• There were two 47″ LG screens hanging from the ceiling.
• There was an LG player the back of the first screen
• Connected to the player there was a Telstra USB 3G modem – I’m assuming this was needed for Internet connectivity
• There was also a VGA splitter that connected the Video output to the second screen

Now, in terms of content and what was displayed on the screen seemed quite disappointing. There was only two ads displayed on the screen. One was the company’s own advertisement and the other was just an image.

My initial thoughts were, “How is the company making money?” and “Are the network owners already struggling to find advertisers?”

I believe this is a common issue for digital signage network startups. Most believe that having a network means that they can easily generate advertising revenue but that’s not always the case. Finding advertisers is the biggest challange easpecially if the network only has a handful of screens. Its a numbers game -most of the advertisers want exposure and they are willing to pay for it if the exposure is high.

So before jumping at the chance of setting up a digital signage network make sure you have advertisers ready to buy your advertising space…. and good luck.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments |
Post tags: Advertisement, advertisers, Advertising Revenue, Challange, digital signage network, digital signage networks, good luck, Handful, Initial Thoughts, Making Money, Modem, Numbers Game, screens, Shopping Centre, Startups, telstra, Vga Splitter, Video Output

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2011. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: advertisers, Advertising Company, Audience Measurement, digital signage, digital signage player, marketing, Measurement Tools, Measurements, Poll Id, Raw Data, Screen Server, screens, Server Digital, Signage Solution, Software Tool, Webcam

In recent years, large-scale digital signs have become one of most popular forms of advertising and communication. This is largely due to the fact that these signs seem to be an incredibly effective way of reaching consumers. By using large electronic screens, advertisers and businesses are able to quickly and efficiently send messages to passersby walking on the street or driving in the cars. Not only that, but these signs also allow businesses to send targeted messages to consumers at specific locations and times. Clearly, the benefits of large-scale digital signs are endless. Yet, their seemingly complicated nature may cause you to be hesitant about constructing one of your own. However, the truth is creating such a sign is far less complicated than you might think. In fact, you don’t even need construction management experience to get a sign up and running and start attracting more customers to your store.

What is large-scale digital signage?

Large-scale digital signage is a form of large electronic display (usually a LCD, LED or plasma screen) that shows information and other messages to those in the general vicinity. The signs can be used in various environments, from retail stores to corporate offices, and are used to send messages to certain audiences at specific times.

According to Sensagent, what makes digital signs better than static signs is that “the content can be exchanged more easily, animations can be shown and the signs can adapt to the context and audience, even interactively.” As a result, those whose digital signs are often able to effectively reach their target audience as well as many others, allowing them to often wind with a considerable return on their investment.

The history of large-scale digital signage

Large-scale digital signage was created first by a company called Scala back in 1987. The software used to create these signs was originally developed for cable TV, and was called Commodore Amigas. By 1997 Scala multimedia had gained quite a bit of notoriety, and won the “ Gold Award” for their cutting-edge technology. Over the next few years, an increasing number of businesses and advertisers began demanding digital signs.

As a result, the company began to look to the future, by creating a platform that could process high definition quality graphics and videos and focusing their attention on the global market place. The success experienced by Scala lead them to celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2007. Ironically, at this time much of the industry was just beginning to adopt the technology to Scala had been using to create large-scale digital signage for years.

Today large-scale digital signage is part of modern society. It is how the media, public works and many other businesses involved in communications get the attention of the public. In fact, major companies such as McDonald’s, T-Mobile, Virgin Mega Store, Burger King, Shell and Warner Bros all utilize large-scale digital signage to reach out to their customers.

Construction of large-scale digital signage

Creating large-scale digital signage having an LED display (or some other type of large screen), a media player and a server that sends out the communication and Internet access. The most important part of constructing a large-scale digital sign is making sure that the media player you are using and the content you wish to display are connected or are all part of one device.

If these three things are located separately, then it is likely that you will have to run A/V wiring between the display, media player and the server. You will also need DVI, HDMI or VGA component cords to make this connection. However, if you already have these supplies, then you can begin construction on your large-scale digital signage. Ideally, you should consult with a professional when setting your sign up, but it is not essential. If you think you are capable of setting up your sign on your own, you certainly will be able to save yourself a lot of money.

Clearly, large-scale digital signage will continue to be a large part of the future of consumer communication. Not only do these signs reach a variety of audiences with ease, but they also have the capability of sending targeted messages to consumers, which is an important marketing strategy for any business.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2011. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: advertisers, Audiences, Cars, Construction Management Experience, Consumers, Dictionary, digital signage, Digital Signs, Drake, Electronic Display, Electronic Screens, Environments, Large Scale, Lt, Macdonald, Nbsp, plasma screen, retail stores, Scala, Target Audience, Truth, Vicinity

• The “wow” factor, if you want to stand out from your competitors, digital signage attracts attention and it’s definitely a way to attract customers into your store
• Because the other guy down the road has it – this may sound childish but it’s human nature to feel as though you need it because someone else has it
• For large shopping centres, digital signage is a revenue driving tool to generate money from advertisers. Digital signage can also used as a tool for notifying customers of information/sales/events to get more customers coming into the shopping centre
• It helps engage the customers at the point of sale – sales have increased with this approach (you can easily find proof of this from case studies that can be found on the Internet)
• Eliminates the cost and waiting time compared to printing. Content can be updated at any time and almost instantly
• Digital Signage gives the user the ability to run campaigns at certain time blocks during the day, and switching over to show relevant information depending on the time of the day. That means you’re in control of what is displayed to your audience
• Digital Signage can be used as a tool to interact with your customers. At times this can act as an extra sales person when all staff are busy – it definitely keeps customers entertained rather than waiting to be served.  Especially something for the blokes while they wait for their partners trying on countless clothes, it keeps everyone happy
• It’s cool and makes the environment more “livelier”. If done correctly it creates a unique atmosphere
• You will be able to display different types of content (advertisements, live TV, images, news, weather, basically whatever you want) on the same screen
• It helps your marketing team effectively and efficiently communicate messages with your customers, clients and employees

Do you agree or disagree with some of these reasons? Let us know of any other reasons why you should use digital signage.

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments |
Post tags: advertise, Advertisements, advertisers, Atmosphere, Blokes, Bys, Cambria, Campaigns, Case Studies, Centre Management, Charset, Clothes, digital signage, Div, Family Auto, Font Definitions, Footer, Guy Down, Human Nature, Information Sales, Initiator, Lt, Marketing Team, Math, money, Mso, Orphan, Paper Source, Pitch, Point Of Sale, Printing Content, Priority, Proof, Props, Sales Person, Sans Serif, Shopping Centre, Shopping Centres, Signature, Store Messages, Style Definitions, Style Type, Theme Font, Time Blocks, Time Of The Day, Times New Roman, Tv Images, Waiting Time, weather, Wow

How will you sell this idea? People like to deal with facts and figures and the best way to sell advertising space is to let your advertisers know what they’ll get. Now, the only problem you will encounter is how to provide your clients or advertisers with “proof of play” reporting information. Currently, the only methods of tracking this information is to use either the built-in reporting tools (what time, how long and what content was played) that comes with the digital signage player/software or you can purchase additional equipment to capture information about your audience i.e face recognition (normally the cost of this unit is almost the same amount as the digital signage player so the overall solution may have just doubled in cost and there may be potential privacy concerns).

For most businesses, it will be difficult at first to get advertisers interested especially when there are several limitations on the methods to track whether an advertisement was played and who saw it. Simply providing a report that states that the player executed a command to play a file is not good enough. Even providing a report that someone (gender and potentially what age) saw the screen may also be not good enough.

If I was an advertiser I would want to know whether my advertisement was actually displayed on the screen (the screen may have been turned off or the cable between the player to the screen could have been disconnected – so why should I pay for advertisements that were not displayed) and then potentially determine whether the advertisement met its targeted audience.

At the moment a complete digital signage tracking solution is missing in the market. We hope that a company will come up with an ALL-IN-ONE solution to further engage more advertisers.

If there is a solution out there, let us know. You can be our eyes and ears on this one.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2008. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: advertisers, advertising agencies, all in one solution, reporting, tracking