Digital Signage for Retail

Content strategies for workplace digital signage

Thursday, February 2, 2012 by Chuck Gose

Once again, I will be moderating a panel at Digital Signage Expo on digital signage for corporate communication. We've got a slightly new structure for this year's session based on feedback from last year's attendees.

At industry event like this one, internal signage doesn't have the same "sex appeal" as signage for retail and other external means. But I know we are grateful that the DSE organizers continue to give us a platform to highlight these "hidden" networks.

If you're attending this year's Expo out in Vegas, I'd love to see you come to our session titled, "Content strategies for workplace digital signage." It's Thursday morning (March 8) at 9am.

On the panel this year we have Frank Kenna (President, The Marlin Co.), Chris Bias (Communications Consultant, Eli Lily and Co.) and Brian Wood (Arizona Director of Operations, Waste Management). Chris is a customer of ours but it will be nice to have perspective of others on this year's panel.

If there are questions you'd like for the panel to address, leave them in the comments section below.

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MediaCast meets MediaLab ……… IPG-style

Sunday, November 13, 2011 by Simon Wilson

Our friends at IPG's MediaLab certainly know how to throw a party – from innovative eats (pizza hanging from meat hooks), a funked up DJ and highly attentive service hosts, this launch event in NYC yesterday evening was definitely Madison Avenue-style (actually 100 West 33rd to be precise). With roaming camera crews, floating celebs, and of course the hip swinging robot with cute LED blue eyes – guests were put at ease to casually learn and get hands-on experience of some of the cutting edge (some of them bleeding) applications of technology to take consumer/brand retail experiences to a whole new level.

The DailyDOOH picked up on this event and rightly described the new Lab as an "immersive exploration center." It commented that "At any given time, The Lab will feature 50 of these technologies, platforms and applications from the industry’s most pioneering companies".

MediaTile is one of those pioneering companies and has worked with the Lab team for over a year now – first in the Wilshire Blvd, LA MediaLab and now in NYC - by showcasing MediaCast Video Presence on the HumanKiosk. So from first-hand experience I can say that the Lab is a very creative space and the IPG team (many thanks to Scott, Sonya and the rest of the team) is great to work with; providing constructive feedback, local technical support in the Lab, a can-do attitude and sharing high levels of enthusiasm about the solutions to both their clients and technology partners like ourselves.

I was at the cocktail party in NYC last night to show guests how to 'get personal' with the HumanKiosk – a fusion of interactive digital signage and video-enabled customer service. Remote expert agents were on hand in California to take the video calls from the MediaLab guests (thus proving out one of the benefits of remote video agents…..shift work by time zones!). If you weren't on the guest list last night you can still check out the HumanKiosk at www.humankiosk.com

Along side of the HumanKiosk was an array of many promising Retail and Marketing technologies; from multi-touch product experience tables that allow you to quickly select a large number of product range items and evaluate color, type, or performance merits – through to visual dressing rooms that allow you to see yourself 'virtually' with different clothes, accessories and color/styles without even touching a screen. In the Consumer Intelligence/Business Intelligence (CI/BI) area there was a great Executive Dashboard that in real time drew visitor statistics from all the social media channels and attempted to correlate them to events and activities, whether local or national, to help create actionable management information. And then there was anonymous video analytics…..those cameras were everywhere! I saw three different demonstration stations showing different applications of this powerful tool, including one that purported to gauge your emotional response to displayed content. I pulled a face and made a gesture and sure enough the graph on the demo screen spiked! I wonder what those CI gurus are making of that this morning……?

The IPG MediaLab launch event reminded me of the theme of CETW event that had wrapped up at the Javits Center just a couple of hours earlier that day: ENGAGE! Whether it's self-serve kiosks/tables, interactive digital signage or mobile/social apps – or all three working in tandem – our job in the industry is to engage the viewer/consumer, give them a personalized, relevant and rewarding experience, and do it simply and quickly. A big thank you to the IPG MediaLab team for making the next steps towards that goal more possible.

Digital signage gaining visibility in national ad campaigns

Wednesday, November 2, 2011 by Chuck Gose

We've all seen numerous reports promoting digital signage's "booming growth" in years to come. And not to say it won't happen, but we've all been hearing these reports for a while now.

But there's one subtle area that I've seen recent growth in: TV commercials. And maybe this is a great indicator of overall acceptance and awareness.

Back in September, Verizon Wireless featured our cellular digital signage in its final installment of the "Susie's Lemonade" series.

This was great exposure for our product and our relationship with Verizon Wireless. But over the weekend, I saw another commercial that featured signage. This one is from BMO Harris Bank (not a MediaTile client). It definitely shows how consumers are more likely interact with the technology, as seen in the commercial, a retail environment.

So here's a father, presumably with his sons dining in a restaurant. He glances up and notices the message from the bank. Plain and simple but effective. The bank delivers its digital message in a non-intrusive but helpful way.

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31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage #dsafraid // Reason #29: ROI

Sunday, October 30, 2011 by Rob Brinkmeyer

In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.

Reason #29: ROI

What is ROI? Commonly it refers to "Return on Investment" and, even with digital signage, there are online calculators which can help you formulate how long it may take for your network to pay for itself. Generally the easiest model is the one applied to the retail vertical in that the increase in product sales where signs are located is subtracted from your hard dollar investment. The resulting number tells you if your investment in digital signage was worth it or not.

What is harder to measure is the less common ROI or "Return on Involvement." This type of ROI refers to the impact of your content on your audience and how easily they can recall that information and complete your "call to action." For the more sophisticated interactive content experience, it's not only about how easily the information can be recalled but also if the user's experience was a delightful one. The more unique and positive the experience, the more likely your audience is to recall your brand; therefore, regardless of where they maybe in the buying cycle (to continue with our retail example) when it comes time to finally make a purchase they will be more likely remember the great digital signage experience they had with your brand's network.

Part of MediaTile's offering via our MediaServices group is to help you define the measure of success for your digital signage network. Whether it's traditional hard-dollar Return on Investment or soft-dollar Return of Involvement, our consultative approve ensures you will be able to define success and measure in the present and well into the future.

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Future Interactive Displays! Integrating MediaTile's HumanKiosk...

Thursday, October 20, 2011 by Simon Wilson

It’s another exciting day for MediaTile and our MediaCast Video Presence system that powers HumanKiosk solutions. Today we’ve been included in another ‘ideation center,’ as one of the key components of a new generation of interactive digital signage solution for banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. I’ve had the pleasure of working directly with both DBSI, and our joint partner F-2-F Live to include our HumanKiosk solution in what’s been dubbed the Future FI interactive display system.

DBSI has put a tremendous amount of effort into their ideation center for financial institutions. To give banking and credit union customers, for example, the ability to experience a wide range of the latest FI products and services to improve their businesses. FI customers, by appointment only, can visit the ideation center to personally experience the advanced products and services showcased in order to improve their business efficiency, the customer experience, and differentiate themselves from the pack. The DBSI center is a special showcase centerpiece for the FI market, unlike anything I’ve seen.

We’re extremely honored to participate in this center with our HumanKiosk solution – the fusion of interactive digital signage and remote customer service agents available for live, face-to-face engagement. Today, it’s all about getting personal with customers and we’re very happy to be part of it all.

About the HumanKiosk Solution: Powered by MediaCast Video Presence, the HumanKiosk revolutionizes marketing and customer service in point-of-sale and point-of-service environments. With the HumanKiosk businesses can humanize their brand interaction, improve the customer experience, and deliver messages with absolute control and precision. Watch our video here.

About DBSI:“For over fourteen years, DBSI Incorporated, headquartered in Chandler, Arizona has created profitable, problem solving, experience enhancing with lower cost-to-create and operate retail bank and credit union branches.”

About Face to Face live, Inc.: “Here at Face to Face Live, Inc.™, we're developing a reputation for having the most trusted, affordable, and dependable unified communication solutions on the planet.”

31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage #dsafraid // Reason #20 - Branded templates

Thursday, October 20, 2011 by Chuck Gose

In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.

Reason #20: Branded templates

In yesterday's post, we talked about about our Composer tool (it allows you to create content for your digital signage network right in our software). In this post, I want to spend more time talking about customizing the templates for your company.

The general templates are available to be used and abused by all of our customers, but they are a bit generic (on purpose). The real benefit of Composer comes in when you upload custom-branded Composer templates for your network.

Content that's on digital signage for banks should look a lot different than a network for a college campus. Retail networks should look different than a corporate communications one.

But even though the looks are different, they can all still be professional through a template system. One of our corporate communication customers themed all of their templates so that employees would know what sort of content was on the screen before even reading the message. This type of planning can be very beneficial to a network's success.

It's no secret that content is critical to a network's success and Composer is a tool that makes creating content not so scary.

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31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage #DSafraid // Reason #11: Scheduling

Sunday, October 16, 2011 by Chuck Gose

In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.

Reason #11: Scheduling

Digital Signage doesn't have to be scary!

For a few digital signage owners, scheduling is a major portion of their network. But for most, it can be a little bit of an afterthought. They don't really put that much thought into properly scheduling content on their network.

MediaCast, our web-based software, includes a complete and robust scheduling platform, including the ability to schedule down to the minute. So many in the industry use a term called "dayparting," but what it's really about is getting the right content to the right audience at the right time.

For employee communications networks, they will commonly loop the same content throughout the day, and then use the scheduling feature to turn the signage off when they don't need it. But for our retailers and banking customers, they can schedule specific content to target their audience at specific times. This is a vital feature.

Another key scheduling benefit is the ability to make content expire. Let's say you have a specific marketing campaign that ends on a certain date. Instead of having to worry about removing that content from your playlist on that date, you can simply schedule it to expire. Once the date hits, the content doesn't get played.

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31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage #dsafraid // Reason #2: Cellular

Monday, October 10, 2011 by Chuck Gose

In light of October being a rather scary month, we thought we would highlight 31 reasons not to be afraid of digital signage. We hope you enjoy them.

Reason #2: Cellular digital signage

As mentioned in the first reason, IT can be a scary world for a lot of people. They'd probably rather check out a spooky noise at the endy of a creepy hallway than set up a meeting with their IT people.

All the way back in 2004, we released the world's first cellular digital signage. This was a huge breakthrough in the industry because it overcome one of the biggest obstacles in network installation: expensive IT infrastructure.

With both 3G and 4G connections available and coverage issues almost non-existent, for many cellular is the right choice. Plus because your digital signage network then stays completely off of your IT grid, it greatly reduces any security risks. This is a huge selling point for banks and other financial institutions (download).

And also for retailers, who's POS networks are often just large enough to manage store transactions. Adding more machinery to the networks could bog things down. But with cellular, they ride on a completely separate network.

The cellular connectivity is completely embedded, thanks to our partnerships with Verizon, Sprint and AT&T. All you have to do is hang your signage on the wall and get power to it. That's it. Plug and play.

The HumanKiosk with Video Presence changing how brands in retail connect

Wednesday, September 7, 2011 by Rob Brinkmeyer

For any retail brand that struggles to maximize their sales reach due to a limited store footprint or for an organization that wishes their outstanding customer service team could be literally face-to-face with customers instead of being distanced by a telephone, the HumanKiosk™, powered by
MediaCast^® Video Presence, is a 4G enabled interactive digital signage solution that revolutionizes user engagement and brand-to-consumer relationships.

HumanKiosk with Mediacast Video Presence The HumanKiosk delivers a live, 2-way video session between a consumer and a remote expert agent over a cellular-connected, cloud-controlled touch screen digital signage system that can also run pre-scheduled interactive digital promotions to attract users. Now you can add a human element and experts on demand where and when it matters most taking customer engagement to a higher level.

The technology solves problems that traditionally required placing trained personnel in store. For customers, it allows them to pose questions directly to the product expert and have their questions answered immediately and correctly.

For brands and other authorities, their benefit is three fold:

It puts them in direct contact with the buyer, eliminating inaccuracies in information transfer, and helps build brand trust.
It keeps retail sales associates continually up to date on products and services.
It gives brands the flexibility, and lower cost benefits, of not having to staff every store location with a highly trained product expert.

The HumanKiosk boasts all the benefits of MediaTile’s award wining digital signage solutions which can be deployed anywhere and only require power, but Video Presence now can intelligently route customer’s video calls based on the information entered on the touchscreen end-point and ensure the video experts who answers video call is the most qualified based upon predetermined qualifications set by the retail brand.

With HumanKiosk, brands in retail experience the following business value and advantages:

A new level of customer engagement while delivering product and service expertise across more locations, faster
5x market reach at 1/5 the cost of traditional staffing
Direct face-to-face conversations with highly qualified experts, based on on-screen selection criteria such as product selection or language choice
On-demand experts can now act as human middleware to facilitate complex business transactions or support, eliminating expensive systems integration
Integrate with text-based and QR-code marketing activities and programs to extend the brand to consumer relationship beyond the initial interaction
Unique and delightful experience generating extensive customer recall making them more likely to buy and more brand loyal

The HumanKiosk delivers the only intelligently routed video call functionality on a digital signage platform in the world. It is this ground breaking technology that allows brands to meet and exceed what their customer’s expect – accurate information on demand and respect for the value of the their time.

Thoughts on measuring digital signage internally

Thursday, September 1, 2011 by Chuck Gose

"How do I measure digital signage internally?" has been an age-old question without an easy answer. I faced this challenge back when I managed my own network at Rolls-Royce. It's a lot of anecdotal feedback, mixed in with focus groups and surveys, and sprinkled with gut feelings.

Every month, the fine folks at Digital Signage Expo asks an industry-related question its Advisory Board. This month's question focused on properly measuring digital signage.

“What do you believe are the best practices in measuring viewership? Is employing a marketing analysis firm to determine viewership worth the cost?”

Most of the responses related to ad-based or retail networks but a few of the answers were from network owners who manage internal screens and I was very happy to see this. Here are their thoughts. (None of them are MediaTile clients.)

I think it’s important to be able to provide some sense of viewership, and effectiveness of messaging, as a rationale for using (and expanding) a digital signage network. However, since most higher education installations aren’t specifically generating revenue through their digital signage systems it’s hard to justify much expense at all to do this.

We have very little data on how many of our students, faculty and staff look at our signs, but we do conduct focus groups and other small activities to try to determine whether what we show is getting across the message we want. This is similar with what we do for messages delivered using other media.

Ron Danielson, Vice Provost for Information Services & CIO

Santa Clara University

We don’t measure viewership since all of our signage is internal and viewership isn’t a big concern for our executives. We are, for 2012, trying to figure out the best way to provide better ROI to be able to purchase more equipment or better manage our system. We do this in various ways, usually providing some type of incentive for our employees to take action (coupon codes or QR codes on the screens for prizes, lunch discounts, etc.) and that has proven to be a simple but fairly effective way to provide some measurement (certainly not very scientific!). But using a marketing analysis firm wouldn’t be worth the cost to us.

Paul Bennett, Manager, Creative Services IT

AFLAC Worldwide

Metrics are difficult to quantify, in our environment, because much of the content we are displaying is communication based. While many of the events, that are hosted at the school on a daily basis, are displayed on the signage, we have not put much effort to determine if the signage brings more attendees than email blasts or announcements on our the web portal.

Going forward, we could implement a tracking code or a “coupon” that would be only displayed on the signage, which would then be redeemable for a small giveaway or refreshments at the event. This would be a simple way for us to gauge the amount of traffic generated from the displays.

Additionally, we are in the beginning stages of using an interactive touch screen that allows members of the campus community to look up events and then, by swiping the person’s school ID, an email message with the event information gets sent to their email accounts. Using this interactive feedback might prove to be a very good way to get a measure of viewership.

James Velco, CTO

The John Marshall Law School

There's nothing Earth-shattering in these answers, but it does reinforce (in my opinion) the need to come up with some sort of measurement that corporate communicators can point to. I like that the John Marshall Law School is looking at using interactive as a way to get some data on network use and awareness, as well as AFLAC looking at QR codes, which can be tracked.

You can read all of the answers provided by Advisory Board, but there's a great and simple piece of advice provided by Kimberly Sarubbi, president & CEO of Saddle Ranch Productions.

"Test, adjust, optimize." This is exactly what digital signage network owners should be doing regardless of where their network is.

What are your thoughts on measuring digital signage that isn't ad- or retail-focused?
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Flickr image, StevenHarris

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Who should own a digital signage network?

Thursday, August 25, 2011 by Chuck Gose

One thing I've learned about digital signage networks is that every single one is different. Here's an example. I was on-site at a company headquarters yesterday with Verizon Wireless, one of our partners. This Indiana company has a digital signage network in place that they know needs some major improvement. (That's where we come in.)

The communications team inherited the network BUT has no direct control over the content. Right now, the messaging on the screen is 90% (if not more) just business data that's driven from their intranet. This can be a good use of signage, but the company knows that their current model isn't.

They want to do more with their signage network (good thing) but struggle with an efficient means of managing content (bad thing).

The challenge is that the corporate communicator has to send all of her content to IT and then have IT update the network. This is where "not ideal" starts to come into play. Because there is so much hand-holding, the communicator is reluctant to give IT content because she knows they have to stop what they're going to put it up or they can only get to it when they can.

The benefits of MediaTile's digital signage software is that it puts the communciator in charge of content, not IT. Communicators are in charge of content for other communication vehicles and digital signage should be no different. And as the network expands, communications can add users to regional offices, giving them the ability augment corporate content with very relevant local news. This makes digital signage a corporate, regional and local dynamic communications tool.

If you're looking to launch a new network or revise an old one, it's smart to get IT involved. But I would push (and push hard) to not let nework become an IT project.

Make it a communications project.

Is it any different for a bank? What about a retailer?

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The role of digital signage in crisis communication

Friday, July 22, 2011 by Chuck Gose

With the dangerous weather that has hit many parts of the Midwest and South in the past month, I'm sure (and hopeful) that many crisis communication plans are being dusted off.

crisis communication - the old fashioned way

Crisis planning is one of those efforts that most companies do but hope they never have to enact. I've been a part of many crisis and business continuity teams where everybody has the classic red binder that nobody thinks will ever get used.

But do employees know what to do? And what about environments where you might have customers on site. Will employees know what to tell them?

I was at a coffee shop once that lost power during a dangerous thunderstorm. Their "policy" was that if the store lost power (for whatever reason) customers had to leave. So they sent a dozen or so customers out into the storm instead of sheltering them.

We've already had one manufacturing whose facility was damaged by a tornado. They are a customer of ours after the fact. Fortunate for them, nobody was injured during the strike. However, they recognized that they didn't have a quick and visual way of notifying employees of dangerous weather on the way so that everyone could be prepared.

One of our healthcare customers have put several of their digital signage onto their emergency power network. So this way if the hospital loses power, the screens can still operate and communicate vital information to employees, patients and guests.

Now of course, digital signage will never prevent nasty weather or any emergency but it should become a part of your crisis communication activities. This works for corporate communication environments, for those where the network serves internal needs, as well as even retail, banks, etc. The same signage you use to promote products and messages can then be used to provide emergency information.

I fully appreciate what I'm proposing here is not ground-breaking, but it just shows one more example of how digital communication can dynamically change the environment and keep people safe.

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Photo credit, Jeff Attaway

The most dangerous person in digital signage is....

Friday, July 15, 2011 by Chuck Gose

A few weeks back, the unassuming staff of DailyDOOH shared news of a purported story identifying the most dangerous men (and I assume women) in the digital signage industry. You can peruse the comments on the post to see who readers, named and anonymous, suggested were the most "dangerous."

And then the always verbose and enlightening Bill Gerba put in his two cents on who he thought were the most "dangerous" (which he was quick to point out does not equate to the most annoying).

So who is the most dangerous?

Is it Richard Fisher (PRN) or Garry McGuire (RMG) as Bill suggests?

Is it Adrian Cotterill and the "crack staff" at DailyDOOH?

And reading through the comments on DailyDOOH's article, other suggested names include Lyle Bunn as well as numerous CEOs of various companies.

But who do I think is the most dangerous person in the industry?

It's you, the end user. The customer. The person tasked with managing a network, day in and day out.

The reason you are the most dangerous is because you are the one spending company dollars to invest in a network. You are the one creating (hopefully) relevant and entertaining content for your audiences, whether it's retail, corporate communications or healthcare. If you are successful, the industry is successful.

That's what makes you the most dangerous person in the digital signage industry.
__________________________
Flickr image courtesy of Ell Brown

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MediaTile’s MediaCast digital signage software highlighted at #InfoComm11 #IC11

Monday, June 13, 2011 by Leah Kane

(Today's guest entry comes from Mike Foster,
CMO and Co-Founder of MediaTile)

The MediaTile team is very excited to participate in this week’s InfoComm 2011 show in Las Vegas. This year we’ll have “presence through partners” and an exclusive focus on our digital signage cloud-based “software” offerings. And we’ve got a big announcement in the works with one our partners, DFI TECH, who will be unveiling two brand new interactive digital signage systems that use MediaCast Video Presence to deliver live, 2-way, face-to-face video over 4G networks.

If you haven’t seen cloud-based customer service systems in action before, stop by booth #4583 (DFI TECH) and check them out – and catch our CEO, Simon Wilson, or Andy Lu from DFI TECH. You can read the pre-release announcement here on the blog, and stay tuned for the real announcement on Wednesday this week.

DFI TECH, a leader in design, manufacturing and integration of custom solutions, along with MediaTile, will be showcasing two new MediaCast Video Presence-powered hardware platforms: a portrait mode 22” and portrait mode 42” system. Both systems are based on MediaTile’s HUMANKIOSK® HDRP (hardware design reference platform), and deliver a breakthrough in cloud-based customer service for brands, banks, retailers and other markets.

Q&A from our Digital Signage webinar with Rolls-Royce

Thursday, June 9, 2011 by Chuck Gose

The minute our webinar with Rolls-Royce ended last week, we have received awesome feedback and inquiries about using digital signage in corporate communication. I was blown away not just by the interest but the types of companies who listened in. But due to some technical difficulties, we weren't able to answer any of the questions at the end of the webinar.

As promised, here is the list of questions asked. A few of the questions were very similar so I've combined them in the Q&A below. The answers with CG at the start are mine and LJ's answers can be attributed to Lisa Johnson, our special guest from Rolls-Royce.

Can we leverage our own screens and just purchase the content management solution?

CG: Most likely yes, but it does depend on the screens. If they are current LCDs, Plasmas or other 16:9 video devices, then we can retrofit those with our component player. The component player has all of the same features that our all-in-one digital signage provides but uses your existing screens.

Did it take some time for employees to pay attention to the boards? We have a similar system up and running, but many employees ignore it.

CG: At initial installation, getting attention was not a problem. But over time, just like other communication vehicles, it's up to the communicator to maintain those interest levels. But there will always be employees who ignore various communication methods. Not everybody picks up a newsletter. Not everybody looks at the intranet. The idea is to provide content that's easy for employees to notice.

Do you use your digital board to cross-reference your other communication vehicles?

LJ: Of course. Because no one communication method is perfect, we use each to tease content to the other. When a newsletter comes out, we let our employees know on our digital signage network. And when more information can be found on our intranet, we let people know on our digital signage. This is easy to do since all employee communications gets funneled through us.

Is there any approval process you go through for your content, before it's posted or are you, Lisa, given "free range."

LJ: For the most part, I am given free range. But I know what's allowed to be communicated and what's not allowed. Content for our digital signage network isn't treated any differently than we would treat content for our intranet or other publications.

Can you different content to different monitors?

CG: Most definitely. This is a key feature that some customers take advantage of, but others don't. You can simply broadcast the same message to every screen if you want. Or you can deliver certain pieces of content to certain screens. It's all about getting the right message to the right employees at the right time.

Is there a presentation on ROI to get a buy-in from senior management?

CG: Not right now, but we'd be happy to have the conversation with you. And also that's a great idea for a future digital signage webinar.

What evidence/stats do you have of employees reviewing the snippets and then following through to full item on intranet?

LJ: The evidence we have is a very soft ROI that ties back to employee engagement. We look to see if a focus on certain content (no matter which vehicle) improves any of our key performance indicators.

CG: This is the million dollar question for not just corporate communicators. While there is no direct calculation that can take place (like retailers can at point of purchase), you can look at various metrics to see if there is any improvement. I also highly recommend conducting focus groups with employees to discuss content on the screens and whether or not they like it. At the end of the day, it's not important if they like it or not. It's more important if they notice it.

If you missed out on the webinar altogether, don't fret. You can watch a replay of the session.

Verizon Wireless Emerging Technology Briefings - Nation-wide!

Thursday, May 19, 2011 by Leah Kane

Today's guest post is provided by MediaTile's Vice President for MediaTile Sales, Heather Whalen.

MediaTile is the Premier Digital Signage M2M Partner for Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Wireless and MediaTile have joined forces to showcase our solutions at Emerging Technology Briefings across the United States. Atlantic City is one of several locations designated in 2011 to attract and engage potential customers with our digital mobile solutions.

Customers attending this event include the Tropicana - Atlantic City Casino/Resort, and Print Art Inc., a commercial printer servicing hospitality, retail and healthcare customers throughout the greater New Jersey area.

National Purchasing Partners (NPP) -another MediaTile Partner- will also be attending the event to showcase our product and service offerings to their own members. Verizon Mobile M2M partners at the event include IPVision and Blackberry .

At today's Emerging Technology Briefings, Jack Sera (of Verizon Wireless Enterprise Data Solutions for the Retail & Hospitality markets) spoke about creating a customer connected world. One of the examples he gave was this: customers debarking from a plane flight can immediately reserve a hotel room, purchase gifts (using QR codes) and make dinner reservations, anytime, anywhere, with the latest mobile wireless technology.

We look forward to providing you with updates as the tour continues!

Big News: Smaller HumanKiosk #CETW

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Leah Kane

(Today's guest entry comes from Mike Foster,
CMO and Co-Founder of MediaTile)

More “big news” today from MediaTile – make that “small news.” This morning we announced a new, smaller form factor of our HumanKiosk. The new system is a 19” configuration that provides a more personal, and intimate experience. But best of all, it can be deployed in far more locations than the larger, floor-standing versions.

We’ll be demoing the new system, which our engineers internally refer to as “mini-me,” in booth #712 at this week’s CETW (Consumer Engagement Technology World) show in San Francisco on April 27 and 28. Stop by and get a personal demo of this digital signage technology if you’re headed there.

As with our 32” and 42” HumanKiosk systems, the 19” system is powered by 4G networks and the cloud-based MediaCast Video Presence system. From recent discussions we’ve had with our 4G technology partners, it appears we have the only commercially available, cloud-based video call routing and content management system.

More simply put, we have the ability to deliver a fully integrated interactive digital signage solution with live, 2-way video support. Why is this important? Well, for brands and retailers, they can now make their products experts available in real-time “through the cloud,” to answer detailed questions that consumers have, and in any language. Now that’s “big stuff.”

To learn more, check out our HumanKiosk video.

Digital signage is "stupid easy?" Really?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 by Chuck Gose

I've seen a lot of silly marketing related to digital signage over the years. But that's all it's been - silly. That was until yesterday when I received a package in the mail from IAVI. It was their 2011 Digital Signage Guide and Catalog.

And while I'm sure the catalog is helpful enough for those interested in learning about various signage offerings (MediaTile is not one of them), what caught me off guard was their tag line on the cover of the catalog.

"It's Stupid Easy."

Really? Digital signage is "stupid easy?" Sure there have been a lot of overused tag lines in the industry, words like "innovative," "one of a kind," and those sorts.

But "stupid easy?" I'd love to know what the other participating companies feel about being included in a catalog where their products are classified as stupid easy.

As we spend a lot of time with clients who may be trying to get internal support from their companies as a technology to help with corporate communications or in the retail environment, I can't imagine a conversation like this going well.

Employee: We should invest in digital signage.
Exec: Why?
Employee: It's stupid easy.
Exec: Sold. Go do it.

Maybe I'm coming down a little hard on IAVI here. Like I mentioned, I don't know them nor are they a partner of MediaTile. Their site says they are a wholesale provider of professional AV equipment and maybe they are really, really good at what they do. And maybe this is all a good laugh for them.

But "stupid easy?" Come on.

This is digital signage?

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 by Chuck Gose

I swung in my local Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and donut (actually two). Throughout various industry publications, I remembered reading about Dunkin Donuts looking at and investing in digital signage. It sounded like they were one of the larger restaurant chains who seemed determined to make use of the technology. But is this it?

Please, please tell me no. This "sign" looks like one of those digital photo frames they sell in SkyMall (no offense). But that's not the worst part.

It's about 5 feet away from the cash registers, nowhere near where a paying customer would actually see it. The content on it actually isn't that bad. (It's not the greatest either.) But who cares when customers aren't noticing it.

Now it's entirely possible that this is a franchisee who is just trying something out to see if it works. I have no problem with that. But let me save them some time. It doesn't work.

With digital signage for retail and restaurants, proper placement is so vital. Couple good placement with "call to action" content and you have yourself a winner. I applaud this location for at least recognizing the value that digital technology can bring to a restaurant but the application needs some serious work.

It's not just the thin air that makes it fast...Verizon 4G LTE event, Denver

Friday, January 28, 2011 by Rob Brinkmeyer

This week the West region of Verizon Wireless held their 4G LTE kickoff event in Denver and while guest speaker Mark Schlereth was a big attraction (both literally and figuratively), the speed of Verizon's 4G LTE network was front and center. It's this same speed, coupled with increased bandwidth, which allowed MediaTile to develop and deliver our Human Kiosk featuring video presence.

Speed is the key ingredient insuring there is limited lag in the peer-to-peer video exchange taking place on the MediaTile unit. Speed also gets that video call answered by the right advocate operator, speaking the right language, anywhere is the world.

MediaTile's HumanKiosk isn't like a "Skype-type" of application where two parties agree to a virtual meeting; there is an actual video call placed and when one operator is not available, that call moves to the next qualified operator until one is reached. Obviously this has to be done quickly because no one will wait too long and because 4G LTE is so fast, video operators can be found, connected, and speaking to callers in no time. All with digital signage.

The Denver event showcased a few different vertical examples - hospitality and utilities – but those who attended quickly understood how a solution like the HumanKiosk could be used for crisis communication, dynamic advertising, retail customer service, and more.

The future is 'fast' approaching...don't forget to tip your waitress.