On The Box, What's Playing at Captive

Here at Captive, the average workday can be very fulfilling. Our software developers get their kicks from solving complex programming problems, and our graphic designers find happiness in creating beautiful animated screen content. However, there’s one thing that unites the entire office—the desire to rock. For the first in what will be an ongoing series of Captive employee-curated mixtapes, we’ve compiled a list of tracks chosen by our people, each one revealing a bit about the varied personalities that make our office unique.

1. Electric Light Orchestra – “Livin’ Thing”
   Cash Rowland – National Sales Director


2. Passion Pit – “Moth’s Wings”
   Nikki Offutt – Regional Sales Representative


3. Ray LaMontagne – “Beg Steal or Borrow”
   Brian Nutt - CEO


4. Gold Panda – “You”
   Mark Parris – Graphic Designer


5. Givers – “Up, Up, Up”
   Michael Downs – VP Sales and Marketing


6. Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention – “Call Any Vegetable”
   Gary Hottinger – Development Manager / Database Analyst


7. David Bowie – “Ziggy Stardust”
   Daniel Davis – Quality Assurance


8. Wilco – “Jesus, Etc.”
   Matt Deaton – Regional Sales Representative


9. The Rolling Stones – “Shattered”
   David Cahan – Senior Software Developer


10. Breakbot – “Baby, I’m Yours”
    Brandon Bass – Creative Director


11. James Brown – “Superbad”
    Dave Averdick – Graphic Designer


12. Paul Simon – “Late In The Evening”
    Chris O’Bryan – VP Operations


13. Santana (feat. Rob Thomas)– “Sunshine Of Your Love”
    Bruce Nunnelley – IT Director


14. Journey– “Don't Stop Believing”
    Susan Murray – Project Manager


15. Codigo 3 – “Como Soy Yo”
    Alex Vance – Creative Programmer

Start Listening Now.

Choose your Digital Screen Wisely

Giving our customers the flexibility to choose their own hardware is something that Captive has always done, but we also pride ourselves on being digital signage hardware experts driven to help customers get the best gear within their budget. Sometimes it’s necessary to repurpose screens purchased for legacy systems, and sometimes customers prefer to leverage other resources for their monitors. While this flexibility offers many benefits, having that freedom can ultimately affect the success of your digital signage installation if you purchase the wrong equipment. Before you choose to go down to your local big-box electronics retailer to buy your LCD screens, it’s critical to think about the differences between consumer and commercial grade hardware. Not only do commercial grade monitors work harder, last longer, and come with better warranties, they also offer many unique options that can make a huge difference in the effectiveness of your digital signage installation. To learn more about what makes commercial grade screens ideal for DOOH purposes, check out this informative white paper from Digital Signage Today.

Click here to view the PDF

Better Targeting With Digital Merchandising

It goes without saying that the current economic climate poses significant challenges to marketers, in particular those in the Financial Services industry. New regulations, increasing competition, mobility of customers, and the rapidly emerging world of social media, all add up to a chaotic marketing environment. However, one thing that remains fairly consistent is the number of people visiting their Bank or Credit Union branch every month. As such, having a well crafted Digital Merchandising strategy can pay huge dividends. Some of the key benefits include:

• Improve the Overall In-Branch Environment


• Target Messaging to Specific Customer Segments


• Achieve Message Consistency Across Entire Branch Network


• Lower Cost of Production of Marketing Materials


• Greater Control Over Message Delivery


• Increase Speed and Success of New Product Introductions


• Improve Delivery of Training to Increase Sales Productivity

Maximize Available Data
One of great advantages of Captive Indoor Media’s system is that it enables you to leverage existing customer or member data to more accurately target messaging. An MCIF or CRM system contains plenty of information that can be used to maximize your Digital Merchandising strategy. For example, you should be able to gather basic data on:

• Branch Traffic Patterns
• Heaviest time slots (e.g. 9-11 am, 11am-1pm, 1pm-4pm)


• Customer segments visiting the branch in those time slots
• Average Time in Branch


• Demographics


• Product Mix of the customers/members visiting the branch

Using the data from above, one can begin to determine overall trends and the best times at which to reach specific people who visit the branch. These trends will help guide the selection of content, product focus, content schedule, show duration, and the weighted distribution of content in the show.

Content Mix
The follow is a very simple example of how the mix of content can be determined by simply knowing the average time spent in the branch.

Assumptions

• Each product file is :30 seconds


• Each "Entertainment" file is :30 seconds


• Weather & News files are 1 minute & 30 seconds each

Calculations

• Average In-Branch Time = 12 minutes x 60 seconds = 720 seconds


• 65% Targeted Product Ads = 720 x .65 = 468 seconds (or 16 files)


• 25% Weather & News = 720 x .25 = 144 seconds (or 2.5 files)


• o 10% Entertainment = 720 x .10 = 72 seconds (or 2 files)

As the example illustrates, we were able to quickly determine that we need to build a show containing 16 product files, 2 weather and news files, and 2 entertainment files. Marketers can go several layers beyond this and begin to identify specific files within these categories that would best target the desired audience.

The flexibility and dynamic nature of Digital Merchandising make it a very powerful tool. With a little bit of data gathering, analysis and planning, marketers can achieve outstanding results.

McGraw Hill Interviews CEO Brian Nutt

Check out this informative video about the digital signage industry - featuring our CEO, Brian Nutt. Big thanks to McGraw Hill Publishers and SL Creative for this great video.

Copyright McGraw Hill Publishers - video produced by SL Creative
http://www.slcreativemedia.com/
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/

Digital signage for Financial Institutions- Top 5 questions you should ask.

This year’s ABA marketing conference was in Minneapolis, MN from September 13th-15th and for the 7th year running Captive was an exhibitor. Like every other year, there were many digital signage vendors and we fielded the age old question “How are you different from so and so?”

I think this subject is relevant for any customer in the market for Digital Signage, bank or otherwise. I remember walking the floor at InfoComm this past June and feeling confused and frustrated by the way each digital signage company seemed to blend into the next. Let’s face it, as much as each company tries to differentiate itself from the other, the goal remains identical. It is to get impactful media on a screen via a web based application in the easiest and least resource intensive way possible.

The problem with my goal summarization is that although true, it is very broad and vague to a consumer. With this in mind, I’m going to make a few suggestions on how a financial institution in particular might go about trying to decide on the best vendor for their digital signage initiative.

1. Viability- The digital signage industry is growing at a rapid pace and because of this, it is an attractive entry point for many businesses, both big and small, that want to find a growth engine. In many respects this is a good thing because it keeps companies like Captive on our toes and ensures competitive pricing and features. The bad news is it can lead to poorly supported and executed systems that quickly become expensive and quite likely go unused. Be sure to check out the company you are purchasing from and get lots of references. If they don’t have an installation near you and can’t come up with some solid references, leave it to the next guy to be the case study.
   


2. Experience- I may be partial but I think vertical experience from a vendor is more important in the banking space than elsewhere. Simply put, the financial industry is a tough place to do business of late and unless your vendor understands your challenges intimately and can explain to you how their solution is going to address your specific needs, you may want to look elsewhere. The reality is that there are several hundred vendors in the digital signage space but really only just a few that are recognizable brands in the financial industry. Use resources like the ABA exchange if you are a Bank or CUNA marketing if you are a Credit Union and ask your colleagues for vendors. If your vendor can’t come up with more than a couple customer references and explain to you what REG-E stands for, you probably don’t want them.


3. TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)- During the ABA tradeshowmy explanation of the above question was that our goal at Captive is to deliver the lowest TCO to our customers as possible. In my opinion, the biggest cost driver of digital signage is not the software but the time it takes to learn and use the application as well as the price to create content that goes on the screen. Our customers spend less than 5 hours each month on average in our software and we think that is a good thing. As for content, Captive and several other providers in the financial space offer a wealth of content specific to the industry. This is important particularly for the Community Bank or Credit Union where the Marketing Director often wears multiple hats and is stretched thin on resources from both human and finance perspectives. Make sure your vendor has a full time content creation staff with industry experience. This will save you a lot of money in the long run.
   


4. Support- As with any successful industry, there are many vendors of digital signage software that do not own the software like Captive does but choose to be a reseller. Clearly there is nothing wrong with this but it is an important thing to know before you purchase. As I mentioned above, there are literally hundreds of software applications in the marketplace but scarce few with any true scale of branch installations. Make sure you know the provider behind your vendor if you choose a reseller. Equally as important as understanding what provider is behind the reseller is to know how long the reseller has been working with the software provider. If the reseller has jumped from product to product in the last couple of years, that is probably a bad sign. Conversely, if you are talking directly to the software company, you need to know how often they update their product. At Captive, we are constantly making improvements but I know of many companies that have not done significant updates in years.


5. Consulting- Many people think of digital signage as a magical instrument that once installed is sure to draw the eyeballs of every customer as if they had been desperately seeking this form of advertising their entire lives. And while many customer do get luck by simply throwing up a screen with content, it is important to have a provider that can walk you through screen placement, content creation and maintain an ongoing dialogue about the success of the installation. If your vendor can’t help you decide where to put the screen and then implement a method to judge success, you probably want to look elsewhere.

Those are just a few ideas but ones that will certainly add context to the decision of an interested customer in the financial industry looking for digital signage.

Digital Signage: The Key Ingredients

In order to create a successful digital signage solution, it’s critical to consider three key ingredients. First and foremost, you need a powerful online software system to schedule media to the screens in your retail or corporate location. It should be simple and intuitive, yet robust enough to allow more advanced users to customize content and fine-tune media scheduling. Next, you need hardware capable of playing media on your screen. While the computer unit serving as the player is the most commoditized piece of the puzzle, it’s important to balance power with size. Find a player unit that can fit in small places or even be mounted inconspicuously behind the screen. Finally-- and most importantly—you’ll need media content to schedule to your screens that effectively communicates your message to the audience. This requires timely messages that are eye-catching, readable, and fresh.

From day one, Captive understood that digital signage users would be lost without applicable, customizable content. We began building a library of such content in 2005, and have watched it grow steadily to include thousands of easy-to-edit templates, dynamically-powered entertainment content that always stays fresh, and vital components like weather, news, and stocks. The Captive Content Vault, located within our web-based Codigo software, grows every month with new, timely content files that reflect the changing world we live in. Templates are great, but most financial institutions and retail businesses have a very specific brand identity that must be conveyed in all marketing efforts. Our Content Vault gives you two unique options for customizing: Download the file and work with it using SWiSH, a third-party content design tool that lets you change colors, photos, backgrounds, and effects, or use our exclusive GoMedia feature, which lets you edit text and logos without ever leaving the simple online software. Since keeping your audience’s eyes on the screen is the goal, we also provide dozens of entertaining categories like ‘Did You Know’ and ‘Spare Change: Facts About Money’, trivia for Sports, Movies, and Music, and even visual games like Word Scramble and Riddles. The options are almost limitless when you start browsing the Content Vault-- in minutes you can have a customized advertisement, your hours of operation, a 5 day forecast, and a World News update, all on your screen. And if you're looking for media specifically tailored to your needs, you can order Custom Content, which allows you to work with Captive's expert team of designers who are trained to help you keep your digital signage consistent with existing brand materials. In the end, Captive Indoor Media gives you an all-in-one solution that covers all of the bases: Software, Hardware, and Media.

Digital Signage in 3D?

When it comes to the entertainment industry, everyone is excited about the potential of 3D graphics, animation, and video. You’ve surely noticed the increased number of 3D movies playing at the cinema and may have even noticed that ESPN has released an entire channel devoted to 3D content. Here at Captive, we’re keeping a close eye on the potential of 3D as it relates to the digital signage industry. There are already several companies who have focused their business model around the idea that 3D is the future of digital signage. On one hand, we’re excited about its potential, but there are several reasons to be skeptical about its practicality.

The first thing you should know about 3D digital signage is that it must be autostereoscopic, meaning that viewers don’t need those silly red and blue glasses to view the 3D images. In fact, no glasses are necessary. This enables passers-by to become engaged with the screen’s brilliant color and motion, which holds great potential for retail and public space digital signage. Autostereoscopic screens are currently only being manufactured in small numbers and can cost 5 or 6 times more than a comparable 2D LCD monitor. While that’s certainly an intimidating price tag, it’s not a reason to write off the idea of 3D digital signage – every new technology is expensive in its infancy. Autostereoscopic screens will eventually become more affordable as the technology improves and they begin mass production.

The real problem begins when you’re faced with the challenge of developing content to play on that screen. There are some companies who claim they can convert 2D Flash or video files into the 3D format. While this “easy button” solution sounds great, it almost certainly has to be too good to be true. Content creation for a 3D autostereoscopic screen is an extremely complex process. First, your animated message or video must be created using a 3D program such as 3D Studio Max. Next, for each scene it’s necessary to set up nine unique camera devices to capture the 3D object from every angle in the screen’s viewing range. After each of these different camera angles have been exported as an image sequence, they must be converted to nine separate videos. With all these videos rendered and saved, you’ll still need software that can display all nine different video perspectives based on the specifications of the lenticlar overlay on the screen. Sound complicated? It is. But it’s also very space-hogging-- nine videos each with 30 frames per second leaves you with 270 frames of rendered images being seen in a single second. That’s more than 16,000 individual images for a minute-long retail advertising spot. The video will be huge in both size and resolution, and the cost of producing these videos is astronomical compared to today’s 2D content. While the idea of 3D digital signage is compelling and has some potential, it’s still a long way off-- and the content creation is going to be the biggest hurdle.

To learn more about the future of autostereoscopic screens and content creation, visit: http://autostereoscopic-3d.blogspot.com/

THE RESULTS ARE IN, CUSTOMERS ARE HAPPY WITH CAPTIVE

In late July, Captive conducted a comprehensive customer survey that measured the company’s performance in areas such as content selection and quality, technical support, ease-of-use, and installation quality. The survey went out to several hundred customers of Captive Indoor Media, and they were given one week to respond.

A few key findings from the survey include:

• Overall Ease-of-Use: 90.5% Good or Excellent


• Technical Support: 94.3% Good or Excellent


• Content Quality: 92.5% Good or Excellent

Other Highlights

• 76.1% of customers indicated that they spend less than 5 hours per month managing the system


• 96.2% of customers indicated that they would be likely or certain to use Captive in the future

In total, the survey responses validated the quality of Captive’s software, content, and service. In addition, it provided insights that will enable Captive to continue strive for excellence in all areas of its business.

Digital Signage- What screen is right for you?

There was a great article in Digital Signage Magazine this month entitled "Flat Panel Displays: The Evolution Continues". The article does a fantastic job describing some of the leaps the technology has taken the last couple of years. It also outlines the diffences between Commercial grade panels and Consumer grade. To read the whole article, follow this link.

Connecting with Customers

The Captive team routinely spends time at customer sites to listen to feedback and fully understand their specific Digital Merchandising and Marketing objectives. After all, those objectives are the driving force behind the future product and service enhancements at Captive.

Following several recent visits with customers in Michigan, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Georgia, we wanted to share some key insights and best practices gained from our experiences.

Screen Placement – Never underestimate the importance of good screen placement. Great messaging and content can easily be wasted if nobody sees it. Always consider traffic flow, viewing distance, screen size, and the overall interior design.

Content Selection – Choosing compelling content that resonates with your target audience is critical to success. Getting someone’s attention is one thing, but keeping it in a way that inspires action is a whole different challenge.

Content Scheduling – One of the most powerful attributes of Digital Merchandising is its ability to more precisely target your marketing messages. When utilized to its fullest potential, Users can place very specific messaging in front of targeted customer segments.