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I wonder how similar their screens are to the ones in some of the US mass transit systems. I think Atlanta's MARTA has something like this. It would also be interesting to see where they're placing the displays in the buses, since you typically have some people sitting and some standing, and people can be facing any of several directions while riding.

Wonder if they eventually plan on adding credit card transactions too given how resistant the culture seems to credit cards

Contactless payment is pretty big in Asia, so they probably have something like that in place for paying fares. Those transactions may be linked to prepaid accounts, credit cards, etc. As for showing direct-response ads on the digital signs where you can buy a product or request more info via your mobile phone, that's a whole other interesting application :)

You know, I spoke to Bruce Rasa at IBM about contactless payment a couple of months ago, as I still don't see what the big deal is about it. His feeling was that, in the US at least, its success is a function of speed, not necessarily convenience. In other words, in transactions where it's too time consuming to go and find your credit card, contactless payments will take hold.

Does anyone know of any movies that portray digital signage in a positive (or at least neutral) light? If we get enough of them listed here, maybe people can start referring to those instead of "Minority Report". I'll start the list by mentioning the 3D billboards in "Back to the Future".

Two that immediately come to mind are Blade Runner and The Fifth Element.

I think Blade Runner was the first to really illustrate the potential of digital out-of-home media

Hi Bill,

Excellent post-- extremely thorough and well put, as always. I've been thinking around the same topics lately, and trying to get at the root of the audience fear... An interesting discussion has ensued, both from inside and outside of the industry, which I think is a really great sign.

See you at the DSE!

Hey Jayne,

I just read up on your "creepy digital signage" thread (http://www.theweboutside.com/?p=49) - the comments are really excellent.

The main source of negativity towards digital out-of-home thus far has been from folks that feel that any kind of advertising blights the landscape (rightly or wrongly). I think privacy issues are starting to crop up (thanks to crappy e-voting, e-passport and federal ID action), but not many people have put two and two together yet.

Hi Bill, you hit upon the right note here..
Recognition Technologies, Recommendation Engines & Screens are a lethal combo for a marketer, but it need not be otherwise for shoppers.

my guess is that retailers who decide to have a ambient system where shoppers cannot opt-out will suffer. also, one must not ignore that we're already experiencing something very similar with online. It took us less than 7 years to start seeing everything around us through the google lens. we depend on it to make sense of the what's around the internet. with clutter becoming commonplace, the choices before consumers are overwhelming and my guess is we'd be happy to accept anything that makes our lives simpler. making content relevant, making it personal beyond the internet has already begun..

Excellent post as always Bill...and a much needed POV for the industry as we attack new measurement tools slowly and steadily. Just looking at recent articles within DMNews about activity with Do Not Call, Do Not Mail and the new Do Not Track online proposal, it's not hard to assume that privacy advocates will not take this kind of scenario lying down. Philips Design did an extensive worldwide research study on the subject 6 years ago (they were thinking ahead I suppose!) and found that customers would be open to being tracked IF they could control what level, what brand/s and when. Otherwise, no way. Seems we need to tread very carefully here and be sure that initial tracking is not personalized in any way unless 100% opt-in.

Excellent post Bill!

The film Children of Men is (IMO) a bit depressing but it is set in the near future and shows digital screens everywhere (including a nice shot of a red London Bus complete with digital screens on the sides - but then, hey! we have those already!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men

Hi Bill,

Thanks for checking out the thread... It's great to have the slippery and elusive mass audience involved in these conversations, since for a "not-so-new-but-still-new" medium like DS, the kinks (both content and platform wise) are still being worked out in huge chunks... The more the end-viewer gets involved, the more like we are to have a medium that's worthy of their eyeballs.

Laura, Do you have a link to the Philips Study? Would love to take a look.

Laura: Hopefully you can dig up that Philips study, as it's gone against most of the research that I've seen recently (at least wrt online privacy, which is admittedly a bit different from the end-user's perspective). In fact, I don't know if you remember, but I asked Dave Polinchock about privacy back at ARM 2006, and his take was that most shoppers don't really seem too concerned about it right now. Of course, we don't know if that's because they're unaware of the potential havoc on the horizon...

Adrian: Ah, Children of Men. I knew that movie wasn't totally forgettable for some reason :)

Although the discussion about online privacy is certainly more advanced than anything we're seeing in out-of-home media right now, it does seem like most consumers don't really care what's being collected about their behavior. In fact, most of the articles I've seen about the "Eraser" feature that was just introduced by Ask.com (see http://sp.ask.com/en/docs/about/askeraser.shtml) have pretty much said the same thing: it's a neat idea, but until more consumers start demanding it, the big players like Google and Yahoo won't be volunteering to erase their valuable data when and how consumers see fit. I just hope that the companies that are collecting this data within the digital signage industry are using it responsibly and taking steps to protect it. Just think about how scary it would be if the viewer tracking data from your local grocery store ended up on the web, and people could look for your face and then cross-reference it to find all the times and dates that you shop there.

Bill,
Love your columns. Very insightful and speak to the plain and simple minded folk like myself. :)

Just posted a entry on our company blog:
http://www.nmotiontech.com/displaydiary/2007/12/13/which-space-has-the-most-potential-for-advertisers/

was wondering if you wouldn't mind commenting on it?

thanks
Matthew J. Olivieri

Hi Matthew,

So your question relates to the efficacy rather than the ethics of using traffic data to target content towards users. It's slightly off-topic for this post, but obviously quite central to the development of the industry...

If you're an advertiser looking to bring in foot traffic, a multi-venue approach is usually best, as it lets you focus on the places where your target customers are most likely to be found. You can do this by studying the venues and their audience by hand, subscribing to research data, or using a booking platform like SeeSaw. In any event, you need to figure out who you're trying to reach based on their demographics and psychographics, and then target the places they visit so your ads reach them accordingly. Of course, the holy grail (from a marketer's perspective, anyway) would be tracking every consumer individually rather than just looking at aggregate groups.

This takes us back to the privacy concerns covered in this article. Once the technology is there to allow this level of tracking (and it's not far off), we need to be very careful as an industry to disclose what we're collecting and what we do with it, and provide people a way to opt-out, particularly if data-sharing arrangements between multiple vendors or retailers become commonplace.

Another aspect you may consider is that many Americans do not like confrontation or talking to "strangers" and as the trends are going, the general population tends to lean towards depersonalization. This depersonalization is kind of sad in my eyes, but would and most likely will become the fuel to jettison the demand for contactless payment options and advanced kiosks. Perhaps even retail stores outfitting themselves with advanced kiosks that would allow a consumer to view, pay and have a product delivered directly to their home. If that became the trend then stores would only need to stock perishable groceries as everything else would be available on screen... Just a thought.

Hi Shawn,

You make an interesting point: there are certainly a good number of people who would prefer to do things anonymously, and nearly everyone would like to take care of low-thrill activities like filling up at the gas station as quickly and efficiently as possible, so the market for these kinds of services may already exist.

Lots of people have suggested that the Internet is fostering this trend. While I know I do lots of shopping online, whenever I go to our local mall it seems as busy as ever, so I don't know how true this "common knowledge" really is.

I think the internet is fostering the idea and as for the traffic at the malls, a good chunk of people like to see the product before they buy it, others just don't want to wait on the shipping time.

I'm not sure how many people do this, but I have known a few people who only go to the malls and retail locations to see the price [difference] and to handle the product before they purchase it. A lot of it can be accredited to the internet being cheaper while the remaining part is "I don't want the checkout hassle." Oh, and those people LOVE the self checkouts at Walmarts and other locations.

Facial recognition software is already hot off the presses and being used in the security industry. I promote interactive digital signage that offers the ability to data mine, but you still have to opt in by touching the screen. Once Retailers starting using the facial recognition software under the "security" guise, the Marketing Department will slip in and data mine the tapes which will reveal the shopping habits of unaware shoppers. They can mine for product placement results, shopping behavior and how different ethnicities purchase or respond best to products. These are only the first offers from facial recognition software companies. Forget about it if you so happen to look like someone earmarked on their system for shoplifting. I think we should warn our customers about what is too much big brother marketing.

Josh Tonasket

The two biggest things that struck me in this article were this:
1) "clients either came in with creative assets that weren't appropriate for the store environment, or had no creative assets at all."
2) "It simply means figuring out a way to help companies match the right kinds of digital signage projects with their core competencies."
From my perspective as someone who seeks to be a VAR, these two points are critical to my business. I think companies like mine must effectively find ways of educating the world on not only the potentials, but also the requirements of different digital signage systems-thus lowering the amount of perceived time, effort and money it will cost to get involved and create positive network effects.
The further opportunity to have a ‘creative’ department which assists companies that don’t have the budget to go through an Ad Agency is simply icing on the cake in my opinion.

I am curious as to your thoughts on our latest blog post as well, if you wouldn't mind:
www.displaydiary.com

Thanks Bill,
Matthew

I applaud your efforts to try and help educate the world on the potentials and requirements of digital signage projects, but after nearly five years of blogging, traveling and working the trade show and conference circuit, I can tell you that we haven't yet created the ecosystem necessary to quickly bring newcomers up to speed, share knowledge, etc.

I do know that there are a number of groups working on that very problem right now, but as of right now there are too many people jumping in head-first without first arming themselves with the necessary information.

My response is that perhaps the world wasn't quite ready to fully embrace digital signage in the past- at least not in the ways I envision they will be in the near future...I seem to vaguely remember large record sized laser disc movies that came out 3-4 years before people were ready to start tossing out their VHS cassettes of course later came the first DVD and now that is the industry standard.

Why weren't people embracing D.S. in the past? I don't know if any one reason reigns supreme, perhaps of number of reasons...hardware limitations, government regulations? New technologies always have a high $$$ cost associated with them as well until enough players enter into the industry which makes things more scalable and brings costs down overall, which is what I foresee happening in the next 2-3 years BIG TIME.

Case in point, I asked a random 25 people what the term digital signage meant to them and only 5 were in the ballpark.

Within the D.S. industry I think you will have one company that steps up and who makes D.S. the cool, hip, fresh and exciting medium to advertise on and this group will not only help shape the industry but also society's willingness to absorb the switching costs necessary in learning how to capitalize on this medium.

Do people really want to watch TV out of home. It's an attitudinal psychographic aspectof people, that we believe that they do not watch much tv out of home and as such vehicles which work more quickly and which reach out to grab the eye, represent superior and simpler vehicles,

People are enamoured with setting up the next media network. This is a major stretch for it is not going to happen..what we have left is a network ofpromotional shelf talkers for the business that wants to make moneyin-store. My network of 23,000 electronic signs in 5,400 supermarkets has never been beaten. Time to go round once again!


Robert Polansky
917-902-0049

Hi Robert,

Not quite sure what angle you're going after here, and if anything I'd say that Thomson's involvement and the rapid growth of the industry indicates that people do believe in the medium.

The questions that remain (in my opinion) are a) how do we make digital signage efficient and desirable while remaining as unobtrusive and not-annoying as possible, and b) where do they perform best - there are going to be some jobs they simply don't work well for, but others where the excel. We need to find more of the latter.

Awesome 4-part series Bill. Summarizes hours and hours of reading I have done from many other sites and books to give readers a solid baseline understanding.

Thanks :)

-Matthew

A very interesting piece of information here. As a newcomer to the business I am surprised to learn that there are many companies with little experience in in-store marketing projects. I believe those who would capitalize on it will gain a serious long term advantage.

Thank you Bill for a very interesting arguments.

BILLBOARDS HAVE A 15YR MACRS LIFE.

WHAT IS THE MACRS LIFE OF THESE ELECTRONIC
BILLBOARDS AND/OR SIGNS?

Hi Matthew,

Thanks very much for the feedback. If you're just starting out in the industry, I also recommend you read Laura Davis-Taylor and Adrian Weidmann's book Lighting Up the Aisle. It's cheap, a quick read, and pretty entertaining to boot. You can find it at:

http://www.lightinguptheaisle.com/

Hi Ghassan,

I agree with you - those companies who can truly articulate the benefit of the network and then implement it in such a way that it actually delivers on that promise are going to be in huge demand over the next few years. For now, though, there's still enough of a "Wild West" mentality out there that all sorts of companies are jumping into signage head-first, without truly understanding how it works in different kinds of environments.

Hi Yigal,

Thanks for the feedback. Granted I'm coming from a particular point-of-view here, and I have some vested interests (namely, we make Linux-based kit and we think there are numerous advantages to doing so), but even after nearly four years I think the above arguments still hold true, so that's pretty neat.

Hi Richard,

Great question, but unfortunately I don't know the answer to that. My guess is that it varies from product line to product line.

If it's something that interests you, I suggest you get in contact with one of the major producers, like Daktronics, Barco or Lighthouse Technologies.

The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) is the current method of accelerated asset depreciation required by the United States income tax code. Under MACRS, all assets are divided into classes which dictate the number of years over which an asset's cost will be recovered (see Wikipedia).
15YR MACRS LIFE - because there is an average LED Billboard time life. It means that after this time LEDs used to build the LED Billboard will not be enough good for advertising (usually 70% of initial brightness - perceptible by user).
A little more about LEDs you can find on http://www.ledbillboards.co.uk

enjoyed your article. what are your thoughts on other alternative forms of ooh, such as scooter advertising? a stylish and unique, in your face approach to advertising, that limits the choices a consumer can make about viewing yor ad, i.e. tivo, digital radio, online news, by bringing the message to them in an impactful, yet unaggressive way?

"The channel ,not the brand manager, controlss the brands" is really something which is insightful for students like us who are pursuing post graduation in retail management. kudos to you !! keep writing informative articles like this.

Thank You

Hi Scott,

There are a lot of "experiential marketing" experiments going on out there. I've seen everything from hot air balloons to regular people covered over with LCD screens and sent out into the world, so scooter advertising (which would just be another form of mobile billboards, in my mind) doesn't seem too strange.

In each of these cases, you're of course trading message availability for impact, since a moving billboard might be eye-catching, but it's hard to impart a lot of information to a viewer, and the message is never in the same place twice, so you essentially have to track both your message and your potential audience at the same time.

That having been said, I'm a big believer in getting the right message to the right person at the right place and time, so armed with sufficient information, I think that mobile billboards will continue to play a role, albeit a niche one.

Hi Adam,

Thanks for that information, I'm sure lots of people who haven't yet felt the pain of trying to depreciate large, expensive assets were unfamiliar with the MACRS method.

The items listed in the gallery section of your site are mostly monochromatic, and relatively small in size. Do larger, smaller pitch, full color LED screens have a similar longevity? Does it vary from LED maker to LED maker?

Hi Dravesh,

Thanks very much for your kind words. Of course, the very concept of the channel controlling the brand is still up for debates, as there are many brand managers, product manufacturers and consumers who would likely disagree.

Still, this information is straight from the source -- Saatchi X and POPAI, two very reputable industry players, so my feeling is that it probably is accurate.

Hi Matthew,

Thanks as always for your perspective. While I think your comment is mostly correct, I continue to believe that the issue is not so much the cost, but the determination of benefits. After all, ROI is basically just

$Benefits - $Costs

While the latter is pretty easy to calculate nowadays (and yes, it can be a big number), people continue to struggle with the former, even after nearly a decade of "serious" digital signage deployments.

The way out of this, of course, is to be able to effectively and accurately value the benefit portion of the equation, and as we've seen, that has a lot to do with the specific model that the signage is being used for (check out our articles on digital signage business models for more info on that).

I think there is huge progress in this field. Every mall you go in now has digital signage everywhere. Our company has built a very successful and unique model not in malls but in other high traffic areas. I could care less if a var ever figures out how to pull off a successful way to do this. I do see someone showing up and buying the thousands of digital signage locations and tying them all together.
There is a lot to be said about struggling to find advertisers. There is lot's of hard work going into learning how to sell that space but the bottom line is if you have eyeballs seeing your displays then you will have advertisers.
Add to all of this an interactive component that actually tracks usage and prints out information for the buyer - GENIUS!!
What I recommend is just staying focused and do not try to be all things to all potential clients.

Hi Greg,

You hit on an excellent point -- too many VARs try to be all things to all people, instead of focusing on the deals and areas where they have a competitive advantage. In doing so, they participate (or try to, anyway) in ways that don't best showcase their strengths, which is why I think there are so many mediocre-looking vendors out there today.

It's a big enough problem that I probably should have written about it in this article, but we did touch upon it a few weeks ago in an article about the trends that separate the winners from the losers in our industry:

5 crucial steps that can make or break your digital signage project

Specifically, VARs (and everyone, really) need to be able to completely articulate their business model and competitive advantages so that they can pick areas where their time/effort/money is most likely to yield a positive return on investment. Likewise, they need to set challenging but achievable goals so that they have a clear path and hopefully some way to measure their progress.

While I wouldn't necessarily say that those who don't do these things are doomed to fail, those who do do them have a better chance for success.

Another great post from the mighty Bill Gerba - a really, really good read. I do like the way you have 'scaled' innovation from not very, somewhat, a little more, quite, and most!!! You should register / trademark the idea as the "GERBA INNOVATION SCALE"

DaiilyDOOH was just about o publish its TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS FOR 2008 but your description of "corny industry predictions" has put us off ;)

Happy New Year to you and all your readers by the way!

Hi guys,

As a manufacturer of LED signs and billboards out of Dallas, our diodes have a lifespan of 100,000 hours, which equates to roughly 11 years. That means that in 11 years, the diodes will be operating at 50% of their prime brightness. Of course, considering the amount of ROI that the sign owner has received by that time, it'll be a simple decision to replace the sign quickly.

Feel free to call me at 214-260-4500 x2207 if you have any questions.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for this. I have been trawling the web looking for the source of this stat without much success. I'd put it down to stupidity on my part. It's good to know that somebody else could not locate the source too.

Hi Tobe,

The original source of the stat was from a 1996 POPAI study of POP marketing in supermarkets, and what it essentially said was that about 70% of BRAND decisions are made in-store. That is, you might not make the decision to buy breakfast cereal when you're in the store (it was probably on your list before you arrived), but you're likely to decide between Cheerios and Special K.

If you're a POPAI member, I believe you can still download that data from them (and they've done a number of other wide-scale surveys to reconfirm the number since then).

Thanks for the info, Jon. As this is an area I'm pretty unfamiliar with, I'd also be interested to know if there are significant differences between different types of LEDs, or if there are ways to extend their lifetime (e.g. turning down the brightness at night).

Hi Adrian,

Perhaps it's simply my inability to write proper predictions that turns me off to the whole affair.

I'm certain that someone of your caliber of expertise could do a much better job, and sway me back to the other side :)

Factor of MACRS LIFE
mounted Chip,entironment,maintain...

If you are interested in details via let-net@hotmail.com

Best regards

Chris

As someone who works in both television and digital signage, I have a mixed reaction to this news.

I think it's a smart move on NBC's part to experiment and stray from traditional ad techniques. As a network, their shows appeal to a younger, hipper audience (they recently picked up a program called Quarterlife that first aired on MySpace) so I'm not surprised that they'd make this kind of decision. I think it's a big step towards better reaching their target audience.

I definitely think NBC's actions could cause ABC and CBS to react very quickly and move in the same direction, especially if NBC -- who consistently finishes behind them in ratings -- starts to gain some ground. What'll be more interesting to see, is whether cable networks such as HBO and Showtime -- whose programming is starting to really give the broadcast networks a run for their money -- will invest more money into this platform. If that happens, then we'll know that NBC made a bold move into the future.

From the digital signage perspective, I think the idea of having upfronts doesn't really make sense mainly because, as well all know, there is no concrete way of measuring this industry yet. I think NBC needs to make everyone involved aware that digital signage is not black and white and that uncertainty allows for more flexibility which in turn makes it an appealing ad medium.

So while I think the general idea is a very smart move on NBC's part, I'd give it a much weaker endorsement on the digital signage end just because I agree with a lot of the negative aspects that have been brought up.

Hey Phil,

Obviously you and NBC disagree as to whether it makes sense or not :)

On the other hand, while I have no idea what kind of investment it takes to set up an upfront, if it's cheap, I suppose there's no reason for them to NOT give it a shot (aside from looking ridiculous if they can't sell much of the inventory, of course).

one company doing some very cool things is FanDriveMedia. These are the guys behind most of the text messaging going on in sports stadiums across the US. I especially like their Tug o War challenge. We did it in DC and won a tee shirt toss. It had everyone in the stands going crazy.

I would love to be able to live blog this upfront as it's generated a ton of good attention.

My guess, however, is it's invite only.

Nice work. I will appreciate, however,if the units are clearly stated. For static content, you are saying it costs between $250-$1000. Would this be the monthly cost for eight hour screening each day?

Hi Kishore,

While costs are going to vary from country to country and even city to city (here in the US, at least), those estimates were on a per-spot basis. So I would suggest allocating between $250 and $1,000 for each still image if you're outsourcing the work without some kind of contract.

If you have graphic design specialists in house, that would equate to between two and eight hours per finished piece of static content.

Hi Alex,

While I'm not familiar with FanDriveMedia, I do really like text messaging-based approaches. They're entirely opt-in (a must for a privacy nut like me), and they have near universal reach since almost everyone carries a mobile phone capable of sending and receiving text messages (whether they know how to do it or not is another matter, of course).

Plus, there are so many companies that can provide this service nowadays that it has become a commodity, which means more price and feature competition that the rest of us can take advantage of.

To answer the "good or bad" question, I think we have to look a little deeper into how the space is being sold. Are they selling in terms of a TV-style playlist, where you are buying specific time at specific venues, or is this more like a pre-buy commitment with the details to be filled in later based on other factors?

Ideally, NBC would be using the second approach, perhaps even leaving some prime space available for later sale through a bidding process. Marketers who buy a lot of space in the upfront would then get the first opportunity to bid on other inventory when it's made available.

Granted, I'm not really familiar with the upfront process in general, so perhaps this whole idea of flexible rates and commitments is impossible. But something tells me NBC is planning to innovate at least a little bit with their digital signage upfront, capitalizing on some of the unique aspects that the medium has to offer.

There's much to digest regarding NBC's up front. I'm going to waffle, 100 %, by saying that on the one hand, NBC wouldn't waste their time staging an up front if they didn't think digital signage was a viable advertising/consumer communications alternative to conventional media. Which is a good thing. On the other hand, you and others make viable points regarding the big boys, rather than the current players in the industry, dictating the future of the business.
It's the golden rule, isn't it: them that's got the gold, makes the rules. Unfortunately, if we can't sort it out, others will sort it out for us. Econ. 101.
You know my opinion: shoppers will tune out/ignore a steady parade of broadcast spots. Eventually, nobody watches and nobody wins.

I'm not sure what per-spot basis means in this case. What if the ad was part of a 2 minute loop of 12 different ads, so it is displayed every couple of minutes throughout the day for weeks at a time?
Also, how does pricing work if the ads are generic in nature (customer sells different brands of same product) versus doing ads for actual brand owners. I have a number of similar questions about pricing. Where else can i dig up info?

Hi Stephen,

By per-spot I literally mean per piece of content. In your example with 12 different ads, a spot would be a single ad, so an estimate of $250-1,000/spot would mean budgeting between $3,000 and $12,000 to create that single, 2-minute loop.

Getting your content partners to sell you a "package" of hours or deliverables can cut this cost down, as can in-housing the creation.

I'm not sure where else you can find budgeting information. The lack of this kind of info is one of the reasons we keep writing blog articles. But if you're most concerned about content production costs, I suggest you get in touch with a local creative studio or two -- there are always a couple of them in every town or city.

I am not sure if we've ever met but I have been to Wirespring briefings in the past. We ae getting asked more and more about the DS business and are starting to consider following it along with kiosks. The K industry seems to be split - some going after DS and others absolutely not. I agree that the market potential is bigger than kiosks will likely ever be.

That report is now 2 years old - are they publishing a new one anytime soon? Not that we'll buy it - those InfoTrends guys are (and always have been) VERY EXPENSIVE. Any market insight/potential you can share would be great.
Thanks,
Francie

It is not surprising that Tesco TV is facing challenges. In economies such as China, where noise, bright colors are accepted better than in UK, the use of sound in shops and buses has raised protests.

The second aspect that I find surprising is depending only on Instore Products (my understanding could be wrong here) advertisements.

Companies such as Q-Vision in Sweden (q-vision.se) have generated revenues for shops through the Check out line advertising to support instore promotion.

An hybrid model (revenue generation through advertising for external offers and POS advertising) would probably work much better for Tesco without sound.

With its recent digital out-of-home upfront, NBC has planted its flag in the sand that is the digital signage industry. While I don't believe that NBC had its upfront to reap any large financial reward, nor do I really think that they expected it to, but what they have done is become the first major media company to have an advertising sales upfront for digital out-of-home networks. And, sometimes, being the first matters more than doing it exactly the right way.

In my opinion, this article typifies the primary reason why NBC had the upfront to begin with...to generate exposure for its digital out-of-home assets and to be looked at as a forward thinker in this space by the media community at large. The press exposure that the event has garnered, from the likes of Ad Age, Adweek, Reuters, and the New York Times makes it successful for NBC...regardless of the amount of advertising revenue the event generated.

Hi Francie,

I know that InfoTrends and Frost & Sullivan almost appeared to be trading off each year (since both were on a two year cycle), but I haven't seen another report from InfoTrends recently. Personally, having seen the 2007 Frost report, it's hardly worth reading (I found at least three significant errors). iSuppli, on the other hand, has published some excellent research on the industry recently.

With regard to whether it's an easy area to expand to from the kiosk space, that's a tough call: digital signs have so many different forms and functions, and their success rates are so closely tied to the industries that they serve, which is quite different (imo) from self-service kiosks. On the other hand, from a project planning, logistics, and budgeting perspective, digital signage does look similar to kiosks.

Hi Shyam,

This article was published all the way back in 2006. In 2007, Tesco dropped JC Decaux in favor of Dunnhumby, a retail marketing specialist.

The network has been re-branded Tesco Screens, utilizes a completely new format, and is apparently quite successful now. You can read more about that conversion here

Pat: way to take a stand :) In all seriousness, you're absolutely right: whether or not there is a group out there who's more "qualified" to set the rules, NBC had both the means and the motive to do it themselves, and now they have, so everyone else will have to play second fiddle. Capitalism is brutal that way. On the other hand, there's certainly still plenty of room for others to participate, and I think there's plenty of room for other formats for ad buys as well. Just because NBC has taken this particular stand doesn't mean that others will have to as well.

David: I think you're right, and in particular, if you read some of the commentary at Adweek and MediaPost about the actual contents of the "upfront," it was more of a glorified sales pitch to see if NBC could convince a bunch of advertisers and media planners that their conglomeration of nine different networks (using different screens, different media formats, different content formats and different venue types) could be packaged up and sold like TV. As I mentioned in the blog post, it may be a while (if ever) before we find out how successful they were, but to your point, they made plenty of headlines trying it out.

please get back to me if you guys have an electronic billboard that can display 20 diffrent shots

I was impressed with your article. Thanks for putting it together. I've been involved in the "Narrowcasting" side of Digital Signage and know that a lot of what you conclude.

Google gets away from ownership rights by feeding up "customer chosen" content. With an adSense - like system to allow people to bid on the ads that run, say at an airport gate, they will also get around the ownership, royalty and residual snares that await.

Thanks again. I enjoyed reading it.

Tom O'Rourke
206-612-6006

Can you elaborate on the player hardware expense? For 1200$ you can get a very capable computer which you might not need. (especially after observing the hardware requirements of the FireCast OS)

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the kind words. In the 14 months since I wrote this article Google hasn't done much to advance their place in our little sector of the industry, though they're certainly moving aggressively into radio, TV and print advertising.

Per your comment, they'll have to walk a fine line if they ever expect to use user-generated content in advertising. While they could do as you say and side-step a lot of the responsibilities using a customer-chosen system, that approach would also limit the revenue potential of UGC, and that doesn't seem very Googlish given their insane command of the online advertising marketplace.

Hi Yigal,

First, keep in mind that the above estimate is based on a survey of the industry, and not necessarily what you would pay for our solution.

That having been said, $1,200 seems pretty fair when you consider that a) very bad things happen when using regular old commodity computers in unattended public spaces, b) the industrial- or military-hardened components that go into many of today's rugged media players are quite expensive, and c) you'll likely want to include other components like a power filter and Ethernet line filter in your hardware costs.

So while you can go to Dell and buy quite a powerful computer for $1,200, there's a good chance that out in the real world with no one attending to it it would fail in 18-24 months. A ruggedized media player, while perhaps a bit less powerful than a similarly-priced Dell, pays for itself in reliability and the need for fewer service calls.

i have a customer looking for ibm part# 4838-132 anyplace kiosk and also 4836-135 1pc each someone contact me 949-837-9000 x104

Here is a sample scenario of what I'm looking at:
I will target small franchise automotive stores.
Goal to sell 2 displays per store, one mounted behind the counter (something you'll look at while waiting!)and another strategically elsewhere.
Content on the counter display is to flag customers re: things on sale, frequently purchased items they may need, newly stocked items....things the store owner would want displayed.
Content on other display is brand specific, so sold to specific companies.
So....based on industry survey, it will cost me about $6750 for one installation and for second display I'll quess $2500 = $9250. I have a handle on content creation and costs. In general, in a small venue like this, what can I
charge the brand companies who advertise on the one display. And, what do I charge the store owner for ads on the counter display (estimate 15 second ads in both cases)? If you have ideas, fire away!

Hi Stephen,

We've done a lot of research on the subject and there's no right answer. Before even considering pricing, though, do you sell advertising now? If not, I urge you to read:

5 tips that can make or break your digital signage project,
Digital signage networks: Advertising-supported networks, and
Can digital signage be profitable for an AV reseller or VAR?

The first and most important truth that we've learned from watching hundreds of companies in this business is: if you haven't sold advertising before, your ad-supported digital signage project will likely fail. First remedy that problem by partnering with an ad sales group or hiring on a professional with lots of past experience and local connections.

That having been said, I recommend you take your starting number of $9,250, add in some amount for 2 years of operating expenses, double the entire amount (to account for your profits and the inescapable other fees and charges you'll certainly encounter along the way), divide by the number of ad slots that you will be providing, and use that as your starting number.

Also, just because you have a "handle on content creation costs", don't discount that number, and in fact count on it increasing as time goes on.

Good luck!

-Bill

Bill, do you know what sort of response vJive has gotten from advertisers on this pricing model? On the one hand, it seems like experienced media buyers might ask for everything to be re-stated in terms of CPM. But on the other hand, I can see them appreciating the transparency in the pricing and using that as a way to better gauge performance, i.e. ad buys with a higher SCQ should deliver a measurably higher return than those with a lower SCQ.

Unfortunately the only information I have is anecdotal - I know they raised a lot of VC money, and I know they've had at least some success selling advertising (I saw some of their screens while in India late last year). I'll see if I can get some additional details, or perhaps even reply to this comment themselves.

Brilliant article. This and the hundreds of other stuff on this site become Great encouragement for the medium.

Please keep up the good work!!!
Regards
Padmanabhan

Bill,
With the recent announcement of CBS Outernet partnering with RippleTV and just last week the announcement of SeeSaw Networks partnering with RippleTV-Value Added Resellers seem to be on the rise…Obviously these guys are trying to make life easier for Ad Agencies with huge marketing budgets, but how much potential is there really for them as VAR’s?

How big is the Market for Digital Signage Resellers like SeeSaw Networks and RippleTV? $20M, $50M, $100M?

Thanks,
Matthew

Matthew,

I'm pretty sure that none of the companies you mentioned will ever think of themselves as "VARs." CBS Outernet and RippleTV are both network owners. They put networks in, pay for them, and are then responsible for monetizing them. SeeSaw is a step even further removed - they don't get their hands dirty with capitalization or installation at all, they just manage available inventory and help networks to book more ad sales.

If you're asking about how much money these firms might be willing to put into the creation and management of ad-supported networks, my guess would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. CBS's purchase of SignStorey goes $70M towards the first $100M, and there's certainly a lot more where that came from.

If you're asking about the total aggregate value of the space on all of these networks, that's a much tougher question, and I wouldn't even know where to begin guessing. But say there were a total of 50,000 screens in the "big" networks, each sold 10 advertising slots per month, and each had a 40% subscription rate (so 50,000 screens x 4 ads/month x 12 months/year). That would mean that the total size of the inventory was 2.4 million slots. Sell each slot for $10 and you're at a measly $24M. Sell each for $100 and you're at a pretty significant $240M. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

Bill,
Thanks for the interesting information.
I am assuming the $24-240M sum is just the reselling part?
Can you please share your view on what is the breakdown per slot split between the reselling, network operator and network owner?

Thanks
Gil

Bill,
Thanks for the great feedback, and you are absolutely right, my VAR reference is far outside the scope of what these companies do. My apologies for the mis-interpretation.

Nonetheless, I was trying to ballpark how much money could be up-for-grabs in SeeSaw's model specifically.

Anyone who helps other companies sell their ad space must take a little off the top for their efforts, so I am wondering how big SeeSaw sees this space to be and what potentially they forecast their revenues to be after kicking back most to the provider.

-Matthew

Gil: Yes, my totally fabricated, make-believe $24-$240M range was for the value of the ad inventory only (including the service of running the spots, of course). To your question, it would be very difficult to come up with accurate estimates for a split between advertisers, venues and others as I've seen them divided up every which way to Sunday. Sometimes the venues and network companies split 50-50, sometimes 60-40, sometimes they involve other third parties that each take their percentage... there's no widely-accepted model that I know of.

Matthew: if you're a network owner, you could probably just ask them what they charge :) I'm not sure if they use a retainer model or a pure cost-per-placement, but I agree, they obviously intend to make money on every connection between advertiser and network owner.

Why don't network providers (who ostensibly hold much of the power to measure) offer a "menu" of typical measurable items? In other words, have a customizable list(s) of what the agency/advertiser might like to measure and let digital media networks finally move towards the user-driven type of media they keep touting? Whatever the choice(s) of what measurements are to be made, reasonable costs can/should be associated with such choices.

If, as in the article, clients such as Unilever "know" that the most important metric on a given product rollout is "recall", they should be willing to pay well for that type of option associated with those network(s) on which they are rolling their product out. Of course, this "menu" of services must have sensible limits of what types of measurements are offered...

Why keep on searching for a holy grail (i.e., the "right" kind of digital signage metric) which will likely end up being (at least somewhat) different for each client?

Tim,

I think the fundamental concept of what you propose is valid, but in my experience (working with a number of networks), I don't think a standardized a'la carte menu will work on any reasonable scale for two reasons:

First, it's the advertiser, not the network provider, that indicates which metric is important. In other words, just because a network provider can measure the number of engaged views (or whatever), that doesn't mean the advertiser will find it valuable.

Second, companies like Unilever "know" simply because they've been working at it for a long time -- decades, in their case. But that doesn't mean that they necessarily have a complete understanding of every new product rollout, or that there isn't something new for even them to learn.

I agree that there is no holy grail, and we certainly shouldn't be searching for one. But the point of today's post is that all too often companies get stuck on the idea of measuring something -- anything -- without first figuring out what they want to measure, why they want to measure it, and most importantly, how much that measurement is worth to them.

I really appreciate your blogs and the valuable information they provide. Our company has approx. 275 locations that we maintain and sell advertising for. You are correct, and like you, we are trying to come up with the magic tool to measure effectiveness. We find if we try to translate the advertisements directly in to increased sales for the advertiser - it will be difficult. We focus instead on impressions per minute and "branding". Now if you could only provide me with good sales people!!!!
Thank you.

I agree with Jill. Bottom line, sometimes a sign is just a sign (albeit it is multimedia) and we are selling impressions. The multimedia dimension adds value, it is eye catching, superior to flat art and can be enriched with sound and updated remotely. All monitors should be equipped with a motion detector capable of recording a fairly good representation of traffic. We have just begun tapping on the media's potential. It is stronger when it is networked, it is stronger when it is tactile (customer surveys anyone?) it is even stronger when it is positioned in terms of demographics. I'm getting sidetracked sorry. My point is that yes we can use traditional metrics but we have to find a way of value adding specific media qualities to a given campaign. This media, as anyone in front of a demo will see, is superior to print in delivering eye catching, longer lasting and adaptable impressions.

Hi guys. We have a previous experience on classic media and POP. I mean that metrics of TV,radio etc for decades are not really counting effectiness but potential reaches and the target was awarness. Now how exactly that is mirrored in sales lift is a magic spell all advertisers keep as a secret ( since nobody ever gave a good explanation). Or outdoor...advertisers count the traffic data to help themselves decide where to put their money (this is really a joke if you ask me).
Therefor I want to say that our medium is really effective and we should give advertisers to understand that is an all new thing and should be measured like that. I believe personally that a new metric should be invented .

Jill: thanks for bringing some additional perspective from the field. However, "impressions per minute" seems a little confusing to me. I can understand selling "minutes of content" since there's a limited supply of screen time and I can understand selling "number of impressions" since that's the most basic (meaningful) number to measure, but what's the added benefit of doing both at once? More importantly, what does that metric actually indicate to the advertiser? (maybe I'm just being dense).

François: I agree that, "the multimedia dimension adds value, it is eye catching, superior to flat art and can be enriched with sound and updated remotely", and those are certainly the selling points that most network providers are pushing these days -- they're the most tangible, obvious, and available. Measurement, though, is becoming more important, and while it isn't going to make any of those other points less important, we need to have a good argument for what measurements to use, and how to value them. You seem to favor an impression-based metric as the most valuable -- and that may be correct -- but that's still a long way off from being able to say how much the ability to measure is actually worth, and (separately) what each impression is worth.

Akis: Any suggestion for what the new metric should be? :)

Bill:

You are, of course, correct that the advertiser holds its own "key" metric(s). More basically, what I tried to suggest above is that the whole process advertiser-agency-network move towards more conscious collaboration. This is where (as you put it) the "a la carte" menu may become useful - it would suggest at the outset of the advertiser-agency-network relationship that the advertiser should also be thinking about various ways it might ask questions as the "menu" evolves over time...

There are big differences between the academic reasons for using in-store media or digital signage and the practical reasons.

Twelve years ago, if your competitors were on the Internet, you had to be on the Internet. I'm sure that 100 years ago if your competitors were selling via telephone, you had to sell by telephone.

The same is true today. If your competitors are out there catching additional eyeballs, you'd better get in the game, or at least understand the game, so you can enter when the academic reasons become clear.

Tim: More collaboration between the parties would definitely help out a lot! And who knows, maybe NBC's recent digital signage upfront is a sign that that's finally coming about. But I think we're still far away from having an accepted menu of measurements and related services that all networks can agree to implement, and all advertisers will agree are useful/valuable :)

Tony: There's no question (in my mind, at least) that marketing at retail is valuable. But what do you think is the added value of measurement, and/or what are the relative values of each kind of measurement and each method of measurement? Those are the big questions now.

Bill,
I think this is growing, including my own at www.kiosk-blog.com and I think the guys at Networld Alliance have some blogs on kiosks. Mine is sometimes critiques of kiosks I see deployed and sometimes just on various related topics or marketing ideas.

I hope to see you at the upcoming digital signage expo in Feb. 2008, where we will be providing interactive signage content for DTResearch and part of their booth (shameless plug, really). Please look me up there or at KioskCom in April where we will have our own booth. I'd love to discuss industry topics with you.

Of course we are all assuming that "traditional" measurement is exact and that advertisers get their money's worth. This is inexact but agencies, clients and broadcasters all abide by the same white lie for lack of a better method of evaluation.

The Internet is much more precise and agencies and clients have heavily started to move money to these new metrics. Digital signage will explore various ways of measuring until it finds a consensus between the media, the clients and the networks. The industry has to find its white lie.

I don't have much experience with success criteria for advertising based networks. But I imagine the principal is the same as measuring efficacy for POP/Visual Merchandising projects.

1. Agree with the stakeholders on the success criteria. We have lots of retail clients that define it as lift in sales, but they have very different ideas about what methodology is most reliable. Let's say it's a matched panel test (test and control stores, normalized based on historical year over year and leading months sales data).

2. Run the test to determine a sales lift and correlate that sales lift to store traffic, or department traffic, or interactions, or whatever metric you have for your display impressions. Now you have a ratio of impressions to incremental sales dollars.

3. Test your average sales lift vs store traffic, for all the panels against the same ratio for each store (to determine the standard deviation).

4. If you have an acceptably low deviation, then you can now use the ratio to extrapolate the likely sales lift in any store where you deploy the experience. If the deviation is high, then you need to increase your sample size.

5. Retest periodically to keep your ratio's accurate.

I do a case study at some of the industry events where we walk through a very detailed matched panel evaluation for a branded interactive Levi's display inside of Sears and JC Penny stores. It used 5 panels of 6 store each, to predict sales lift in over 600 stores.

Hi Bill,

I would like to know more on how the performance matrix of a DS server and a DS player is been measure?
What is the industrial standard or practice to do this kind of performance benchmarking?

Thanks in advance for time in looking into this.

Regards,
HJ

can i get a brouchure for Electronic billboard(indoor/outdoors)and their price list.

Best regards
David

Hi HJ,

I'm not exactly sure what you mean here. In-store digital signage networks are usually talked about either in terms of "screens" or "channels." We like to explain that one channel of content is essentially one unique stream of content -- no matter how many screens it may be distributed to in each store. To that end, most commonly there is one player for each channel of content per store. These days, though, multi-channel players are becoming more common.

When you say "server" I immediately think of an intermediary server that must be placed at each site, to serve as a gateway between the actual players and some kind of centralized management system. While these devices were common a few years ago, technological and networking advances have all but made them obsolete these days.

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Hi François: The industry has to find its white lie. - I love that line. Cynical, maybe a bit sarcastic, but so true! I agree, there's some kind of implicit agreement that all parties have to enter into. The terms are still up in the air.

Jason: Thanks for that great break down. We've had customers take very similar approaches for digital media, so I'd say that the core methodology is interchangeable for static POP and digital out-of-home. When it comes down to it, it's hard to beat a well-controlled split test experiment, especially when you already have the means to translate results from a small sample into predictions for a larger group.

can u tell me anythin abt shopper marketing model in telecom industry...

I have an agreement to install 800 screens at out-of-home locations where young adults frequent. Now I am trying to find a vendor that will provide in-house financing for hardware, software and the cost of installation for a start-up. Any recommendations

We are launching a Denver based Digital Media Co.
We will be placing 1 screen, 22-25", in C-store, gas stations and we are looking for the best solution to begin this project and help implement. Video and static? We will quickly expand to several hundred locations within the first year. Any ideas on vendors that can help eliminate headaches, and/or probs.?

Luker 303-428-6300 office
cell 303-960-9060

We are launching a Denver based Digital Media Co.
We will be placing 1 screen, 22-25", in C-store, gas stations and we are looking for the best solution to begin this project and help implement. Video and static? We will quickly expand to several hundred locations within the first year. Any ideas on vendors that can help eliminate headaches, and/or probs.? Whats the avg. cost per location?

Luker 303-428-6300 office
cell 303-960-9060

I'm doing a report on the total integrated marketing industry.. Do you have an estimate $$
as to how much $ are spent a year on digital signage ? espond please to russbowman@byram.com Thanks very much RB

Hi Russ,

The most recent market statistics I've seen (YE 2007) have been these from eMarketer that were later rehashed by MediaPost to be a bit more readable. They put the total market size in 2007 at around $1.3B, and PQ Media estimates that about $300M of that was spent on advertising.

Good luck!

Maurice: I know there are a few firms out there that will do system leasing for startups in our space (CDW has done it before, I believe), but with no cash flows, etc. it sounds like you might need a small equity financing round to get started first.

Luker: I'd stand by the estimates above, though obviously a 22" screen is going to only cost a few hundred bucks, so there will be some savings there. Additionally, for a lightweight panel you'd only need a 1-man install crew, so there might be additional savings there as well. My advice would be to get 10-12 screens out as quickly as possible. Nobody can make a decision based on a single screen, whereas a small network will teach you a lot more about how you'll need to operate your business and give you a MUCH better idea of the infrastructure you'll need to have in place as you get ready to scale. Just be sure to keep at least 12 months worth of extra operating funds in the bank -- it'll take that long, trust me :)

Luker:

I stand by the estimates that we made in our budgeting article (where I just posted this same answer to your other comment), though obviously a 22" screen is going to only cost a few hundred bucks, so there will be some savings there. Additionally, for a lightweight panel you'd only need a 1-man install crew, so there might be additional savings there as well. My advice would be to get 10-12 screens out as quickly as possible. Nobody can make a decision based on a single screen, whereas a small network will teach you a lot more about how you'll need to operate your business and give you a MUCH better idea of the infrastructure you'll need to have in place as you get ready to scale. Just be sure to keep at least 12 months worth of extra operating funds in the bank -- it'll take that long, trust me :)

Hi Navjot,

What kind of telecom are you talking about? If you're thinking of retail wireless stores, the practices are similar to any other retail environment -- especially consumer electronics where other complex, big-ticket goods are sold. If you're talking about B2B or industrial telecom, I don't know the first thing about those markets :)

If you're new to shopper marketing, I definitely recommend you check out the HUB's section on the subject. Lots of experts chime in there all the time.

If you get good sales people that understand how the medium works, they can sell it without delivering tons of hard data to the advertiser and in most cases the advertiser will get their own ways to measure it without us having to give them that info (focus groups, shopping trips, sales behavior, etc) because better than anyone, the advertiser knows what and how they want to measure a medium and it varies from advertiser to advertiser. Like someone here said, not everyone measures the same thing.

I'm not saying that Hard Data is worthless, I'm just saying that this is a new medium still in diapers having a hard time to grow and that I don't think that the use of the most advanced hardware and software to measure it will make advertisers turn to Digital Signage as we all want.

Even if you get lots of numbers and hard data obtained from the most advanced gear on measuring audiences you will always need a good sales person that can use that information to sell a new medium like this.

I think it depends more on how well a sales person does its job rather than how many money you invest in technology to convince anyone that the medium works.

I also think that it's more important than anything to train the advertisers on how to use, buy and measure Digital Signage because the concept is so broad that sometimes they don't buy it because they don't understand it and they go for the safest way... they buy traditional media.

Clients will most likely pay for measurement information (their own). Of course you need some basis for your rates card and it is expressed in impressions, exposure and frequency. A third party offering an "objective" measure acceptable by all parties (a norm eventually?) could get away with reasonable rates split among clients and media owners. $10 per site a year sounds like an upper limit to me.

Your articles are very thoughtful Bill. Keep it up. Thanks for your insights.

Measure exposure on a digital sign? Is that important?

Bill Gerba has written in the past about differences on CPM cost of traditional vs. digital media. So it would seem that this is important if you are an agency buyer. But maybe not if you are hawking space sales on a narrowcast network in bars in doctors offices. For thoses, let's not make it too accountable.

But what about direct marketing feedback? I've noticed Wal-Mart doing this in the check out line as you swipe your credit card and sign the small touch screen LCD display. They can ask did you like questions or will you questions or how was your shopping experience questions.

What if we did this on a larger LCD display at POD(Point of Decision) on iDS (interactive Digital Signage). Would this have value to CPG marketers or media agencies? How would this relate to ROI? Would this change the media from a pay for exposure model to pay by response one?

I would also like to know if anyone else is exploring this or has it been deployed in a digital signage or kiosk platform?

Hi François,

Have you found that "clients will most likely pay for measurement information (their own)"? It goes back to a comment that Axel left on a past article about whether measurement even really matters. He suggests, like you, that "in most cases the advertiser will get their own ways to measure it without us having to give them that info (focus groups, shopping trips, sales behavior, etc)" He should know, I guess, since he runs Wal-Mart's digital signage operation in Mexico, and definitely has to deal with his fair share of advertisers.

I certainly won't dispute that they're having success down there, and that numerous new companies are successfully selling ad spots in the US. In fact, that's the whole point of the "does measurement matter" article. My question in this post, though, is that considering that this point won't die (look at every other medium - measurement is becoming increasingly more important, not less), so is it in our best interest to settle for one or a few known performance metrics. If so, what's it really "worth" to advertisers?

Hey Axel: Do you think that's likely to remain the case, or will advertisers become more demanding as other media continue to refine their own built-in measurement capabilities? Will P&G, for example, continue paying to advertise in-store once TV-on-demand can deliver their ads to a super-targeted audience and give them immediate and accurate feedback? What about mobile and Internet advertising, with their ability to establish one-on-one connections? (I don't have an answer, just playing devil's advocate :)

Neil: "it would seem that this is important if you are an agency buyer. But maybe not if you are hawking space sales on a narrowcast network in bars in doctors offices. For thoses, let's not make it too accountable." I definitely get the feeling that this has been the unofficial motto of the industry, and for purposes of growth and establishing the medium, I don't disagree with it (hell, I'm a free market capitalist -- I say if you can sell it, it must be worth something to the buyer, right?) As the small guys (a) try to grow, (b) get bought or merged, and/or (c) try to sign up new and bigger advertisers, I expect there to be more emphasis put on measurable results, though.

I think it will remain to be the case.

When you talk about measuring TV-on-demand, this concept uses more or less the same measuring way that broadcast TV does, so it's easy to measure... rating. (and rating is soooo subjective but nobody questions it)

When you talk about Out-of-Home you can go from a screen in a toilet to a Las Vegas strip digital billboard so I don't see how anyone will be able to develop a way to measure it in general when every product depending on where you are advertising it will end up needing it's own measuring system.

Trying to make myself clear here, let's take your example with P&G. If they happen to get in their marketing plan for 2009 "Digital Signage" as another row in their excel spreadsheet next to advertising on TV, Billboards, Magazine, etc. What would they want to measure to prove that their investment was worthwhile????

On TV they get ratings, on magazines they get circulation, on billboards they get traffic/impacts and in Digital Signage what do they get?? better yet... what do we offer when we sell the medium???

So first you need to establish Digital Signage's placement. Is it going to be on a Store??.. ok, then what does P&G wants to measure there??? Visitors, tickets issued, people passing by the screens, units sold... what??? And what do they want to obtain from advertising in the store... brand recall, sales lifts??? what???

And also what kind of advertisement spot will you create??? Is it for a promotion, for a traditional product with only brand presence, or is for the introduction of a new product... another big "what" in the equation.

There are simply so many variables that I don't think a single measuring system can deliver the Hard Data the advertiser will want to see or the Hard Data that will pour budgets on our networks.

That's why the SALES PERSON it's the most important link in the chain. He or she has to convince the advertiser that the network works for more reasons that only for it's Hard Data result

Great device ! Always found it hard to look at shelves myself.

Hi Sophie,

Yeah, the Shopping Buddy was definitely ahead of its time back in 2004... From what I understand, there were some technological and logistical issues that prevented these devices from getting picked up in any kind of quantity, but today there are a couple of companies trying to capitalize on the same idea. Perhaps the most well known is MediaCart, which kind of merges together many kiosk and digital signage ideas into a shopping cart computer format.

These findings are really interesting. Prior to this, I had never even thought of the concept of multi-modal learning.

Nice article.

Unotech media
Web design nigeria

Hi Dolapo,

Multi-modal learning is pretty well accepted, especially in early/primary education. Extending these known and well-understood concepts to out-of-home media and interactive tools makes sense, since they can aid in both comprehension and recall, two critical areas for marketers and consumers alike.

In the ad agency world, we use a great example of the need for simplicity. It goes like this:

Toss a person 5 ping pong balls, and it's likely they won't catch any. But toss them 1, and it's almost always caught.

Great advice for any communication...including blogs.

O so right !!! "clean and simple" or "KISS" !
But how often the customer (advertiser) pushes to get more (much more) into his ad ?

Mike: That's a great anecdote. I'll have to start using it :)

Hendrik: Well, if your customers are like mine, they'll push hard, and they'll push often. But results are what counts. Get them to give on one or two spots where you think simplicity will make the most difference, and then let the numbers speak for themselves.

Bill
Interesting Blog. The cost per screen seems prohibitive. Clearly, network owners must be worried about the cost per instance of LCD. Do people use video splitters. I have heard about products from Minicom etc which provide those solutions. Ofcourse by using video splitters, we loose the ability to schedule to individual screens but that seems like valid compromise if you dont want to pay for $1500 $500 for player and software. I would be interested to get your take on it.
Mike

Hi Mike:

First, this article is pretty old - we update it every year. Here's a link to 2007's version.

Second, capital costs are considerable, but coming down. Also, many companies have technological or financial ways of making multiple screens per venue more affordable, so that cuts down on the price a bit. But of course, if you're installing more screens you'll still need to pay for more hardware (screens, mounts, cables), and installations, which is something that can't really be avoided.

We personally recommend you only add additional channels in a venue when they're actually going to add value. While running lots of different content pieces at once can be impressive and give you additional ad inventory to sell (if that's your game), it can be overwhelming to the viewer and venue if not well done and well thought out.

Thank you for sharing this information freely. It has been a tremendous help in my decision to not move forward with an idea that I had. You made some very valid points that have confirmed some of my fears about starting up this kind of business.

scook: Far be it from me to discourage an entrepreneur, but it does seem that a lot of people are jumping on the digital signage bandwagon without really knowing what they're getting themselves into. I'd never, ever say "no, you can't do this" to anyone. But the trends above have been observed over the past several years, and hundreds of newly-minted networks, so I'm pretty confident they're accurate.

You might also want to check out our article on 5 crucial steps that can make or break your digital signage project

Bill, if I had a nickel for everytime I had to explain to a client about the simplicity rule, I wouldn't be working today, but rather surfing somewhere.

When producing Blockbuster TV, we would get some promotional spots from their in-house department and it was like reading a bill in Congress.

While advertising overall should be used to tweak the interest of viewers, when it is inside a retail environment, the idea that we always put forth was tweak their interest so they would engage a store associate to ask more.

We also tested this idea via control tests, with some stores getting the over-information spots while others more simple ones. I'll let you and your readers figure out which ones worked better.

Gary: great advice, and you're absolutely right: you can't use the same content everywhere and expect consistent results. That's one of the key challenges to effective content production in our industry.

it was like reading a bill in Congress I love that. So basically it's not only long-winded and unintuitive, but also over-engineered, under-tested and generally useless.

Couldn't agree with you more. Another aspect that has been overlooked is the tightening of financial criteria. It is going to be harder to finance new business ventures, given the consequences of the sub-prime write offs. Less availability of funds might impact the emerging digital signage industry negatively. It might hamper innovations and risky ventures. This is the most damaging side effect of a slowing economy, the thinning of creativity.

Yup, money is money, and lines of credit are definitely becoming both more difficult to get and more expensive. One wonders whether debt or equity capital is going to play a bigger role in digital signage projects that can't be funded out-of-pocket.

On the one hand, there are plenty of networks out there that have some success and could potentially sway VCs to give them (on the aggregate) hundreds of millions of dollars for expansion -- especially if they point at the big Chinese firms trading on the Nasdaq and say "see, that could be us too!"

On the other hand, though, projects coming down the pipeline of big companies (like major retail chains, banks, etc.) aren't a good fit for private equity, which basically leaves either paying cash or using some kind of debt financing.

Either way, with less money available, big projects will become harder to finance, more expensive, or, quite possibly, both.

Axel: I agree with you. At the end of the day it all boils down to the ability of the sales person. You can have all types of data, and if the decision maker for signing the placement budget isn't emotionally sold on the idea, you're going to have a hard time getting the money.

Because I've experienced talking to and completely convincing advertisers to place in our venues with NO data or measurments. I simply was able to paint a strong and clear enough picture in their heads that they understood the value of placing In-store.

What we offer is the future of advertising in many ways (at least i believe it is). But it is still new, and I find that most advertisers or agencies are still very clueless to how to effectively use In-store advertising. But of course, they would never want to admit that. So, instead of saying "Hey I have no idea how to effectively use this new media, can you help me?", they just place their money on what they know and feel like an expert on, ie. Trad media. And I don't blame them. So it goes back to the sales person to feed them with the ideas, the vision, and the knowledge needed for them to present In-store advertising to their bosses without looking like a fool, so the budgets get approved.

what are your thoughts on teh scope of shopper marketing in a cuttered telecom multi brand outlets in india?

The 'worst slump in a decade' hit the advertising industry back in 2001 and hit the outdoor folks particularly hard. Many people in this 'vertical' believe that it actually also slowed down the adoption of non-traditional posters etc. - scrollers as well as digital billboards. Strange thing at the moment is that it is these High Impact / Outdoor folks who are many ways start to lead the race in digital.

In terms of the retail vertical I think times have changed and the retailers challenge is all about online - retailers have been slow to wake up to the fact that they ALL need to transform the high street in order to attract custom. For far too long retailers have offered poor pricing alternatives in a shoddy high street package. I think we are starting to see high street retailers realise they need to invest - better looking, more accomodating, more 'theatre' like retail experiences - all of that is good for the signage and kiosk industries.

Bill,

In regards to your question about the LED lifetime, the 11 year statement were if they were running at full white capacity (full power) for those entire 11 years. However, yes, you would be able to dim the display whenever necessary, which would save more on electricity than it would on diode lifetime. Also, the colder the diodes run, whether it be by fan or by the outdoor weather, the longer the diodes will last. LEDs love the cold. They hate humidity and heat.

Best regards to all...
Jon Bryant

Hi! We currently installed an electronic billboard and on our part it is a risky venture since we are unfamiliar with its industry. We are engaged in property development and we barely know so much about electronic signages.

I will appreciate it if anybody can shed light and give me information that will help me market our screen.

Ours is 16 mm pitch, tri-color bulb LED.
Approximately 1.8x2.3 meters.

I would also like to know if there is a software within the LED's system that can show us advertising airtime. And if it's not built in, where can we find a software that could help us with the airtime tracking.

Thank you so much.

We had invested to an electronic billboard just recently and we are having a hard time marketing it since its not within our industry-property development.

Most of the prospective advertisers will only take advantage of the trial period and after that, they are good as gone.

Even the higher-ups are not that adept with this, that's why they cannot shed some light to me regarding this matter.

I'm trying to find answers and guides if any to help me with such constraints.

Thank you so much for hearing me out.

Testing out the comment system.

Testing again

It's all about targets isn't it? Demographics and reach. We also have to distinguish branding from promo. Once all this is clear, picking the right media is much easier. Not all products or companies lend themselves to a TV campaing. Not all alternative brands and products should remain in alternative media. Look at Red Bull go. Look at the innovation of Nike.
All the research seem to predict the fall of television as we know it. I feel it is just fragmenting itself and getting more accurate in its reach. I also feel it should put its best foot forward---"live programming". Since it is in direct competition with the Internet, we might as well call things the way they are. Imagine how much it would cost to broadcast the SuperBowl on the Internet? Now consider this on smaller scales and TV is still the best "live" media for years to come thanks to bandwidth limitations. 151 million Americans watched a billion videos in the month of December 2007 on the Internet. Are we close to saturation? Media compete and balancing the available moneys is what it's all about. Alternative media are definitely on the rise but the inherent qualities of traditional media will act as key differentiators in the long run.

so how much does one unit costs then?

Hi Toni,

When you start talking about only doing one, the costs tend to go up since there are no economies of scale. Figure the cost is about 25% higher for everything listed in our most recent pricing guide (here's the 2007 one), except for installation/project management component which would have to be handled by a local supplier (versus a nationwide company), who might charge a little, or a lot, depending on what other services he does for you.

Francois, I agree with your view that traditional continues to have benefits that new/alternative/different lack, and of course we all expect to have to share just a piece of the whole advertising pie. However, as long as these new media present challenges that make them less attractive to buyers/planners, we have to offer more than just an "alternative" to traditional buys.

That's why Lafley's suggestion that 1 1 can equal 3, and the new stuff can not only stand on its own but actually improve the traditional stuff, is so important.

This is a gross simplification of the main market challenges, but maybe they'll help point you in the right direction:

If you're trying to score national advertisers like Coca-Cola or P&G, you're going to need to have a significant presence in the top 10 DMAs, maybe 20. Less than that and I'd be surprised if they were even willing to do a free trial with you.

For local/regional advertisers, a CPM or OTS is a nice baseline, but most are actually looking for real results (think newspaper classifieds or Craigslist listings). Thus I don't recommend basing your whole argument/sales pitch around how great a CPM you're offering. Figure out a way to track the benefit of the sign, and use that as the main driver in your pitch.

Finally, never ever give ad slots away for free, except if you have to do make-goods, or are giving a gift to a very good customer. Trials should always be paid. I'd recommend first trying to stick with your baseline price but offer the ad for a longer term (e.g. if you normally charge $1000/spot/month, make the introductory offer $1000/spot for 2 months), and only with heavy pressure consider dropping your prices. You're screen real estate is valuable, make sure your potential customers appreciate that (and agree with it) before you let them sign up.

Bill,
I agree with you on several key points about the show, the schedule of seminars could be improved. And yes, after about 1.25 days of being in Las Vegas, I am over it! So plastic and everyone is looking to get your tourist dollar out of your pocket.

The show was huge this year and there were ten of each kind of vendor (at least), but a few stand out tools and items. I liked the remote book signing tool which combined video conferencing with a robotic hand to allow an author to do a book signing from his office! I also liked the facial recognition software to track who is looking at signage. I think they are not 100% accurate but do a decent job of getting numbers that are close.

And I liked the models and gimicks that vendors used to draw attention to themselves. Tradeshows are great for that.

We will be exhibiting at KioskCom Vegas in April at Mandalay Bay conference center. It should be a huge show, and this year they have a digital signage show too... imagine that. Everyone wants to include digital signage.

Bill. I totally agree with you on the part where you mention about the timing.

Last year in Chicago, I wasn't able to finish my presentation because I was the last one from three presenters and I only got around 10 minutes for me and they rushed every one out of the room because the next session was starting.

This year in LV again with one hour sessions and almost another hour until the next, it would've be great that they let us share our experiences with those interested what we can say if the room wasn't going to be used and people were interested, after all, they paid a great deal of money to hear us and help this industry grow.

Anyhow, if anyone here reading needs more info on the session we gave, and exactly on what I said, please contact me. averad@televisa.com.mx

Axel

Vegas is becoming a cliche as it could be if you had it in NY but wherever you have it there will be pros and cons. 10 years ago we could have had the show in a phonebox but as Digital Signage grows so to the size of these shows grows.

All: thanks for the input. Having every show in Vegas is definitely one of my pet peeves, though I of course do recognize that there are pros and cons for everywhere else (though the POPAI and Strategy Institute NYC conferences in mid-fall during Advertising Week are hard to beat, IMO).

Tim: I liked the book signing app too, though I wonder if it'll really be practical. After all, one of the reasons I go to booksignings is to actually meet the author. If I wanted to see his/her face on video, I could do that on the web, from home. There's certainly a gimmick to seeing the robotic hand sign your book, and of course there's the potential for great interaction, Q&A, etc., but that could be an example of an application that winds up taking away from the customer experience instead of building upon it.

Bill
Yes, Las Vegas is bizarre, surreal, pick your adjective. It's a dry cleaner's dream. Didn't all of us immediately dump our convention clothes at the neighborhood dry cleaner to get rid of the smell of smoke?
But there's something to be said for the show being held in a city that knows how to put on a show. In Vegas, the airport is close, there are cabs, buses, monorails, etc. for easy transportation, the convention center is user friendly (save for the overcrowded Starbucks and cafeteria), there are thousands of hotel rooms and judging by the number of cranes in the skyline, they are building thousands m