A Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale on digital signage!

If you live outside of the US, you might not know that this coming Friday (the day after our Thanksgiving holiday, which always falls on the fourth Thursday in November) is the so-called Black Friday, when retailers pull out all the stops to get you started on your holiday shopping in hopes of moving out of the red and into the black. A typical Black Friday scenario looks something like this:

1. Drag yourself away from the table after stuffing yourself with far too much turkey, cranberry sauce, cake pie, and other holiday goodness.
2. Get in the car at around 10:30 PM.
3. Drive to the Walmart/Best Buy/Target/Macy's or other store that you have picked as your primary Black Friday target after carefully weighing its location versus the population of the surrounding area, and the outside temperature.
4. Wait in line until about midnight.
5. Push you way through hoards of other shoppers to get one of the 5 $199 plasma TVs or $50 Egyptian cotton sheet sets (or whatever else) that the store has been advertising for 3 weeks, but hasn't bothered to stock any more of.
6. Leave with a sense of ultimate victory (if you're one of the lucky few), or, more likely, a bitter taste in your mouth and a bunch of bruises from where you got crushed by the aforementioned hoards.

In short, it's basically a combination of typical holiday shopping and American Gladiators.

The Monday after Thanksgiving Day has now been relabeled "Cyber Monday", as it's the day when everybody (ostensibly) goes back to work after the long holiday weekend, and proceeds to spend the entire day online shopping for deals.  It's the more laid back, refined way to shop like a crazy person, even if its name lacks the pirate-esque panache of "Black Friday."

Back here at HQ we were thinking about how we wanted to approach this holiday season -- normally a less-busy time than the August-November period preceeding it, and decided that consumer products companies shouldn't have all the fun. So we decided to do a Black Friday/ Cyber Monday deal of our own for our Digital Signage EasyStart product.  There's precious little data out there on whether such short-term promotions work on B2B products (honestly, how many B2B "impulse purchases" have you  made in the past 5 years?), but we figured it's worth trying out. Here's our ad:

While I'm not normally a fan of discounting, I have to admit that if I were a business buyer, I'd be pretty psyched about getting a deal by just playing along with some silly American tradition.

In any event, if you or anyone you know does happen to be looking for a digital signage player  or interactive kiosk for small networks, just click on the ad above, file an info request, and finalize your purchase by next Friday, and you automatically qualify for the deal.

If not, it's OK, I still like you.  Just not as much as before.

So happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US. And to everyone else, happy rest-of-the-week!

Technorati Tags: digital signage, digitalsignage

PlayByPee encourages radio listening

I'm having trouble deciding whether this is brilliant or insane, but it's definitely unique.  AdAge reported a few days ago about a decidedly #1 way to promote sports radio:

Canadian sports radio station AM640 wanted to promote its live commentary of ice hockey games. To show fans how exciting audio can be, it installed a poster over a urinal that provides commentary of the person doing their business.

The radio station targeted a toilet it knew would be full of ice hockey fans -- the one at Air Canada Bowl. When a fan approached, an excitable commentary lifted from an ice hockey game -- but one equally applicable to taking a pee -- began to play. Lines such as "He's approaching the bowl" played in an audio clip culminating with an ecstatic cry of satisfaction from the commentator.

This isn't the first time that people have tried to bring some kind of digital advertising to the urinal. In fact, I've have a couple of clients who have been putting up digital screens in men's rooms for quite some time. Heck, we've even seen interactive games where men are instructed to pee in certain places/directions to "drive" a car on a screen. (Ostensibly this was done to test whether the player was too drunk to drive home from the pub, but c'mon, we all know the truth).

Personally, I'm not too sure how I'd react to a play-by-play of stepping up to the urinal.

Wireless Ronin (RNIN), running out of money, asks public for more

After reviewing Wireless Ronin's quarterly statement yesterday, I noticed that they're down to a bit less than a year's worth of cash -- at least their current, totally ridiculous burn rate of something like $700K/month.

Consequently, I was not at all surprised to see this announcement pop up that they're now seeking an additional $6.7M by selling new shares at $2.90/apiece to an anonymous investor.

What I want to know is, honestly, who's going to invest in them at this point? Their model is broken, as is evidenced by the fact that they're getting further and further into the "consulting" by doing software development and content production projects. And believe me, there's nothing wrong with that at all. But that's a very different business than the digital signage game, one that's very hard to scale, and (amazingly) one that's even more crowded with competitors than the digital signage software space.

Still, I'm jaded to the point where I expect this round of funding will close, the firm will get a stay of execution, and will once again not have to make the difficult decisions, like:

1. Really slashing their headcount. RNIN ought to be able to get by (on those revenues, at least) with a headcount of 15-20 people, not 4-5x that number. It's not fashionable to talk about layoffs these days, I know. But as a publicly-traded entity RNIN is accountable to their shareholders first. Which is why they probably out to think about...

2. Going private. Yup, it's also not fashionable, but at this point I have to imagine that RNIN's ticker symbol is hurting more than helping when they go to pitch big deals. Admittedly, being public (and apparently having a totally genius financial adviser) gives them the ability to back for money over, and over, and over, and... well, you get the picture.

3. Giving their cash to me. There, I said it. I'm certain I could put it to good use :)

When digital signs leave a bad taste in your mouth... or something

Ran into two articles that seem to fit well together.

The first comes from The Consumerist, where reader Grey was confronted (and affronted) by a shelf-edge signage system for Bumblebee Tuna:

This absurd Bumblebee Tuna display was jutting into the isle at my local Safeway. It had a black screen, single silver button, and a card stock sign demanding I "push the button." Out of nothing more than utter disbelief and morbid curiosity I bow to the will of the sign.

"Will it start talking to me, the grocery store shopper?" I wonder. "Perhaps it will suggest some Tuna-themed dish for me to prepare for dinner tonight?" No. Instead I see the lowest resolution version of some 30 second, made for TV ad I'd ever seen.

The guy sounds a little whiny, and is obviously saddled with a either a serious TV addiction or else a terribe lack of willpower if the mere presence of the diminunitive screen was enough to "force" him to push the button or see what happens. That aside though, the remainder of his complaint is completely valid. 30-second TV spots have no place at the shelf-edge, especially if/when they rely on audio and will be presented on a postage stamp-sized display. Kudos to Bumblebee and SmartSource for taking  a stab at low-power and presumably low-cost digital shelf-edge advertising, but guys, seriously, you need to do a lot better. At least bundle some coupons with the thing. If you want a laugh, I recommend you read the comment thread attached to that article at The Consumerist.

The inanity of the Bumblebee display must have primed my brain because when I ran into this article at Advertising Lab it seemed like it might as well have come from the same company. Straight out of the what-were-they-thinking department of RightGuard's R&D lab comes this inspired idea to put digital advertising not where one might purchase the product, but where one might actually use the product.  That's right, we're talking about armpit advertising!  Awful puns aside (and there are lots of them), there's really not much else I can say about this. In fact, I think the expression of the woman on the left pretty much says it all...

Putting signs between you and your fix

First Dave Haynes notes the creation of a new smoothie vending machine with digital screens attached and now this (from Engadget):

While it's still a concept, [Douwe Egberts]'s so-called BeMoved coffee machine promises to finally bring the disparate worlds of hot beverages and motion control together at last, and do nothing short of raise "human interaction with a coffee machine to a higher level" in the process. Because, really, you can never truly feel close to a coffee machine until it's taunted you to jump up and down to fill your cup of joe. Of course, you can also do some slightly more practical things like tailor your coffee exactly the way you like using the massive touchscreen, and even check up on the weather and news while you wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY1uDPO_3ps&feature=player_embedded

Online Ads Not Working for You? Blame the Creative

Digital: Online Ads Not Working for You? Blame the Creative - Advertising Age - Digital

Something we've harped on for a long time over at WireSpring is the need for great content on your digital signage systems. Too often, people blame their network failures (and there have been many of these over the years) on cost management, technology problems, unwilling advertisers and dozens of other things, when in reality the real problem was that their content wasn't compelling, and consequently their network wasn't achieving its goals.

We're not alone in this problem, as the above-linked AdAge article explains:

It's bad creative that makes online advertising ineffective, so stop obsessing over targeting and placements, according to a study from online-ad-research group Dynamic Logic.

After analyzing the highest and lowest performers from its database of more than 170,000 online ads, the Millward Brown company determined that creative factors such as persistent branding, strong calls to action and even human faces -- and not super-targeted or high-profile ad placements -- make for better ad recall, brand awareness and purchase intent.

Simply put, an ad is only as strong as its weakest links, and according to the Dynamic Logic study, that weakest link is frequently the quality of the creative itself. Not planning, not placement, not measurement, but content.

Digital signage content producers and ad network owners need to keep this in mind when deciding how to apportion their budgets. Don't leave enough in for good creative, and you might be deploying a very expensive, very failure-prone network.

In-Store Marketing Beats Traditional Ads

In-Store Marketing Beats Traditional Ads, according to a new survey conducted by the National Research Network on shopper marketing firm Miller Zell’s behalf. The study notes:

Nearly a third (32 percent) of the 999 shoppers polled online in March said that in-store marketing is "very effective." Only 27 percent said the same about ads living outside of the store.

The report, which is part three of the “Gone in 2.3 Seconds: Capturing Shoppers with Effective In-Store Triggers Series,” found that the shopping experience is crucial for marketers. Sixty-nine percent of those polled called the in-store experience a “make or break” scenario. While 65 percent of shoppers are making lists, brand decisions are still being made at the store, according to 60 percent of respondents.

End-aisle displays are the most engaging according to 70 percent of those polled, followed by merchandising displays (62 percent), and department signage (58 percent). Ceiling banners and overhead mobiles have the least impact.

Shelf strips (55 percent) and shelf blades (50 percent) have become more important, especially among the Gen X and Gen Y crowds, who feel the more information the better, per the report. Overall, women and Gen Y consumers were most influenced by in-store marketing efforts.

I don't really have any commentary to add here -- the results more or less speak for themselves, and in my mind make a lot of sense. We continue to see data posted indicating that in-store marketing is a must-have component of any CPG marketing mix, and certainly big guys like P&G have been pouring resources into making their in-store presence more effective. While one might treat data compiled on behalf of a company that stands to profit for them as suspect, I think in this instance we're seeing further corroboration of past studies and common sense understanding of how marketing at retail works.

Now THAT's a digital sign!

Repurposing vacant storefront windows as giant pedestrian-level digital signage is all well and good.  But what about those times when you want to be seen from more than just a few feet away? Well, if you're pharma giant Bayer, you just cover your entire ex-headquarters building with LEDs and turn the whole thing into a gigantic digital billboard that can be seen from miles away. Pics and videos courtesy of Engadget's article on the matter:

(here's the YouTube link for anyone viewing through Bloglines)

... and if you're fluent in German and tech, here's an explanation of how the whole thing was put together:

(youtube link)

How the economy might be (should be?) affecting digital signage screen placement

I've been catching up on my reading lately, and last night found myself looking at the September issue of Shopper Marketing. As I read Executive Director William Schober' editorial, I learned two things: first, there's a PBS special where Elmo (yes, the lovable Muppet) teaches kids how to cope with the financial crisis.   I kid you not.  Second, and more in tune with the theme of this blog, there's a good chance that the economic crisis may have shifted the way that people shop -- and this, in turn, may have shifted where digital signs need to be located to get optimum draw and have the biggest impact.

I don't know if other people have pointed this out and I'm just late to the game, but I admit I had to sit and scratch my head for a while after looking at the data.  While it sounds a little crazy to say that a recession could change where we need to put digital signs -- they're just pieces of equipment, after all -- when you step back and look at the way the media is consumed, it starts to make a lot of sense.  And that's precisely what happens if you look at the data from Nielsen's now defunct P.R.I.S.M. program. Steve Frenda, the managing director of strategy and member development for the In-store Marketing Institute threw together a little chart to illustrate a pretty significant trend in shopping behavior:

The reason for this shift to "deeper" shopping in the aisles by many consumers is because they're cutting back on more expensive dining options like eating out or getting take-out in favor of cooking more meals at home.  Cooking full meals requires a greater variety of groceries, which typically forces shoppers to do more in-aisle shopping, instead of simply picking up the old standards in a quick race around the perimeter.  When these shopper traffic patterns shift, so do in-store media consumption patterns. And while a store manager could use this data to move static POP displays and posters around pretty easily to regain some of the impact lost around the store perimeter, for many digital signage networks that have screens bolted into location, this is a bigger problem.

While endcaps and the racetrack are still going to get navigated and shopped (you still have to walk on them/past them to get to your desired aisles after all), it's possible that this traffic shift will reduce the premiums that networks currently charge for media on or near them. It's also possible that an increased demand for in-aisle marketing will increase the number of projects utilizing shelf-edge and in-aisle screens (Walmart and IBN already do in certain cases). However, considering the cost of adding infrastructure, it's equally likely that stores and network owners will take a wait-and-see approach to decide whether this new shopping behavior is going to stick around after the economic recovery revs up a bit more.

Tags: digital signage, shopper marketing

Violence leads to better recall of outdoor ads...

... in videogames :)

What... do you think my headline was misleading?  Did you not notice the "..."?


Anyway, according to Technology Review, "A team of European and U.S. researchers found ads displayed along with violent scenes to be more memorable to players than those shown with nonviolent content, even though players spent less time looking at them. The results are contrary to expectations stemming from research on television, where violence has been shown to decrease attention to advertisements. Developing a better understanding of the way advertising works in games could help game companies enhance their advertising strategies."

The researchers discovered this outcome by getting subjects to play one of two versions of a driving game.  "Those who played a violent version of the game, where the goal was to run down pedestrians, resulting in a blood-splattered screen, demonstrated significantly better recall of advertised brands than those who played the regular version. The researchers presented their work at the International Conference on Entertainment Computing last year."

Cries of desensitization notwithstanding, I can't imagine that these results would carry over to real-life scenarios, since there is plenty of well-documented evidence that memories formed during truly traumatic periods (such as witnessing an accident or act of violence) quickly become altered and/or suppressed.  Still, you just know there's some evil ad exec out there, sitting behind a desk, reading this article, stroking his white cat and thinking "Hmm...."

The Trouble with LinkedIn Groups...

... is that anybody can make one, nobody has to check whether another similar group exists, and there's no good way to manage them together if you're a member of many of them. Don't think it's a real problem? Check out the non-exhaustive list of digital signage groups that I belong to:






Seems a little crazy, doesn't it? There must be a better way.

IBN nabs a PRN exec

I haven't heard much news from IBN lately, though John Morgan and I trade emails every now and again to say 'hi.' But he just let me know that the firm is looking to step up their retail game by hiring one of the true retail media experts, Bill Lynch, formerly of PRN fame. Here's a bit from their press release:

Rob Brazell, CEO of InStore Broadcasting Network, said of Lynch’s hiring, “Bill is one of the most respected and admired people in the in-store media business. We are excited to welcome Bill and leverage his industry expertise throughout our growing business.” Rob Wolf, who held the head sales position for IBN since 2007, will assume new responsibilities as Executive Vice President, Research and Shopper Insights and will remain a member of the IBN board.

Lynch was most recently Executive Vice President of Sales with Premier Retail Networks (PRN) where he managed the National Endemic Sales Force. Prior to PRN, Lynch was Group Sales Manager for News America Marketing, where he managed and sold in-store advertising and couponing products.

While living through a global economic slowdown does suck, it also means that strong companies get the chance to realign themselves, try out some otherwise risky strategies, and make talent grabs and strategic acquisitions. Hopefully Bill will invigorate the folks at IBN and help them blaze a path out of any recession-related slowdowns that they might be feeling.

The morning press - digital signage news for August 6

Morning, folks. Here's some digital signage-related news for you:

• Arbitron's new Out-of-Home Digital Video Display Study has just been released (for free, no less), and offers a statistical sampling of how America ingests its digital signage. The short version: "Of those who recall seeing digital video displays in the past month, 76% noticed seeing them at multiple venues. Digital video displays in retail locations alone (including grocery stores, large retailer/department stores, drug stores, shopping malls or convenience stores) reach over half (53%) of American adults in an average month. OOH digital video displays at gas stations and movie theaters each reach over 1 in 5 U.S. adults per month." I plan to do a bit more analysis of this on a Digital Signage Insiders blog article later this afternoon.

• On the subject of Digital Signage Insiders, last week we posted a survey on how much YOU think digital signage should cost. We're at about 120 responses so far, but I'd like to get more than that. It takes less than 3 minutes to fill out, and I'll be happy to share the data with you. So get your friends and colleagues to fill it out too!

• The Emerging Media Lab has a neat article on the next generation of touch screens that promise better interactivity and feedback through some kind of tactile interaction (e.g. making it feel like you've pressed a button when you've just touched a smooth, flat screen). Worth a quick read.

• Digital and alternative marketing and advertising, which together will total almost $139.5 billion in 2013, according to market research firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS). These areas will drive growth in the marketing industry over the next 5 years, though it will be mostly cannibalistic (VSS has, "eight out of 20 major communications industry sectors declining, all concentrated in the traditional media, including newspapers, magazines, broadcast TV, radio, traditional out-of-home and Yellow Pages.")

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services

The Daily DOOH turns TOOH

... Two, that is. Just a few short years ago our industry was peaceful.  The dulcet tones of myself, Dave Haynes, and a select few others heralded the news of the digital signage marketplace with joy and good cheer. All was well. And then, this guy showed up:



And as they say, the rest was history. In the two years since Adrian and his gang threw open the doors of the digital signage saloon (I know, the analogy is thin... work with me here), things have changed. Thankfully, they've been mostly for the better.

The Daily DOOH crew have become my de-facto source for zero-day news in our industry, and they're one of a mere handful of players that I can count on to deliver un-hyped, un-politicized, and most importantly, un-advertorialized news, gossip and hearsay about everything in the digital signage world. While their no-nonsense approach to reporting the news and predicting the future has ticked off more than a few company execs, their foresight has also proven itself out on many occasions.

So Happy Anniversary, Daily DOOH.  Here's hoping you'll be around for a long while.  A word of warning, though: this industry ages us like dogs, so it should feel like you're about 14 now. I know I definitely feel about 70 years older.

:)

Today's digital signage news - logos on the moon, a DS degree, and more!

It's proving to be an interesting week in the alternative out-of-home marketing segment. Here are a few stories to prove it:

• A new company has formed to place logos on the moon that will be visible from earth. They plan to send robots to the lunar surface to carve small impressions out of the lunar soil in such a way that the shadows will form clear shapes. Somehow, according to the website, this will help to save humanity. Alas, there's no word yet on pricing or availability (from Adverlab).

• Walmart is demanding more comarketing funds from its suppliers, according to this article at Adage, with the dual-goals of exerting more control over the store environment and suppliers, and, of course, producing a bit more cash for the retail giant during these troubled times. I'll probably blog on this topic a bit more later.

• Texas State Technical College is proud to announce what I believe is the first even (associates) degree in digital signage. The very thought of this sends chills down my spine -- and not the good kind. However, it does look like the course load will focus on content creation and planning, rather than the core load of hype generation, research regurgitation and wishful thinking that I would have thought to comprise the majority of work for such a diploma.

• Everybody and their brother has blogged about this already, but I'd be remiss in not mentioning that Peoplecount and Adcentricity have teamed up to create a variety of small- to medium-budget research programs for measuring digital out-of-home media, as notes Mediaweek. "The suite of five Research Lite packages are priced between $4,000 and $50,000, depending on the number of venues and markets required for Peoplecount's on-site intercept surveys."

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services