"I am told that the clinical definition of insanity is the tendency to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results."
Whoever said this, might have been having a prescient moment, contemplating the current state of retail in the US. What seems to pass for creativity in display is video screens playing music videos. Many clothing retailers have perfectly good product, some of it really good, that goes unsold because they cannot attract enough customers.
Yet retailers continue to do the same old things, display-wise, over and over again, while watching their sales go down, and their competition (online retailers) eat their lunch.
Many are targeting a "younger demo", but the problem is that younger demo is extremely distracted, and putting your clothes on mannequins in the store window or interior simply does not attract attention to the product when your prospective customers are busy texting or talking or surfing on their smart phone.
HELLOOOHHH! Something bigger, better, more interesting and attention grabbing is due. Like yesterday.
Window Video Systems bridge this technology chasm between retail clothier's product and the technology-fascinated target audience. WVS brings the product to life, a la the Digital Mannequin. Digital Mannequin puts the clothes front and center, and displays them on moving "live" models so you can actually have an idea what they will look like on YOU.
Displaying clothing by hanging it on a rack, or even in the window, or putting it on a dummy, just won't cut it. It will not attract the eye, because, again, the target is already distracted, and the mall environment is already crowded with many of the same such displays. Your clothing cannot compete for attention all by itself!
Retailers need not limit themselves anymore, since Window Video Systems can provide all the flexibility they could want and then some. The Digital Mannequin provides superior "real life" display of the product, while simultaneously allowing the retailer to create sizzle with a myriad of potential effects, such as different backgrounds, the model moving, changing poses, acting natural, pricing, promos, and offers displayed alongside the model, etc., etc., etc. The potential for much more diverse types of messaging is there.
More importantly, the potential to completely transform retail store marketing and messaging into a strategy for producing direct and trackable sales results, just went through the roof.
Looknglas Window Video Systems exists to help retailers design their own cutting edge strategy for more effective POP display and Direct Response store marketing.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Why Retail Needs Window Video Systems
Retail really needs a helping hand. Internet sales are eating their lunch. The mall effect is not working as well as it once did. Retailers have lost the initiative to online sellers, and are not doing enough to retake the ground they have lost. But the reality is, they will always be viable if they adjust. They do have advantages over online sellers.
Some of those advantages are: You cannot try on clothes online. You cannot see how they will look on you. You can't see how they will fit on you. You can't tell how the clothing feels. You can't handle it. You can't see how it looks with other items, and on and on. So many important advantages. What does the internet offer?
Price and convenience. Sort of.
But the downsides are, you do have to use a credit card, exposing yourself to the dangers of online fraud, and you do have to wait for the clothes to arrive, and you do have to wait to find out any "surprises" that may require that you send the merchandise back, and importantly, you have no human assistance. And others as well.
Retailers need to fight this battle more effectively, and they simply haven't stepped up.
Window Video Systems can help them in many ways. WVS is a more powerful, attractive way for retailers to communicate with buyers. They can display much more merchandise. They can do it more effectively, with the Digital Mannequin, for example. Casual passersby can be quickly converted into buyers using the Digital Mannequin to attract their attention, show them how the products look (on a "live" model) and tell them instantly how much and what their sales incentive is (selling proposition). Then inside the store they can cement the sale with a touchscreen self-ordering system, so that they don't lose the sale and have the customer walk out just because they don't have the right size in stock.
Retailers can also use WVS to drive traffic instantly to their website and back again to the store with coupon downloads via cellphone or wireless offer. Retailers can start to win the game again, but they need to wake up and be willing to make the smart investment, instead of wasting money on things like LCD screens that play music videos. That kind of investment may add "ambience" but will drive them into financial oblivion.
Window Video Systems can and will revolutionize retail display and marketing, and produce tangible ROI. Will retailers have the eyes and the dollars and sense to see that for themselves? As a retail display professional, you need to take the initiative.
Call us, and let Looknglas help you design a winning Digital Signage solution. That's why we say "The Window Of Opportunity is Here."
Some of those advantages are: You cannot try on clothes online. You cannot see how they will look on you. You can't see how they will fit on you. You can't tell how the clothing feels. You can't handle it. You can't see how it looks with other items, and on and on. So many important advantages. What does the internet offer?
Price and convenience. Sort of.
But the downsides are, you do have to use a credit card, exposing yourself to the dangers of online fraud, and you do have to wait for the clothes to arrive, and you do have to wait to find out any "surprises" that may require that you send the merchandise back, and importantly, you have no human assistance. And others as well.
Retailers need to fight this battle more effectively, and they simply haven't stepped up.
Window Video Systems can help them in many ways. WVS is a more powerful, attractive way for retailers to communicate with buyers. They can display much more merchandise. They can do it more effectively, with the Digital Mannequin, for example. Casual passersby can be quickly converted into buyers using the Digital Mannequin to attract their attention, show them how the products look (on a "live" model) and tell them instantly how much and what their sales incentive is (selling proposition). Then inside the store they can cement the sale with a touchscreen self-ordering system, so that they don't lose the sale and have the customer walk out just because they don't have the right size in stock.
Retailers can also use WVS to drive traffic instantly to their website and back again to the store with coupon downloads via cellphone or wireless offer. Retailers can start to win the game again, but they need to wake up and be willing to make the smart investment, instead of wasting money on things like LCD screens that play music videos. That kind of investment may add "ambience" but will drive them into financial oblivion.
Window Video Systems can and will revolutionize retail display and marketing, and produce tangible ROI. Will retailers have the eyes and the dollars and sense to see that for themselves? As a retail display professional, you need to take the initiative.
Call us, and let Looknglas help you design a winning Digital Signage solution. That's why we say "The Window Of Opportunity is Here."
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Projected Digital Signage
Our company, Looknglas Window Video Systems, specializes in projected Digital Signage. We call it "Window Video Systems", which is our way of describing projected images on window or storefront glass.
Not a lot of people are out there doing this. In fact, although you can find websites for companies that specialize in rear projection, the ability to execute this type of imaging and messaging at a price point that companies are willing to spring for, is something that most integrators haven't seemed to arrive at. Don't get me wrong, there are people who have managed to sell installations here and there, but it doesn't appear that anyone has decided to make it their business.
We have, and whether that is a smart thing from a business perspective will be proven by history! The advantages that projected Digital Signage provide are: lower cost for size, and flexibility for size and location of the image. You simply cannot install an LCD screen in a business window without it looking like a tv stuck in the storefront. No matter how hi-def the image, people are going to have something of similar quality at home in their living room, so a great deal of the power of the effect is lost.
Moving, video images, directly on glass, now that's cool, and worth stopping to look at. When the image shows you how good you're going to look in these clothes, and how little it will cost you, now that's a money-maker!
We have a clear, linear model for how projected Digital Signage, and Window Video Systems, will make money and drive sales for the retailer. The ability to demonstrate how these systems go beyond the "wow" factor, and actually produce revenues is essential.
That is our mission. We think we are on track so far.
Not a lot of people are out there doing this. In fact, although you can find websites for companies that specialize in rear projection, the ability to execute this type of imaging and messaging at a price point that companies are willing to spring for, is something that most integrators haven't seemed to arrive at. Don't get me wrong, there are people who have managed to sell installations here and there, but it doesn't appear that anyone has decided to make it their business.
We have, and whether that is a smart thing from a business perspective will be proven by history! The advantages that projected Digital Signage provide are: lower cost for size, and flexibility for size and location of the image. You simply cannot install an LCD screen in a business window without it looking like a tv stuck in the storefront. No matter how hi-def the image, people are going to have something of similar quality at home in their living room, so a great deal of the power of the effect is lost.
Moving, video images, directly on glass, now that's cool, and worth stopping to look at. When the image shows you how good you're going to look in these clothes, and how little it will cost you, now that's a money-maker!
We have a clear, linear model for how projected Digital Signage, and Window Video Systems, will make money and drive sales for the retailer. The ability to demonstrate how these systems go beyond the "wow" factor, and actually produce revenues is essential.
That is our mission. We think we are on track so far.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Making a buck in the Digital Age
There is so much cool technology out there. So many different ways to create an effect. It sounds strange, but to me, LCD screens seem almost quaint. After all, the effect, in most cases is pretty much like a tv mounted somewhere in business. When you get to larger sizes, then the effect is like the screens in sports stadiums. So here you have this emerging giant, Digital Signage, awakening, and yet the available technology for delivery is actually far beyond what most businesses will be purchasing for quite some time.
The point is, technology has already far outstripped the market's willingness to buy. It is not merely a matter of familiarity, but more important, a necessity to make your systems cost effective to the user/buyer. This is where a lot of the leading edge stuff (touch screens, wifi integrated screens and projections) lose their way, (in this writer's opinion.) You can never forget what is in the customer's mind:
"How does this make me money?"
Your DOOH system had better be good at helping your client make money, in an easy to understand way, or you will have a tough time selling the systems on a repeated, broad basis. So you are not just in the hardware sales business, and you are not just in the digital advertising business, you are in the Business Development business. Get used to it. And adjust your sales and presentation methods accordingly. That is the key to survival and growth in this economy. Which, by the way, is not going to return to the "good old days" anytime soon.
Digital Signage has an immense potential to generate sales and move product for business, but we have to show them how the technology will do that.
The point is, technology has already far outstripped the market's willingness to buy. It is not merely a matter of familiarity, but more important, a necessity to make your systems cost effective to the user/buyer. This is where a lot of the leading edge stuff (touch screens, wifi integrated screens and projections) lose their way, (in this writer's opinion.) You can never forget what is in the customer's mind:
"How does this make me money?"
Your DOOH system had better be good at helping your client make money, in an easy to understand way, or you will have a tough time selling the systems on a repeated, broad basis. So you are not just in the hardware sales business, and you are not just in the digital advertising business, you are in the Business Development business. Get used to it. And adjust your sales and presentation methods accordingly. That is the key to survival and growth in this economy. Which, by the way, is not going to return to the "good old days" anytime soon.
Digital Signage has an immense potential to generate sales and move product for business, but we have to show them how the technology will do that.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Fatal Attraction
I like that title because it's catchy, but in reality, for retailers, creating attraction is their life blood. You can't sell product until you figure out how to attract customers. This is true online, and it's more true in the brick and mortar world than ever before.
Window Video Systems (WVS) is one of the most powerful methods of attraction to come along in a long time. There are few things in today's retail environment as dynamic and visually powerful as a well implemented Digital Window Display featuring product in use, directly on the storefront window. Our Digital Mannequin concept is a great example of this. Why would a retailer be satisfied with putting clothes on a lifeless, static, motionless dummy, (with or without hair, makeup, facial or other anatomically correct features) when they can have a "live" video model showing off the product in its entirety, along with accessories, with the outfits changing repeatedly?
(See Youtube Digital Mannequin video:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO7upknEiGk
WVS and specifically, Digital Mannequin, are extremely potent when combined with the right imagery, promotional content, and selling propositions. Anything you can do with video, can now be put directly onto the storefront window, in large scale. The Digital Signage industry is throwing confetti over the ability to put tv screens (LCDs, video walls, etc.) in businesses, but even the largest of those types of screens shrink down in the actual retail environment. WVS allows the retailer to go large, and right out front, affordably, with much simpler equipment install.
WVS puts the product, and the selling message front and center where they belong, in large scale. THAT'S how you attract business!
Window Video Systems (WVS) is one of the most powerful methods of attraction to come along in a long time. There are few things in today's retail environment as dynamic and visually powerful as a well implemented Digital Window Display featuring product in use, directly on the storefront window. Our Digital Mannequin concept is a great example of this. Why would a retailer be satisfied with putting clothes on a lifeless, static, motionless dummy, (with or without hair, makeup, facial or other anatomically correct features) when they can have a "live" video model showing off the product in its entirety, along with accessories, with the outfits changing repeatedly?
(See Youtube Digital Mannequin video:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO7upknEiGk
WVS and specifically, Digital Mannequin, are extremely potent when combined with the right imagery, promotional content, and selling propositions. Anything you can do with video, can now be put directly onto the storefront window, in large scale. The Digital Signage industry is throwing confetti over the ability to put tv screens (LCDs, video walls, etc.) in businesses, but even the largest of those types of screens shrink down in the actual retail environment. WVS allows the retailer to go large, and right out front, affordably, with much simpler equipment install.
WVS puts the product, and the selling message front and center where they belong, in large scale. THAT'S how you attract business!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
How to Transform a Car Dealership
There are not a lot of things a business can consider, short of remodeling, that will completely transform the physical appearance and perception of their business, without killing their budget.
Window Video Systems strategically placed, in large scale on the windows throughout the dealership, will do exactly that. If you look at the photo in this blog, you can see how the digital image of the car is lighting up the window over the showroom door. What you can't see, is the customer's reaction, and what they are thinking as they walk up.
"Wow! That's cool!"
Creating a very positive impression as your customer walks in your door is huge. The same is true for literally any retail business, and even some non-retail situations where the customer or client's first impression is essential to the transaction.
Even one Window Video System, strategically placed front and center for the customer's viewing, will create a completely different and more positive impression of the business and it's products, services, and even people. An essential key is the content of the WVS display. Video is great, movement is attractive, but a really good presentation of image along with a strong selling proposition is what drives sales and profit. I leave the marketing analysis to people who like that; numbers and data without transactions don't excite me. But this is a system and method that can and will drive sales, and dealers are starting to sit up and notice. If every window in a dealership is working to convince that customer of why buying now is a good idea, sales are going to go up. That's why we say, "The Window of Opportunity is Here."
Window Video Systems strategically placed, in large scale on the windows throughout the dealership, will do exactly that. If you look at the photo in this blog, you can see how the digital image of the car is lighting up the window over the showroom door. What you can't see, is the customer's reaction, and what they are thinking as they walk up.
"Wow! That's cool!"
Creating a very positive impression as your customer walks in your door is huge. The same is true for literally any retail business, and even some non-retail situations where the customer or client's first impression is essential to the transaction.
Even one Window Video System, strategically placed front and center for the customer's viewing, will create a completely different and more positive impression of the business and it's products, services, and even people. An essential key is the content of the WVS display. Video is great, movement is attractive, but a really good presentation of image along with a strong selling proposition is what drives sales and profit. I leave the marketing analysis to people who like that; numbers and data without transactions don't excite me. But this is a system and method that can and will drive sales, and dealers are starting to sit up and notice. If every window in a dealership is working to convince that customer of why buying now is a good idea, sales are going to go up. That's why we say, "The Window of Opportunity is Here."
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
What is a Window Video System?
In a nutshell, a Window Video System (WVS) is a system, typically, rear projection, whereby a business can display moving images directly onto window glass. Another way to describe it is, what if your posters or banners which hang in your windows, could change their messages? What if the messages could move?
The power and effectiveness of that type of signage and messaging would be enormous. It is many times more powerful and effective than static signs, posters or banners. It is much more attention grabbing than digital readouts. It is even much more exciting and interesting, more attention-grabbing, than LCD screens which have become popular in businesses.
We use projectors, strategically mounted to project images on window panes, which have been specially treated. Then we use digital players, activated by a programmed timer, and fed images and video data via digital signage control systems over the internet. This allows us to load images and messages, and manage and control them remotely. Lastly, we provide video/signage graphics, production, and management services.
There is no one out there, that we know of, besides Looknglas WVS, who is doing this.
The advantages are significant.
Businesses can message LARGER. (Large LCD screens are prohibitively costly.)
Businesses can message MORE. You are limited primarily by the hours in the day.
Businesses can message BETTER. Messages, phrases, sales incentives, discounts, images, product education, etc. call all be accomplished in real time with the one system.
Businesses can message in MORE DEPTH.
Businesses can CHANGE MESSAGES QUICKLY. This is simply a matter of planning, or close communication with the management team.
Businesses can DISPLAY MORE EFFECTIVELY. Imagine being able to display all of your inventory!
Businesses can RESPOND QUICKLY TO MARKET CHANGES.
Businesses can ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS.
Businesses can MOTIVATE AND PRE-CONDITION CUSTOMERS.
In fact, Window Video Systems are virtually infinitely superior to traditional signage methods.
When Business figures out these advantages there will be a rush to implement WVS. Fortunately, even as we speak, component pricing are dropping quickly, which makes WVS even more cost effective relative to LCD technology.
WVS is the future of Signage.
The power and effectiveness of that type of signage and messaging would be enormous. It is many times more powerful and effective than static signs, posters or banners. It is much more attention grabbing than digital readouts. It is even much more exciting and interesting, more attention-grabbing, than LCD screens which have become popular in businesses.
We use projectors, strategically mounted to project images on window panes, which have been specially treated. Then we use digital players, activated by a programmed timer, and fed images and video data via digital signage control systems over the internet. This allows us to load images and messages, and manage and control them remotely. Lastly, we provide video/signage graphics, production, and management services.
There is no one out there, that we know of, besides Looknglas WVS, who is doing this.
The advantages are significant.
Businesses can message LARGER. (Large LCD screens are prohibitively costly.)
Businesses can message MORE. You are limited primarily by the hours in the day.
Businesses can message BETTER. Messages, phrases, sales incentives, discounts, images, product education, etc. call all be accomplished in real time with the one system.
Businesses can message in MORE DEPTH.
Businesses can CHANGE MESSAGES QUICKLY. This is simply a matter of planning, or close communication with the management team.
Businesses can DISPLAY MORE EFFECTIVELY. Imagine being able to display all of your inventory!
Businesses can RESPOND QUICKLY TO MARKET CHANGES.
Businesses can ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS.
Businesses can MOTIVATE AND PRE-CONDITION CUSTOMERS.
In fact, Window Video Systems are virtually infinitely superior to traditional signage methods.
When Business figures out these advantages there will be a rush to implement WVS. Fortunately, even as we speak, component pricing are dropping quickly, which makes WVS even more cost effective relative to LCD technology.
WVS is the future of Signage.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Digital Signage - The Wave is Building
When I'm surfing, it's a lot harder to catch a wave that is not yet ready to break. The key to catching a lot of waves is to get in position and paddle hard right before the wave is ready to break. If you try to catch the wave before it's about to break, you'll do a lot of paddling, and not much catching. If you try to catch it after it's already broken, the energy from the breaking crest and all the whitewater will knock you down, roll over you, and leave you behind.
You have to catch the wave just before it crests.
Digital Signage is a wave that's building, and almost ready to crest. It's almost ready to break. Looknglas, a company devoted to Window Video Systems, and rear projection, is positioning and "paddling hard" (to continue the metaphor.)
Window Video Systems are our proprietary term for what we do: We make video and moving messages appear directly on windows.
Ordinarily, if you were to try to project an image on a window, the light would simply pass through the glass and no one would notice. We treat the glass so that the glass holds the image in bright, hi-contrast, and we use various technologies to manage the projection system. In essence, you don't want a display system you have to turn on and off. Ours does that by itself. And as a retailer, you don't really want to have to become a Digital Signage manager; we do that for you. And you don't want to have to render video, or convert images, or create new moving images, you just want the thing to do what you want it to do. We provide the creative and production and management services to make Window Video Systems work. That might sound expensive, but it's really not. We have distilled the technology and methodology down to a tight, no-hassle system and service. Kind of like having a website built, updated and managed/hosted for you. Yeah, all that costs, something, but when you use it right---it's very worth it.
Looknglas Window Video Systems far outstrip posters, banners, and window paint. They are far superior to LCD screens. How? We can go much larger, and we become more inexpensive the larger we go, in contrast to LCD. We also are superior in that we provide the full array of service to make the system work well for the client/business.
Window Video Systems represent a completely new medium that will be with us for a long time to come. These systems allow for a much more accurate and comprehensive display of product, as well as sales or even educational messaging that changes and updates ongoing. Business has no category for window video systems, but they will learn to love them. This is a wave that will roll for a long time, and it's gonna be one heck of a ride.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Retail Display
There are all kinds of ways people do retail display. Window displays, signs, posters, neon signs, Digital signage, LCD screens, video walls, mannequins, product racks, on and on and on. Most of them aren't very exciting in their execution, which of course, is more critical even, than the medium itself. But if you don't have a good medium, your method suffers, and your message gets hurt even worse: mangled, strangled, tangled, dissed, missed, lost, tossed, and all at great cost. People just won't consider your message if it isn't executed well, and DELIVERED well.
That's why we came up with Window Video Systems. For many years people would plaster posters or banners in their business windows, or sometimes, even paint their windows. Many car dealerships and other retailers still do this. Boy, talk about cheesy. But if the message is right enough, or motivating enough, it will overcome the cheesy delivery system and method.
But Hey, this is 2010---why live with Cheesy if you don't have to?
Window Video Systems put your business message right on the glass of your storefront window. Amazing. Awesome. Cool. Interesting. Attractive. Eye-catching, attention-grabbing, flat-out better. Moving, changing messages on your window. MOVING. CHANGING.
Get it? You are able to do a much better job of conveying your message to potential customers. Imagine being able to display every single item in your inventory, right in your window on a rotating basis!
Window Video Systems use rear projection, video, wireless, the internet, digital signage control, and various other elements to accomplish this, but the end result is that now your business can display product and messages, large scale, on a changing basis, with movement, color and sizzle right on your storefront. Why wouldn't you want that?!!!
Imagine, a Digital Mannequin? Yeah, actual live-looking models modeling clothing, accessories, and other products right in the storefront window. Oh, hey! We have that on our website! Did I mention it's affordable?
As a retail, signage, digital signage, advertising professional, you need to know about Looknglas Window Video Systems. Message us, call us, or check out Looknglas' Youtube videos.
Attention Investors: We are interested in the right "Angel Investor" relationship.
Thing One
"In the beginning was the Word..."
I don't want to in any way compare what we do to the meaning of that phrase, but from a business messaging standpoint, it is very illustrative of the importance of your message. It is the articulated word that defines an entity, or an endeavor.
If you don't have the right word or message for who or what you are, everything else suffers, often fatally.
This is why your message must be right. This is why you continue to work on it, refine it, hone it, grow it, distill it.
Because nothing valuable happens without doing that. Say what you will, do what you will, if you start with the wrong message, you are working uphill with an avalanche coming at you. Business is challenging enough as it is, with competition breathing down your neck, or worse, eating your lunch. So get your message right, and get it out there pointedly, targeted, aggressively, consistently, repeatedly. Do it right. Do it better. Do it louder. Do it more.
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