Store Signage

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.

MediaTile Cellular Digital Signage Featured in new Verizon Ad!

Monday, September 12, 2011 by Mike Foster

Another incredible milestone for the digital signage industry, for MediaTile, for Verizon, and for our collective communities – which now officially includes “Susie’s Lemonade.” Verizon Wireless has just released the next installment of their nationwide TV ad campaign featuring Susie’s Lemonade as a growing business – and this ad features MediaTile’s cellular digital signage solution in her store! (Look closely and you’ll notice the tell-tale MediaTile antenna.)

It is really great to work with a company like Verizon Wireless, who completely “gets” the business value of our cloud-based, cellular digital signage solution. We’ve been working closely with Verizon Wireless since 2004, and have achieved numerous industry milestones with them.

With their ever-increasing efforts on M2M (machine-to-machine) business solutions, our 3G/4G Cellular Digital Signage solutions have gone main-stream (or main-street if you think of Susie’s Lemonade business). Want to read more about the advantages of 3G/4G Cellular Digital Signage? Check out our site, or the industry whitepaper we sponsor with Digital Signage Today, which continues to be in their Top-10 List of most popular downloads, month-after-month.

How did this all come about? Several months back, we received a request from Verizon Wireless to help them, and their agency, place a MediaTile cellular digital sign into the next Susie Lemonade commercial, and, the rest is history! Take a few moments to watch the entire commercial.

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.

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.

______________________
Photo credit, Jeff Attaway

Why digital signage doesn't need Facebook

Tuesday, January 25, 2011 by Chuck Gose

A fellow blogger in the digital signage space, David Weinfeld wrote a post this week about how digital signage needs Facebook. While I agree with many of the points David makes about the strengths of the technology, I do not agree with his headline.

David is spot on with this comment.

"The power of digital signage lies in its flexibility, immediacy, and relevancy. The medium draws its strength from the information and data that we don’t see. Rather than functioning as the means through which a canned playlist is distributed, digital signage can function as an omniscient marketing and sales tool."

But in my opinion, digital signage does not NEED Facebook. There certainly are ways I believe that Facebook and "likes" on certain pages could and should influence content managed by the network operator but a major challenge is that Facebook is constantly changing the rules. Facebook was not built for businesses. Though businesses should be taking advantage of the data that exists on sites like Facebook and Foursquare.

It's a big enough challenge maintaining and creating unique content for a digital signage network. I think providing timely contextual relevance from a third party source like Facebook could make this even more difficult in the day-to-day operations.

I'm a huge fan of Facebook and I love the "like" component to it. But just because I "like" things on Facebook does not (necessarily) mean that this is also content that I would like to see in the store.

I think Facebook can teach us a lot about individual behaviors and how people engage or like to engage with content, but I can count on one hand the number of retailers and companies who I think are doing a stellar job with the Facebook fan pages.

And if work and creativity aren't being put into these pages then it's not going to help digital signage. There are tons of digital signage examples, especially those networks embedded in corporate communications, that are widely successful. They've been successful because the content is fresh and relevant. They did this without Facebook.

What I would like to see, especially in the retail environment, is to see digital content on the screens promoting their Facebook presence. Maybe this retailer is running a promotion on its fan page. Digital signage is a perfect vehicle to drive traffic to Facebook. Because as the promotion changes, so does the message on the digital network.

So while I don't believe that digital signage needs Facebook, I will argue that Facebook can bring out the best in digital signage.
_______________________
Photo credit, DJ Waldow

MediaTile Showcases at #CES 2011

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 by Simon Wilson

This week at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, MediaTile will again be making industry-breakthrough announcements and showcasing advanced proof-of-concepts around 4G networks and interactive digital signage. This year’s CES focus centers around our next generation MediaCast Video Presence platform – the cloud-based CMS system that powers the HumanKiosk solution.

This year, we’ve teamed up with industry leaders and have a prominent showing in a number of high-visibility venues for our digital signage. These include:

- Three MediaCast concepts demonstrations in the Alcatel-Lucent Booth # 35469 that showcase transformative retail solutions including the HumanKiosk Virtual Concierge, Game Table, and a JukeBox Hotspot. I’ll blog more about this tomorrow, but here is an advanced look.

- Two MediaCast Video Presence concept demonstrations in the Verizon Wireless Booth # 35216, that highlight using remote Video-Attendants on an in-store HumanKiosk and a hospitality-based Video Concierge. Check out the Verizon Wireless press release.

- MarketStar (a division of Omnicom) has teamed up with us to provide remote Video-Attendants, based in Ogden Utah, to answer questions directly from the floor from the Alcatel-Lucent, and Verizon-Wireless demonstrations. They also have a HumanKiosk and MediaCast Video Presence in their Hospitality Suite.

- AT&T is demonstrating a HumanKiosk solution, powered by MediaCast Video Presence, at their Developer Conference which is running concurrently at the Palms during CES.

To 4G and Beyond!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 by MediaServices

- By David Trounstine -

Our partnership with Alcatel/Lucent and 4G VideoPresence has been mentioned several times in our blog now, but I just wanted to give the design team perspective.

4G VideoPresence is two-way video conferencing software for your digital signage network that will allow customers to connect directly to a specialist at the point in time that they have a decision to make. There has already been a lot of buzz around it, and we have interest from a number of different vertical markets.

With 4G delivery of content is going to become much less restrictive. "Store and forward" will be an option, not a requirement, as full HD video and interactive content will be able to stream to any enabled consumer electronic device. We are talking real time user interaction with Internet based content, and instant feedback to content providers.

Real time interactions draw users in, they also provide extremely useful information because it can be contextual and relevant. Using 4G to drive these real time interactions means they can happen anywhere at anytime, without the need for complicated infrastructure.

Bi-directional video chat is only the beginning... we have much more to come, so stay tuned!

Back in the Saddle

Monday, August 16, 2010 by MediaServices

- By David Trounstine -

OK it has been almost a year since I have posted any entries to our design/development blog, and for that I apologize. So much has happened in the last year I don't quite know where to start, but you will be happy to know that I have regained my focus on providing information to the digital signage community about design and development.

The name of the game today is 4G. Being that MediaTile is a cellular digital signage company we have been feverishly working to develop new applications and uses for the high bandwidth of 4G, and some very interesting products are in store for the next 12 months.

In case you missed the announcements from earlier this year we are now doing public demonstrations of 4G VideoPresence, a point-to-point two way video chat client that enables digital signage audiences to connect with customer services representatives instantly and personally. We won a first place award for the concept at the CTIA show, and oh man has it generated some buzz for us.

We are very excited about what's to come, and I will do my best to keep up with the pace and provide insider details.

That's all for now, but I will be writing more... soon!

Scotts Valley Market improves community ties and promotions using digital signage

Monday, July 19, 2010 by Leah Kane

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

It is always very satisfying when you can help local businesses do a better job of building community ties, while at the same time improving their product and service promotions. Our local supermarket chain, The Scotts Valley Market, has deployed a digital sign above their deli counter – in one of the highest traffic areas of the store with good dwell time.

Their goal is to augment existing promotions, while also informing shoppers of all the community activities that they are involved with, including Chamber of Commerce events, such as the upcoming art and wine festival. They also run local weather and a national news ticker to keep shoppers engaged and entertained while waiting for deli orders. It’s great to see that digital signage has become such a common and well understood medium. This is right in line with the recent Arbitron study, which estimated that 155 million adults in the US remember seeing a digital display each month.

I’d also like to point out that one of our resellers, Vivid Digital Concepts (www.vividdigitalconcepts.com) is in the business of setting up digital-signage network operator franchisees who deploy and operate their own community-based and owner-operated chain-wide networks. So...if you’re thinking of getting into the business, they are a terrific starting point. And because it’s a MediaTile cellular and web-based solution, the only infrastructure you need on-site is a power outlet (that’s my shameless plug!).

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes (of digital signage)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010 by Chuck Gose

There's not a lot of readily available research being done in corporate communications so I take what I learn from the retail world and apply it.

At last week's Digital Signage Contest Strategies Summit in Las Vegas, I had the chance to hear Michael Twitty, Director of Shopper Insights for Unilever Americas, discuss the pros and cons of signage placement in retail stores. His focus, given that he works for Unilever, is primarily on consumer packaged goods (he called them CPGs - I had to look it up) but the advice he had is sound no matter what the installation is.

He said that in somewhat tight environments, you shouldn't put anything below somebody's waist or above their eyes if you want them to notice your message. This includes digital signage.

Now clearly there are times in the corporate communications world where you will want to put screens up high for "the world" to notice, but I do screens in break areas, elevator banks, lobbies, etc. that are put way up high and in the corner. I did it. It seems like a good place.

I fall victim to this at home. Whenever I hang a picture, I always put it up too high (I'm 6'4"). It's eye level for me. . . but not for many others.

So when you look at what the retail world is doing and they have revenue and profits tied to proper placement, don't you think corporate communicators should take heed? Placement may not be as important as content but it's still very important to get it right.

Michael Twitty knows what he's talking about.

MediaTile technology on display at #Kioskcom in the Walsh Wireless booth (#314)

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 by Chuck Gose

The exhibit hall doors opened just a few minutes ago for Kioskcom & Digital Signage Show. If you happen to be here today, stop by the Walsh Wireless booth (#314).

They have on display a very cool and practical application of our cellular digital signage for the retail space. The unit is a free-standing display that would allow a retailer to embed digital signage inside a portable display. Walsh and MediaTile partnered with In-Store Experience to create this product.

We provided the digital signage technology. Walsh Wireless provided the cellular broadband capabilities. And In-Store Experience contributed the physical structure. Great example of a partnership coming together to create a viable product for retailers.

But stand doesn't need to be confined to just retail and consumers. Thinkn about how this could enhance employee communications if you're looking to showcase information. Or for visitors to a venue. The opportunities are endless but the technology is here.

MediaTile, Walsh Wireless and In-Store Experience

Digital Signage Content Strategies Summit: Day 2 in Review #DSContent

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 by Chuck Gose

Wow. You know when you go to conferences and you may not get much out of them but you're still overly complimentary? This is not the case at all. Day 2 of the Strategy Institute's Digital Signage Content Strategies Summit was awesome. And those aren't just my words, but the feedback from other attendees.

Aside from being a consumer myself, I don't have any experience in the retail world and truly am not aware of the challenges they face in the digital world. After yesterday, color me enlightened. Just follow the hash tag #DSContent and you can see all of the messages I shared from the @MediaTile Twitter account.

The day was a good balance of what the possibilities are with digital technology along with many of the obstacles that still exist. Here are a few of my observations...

Kevin Flatt and Mark Renshaw, Leo Burnett and Arc Worldwide, showcased the future of what digital can be in the retail world, using a great analogy of who's driving the bus. Apparently agencies are the drivers who know where they want to go but often get lost and NEVER ask for directions.
Paul Flanigan, The Preset Group, led a panel of Michael Twitty, Unilever Americas, and Jim Lucas, Draftfcb. The information spewing out of Michael was amazing. I practically couldn't type fast enough about how brands are viewing digital in the consumer packaged goods world. This will lead to future blog posts.
And we finally had our first Foursquare mention with Stephen Randall, LocaModa. Stephen did a great job showcasing how digital signage and social media content can play quite nicely in the same sandbox. His point that "you must view that your digital signage message has a range of 20 miles, not 20 feet," really hit home with the audience.
And then there is Bob Stowe, Wendy's. Bob added an important element to the conference, highlighting the challenges faced when working with large corporations. Many wonder why quick service restaurants have been somewhat slow to adapt to digital signage. Bob outlined all of the players that get involved and the challenges with each. Though I don't think he'll be getting the key to the city of Detroit anytime soon. He mentioned that one of their stores stays open 24 hours solely due to security concerns. Yikes.
Rudy Dearborn, MGM Mirage, outlined the history that his casino has had with the technology along with some of the unique content challenges. What was peculiar is that they use Mac Minis to drive displays and had to have custom mounts built, along with a custom digital signage software application. BUT they do a great job of utilizing existing resources and data to keep content fresh and relevant.
And last but not least, our very own Simon Wilson and David Ozer, iPOWOW!, presented on the importance of getting instantaneous viewer feedback of what they are seeing on the screens. The audience didn't appear to be a big hunting crowd, so the example of how Hunter Specialities is using touch-screen technology in endcaps to promote their products. All kidding aside, the digital signage has given them a 30% sales uplift. That's no laughing matter.

So, all in all, a great show. But during the networking lunch, one of the attendees asked me how much of our business was in non-retail. Quite a bit in fact. He was curious why there was no attention paid to corporate communication networks.

I told him that's my challenge. That's why I do what I do. That's my crusade.

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.

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!

Questioning the role of digital signage in retail?

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Chuck Gose

I'm not. But several other digital signage bloggers are commiserating over a recent study that reports on the alleged lack of impact digital signage is having on buyer awareness and behavior. The report (available as a PDF) cites what appears to be overall ineffectiveness for the technology.

Now much could be debated over whether it's the fault of the technology or the placement. Is it the content or the lack of coverage. It's tough to know without talking to the people in the survey at a greater depth, but many factors are at play to just simply label it as ineffective. I'm not a retail expert so I'll leave it to them continue on.

But I will tell you one area in retail where digital signage can have a tremendous impact: employee communications. I'm working with a very large national retailer to install digital signage to help them deliver timely communication to their dispersed retail employees.

Think about it. You have employees scattered about the country in malls and strip centers. They have no real connection to the corporate entity so engagement has to be a tremendous challenge. And since every one of the stores is in a different environment, finding one common communication vehicle can be tough. And when you're trying to cover coast to coast, going digital is a must.

Fortunately, digital signage has it covered. They will be able to inform and entertain from a distance. They can provide training tips, employee recognition opportunity as well as general corporate information. AND it can all be controlled from one central location, thus ensuring the integrity of the brand and the message.

Pretty powerful stuff. Consumers may not yet appreciate what the technology can do in retail but I guarantee you the employees will.

4G and partnering with Alcatel-Lucent's ng Connect program

Saturday, October 10, 2009 by Leah Kane

We at MediaTile are PSYCHED to announce the first "HumanKiosk" prototype. This is an interactive, two-way video conferencing mechanism, enabling consumers and retailers (among others) to communicate directly with one another, in-store- no middle man.

Imagine the possibilities - you're in the store, comparison shopping, you have a question but the store staff doesn't know anything more about the product you're holding than the info which appears on its packaging. No problem- connect to a product expert and have a face-to-face conversation via HumanKiosk.

The excitement surrounding the HumanKiosk release is that it is based on ng Connect's 4G/LTE technology. (LTE = Long Term Evolution). If you're unfamiliar with ng Connect, it is a program "conceived and founded by Alcatel-Lucent, bring[ing] together infrastructure, device, application and content companies to create an end-to-end ecosystem with all the resources and expertise required to rapidly deliver next generation services and applications to service providers, enterprises and consumers. " (quoted from the ng Connect website...)

4G essentially is 3G on steroids. It has the bandwidth to support live and streaming video uploads/downloads - and to support the increasingly interactive nature of successful digital signage deployments.

Every retailer and brand manager hopes to improve communication with its consumer- traditional advertising is limited in this regard. HumanKiosk takes digital signage to another level of relevancy- it provides a purely interactive experience and accomplishes what pre-recorded content, whatever the medium, cannot hope to achieve.

Check it out- we can't wait to hear your feedback!

Muzak to my Digital Signage Ears

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 by Simon Wilson

There is increasing recognition in the DOOH industry of the importance of relevant content and ‘making every screen count’ – in other words ensuring that the content on each and every screen on the network is relevant to its specific audience at all times. This of course is not a straightforward task - technically, creatively, or even logistically in the case of large disparate networks. Add to that the drive towards experiential and contextual-based content and you have a complicated cocktail of requirements on your hands.

In response to this requirement, solution providers are taking varied approaches and bringing different backgrounds and skill sets to the client table in order to design and deliver high value-add digital signage content solutions.

One rather interesting approach is that being taken by Muzak. The other day I met up with Jon Luther, Director of the Visual Solutions Division of Muzak, and wanted to share his approach. Muzak has a long rich 75-year history and is the leader in in-store and on-hold custom music solutions. Over recent years, Muzak has been expanding its approach to deliver a much broader solution. Playing on the senses of sight and smell, as well as hearing, Muzak now provides a broader sensory and experiential branding solution to its business clients. By combining music, messaging, custom scent, and visual imagery through digital signage, Muzak has created a compelling and contemporary integrated suite of sensory branding and entertainment products and services.

As network operators and digital signage customers increasingly demand that their DOOH networks deliver a contextual based experience that is relevant to their environment, I expect we will see more examples of innovative approaches like Muzak’s. This really is an exciting time to be at the forefront of digital signage.

Keepin’ it Simple

Thank you for reducing my perceived wait-time.

Sunday, September 6, 2009 by Leah Kane

The other day, I made a visit to a big-box electronics store to make a return. (I'd mention the company's name, but as they've only recently edged another big-box electronics store out of business, they hardly need my plug... pun intended.)

A woman at the store's entrance helpfully pointed me to the 'Returns & Exchanges' area of the store, and when I got there, I took my place in line behind the 5 or 10 others with a bone to pick.

While waiting in line, I watched TV. A few minutes passed before it even dawned on me that there I was, queued up inside a store, watching TV. The content was fresh, quirky, funny. It was carefully crafted for store visitors with a bone to pick- this content was created for me.

This was not a mounted TV set running episodes of some syndicated Chuck Norris drama in hi-def, this was retail digital signage, designed to entertain, amuse, and reduce my perceived wait time.

True enough, while I waited, (only 2 or 3 bone-pickers to go now), the time flew by. I was entertained, learned a bit more about this particular big-box store, and left with an appreciation of its customer service.

The phrase, "reduce perceived wait time" is one we strategically bandy-about in the digital signage industry, because, in truth, pre-occupying one's customers 'while they wait' is not the same as shortening their time in line. But then, perception is everything.

Kudos to the big-box store for leveraging its electronic signage to make my visit more enjoyable (or at the very least, less painful). I'm likely a bit conditioned, as a digital signage professional, but left the store, whispering to myself, "thank you for reducing my perceived wait time..."

Then giggled, thinking, "who says things like that?"

When is a TV not a TV? When it’s DOOHTV of course

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 by Simon Wilson

As digital signage practitioners, we all spend a lot time and energy explaining to our customers why digital signage is “not TV” – yet the brand marketers, network operators, or corporate communicators all seem to naturally call it “[something, something] TV." [Insert Brand Name, Store Name, School Name, Company Name etc.]

Digital signage networks differ from broadcast or cable TV for a long list of reasons. For digital signage:

The audiences are not captive;
The content must always be relevant and localized;
The business objective for the digital signage network will be tailored to each location and type of network;
Programming must be synchronized with traffic flows and demographics of each location;
Attention spans are short and sensory competition is high.

The list goes on, yet everyone still likes to call it “…………. TV”. Some examples include

When a name sticks it is hard to dislodge – especially when it is simple and quickly conveys the essence of something. Don’t fight it I say – keep it simple – but be ever vigilant for the customer or operator who wants to treat it like TV rather than just naming it TV.   

Everything in context; context is everything!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009 by Leah Kane

A large part of my week is spent keeping up with the Jones's...websites. Everything is constantly shifting in the world of web marketing, the rules (and search engine algorithms) change by the day. Because of this, exhaustive efforts are made to curry favor with the Great White Whale of the internet: Google.

Google is frighteningly intelligent.

Have you ever noticed how Google appears to anticipate what you are REALLY looking for? You might enter the phrase "used auto parts Toyota" in the search box and Google returns twenty listings for used Toyota parts...in your neighborhood.

That level of accuracy merely skims the surface of what Google can do; there are a whole host of tools Google provides webmasters of which the casual web user is unaware.

AdSense is one such tool. AdSense, in a nutshell, matches relevant ads to a site's content. Google already does this exceedingly well, but recently has announced what they call "improved contextual targeting." You'll find yourself on a website, say, planning a ski trip to snowy Lake Tahoe, and what will appear next to the lodging options but a cozy ad for L.L. Bean. Coincidence? Obviously not, but what you may not realize is that that ad was served up to you from a pool of ads, dynamically.

We coach our digital signage operators to take a similar approach with respect to management of their networks. It's insufficient merely to create compelling visuals for digital displays. These days, contextual targeting is everything. Know your audience, understand their habits, anticipate their needs and deliver your messages at the right place, at the right time.

One advantage digital signage advertisers have over internet advertisers is that the targeted consumer is already out of the house! (In fact, the industry term is "Digital Out of Home", or DOOH) It's much easier to sell paint to a person in a hardware store than it is to a person lounging on their couch with a laptop.

Context.