Organisers of the London Fashion Week, the highly prestigious event taking place at the moment, chose an innovative way to promote it and keep the London fashionistas abreast of latest presentations. Photos from various shows are being shared with the capital’s fashion conscious but busy audience via digital displays located in London’s tube stations and outside Westfield London’s Eat Street. Social media feeds will accompany the images, we are told.

CBS Outdoor’s digital displays in London tube stations

Photo source: DailyDOOH

Here are a few quick thoughts on the news:

1)  most of us would probably agree that photos are one of the most effective ways of raising awareness about an event. Sharing them to key audiences in key locations in almost real-time enhances their impact and gives way to WOM (add social media feeds to this and you’ve got yourself a successful multi-channel communication exercise).

2) Printed posters just won’t do- as they are a very limited medium in terms of message timeliness and volume. They can only display one message and one message only which is a few days/weeks old at best times. They’re deffinitely not suitable for timely communications.

3) Digital posters though allow you to communicate a high amount of  information (in various formats, from feeds to images and videos), in almost real-time, at a fraction of the cost (you’re using the same displays, players, software that you’ll be using for thousand other messages. Printing and associated manpower costs- are off the list).

Companies and institutions across the UK are using digital posters powered by our content management software digitalsignage.NET  to distribute information about various events. Colleges share videos and photos from drama nights or graduation ceremonies while businesses share photos from team building activities, conferences or meetings.  You got the idea. The medium is efficient and cost-effective and allows you to advertise events, products or simply disseminate general information faster and in a more targeted manner.  And the fact that the British Fashion Council chose it- well that in itself says a lot.

Continuing the series of ”What we’ve read and liked in the past week” and without further introductions here are our 4 picks:

1) Industry publication, Digital Signage Today makes it to the top with its article commentary written by Jose Avalos ”Digital signage and the interactive brand”. He gives some interesting examples of interactive brand experiences such as Lego’s Interactive Wall, Kraft Foods iSample or Macy’s Beauty Spot that allow customers to manipulate the media and the offer. Avalos encourages brands to ”go beyond the push”, create engagement and be ”omnichannel” (taking a holistic approach to the different communication channels available).

2) InAVate announces us that Paris is ”terorised” by a tiger that, gladly, is totally under control and projected from a moving vehicle onto different surfaces of the French capital (buildings, walls, etc). Another cool element is that the speed of 3D projected tiger is determined by the speed of the car. The faster it accelerates, the faster the tiger will run.

3) Choosing the metaphor of <a match made in heaven> and a day with similar conotations (the 14th of February), DailyDOOH announces the acquisition of AKA.TV, an important news resource for all those interested in the signage industry, established in 2003. Details as to where will this acquistion lead are still kept secret. In any case, Mazel Tov!

4) A recent research quoted by Ooh-tv has caught our attention, mainly due to its findings- glasses-free 3D displays increase dwell time. This wouldn’t be something surprising on its own, due to the novelty of the display, yet the study continues by stating that sales for the product advertised on the 3D display have also rose by 8.5%. We thought it’s worth mentioning it. The research in cause was conducted by Dimenco and Tilburg University using three different Red Bull racks in three different locations (could the location of the 3D screen influenced results?)

All in all, great articles everybody, keep them coming!

Share this if you like it or place your comments and suggestions below. Thanks.

P.S. Oh and of course this one too, published on Friday by DailyDOOH- Dynamax moves customer to the cloud with IAdea.

We are glad to announce Review Systems as our newest client. Based in Blackpool, Lancashire the multimedia company specialises in building and managing advertising networks in locations such as MOT dealerships, insurance brokers or finance offices across the UK.

Selling advertising space to more than 120 clients, Review Systems uses digitalsignage.NET to schedule and publish ads on its network of screens. The company has more than 10 years experience in the digital signage industry and has recently decided to replace SD cards with our cloud- based content management software.

digitalsignage.NET is used to send content to IAdea XMP 130 wifi SMIL players that control Samsung LCD’s (of 32” and 41”). The first install took place at Yorkshire- based Independent Motor Auctions with screens located in the main show room and reception area.

screen powered by digitalsignage.NET

So we thought to show our appreciation today and highlight why we love talking to them.

Reason no.1. They respect us and appreciate our skills; that’s why they’re our clients. We’ve been working with many of them for years and the respect grows exponentially with the time and believe it or not, this gets reflected in support phone calls as well.

Reason no.2. They make life more exciting. Even if some of the questions we get are pretty generic, you bounce some odd ones every now and again that are just uping our IQ’s! Thanks for that.

Reason no.3. They help us make digitalsignage.NET the product they need.  They offer us invaluable feedback over the phone that it couldn’t be obtained via surveys or other official channels.

Reason no.4. They make us socialise more. I mean, we also do a bit of chatting (if the issue is not urgent) which helps us overcome the daily routine. They prevent us from falling into stereotypes (no, our support techs are not fat and anti-social, they’re quite chatty in fact) and from falling victim to that IT personality no. 4  associated with support drones.

Reason no.5. Friends are hard to come by. During the years, we succeeded to build strong relationships with our end-users and resellers whose importance goes beyond the financial one. We value their respect and trust in us and we do our best to meet and exceed their expectations.

Last but not least, we love our customers, resellers and end-users because they’re genuinely nice people worthy of our appreciation and respect.

Keep ringing us guys, we love to hear from you! If you want to spread some love, use the comments below or flood our inboxes (we’d be thrilled!)

the folks at Dynamax

Ariel Napchi- CEO HIRO Media

Every once in a while we publish some of the press releases reaching our inbox that we find relevant to our industry and audience. Here’s the newest one received today, from the video advertising realm.

We are told that HIRO Media, the leading video ad management and serving platform for content owners, publishers and media agencies had signed a deal with Viewster, SwissVideo on Demand distributor to digital platforms, globally.

The latter confirmed that the recent partnership has already produced significant financial benefits ”With the support of HIRO’s tech and consulting team, we have succeeded in creating an operation that has transformed Viewster into one of the leading ad supported online video operations globally” says Viewster’s CEO, Kai Henniges.

HIRO’s advertising waterfall system permits multi dimensional bidding ensuring that Viewster will show only those campaigns with the highest revenue potential and fastest ad loads. HIRO offers solutions to agencies, content owners and publishers that enable them to manage their ad sales, inventory and analytics while ensuring total buying transparency.

Regarding the partnership, Ariel Napchi, CEO of HIRO Media stated ”We are delighted to be working with Viewster and to facilitate this remarkable growth in  Internet ad revenue. We are able to offer seamless integration of data with ad- optimisation and  increase the efficiency of campaigns while minimizing ad inconsistencies and manual intervention.” HIRO Media is a privately held company with offices in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, New York and Paris.

Main idea- ”People are looking for ways to improve cash and reduce ways for less resources” Let’s see how IT would help them to do this

1) The mobile

Everybody would probably agree that smartphones are a revolutionary tool for SMB owners, arguably because of the wide variety of apps allowing them to manage their businesses on the go, improve productivity and business resource planning. 60% of the poll respondents considered the mobile an increasingly important trend in 2012 too, which means that the mobile makes it to the top of SMB technology for a 2nd year in a row.

”There’s an app for everything” they say but panelists raise attention to the potential risk of being ”locked into an app” or not being able to recover your data. Make sure you can get your data in and out of them.

Of course, if the mobile is an important tool for you, chances high that so it is for your customer as well. Don’t miss out on this opportunity of generating business or of simply interacting with your target market by simply ignoring this communication medium.

2)  Portability

Or in other words manage your small business from your laptop, from servers to ads and everything in between. Even though this might be a bit of an extreme example, some businesses might adapt a ”desktop-less” approach in the coming year if their employees only use ”light” applications (Word, a web-browser and email). This trend too was mentioned last year, when IT commentators from J. Gold Associates thought laptops will be slowly replacing PCs by 2013.  ZDNET’s pros take a slightly more balanced approach and say it all depends on the business.

They also drew attention to the Bring Your Own Device’s risk of losing your data together with your staff. If all your data is stored on your staff’s personal devices what happens when those leave the company and what can you do for recover your data completely? Despite the fact that BYOD seems an attractive option as SMB’s don’t have to provide devices anymore, it involves some risks that might outweight its benefits. The  better alternative is storing your data  in cloud- hosted applications and giving and/or denying access to it to your employees.

That’s the idea behind digitalsignage.NET. We save your data (the pictures and images you want to display on your advertising screens)  in the cloud so no one else owns them but your business. Members of the staff  can access the system and the files if granted permission by the admin. More control- more security and as one of the panelists said ”that’s not something to joke about”.

This approach makes even more sense given the fact that we tend to work across desktops anyway and will do so even more in 2012. Hosting data in the cloud implies that this can be accessed and updated from several devices (smartphones, tablets, desktops, laptops) at any time, from any location with Internet connectivity.

3) Displays

We’re particularly thrilled about this trend, given the fact that we’re producing  a software for one (we kept the best for the end). David Gawirtz, ZDNET editor foresees an augmented use of displays by small businesses to communicate to their various target audiences when ”captive” in their locations.  ”More than just photos” says Gawirtz referring to the file types that advertising screens and photo frames can now show (have a look at our case studies to see what our clients display on their screens). As the technology (formally known as digital signage) becomes cheaper small businesses are adopting it to communicate with their audiences at the right place and time. This price drop is partially due to the raise of cloud-computing and SaaS but also to the drop in TV prices.

4) Going paperless

Photo source: vedlo.com

Not really, but printing has become a secondary support activity, panelists note. Marketing communications in particular have gone ”online” due to the cost-efficiency of the medium. Indoor digital signs for example, allow you to update your communications in almost real-time without having to incur the cost of printing and replacing posters. A screen on a wall could be used to advertise your latest discounts, products or services or for corporate communications being a medium that can be adapted to your needs.

In 2012, more SMB’s are expected to outsource imaging services given the fact that they don’t need printing services as much as they used to panelists concluded. This will enable them to cut down the costs of supplies and remove the hassle of managing this side of the business themselves.

The summary would not be complete without mentioning social media  trends for the year ahead. This will continue to be adopted given its cost-effectiveness while more and more efforts will be made to monetise it or measure its ROI. The panelists highlighted the potential of buiding a relationship with your customer base  rather than just limiting yourself to advertising. We have advised our end-users in several previous posts to display their tweets and Facebook posts as well as Foursquare check-ins on their indoor TV’s as a mean of promoting their social channels and their business (we love the example of a Swedish supermarket that encouraged clients to check-in for making prices fall using in-store displays located at the entrance).

Here are the two main ideas we’ve got from the webcast-

1) The Internet collapses distances allowing small and medium businesses to reach a wider audience scattered around a larger geographic area (priviledge once reserved for large corporations only). Our application for example, allows users to post their messages on remote displays, located in their venues throughout the UK (and not only). Firewalker Gym displays its ads on screens in its locations as well as on those of its partners that have TV’s (a special type of that allow you to show your communications too along with news) in their premises.

2) ”We no longer live in one environment” meaning we should be able to move our data and communications across platforms, applications and devices. This will enable SMB’s to establish a harmonised communication strategy online, offline and, on-mobile.

If you wish to find out more about location- based communications and how can they help small businesses reach the right audience at the right time, download our whitepaper

If you’ve found this information useful, share it with others. We’d love to hear your comments about the trends above. Do you agree or disagree with these predictions?

See our 2011 Tech Trends Summary.

Press and sniff or the story of the scented ads

JCDecaux did it again. This time advertising Mccain’s ready baked potatoes on bus shelters across the UK. What’s special about these displays is the fact they allow people to ”feel the warmth” of baked potatoes- just the right thing to do given Britain’s cold weather. A great application of the right message- at the right place concept, we’d say. And to take the sensorial marketing experience to another level, the bus shelters also emanate the scent of…ready made jackets.

Warmth and baked potatoes scent at the touch of a button.

Now getting to the techy part- we’re told that there are 10 such installations across the country which consist of 2-foot high, fiberglass potato sculptures within a fullsize poster in the shelters.  The whole experience is triggered by simply pressing a button. So press and sniff.

Sunny ads that appear with sun

Brazilians are proving their advertising ingenuity by creating a display that shows a sunscreen ad only when the sun shines (meaning all day long for the lucky Brazilians) and a simple teaser message on a white background at night (you don’t really care about sun lotion at that time, do you?). The mosaic is made of  beads reacting to UV sun rays, providing vivid colours. The Brazilians explain the concept in the video below which, unfortunately, doesn’t have English subtitles (but if someone can translate it- feel free to use our comments box).

This project was developed by AgenciaClick Isobar.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sources: Mashable and Designboom

Industry leading publication-DailyDOOH signaled today the attrition war going on between Korean and Japanese display manufacturers, who are reporting huge losses for the last Q of 2011 (and not only). According to the publication, these companies are expected to launch a price war in 2012, which might be a worrying news for resellers and VAR’s.

Our brief ideas on the subject  are the following:

1) resellers could maintaining prices at current level (or by diminishing them slightly) in an effort to protect their margins. The problem with this strategy is that not all resellers will refrain from dropping prices  and those who don’t do the same, will end up being uncompetitive so they too will eventually cut prices;

2) small and medium businesses will be further encouraged to embrace digital signage or in their words, ‘to hang a screens on a wall” as the system becomes increasingly affordable for them. That’s not to say that SaaS digital signage is an expensive offer, as it was particularly designed to suit their needs (and financial potential) but the overall costs will be further decreased. Will this trend make digital signage so mainstream in the SMB’s area  that the decrease in display margins will become unnoticeable for  VAR’s/ resellers? Maybe, hopefully yes, but we can’t be sure.

3) at the higher end of the market, this price drop will probably entice brands to experiment with the technology (mainly those brands who haven’t done so yet).

Regarding the main question- is the price decrease a bad or a good thing? Its answer depends on the angle you’re addressing the problem from. We’re very curious about the final results of DailyDOOH’s poll and see what other industry fellows think. If we were to follow the advice of the wise Sun Tzu’s advice (famous Chinese war strategist) then attrition wars are to be avoided because of their effects.

P.S. The partial results of the above mentioned poll show that 73% of respondents share our opinion that the attrition war is detrimental to our industry while for 13%  of them this is of no concern. There’s not too much to comment on these findings as they are sort of in line with what we’ve said before. The main concern relates to endangered profits for both Asian manufacturers and their resellers.

In today’s difficult economic conditions, small businesses need to reinvent the way they communicate and advertise their products, with digital media increasingly becoming the media of choice.

Your screens, your message, your locations, your audience

Efficient and impactful communication solutions are not to be found online only as people are not sat at their desks all the time. ‘Fish where the fishes are’’ the old saying goes. In other words, follow your customers.

Yet, one must admit that social media networks and applications like Foursquare have enhanced the power of place-based advertising. By checking-in, consumers can receive discounts and have their loyalty towards a brand, a venue or a product rewarded. Being so cost-effective (or even free), companies of any size are implementing them to encourage customers or visitors to stop by and come back often.

Displayed on an indoor screen, the technology is far more impactful. Show people who has checked in, who is the mayor and who ousted whom and you’re instantly reminding them to signal their presence, take advantage of promotions and indirectly, advertise your business for free on their social networks.

Having your audience in your location is the ideal situation. You’ve not only got their physical presence but also their interest and attention in ‘’you’’ and what you have to say. Take advantage of this by prompting them to enquire, buy, visit a website, subscribe etc. No call-to-action will be stronger than one that can be followed through immediately. Businesses worldwide got this idea and modern communication platforms were thus put in place.

A Swedish supermarket used digital signage (represented by an LCD installed near the entrance) to encourage customers to check-in via their smartphones and make prices fall. The more check-ins gathered, the lower the price of a retailer- chosen product. The initiative spread on social media networks, reaching a much wider audience than just the supermarket’s clients.

Know where your customers are when not in your locations

‘’Know Thy Customer’’ is the golden rule of marketing. Part of this in-depth understanding process involves knowing which are the spots your audience gravitates around ( apart from your location, of course) and what does it do while there. If you’ve completed this stage you are then able to adapt your communications accordingly.

Spot the locations. These could be: nearby shops and offices or institutions like schools or local councils. Then target your audience there.

Targeted communications

Digital place-based advertising or communications are pointless if unrelated to the location and location- based interests of your audience. Generic messages to mass audiences are what television and newspapers are offering us for more than a century, we don’t need a new medium for doing just that.

Think of your audience’s mind frame when in a particular place and build your message around it. The core message may very well stay the same across all these places, but the tone should be personalised to your target audience’s location at that moment.

Networks of screens present the benefit of extending across locations. If you have a butcher shop, you might want to place an ad in the florist’s shop because that’s where your audience is to be found quite often. The florist might be interested in allowing you to display your ad because this would bring an extra- revenue for his/her business. Or if you sell cosmetics, you may want to get your message to a hairdresser’s shop, as you know its clients are likely to be interested in your offer. You probably won’t be very keen to approach the butcher for this service, though.

Not everybody and not all locations  

Digital place-based advertising is not about reaching everybody, but about reaching the right persons at the right time, with the right message. It’s about being tactical and mobile and as nomad as the 21^st century consumer is. Today’s technologies allow it.

Money matters

Cloud- computing and the decrease in LCD’s prices made digital signage (displays across locations) an affordable solution to businesses of all sizes that have something to say. Screens, unlike posters, can display a multitude of messages over a long period of time. Digital place- based media allows you to save on printing and manpower costs, as you don’t have to reprint ‘’the medium’’ when your message is outdated. All you have to do is re-upload it and then send in to remote displays in just a few mouse-clicks.

To find out more about how and why digital place- based media could help your business, download our whitepaper- Digital Signage for Beginners.

Or contact us today for a free consultation on the right digital signage solution for you. Click on the button below.

Smartphone apps have become a largely adopted form of outdoor entertainment, the study shows, 43% of the consumers admitting they spend 1 to 3 hours surfing the web or or using an app via their mobiles. The results support the hypothesis that the combination of the two mediums (outdoor media and the mobile) enhances advertising’s impact.

According to Richard Metcalf, Business Development Executive at Kinetic Worldwide, the study’s results confirm the fact that ”Out of Home formats can be utilised as effective touchpoints for mobile interactivity”.  He continues  ”We expect the integration of Out of Home media and digital marketing to be one of the key trends over the next decade”.

Kinetic Worldwide is an Out-Of-Home media agency that delivers market insights and analysis on consumers’ lifestyle and the environments they interact with to help brands connect and engage with their audiences.

Joule is a full-service international mobile marketing agency that provides its clients (among which worldwide renowned brands) with a full range of mobile marketing services.

About Kinetic Worldwide’s rolling UK Panel Study

Kinetic conducts regular online panel surveys to gauge how seasonal and one-off events will affect Britain on the move, in turn advising advertisers how this highly active audience can best be reached. The study covers more than 500 adults across the UK who are contacted on a quarterly basis.