More mini-projection systems on tap soon

Much like this miniature projector designed for cell phones that we mentioned back in April, this article from the Visual Technology blog features a new offering from Light Blue Optics designed to deliver highly portable projection technology "really soon." Supposedly:

Only LBO’s novel approach to projection can simultaneously deliver a unique combination of features: ultra-wide throw angle, in-built speckle reduction, infinite focus, low power consumption, and a robust design with no moving parts that lends itself to miniaturization and low cost manufacture.

Obvious uses include automotive and consumer electronics, as well as digital signage (of course). I'm still waiting for something -- anything -- this size to become commercially available so that we can start playing with them to see how they actually would perform in a retail or other out-of-home environment. Unfortunately, it's all been prototypes and engineering samples so far, and it looks like LBO's offering will be the same way in the immediate future.

Tags: digital signage, projector

Alternative Out-of-home ad spending continues to grow

That's not news in and of itself, since OOH has been on a tear the past few years. But taking a look at this chart from eMarketer really gives an idea about the amount of money we're talking about now. Alternative OOH, which includes mostly digital media like in-venue digital signage and advertising networks, has seen better than 20% growth for the past four years, and better than 25% growth for the past two, and was worth almost $1.7 Billion in 2006. Granted that's still a teeny tiny piece of the overall advertising pie (worth over $150B), and sure it's only about 10% of total online ad spending from last year, but for a relatively new industry we're seeing the kind of growth needed to sustain early networks and encourage further experimentation in the space.

The funny thing about all this interest in digital advertising networks is that so far there are relatively few big success stories. Sure, companies like PRN, SignStorey and others have made lots of noise about getting their networks up and running, and it certainly took a lot of time, money and expertise to do so, but even counting these networks as 100% successful, that still leaves us with a grand total of two players. I know there are quite a few smaller networks around, say on the order of 10 - 50 screens, and I do think that local advertisers are still the ideal target for most OOH networks, but that's definitely one part of our industry that continues to seem unduly hyped.

So what's going to fuel digital signage growth over the next few years? What's going to keep us in the high-twentysomethings for CAGR? Ad networks continue to attract venture capital dollars, and one of these days, somebody is going to find that magic formula for building a really successful, homogeneous, non venue-specific OOH signage network, so there's certainly the possibility that enough of these guys will continue to coast on equity dollars until they figure it out. But until then, it seems like new projects in chain store retail, transit, health care and hospitality spaces will continue to lead the way with more understandable and vetted business models.

Tags: OOH advertising, digital signage, retail media

Nokia uses interactive signage to engage passers-by

Interactive games have been on the small screen -- cellphones and PDAs -- for a long time now, but putting interactive content onto a digital sign in a public environment is still pretty novel, and Nokia has done a great job of demonstrating how compelling such an offering can be. The YouTube video above features one of Nokia's newest campaigns for their high-end N95 phone, in which a user plays a tile matching game on a touch-enabled LCD screen mounted in a London-area bus stop. As the submitter notes, the buses there tend to run a bit late, which is a good thing for the branding-oriented promotion.

Tags: digital signage, out-of-home advertising, public display network

Digital signage and feature creep - can we break the cycle?

The New Yorker has a great article on feature creep that really hit home with me, especially after spending a few days in the presence of a few hundred of my closest competitors at the DSE show last week. The argument made in the article is essentially this: "buyers want bells and whistles but users want something clear and simple."

That's exactly the problem that we deal with at WireSpring day in and day out. Since we're a relatively small company, my job is to mediate between all of the different groups of people working here, and try to figure out what our best course of action is. Our sales guys want more functionality so we can stack up better in a head-to-head competitions. Our support and QA folks want less functionality, since more bells and whistles lead to larger user manuals and more tech support calls. Our programmers want to know that they have job security, so more development is always looked upon favorably; but of course expanding the development team to get more work done faster is an expensive -- and eventually unsustainable -- proposition for management.

I sit in the middle of it all, guessing at which features will be important and which will not. I personally tend to side with the "less is better" camp, and in fact we frequently sit down and try to figure out what functionality we can remove from FireCast apart from what new stuff is going to get put in. But still, there are always those features that you simply must have if for no other reason than the customer expects to see them in a demo. My personal favorite? The scrolling text ticker. I've never -- ever -- seen a good use of a text ticker in a retail digital signage application, yet time after time customers and prospects ask if we have the capability (we do). They'll then trial the product, do a pilot project, and eventually deploy the network. But by that time, the text ticker will be long gone, typically replaced by simple, full-screen video. For many applications, this, the most simple of applications, is really the best.

So I suppose the whole point of this rant is to compel those people considering a digital signage project to not confuse "complex" with "good." As a product guy, I still have to remind myself of this constantly (heck, there's even a post-it stuck to my monitor that says simple = good), and as I said before, I'm certainly coming to the point where we always try to come up with the simple solution first. As you go through the process of getting your project together, consider your overall goals, and let them determine what functionality is really important.

Harley-Davidson, Brookstone chime in on the role of digital signage

It's still somewhat rare to see VPs of marketing, merchandising and store design publish their thoughts on digital signage and retail media in general, so it was somewhat surprising to see this article/interview published by VM+SD last week, which featured veterns from Harley-Davidson, Brookstone, design organization the Design Forum, and an unnamed fashion retailer get together to discuss the pros and cons of in-store networks.

All four agreed that while digital signage system can improve the in-store environment, they don't necessarily have to. Some combination of physical design integration (e.g. embedding screens into existing retail fixtures), merchandising considerations, and of course, great content is necessary to make sure that the screens add to the overall ambience of the store, instead of just adding more clutter to an already busy visual environment.

When it came to listing the current problems with digital signage systems, it's clear that each interviewee had had his or her own experiences, and none of them were quite pain-free. However, the most informative quote came from Harley's Visual Merchandising Program Manager, Lynn Knutson, who noted that, "creating content for the screens [was] the biggest challenge. The amount of content needed to keep a program fresh and relevant to customers and sales staff is tremendous. The time and resources needed to manage a program can be difficult to justify when you cannot tie ROI directly to the program."

It's just amazing to see the number of companies -- and I'm talking established media companies with some considerable successes under their belts -- who still don't realize how challenging/important/necessary it is to keep fresh, compelling content on those screens at all times. At WireSpring, we call it "feeding the beast," since it's the hidden monster that can shred an ambitious digital signage project to bits unless it is planned for starting from day 1.

But for all those who read the last paragraph and are thinking "if it's so much work, maybe I shouldn't bother," Knutsun has a response for you as well: "You need to look beyond the metrics to see how the program improves the overall shopping experience for customers. If you can put your customers into an emotional state of mind when shopping versus an analytical state, then you will sell more product. As the saying goes, when in Rome...!"

Tags: digital signage, retail media, marketing at retail

Fujitsu Flepia e-paper system targets in-store advertisers

Also from MediaSoon comes this note about Fujitsu's new e-paper system designed for advertisers. Electronic paper uses power only when changing its image, thus a single battery can last an extremely long time provided you're not changing your images constantly (and of course the system's no good for animations or video yet). While e-paper is eventually expected to be used in everything from cell phones to e-books to billboards, the system's high price tag currently has Fujitsu looking for buyers who might not be as price conscious as consumers.

Sure, we all know that the ad industry will try anything once, but seriously, $20,000 for an A5 sized electronic sign? For that price, one could by a 60" plasma screen and several miles of extension cord, and still have money left over to pay the electric company.

Tags: Flepia, e-ink, electronic paper, advertising

Provision tests holographic displays with McDonalds

I don't know if watching a hovering Coke can shoot out of the box-like chest of a creepy plastic Ronald McDonald statue is going to compel me to order a different soft drink at the counter, but Provision and McDonald's apparently think that it just might. According to this writeup in MediaSoon, Provision, "has recently done a deal with Creditz, a digital in store loyalty currency system. Creditz are given for loyalty and as incentives, and merchants can earn incremental revenue. The Creditz holograms will feature at store entrances and in the aisles to point to where the promotions are happening."

Holographic displays have been out for a while now, and while they certainly make for an impressive demo at trade shows, I'm still of the opinion that they're too expensive and don't provide enough real value to be justifiable yet. Images can be hard to see if you're not in the right spot or under the proper lighting conditions, and content has to be specially produced in order to be viewable from all angles.

Still, like I said, they are certainly eye-catching when they do work, and I could certainly envision a scenario where some McDonald's franchise owner allowed Provision and/or Creditz to install some systems on their own dime to see if there was any appreciable benefit (all speculation on my part, mind you).

Tags: Holographic display, in-store media, Provision

Westinghouse and AdTek to supposedly deploy PumpTop TV to 75,000 gas station pumps

Just got this in the ol' press release folder:

Westinghouse Digital Electronics, the fourth largest manufacturer of LCD TVs in the U.S.*, today announced an exclusive arrangement with AdtekMedia, Inc. to significantly accelerate the national expansion of “PumpTop TV,” AdtekMedia’s premier digital media network. Westinghouse Digital will build and install turnkey display systems for fuel pumps serviced by AdtekMedia’s narrowcast network, which will deliver news content and advertising to gas station consumers as they fuel their vehicles. The Westinghouse commitment involves supplying complete systems to be installed onto thousands of gas station pumps in each of sixty of the largest U.S. markets, thus creating one of the largest Out-of-Home Digital Media networks in the U.S., reaching more than 100 million drivers each month.

Westinghouse Digital’s technology expertise in displays allows development of next generation, fully integrated systems for gas station narrowcasting. The system includes dual 19” widescreen high-resolution displays (on both sides of the pump), computer, and networking components with wireless delivery along with a server backbone. Westinghouse Digital will incorporate advanced technologies for increased brightness and daylight viewing along with environmental protection and climate control for sensitive system components. Westinghouse Digital’s goal is to improve the consumer experience with the display and provide unique features that directly meet the needs of this growing vertical market consistent with its commitment to build its presence in the commercial market for flat panel displays.

Is it true? Beats me. Sure there are certainly that many gas pumps to be converted, but despite plenty of RFPs and pilot projects, none of the major C-store or gas station chains have stepped up with a major deployment that I'm aware of. I can say this: if one were really planning on deploying 75,000 screens, it would make sense to partner with a big manufacturer like Westinghouse to design and construct the digital signs themselves.

So just how many of these things have been deployed so far? According to the release:

PumpTop TV is currently evaluating national and regional content providers for its network. The near term roll out plan for PumpTop TV calls for expedited completion of the current build-out of the Los Angeles market, quickly followed by full entry into other key U.S. demographic markets including San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston.

If I had to guess, I'd say that Adtek has permission to sell to some number of chains for a particular oil company or companies, but will need to sell on a franchise-by-franchise basis as opposed to winning some huge deal to go out and deploy thousands of stations at once.

Has anybody seen/heard otherwise?

Tags: PumpTop TV, Westinghouse, Adtek

CRN reviews the digital signage market... again

You can't blame the folks at CRN Magazine. Their audience is primarily hardcore IT guys, with maybe a hand full of AV solutions provider thrown in, and would be much more at home at the InfoComm trade show than at GlobalShop or NRF. Thus, when they review a new product or industry (like they did in this multi-part story on digital signage), it's always with an eye on how to have this kind of subscriber base can best take advantage of it.

With those things in mind, it's thus not too surprising that almost 60% of respondents to a survey put out by CRN felt that digital signage was still in the "innovator" or "early adopter" phases. The reason for this is one of the biggest myths in the digital signage industry today, namely that IT guys are well-suited to sell digital signage solutions. This is something that WireSpring encounters so frequently that I actually wrote a four-part article on the subject a few months back. Our observation over the years has been that while AV integrators and other IT-heavy shops are well suited to work on public service networks and can play a supporting role deploying some advertising-supported networks, but will have a very hard time working on private label merchandising and experience/branding networks. Because these are the ones that often get the most press and have the most sex appeal, it's not surprising that they have the most solution providers trying to get involved. Likewise, ad-driven networks have a certain gold rush feeling to them, but what many tech folks don't realize is that without an extremely capable ad sales team, these networks are going nowhere fast.

I feel like I'm constantly evangelizing this point (and I know it annoys some people), but we've lost count of how many startups and converted IT shops have either gone out of business, resized or dramatically changed directions after failing at one or more attempts at a digital signage network without understanding the facts.

Tags: digital signage

Trimax to acquire Cybersonics Technologies

From the oh-look-another-digital-signage-company file comes this announcement:

Trimax Corporation (OTCBB: TMXO), providers of Broadband over Power Line (BPL) communication technologies which transform a building's electrical wiring and all electrical outlets into a high-speed broadband network, announced today that it has signed a letter of intent for the acquisition of Cybersonics Sound Technologies Inc. Trimax anticipates the acquisition to close within the next four weeks. By acquiring Cybersonics, a revenue producing company, Trimax/PLC gains an experienced management and operations team with expertise developing international corporate broadcast networks and customized advertising for shopping centers, large retailers, auto dealerships and the hospitality industry. Cybersonics has over a decade of R&D expertise developing proprietary software and hardware communications technology for 'turn-key' web-based private broadcast networks.

Can't say I've encountered Cybersonics out there in the real world, but with our competitor list topping 330 companies worth watching right now, I'm not exactly surprised. Without having really done any research on either of these companies, it would seem that the acquisition is a good strategy for Trimax, since digital signage would be a good end application for all of that building-wide broadband that Trimax can pump through the power lines. It's much along the same lines as how Hughes (and every other satellite provider) suddenly got the retail media religion because it sucks up tons of bandwidth. Or how Cisco got into digital signage to sell more routers and switches for all of the data these networks require.

Tags: Trimax, Cybersonics, digital signage

Flat-panel TV brackets recalled

From the Buffalo News, of all places, comes this product recall. Anybody using these in a professional digital signage deployment should make sure they make the necessary modifications:

About 9,900 "Verge" flat-panel television tilt-mount brackets, imported by Circuit City Stores Inc., because the lock bar on the brackets could unfasten when an upward force is put on the attached television, causing the television to fall. The brackets are sold under the "Verge" label and have model numbers VPSW103M or VPSW103M2. This information is written on the packaging.

The brackets were sold at Circuit City stores around the country between September 2006 and April 2007. The brackets were sold individually and as part of installation packages. Circuit City has mailed a repair kit to consumers it was able to contact about the recall. Those who have not received the kit can contact Circuit City at 888-666-9897 or call a professional installer. For more information, visit http://www.vergeproducts.com or http://www.cpsc.gov.

Which reminds me... better go check out the ol' liability insurance policy.

Tags: digital signage, recall, flat-panel, bracket

Netpresenter pushes the bounds of taste, decency

Dave Haynes at sixteen:nine sent this my way, and I couldn't keep quiet about it.

Regular readers of this blog know that one of my character quirks is a strong desire to point out and tear apart bad press releases. Normally, the bad "news" takes the form of some showboating and grandstanding supplemented with a healthy dose of marketing speak and perhaps one or two quotes from the CEO or an industry "expert".

Unfortunately, this press release from Netpresenter isn't one of those. It looks like their Chief Ethics Officer and Director of Corporate Decency must have taken the day off, because less than a day after the worst school massacre in US history, they decided to issue a statement saying that a digital signage network could have helped the school stave off the tragedy.

All logical and practical arguments aside from a moment, what the hell was CEO Frank Hoen thinking? Do you really want to associate your company with such an event? When is it ever proper to capitalize on tragedy? There's a time and a place for everything. If you want to promote a campus or corporation-wide messaging system to provide instant notification of critical events, that's fine. But do everyone a favor and come up with a better way of marketing it than spreading FUD and taking advantage of a terrible situation.

Interactive signage sells beer on the streets of Amsterdam

I wouldn't think you'd need any help with that, but apparently Grolsch beer and JCDecaux felt otherwise. Of course, the interactive signage in this case isn't of the electronic variety at all, it's just a clever mechanical setup. Take a look at the video:

Rumor has it the first take of this video featured a guy high on one of the city's many legal drugs, who opened and closed the door for a half hour before JCDecaux strongmen carried him away.

(yes, I'm kidding)

Google purchases DoubleClick, makes deal with ClearChannel

In case anybody still had doubts about Google's advertising ambitions, they announced a few deals over the past several days that will put them to rest once and for all. First, in an effort to solidify their position as the preeminent Internet ad engine (and to piss off Microsoft, I'm sure), Google plans to acquire DoubleClick for an insane $3.1 billion. Combined with today's news of a massive deal with Clear Channel to sell radio ads on their 1,650 US stations, and hot on the heels of a recent deal with EchoStar to sell trackable TV ads, the search giant is doing everything possible to diversify into other areas, since Internet search advertising still made up well over 90% of their revenues last year.

However, all is not roses for the do-no-evil company. First off, it's unclear whether the DoubleClick deal will go through (though to be honest I'd be surprised if it didn't). Microsoft, AT&T and maybe some others are already lobbying the State Department suggesting that Google's acquisition could give them an unfair advantage. While the notion of Microsoft calling somebody else monopolistic and anti-competitive is ironic (and that's putting it kindly), the suggestion is worth considering. Google already collects a huge amount of personal information from its search engine and affiliate advertising systems, and augmenting that with DoubleClick's technology could make things worse. How bizarre would it be to see Bill Gates and Nadine Strossen, President of the ACLU, showing up on the front cover of the Times together? I tried to come up with a pithy good-vs-evil metaphor to describe it, but I don't care for either of them very much, so my best one-liner involved Satan and a slightly less-evil Satan (which really isn't very compelling).

Meanwhile, both Google and DoubleClick have been experimenting with in-store media for well over a year, and of course Clear Channel is on an outdoor electronic billboard construction boom. Consequently, the consolidation of power here is something we need to be watching very closely. While I'm sure that the TV, radio and Internet advertising folks are much more nervous about this than we digital signage folk are (oddly, the small size of our market is a benefit in this case), companies that want to stay competitive will need a steady stream of market-centric innovations to stay relevant.

Tags: Google, DoubleClick, Clear Channel, retail media

Nielsen to release in-store metrics in September

We've been hearing about it for a while, but according to this blurb in Media Buyer Planner, Nielsen In-Store is still on track to deliver their first ever out-of-home ratings this September. The Nielsen measurement scheme involves paying about 4,700 individuals to carry around small tracking devices from Integrated Media Measurement, Inc. (IMMI) that can recognize different TV programs and commercials based on unique sound patterns embedded into them. The tracking devices are connected to the participants' cellphones, which can be used to send the data back to Nielsen automatically, thus removing some of the human error introduced with more traditional journal-keeping techniques.

For now, the focus of the service is to measure out-of-home viewing of traditional TV programming (e.g. in bars, hotels, gyms and offices). It doesn't currently have the capability to measure other types of out-of-home screen media like digital signage, since the content being displayed or the software displaying it has to be modified to be trackable by the system. However, if there's sufficient demand, one could easily imagine the technology being extensible. As Taddy Hall, Chief Strategy Officer at the Advertising Research Foundation notes, "This is the first time there will be broad-based measuring of out-of-home viewing," and even though it's not the same as tracking digital signage systems, it could provide some much-needed baseline information about peoples' viewing habits outside of the home. If, for example, the service finds that people practice the same kind of ad avoidance strategies that they do in-home, that could prove to be an interesting problem for us to solve.

Bonus points to Mr. Hall for not using the phrase "holy grail" in his PR quote. Way too many people have been throwing that one around lately. The official Nielsen press release on the matter is here, for those who wish to read the whole thing.

Tags: Nielsen, out-of-home advertising, in-store metrics