into Digital Signage, how can you ensure that your content stands out from the “clutter” today’s media presents?

Understand your Content Mix

Digital Signage can be used to distribute a limitless number of content types. Everything from live TV feeds to interactive kiosk applications populate screens. But in the Financial Industry, we find the most often used content types are as follows:

· Promotional Content- Represents specific products and service offerings.
· Entertainment Content- This might include live television, news feeds, stock tickers, trivia, famous quotes, riddles, local weather forecast etc.
· Community Events- Philanthropic involvement, local sports team affiliation, company awards, customer recognition and employee recognition to name a few.
· Training- This information could range from a previously recorded video on Cross Selling to a live video conference feed from the CEO to the branch employee or even a Training Manager addressing compliance issues.

Understand your Goals

With the types of content defined into the four categories listed above, it is now just as important to understand how each of those content types can contribute to the objectives of the institution. Below is the short list of goals our customers say Digital Signage can help them achieve and the correlation each has with specific content types.

· Lower perceived wait time.
· Increase product sales.
· Strengthen the brand.
· Promote goodwill.
· Lower training costs while increasing frequency of contact with front line employees.

As might be expected, content types and business goals are nearly identical. It is important to point out, however, that the right content mix contributes greatly to the successful attainment of each business goal. It is also necessary to recognize that goals may fluctuate from day to day and even from hour to hour. Considering the following 3 scenarios:



Paycheck Friday

Your branch is filled with customers from 1-5 and they come in waves. At certain times, you may have people in line for 10-15 minutes with the equivalent queue in the drive-thru lanes. Now is the perfect time to push product right?

The answer is yes but in moderation. We suggest a 60/40 mix of entertainment to branding and product content with the length of the loop as near as possible to the specific wait time during each event. In other words, if you have a 10 minute wait in your branch lobby line, mix in 6 minutes of content which concentrates on Goodwill, Community Events and general entertainment (trivia etc.) and use 4 minutes for your product promotions. By taking the edge off of the effort to sell product, you will have better success retaining the attention of the customer in line and ultimately make more impact when your product message is displayed.

Midweek Afternoon

It is Thursday afternoon and some of your commercial accounts are visiting the branch to make deposits. Your teller line is approximately 2-4 minutes in length and you know your customers are in a hurry. They are all in a hurry. Now is the right time to lower perceived wait time and impact the experience of your best customer’s right?

Not really. Small business owners have one thing on their mind- their business. Although the elimination of entertainment content is not recommended, a higher percentage of product content focused closely to this demographics needs is crucial. Again, it is important to consider the length of the loop as it pertains to the wait line in the branch. We like to suggest a mix of 70/30 product content to entertainment media in these scenarios.

Early Morning

It is Tuesday morning and you have a low number of customers in the lobby. Most of them are long standing clients that your tellers know by name and they are typically from the Baby Boomer Generation.

These customers like personal interaction and they place high importance on feeling good about the relationship they have with their financial institution. This is a great time to reinforce brand image and promote the goodwill events your institution supports. Make sure that the right product is interspersed with your goodwill campaign messaging and make the best effort to enhance cross sell opportunity.

The Basic Keys to Success

Keep it fresh:

No matter what make up your content ultimately takes, the single most important aspect to employing impact media is your ability to regularly update messages. As the previous scenarios represent, Digital Signage allows for the display of pertinent media based on time of day and location. Be sure you have the budget to allocate towards the consistent creation of new media and that you choose a vendor who supplies you relevant media on a continuous basis.

Flexibility:

Ensure the Digital Signage system you are employing allows you full access to change media when and how you want. If you have very complex scheduling requirements, be sure your vendor meets those demands without great expense or time commitment.

Continual Review:

Digital Signage is a powerful marketing tool and carries a significant investment to deploy. Once installed, it is important to continually review the success of your media plan as it relates to your business goals. There is no exact science which can be used to ensure performance but through constant review of branch statistics and content choice, the opportunity for improvement can certainly be narrowed.

Is Branch Growth The Answer to Deposit Growth?

When it comes to growing market share in the financial world, most institutions will say they plan to increase their scope through adding branches. And, if you look on any street corner on the main drag of any city across the United States, you will find most are populated with a bank. So with all the branch building going on, is it justifiable to make the assumption that location remains to be the single most important facet of successful growth?

According to the March issue of the ABA Banking Journal’s Community Bank Competitiveness Survey, 7 out of 10 banks have either built or renovated at least one branch within the last 5 years. Yet those same institutions that are building and renovating also agree that their markets are overbranched. In today’s hyper competitive environment, it should be expected to have a competitor and possibly multiple competitors just across the street from your branch. So the question must be; how do you differentiate your brand from the one across the street while at the same time defending margin and refraining from leading the relationship with an attractive but fickle product such as a CD? We believe the answer lies in customer retention and maximizing the sales opportunity the first 60 days of a customer relationship presents. With a solid branch retail campaign in place, Digital Signage can help augment these efforts.

Consider the following statistics for digital signage:

· Customers are 5-10 times more likely to notice dynamic signs over traditional static POP signage
· Customers are 2-5 times more likely to retain the information they see on the display(s)
· Financial customers have experienced a 10-15% increase in product inquiries after the installation of digital signage.

There are more statistics that populate digital signage reports as they relate to increasing sales but I believe these are the key indicators for the financial industry. They are of high importance because of the impact these figures suggest Digital Signage can have on cross sell success. Ultimately, if customers in the branch are more likely to notice, remember and inquire about the information on the display(s), the opportunity to penetrate a customer account with multiple products increases.

Digital Signage is certainly not the cure for all cross sell and retention challenges but if integrated with a well rounded plan, it can definitely contribute to the overall strategy and long term success of the branch campaign.

The facts about Contrast Ratio from the Pro's

After making my post yesterday regarding LCD & Plasma technology, I came a cross an interesting article in the most recent copy of Sound and Video Contractor. The article talks about the industry race to continually increase contrast ratio without putting due attention to gray scale performance. For the true A/V enthusiast, you may want to view the article and read it directly from the professionals at SVC.

LCD vs Plasma- What works best for your institution?

In the world of Digital Signage, the debate over Plasma or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) continues to rage among prospective and current customers. But to more knowledgeable professionals in the industry, there are clear lines on when and how to use each of these technologies.

A Burning Question

Plasma technology is plagued with a bad reputation that, frankly, is exaggerated. Yes, it is correct that plasma screens have traditionally been susceptible to what is now infamously referred to as “burn-in”. Burn in is essentially the possibility that images can become permanently visible on the screen after long periods of display This typically happens when static images are continuously shown over a long period of time. It also can occur when items such as a “news ticker” are extensively displayed at in a portion of the screen as is common with many digital signage applications.

The good news is that burn in can be limited and nearly eliminated if the panel is used judiciously. Some simple fine tuning can go a long way to prolong the life of any plasma screen. By lowering contrast levels and brightness, rotating static images and ensuring playlists have plenty of full motion graphics; the potential for burn can be greatly reduced.

LCD panels have a distinct advantage when it comes to burn. It simply does not exist with LCD technology.


Performance

Plasma displays outperform LCD’s in many areas which can be of high importance in digital signage. Most notable of these is what the industry refers to as “Contrast Ratio”. Contrast Ratio is the difference between the blackest black and the whitest white which can be produced on a screen. The greater the difference between the two, the clearer the images will be. LCD’s have traditionally fallen short in this area. To put things in perspective, I will recount a typical equipment specification for any Captive Indoor Media customer.

We like LG equipment and use it in most every customer installation. For Plasma screens, we commonly use a Commercial Grade HDTV with a 10,000:1 Contrast ratio and Brightness levels of 1500cd/m². For LCD’s, we also suggest HDTV enabled panels yet the contrast ratio is only 400:1 with maximum brightness of 450cd/m². To boil things down, contrast ratio and brightness effect viewing angle, clarity of images and ultimately the effectiveness of the media being displayed. And, as is clear from the manufacturer listed specifications, Plasma continues to out pace LCD in image clarity and brightness.

With the above said, I would be remiss if I did not mention that LCD technology is rapidly catching up to Plasma. In fact, 2005 was the first year that LCD shipments exceeded Plasma display sales.

Life Expectancy

As it stands today, Plasma and LCD displays can be expected to last approximately 50,000 hours. This was not the case just a few years ago when Plasma was expected to last closer to 30,000 hours.

In a branch scenario, where business hours typically do not extend beyond 45 hours, a 50,000 hour life expectancy equates to over 20 years. Reality would suggest that 20 years is a high expectation but more important is that both LCD and Plasma are mature technologies. Both can be expected to perform for many years.

The Price

Until recently, there were clear price advantages for both LCD and Plasma as it related to the size of the screen. LCD screens have traditionally been the dominant technology in the smaller sizes while Plasma has been most successful in the 37”+ market. For the most part, this remains true today although LCD’s are competing heavily for a share of the larger screen marketplace.

The Decision

When everything gets boiled down, we typically turn to the size of the area available for the screen, the size of the location and the budget of the customer to help us create the best equipment solution. Frankly we use both technologies with regularity although Plasma remains the most popular, mainly for the performance in the larger screen models.

Today, financial institutions are building bigger branches with more space for customers to gather. Common sense dictates that the larger the screen is, the more visible it will be to the audience and the better the impact it will have.

Digital Signage - An Untapped Opportunity for Ad Agencies

Media buying pros are a great value to community banks wanting to make efficient use of their advertising budget. In a recent ABA Marketing Journal article entitled “Say ‘Buy-Buy’ to Media Buying Woes!” Deborah Cover-Lewis, owner of Media Vision details the value of hiring a media buying professional. After reading this and drawing on my own experiences working with ad agencies I wrote the following article.

This article is intended to

· Recognize that most media buying companies in the market today are not actively recommending digital signage as part of their customer’s marketing strategy.
· Outline how incorporating digital signage would benefit both their agency and their customers.
· Suggest tips on getting started.

Advertising agencies have not caught on yet.Digital signage is obviously a point of decision merchandising technique and would be best compared to print/ship/hang static “in lobby” advertising. Media buying companies traditionally focus on getting customers into the bank through newspaper, TV, Radio and direct mail but are often times responsible for the entire merchandising campaign for the bank. Most agencies are in position and have the expertise to guide the bank to a successful digital signage campaign but usually default to static signage. Why is that?

Digital signage is relatively new as compared to printed in store merchandising. Ad agencies have developed relationships over time with printing companies and have a comfort zone with the process. They know the order and fulfillment process, their margin and it is what they have always done. Considering that there are only a handful of digital signage companies specializing in digital signage it is understandable why this hasn’t caught on yet.

Digital signage is complex. It involves expertise in a unique combination of audio visual, software, networking and graphic design. Confusion says no. How can an advertising agency or other media buying company get through a learning curve like that and succeed?

How can digital signage benefit my agency? What’s in it for me?
Digital signage is simply another medium to display the expertise and work of an ad agency. In most cases, there is a software component that allows the marketing department to upload content to a hosted library. Once uploaded, the media can be scheduled/distributed to desired screens at the desired times remotely. It is at this point that ad agencies can provide the most value to their client and be compensated for it.

In the aforementioned article there is a paragraph entitled “Use a rifle not a shotgun” which describes the expertise of a media buyer to determine the target audience. So, who better than an ad agency to guide the bank as to which media plays on the screens and at which times? If an ad agency creates content and/or brokers the content creation, determines the target market for specific branch locations, and helps determine brand strategy; doesn’t it make sense to leverage that work into a dynamic eye catching medium that is displayed daily to a captive audience of decision makers at the branch level where 96% of all core banking products are purchased? (ABA Marketing Journal/August 2005)

Another enormous benefit to the ad agency is having the right tool to run a promotion instantly and affordably. In another article written by this author entitled Digital Signage: A Dynamic Strategy for Credit Unions and Community Banks the advantages of running instant campaigns through digital signage are outlined.

How can I get started?
The first step is finding a vendor you can partner with. The good news is that you do not have to be an expert at digital signage. The key is finding the right partner that you can trust to demonstrate their product directly to your client, make the appropriate needs assessment and deliver a quality service without violating the protocol set forth by your agreement with the bank. The following questions will help you get started.

Can my client monitor and schedule media to multiple locations remotely?
Can the vendor buy and install the equipment?
Can my client upload media our ad agency created without an additional charge?
Does the vendor create media at an affordable price and is there a revenue opportunity for our agency?
Can I keep my client’s logo/brand prominent in the media displayed?
How much time will my staff have to invest in a digital signage campaign?
How much will training cost?
Will the system eat up my client’s available bandwidth?
Can my client buy the PC?
Can my client use existing display screens?
Will my client be charged annual maintenance fees on the equipment?
Can my client get access to local news, weather etc?
Do you have a revenue sharing plan? Does it include recurring revenues?

Another great resource for getting started is an article written by Brian Nutt, President of Captive Indoor Media entitled Tips for a Successful Digital Signage Deployment .

Media buying professionals are in position to add an enormous amount of value to their bank clients through digital signage. The expertise and work already accomplished by an agency can be leveraged into one of the fastest growing marketing strategies today.

About the Author: Greg Barrett, Director of Business Development, Captive Indoor Media.

Tips for a Successful Digital Signage Deployment

Over the past several weeks I’ve put some serious thought into how to make the most efficient use of our sales efforts. Many times when we call potential customers, they do not recognize what we mean when we say “Digital Signage”. With that in mind, I’ve boiled things down to one major area that would help not only Captive Indoor Media but our industry. That area is education.

The reality of Digital Signage is it can be confusing. To the unknowing, implementing a network can appear so large, it is hard to know where to begin. Personally, I like to keep things simple. And, for those who know me well, they will recognize an expression that I often use. That expression is “Confusion says No.” Part of what we are trying to do with this Blog is limit the confusion which persists in our space by post interesting and educational articles as they relate to our technology and both it’s proven success and potential success. The best way to get started seems to be a list of the items we feel are paramount to a successful deployment of any Digital Signage Project.

For the purpose of this posting I am going to list each point with a brief description and follow up to each one in detail with future postings. I am also going to assume our readers have an understanding of what Digital Signage is. Keep checking back for more information as it relates to evaluating both product and process for Digital Signage.

1 - A Plan- This sounds elementary but it continues to surprise me how many of our customers come to us looking for digital signage because of the “me too” factor. In other words XYZ Bank or Credit Union has it so “I want it too.” The unfortunate reality of a Digital Signage project is it typically involves many departments within an organization and requires careful planning and therefore role allocation within the company before installations can begin. Some key components of the plan as we see it are:

· Marketing Project Manager- Manages the media plan for the system.

· Technical Project Manager- Manages the security and technical system design.

· Facilities- Ensures proper wiring and validates construction elements for each location.

· ROI Team- ROI for a Digital Signage project within a Financial Institution can cover several departments from HR to Marketing. It is important to define the objectives of your deployment before moving forward with a system.

2 - Player Equipment- The equipment used to store and play media in a Digital Signage Network is the biggest contributor to system downtime. It is critical to consult with your software vendor to confirm what hardware will optimize media performance and system uptime. I recently read an article on tech builder which did a great job describing hardware as well as some of the other facets involved in Digital Signage.

3 - Content- We preach heavily about content at Captive Indoor Media and we have the team in place here to help our customers design and implement the best media for their retail situation. The success of a Digital Signage project is ultimately determined by the content presented to customers so it is paramount to take great care to craft the right message for the medium. Repurposing existing content does not work in most situations. Our medium is visual and often lacks sound which makes experience in creating content specifically for a screen critical.

Beyond the quality of the content being displayed, the mix of entertainment to product promotion must be addressed as well. We like to suggest a 60/40 ratio of entertainment to product with a constant News ticker in the bottom or top portion of the screen. With that said, there is no sure fire solution and each institution should experiment with what grabs and holds the attention of their customer base best.

4 - Software- As the Digital Signage Industry continues to boom, more and more products are populating the marketplace. Products such as Scala, and Clarity combine both content creation and scheduling into one system while others like our platform Codigo stick to producing a software scheduling component and rely on existing design programs such as Macromedia Flash and Swish to create content.

As I’ve mentioned before, I like to keep things simple and our product reflects this. Our system is not a one to one comparison to Scala or Clarity which both have some really neat features but also require a steep learning curve to master. My point is there are some great programs in the marketplace and it is critical to define your objectives which will help you set the roles within your organization and ultimately define your abilities and requirements when it comes time to review systems.

5 - Budget- The expense of a solid Digital Signage network spans beyond the capital requirement for PC’s, Software, Displays, initial content design and Installation. For long term success, constant review is required by internal resources and continual revisions to content creation and scheduling are requirements.

6 - Benchmark for Success- This refers back to point #1 and should be part of the objective definition period. The key is to know why you are installing the network in the first place. Is it purely sales uplift? If so, do you have the internal process in place to track sales as it relates to the media on the screen? Are you interested in lowering perceived wait time too? Do you have a large number of branches in extended parts of the region or country which could benefit from training integration via Digital Signage? Do you need interactivity?

7 - Remote Management- Codigo is a purely web based product and we like it that way. I’d suggest you read my previous posting on February 15^th which talks about purchasing software as a service rather than buying outright and tasking your IT department to manage a complex system. With Codigo and others which take a similar approach, all you need to get up and running is an internet connection at the branch and an outlet for power supply. From there, the user can access all of their media files on the web as well as execute full scheduling capability.

8 - Scheduling control- In retail environments, different customers shop at different times of the day. Banking in particular has unique traffic patterns which typically can be defined based on location. With this in mind, it is important to discern the scheduling capabilities within different software programs. Our system allows for full day part differentiation with recurring settings so users can have specific media playing on certain days/times and not on others. On the other hand, some systems do not allow this flexibility at all but may suit the requirements of the customer better than Codigo.

The above are but a few of the components to both the initial and long term success of any digital signage project. Check back soon for more on each of them.

“Digital Signage - A Dynamic Strategy for credit unions and community banks”

A suggested reading for marketing executives or CEO’s of community financial institutions is the BAI’s whitepaper - Competition, Innovation, and Strategy in the Financial Services Industry. As a digital signage provider reading the article I felt incumbent to post the article along with commentary to demonstrate how digital signage applies. In my experience, when a financial institution chooses digital signage as a marketing strategy, speed to market is consistently one of the top reasons.

The whitepaper delivers a clear message that today’s financial institution must develop strategies that allow for rapid changes in the environment. A distinct line was drawn between traditional strategies and suggested dynamic strategies.

Digital signage gives the financial institution the ability to instantly run a promotion on a product or service. As banks continue to function in a hyper competitive marketplace, (especially in a small community environment) the ability to introduce new niche products or services is critical. The article underscores the ongoing 20 year product innovation boom and indicates that a bank should always assume there will be new niche products popping up. The key is to acquire resources that can deploy those initiatives before the competition. Digital Signage positions a bank to do just that in a quick and affordable way.

Traditional banking strategies present special challenges in terms of personnel and culture as well. Financial institutions do not attract innovative individuals seeking change. Couple this fact with the heavy training burden and a dynamic strategy begins to become an impossible directive.

Front line employees are expected to handle transactions accurately, prevent fraud and comply with a large number of regulations. In addition, Financial Institutions ask them to consistently learn new products and seek a larger share of wallet which becomes a daunting task. The BAI whitepaper Front-line Challenges indicates that the top 3 challenges are sales skills, sales training and activity tracking. Other challenges include balancing sales, service and transaction duties.

Digital signage becomes an incredible assistant to the front line employee by prompting customers to ask questions about products making the cross sell exponentially easier and less time consuming. In fact, the Strategy Institute indicates that digital signage receives 10 times the eye contact of static signage and boosts sales of profiled products by 30%!

Now consider the ability to leverage the digital signage system into an employee facing training display. If there is a new regulation, process or product offering that requires training it is now possible to instantly distribute that information companywide. This ability paves the way for a quicker deployment which translates to a competitive advantage with a clear ROI calculation.

The ability of financial institutions to quickly distribute a new product or service to market and train front line employees can be facilitated by the right digital signage partner. Captive Indoor Media creates custom content and supplies its customers with a web based scheduling tool that allows for instant updates. Banks have the flexibility to schedule media long in advance or update their displays instantly and remotely at no cost.

If employing a dynamic strategy is important in today’s financial services industry, digital signage has to be a tool used in the equation.

Author: Greg Barrett - Director of Business Development - Captive Indoor Media
502-896-0947 or greg@captiveindoormedia.com