Here’s the image in the Darling Harbour Shopping Centre in Sydney Australia:

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

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2011. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Darling Harbour, digital signage, email, Image, Klips, led screen, Led Screens, Shopping Australia, Shopping Centre, Shopping Centres, Sydney Australia

• 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

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.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2010. | Permalink | One comment |
Post tags: Application Defaults, Call Centres, Communication Tool, Computer Application, Content Product, Digital Communication, digital signage, Integrating Digital, Internet Connection, Period Of Time, playlist, Plays, Retail Store, Sales Representative, Shopping Centre, Signage Design, Signage Solution, Skype, Templates, touch screen, Video Call, Video Conference, Web Cam

• 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

Enclosures are primarily designed to protect the display screens from:

• the environment – direct sunlight or extreme weather can cause damage to the screen
• theft – fortunately we haven’t come across this situation but I’m sure others around the world have experience this
• physical damage – vandalism is quite common in public areas

In addition to protecting screens, enclosures are also used to protect digital signage players – so make sure there is enough room to house the player.

We’ve seen different types of enclosures ranging from free standing to wall mounted and here’s a few photos:

One thing that I’ve learnt is that if someone really wanted to steal something, no matter how secure it is they will find a way to take it but “prevention is always better than cure”.

Have you seen any innovative or strange enclosures?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

© AdvertiseMe.com.au for Digital Signage Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments |
Post tags: digital signage, Extreme Weather, Investment, Photos, Physical Security, Prevention, Public Areas, screens, Secure Digital, Security Considerations, Shopping Centre, Signage Installation, Signage Solution, Strange, Sunlight, Vandalism

The Westfield Centre in Bondi Junction has one of the largest screens we’ve seen. From what we could tell, it’s basically an LED Screen (I think it’s either a 25 or 40 meter square screen) hanging from the ceiling. I’m just amazed how anyone could have been able to install such a screen especially when the screen is hanging from several wires. Here’s a close up picture of the screen:

Also recently, I was visiting one of the Centro shopping centres and noticed a big screen- in actual fact it was a wall of screens connected in a 3×3 arrangement to form a large screen. This is how it looked liked – if you look closely you can see the bezels of the screens.

So far Westfields has the biggest screens in Australia and we should see more of these popping up in the major shopping centres since the cost of having these big screens is becoming more affordable and the quality is becoming better.

What’s the largest screen you’ve seen?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

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Post tags: 1 Million, advertising, australia, Bezels, Big Screens, Bondi Junction, Centro Shopping Centres, digital signage, led screen, Meter Square, Pairs, Reason, Screen Caption, Shopping Centre, Shopping Centres, Streams, Westfield Bondi