InfoComm 2005 shows strong demand for digital signage

From HiddenWires:

"Reflecting strong demand for AV communications technologies in business, education and government as well as retail, healthcare, entertainment, worship and residential markets, attendance at the end of the first day of the exhibition exceeded total attendance in 2004 by 10.2 percent, with 25,240 preliminary registrations for 2005, compared to 22,894 total registrations in 2004. AV professionals from more than 80 countries attended to see the latest technologies in display, projection, audio, collaborative conferencing, control and networking applications.

"'InfoComm 05 mirrors the fast pace of innovations and growth in the AV communications industry,' said Randal A. Lemke, Ph.D., ICIA Executive Director. 'We introduced new courses and exhibitors this year to address the demand for digital signage, presentations technologies and the residential market as well as audio, collaborative conferencing, streaming media and lighting and staging.'"

Read the whole article here.

Digital View and VGS Team Up on Digital Signage

Digital View Group, a leading global provider of digital media networks and display technologies, has formed an alliance with Visual Graphic Solutions (VGS) to provide advanced digital signage for the foodservice, hospitality, convenience store and Quick Serve Restaurants (QSR) industries. VGS, based in New York, is a leading manufacturer of signage in the architectural, foodservice, hospitality and retail industries.
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VGS and Digital View previewed some of their preliminary joint initiatives at the recent National Restaurant Show, held last month in Chicago. These products included a slim line kiosk, a customized menu board and a counter topper, incorporating state-of-the-art digital signage and supporting technologies.

You can read the full press release here.

Pep Boys Unveils 46 Newly Remodeled Stores fitted with Digital Signage

The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack (NYSE:PBY), the nation's leading automotive aftermarket retail and service chain, today announced that each of its 46 stores in the greater Philadelphia region will celebrate grand re-openings beginning June 4. The stores, which have undergone a significant internal and external transformation, showcase Pep Boys' commitment to revitalize its unique offering of automotive parts, tires, repair and maintenance services - and more - to its customers in the Company's own hometown of Philadelphia...An ultramodern interior design, which reflects the new red, white and blue Pep Boys corporate colors, includes multimedia displays, dynamic signage and customized areas for new product categories. The store facades and exterior signs have also been updated.

You can find the full press release here.

Update on Tesco digital signage deployment

Mediaweek.co.uk has a very in-depth article about the current performance of the Tesco in-store television network, one of the largest in Europe. Some key quotes:

"[H]as Tesco TV lived up to expectations in its first year and what does this mean for the rest of the sector? The short answer is that while the in-store channel is still on course, it seems to be encountering a few speed bumps on the way.

"The number of advertisers on Tesco TV is still lower than many had predicted and a few weeks ago JCDecaux, which holds the sales contract, was forced to slash its rate-card prices."

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"'What's been interesting, 12 months down the track with Tesco TV, is who gets it and who doesn't,' [Spencer Berwin, group sales director at JCDecaux] says. 'It's not entirely surprising that advertisers themselves understand their brands, how they're set up on the shelf and how customers use them – they're very much used to the in store experience and understand how it works for them. It's more challenging for more mainstream agencies to get to grips with it.'"

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"Within the past few weeks, supermarket chain Sainsbury's has launched a six-month trial of digital TV at three of its largest stores – in south London, Ipswich and Edinburgh. Each store has about 120 TV screens, with 150 screens dedicated to specific product areas.

"Sainsbury's says 70% of the output relates to customer information, helpful consumer tips and the company's own brand products, with the remaining 30% advertising branded products, including Heinz, Coca-Cola, Müller, Goodfellas, Kingsmill and Bernard Matthews."

I recommend you read the whole article, which can be found here.

Big LCDs Shine In Digital Signage, Retail in-store television displays

From CRN:

"Using a big-screen display in a conference room or digital signage solution once required a projector and a pull-down screen. Today, however, there are numerous flat-panel displays from which to choose. Many of these units are huge in size and can mount on a wall. Plasma displays are not recommended for digital signage or related situations where the screen image doesn't change much over time because they experience screen burn; but LCD displays don't suffer from the same malady.

"NEC's new 46-inch LCD display is one of the largest on the market. It costs more than a similar plasma unit but is better suited for digital signage applications. Samsung's new multipurpose 24-inch widescreen display offers solution providers the opportunity to configure custom computing solutions, conference room displays, digital signage, home and commercial entertainment systems and more."

You can read the full article here.

Digital signage company Limelight Media Group acquiring InTransit Media

From bizjournals:

Limelight Media Group Inc. will purchase all the assets of InTransit Media, the exclusive provider of digital signage management and marketing services for PATHVision.

PATHVision is a digital signage system that provides information to over 6 million commuters annually traveling between New York City and New Jersey via the PATH subway. The system encompasses 277 digital displays on platforms in 13 rail stations, providing up-to-date news, rail schedules, weather, and related marketing messages.

Read the full article here.

Digital signage network firm Magic Media set to acquire Be Media

Magic Media Networks, Inc. (OTCBB:MGCN) announced today that it has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire 100% of the shares of privately held Be Media - http://www.bemedia.com - of El Segundo, California, one of the nation's fastest growing systems integrators.

Magic Media intends to acquire Be Media in an all share transaction, with a definitive agreement expected in 90 days. Magic Media, through its wholly owned subsidiary Destination Television - http://www.destinationtelevision.com - owns private television/ digital signage networks Bar TV, Gym TV, and Hotel TV.

After closing the transaction, Magic's headquarters will be moved to El Segundo, California and Destination Television and Be Media will be wholly owned operating subsidiaries of Magic Media.

Read the complete press release here.

RTV rolls out digital signage to Swedish supermarkets

From aka.tv:

"Encouraged by the success of retail media networks in the United Kingdom, Swedish media company RTV has commenced rollout of a four-channel in-store television network to around 70 Vi supermarkets in and around Stockholm.

"According to Mathias Segelman, RTV’s chief executive, VivoTV will be installed in stores contributing two thirds of Vi’s total turnover by the end of July.

"The rollout comes after a pilot of the network at three Vi locations, which began in early November 2004, and will coincide with RTV’s initial installations of a separate network in Sweden’s City Gross hypermarket chain."

Read the whole article here.

ViewSonic unveils digital signage bundle

From CMPNet Asia comes this news of a hardware-based digital signage solution from ViewSonic:

"In a move that support several key trends in the display market, ViewSonic yesterday said it would begin offering a bundled package to integrators creating solutions for the point-of-sale and signage arena.

"The bundle includes ViewSonic's WMA 100 Wireless Media Adapter, Wireless Media Gateway, 17-inch N1750W LCD display and scheduling firmware.

"The move comes as more technology products originally created for the consumer market are finding the way into commercial environments. It also reflects the need for integrators and vendors to develop full value-added solutions that offer higher margins than selling stand-alone products.

"ViewSonic is initially targeting about 180 of its audio-visual partners to sell the solution, expected to hit the streets sometime during the fourth quarter but also will roll it out to IT solution providers once the company chooses distributors to support it, Volpe said. 'This solution plays right in the middle of the IT and AV guys,' Volpe said. 'They're excited about it because it's easy to install, reliable and affordable. It's an enhancement to both of their businesses.'"

Find the whole article here.

Digital signage screens secure bigger foothold

The UK's MediaWeek has some very bullish things to say about digital signage:

"The OAA is predicting a 'conservative' increase of 44% to £28.2m in 2005 and so far has recorded revenue of £5.4m for the first three months of this year, a 35% increase year on year.

"The news came as ScreenFX signed a major deal with shopping centre giant Westfield to install and manage touch-point information kiosks and plasma screens showing news, sport and advertising in seven malls.

"Meanwhile, research from in-store TV company Avanti Screenmedia suggests planners likely to buy screen advertising than they were three years ago.
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"The OAA figures show that advertising revenue from digital screens – which include everything from Maiden Outdoor's Transvision screens in mainline railway stations to JCDecaux's Tesco TV – grew from £10.8m in 2003, to £19.6mlast year."

Key findings from the Avanti Screenmedia research

● 77% of the planners and buyers surveyed expected to purchase airtime on screen media in future, rising to 85% for those targeting 18 to 34-year-olds.

● 59% of respondents expect to purchase airtime on bar screens, rising to 72% for respondents targeting 18 to 34-year-olds.

● Gyms look set to be the fastest growing sector with 15% of respondents having previously purchased airtime, compared with 46% expecting to purchase.

● 60% of advertising decision-makers agree that screens should be considered as part of the marketing mix.

Read the whole article here.

DynaTek premiers digital signage software at InfoComm

DynaTek Media, the premier developer of hardware, software, and advanced sensor technologies for networked digital signage systems announced today it will demonstrate Spot(R)ACCESS, their advanced portal solution at the InfoComm show in Las Vegas, June 8th-10th. Spot(R)ACCESS proprietary software is the next generation digital signage content management tool. DynaTek Media will demonstrate Spot(R)ACCESS along with its Spot suite of hardware and advance sensor solutions in booth # 7829, and DynaTek's content production and capabilities in Samsung's booth, # 2318. Samsung is DynaTek Media's Co-Marketing Partner.

DynaTek Media has emerged as a leading digital signage technology Development Company. DynaTek offers innovative products, services and business opportunities in the exciting and rapidly growing digital signage industry. The company's proprietary research and development targets the emerging integration of sensory technology and the interactive features of mobile digital devices with networked digital signage.

"We are proud to present our disruptive technology solution Spot(R)ACCESS, and the suite of advanced hardware and software technologies at Infocomm. This solution clearly offers digital signage operators and integrators new levels of opportunity in revenue models and technical capabilities never before attainable in the digital signage industry," said DynaTek Media Networks President, Gary C. Quasebarth.

The original press release can be found here.

Frost & Sullivan announces growth in digital signage market

I'll just cut and paste the whole press release (taken from BusinessWire), since it's pretty interesting, and very relevant to the digital signage market:

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 2005--The booming retail industry is witnessing new positioning strategies among retailers. Realizing the futility of competing on price, retailers are looking at alternate means to differentiate themselves.

Consequently, there is a renewed emphasis on providing customers with better in store experience. By delivering relevant messages using compelling content and reducing perceived wait time at checkout counters, digital signage promises to enhance customer experience.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.it.frost.com), North American Digital Signage Markets, reveals that digital signage advertising revenue totaled $102.5 million in 2004.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the North American Digital Signage Markets, then send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications at mireya.castilla@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state, and country. We will send you the information via email upon receipt of the above information.

"There is a lack of influential media avenues at the point of purchase and a decline of mass media effectiveness, that remains a pressing issue in the digital signage market," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Vineeta Kommineni. "Similar to the more than 500 ad forms that are baffled media planners in the early stages of online advertising, the digital signage industry has a glut of ad specifications based on factors such as display size, aspect ratio, and presence of sound."

Digital signage is a "marketing by glance" medium and dictates that the messages are brief with minimal audio as to be non-disruptive to both customer and employee.

Current television spots are cropped to ensure optimum attention and retention spans. Owing to its primary nature as promotional marketing rather than as a branding medium, sales promotion agencies may be more suited to designing the content when compared to ad agencies.

As the medium continues to grow, the future of digital signage hinges on the emergence of a new discipline related to creating content tailored for the medium. Studies analyzing store traffic flow, time spent in the store, time spent in each zone of the store and customer linger points need to be correlated to determine placement of display, length and nature of message.

In addition, agencies are cautious in evaluating the role of digital signage in the media mix. Being a fledgling channel, digital signage lacks measurements and buying standards and the medium is considered "unaudited." Hence, media buyers perceive digital signage to be more complicated than the routine of TV, radio or magazine buys to which they are accustomed.

In the medium term, an industry association such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau in the context of digital signage may set the stage for developing standards and guidelines. Development of a currency to trade in digital signage will spur media planners to alter their spending and embrace the medium.

"The entry of media conglomerates such as Clear Channel, Viacom, ABC Networks, Liberty Media and others have justified investments in the industry and have enhanced the perception of digital signage media," adds Kommineni. "Such conglomerates not only have the access to capital resources to fund a large scale network, but also the advantage of selling ads on digital signage networks as part of a bigger package comprising other media slots."

There is a grand void in managed service solutions that encompass foot traffic analysis, ergonomic studies, network design, hardware and software selection, installation content creation, liaison with advertising agencies and media planners, and network maintenance into their solution.

North American Digital Signage Markets, part of the Kiosks subscription, examines key drivers in the digital signage markets, looks at the challenges and provides recommendations to overcome them. The study also sizes, forecasts and scrutinizes pricing trends and identifies market leaders, challengers, contenders and emerging participants in each of the digital signage advertising, display and software markets.

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.

New digital retailing article at the Dynamic Digital Signage and Interactive Kiosk Weblog

Does POP advertising really impact 75% of in-store purchase decisions?

One of the statistics that it seems like everybody in the narrowcasting industry likes to throw around is the notion that 70-75% of all purchase decisions are made by the shopper as he or she is actually walking around and shopping. I've seen this claim made by industry analysts, digital signage systems integrators, and competitors...and even I myself have pointed it out on more than one occasion (though often in the context of "hey, does anybody know if this is true?"). So when I came across yet another article mentioning this golden stat a few days ago, I decided it was time to do some investigation, and see if I could find out once and for all where this information actually comes from.

It's easy to understand why so many people want to believe that it's true -- especially in our industry and related ones, like retail POP displays, out-of-home advertising, and store fixtures & merchandising. With such a huge number of dollars at stake (75% of in-store retail purchases would have been about $975 billion in 2004 in the US alone, according to some very dirty extrapolation of these market statistics from Jupiter Media), anybody selling something to influence in-store buying decisions can make a strong argument about ROI. But I've seen the 75% number thrown around without any attribution far too many times to believe in it wholesale. That, and I have trouble believing that any arbitrary group of human beings can exhibit the same behavior 75% of the time.

So who is really the source of this stat? Several webpages, including this one from Q-Matic, suggest that it was first discovered in a European Consumer Buying Habit Study conducted by Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI). After poking around the POPAI archives, I haven't been able to find any studies by that name, nor have I found anything that makes a direct case for the 75% number. Oddly, though, I did find a few articles in their free research overview that are a bit more enlightening. The first is this overview of some of the group's more recent research efforts. Here are a few of the salient points:

Conducted by Prime Consulting Group, the study goes further in measuring reach and frequency in the drug store environment. Findings show Retail Marketing delivers 6.5% in incremental sales while reaching an average 5,850 people per week. Other findings:
- 3 to 4 times greater sales lift when advertising is part of the promotion program.
- 31% of the brands study experienced over 20% sales lift
- At-retail advertising drove additional sales 70% of the time

Ok, driving additional sales 70% of the time is certainly nothing to brush off, but it's still not the smoking gun that we're looking for. As close as we can get to that is this overview of the retail marketing industry, which states that:

Serving as the last three feet of the marketing plan, P-O-P advertising is the only mass medium executed at the critical point where products, consumers and the money to purchase the product all meet at the same time. It is no coincidence that with 74 percent of all purchase decisions in mass merchandisers made in store, an increasing number of brand marketers and retailers invest in this medium (emphasis added).

There's still no data to back it up, no studies cited, etc. But the fact that an organization like POPAI is willing to make a claim like this is at least a little comforting.

One final source that I was trying to track down came from this article on Bell Canada's digital signage ambitions. In it, the author suggests that the J.C. Williams Group is responsible for the 75% number, quoting John Torella, a senior partner at the firm. I've sent a few emails to several contacts there who have not yet been able to confirm any sources of the information, but hopefully this will change soon :) I'll keep you posted on my findings, and certainly let us know if you come across any further sources of the industry's golden stat.

New Remote Display Network Boosts In-Store Marketing

ODBN, a leading company in the digital signage industry, has developed a new point-of-purchase marketing program that involves using a dynamic billboard network that plays advertising loops in stores.

Robert Costa, the owner of VC Distributors, reported immediate sales increases and better customer interaction after implementing ODBN’s new program.

According to Costa, there are already reports of an increase in sales for the specific titles being promoted on the digital LCD, or plasma screens.

“We know it works,” said Steve Fecske, president and founder of ODBN, Inc., the company that provides the turnkey service.

Find the entire press release here.

Lightouse says digital signage LED screens in high demand

Lighthouse Technologies, a leading manufacturer and global supplier of state-of-the-art light emitting diode (LED) modular video panels, has reported growing interest in its family of LED screens for digital signage, recognized as one of the fasted growing segments of the LED marketplace.

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To address the unique demands of the digital signage applications, Lighthouse continues to launch new LED visual display products, including the P-12ER, P10 and P12, as well as the industry's first portable, self-contained LED screen, the PopVision, debuting next week at InfoComm in Las Vegas.

The new PopVision screen as well as Lighthouse 10mm R10 and 6mm R6 panels are being showcased at Booth # 7701 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Based on its proprietary M4 uniformity control technology, Lighthouse 6mm screens deliver high definition images and reduce low-level noise. The result is extra crystal clear images in very low brightness, producing strikingly high resolution to captivate audiences for spectacular close viewing capabilities.

You can read the complete PR here.