SignageWire: Feeding the digital signage and kiosk hype machine

Focus Enhancements Receives NASDAQ Delist Letter

Author: WireSpring on 2008-07-23 11:57:09

Broadcast Newsroom notes that:

Focus Enhancements, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCSE) a worldwide leader in Ultra Wideband (UWB) wireless technology, video conversion and digital media products, today received a staff determination letter from the NASDAQ Stock Market Inc. stating the company's common stock is subject to delisting from the NASDAQ Capital Market for not meeting the market value of publicly held shares requirement for continued listing.

Focus Enhancements will submit a request by July 28, 2008 for a hearing with the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel. This request will stay the delisting of the company's securities pending the hearing and determination by the panel. During this stay, the company's securities will continue to trade under the ticker symbol "FCSE" on the NASDAQ board. There can be no assurance that the panel will grant the company's request for continued listing.

Our take:

Oh how the mighty have fallen. While Focus Enhancements (which purchased Visual Circuits a few years back) at one point controlled a pretty sizable chunk of the market we today call "digital signage", today they have little more than a set of niche product offerings and some additional offerings in various areas of wireless data transmission. From what we recall, NASDAQ threatens to delist you after your company has traded at less than $1 for a solid month. Considering that Focus has been slogging along at well below that for a while, we're not optimistic about their ability to bring themselves back up above the magic $1 level before they get relegated to a smaller exchange.

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NEC's ad system pumps out spots based on gender, age

Author: WireSpring on 2008-07-23 11:52:53

Via TechOn!:

NEC Corp has developed a digital signage system that determines the gender, generation and other attributes of a person standing in front of a display using a face recognition technology and outputs advertisements on the display according to them

Participants stand in front of the display and hold a FeliCa-based mobile phone over the reader/writer. The system determines the user's gender and generation through the camera image using the face recognition technology.

The display shows advertisements that would suit the user's gender and generation, choosing from the 15 candidates prepared in advance. An electronic coupon that would match the attributes is sent to the user's mobile phone at the same time.

If users purchase products at stores using the coupons, they will receive a chance to win a prize. By analyzing the information acquired through these actions, the system can also measure advertising effects, NEC said.

Our take:

Our previous article on behavioral marketing seems all the more apt given this announcement. While a number of companies claim to offer the ability to dynamically select digital signage content based on audience constitution, as far as we know, nobody has actually widely implemented a campaign based on this technique (for the better right now, considering how wildly inaccurate these systems seem to be in the field).

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Behavioral Marketing: 'It's Only Going To Get Creepier'

Author: WireSpring on 2008-07-23 11:46:22

MediaWeek notes that:

Today's behavioral marketing is just a taste of what's to come, according to David Martin, the director of interactive media for Ignited, who predicted "It's only going to get creepier" during the OMMA Behavioral conference on Monday. But Martin and his fellow panelists also agreed that behavioral marketers will also move to moderate the discipline in ways that protect privacy.

Starting with the dramatic predictions, Martin opined that "Minority Report isn't so far away," including the delivery of behaviorally targeted advertising in public places. "Digital and addressable media will go from just your PC to your living room, your kids at school, in your car, at work." Martin predicted this would essentially mean a coordination of behavioral targeting, mobile distribution and place-based video or interactive digital displays.

Our take:

Thankfully, most of the people working on these programs are not complete idiots, per this additional quote from the article:

But OMMA panelists agreed this kind of messaging could well lead to consumer backlash if it went too far, and generally endorsed a conservative approach to behavioral marketing. Above all, they agreed that marketers should voluntarily limit their sources of data, to avoid alienating consumers who are concerned about issues of privacy.

Now whether or not the organization (or any other) will find a way to effectively preserve consumer privacy and rights while still providing marketers with the additional data that they crave remains to be seen. Without a legal or economic stimulus to do so, we have slim hopes.

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Geico Rocks Ecast Network with Caveman Promotion

Author: WireSpring on 2008-07-23 11:31:57

dBusinessNews notes that:

The "Geico Dancing Caveman" promotion began this month in hundreds of bars and nightclubs throughout New Jersey and Connecticut. When consumers touch on any of the campaign promotional banners, Geico plays to individual listening tastes by offering the choice between the disco-dancing or the rock-n-roller Geico Cavemen. After a brief performance, consumers are invited to take a survey and are presented with access to a music playlist that correlates to the genre of caveman they selected earlier.

The campaign incorporates notable features that are unique to an Ecast promotion. For example, the user-interface actually morphs into part of the insurance company's integrated marketing campaign, meaning that the advertiser has completely branded the jukebox controls. There are few advertising vehicles that can offer such a feature. Geico is the first insurance company to recognize the value of the Ecast network and its reach to the elusive 21-34 demographic.

Our take:

Ecast continues to have success getting big companies to try out new marketing programs on their massive network of digital jukeboxes in bars, nightclubs and restaurants. They offer advertisers a unique platform that has proven itself within the challenging yet lucrative 21-34 demographic. Considering the mind share that the Geico Cavemen already have, and their popularity among the younger audience, extending that campaign onto Ecast's platform seems a natural fit.

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Captivate Adds New Content Partners

Author: WireSpring on 2008-07-23 10:40:18

This news from MediaWeek:

To Bolster its business editorial, the Gannett-owned out-of-home company has partnered with BusinessWeek, Harvard Business Review, Crain's New York Business, and Crain's Chicago Business.

As part of its strategy to expand its local programming, Captivate hired a dedicated editorial staff of six to deliver customized local news and content to 23 cities. The editorial staff also manage six blogs, a shift in the business model for Captivate, which is now extending its brand to the Internet in order to reach an audience that are exposed to its screens every day.

Typically, out-of-home networks have relied on national content. "Captivate has taken a radically different approach with live and original programming, valuable local information and the creation of blogs that brings our content to the viewer's desktop," said Mike DiFranza, president and general manager for Captivate Network.

Instead of using RSS feeds, which by their format are difficult to adapt to its elevator screens, Captivate will rely on the live editorial team to select and boil-down information into readable, digestible tidbits to feature on the network.

Our take:

This is a fascinating look into the driving forces behind Captivate, arguably one of the more successful large-scale digital signage networks in the country. While most ad-funded networks are firmly in the 'glance medium' category and thus rely on attention-grabbing advertising content to catch the shopper's eye for just a second or two, Captivate has the opposite (but equally challenging) task of staying relevant to viewers who might have nothing else to look at for up to a minute or more. Consequently, their focus on good editorial and the delivery of timely, relevant information to viewers not only makes them more attractive to advertisers (whose spots would run alongside the "real" information), but also more endeared to viewers (who would probably be likely to try and avoid a full minute of nothing but annoying, full-screen ads).

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