Digital Signage, etc

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.

Kumbaya! Social media brings the digital signage industry together

Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Chuck Gose

This never became more apparent than at this year's Digital Signage Expo. What once appeared to be a very siloed industry has now had walls knocked down. We have media and digital signage providers interacting. Competitors are even commenting on each other's blogs and referencing each other's content. This is sort of a Kumbaya / watershed moment for the industry.

This is what social media is all about. Not only extending the reach of our content but also creating new avenues of sharing this content. And because the industry is still very much in its infancy, we are primed to use social media as valued vehicles.

Blogs. Twitter. Facebook. Foursquare. They are all in play and were all used in coordination for the first time at DSE. All you have to do is check out the Twitter hash tag #dse2010 to see not only volumes of content but the QUALITY of content. (Adrian Cotteril of DailyDOOH mentioned this in a blog comment in one of my earlier posts.)

I hope to see the industry continue to improve communication and collaboration at these events. It can only help further educate audiences on digital signage.
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photo by LadyDragonFlyCC

Wish I had known we were keeping score #dse2010

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 by Chuck Gose

I know it annoys some of my followers on Twitter, but I love people providing comments from conference and events (if they use the proper hash tags). And this year, Digital Signage Expo showed how some key Twitter accounts can make some noise and spread a little industry knowledge.

Our friends at DailyDOOH released some very interesting stats on the impact Tweets made at Digital Signage Expo 2010.

There were a total of 1210 mentions of #dse2010,
The total number of impressions created was 534,233.

I have absolutely no idea how this compares to other conferences and events, but this has to be an enormous improvement over what occurred in 2009.

But I am kind of disappointed in myself. I tried to do my best to provide thoughts and comments throughout the show, but I wish I had known someone was keeping score. DailyDOOH tallied the Top 10 Twitterers from the show. I came in at #9, one ahead of @ScalaInc and one behind @intel_rhonda and @signitynetworks.

I clearly need to step up my game knowing now that somebody is keeping score.

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.

Congratulations to Jason Meyers and Elite Racing!

Monday, March 1, 2010 by Chuck Gose

As we were wrapping up a fantastic Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas, Jason Meyers and Elite Racing were heading into town for the Second Annual Las Vegas Super Sprint Classic. And maybe, just maybe, we are some sort of good luck charm because Jason pulled out an amazing come-from-behind victory Friday night.

You might be thinking, "What does digital signage have to do with open wheel racing?" To provide a bit of background, MediaTile is a proud sponsor of Elite Racing, part of the World of Outlaws Sprint series.

The thrilling victory began with Jason starting 18th on the grid and slowly worked his way to the lead. Back and forth it went, but Elite Racing took the checkered flag by just .237 seconds. Wow. Check out the World of Outlaws site for the full details on the big win.

Though I live in Indianapolis, I'm a bit of a racing novice. However, I had been following Jason since I joined the company to learn more about what he does. And last Thursday night, I finally had the chance to meet him while he was in town.

Check out SpeedTV's coverage from Las Vegas and the #14 car.

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.

Deep thoughts on day 2 at Digital Signage Expo

Thursday, February 25, 2010 by Chuck Gose

I didn't attend Digital Signage Expo in 2009 but I was here back in 2008. It's amazing how much the show has changed AND improved in those two years. Exhibitors are more prepared and, most importantly, attendees are much more educated.

I had a great time leading the Corporate Communication Lunch & Learn and I hope the attendees got more out of it than a boxed lunch (though it was pretty tasty). What I enjoyed was that it wasn't just corp comm pros who attended. There were IT professionals, purchasing representatives and general managers there just hoping to learn how to best implement the technology at their companies to help with communications. We even had some university representation, which was great.

One of the highlights was having the chance to finally meet Mark Allen from The Marlin Company. Sure we could be labeled competitors but we are both out there trying to educate everyone on the benefits of digital signage and employee communications. And because of that, we are each others #1 fan.

And I think our booth (#1427) looks awesome. When many other companies' booths (which do look nice) look very industrial while ours is very natural - all natural wood and technology. It looks great. We've been blessed to be joined in our booth by representatives from Sprint and iPOWOW!. They've been a huge help during the show.

I hope everybody has a second day that was as good or better than the first.

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.

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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!

Instant replay of our webinar on digital signage and employee communications

Monday, February 22, 2010 by Chuck Gose

I was thrilled to death with how well our first webinar went last week. But I know that not everybody who wanted to attend was able to. We had some great questions at the end from attendees on tips and techniques of implementing digital signage for employee communications. And though I was able to answer them on the call, I think they are important questions and answers to share here on the blog.

But before I get to those over the next few weeks, you can look glance through the webinar's presentation and see how Eli Lilly & Company uses signage to enhance their global business communication. It includes some great photos that demonstrate the variety of environments the displays are installed in, including shuttle buses. Very cool.

Digital signage & employee communications

View more presentations from Chuck Gose.

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Over the next week, you'll see quite a bit of extra traffic on the blog due to Digital Signage Expo. Should be an exciting time.

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.

Free webinar: Corporate communication & digital signage

Monday, February 15, 2010 by Chuck Gose

I'm psyched to be facilitating this FREE webinar this Thursday, 2/18, at 2:00 EST.

Digital signage & corporate communication

In just 30 minutes, discover how communications professionals are adding digital signage into their standard mix to bring both local and international teams together, ensure up-to-date news distribution and present a consistent message.

Seats are limited so get signed up today if you are interested in hearing from the best.

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Company, the largest corporate user of our digital signage technology, will be on the webinar with me discussing how the company uses signage to enhance communication around the globe. Chris Bias, the mastermind behind LillyTV, will share his wisdom on the tips, tricks and techniques of engaging a global workforce with digital signage.

Office closed in honor of Presidents Day

Monday, February 15, 2010 by Chuck Gose

In recognition of Presidents Day, the MediaTile Company’s corporate headquarters will be closed Monday, February 15. Our office will reopen Tuesday, February 16.

Over the extended holiday weekend, all phone calls will be routed through MediaTile’s standard after-hours call center. In the event you should experience a critical or major support issue during this time, please indicate the severity of your situation to the call center and you will be routed to an appropriate MediaTile support representative who will be on-call over the Holiday weekend.

Happy Presidents Day! Celebrate by buying a mattress or something.

A love affair with digital signage

Friday, February 12, 2010 by Chuck Gose

Yes, I went the cheesy route with this post but it's true that I have a love affair with digital signage. It marries two of my loves - technology and corporate communication. I love what the technology has done for companies and what it's going to do. I hear all of the time, "We had no idea employees would like it this much." I experienced the same thing as a communicator.

For many communicators, electronic signage is just another way of getting the message out to a workforce. But it's important to think about it from the employees' view. It's not just another way -- it's a new way. And new ways draw attention and engagement.

It's then up to the communicator to accept the challenge and keep the content fresh and relevant. Employees will love them for it.

Happy Valentine's Day weekend!

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

Come see us at Digital Signage Expo (#DSE2010)

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by Chuck Gose

I can't wait to be out at Digital Signage Expo here in a few weeks. (Sure, it doesn't hurt that it's Vegas and I get to escape the snowy Midwest for a few days.) But since I missed last year's expo, it's a chance to reconnect with other industry professionals and meet others interested in learning about the technology.

MediaTile will be located in booth #1427 so please stop by if you're attending this year's Digital Signage Expo.

Digital Signage Expo now even has a featured track focused on corporate communication. For me, this is very, very exciting. I'm hosting two of the Lunch & Learns during the expo and unfortunately / fortunately they are SOLD OUT. I'm thrilled beyond belief that there are this many people interested in learning more about digital signage and corporate communication.

Last year, I met so many great communicators at the IABC World Conference and I'm hoping more of the same at DSE.

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.

Did you miss last week's Digital Signage supplement in USA Today?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 by Chuck Gose

If you missed last week's Digital Signage supplement in USA Today, you weren't the only one. The 16-page pull-out supplement only appeared in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. I suppose those are USA Today's major markets because it reached more than two million subscribers.

But unless you're in one of those cities or an industry junkie, you likely missed it. If you're interested, you can download it courtesy of Digital Signage Today.

Publications like this one (and the second time it's happened) is truly great exposure for the industry and the leading experts and contributors. I was hoping there would at least been a mention of corporate communication in the publication but alas there wasn't. Some of our most successful deployments are for corporate communicators but maybe we are in the minority. However, there are still threads in the supplement's articles that can be helpful to those looking to install an internal network.

You can check out MediaTile's ad on page 3 of the supplement, underneath the article on Digital Signage Expo.

Do your executives like The Bunny Hop?

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 by Chuck Gose

The "executives" at my house do. Until my daughter turned two, every night we read the same book... The Bunny Hop. It's a good book though certainly not an award-winner. In case you're curious, the premise is that there are bunnies all over Sesame Street as a result of Big Bird not being much of a basket builder.

So that routine lasted until she was two. And now my one-year-old son has fallen into the SAME trap with the SAME book. Or I should say, I've fallen into the SAME trap. Every night, the same book. There's obviously some comfort there in the routine. They know the story. There are no surprises. It's predictable.

Are your executives the same way? Do you try to tell a new story in your corporate communications? How do they react? If it's anything like my kids, it's not a positive response. It's amazing similar behaviors I've seen between executives and children.

But your employees don't want to hear the same story every "night." Employee communications needs to consistently be revised and re-evaluated to make sure you're hitting the key messages but in a creative way.

I know it's tough. It's easier to just read the same book every night. There are no complaints by the "execs." But eventually, I'm going to loathe Big Bird and his lack of building skills, if I don't already.

But if you're going to build support for internal communications from the ground up, you have to shake up your storytelling. . . if not for your own sanity, for your employees.