digital signage is one of the most cost effective ways to market your restaurant or store. We were recently engaged to provide and install a cost effective solution for Thai Riffic (obviously a Thai restaurant) based in Randwick Australia.

Although the requirements were very simple (to display images with transition effects) we delivered a solution that was simple and easy to use but most importantly one that had value added benefits.

Uploading content to the player is easy. The store owner needs to open up a locked compartment on the side of the screen and plugs a USB dongle into the port. The player automatically synchronises the content from the USB port to a CF card. Once the synchronisation completes, the store owner just removes the USB dongle and closes the compartment. Yes it’s that easy!!!

continue reading »

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

This weekend every australia citizen had to vote for a new government. When I attended my local voting centre I noticed how digital signage was not there. There was a lot of the traditional papers being distributed as well as posters but there was no signs of screens or audio systems. I was disappointed when I saw this and want the politicians to know how digital signage can be utilised at election events. Here are my thoughts:

1. Communicate and engage the public – many of us don’t know who we are voting for and why we should vote for someone or for their party. I honestly didn’t have a clue who was an the ballot. I did see the ads on TV from both parties but I’m pretty sure most of us don’t have time to watch the ads so we wouldn’t have most likely have seen the ads. Engaging the public at an election event is very critical and obviously both parties want any vote that they can get. So what better way to engage the people through a digital signage system. The set up would be very simple or complex. The same marketing concept ‘making a purchasing decision at the counter’ will still apply here. If the politicians engaged the audience through a video to explain their promises to the community then at the last minute the voters may be swayed to vote for them. I believe its quite important to do this especially before the voters make their final decision.

2. Instructions – I found that there were no clear instructions for voters who were not able to understand English. My guess most of these people had a blank vote. It would have been good if there was a kiosk or screen explaining what to do in English. Even maybe an iphone app.

3. Digital voting screen – I still don’t understand why we can’t vote online or through a digital system like a touchscreen or kiosk. We should use technology at our own advantage so why not do it at these events. I wasted half an hour on the weekend just because I had to physically visit a voting centre.

4. Think of the environment – too much paper and ink was wasted at this election. Although most of this was recycled I believe it could have been replace by a digital system. The initial cost could have been expensive but the equipment could have been rented and possibly donated to the school.

For those of you who don’t know australia has a hung parliment.

Did anyone see any digital signage at their voting Centres?

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

Quite a number of companies are now giving their customers the option of hiring digital signage equipment instead of purchasing it outright. There are quite a number of benefits for doing this and these are:

1. Tax reasons – for leased or rented equipment you can claim the full cost as an expense
2. If the equipment is rented, then you have the option to upgrade your hardware once you contract has ended
3. No initial upfront costs – some businesses don’t have the upfront costs and would have their money invested in purchasing actual products to sell

There are many more reasons but we would like to hear from you what these reasons are.

 Loading ...

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info

Last year we talked about how the new Google product called Google wave could be integrated with digital signage (http://www.digitalsignageblog.com/2009/10/30/thinking-of-ways-on-how-to-integrate-google-wave-with-digital-signage/) and the possibilities were endless. I’m so sad to hear that Google have decided to discontinue the Wave product. It appears not everyone jumped on board with using this product and hence the reason why they have canned it. It was a good idea, the product seemed promising but it now has all come to an end. Oh well, I guess all the hype about the next email system confused everyone.

 Loading ...

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

digital signage stands are now becoming more popular and last week we had the opportunity to open our 42″ LCD advertise me stand so I thought I’d blog about it. Firstly, let’s look at the enclosure of the stand. The outer shell of the enclosure is made out of black aluminum and inner shell  is made out of iron. There is also a 6mm tampered glass at the front of the enclosure and this makes is look very professional. The only bad thing is the reflection. continue reading »

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog Products, Digital Signage Reviews

I was walking past the ING building in Sydney Australia and saw a video wall made up of 18 NEC screens. The content seemed pretty static and the bezel was quite noticible but we all know that the smaller the bezel the higher the cost of the screen.

ING VIDEO WALL

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

Are proof of concepts a thing of the past? When we first started in the digital signage industry it was quite common for us to prove to potential clients that the solution they were getting met their requirements. The only way we could prove this was to setup a “proof of concept” – this is were we setup a trial and install the system for free and the client gets to test this for a period of time.
This gives the client the opportunity to test the waters and determine whether the solution does what the client wants. At the same time it gives the client the opportunity to iron out some of their concerns and issues. At the end of the proof of concept the clients decides whether they rollout or continue with the solution. For the vendor they must do whatever they can to ensure they satisfy the client and win the clients business. Generally, the vendor must subside the cost of the hardware, software and professional services costs – so in reality it’s like a gamble.
As a digital signage solution provider we research the market and select products that exactly meets the clients requirements. A happy customer = a happy business.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

Screens, whether they are a plasma, LED, LCD or even a projector – these are one of the most critical components in any digital signage project. At advertise me we always recommend our clients to install a commercial screen rather than a residential screen but that’s going to be a different topic all together. So today,  I decided to take a photo of some of the packaged screens we store and post it on this blog. Below is the image.

Advertise Me is a reseller of many of the large screen companies such as Panasonic, Samsung, NEC, Sony, Phillips, Acer, Asus, Viewsonic, LG and Mitsubishi. So before purchasing your next screen for your upcoming project, make sure you  from us and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed (Australian Companies only).

screens screens screens for digital signage projects

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

I recently thought of an idea (it’s probably out there already) to integrate digital signage and Skype (I’m sure you know what this is…. if not this is basically a computer application which allows you to make voice or video calls over the Internet).

After all digital signage is a communication tool and what better way to communicate with each other by using Skype. Here’s an example of what needs to be done and can be achieved:

1. Install a digital touch screen at a booth (maybe at a busy shopping centre)

2. Install the advertise me digital signage solution

3. Design the relevant templates and content

4. Install a web cam and connect this to your digital signage solution

5. Install the skype application

6. Install an internet connection

7. Develop the digital signage application which lists companies customer call centres

How to use it?

8. You look for Advertise Me (for example) in the directory list because you want to speak to a sales representative about a product you are about to purchase

9. You touch the “call Advertise Me” button and the system starts establishing a skype session to Advertise Me

10. A representative at Advertise Me receives the call and you have a video conference and start chatting away about the products. The Advertise Me representative may even show you how the product can be used etc and directs you to the nearest retail store.

11. Once you end the session, the digital signage application plays relevant content (product info, sales, discounts) from company you just dialed. Or this can also be displayed during the video call.

12. After a certain idle period of time, the digital signage application defaults back to a playlist displaying ads etc.

So there you go, that’s an idea I just came up with. Maybe if we have time we can actually make this happen, or if you want it straight away we can make this happen for you.Obviously we’ll need to get permission from Skype but I’m sure they too would want this to happen as well.

What do you think about this idea?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Ideas

Last week I was on a family trip at the gold coast and noticed how digital signage was everywhere. Most of the retail stores at Surfers Paradise had an LCD screen – I spotted quite a few of the Panasonic 42 inch Plasma screens.

It was by sheer luck that I stumbled (I literally didn’t really notice the screen) across two LED Screens – one was located on the main streets of surfers paradise whilst the other was at a plaza (it didn’t have many people walking past there). In any case out of habit I decided to take a Klip of these screens. Sorry if I don’t have the exact location or know what the location is for these screens. I’ll promise that the next time I take a photo I’ll include the GPS co-ordinates.

Here’s also a quick video of what I saw (sorry for the bad filming):

If you have klips you would like to share with the rest of our readers let us know by sending an email to info@digitalsignageblog.com

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

Using a digital display instead of a static display is as easy as 1-2-3. Over the years, we realised how a large percentage of retail owners are hesitant and reluctant in using a digital display because no one took the time to clearly explain what the benefits are in using digital signage. The majority of them are still installing and purchasing static displays i.e lightboxes and posters which is a bit of a waste of money.

Yes, its true that the cost of digital displays is generally higher than the static display – there’s no doubt about that. But here’s why you should still consider in using a digital display:

1. Printing costs – there are no printing costs involved with digital displays. If done correctly, you don’t even have to spend too much money with design costs as you may already have existing content from your website or marketing material.

2. Resource costs – how much time is spent replacing static images. Wouldn’t it be more effective if your staff was actually serving customers rather than spending time hanging posters?

3. Animation and engaging content – this is used to attract more customer into your store.

4. Live information – e.g news, weather, twitter posts, facebook information, you can’t do this with static display!

The switch is easy… just contact advertise me and we’ll take care of everything for you.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info

The best time you should install digital signage would be during a shop fitout. Why you may ask? Here’s a few simple reasons:

1. cost savings for running cables and power. If planned correctly then during the electrical fitout, you can install and run cables (this includes audio, video, and data) to the various screens locations before the walls are put up. Trust me, it’s must cheaper than having to install these at a later stage

2. structural support – during a fitout you’ll be able to easily plan where the screens will be located and hence you’ll be able to install structural support for the screen brackets

3. Use digital signage for opening specials and to attract more customers into the store

4. Generally, the installation of the screens are very minimal compared to the overall cost of the shop fitout

5. Bring your store to life – if done correctly, you’ll be able to use engaging content and differentiate your store from your competitors

There may be more reasons and in my point of view, digital signage should definitely be considered when you plan to refit your shop. So if you’re in the process of renovating or opening up a new shop, make sure you contact Advertise Me so we can demonstrate how you can use digital signage to your advantage.

What do you think?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info

The socceroos didn’t it make it to the next round but have a look at these LED screens in Darling Harbour which is being used as part of the FIFA FAN FEST in Sydney Darling Harbour. During the day it’s just a notice board (seem like it only being used to display the timetable for the day) but at night it becomes a massive TV. It would have been good if it was also showing the latest results and some highlights – basically use it as a digital signage system. In any case who wouldn’t want to watch a soccer game on these screens?

fifa world cup led screens darling harbour 2

Who would have thought that both Italy and France wouldn’t make it to the next round.!.!?!

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

In the past couple of weeks we’ve been busy testing different digital signage systems and we were also involved in a digital signage installation. We have a test bench with a 37″ LCD screen which we primarily use to build and test our digital signage solutions. We were wondering whether other people’s test benches were as messy as ours.

Feel free to send us pictures of your test bench to info@digitalsignageblog.com and we’ll share it with the rest of the world.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

This week’s digital signage klip is from a well know location – Sydney Airport. The picture is of a large Panasonic screen located in the International Arrival Department (near the C gates). I don’t have the full details but as you can see there are also two smaller screens showing a map of Australia.

Panasonic Screen Sydney Airport

Thanks to Wendy for the photo.

If you have klips you would like to share with the rest of our readers let us know by sending an email to info@digitalsignageblog.com

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

I just read on the digitalsignagearticles.com that a few people have posted a twitter post about an Italian Tax on digital signage. Basically the article is about a tax (100 euro per year per screen/location) that needs to be paid by network operators in Italy to the government. I haven’t really seen that many implementations in Italy but it sounds like their Government is trying to cash in the digital signage industry. Why – because the Government can see that $$$ and revenues businesses are making from advertising on digital screens.

I’m pretty sure that this digital signage TAX will flow through many of our countries and operator or the owners of the screens will be expected to pay the government for having a screen at the front of their store facing the public areas.

So let’s start a poll to see what your responses are.

 Loading ...

Are there any countries that are currently paying for digital signage Tax?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

Coming from an IT background I know how important it is to ensure your system is shut down gracefully otherwise you’ll end up damaging your operating system and application. This is where a UPS may come in handy. UPS stands for Uninterruptible power supply and is used as an emergency power source. It is typically used to protect computers, or equipment in data centres or other electrical equipment where an unexpected power disruption could cause injuries, fatalities, serious business disruption and/or data loss. Depending on the size of the UPS battery they generally provide about 5-10 minutes of power.

So my question to those techies out there is, do you need to use a UPS for digital signage? Are any companies out there using a UPS for their digital signage players or screens?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Techie

How can GPS be integrated with digital signage?

The simple answer is that it can be use to trigger information. Here’s a typical example of how it can be used: you’re in a tour bus, a large LCD Screen in located at the front of the bus. The bus drives past the Sydney Opera house, the digital signage system detects the current location of the bus and triggers information about the Opera House. The bus then drives over the Sydney Harbour bridge and this triggers historical information about how the bridge was built.

Basically, digital signage that is integrated with GPS can be used to display useful information relating to it’s surroundings.

At Advertise Me, we have a good understanding on how Digital Signage can be integrated with various systems so why not talk to us and see what we can do for you.Visit www.advertiseme.com.au

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

Google calls this the golden triangle i.e the top right hand corner that most viewers would look at when loading the results of a google search and I was wondering whether this existed on a digital signage screen.

Does the hot zone depend on the type of content that is being displayed on the screen?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Techie

This week’s klip is from Angela, a shopper at Liverpool Markets Sydney Australia. She sent us a photo of what looks like a projector screen at the food court area. She advised that there seemed to have been an issue with the projector as everything on the screen was blue in colour. Hopefully someone will fix this soon as it looks really ugly.

projector at liverpool markets sydney australia

Thanks to Angela an Aussie and a long time reader of the digital signage blog.

If you have klips you would like to share with the rest of our readers let us know by sending an email to info@digitalsignageblog.com

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

It’s almost been a year since we launched the digital signage articles website and as a birthday gift  we decided to introduce the twitter hash tag #digitalsignagearticles.com tool. Basically, if you use this hash in your twitter post it will be automatically added to the http://www.digitalsignagearticles.com website. It’s simple and it’s free.

So happy birthday digitalsignagearticles.com

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News, Featured Post

This week, advertise me decided to put together our own TOP 10 reasons why you should use digital signage and here’s our list in no particular order:

• 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.

Tweet This Post

Category: Featured Post

I was walking past a real estate agent and noticed an error message on their digital signage screen. Obviously being in this field I couldn’t help myself and take the camera out to take a photo of the error message: continue reading »

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

This weeks klips are pictures we took at the Easter Show Homebush Sydney Australia. This is actually the first time I attended the show and I couldn’t believe how many people where there and how big the show area was. I only spent a few hours there and only covered 1/4 of all the events.  continue reading »

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

Although this video seems a bit old I found it quite interesting – specially during the weekend. It’s basically a video of an in-store interactive digital signage that transforms consumers fashion into NIKEiD designed shoes in Fukuoka Japan. It has a color analyzing programmed camera which uses the colours of the consumers clothes and it automatically designs nike shoes based on these colours. It’s a very cool idea.
continue reading »

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Weekend Fun

What does it take to develop a great digital signage sales proposal?

Whichever way you look at it, spending the time and money to develop a great digital signage proposal is one of the best ROI outcomes that your business will see. So were do you start with creating a proposal if you haven’t done one before. Putting together the first digital signage proposal will always be the most difficult but if it’s done right you can re-use this and develop a template to suit your business and your clients. Now, you have to remember that creating a great digital signage sales proposal can be a major difference between your company’s success or failure and this depends on how well you delivered and prepared for the proposal.

continue reading »

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

Routine maintenance is a critical task for all digital signage operators but how often should you do this and what type of maintenance tasks would you perform?

Some of the maintenance tasks that I could think of are:

Digital Signage Players

• Rebooting the digital signage players so that memory and running system files are flushed – this should be performed at least once a day to ensure smooth operation of the players. Some players can be scheduled to perform this task automatically at a predefined schedule. However, make sure you at least monitor the players to ensure they are still operating after a reboot
• Depending on the location of the digital signage players you should also physically wipe down any dust or clean the fans once a year. If it’s located in a rack with adequate ventilation then you won’t probably need to do this that often but it would be good to check.
• Sometimes we forget to delete old content that we store on these players, so depending on the size of your storage space then you should at least once a week just go through and delete any old content that you may no longer use. The only thing you should be careful with is not to delete any content that may be used reused in the future. There are several tools that can be used to manage the content better by setting expiration periods.

Display Screens

• The instruction manuals that are packaged with these screens have quite detailed information about how to maintain the screens. Sometimes we forget to realise  how important it is to ensure screens are operating and maintained for full optimum usage especially if your viewers are looking at these.
• Some of the tasks would be to physically clean the screens, who likes to look at a dirty screen and this may potentially will reflect back on your company.
• To remove or reduce screen burns try to avoid using bright colours and run some of the functions built in to the screen.

Can you think of any other tasks?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Techie

When you think of anything digital, from technology to electronics, robotics, and large screens, you would normally think of one place that has it all – Japan.

It is one of the leading countries in the world in technology, and at the forefront of digital advertising it is noticed by the whole world.

So it is a rare sight to see this next klip showing a large digital signage board made up of 9 tiles go wrong. Unfortunate enough, the digital signage board remained unattended to throughout the whole night until the next morning.

Thanks to Andrew who is a long time reader of the digital signage blog and currently resides in Japan for this klip.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

The following klip is submitted by Saori from Narita airport in Japan.
It shows a collage of large screens aligned together to create a long digital signage display.

Thanks Saori for sharing your klip with us.

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips

This week’s klip is sent in by Jenny, from Sapporo Japan. Japan is one of the most technologically advanced country and apparently digital signage is everywhere. continue reading »

Tweet This Post

Category: Digital Signage Klips