REPORT 037
Perhaps the most far-reaching trend of all in the deployment of digital screen media is the increasing popularity of interaction.
There have long been out-of-home screens that the consumer can interact with - ATMs are an everyday if often overlooked example, now sometimes being used for advertising or marketing communications as well as for transactions. 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.
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 the 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.
MARK PIGOU, SHOW DIRECTOR OF SCREENMEDIA, AN EXPO DEDICATED TO THE DIGITAL SIGNAGE MARKET, DESCRIBES THE TECHNOLOGICAL AND FUNCTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WORLD OF LED SCREENS.
move may be measured in seconds rather than minutes. Corporate videos and repurposed TV ads just don’t do the job. The physical presentation of the displays is substantially improved, too. Technology advances enabling much thinner bezels have, of course, made video walls 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 them to be deployed in almost any shape. Other innovations include glasses-free 3D, which can be highly striking though not without significant technical hurdles. Although there are still major deficiencies of glasses-free 3D in public spaces there have been real achievements. There also remain, however, great complexities in creating content. In producing a recent pan-European 3D point-of-sale campaign for LG Electronics, for example, footage was shot from eight separate camera angles, and another six were generated during post-production, at which stage 3D CGI graphics were also blended with the live-action video. Add to this the fact that it is also not always obvious what value 3D might add to many kinds of com- munication, given the hassles of deployment and content production. As in the cinema, 3D in the shop needs to be relevant to the story we are telling. It may well be that the eventual role of 3D in venues lies not in the general-purpose, public-facing screen, but in applications such as product simulations for single-user kiosks. Sound, meanwhile, may be making a comeback. It is now generally felt that audio in many venues is often superfluous at best and downright annoying to staff as well as visitors at worst. The soundtracks accompanying short-form digital screen content inevitably become gratingly repetitive very quickly. How- ever, advances in directional sound technology, which limits the sphere of audibility to a small area, from the likes of Finland’s Panphonics could herald the return of the audio to digital screen media. For the most adventurous venues, there are even novelties like the video games recently installed at the Exhibit bar in Balham, London, controlled hands-free at the urinal (use your imagination).
THE POWER OF PLACE But more important than all these bells and whistles when it comes to presentation, perhaps, is the greater consideration now given to the architectural and interior design setting. A venue operator’s building and its screens are both powerful bearers of their brand, so it makes sense to ensure they
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 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. A hypothetical casino application, for example, could involve consumers first being attracted by a public screen to sign up for an offer which could win them hospitality comps. They sign up using their mobile - this could involve an exchange of text messages, or (still a little cutting-edge) the use of QR codes or near field communication (NFC) - and then each time they’re in a dining or bar area of the casino, they can give their meal or drinks marks out of ten, perhaps by texting the mark and a few comments to an SMS shortcode displayed on the screen there. A random selection of consumers who contribute win comps.
Meanwhile, selected marks and comments appear on screens around the entire venue as they’re received, encouraging patrons to sample aspects of the food and beverage offer that they haven’t tried yet. It might be desirable to exclude the lowest marks from these public-facing screens, but they could still be shown on other displays in kitchens, management offices and staff areas, prompting friendly competition among departments. Marks and comments also appear on one of the casino’s Twitter accounts, reaching former or potential patrons who aren’t on the premises, while our individual consumer’s contributions appear on his own Facebook timeline, sparking interest in the casino among his friends. It’s a long way from that forlorn screen high up in the corner, isn’t it?
www.mondodr.com
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