What They're Not Telling You

When it comes to Visual Messages, particularly in DS and DOOH, people don't tell you when you suck.

Nobody calls you up and says, "Hey, that screen in the airport?  You know the graphic with the -------, that one?  It really blows.  I was so uninterested, I didn't even pay attention!"

You get no feedback on ineffective messaging.

This allows for a great deal of ineffective content to flow right on our there into the space, giving your display, the location where it's deployed, anyone who works there that's close by, and of course you and your company, and the Digital Signage industry generally, A BAD NAME!

Poor visual content and method are responsible for a lot of the fails in this industry.  DON'T CONTRIBUTE TO IT!

This display is a good example of bad.  You'll notice that not one person even looks.  The image doesn't grab you.  It's very faint.  When you finally do notice (which in this case, could be never,) the images don't convey anything specific or relevant.  That is a bad thing for DS or DOOH.  Don't blame the hardware, or the software, or the location.  Blame the execution and complete lack of relevant content.

Develop campaigns that are trackable, and then work on the message.  Tweak it.  Don't settle for the status quo.  Don't assume that it's good enough, or that the results you get are the limit of effectiveness for that campaign.  With visual messaging, it's not always the proposition (or lack of one.)  Sometimes it's the method or style of the visuals surrounding the message.

A great deal more attention needs to be paid to testing the effectiveness, and then understanding why certain visual messages are effective.  In my view, this is an area where DOOH needs to focus a lot more attention.  It's not just about the hardware, placement, software, or management.  It's how that message content is put together and knowing, to the greatest degree possible why a message works or doesn't work.  For that you need measurement and analysis.

You want to make money in DS?  Understanding your content and why it produces the result it does is key to ensuring profitability.

Projected Digital Signage II

Projections in store windows are attention-grabbing.  It's one of the most exciting display methods available in the market today.

Except when you can't find someone to install one for you.
Except when you realize that having exciting images is something you have to pay for.
Except when you discover that not all video content is created equal.
Except when you discover there is more to buying a projector than you realized.
Except when you discover that there's more to installing that projector than you realized.
Except when you discover that most projectors are rather expensive to own, especially replacing their lamps every few months (because you wanted to actually USE your window video system every day!
Except when you realize that someone has to turn the system on and off every day.
Except when you realize that someone (you) has to come up with the design and flow of the visual content so that it's not just the same darn thing everyday, all day.
Except when you realize that finding a rear projection screen provider (in your area) is not that easy.
Except when you realize that finding and putting all this stuff together is ----ing expensive!!!
Except when you realize that finding the right hardware/software system to more easily manage your system is time-consuming and expensive!
Except,
Except,
Except.....

The purpose is not to discourage you.  Take heart!  We have figured all of this out for you.  Window video systems by Looknglas are:

Affordable
Easy to install
Low (hardware) maintenance
Easy to use (we create and manage your messages for you!)
Green (enviro-friendly, saving paper, no lamp replacement, low energy consumption, no mercury in the lamp.)
Flexible
Powerful (able to display virtually unlimited images and messages!)
Awesome and exciting (see Digital Mannequin and Oakley Store videos.)

The possibilities are endless for retail display, in particular.  Designers and Visual Merchandisers are adapting and adopting.  The ability to show whatever you want, when you want, and change or add to the messaging is an absolute game-changer.  So much so, that even the bigger chains are looking at it, and talking about implementing.  (See article below.)

http://www.businessinsider.com/macys-announces-digital-mannequins-2012-5

Put your store on the map this holiday season.

The "I" effect on Digital Signage

I love my iPhone.  Ipad owners love their iPads.  Ipod users love their iPods.

You know why that is?  Because they're great products: they're well-designed and they work great and do more than you really need them to, but it's great just knowing they can do all that cool stuff.

Digital Signage and Digital Out of Home devices have only partial coolness.  The technology is usually pretty good, but content and ease of use, as well as method, are hit and miss.

That is the great burden which we must bear and find ways to ease:  we live in a generation that is conditioned to unbelievably great products like what Apple has produced and ubiquitously popularized, so everything and everyone else has to try to measure up.  This is a heavy burden indeed.

With DS and DOOH there are very very few places you can go to receive the type of integrated great end result for purposes like retail, at a cost effective price.  The hardware company wants to sell their components, the SaaS or Signage management company wants to sell you their system, the integrator wants to tell you they can put it all together for you, and the content provider wants sell you on their content capabilities.  Imagine if iPhones were sold that way.

You'll argue that apps have to be sold or downloaded separately.  True, but the devices themselves come with so many useful apps and valuable capability, and then the downloading of free apps is so easy, that DS and DOOH pale by comparison.  It is not a end-user-friendly proposition, especially for retailers.

But that is what it needs to be.  Discovering the right level of user tolerance and acceptance/ease-of-use is the task.

I put it to you retail merchandisers:  What would you expect to pay for a Digital Signage solution that was easy for you to use on a daily basis in your store window?  More specifically, what would you expect to pay for a window video system, like a Digital Mannequin, such as the one shown here:

Or such as the one depicted here in the Oakley store:

I would be interested in all your thoughts on pricing such systems.  Let me know!

Measure! Measure! Measure!

"If you don't measure it, you're not serious about it."  I heard Tony Robbins say that, and I believe, oh yes, I believe.

BUT, what you spend your time (and money) on measuring is a critical distinction.  So many are focused and measuring eyeballs, footfalls and what-all other traffic-related metrics.  Fine and dandy.  Those will possibly do you some good when trying to sell to agencies.  But you will not convince me (or them) that those metrics are all you need in order to steer their placement dollars your way.

That's the same school as those enamored of "page views" and clicks.

Big deal.  Is there value to know that?  Sure.  Will it help you sell more?  Possibly.  But once again, I mount my hobby horse and ride across the digital landscape sounding the alarm, waking the sleepers to the critical task at hand:  "ROI!  ROI, ROI!!!"

More and more, companies are prioritizing action and transaction based metrics.  This is why "engagement" has become so popular, but it too, can be a mere siren, luring the unsuspecting DOOH investor and network owner onto the rocks of wasted investment and even business failure due to insufficient ROI.

Action, and better yet, transaction is highest and best.  If all you can manage is traffic, then measure as much and as deep as you can.  But if you can create a metric for action and transaction related measurement, which is more of a marketing/sales related function, then that is where the investment in time and money are better spent.  Develop trackable campaigns and messaging.  Promote engagement via mobile, tactile or best of all POP purchasing action.  Be sure, when you can to propose dedicated selling propositions, something which can only be attributed to the action coming as a result of seeing your visual deployment.

Carefully tracking those actions and their financial value is paramount.  Dollars always compare favorably to digital increments like impressions or views.

"15% off all women's left shoes" placed only on your screens, is a message that is trackable.  The only way anyone asks for that, you know, is if they saw it on your screen, since it is a unique message.  This is what is meant by a "dedicated offer".

Always use dedicated offers whenever possible and ensure that your tracking system is sound (that you have a reliable way of capturing that data.)  That is where you gain the edge in selling (advertising, and more displays) with your DOOH displays.