Digital Signage SaaS

Introducing the First Book from "The 5th Screen" #dse2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 by Leah Kane

The first book devoted to digital signage content, "Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage: Content Strategies for the 5th Screen," was launched recently at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas. This is a great primer and resource for our industry, which continues to evolve its focus from technology to relevant messaging.

To quote Bill Yackey, editor of DigitalSignageToday.com, "Good content is a large reason why digital signage networks are successful, but up until this point there has not been one comprehensive reference point on the subject. 'Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage' fills a much-needed gap in this industry."

The author of the book is Keith Kelsen, Founder and CEO of "The 5th Screen."

Keith's book helps you:

create a strategic communications blueprint and style guide for your network
keep content flowing automatically-and therefore remaining relevant
use data on viewers and traffic to build a programming schedule
legally acquire and repurpose content more accurately predict where the future of content will lead

Keith at the Show with MediaTile customer, Greg Argyle from GoGo Cast

Information is available at its companion website, www.5thscreen.info or you can grab yourself a copy at Amazon.com.

Keith Kelsen has made an important and timely contribution to the industry with "The 5th Screen" It is well worth a read.

Let's focus on what was in Las Vegas ...

Tuesday, March 2, 2010 by Chuck Gose

There have have been a few mixed reviews on last week's Digital Signage Expo. From what I can tell though, none of these blog posts have been from actual Expo exhibitors (if I'm wrong, point out exhibitor posts to me please). The comments seem to have been come from attendees or media guests. Now this isn't to undervalue their opinion, but more so provide some thoughts from someone who was there as an exhibitor.

The consensus seems to be that there was too much focus on digital signage hardware and software providers and not enough on content, strategy or integration. If that was the case, then don't fault those who were there - fault those who weren't.

Companies like MediaTile and their employees put in a lot of hard work to put on a good show. From setup, through the days of exhibiting, on through tear-down, it shows a bit commitment to the industry to take part. Even at a mixer held by The Preset Group, there's tremendous camaraderie between even so-called competitors.

This year I had the chance to lead two lunch and learns on digital signage and corporate communications. Very little of the conversation was about hardware or software, and we talked mostly about content and deployment strategies. Maybe those are critical of the show missed out on the best part - a variety of attendees and exhibitors having real conversations about the digital signage industry. I think the Expo lunch and learns were a success and a huge step forward.

I compare my experience two years ago when the event was held at Mandalay Bay to now, and he show is truly light years ahead of where it was. Exhibitors are more professional and attendees are more prepared.

No show is going to be perfect, but it's so easy to focus on what wasn't there. Instead, let's talk about what was there. In my limited time of being able to walk around, I saw a lot of dedicated individuals and companies working hard for the industry.

If there are people or perspectives NOT at the show, let's get them there. We need to show to only get better and stronger.

Who's watching me now?

Thursday, February 25, 2010 by Sean Michael Kelly

Here's an example of a digital signage promotional campaign gone awry at a local veterinary hospital:

Someone clearly spent some marketing budget on a digital sign that they intended to promote their product at the shelf for an up-sell opportunity in the waiting room. Naturally I am instinctively drawn to see what is being promoted by whom and how in a scene like this, but I was disappointed to find the unit powered off - you can see the rectangular supply laying atop the counter without a power cord.

While there are any number of plausible explanations for this scene, I was immediately stricken by some distinct possibilities that afflict other electronic sign options. The first (most obvious and common) was that the unit was unplugged by an employee of the facility or their cleaning service and it simply was not plugged back in. In truth it could be any reason, but regardless, it boils down to two questions: why was it unplugged, and why hasn't anyone noticed?

To the former, sometimes it's simply that the additional power outlet was needed for something else. But sometimes it's more sinister: employees are annoyed by the audio, or "feel bad" about leaving it running when they close up shop for the night. Through its native remote management and scheduling automation, the Mediacast System addresses these issues by permitting the display network operator to make adjustments to volume levels as well as to schedule operational hours so that the display visibly turns itself off, thus lessening the temptation for employees to pull the plug on the unit.

(As a side note, while the appropriateness of audio in content is always a consideration for effective business communication in any given deployment, if audio is necessary, it is best to follow-up with the employees at the establishment to ensure that it is not irritating which could leave a lasting, negative impression of your brand!)

Another possibility is that the content became out-dated - perhaps there was a recall on something being promoted, or the product was discontinued, or there was some other rights issue with the media... any of a dozen reasons that the media has to stop playing, and now. For other electronic sign platforms, there is no way to remotely manage the content at all; they require an operator to physically come to the site and change out a memory stick or disc, etc. So until they can come out to the site to change out the media, when it comes to issues like those mentioned, their only recourse is to pull the power.

From day one the Mediacast System has provided a purely remotely managed store-and-forward content distribution method with the assumption that our customers have better things to do than constantly visit their display locations to change media. Using the web-based Mediacast Digital Signage SaaS, you upload your content to the portal, then remotely distribute it to the Internet-connected display network - take control without stepping foot into the remote sites.

The other nagging question is why, after several months (and missed opportunities) of sitting like this, has nobody noticed that the display is offline? The answer in many cases is: because nobody is watching. The Mediacast system provides a flexible alert notification system that dispatches emails to selected individuals if a display goes offline. The idea is to dispatch a technician or other field representative to the site so as not to prolong a simple problem.

The automated monitoring also keeps an active status on the displays so that even if the email is missed initially, operators logging into the portal system on a regular basis as able to see displays that have a problem.

(As an annecdotal side bar, we once had a display go offline for a customer running a network in a major consumer electronics retailer at the end-cap of one of the aisles. The assigned technician phoned up the appropriate department and inquired about the unit; when the store employee checked on it, they found that another employee had disassembled the end-cap display and was preparing to install a different vendor's display in the same location. This turned out to be miscommunication internally on the part of the retailer and the end-cap was properly restored, but it shows the value of expedient response; had the materials been boxed up and sent off to the back of a warehouse in a busy environment like that, they might never have been located and recovered.)

As you can see, it is only a matter of time before this vendor's counter top becomes general purpose storage because the dead screen doesn't look like it needs to be visible. The only thing I'm left wondering is how much time is needed for the sorry thing to finally decompose and disappear like so much dust in this otherwise quiet and solemn environment.

Some of the best digital signage content advice I've ever read - #dse2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by Chuck Gose

And I learned it all from my online mistress. . . Twitter.

I didn't get into Vegas until mid-day yesterday and didn't attend any of the Tuesday Digital Signage Expo events. But thanks to Twitter and those who did tweeted their comments, I followed the #dse2010 hash tag to see what was going on.

So without further delay, here's some of the best advice I've ever read on digital signage content...

This fantastic nugget was delivered by Jason Kates of Argo Digital Solutions as part of Tuesday's activities. What's great about the advice, beyond its simplicity, is that applies to every application of digital signage. I don't care if you're installing it to help out with employee communications, upgrading menu boards for a restaurant, installing signage into banks to advertise to customers, or it's a purely ad-based network.

The philosophy works. It doesn't matter what type of network you operate. If your audience is on the go, keep your content still. If your audience is still, make your content move. I'm now going to share this with even my existing clients because I think it helps cement with people what they need to focus on when it comes to digital signage content.

And at the end of the day, that's simply what matters most. The hardware is important. And so is the software. But if people and clients don't know what to do with content, we're in trouble.

-------------------

As the Expo goes on, I'll provide updates through the event. I do recommend following the #dse2010 hash tag on Twitter, as well as the official @DSExpo account. (And it would mean a lot to me if you followed @MediaTile, too.)

Digital Pricing Marquee

Monday, February 22, 2010 by Sean Michael Kelly

It doesn't require a miracle or a fortune to produce a great, professional looking marquee like this for your establishment:

If you break it down to its basic components, it's really quite simple. There are three screens operating independently. Each screen plays one set of pre-canned content. In the scene above, the left and right screens may be rotating through concession promotions as well as video snippets of coming attractions. A little bit of motion is all it takes to draw the eye up here. The center screen is displaying current offerings and pricing information.

By linking the pricing information and the promotions together into, effectively, a single electronic sign, the viewer can't help but notice your promotions - focused messaging will improve communication for consumers by centralizing viewers' attention to a single place where you know you've got it.

At this point you may be thinking that the various forms of content rotation are all well and good, but what about when it comes time to update the pricing information? This may be one of the most significant points of hesitation to adopt digital signage content since the display needs to be easy to update for facilities managers. The MediaCast system can accommodate this in either of two ways: data managed within the management portal, or data managed externally on your own web server.

By creating the content which displays pricing information in Flash, you can get a unique blend of text and graphics and even have potential for animation here - careful not to overwhelm this particular display however as it needs to be useful for your most scrutinizing viewer. One thing that Flash is particularly well suited to is integrating data from multiple sources into a single view. Your Flash programmer can assemble a view that pulls data from an XML file and display it as directed. Then it just comes down to data management.

For data management, you can maintain a simple XML file on your management PC and associate it with your Dynamic Flash content in the MediaCast system. When you update the file and upload it to the portal, the updated data will be pushed out to the display automatically. Or if you'd prefer to centralize the management of the data on the portal, you can store the XML data right inside the properties of the Dynamic Flash asset itself within the portal and forego the need for maintaining a separate file.

If maintaining the data through the MediaCast portal is not well suited to your business operations, you also have the option of publishing the XML on your own website with a secret URL. Your programmers can create your own web based data editor which generates the XML file; simply add the URL to the XML as a "URL File" for your Dynamic Flash on the MediaCast portal.

As a URL File, the MediaCast system will poll it for updates every 15 minutes. When a change is found, it will update the data and push it out to the displays that need it without any additional adminsitrative effort - this way your employees can maintain your display data within your own, controlled administrative system and never need to log in to the portal after the initial setup - that's the beauty of Digital Signage SaaS!

If you don't know any Flash programmers but still want to take advantage of exciting digital signage content like this we've got your back. MediaTile offers creative Media Services with specific digital signage content expertise and can efficiently produce a custom presentation to your specifications!

Greetings!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by Sean Michael Kelly

Sean Michael Kelly, V.P. Portal Development, The MediaTile Company

As a brief introduction, my involvement with MediaTile dates back to 2004 when I was working with founder Keith Kelsen on prototyping a content management system for a revolutionary digital signage platform based on cellular networking technology. Thus was born the term, Cellular Digital Signage. The concept was exciting, broke new ground, leveraged technology components that were at the time far from common - it was a great opportunity for me to exercise my strengths in mixed-platform systems engineering to integrate disparate and discreet technology components into a cohesive, working system, so how could I resist?

Today I am a Vice President of the company leading the product development group and we are still blazing new trails. MediaTile has been an influential industry leader when it comes to innovation and establishment of best practices in the technology and Software as a Service (SaaS) - this is the kind of momentum that we will continue to pursue as we strive to lead the way for excellence. I know that I am on the right path when the MediaCast System is relevant, simple, robust, secure, and flexible.

Now let's get on to the nuts and bolts, so to speak. It is my desire to demonstrate through this blog the countless ways that the MediaCast system can be configured and linked with other technology to produce an awesome array of capabilities that may not be self-evident at first glance. I have gone to great lengths to enable this "Swiss Army Knife" of digital signage platforms, and I'd like to show you just exactly how this tool can be put to work in the real world to meet your goals for effective business communication.

While it is true that the Digital-Sign-in-a-Box concept couldn't be simpler with respect to getting a basic digital sign up and running, there are possibilities that extend the content system out to the farthest reaches of the Internet and that extend the viewer (and management) experience to new heights for a comprehensive solution that bears both depth and bredth - technically speaking...

Digital Signage Expo: "Have fun storming the castle!"

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by Chuck Gose

Digital Signage Expo is a week away and I'm ecstatic to report that MediaTile will have quite the presence at the event in Las Vegas. To reference a memorable Bill Crystal quote in The Princess Bride, we are "storming the castle."

We have a pretty good sized booth (#1427) at the convention center, but most importantly is that several of us (employees and customers) are speaking at various sessions.

You can check out the full schedule and details of those speaking at panels and Lunch & Learns, but here are the highlights:

Wayne Ward, Sprint, VP, Emerging Solutions
Simon Wilson, MediaTile, CEO
Chris Bias, APR, Eli Lilly & Company, Communications Consultant
Robert Russell, AT&T
Chuck Gose, MediaTile, Director Business Development & Social Media
 Keith Kelsen, Author "Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage - Content Strategies for the 5th Screen"

In addition to the panels, the Ad Council, the nation’s leading provider of PSAs will highlight its PSACasting initiative powered by the MediaCast content delivery and management system. PSACasting will make it easy for operators to browse, preview and download current Ad Council PSAs for various causes, such as Haiti relief, to digital signage networks. Visit Booth #C7 in the content pavilion.

Digital Signage Gets the Green Light in Amsterdam (#ISE2010)

Thursday, February 11, 2010 by Leah Kane

Today's guest post is provided by Nick Powley of b2m Consulting in the UK, who has extensive experience in systems integration, and content distribution & management...

Every now and again something dramatic happens that really catches your eye, and during last week's visit to theIntegrated Systems Europe (ISE) show in Amsterdam, I really had my eyes opened! Now, those of you who know Amsterdam are probably off on an entirely wrong track already...but here I’m talking about big bright and very eye-catching displays.

The theme of this year's show appeared to be, "How Big and Bright Can We Make Our Display to Really Get Noticed?" Those of you who visited the show and did so without dark glasses may have come away with an LED-induced tan. Whilst every exhibitor seemed to be competing for the most innovative, and sometimes obscure way to deliver their message, the recurring theme was undoubtedly digital signage, or as one exhibitor had written over their booth, Digital "Sinage"...how appropriate, given the location.

Sadly, even though it was nearly impossible to find a space in the show where you could avoid seeing those magic words, "digital signage," many exhibitors appeared to have lost their way when it came down to content and message. Things got even more interesting when one stopped to discuss signage solutions with potential vendors, who, without even asking about the application or what might be required, were happy to launch into wonderful technical block diagrams with ftp file servers, message handling servers, interrupt and backup devices, as well as a plethora of content management and creation tools...Oh! My head hurt, and not just from the retinal burn.

Stepping back for a moment and enjoying one of Amsterdam’s most expensive treats (exhibition coffee), I mused on why digital signage vendors still insist on focusing on hardware. Sadly, too many have come from a highly technical background and still believe that the only way to impress customers is to talk about file types/protocols and server architectures. Having now spent several years working in the sector and seeing good, bad, and ugly solutions, I believe passionately that the simpler the offering, the easier it is to understand and use, the more likely it is to be a real business benefit and not a millstone.

Surprisingly, finding simple solutions can be an incredibly complex process, and often suppliers can only offer a piece of the puzzle. Frequent enquiries at the show for a complete solution yielded responses from "Yes, we can do everything, apart from installation," through to "No, we only provide the software so you can use your own hardware." It would be wrong to imply that companies cannot offer complete solutions- of course they often can- but the route to enlightenment can be long and tortuous without a competent guide to lead the way.

As an independent consultant in the signage sector, I should declare that my current enthusiasm lies with the simple and highly effective offering from MediaTile. From the very first day I met with MediaTile in Las Vegas in 2007, I knew my life as a systems integrator was about to get a whole lot easier. "Digital Sign in a Box" seemed almost too good to be true, but three years on, I still find the offering hard to match in what has become a very competitive and confusing marketplace for vendors.

So as a veteran with some 25 years of trade show appearances, I can offer a few small pieces of advice when you're on the floor:

• Go with a plan and be prepared to change it!
• Keep your eyes open for new and exciting offerings.
• Don’t get drawn onto the rocks by the sirens with big distractions.
• Be inquisitive and dig beneath the surface to see if what glitters truly is gold.
• Bring a lot of cash if you want to eat/drink at the show.

If what you want from your digital signage is "Wow Factor," then visit Las Vegas' strip and be wowed. If, however, you need a global solution that's easy to manage and deploy, and provides great return on message, then focus on "keeping it simple" - and stay away from the bright red lights!

Nick Powley
b2m Consulting - UK

Hatian Relief PSAs now available for digital signage networks

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 by Chuck Gose

We've seen Americans respond in positive and dramatic ways to help Haiti and her people attempt to recover from the devastating earthquakes. And getting the word out more and more only helps.

Through a partnership between the Ad Council and MediaTile, PSACasting.org has three different Hatian relief PSAs that are available to download for any digital signage network.

It's important to note that you do not need to be a MediaTile customer to take advantage of these PSAs or others provided by the Ad Council. You just need to log in or sign up on PSACasting.org to download the videos.

So whether you're running a digital out-of-home network in retail, banks or for employee communications, please consider downloading these important PSAs and adding them to your content playlists.

I've got your ROI and I'll raise you employee engagement

Monday, November 30, 2009 by Chuck Gose

Corporate communicators know this. Determining ROI in employee communications is a tricky calculation. Whether you're investing in new technology like digital signage or launching a brand new intranet, some people will always ask, "What's the ROI?"

Now here's your answer. Just this month, Watson Wyatt released their 2009/10 communication ROI study. You might be wondering who took part in the survey. Well, 328 companies from around the world representing nearly 5 million workers. Pretty impressive. Straight from the report:

Effective employee communication is a leading indicator of financial performance and a driver of employee engagement. Companies that are highly effective communicators had 47% total higher returns to shareholders over the last five years compared with firms that are the least effective communicators.
Measurement is critical. Companies that are less effective communicators are three times as likely as highly effective communicators to report having no formal measure of communication effectiveness.

Now these are just a few key findings but let's tackle first bullet. 47% total higher returns? That sounds great. But keep in mind that these numbers are in comparison to the LEAST effective. And if you are reading this blog and researching tools, you are not part of the LEAST. You might feel like it, but you aren't. However, this third-party report should help you build support for making investments in new employee comm tactics.

And to measurement, we've heard it all before. It's hard work to measure employee comms but clearly it's a key component to any effective corporate communication department's activity. This is where our ROM (Return on Message) approach can help measure the effectiveness of digital signage hardware and software for internal networks.

Themes running through the report are courage, innovation and discipline. I love seeing almost heroic terms applied to internal comms. Employees need companies to tell it like it is and make attempts to not just stick with status quo when it comes to workplace communication.

There is so much great information in this report I'll break it out into different blog posts over the next few weeks.

"Effective internal communications can keep employees engaged in the business and help companies retain key talent, provide consistent value to customers, and deliver superior financial performance to shareholders."

Watson Wyatt 2009

Wrapping up the Strategy Institute conference (#BuildDSBiz)

Monday, November 23, 2009 by Chuck Gose

Last week, I was in Chicago for the Strategy Institute Building Your Digital Signage Business. This is the fourth Strategy Institute conference I've been to and it was another solid conference.

If you are interested in a conference "play by play" both myself and David Drain tweeted throughout the show. You can follow along at #BuildDSBiz.

Though there was a sort of a good news/bad news situation with the show. The good news? MediaTile had a 32" Digital Sign in a Box set up there which generated a lot of questions through the two-day show. The bad news? I couldn't always pay full attention to each of the speakers.

Here are some of my thoughts and observations on the show...

I was really interested to hear from Tom Campbell, Healthy Advice Networks. I had heard so much about their digital signage network but never really knew the details. He said they use a reverse "Field of Dreams" approach. Meaning, they let the customers (doctors & patients) dictate if a screen is put in place. Health Advice has been around for several years but it was surprising they use dial-up to deliver content to the screens. But if that's what works, then it's working well for them.
Later on, Pierre Richer, NEC, spoke about overcoming some of the current industry challenges. He said that the current glut of content management systems (CMS) is making ad buys harder. I'm guessing it's going to stay this way until there is some great consolidation within the digital signage industry. I don't see anybody stepping aside to help other vendors.
Later in the afternoon, the debate around SaaS versus a hosted solution took place. I've blogged about it several times here before, but both Greg Argyle, GoGo Cast, and Sanjay Manandhar, Aerva, spoke about the pros and cons of each choice. It seemed to me that the choice might simply come down to a company's culture or appetite for SaaS. if they use it in other areas, then they'll likely use it for digital signage.
Bill Collins, DecisionPoint Media Insights, closed out day one with a highlight of 2009 developments. I'm still a little peeved at Bill for calling corporate communication networks "vanilla" (at the Digital Hub Initiative) but I'm sure I'll get over it.
OVAB's ears must have been burning during the show. They were mentioned so often attendees could have turned it into a drinking game.
I feel one of the more informative sessions was led by Tom Kunka, University of Illinois, and Michael Hoffberg, Villanova University. Both gave a brief review of their networks and it was interesting to see how each school has approached digital signage differently but both appear to be successful with their implementations. And even in the education market, the debate of SaaS versus hosted software rages on.
The conference switched to content, but from unique areas. Manolo Almagro, Show & Tell Productions, focused on user generated content (UGC). I think this was extremely helpful for the audience because there are so many sources for this and Manolo did a great job at highlighting the key sources and provided tips on how to best use them.

Then one of our customers, Chris Bias, Eli Lilly & Company, reviewed his global communication network that he's installing at Lilly locations around the world. At a corporate level, Chris is able to deliver the broader messages to employees around the world, but then give local administrators access to add in their own unique local messaging. This feature is key for any company looking at a larger corporate communication install.

As I wrote earlier, I would have liked to have been able to pay more attention to all of the speakers, but I also had a chance to meet a lot of new people and answer their questions about the MediaTile solution. At last year's conference, which also took place in Chicago, we were one of four companies exhibiting. This year, we were the only one. I'm not sure why we were the only one, but others missed out I think.

I scoured around looking for other conference recaps and found this one from AdSemble's Matt Olivieri, who was also in attendance.
____________________________________________

P.S. On a side note, I'd like to personally thank and congratulate Keith Kelsen on his new ventures. I've known Keith for several years, first as a customer when I was at Rolls-Royce and Keith was MediaTile's CEO. He is now moving on to bigger and (maybe) better and I wish him all the best. Four years ago I told him MediaTile had the perfect corporate communication solution and he gave me a chance to prove that. For that, I will be forever grateful.

One post you won't read on this blog

Friday, November 6, 2009 by Chuck Gose

I try to have as much fun as I can with my blog. I've had posts relating digital signage hardware and software to the Wonder Twins (here and here). I've put up content that related back to G.I. Joe, my childhood fascination/obsession. I will write just about anything if there's a correlation (even a weak one) to digital signage.

But one post I will not write is to criticize another company in the digital signage marketplace. It's a cheap shot. Lately, there has been a lot of drama in the industry and frankly it's been extremely disappointing. I have no problems healthy disagreements or opposing viewpoints but it's gone beyond that.

I'm not going to waste space on this blog writing about the demise of one company versus another as though it somehow benefits MediaTile. I just don't think it benefits anybody. I would rather focus on my experience managing digital signage networks and how the technology relates to what's going on in corporate communication.

Simple as that.

Many of the people taking part are those I have quite a bit of respect for. Our goal is to provide full transparency with our posts. What you see is what you get. You know who we work for and what we do. Often times you might be reading content from someone who works for an industry player while they may appear to be independent.

I'm hoping the drama will subside and the market can return to growing the technology and encouraging healthy conversation and debate. We need it to.

Keys to your Digital Signage Software castle

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 by Chuck Gose

I take for granted all of the features inside MediaCast, our digital signage software, that I don't realize others in the industry do not provide similar capabilities. Yesterday I read a post over on DigitalSignage.com about the importance that role-based administration has in digital signage software success.

Many of you might be familiar with this type of setup if you're using a content management system (CMS) for your intranet. You have Super Admins, Admins, Publishers, Editors, Authors, etc. Each of these people have inherent tasks they are allowed to complete in the system. The higher you are up in the food chain, the more permission you have.

This is how MediaCast works but it's even more customizable. Not only do you get to create the various roles and permissions, you can even dictate individual tasks that an individual may not may not have access to. For example, let's say you set up an Author role in MediaCast. The author might be able to upload content, create playlists, but maybe not schedule them to play in the electronic signs.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billward/225445618/

But let's say one of your Admins goes on vacation. You can temporarily or permanently grant that Author the ability to schedule content in the Admin's absence without altering all of the other authors' access. Make sense?

I'm just surprised that not everybody out there is offering this feature. Read the post and DigitalSignage.com to learn about many more benefits of role-based administration but what I described is a key one for corporate communication departments.

Roles make sure you're giving the keys to your digital signage software castle to the right people.
______________________
Photo credit, Bill Ward

Emergency Media Trigger for digital signage networks

Friday, October 9, 2009 by Chuck Gose

It's been a busy week at MediaTile, but I didn't want to miss a big announcement we made earlier this week. Later this month, we will launch and add a new emergency broadcast triggering system to MediaCast (our digital signage Software as a Service).

What's unique about the Emergency Media Trigger (as we're calling it) is that in integrates within legacy emergency communication systems. This is especially huge for educational institutions and corporate communication departments who are always looking for effective and simple ways of delivering crisis communication without having to retrace steps.

The graphic below does a great job of showing how digital signage won't necessarily replace other emergency communciation methods but can augment them in a seamless and integrated manner. Based on what I heard at the Summit for Emergency & Disaster Planning, schools and college campuses are open and interested in making sure their crisis information gets delivered to their students.

Nobody wants to be "the guy" who has to run to back to their desk in an emergency to send an alert. This is why the Emergency Media Trigger will enable network operators to simply send an email, as an example, to interrupt regularly scheduled content while automatically triggering an emergency message to play across the entire network. A second "all clear" external trigger will reset the network to its previously scheduled programming. It can even be more automated through our API.

Topic: Deploying technology to broadcast campus emergencies

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 by Chuck Gose

That's the title of my topic at the 6th Annual Emergency & Disaster Planning conference in Toronto. The folks at the Strategy Institute always put on a good show.

I'm honored to present at the show, but am equally interested to hear what the other speakers have to say. I would imagine this is a hungry audience, especially with so many public institutions concerned over a potential flu epidemic. The two-day conference is focused on the education sector. Just glancing through some of the other topics and you see words like "infectious disease," "lockdowns," and "shooter incidents." It just goes to show the challenge facing administrators and health workers these days.

I'm going to focus on how digital signage can be a tremendous asset in crisis communication. The exact description reads like this:

Emergency Broadcast Alert Systems provide educational campus communicators more flexibility and control when broadcasting in crises or emergency situations. Come and learn how digital signage networks are:
• Programming and structuring support for a variety of alert levels, including zoned notices, campus-related emergencies, weather alerts, and other crisis-management
• Being integrated into existing emergency and crisis management systems
• Managing to prevent crises from escalating
• Understand how deploying the right technology can enhance the life-saving capability at your campus.

I'm on the Alumni Board of Directors at Butler University and we recently discussed how colleges are preparing for a potential H1N1 outbreak. I can't imagine the challenges faced by colleges when students are packed in there. And let's be honest, many college students aren't exactly known for first-rate hygiene practices.

Day 1 recap of the Digital Hub non-Conference (#dhi09)

Friday, September 25, 2009 by Chuck Gose

I was really looking forward to the 2009 Digital Hub non-Conference, but honestly was a little worried that I set the expectations too high. One step into the ballroom yesterday morning and those worries were cast aside. There were quite a few enjoyable moments, one pleasant surprise and one not so much.

I'm not an event planner or interior designer and nor do I play them on TV. But the room layout was super cool, with black leather chairs and couches scattered about with some sort of funky discoesque theme in the room.

"If you're not part of the conversation, you're being defined by others." ~ John Battelle

Thanks to a contest held on Twitter, I won the opportunity to sit at the speaker's table with keynote speaker John Battelle. A lot of times keynote speakers are vague and miss the mark, but John was right on target with his thoughts and comments. I particularly enjoyed his point that conversation is now leveraged through technology. He also made a point that marketers love "packaged content" but that it doesn't work so well online. John was a great addition to the conference, but I was disappointed to hear he didn't stick around for day two (a pet peeve of mine).

Another unique feature of the conference is that breakout sessions took place outside of the hotel in other locations downtown. Brilliant idea. Get people out. See some sights along the way. Except that it rained. All. Day.

After the keynote, I made my to a breakout titled, "How to communicate changes along the customer buying cycle." But much to my pleasant surprise, the session was largely focused on digital signage and led by Eric Weissman, DSC Consulting. He showcased examples of how the wrong message was put in the wrong environments and showed off some of the content his company has created for digital signage networks. Solid session in my opinion, but I'm a bit biased.

The next two sessions I attended were "Branded Digital Experiences" and "Building Great Brands in the Digital Age." Both sessions provided excellent information, but it was a comment by one of the attendees that ruffled a few feathers. Paraphrasing, he said that he didn't think public relations and corporate communication professionals had the aptitude to manage the social media efforts and that marketing should own them. In a room that was about half PR people, that was a ballsy and pretty stupid thing to say. And, I completely disagree with him. PR pros are perfectly positioned to manage social media.

For others in attendance, which sessions did you go to and what did you like/dislike?

If you're not in Cincinnati for the non-conference, you can follow the Twitter stream to gain some insight.

Today looks to be another good one, personally highlighted by the digital signage discussion in the afternoon. Let's hope the rain lets up. Until then...

Digital Signage Powers Activate!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009 by Chuck Gose

For one of my first posts, I wrote about the importance of having the right digital signage hardware and software and compared them to the Wonder Twins. (And ironically enough, that post is found more often than others in Google search. Thank you Wonder Twins.)

And a year later, the message still holds strong. Without the right software, LCD screens are worthless. And without the right hardware, digital signage software does you no good.

So you have some decisions to make. You have to think about how often you're going to be using your LCD or plasma screens and determine if it's best to invest in commercial-grade equipment. Fortunately, for you, our equipment is commercial-grade. You can run it 24x7, 365 days a year or program it to turn off when no one's watching -- a great way to extend your screen life and save electricity.

And the software you choose is equally important. Our Broadcast Portal is known as "software as a service" (SaaS). Basically what it means is that we host the software application on our servers and you access it from the web. No software to install. No IT department to make uneasy.

So I'll take the blame today if you have the Wonder Twins stuck in your head today.

Flashy

Monday, September 21, 2009 by MediaServices

Many digital signage companies have already integrated Flash into their systems, and some rely on it completely; from content management interface, to player software and scheduling. Flash is a very powerful and versatile application that can be used to build a wide range of content such as animated spots that dynamically load relevant information or interactive applications that respond to SMS messages.

It is clear, through Adobe's updates and enhancements, that HD video support, database integration, and enabling application development are the top priorities. This is wonderful for our industry. Within the next 2 - 5 years the availability of content data streams that are personally relevant to individual viewers or demographics will become increasing available, and as that happens Flash will certainly be the most widely used tool for harvesting and displaying this data at the relevant point of interaction with a viewer.

The Open Screen Project will be a big win for content distributors and producers alike, because consistant methods of creation and deployment will be put forth by some of the biggest names in the world of technology. Digital signage content will never be the same. Hooray for standards!!

A Cincinnati smoothie of communications and technology

Monday, September 21, 2009 by Chuck Gose

Later this week, I'll be trekking down to Cincinnati to attend the Digital Hub Initiative. It looks to be an event right up my alley because it's a smoothie of communications and technology. Local AMA, Ad Club, IABC, PRSA chapters are involved, as well as the Digital Signage Association.

It's refreshing to see the digital signage community get involved in a show like this one, and not just the likes of Digital Signage Expo and other industry-specific shows (nothing against those of course).

Labeled "all things digital," the two-day event (September 24-25) features a digital signage panel on Friday. I'm looking forward to the cast of characters appearing on the panel. Only one panelist appears to be a digital signage network operator, but we'll see where the discussion goes. Taking a glance at the full schedule shows off a diverse cast of speakers from a variety of fields.

I don't think it's too late to register if you're interested. Here's the event summary from the site:

After phenomenal success in 2008, Cincinnati’s Digital Hub Non-Conference is back with a vengeance! The Second Annual event promises “bigger & better” in promoting our region as the Digital Hub it is – the Hub of “All Things Digital” in advertising, design, marketing, communications and public relations. In 2009, instead of a single group calling the shots, the event is being driven by numerous local professional groups, all with interest in the same Big Idea.

Often times, conferences can be a letdown but I know some of the people organizing this one and I am expecting great things. Any conference that focuses on improving communication is always worth attending.

A communications and technology smoothie.

H.264/MPEG4 (AVC)

Monday, September 14, 2009 by MediaServices

- By David Trounstine -

H.264 (or AVC, Advanced Video Codec) is a video compression codec that is efficient, high quality, and pervasive. Many mobile devices used to display video rely on this codec because despite the small file size it generates, the quality is extremely high. In fact, Blu-ray technology uses H.264 to fit several hours of content onto high definition DVDs.

While H.264 may not be new to the world of digital signage it has never been accepted or offered up as an industry standard, which is unfortunate. It offers many benefits over other codecs, such as very small file size, high quality images even at low bit rates, and broad user acceptance/understanding. It is also natively supported by many, if not most, software video players so it can be adopted with relative ease.

For video based digital signage content, my recommendation is to use H.264/MPEG4 compression at a resolution and bit rate that fits your system. The video files created by MediaServices are always 1280x720, 30FPS, 3MB/s and I must say the quality at such a low bit rate is very well maintained.