DIGITAL SIGNAGE
Signs of progress
Leisure businesses are becoming smarter at their deployment of digital screens for consumer information and marketing, reports our resident expert Barnaby Page
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nyone who’s stepped into a public place in the last few years has seen how digital screens have become integral to many businesses’ core operations.
This revolution began around the turn of the century, and in little more than a decade screens have moved from being novelties to being commonplace fixtures in leisure businesses like amusements venues and pubs, in retail outlets, in airports and railway stations and hotels and malls and hospitals, indeed anywhere that the public gathers in significant numbers. Originally known as “digital signage”, underlining the way that screens can
replace conventional static signs with a more powerful, video-capable and instantly-updatable fixture, they’re now increasingly often termed “digital out-of- home media” or “screen media”, reinforcing the growing acceptance of screens as a potential replacement for any non-digital medium that you find outside the home, from the lobby welcome board to the roadside billboard – and, of course, the beloved neon sign. Sophistication in the technology and its deployment has developed dramatically over that decade. In the early days, the norm was lonely wall-
The supplier maze N
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mounted or ceiling-hung TV-style displays, all too often positioned much too high for comfortable viewing; the burgeoning industry specialising in the design and installation of digital screen media has now learned that lesson, and recognised that positioning for ease of viewing is absolutely critical. Lessons have been learned in the area of screen content, as well. Gone
(mostly) are the over-busy executions that hemmed in long video clips with ads that looked like they might have been designed in a Lite software package by the marketing director’s aspiring-designer nephew, and the pointless ticker tapes of news, stock quotes or weather data that nobody ever read (and certainly couldn’t concentrate on if they were trying to pay attention to that over-long video). Instead, today’s screens are more likely to feature very short video or animation sequences – there are now content companies focusing on this medium, and they’re well aware that attention span for most screens is measured in seconds rather than minutes. Corporate videos and repurposed TV ads just don’t do the job in this medium. The physical presentation of the displays is usually much better, too.
Technology advances have enabled much thinner bezels (the plastic edges around the screens), making the video wall – an assembly of multiple screens, sometimes as many as 20 or 40, to form what appears to be a single giant display – a much more realistic proposition. And screens are also breaking out of the rectangular straitjacket, most notably and excitingly with the MicroTiles product from Christie Digital, which enables deployment in almost any shape. Most important when it comes to presentation, perhaps, is the greater
consideration now given to the architectural and interior design setting. Your space and your screens are both powerful bearers of your brand, so it makes sense to ensure they work together – at the very least, that they don’t clash. Perhaps the biggest changes of all, however, are those involving interaction.
There have long been out-of-home screens that the consumer can interact with – ATMs are a ubiquitous if often overlooked example, now sometimes being used for advertising or marketing communications as well as for transactions; and kiosk-type units helping customers find information, timetables, directions through a facility, and the like are also well-established. Significant improvements in touchscreen technology, and more recently in gestural control, have widened their role and it is only likely to grow.
Smart thinking But a new dimension has been added to interaction with screens first by the rise
to near ubiquity of the mobile phone, followed in turn by the rapid adoption of smartphone. Add to that the last couple of years’ near-frantic fascination with social media on the part of both marketing departments and consumers, and you have an emerging trifecta of out-of-home, mobile, and social. How does this work in practice? Sometimes, it has to be said, it doesn’t; sometimes it seems that at least one of the three has been shoehorned into the equation without adding much value for the business or the consumer. But in the best executions, each can enhance the others. The out-of-home screens bring to the party their strong association with the
o one supplier dominates the screen media world. Some of its biggest names, like BroadSign and ComQi, are virtually unknown outside it;
others, like 3M (which provides network and enterprise digital signage software, touch systems, and the successful Vikuiti rear-projection system), are household names. Distributors and resellers, serving both end users and manufacturers of
complete systems, are also an important part of the equation. An example is E-Screen, which indeed itself sells 3M touchscreen kit, as well as multitouch displays and large-format screens. Some, such as Eurocoin with its LCD displays and touchscreens, are gaming specialists and should have special insight into amusements requirements. For those with a clear grasp of what they need in technology terms, the
solution can often be built up piecemeal from multiple vendors: the majority of screen media installations are not single-supplier. However, the complexity of the market (there are at least 200 software
vendors claiming to provide digital signage systems, although many of them offer minimal functionality) means that users taking a first step into digital out-of-home media should at the very least engage a consultant to help them identify worthwhile possibilities.
32 APRIL 2012
place, the moment and the atmosphere. The mobile, of course, is a direct link to the individual consumer – and a link which, once it’s established, allows the relationship to be maintained long after they’ve left the premises. Social media, meanwhile, extend that into the consumer’s group of friends and family. It’s a long way from that forlorn screen high up in the corner, isn’t it?
May, a chance to see all the latest innovations in digital signage and digital out-of-home under one roof. Screenmedia Expo runs 16-17 May at Earls Court in London and is
Screenmedia Expo is here F
complemented by an extensive free learning programme and a range of special events. For more information and free visitor registration, visit
www.screenevents.co.uk.
or anyone interested in exploring the business case for digital signage, the next big diary date is Screenmedia Expo in London in
THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF THE AMUSEMENT AND STREET GAMING INDUSTRY
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