14374262-Digital-Signage-Transportation-Industry

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Developed and Published by:

A Guide from Digital Signage Today

INSIDE: Airports are leading the way with digital arrival/departure boards, digital

signs in terminal restaurants and new methods of airport advertising, but the rest of

the transportation industry is catching up. Find out what has worked, what hasn’t and

find out what you need to know for your next deployment.

Sponsored by:

Digital Signage in the

Transportation Industry

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Contents

Page 3 About the sponsors

Page 4 Introduction |

Page 5 Chapter 1 | An overview of digital signage

Cost/benet analysis

How it affects the business process

Why is it so challenging?

Content delivery: Wired vs. wireless

Unique features of digital signage networks

Page 9 Chapter 2 | Digital signage at the airport

The arrival and departure board, reinvented

The importance of real-time messaging at the airport

Communicating with travelers

Advertising in airports with digital signage

Case study: ADFLOW Nuance Duty-free shops

Page 21 Chapter 3 | Digital signage on public transportation

Displaying advertisements

Taxi digital signage gets the green light

Building the perfect screen layout

Incorporation of RSS feedsContent and live TV implications

N.Y. cabbies threaten strike over digital signs in cabs

Case study: London Underground video network

Page 34 Chapter 4 | Digital signage on the road

The controversy over digital billboards

Digital billboards and advertising on the road

Ask the expert: What is your opinion on digital billboards?

Pump-top displays come of age

Page 39 Appendix | Additional reading

2



3

About the sponsors

Published by NetWorld Alliance.

© 2008 www.networldalliance.com

Written and edited by Bill Yackey, editor, Digital Signage Today

Dick Good, CEO

Tom Harper, president and publisher

Bob Fincher, executive vice president and general manager, Technology Division

Joseph Grove, senior vice president and associate publisher

LG Electronics, Inc., is a global leader and technological innovator inthe fields of consumer electronics and mobile communications. With

more than 82,000 employees throughout the world, LG is a leading

provider of LCDs, plasma screens, OLED modules and LED projectors.

As established digital technologies continue to improve and new

ones emerge, LG is committed to being on the forefront of the latest

developments in digital signage.

Digital Signage Today, operated by Louisville, Ky.-based NetWorld

Alliance, is the leading online publisher of news and information on the

emerging world of digital signage, dynamic messaging and cutting-edge

business communication technologies. The content, which is updated

every business day and read by professionals around the world, is

provided free of charge to readers.



T o see the impact of digitalsignage on the transportation

industry, a traveler doesn’t have

to look far. On the way to the airport, he

sees digital billboards lining the highway,

changing their messages every 20 sec-

onds or so. When he stops to get gas,

he is entertained by weather and news

reports from a pump-top video screen.

Once at the airport, he checks the ar-

rival/departure board, which is displayed

on multiple at screens. As he waits in

the terminal, he engages in interactive

touchscreen advertising. And once he

lands and gets in a taxi, a rear-seat digi-

tal sign shows him where he is via GPS

and shows ads for local restaurants.

While writing this guide, I experienced

that chain of events several times. I was

able to chronicle the digital signage ap-

plications I saw while in Paris’ Gare du

Nord and London’s St. Pancras stations,

Chicago O’Hare Airport, Las Vegas

McCarran Airport, New York LaGuardia

Airport and the world’s busiest airport,

London Heathrow. On the ground, I

spent a considerable amount of time

in New York taxis and on the London

Underground, both of which utilize digi-

tal signage in unique ways, as we will

explore later.

In this guide, we will focus on ways the

travel industry is using digital signage

to make the experience easier for its

customers, and technology that digital

© 2008 NetWorld Alliance Media | Sponsored by LG Electronics, Inc. 4

Introduction

signage compa-nies are designing

to capitalize on

those opportuni-

ties.

We would like to

thank LG Elec-

tronics for their

sponsorship of

this guide, which

allows us to provide it to you free of

charge.

Bill Yackey, editor

Digital Signage Today

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I n a world where at-screen moni-tors are beginning to take over CRT

televisions, the de facto standard for

visual communication thus far, it some-

times can be difcult to pinpoint the

exact denition of digital signage.

A at screen on top of a gas pump run-

ning advertisements? Yes.

A at screen in my house on which I

watch TV? No.

A at screen in an airport running live

television? Maybe.

As you can see, the lines are blurred,

but this denition seems to encompass

the generalities of digital signage: Digital

signage is any form of business com-

munication where a dynamic messaging

device is used to take the place of, or supplement, other forms of messaging.

Cost/benet analysis

Until very recently, placing a at screen,

much less a network of many at

screens, simply wasn’t viable or cost-

effective. Screens were too expensive,

too big and wore out too quickly. The

ROI wasn’t strong enough.

But the LCD/plasma revolution changed,

and still is changing, all of that. Screens

are so affordable they can rival the

printing costs of static posters over the

course of time; they are thin and can

hang on a wall (which means no more

Chapter 1 An overview of digital signage

CRT monitors hanging from the ceilingon sketchy mounts); they can communi-

cate with computer networks and fetch

new content, eliminating the days of em-

ployees trotting from screen to screen

with armloads of VCR tapes.

How it affects the

business process

Some of the ways digital signage is be-ing used today include:

In airports and bus stations, keeping

travelers up-to-date on arrival and de-

parture times while providing an adver-

tising vehicle for shops, restaurants and

hotels.

Because digital signage has become so versatile and afford-

able, it is used in many venues. In banks, digital signs display

interest rates and product information, as well as lifestyle mes-

sages and branding.

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CHAPTER 1 An overview of digital signage

In retail, communicating with custom-

ers about in-store specials, directing

customers to other parts of the store,

managing trafc and hotspots and con-

veying brand messages.

In banks, displaying interest rates and

product information, as well as lifestyle

messages and branding.

In casinos and entertainment venues,

creating a customer experience that is

consistent with the ambiance and atmo-

sphere of excitement.

In doctors’ ofces and waiting rooms,

providing entertainment to bored pa-

tients while giving an ad vehicle to

pharmaceutical companies and other

providers.

In schools and on corporate campus-es, facilitating a level of communication

between parties that would have been

unthinkable just a few years ago.

The list goes on, and grows every day.

Virtually any place that has printed

signage bus shelters and payphone

booths, shopping malls, the tops of gas

pumps has the potential to improve

its worth with an upgrade to digital, dy-namic messaging.

Despite all the progress that has been

made, digital signage still is a very com-

plex proposition for the company install-

ing it. Mike White, president of systems

integration rm Multi-Media Solutions,

called digital signage “one of the tough-est A/V installs in the world.”

Why is it so challenging?

On the surface, our denition might make

digital signage seem like simplicity itself.

After all, most everyone has a television

set in his home and, in most cases, that

set was installed by the person who

bought it. Take it home, plug it in, turn it

on that’s all there is to it, right?

In the case of televisions and homes,

yes, that usually is all there is to it,

although even this is changing as the

evolving nature of home theater be-

comes more and more complex. But dy-

namic signage in the business environ-

ment is exponentially more complicated,

for a number of reasons:

The content strategy usually needs to

be tackled from scratch. Digital signage

content has a completely new set of re-

quirements; existing media assets often

provide a good starting point, but none

of them can be reused outright.

Content needs will vary across the

enterprise. In all but the simplest digital

signage deployments, multiple screensizes and orientations are used and

a 42-inch screen in landscape mode

calls for very different content than a

32-inch screen in portrait. The greater

the number of screens in the network,

the greater the organizational challenge

for content.

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Multiple networks might be involved.

The most benecial digital signage

products touch one or more networks. At

retail, for instance, the signage network

might be designed to communicate with

the POS network, in order to gauge

content effectiveness versus sales. But

getting any two (or more) networks to

communicate is an IT challenge, and it

increases with the number of networks

and nodes involved.

Very different business disciplines are

at work. Digital signage appears on the

surface to be an IT project. And yet it

also is a marketing initiative. The rub?

It’s both, and calls for some real team-

work and sharing of duties.

Content delivery:

Wired vs. wirelessOne of the major decisions that digital

signage deployers are faced with has

to do with connectivity. How are all the

screens in the network going to be con-

nected?

A popular choice to date has been to

use a hard-wired intranet system simi-

lar to a local area network (LAN) in an

ofce. All screens are connected usingCat 5 Ethernet cables and have access

to the Internet. Some screens can lose

the wires and be connected using Wi-Fi

wireless connections.

But a new movement in this space may

prove especially effective for digital sig-

nage deployments in the transportation

sector. Cellular digital signage allows

screens to be connected to a networkeven when placed at long distances.

Unlike Wi-Fi, the connection is made

through frequencies that our cell phones

use.

“A cellular-based network provides all of

the advantages of Ethernet and Wi-Fi

without getting tangled up in compli-

cated infrastructure,” said Keith Kelsen,

CEO of worldwide marketing for Media-Tile Company. “There are no cables.

There are no hubs and servers. We not

only believe it’s the best option we

think that any solution that offers zero

in-store or on-site wireless technology

is the only option and the real future of

connectivity.”

“A cellular-based network providesall of the advantages of Ethernet

and Wi-Fi without getting tangled

up in complicated infrastructure.”

Keith Kelsen, CEO of worldwide marketing, The MediaTile Company

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Unique features of digital signage networks

Place is known. Because the loca-

tion of any display will be known,

this information can be used to

make the content more appropri-

ate to the place. If a display is near

one particular product, the con-

tent on the display can be crafted

strategically with this in mind. Forexample, the content could pro-

mote that product or its benets,

create an appropriate mind set

(ambiance, reminder) or promote a

complementary product or service

available elsewhere. Another as-

pect of “place” that is quite rel-

evant is the fact that often a dis-

play is near the point of purchase.

A great deal of research has shown

that advertisements near the point

of purchase are far more effective.

Although the size of this effect and

the explanation for why it happens

are controversial, it is clear that

point-of-purchase information has a

massive impact on behavior.

Time is known. Because a digi-

tal signage network is controlled

by a computer system, content is“served” as a function of time of

day. For example, content aimed at

business travelers might be shown

at an airport on Monday mornings

and family-aimed content might be

shown Friday afternoons.

Events are known. Information

related to the fusion of time and

place can also be known. For ex-

ample, current weather conditions

can be known. The trafc ow can

be known. The specics of an event

can be known (concert, sale, ight

delay). Such information and itsuse is limited only by the creativ-

ity of the digital signage network

designers.

Audience is known. Because time

and place are known, audience de-

mographic and psychographic infor-

mation can be well specied. This

allows for highly relevant “narrow-

casting” that should speak directly

to the audience at that moment.

Content is dynamic. Having dy-

namic, digital content has numer-

ous advantages over other forms of

advertising. Compared to print, the

content creation/distribution pro-

cess is more rapid and less costly.

Also, the content can be custom-

ized and tailored “on the y” to

each display device separately.

Finally, the medium allows for ani-mation and, in the case of kiosks,

interactive opportunities.

(Excerpted from “Digital Signage Networks:

Theory, Psychology and Strategy” by Pixel

Inspiration Ltd., reprinted with permission.)

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Just as airports have become some of the most fertile places

for digital signage to grow, the arrival and departure boards in

airport terminals scream digital signage opportunity.

Chapter 2 Digital signage at the airport

I n the past 10 years, the travel industry has been one of the leading sectors

of digital signage and self-service

expansion. Leading that vertical is the

airport industry, which has automated

travel processes and used these technolo-

gies to speed up the entire travel process.

When people outside of the industry dis-

cuss digital signage and self-service ap-

plications, their conversations often turn

to examples in the airport setting. After

all, more variations on the technologies

exist inside the walls of airports than in

most places.

Airports have discovered that the tra-

ditional way of traveling calling an

airline to book a ticket, checking in at

the terminal, security point and gate and

referring to an analog-style ight board

could be improved greatly by the useof digital signage and kiosks.

Simply put, airlines and airport authori-

ties realized (and still are realizing) that

those robot-like tasks didn’t require

humans. For processes such as booking

and checking in to a ight, it is becoming

unnecessary to have an airline employ-

ee assist customers.

Traveling is a matter of getting people

places as fast and efciently as pos-

sible. Digital signage is emerging as a

way of enhancing that travel experience

from a customer point of view, while

making the process easier for airport

and airline employees.

Dynamic messaging on screens is

aesthetically pleasing for travelers, but

it serves a more important purpose of

conveying updated ight and airport

information to them, which is critical inthe fast-paced airport setting. For airport

authorities, digital signage can make for

a safer and more secure environment,

as well as aid the constant ow of trafc

in the terminals.

The arrival and departure

board, reinvented

Just as airports have become some of the most fertile places for digital sig-

nage to grow, the arrival and departure

boards in airport terminals scream digital

signage opportunity. Traditionally, these

boards were mechanical and ipped

ight numbers around in a rotating

fashion. They were updated by airline

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CHAPTER 2 Digital signage at the airport

employees, and each board had to bechanged individually when a ight was

delayed or changed. Some European

train stations still use this method.

The next advancement for airport arrival

boards was LED light boards, which, like

digital signage, can be updated remotely.

One of the biggest disadvantages to the

light boards is that they aren’t visually

appealing to the traveler. Generally, the

lights spell out the ight names and de-

parture/arrival times in bright red and

green set against a black background.

When the lights appear in a moving ticker

format, the words become harder to read.

Nonetheless, the LED arrival board can

be found in most airports around the

country. The state of arrival boards lies

somewhere between LED and digital,

with larger airports moving to digitalsignage faster than smaller ones.

The next step of digital signage being

used as arrival and departure boards is

known in the industry as Flight Informa-

tion Display Systems (FIDS). Along with

the traditional back-end benets of digi-

tal signage such as real-time updating

and network connectivity, FIDS can help

with the trafc ow of airports by allow-ing people to see the ight information

in multiple areas en route to their termi-

nal. FIDS also have the ability to make

the information larger so it can be seen

from farther away, thus preventing the

large crowds that can gather under LED

boards trying to read their ight info.

To help with this, some airports have usedlarger-than-normal screens sizes and

also put screens side by side, with dy-

namic messages displayed across them.

FIDS and variations of this technology

have been deployed in the Denver Air-

port, Philadelphia International Airport,

Washington Dulles Airport, Sea-Tac In-

ternational Airport, Boston Logan Airport

and Anchorage Airport, among others.

The importance of real-time

messaging at the airport

When people consider airport digital sig-

nage, they immediately think about ar-

rival boards and alert systems, although

they may not be the most effective use

of digital signage in that setting.

“What I see as a critical need that digital

signage could effectively address inairports is waynding,” said David Little,

director of marketing and business devel-

opment for Keywest Technology, a digital

signage hardware and software provider.

Little points out that in airports waynding

signage typically is stagnant and directs

travelers to baggage claims, taxis and

little else. But the potential is there.

“There are so many features available atmodern airports and train stations that

it takes a bit of digital creativity to assist

people with all of the options available to

them,” Little said.

“Airport digital signage can include infor-

mation on popular destinations, restau-

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rants, shops and hotels as well as timelyinformation on local events and possibly

the opportunity to buy tickets,” said Rocky

Gunderson, founder and marketing and

network developer for SeeSaw Networks.

Touch technology is available on digital

signs in sizes as large as 50 inches,

which will give way to more touchscreen

waynding signs in the future. Already

a popular commodity at industry trade

shows, digital waynding signs allow

travelers to choose their route and learn

about the airport before they enter the

terminal. For example, a hungry traveler

could not only use a digital waynding

system to locate his gate, but also see

what food offerings were in that area.

Also, because of a digital signage net-

work’s ability to be updated immediately

and constantly, waynding signs couldchange to direct travelers to their ights

by the name of their destination, not just

point to their intended gate. Automatic

RSS feeds could keep the boards up-

dated so the network could operate with

little human involvement.

Communicating with travelers

With increased security measures takingeffect in airports globally, travelers once

again have seen an increase in wait time

in the security checkpoint area. Similar

to the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, recent

attack attempts on airports have resulted

in stricter TSA regulations as to what

passengers can bring on a plane.

England particularly has been one of the primary targets for airport terrorism

since 9/11, and English airports have

been forced to expand regulations for

carry-on items. One well-known example

is the 100-milliliter liquid regulation, which

says passengers can carry a maximum

of 100 milliliters of any liquid on a plane,

and that those liquids must be in clear

bottles in a clear plastic bag. In the

United States, the volume allowed isthree ounces.

Enter a digital signage opportunity in

the Manchester (England) Airport. Wait

times were becoming longer after the

regulation was put in place, mainly be-

cause people either forgot to throw away

Airport digital signage can include information on restaurants,

shops and hotels as well as timely information on local events

and possibly the opportunity to buy tickets.

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their liquids or didn’t understand theparameters of the regulation. Each day,

Manchester Airport disposed of more

than a ton of liquids from passengers,

including water, aerosols, sun creams,

deodorants and perfumes.

“Even though these restrictions have been

in place for a year, a lack of awareness

has meant that passengers have been

surrendering bottles and liquids in their

thousands,” said Jackie Neville, head of

product development for Manchester Air-

port, in a news release. “As a result, tons

of waste has been generated, which costs

us a great deal of money to dispose of.”

The Manchester Airport, in conjunction

with digital signage provider Pixel Inspi-

ration, developed a multichannel infor-

mation system to get the message of the

new regulation to its passengers beforethey got to the gate. Included in the sys-

tem was a digital signage network in the

airport that informed travelers of the new

“Check before you check-in” campaign.

The network was made up of 97 83-inch,

rear-projection screens in the check-in

area. The screens ran animated notices

on the network that targeted travelers

waiting in line to check in to their ights.

In addition to the regulation messages,the signs were used to display airport

branding messages and marketing mes-

sages.

“Digital signage is really taking off in

airports right now as it not only pro-

vides exible branding opportunities

for airlines, but also enables airports to

broadcast clear and vivid marketing and

safety messages to passengers as they

wait to check in,” said Barry Bugg, ac-

count director for Pixel Inspiration.

Across the pond, American airports are

using digital signage to speed up the

security check-in process. One example

exists in the McGhee Tyson Airport in

Knoxville, Tenn. Though not large com-

pared to neighboring Nashville Interna-

tional or Hartseld International Airport in

Atlanta, McGhee Tyson Airport servicesmost of the East Tennessee area as well

as provides service for air cargo and mili-

tary aviation. The airport sees more than

120 arrivals and departures daily and

seats about 4,000 passengers at one time.

The Metropolitan Knoxville Airport

Authority decided to integrate digital

signage into its security checkpoint op-

“Digital signage is really taking off in airports right now as it

not only provides exible branding opportunities for airlines,

but also enables airports to broadcast clear and vivid marketing

and safety messages to passengers as they wait to check in.”

Barry Bugg, account director for Pixel Inspiration

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eration when Department of HomelandSecurity standards and guidelines were

raised. They worked in conjunction with

Multi-Media Solutions for the project.

The overall goal of the project was

to make sure passengers were more

prepared to pass through the security

checkpoint before they stepped in line.

Like in the Manchester Airport, the

Knoxville Airport Authority wanted to

display clear and visible signs for shar-

ing information, instructions and special

announcements regarding security

checks and the procedures required to

pass through the checkpoints. The digi-

tal signs also were used to alert passen-

gers of any changes in the Homeland

Security Advisory threat level.

As far as the digital signs themselves,

the mounting of the LCD screens wasstandard, with most of them suspended

from the ceiling with at-screen mounts.

The content needed to be controlled

remotely from a central hub, which is

in a different building than the security

checkpoints.

Luckily, the screens were in view from

the ofce, which acted as the central

hub in the adjacent building. The anten-na was able to easily connect the signs

to the PC wirelessly, aided by the fact

that the airport has huge oor-to-ceiling

windows, which allowed the signal to

communicate between the two units.

McGhee Tyson’s digital signs are pow-

ered by RePromotion Enhanced mediaplayers, which are attached to the back

of the Mitsubishi LCD screens. The

media players accept content from the

central PC wirelessly and can be pro-

grammed to play the content back on

the screens at chosen time intervals.

Here are some examples of other digital

signage applications in airports geared

at reaching customers as they travel:

Reno/Tahoe International Airport:

In May 2007, three static billboards at

Reno/Tahoe International Airport were

replaced with three 65-inch plasma

screens. The screens are mounted

above the escalators that take passen-

gers to and from the concourses.

The original billboards were ads for

Grand Sierra Resort, and it was the re-sort that wanted to upgrade its billboards

to digital signs. The resort worked in

conjunction with Image Base Interna-

tional (IBI) on the project. IBI and Grand

Sierra installed digital signs in the Grand

Sierra hotel lobby that are updated with

real-time ight information, taken directly

from a feed to the airport’s Web site.

The Reno/Tahoe deployment is a goodexample of the advantages digital

signage can provide for advertisers, in

addition to reaching captive travelers.

IBI set up the screens so they were

controlled by an on-site PC running its

I-Screen software. The content changed

every eight seconds, and the signs have

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the ability to show different content oneach screen. Best of all for the adver-

tiser, Grand Sierra Resort has the ability

to update the content remotely from the

hotel on a real-time basis.

Santiago (Chile) International Airport:

Chile’s main airport nished a digital

signage deployment in May 2007. This

project, however, was on a huge scale.

More than 280 42-inch Samsung plasma

screens were deployed throughout the

domestic and international terminals at

the airport. The screens were connected

to a network that provided six channels

of content counter assignment, coun-

ters, boarding, baggage claim, arrival

and departure boards and one for just

advertising.

The deployment was orchestrated by

Scala Inc. in partnership with Chile-based ViewMax, which also designed a

4-by-4 plasma video wall for the airport,

which displays advertising and public

information.

Santiago International Airport has more

than 7 million passengers that y in and

out of the airport each year, 60 percent

of whom are international. The airport

has 115 service counters and the facilitycovers 295,000 square feet.

Ezeiza (Argentina) International Airport:

Another Scala InfoChannel Network was

deployed at the Ezeiza International Air-

port in Argentina around the same time

as Santiago Airport’s. In Ezeiza, Monte-

video, Uruguay-based Obvio designedand installed two signage projects inside

the duty-free shops in the departure

terminals.

One project was in the back of the shop,

where Obvio integrated plasma display

monitors into an existing backlit display.

The other is a large video wall com-

posed of frameless plasma displays. A

news release reported that the Ezeiza

screen is the largest frameless plasma

screen in Latin America. Both the plas-

ma video wall and the back wall signage

are used to promote brands sold within

the store, give price comparisons and

inform customers of special promotions.

Obvio designed two other types of back-

wall digital signage units in the duty-free

shops in Guarulhos Airport in Brazil. The

content shown on the screens is verysimilar to that at the Ezeiza Airport.

Advertising in airports with

digital signage

Ask any advertising expert about digital

signage and he’ll tell you that one thing

is for sure. It gets attention. From an

advertising standpoint, it provides huge

advantages for reaching customers.Those advantages are enhanced in an

airport setting.

In the digital signage industry, we often

talk about reaching captive audiences.

Researchers try to nd when and where

consumers will be most likely to look at


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digital signs and, most importantly, whenand where they can be most inuenced

by digital signage to spend money.

Not incidentally, many of those research-

ers have found that consumers pay more

attention to digital signage content when

they are in a situation where they are

waiting. The term is called “wait warp-

ing,” and it occurs when a customer

perceives his wait time to be shorter

because he is entertained during that

period of time. It is another reason why

the airport, where people wait for hours

at a time for ights, is seeing such an

inux of digital signage applications.

More digital signage geared toward

advertising is being seen in concourses,

as well as in the small commercial

businesses that exist inside the airport.

Retail shops, food courts and mediacompanies that buy advertising all are

taking advantage of this outlet when it

is available. All of these companies use

digital signage as an alternative to the

traditional static signage and backlit

displays. By doing this, they have the

ability to decrease the amount the costs

of printing signs, play content at specic

times of day and remotely control their

displays, all of which increases their marketing and advertising effectiveness.

JetSet Media

So far, we’ve touched on airport digital

signage in the sense that it is deployed

in the concourse setting and is designed

to appeal to coach and rst-class pas-

sengers. But one company is focusing

its digital signage efforts on a moreexclusive and hard-to-reach group: the

elite traveler.

Rich demographics don’t get much

richer than JetSet. The Kansas City,

Mo.-based digital signage content

provider operates screens in 70 private

terminals (known in industry parlance as

xed base operations, or FBOs), bring-

ing a mix of advertisements and infor-mation to c-level executives, celebrities

and athletes.

It’s an audience powerful enough to

make ad buyers drool: JetSet’s typical

audience member has a net worth of

$10 million and an investment portfolio

Retails shops in airport terminals are beginning to see the

advantages of digital signage as an alternative to traditional

static signage and backlit displays.

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of $6 million, buys a new luxury car oncea year and owns at least two homes.

The company was founded in January

2006, and turned on its rst screen in

May of that year. President and founder

George Kauffman said landing those

rst few venues was incredibly difcult.

“Gaining the venues was nearly impos-

sible in the early going,” he said. “I often

say getting the rst six was much harder

than getting the last 50. And what’s

more, we knew going in that (we’d need)

at least 50 FBOs in order to sell a single

ad on this network.”

Kauffman said his company started with

an extensive interview process, asking

FBO owners what kind of information

would be useful to their passengers

without being intrusive or overpowering.Since the network would be subsidized

by advertisements, a delicate balance

had to be struck.

“This FBO industry is a very conserva-

tive group, so asking them to alter their

business even in the slightest of man-

ners is taken very seriously,” he said.

“Losing or disappointing a single cus-

tomer is something they generally willnot risk, when they are buying 1,500

gallons of jet fuel for $5 a gallon.”

Part of the screen’s value proposition for

both FBO and passenger is the Flight

Tracker, a Flash application that pulls

data from the FAA to show all inbound

ights. Kauffman said many of his cus-tomers use the screens as a central

source of planning information, directing

everyone from limo drivers to family mem-

bers to use them.

Weather radar gets a slice of the screen

real estate, as does the FBO owner him-

self a portion of the screen is devoted

to advertising local products and servic-

es, such as fuel prices and jet sales.

The screens run on software from Pop-

star Networks.

Ad buyers not only get access to an

incredibly exclusive audience, they can

segment that audience even further and

target it geographically; ads can run

across the entire JetSet network, or just

in desired markets. Ads can run on a

playlist or can be triggered by externalstimuli (for instance, an advertiser can

have different pieces of content for dif-

ferent weather conditions).

“Once we saw the screen, we were

sold,” said Russ Boy Jr., proprietor of

Fort Lauderdale-based National Jets.

“The screen sure does get a lot of atten-

tion in my facility.”

That seems to be the case in other facili-

ties, as well. Earlier this year, JetSet

ran a piece of advertiser content from

Cessna that poked fun at turboprop

planes (“Friends don’t let friends y tur-

boprops”). It was an ad that had run in

print magazines for years, without gen-

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erating a single complaint. Within threedays of the ad going up on the JetSet

screens, the company had received 37

complaints from customers who feared

the ad would insult their valued yers.

“Typically, I wouldn’t tout such an event,

but the underlying point is that the ad

was being seen and eliciting an immedi-

ate response,” Kauffman said. “Cessna

was thrilled, and simply pulled down that

tag line.”

Kauffman said his company is on target

to have screens in 130 to 150 FBOs by

the end of 2008, with most of the growth

due to word-of-mouth referrals.

“Marketers looking to increase their

brand awareness among this elite

audience need to reassess their media

plans,” said Laura Davis, digital me-dia consultant to retailers, in a news

release. “Reaching this afuent demo-

graphic group between destinations in

comfortable, private airport settings is

a great way for marketers to inuence

high-end purchases.”

Chicago O’Hare International

Airport

One of the limitations of airport sig-

nage of any kind is that it often can be

overlooked by passengers as they rush

to get to the ticket counter or to their

ights. An emerging tactic from advertis-

ing companies has been to use inter-

activity as a way to draw people in and

create a captive audience, especiallyamong those travelers who have to wait

in terminals for ights.

As part of this initiative, Accenture, a

Chicago-based management consulting

and technology services company creat-

ed a high-denition interactive display in

the Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

The display is made up of nine separate

DLP screens combined to make one

large display. The high-denition screen

measures 10 feet by seven feet and

displays news, weather, entertainment

and sports content. The screen is touch-

enabled, and users have the ability to

control what type of content is displayed

on the screen by touch. It also has

multitouch capability, which means that

multiple users can control content at the

same time. The content was developed

by professionals in Accenture’s Technol-

One of the limitations of airport signage of any kind is that it

often can be overlooked by passengers as they rush to get to

the ticket counter or to their ights.

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ogy Labs, and all of the screens can beupdated remotely from that location.

In addition to the freestanding Accenture

digital displays, O’Hare International is

seeing more digital signage used for

advertising going up on its walls.

Elsewhere in one of the Midwest’s larg-

est airports, Clear Channel Outdoor, the

largest outdoor advertising company,

has plans to install a large digital bill-

board indoors. The board will feature

eight 6-by-8 foot LED screens, pro-

grammed to run eight-second advertis-

ing spots continuously.

Las Vegas McCarran Airport

The Las Vegas Strip is a virtual blur of

digital signage in its most extravagant

form, so it only makes sense that Vegas’McCarran Airport follows suit. Although

not as ashy and large, digital signs have

been placed in McCarran by Orlando, Fla.-

based Monster Media. But these signs,

which are used for advertising, aren’t

just standard examples of digital signage.

Monster Media is using the signs for

immersion-based advertising, where

passers-by are lmed by a small cam-era and their images show up on the

screen as part of the advertisement.

Viewers can interact with aspects of the

advertisement by moving their hands or

bodies around. For example, viewers

can make Skittles candy scatter on the

screen by waving their hands across a

pile of them in the ad.

Alliance Airport Advertising, which sells

the indoor ads for McCarran Airport,

has signed a two-year agreement with

Monster Media for the immersive adver-

tisements. And Alliance likes the con-

cept, mainly because it brings in more

money than traditional static advertising.

According to Alliance, it costs $3,000

per month to advertise on a static sign,

while Monster yields $12,000 per month

for each advertiser using the interactive

digital signage.

Monster Media CEO Chris Beauchamp

says customers are entertaining them-

selves with the digital signs, and he

hopes it will take their minds off long,

irritating waits at the airport.

The rst advertiser to take advantageof Monster’s program was TravelZoo,

an online travel publisher. One of Trav-

elZoo’s rst ads featured an interactive

slot machine where customers could

virtually pull down the handle and win

travel-related prizes.

At its inception, some questions were

raised as to the legality of taking some-

one’s picture and putting it on the screenswithout his permission, but Monster Media

insists that since the data is not recorded

in any way, it is completely legal. The com-

pany also noted that by entering a public

space, such as an airport or transit sys-

tem, you automatically give up that right,

anyway, like appearing in a tourist photo.

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Case in point: A key liquor

supplier wanted to run

a national promotion on

one of its products within

Nuance stores. It created

a one-minute video clip

and purchased a month’s

worth of time on the in-

store displays. The result?

A sales record for thatproduct during the promo-

tion.

The screens also provide

signicant operational ef -

ciencies for the retailer.

Since Nuance has suppli-

ers all over the world,

managing its media assets

is no small task. But the ADFLOW

Web-based content management

system provides the company

with an always-open pipeline

for incoming content, from any-

where in the world.

Ruttle said the Web-based system

was one of the main reasons Nu-

ance chose ADFLOW; the other

was the fact that the company

offered an IT-free solution.

“Since their corporate network

infrastructure was off-limits to

any digital-signage initiative, our

Web-hosted solution was ideal,”

he said.

Growth is on the way for both

the airport and for Nuance.Toronto International is in the

middle of a 10-year, multibillion-

dollar expansion and develop-

ment program. By the end of

2010, Nuance will have expanded

its signage program to 36 display

screens throughout the airport,

all networked and controlled by

the ADFLOW system.

“Millions of people every month

will see the screens and react

accordingly,” Ruttle said. “Digi-

tal signage works best when it is

strategic in nature and designed

to meet specic retail objectives.”

The Nuance Group the largest global, duty-free

retailer in the world has installed digital displays at

its stores in Toronto Pearson Airport in an attempt to

catch the attention of some of the estimated 25 mil-

lion people per year who pass through.

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Chapter 3 Digital signage on public transportation

A s discussed in Chapter 2, one of digital signage’s biggest advan-

tages is that it has the ability to

attract attention from consumers in such

a way that it draws that attention away

from static signage.

Static signage long has been prevalent

in public transportation venues, such as

bus stops, train stations and ferry docks.

One reason that advertising has seen

such success in these areas is that, as

with any kind of public transportation,

people are going to have to wait. Stud-

ies have shown that people waiting in

these areas are more susceptible to

receiving information, and are looking

for a way to kill time.

“On buses and trains, the average expo-

sure for a consumer to a network, such

as TransitTV, is about one hour and 40minutes,” said Kim Norris, president

of the Out-of-Home Video Advertising

Bureau.

Take the London Underground system,

or as Londoners call it, “the Tube.”

Almost every square inch of tile space

in these subterranean stops is covered

with wall advertisements placed by

companies such as J.C. Decaux andCBS Outdoor. Once on the trains them-

selves, advertisements line the inside of

the walls, with a Tube map intermittently

placed between them.

Some Tube stations require riders to

take an elevator to the ground level, and

those elevators mirror the rest of theTube walls, showing ads for off-Broad-

way shows, makeup and shoes. One

characteristic of the Tube is that riders

generally use escalators to reach the

ground level, and on the walls of the es-

calator are small signs that run from top

to bottom. Sometimes these signs show

the same advertisement while some are

of the “Burma-Shave” nature, where a

message is displayed successively from

sign to sign as the rider moves up the

escalator.

But one British digital signage company

Esprit Digital has gone one step

further. At London’s Tottenham Court

Underground station, the traditional

paper signs on either side of the escala-

tors have been replaced with screens.

James Brenner, president of Esprit

Advertising and informational signage have long been preva-

lent in public transportation venues. Studies have shown that

people waiting in these areas are more susceptible to receiv-

ing information, and are looking for a way to kill time.

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CHAPTER 3 Digital signage on public transportation

Digital said his company has patentedsoftware that allows ads to move along-

side riders from one screen to the next

as they ride up the elevator. At Screen

Expo Europe 2007 in London, Esprit had

a demo of footage of “Rocky Balboa”

running alongside passengers as they

went up the escalator, prepared for the

release of the lm “Rocky Balboa.”

Brenner said Esprit has a contract to

install the system at other Tube stations.

As in most places in central London, dig-

ital signage easily found a home in the

Tube stations and is becoming a regular

occurrence in London public transporta-

tion. Companies like CBS Outdoor have

begun to transform their movie poster-

like signs into digital signs, which allow

them to maximize that precious and

expensive advertising space by allow-ing more than one ad to run throughout

the day. Also, being dynamic, the digital

signs are catching more people’s atten-

tions, allowing those signs to stand out

in the sea of ads that are on the walls.

(For more information about escalator

digital signage in the London Under-

ground network, see the case study at

the end of this chapter.)

Cruise lines, which are used to offering

luxurious accommodations for guests

on their liners, have been keen to adopt

digital signage and applications that pro-

vide information and advertisements.

Tallink Cruise Lines operates cruise

ships that run between Tallinn, Estonia;

and Helsinki, Finland. The company’s

newest cruise liner, the M/S Star, was

outtted with a digital signage solution

that was placed throughout the ship,

with a strong presence in the food court

area. Digital signs are placed over the

ice-cream bar, pizzeria, snack bar,

entrance and the shopping area. At the

snack bar, the screens are used as digi-

tal menu boards, which display pictures

of menu items and price tickers.

The solution was designed by Elec-

trosonic Lightinen and Cayin Technol-

ogy, which placed the 29 at screens

on the ship. The dynamic, informational

content that runs on the screens is pow-

ered by a networked SMP-PRO2 media

player. Cayin’s back-end technology, the

CMS Content Management Server, runs

the network and is controlled by a Web-

based user interface.

The Cayin CMS server, like many

available in this market, can operate all

of the screens from a central location

and allows remote management of the

content. The software allows different

content to be played at different sites,

Cruise lines, which are used to offeringluxurious accommodations for guests on

their liners, have been keen to adopt

digital signage and applications that

provide information and advertisements.

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messages to be prescheduled andstreaming video to be broadcast live

from the Web.

Nanonation, a digital signage and kiosk

software provider, also has had in-

volvement in placing digital signage on

cruise ships. Upon launching several

3,600-passenger cruise liners, Royal

Caribbean Cruise Lines installed digital

signage to promote its spa and tness

facilities. In keeping with its luxurious

high-end facilities, RCCL wanted a high-

impact screen that included sound.

The result was a virtual concierge

service, done through two 65-inch

high-denition screens equipped with

touch capability and placed outside of

the spa and tness center. The screens

let guests preview the spa treatments,

tness equipment and facilities in highdenition. There is even footage of a

woman in HD, of course layered

into the content, guiding users through

the system and making recommen-

dations on spa treatments and other

services.

Displaying advertisements

We have discussed how digital signageprovides excellent opportunities for

advertisers. Here are some examples of

how advertisers targeting passengers

have capitalized on this technology:

Nokia interactive digital signage:

Above the Tube in Central London, at

the entrance to the Tottenham Courtstation, is an example of interactive

digital signage. Nokia recently put up

an interactive touchscreen, where users

can play a “matching game” on the large

phone’s screen. The screen serves as

a way to keep Tube passengers busy

while waiting as well as an advertise-

ment for Nokia’s N95 cell phone.

Interactive bus station signage for

the Palm Treo 680: The D2 Palm Treo

680 digital-signage deployment made

signicant waves when it hit Times

Square in November 2006. The project

included a $25 million marketing cam-

paign headed up by AKQA, a media and

technology advertising agency.

As part of its campaign, which included

billboards and street teams riding on

Segways, AKQA leaned on D2 for thedesign of interactive bus-shelter kiosks

that used interactive digital signs that

simulated interaction with the new Treos.

In each shelter, D2 replaced one wall

with an orange ad for the Treo 680

though the actual device in the ad was

a 42-inch Panasonic at screen pro-

grammed to display the 680’s Web-site

browsing abilities.

The bus shelters were chosen based on

targeted demographic audiences. D2

and AKQA joined forces with Google,

Yahoo!, eBay and Fandango brands

known and trusted by Palm’s targeted

demographic, according to D2 and AKQA.

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A computer stored behind each Treosign powered the digital sign. The

computers were built by D2 to withstand

extreme heat and cold. Each sign of-

fered wireless connectivity to the media

network.

D2 promoted the Treo in Times Square

through an orange vinyl wrap that cov-

ered the side of a Times Square build-

ing. When passers-by walked by the

orange Treo wall, they were prompted

to use text messaging to control content

displayed on the sign.

“The benet of this is that it works as a

beautiful promotional device on a drive-

by basis, or to passers-by,” said Sandy

Nix, president of D2 Sales.

The results of the project were immedi-

ate, said Brian Hubbard, a member of the installation crew. He said passers-by

began texting the sign before the instal-

lation was nished. Nix said the texting

feature gives advertisers a gauge for

judging a campaign’s success.

Taxi digital signage gets the

green light

In summer 2007, a long-awaited approval from the New York Taxi & Limousine

commission went through, allowing

companies such as NBC Universal, ABC

and Clear Channel to move ahead with

installation of in-taxi digital signage. The

project had been piloted in the spring

by the commission in an effort to boost

communication between taxis and

improve service for passengers. The

screens, some of them with interactive

capability, are used for advertising andcan be GPS controlled to run advertise-

ments depending on what part of town

the cab happens to be in.

Clear Channel and NBC Universal are

working together to run NY10, Clear

Channel Taxi’s entertainment network, in

New York City cabs. The network fea-

tures short form content that is exclusive

to NBC, as well as content from NBCNews, MSNBC, NBCU and some net-

work programming.

The hardware was developed by Cre-

ative Mobile Technologies and is known

as the FREEdom Solution. In addition

to running content, the network allows

In summer 2007, a long-awaited approval from the New York

Taxi & Limousine commission went through, allowing the

installation of in-taxi digital signage.

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passengers to see GPS maps of wherethey are and supports electronic funds

transfer so passengers can pay the cab

fare with a credit or debit card. By Aug.

1, 2007, all New York City taxi cab me-

dallion owners were required to sign up

for the integrated payment and content

management program.

ABC is partnering with Verifone for a

project called TAXI-TV. New York’s

WABC-TV runs content supported by

advertisers on the network, featuring

shows such as Eyewitness News, Accu-

Weather, ESPN and restaurant, shop-

ping, nightlife and lodging information

from the Zagat Survey.

However, not all is well with the cab driv-

ers who are being forced to install these

digital signs in their cabs. (See sidebar

for details on the New York cabbie strike.)

Building the perfect

screen layout

Not only do large digital signs increase

customer impressions, they also allow

the deployer much more space in which

to work. A common concern among

deployers is how to design the screen

layout of their digital signs to maximizespace for information, yet not make it

cluttered and hard to read.

With screen sizes up to 103 inches

these days, deployers in the travel

industry have been opened up to a new

set of opportunities.

“We are seeing two types of screen lay-outs,” said Wayne Ruttle, vice president

of ADFLOW Networks. “One includes

entertainment content on a zoned

screen to broadcast live TV, news ticker,

etc. The second one is very large format

display screens grouped in bunches that

broadcast advertising in a very impactful

and impressive way.

“We also see the day when in-ight

digital signage screens cater to travel-

ers about restaurants, hotels and events

taking place in the city they are travel-

ing to just before landing. Then display

screens in the hallways of the airport

reinforce those messages right through

luggage pick-up. Advertisers will indeed

take advantage.”

Incorporation of RSS feeds

Digital signage gives deployers the

ability to not only run constantly chang-

ing dynamic content, but the ability to

design that screen so that it can run

multiple pieces of content and informa-

tion at one time.

One way that this is accomplished is

through real-time information provision.

Especially useful for improving customer experience in areas such as train sta-

tions or airports where waiting or queu-

ing is involved, real-time information

encourages wait warping.

Real-time information generally includes

feeds from the Internet that show up-to-

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the-minute news and weather updates.The footage is delivered to the digital

signs through the digital media network,

which receives the information at its

central hub via the Internet.

All of the delivering can be done at

every level without human assistance.

The Internet supplies tools that allow

updates to be sent automatically to

specied addresses. One of the most

popular Web feed formats is called RSS,

which in its current format means Really

Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0).

RSS is used to publish content that is

updated frequently. In addition to news

and weather, RSS is used to inform us-

ers of blog entries, podcasts or sports

scores, without the user having to visit

each Web site to access that informa-

tion. The updated information is col-lected and sent using an aggregator

program.

Customers who choose to include live

RSS news and weather updates lever-

age their digital signage networks to

provide even more benets for their

customers. In addition, the deployers

reap many benets. As we said earlier,

overall customer experience is improvedby means of wait warping, which means

customers are more apt to return for

future business.

Also, customers generally are im-

pressed with digital signage, and even

more impressed with digital signage that

provides them with accurate, relevant

and up-to-date news and weather reports.

Lastly, deployers double the effectiveness

of their digital signage networks by com-

bining the RSS feeds supplying news

and weather info with their existing ad-

vertisements and promotional content.

The combination has the potential to

draw more eyes to the screen and use

the news and weather feature to expose

customers to promotional content who

normally wouldn’t take the time to watch.

Content and live TV implications

Oftentimes in airport terminals and train

stations we see at screens running

normal TV programming such as CNN

or MSNBC. But travelers may not im-

mediately consider this digital signage.

The truth is, in most cases, that is digital

signage by denition. The content is

not being broadcast, rather it is beingnarrowcasted to the screens through a

digital media network. Running live TV

and television programming in airports

or stations can be tricky due to the legal

ramications involved. In the next sec-

tion, Robert Scott, a lawyer in Dallas,

explains how to legally run TV content.

Also, customers generally are impressedwith digital signage, and even more im-

pressed with digital signage that provides

them with accurate, relevant and up-to-

date news and weather reports.

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Digital signage, livetelevision and the lawBy Robert Scott

Embedded, high-denition content com-

bined with television feeds from popular

networks such as CNN, ESPN or MTV

enable retailers to draw customers in,

promote products and specials, bring

the retail environment to life and gen-

erally enhance the customers’ overall

in-store experience.

One popular method of display lets re-

tailers display digital advertising around

cable television content. While an effec-

tive and burgeoning market for advertis-

ing, the format is not without its potential

legal implications. Before you run out

and buy a set of monitors to display

digital signage around cable televisioncontent, good planning and investigation

into any legal ramications should be

your rst step.

Common uses and copyright

obligations

The concept of using television display

in consumer environments has been

around a long time, but it is only with therecent proliferation of affordable at-

panel monitors that digital signage has

become a marketing stronghold. Retail-

ers are incorporating LCD or plasma dis-

play panels into store design; banks and

nancial institutions are incorporating

televisions into lobby areas; even public

spaces such as transit hubs, fast-foodrestaurants and gas stations are benet-

ing from the electronic medium.

As a communications tool, digital signage

offers the ultimate capability: Retailers

can deliver targeted messages as dictat-

ed by customers’ interests, requirements

and spending habits. Content is king.

Promotions, announcements, product

information, retail spots and brand loy-

alty messages permeate the consumer

environment while cable television feeds

offer entertainment.

However, with this amount of television

content being pulled from numerous

sources and providers across varying

networks come considerable copyright

considerations for the content user.

When using a signage provider to ac-cess and deliver cable television con-

tent, it is important to be aware of the

parameters of the contract between

your provider and the cable companies.

The signage provider’s contract with the

cable provider often includes a provision

limiting use to “noncommercial” settings.

Even if commercial use is allowed, the

subscriber in this case, the retailoutlet must obtain permission from

the cable provider before such use is

possible. Displaying cable television in a

digital signage medium without express

written permission probably would con-

stitute prohibited commercial use and

the subscriber would have breached its

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contract with the cable provider.

In addition to potential contractual viola-

tions the content user may have made,

the Copyright Act may be implicated. The

content in cable television is copyrighted

in its entirety and the replaying of it in a

digital signage medium constitutes what

is known as a secondary transmission.

In this case, a secondary transmission

is the transmission of cable television

broadcasts by the digital signage net-

work simultaneously with the primary

transmission from the cable channel

itself. In other words, the digital signage

network retransmits a cable signal simul-

taneously with the cable provider. The

retailer’s digital sign is duplicating the

cable provider’s service. This is where

contractual and copyright issues come

into play.

Potential pitfalls to avoid

Altering content: According to copy-

right laws, any user other than the own-

er of the cable transmission does not

have the right to alter the transmission

in any way. This means that if the digital

signage network in any way changes the

original appearance or delivery of the

cable content for example, by divid-ing the television screen into parts and

displaying advertising around the cable

content the signage provider would

be liable.

Licensing: If secondary transmission of

cable signals, modied or not, is illegal,

how do bars transmit sports events for patrons? Licensing. And the same ap-

plies to music. Bars and other venues

license the right to play cable television

for a fee. Ignoring an available license

program and transmitting content with-

out permission could result in nes or a

lawsuit. One such licensing organization

is The American Society of Compos-

ers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

ASCAP has been known to pursue even

small, family-owned bars for copyright

infringement actions.

Potential damages

If copyright infringement claims are

brought and upheld, remedies could

include actual damages, statutory dam-

ages and injunctions. In extreme cases,

remedies may include the impounding

or destruction of the offending articlesand charges of criminal liability. More

often than not, however, the copyright

owner will seek monetary damages and

an order, called an injunction, to pre-

vent further infringements by the digital

signage user.

Actual damages include prots earned

by the user as a direct result of the

digital signage displays. In such cases,it is imperative that the content user can

deliver accurate records. The copyright

owner is required to present proof only

of the infringer’s gross revenue, and the

infringer is required to prove his or her

deductible expenses and the elements

of prot attributable to factors other than

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the copyrighted work.

Statutory damages are determined

by the judge. The guidelines dictate

that damages may range from $750 to

$30,000 per infringement, though if the

court nds the content user acted will-

fully, that ceiling is raised to $150,000

per infringement.

The defendant in a copyright infringe-

ment case may be forced to pay the

plaintiff’s court costs and attorney’s fees,

which, depending on the complexity of

the case and the amount of work in-

volved, could reach into the tens of thou-

sands of dollars. Courts use a number of

factors in determining whether to assess

costs and fees against the infringer.

Protecting your businesses

Though there are some potentially

costly consequences when discussing

copyright infringement, businesses can

take simple steps to mitigate these risks.

Remember that with new technology

and ingenuity also come new consider-

ations and obligations for both providers

and users.

Conducting early research into thebenets and pitfalls of digital signage

is the rst step in preparing a plan to

ensure your business is protected. Re-

tailers should examine their subscriber

agreements carefully to determine the

extent of their transmission rights. When

reviewing these or any legal documen-

tation, the advice of an attorney withexpertise in licensing and copyrights can

be an invaluable resource, and one well

worth the cost to avoid costly mistakes

down the road.

Robert Scott is managing partner of

Dallas-based Scott & Scott LLP, a legal

frm specializing in IT compliance man-

agement.

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N.Y. cabbies threatenstrike over digital

signs in cabs

A large number of New York City taxi

drivers are upset about a technology up-

grade that is being implemented in their

cars, and have threatened a two-day

strike that could bring much of the city’s

cab service to a halt.

At issue is the Taxi & Limousine Com-

mission’s Taxi Technology Enhancement

program, which would place displays in

the back seats of all of the city’s cabs by

February 2008, along with card-swipe

units to facilitate credit- and debit-card

payments.

City ofcials say the goal is strictly toimprove customer service, not only

through card acceptance but in-car map-

ping, entertainment content and two-way

messaging to speed the retrieval of lost

items. But a number of cabbies say the

devices not only will invade their privacy,

they will eat away at their take-home

pay.

“The taxi cab is a quintessential NewYork symbol, and we don’t take it lightly

when changes are made to the cab,”

said Bhairavi Desai, co-founder of the

New York Taxi Workers’ Alliance.

Desai said that even though the NYT-

WA’s membership represents only about

a fourth of the drivers working in the city,she anticipates most, if not all, New York

drivers will take part in a strike.

“We think it could be every taxi on the

street,” she said.

Transaction fees, GPS tracking

at the heart of disagreement

The TLC’s Technology Enhancement

program is built around four key require-

ments: universal credit/debit card accep-

tance; electronic trip sheets that auto-

matically record the information drivers

currently capture with pen and paper;

two-way text messaging to help garages

communicate more quickly with drivers

about lost items; and a passenger-facing

screen that displays real-time maps of

the trip, public service announcements

and news and entertainment content.Taxi owners have a choice of four ap-

proved vendors for the technology,

which is estimated to carry a total price

tag of about $20 million for the city’s

13,087 cabs.

Allan Fromberg, deputy commissioner

for public affairs for the TLC, said cus-

tomer service, particularly in the form of

card acceptance, is the primary push for the program.

But under the terms of the TLC program,

it is the drivers that will be required to

pay the transaction fees whenever a

card is used. Desai said those fees

would amount to about $1,000 per year

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for a driver who took a single card trans-action per day.

The GPS system that powers the on-

screen maps is another point of conten-

tion particularly, Desai said, since it is

connected to the car’s meter.

“It’s actually being used to capture driv-

ers’ economic data,” she said, disput-

ing the TLC assertion that GPS is used

only for mapping and the location of lost

property. “They put it on the meter

you don’t need it on the meter if it’s only

tracking where the vehicle is moving.

Drivers are independent contractors, not

employees. Why should they give up

their private nancial information? It’s

like if a company owner got an employ-

ee’s bank statement each month.”

The card acceptance mechanism isconnected to the car’s meter. Desai said

that if either of these crucial compo-

nents malfunctions, has trouble nding a

signal or goes ofine for any reason, the

meter will shut off automatically and the

driver won’t be able to accept fares until

the problems are solved.

So far, about 3,000 of the city’s taxis

have the card swipes installed; about1,300 have the full package of technol-

ogy. Already, Desai said she is getting

reports of cars that can’t get a strong

enough signal to connect for either the

on-screen data or a transaction.

“There have been a lot of signal fail-

ures,” she said. “The advice the driv-ers are getting from the garage is, ‘Oh,

just keep driving around until you get a

signal.’”

TLC representatives would not com-

ment on the potential strike, but issued a

statement from commissioner and chair-

man Matthew W. Daus:

“Under the Bloomberg Administration,

taxicab drivers continue to be a top pri-

ority with the last two fare increases

delivering a living wage of over $17 per

hour. Riders have paid an additional $1

billion directly to drivers’ pockets, were

promised technology enhancements in

return and they deserve to have that

promise kept. The taxicab industry has

never been healthier and safer, and I am

condent that the vast majority of our

44,000 professional drivers will continueto serve the public as they do so well

every day.”

In 2004, New York’s taxi system raised

fares for the rst time since 1996, and

75 percent of that raise went to drivers.

In 2005 rates were raised again, with

100 percent of the increase going to

drivers the rst time that has hap-

pened in the history of the organization.The TLC estimates that drivers have

collected an extra $1 billion in increased

fares since 2004.

What will the passengers think?

New Yorkers are a notoriously opinion-

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ated bunch, and those opinions seemdivided as to the fairness and value of

the technology enhancements.

Diane Roback, a publishing executive

who considers herself a frequent cab

passenger, likes the idea of being able

to use the company credit card but

doesn’t think the benets outweigh the

drawbacks.

“I don’t like to see cabbies charged a

percentage of the transaction,” she said.

“They have a hard enough time making

a decent wage.”

She also takes extreme exception to the

GPS technology, and the incremental

loss of privacy for both driver and pas-

senger it seems to represent.

“New Yorkers generally don’t need aGPS system to give them directions,”

she said. “So this is being done for

tourists? That’s a big quality of life is-

sue that’s being inicted on us when it

doesn’t seem like it would be any real

gain for us. I hate giving up any level of

privacy, and once this is given up, it’s

never given back.”

But Soledad Roybal, a freelance eventsmanager who also frequents the taxi

system, said she would welcome the in-

formation such a system would provide,

and how it might help make drivers more

accountable.

“As a passenger, I have felt the frustra-

tion on more than one occasion of a taxidriver not knowing where he is going

or taking advantage of me when I don’t

know, especially from the airport,” she

said. “I do tend to wonder if the reason

that the drivers don’t want this is be-

cause they could be forced to take a

different, less protable route.”

As for the transaction fee for card pay-

ments, Roybal said that’s part of the

cost of doing business. “Small business

owners including my parents take

credit cards for all amounts small and

large, and they pay the fee,” she said.

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Case study: London Underground

London’s underground

rail system, known to

locals as the Tube,

carries more than 3

million passengers a

day to and from their

destinations. For adver-

tisers, Tube stationshave become a hot-

bed for advertising,

as those passengers

mean a huge amount

of impressions per day.

As advertisements

continue to ood the

Tube in digital form,

Viacom and its partner for digi-

tal media, EDL, needed a newsolution for their transportation

digital signage.

The solution was through Digi-

tal View, which brought digital

signage hardware and services

to the table, as well as a digital

media network capable of re-

mote management and content

distribution to the screens. Theescalator system is composed of

66 monitors with 23-inch LCD

displays with SXGA resolution

(1280 by 1024).

The goal for the two companies

For advertisers, the London Underground rail system has

become a hotbed for advertising, as more then 3 million

passengers per day mean a huge amount of impressions

per day.

was to design a high-impact

experience for Tube passengersthat would maximize the space

the location had to offer.

In terms of engineering and

maintenance, the location is

highly demanding. Screens are

on 24/7 and are susceptible to

heat, cold, wind and vandalism.

Digital View countered those

elements with high-quality IP-65

enclosures, Digital View DN3solid-state media players, Digi-

tal View SV-1600 controllers and

the RemoteTransfer Linux-based

media and network management

system to maximize uptime.

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Chapter 4 Digital signage on the road

A lmost all of us have done it.You’re driving down the road,

reading a seemingly normal

billboard, when suddenly it changes. It’s

surprising at the time.

Not only have digital billboards begun to

expand into mid-markets, but the quality

of the screens themselves continues to

improve. Brightness is being regulated,

making the signs look like static ones

during the day, but allowing them to be

illuminated at night.

This progress isn’t without controversy,

however. As the technology moves to

mid-markets, more residents are com-

plaining about the brightness factor.

What might seem normal to New York

City residents may not have the same

effect to those in Des Moines, Iowa.

State and local ofcials also have given

their opinions. Some governments feel

that the dynamic signs are a distraction

to drivers and, in some cities, have gone

as far as to ban digital billboards. Other

governments have placed regulation on

brightness levels, dynamic content and

change intervals.

In January 2007, the city of Eagan, Minn.,placed a temporary moratorium on digital

billboards; a few weeks later, Des Moines,

Iowa, followed suit, saying the “impact

of electronic digital and video signs on

aesthetics, land use values and highway

safety was not considered” when the

city’s zoning ordinance was drawn up.

The controversy over digital

billboardsOf the 450,000 billboards across the

American landscape, only about 500 are

full-color digital signs, capable of chang-

ing their message every few seconds.

But that number is projected to rise into

the thousands in the next 10 years,

which has legislators and safety advo-

cates concerned.

Currently 43 states allow digital bill-boards, but concern still is spawning

debate, research and legislative activity.

Public worry over distracted drivers is

nothing new; ve U.S. states ban cell

phone use while driving, and another 15

have partial restrictions in place. That

same worry will impact the future of digi-

tal technology in outdoor advertising.

“Drive down a road with an electronicbillboard on it and you’ll know right

away that they attract attention,” said

Bill Gerba, president of WireSpring

Technologies. He frequently travels a

stretch of I-95 near the Fort Lauderdale

Airport where “the electronic billboard is

so bright compared to everything else

Not only have digital billboards begunto expand into mid-markets, but the

quality of the screens themselves

continues to improve; however, this

progress isn’t without controversy.

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CHAPTER 4 Digital signage on the road

around, especially at night, that it’s im-possible not to notice.”

Digital billboards represent a small frac-

tion of the market; the Outdoor Advertis-

ing Association of America estimates

there are 500 of them, but projects that

number to increase to 4,000 in the next

10 years. The three largest outdoor ad-

vertising companies in America Clear

Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and

Lamar Advertising are all experiment-

ing with digital, to varying degrees.

Clearly, the technology behind digital

billboards is not inherently hazardous

Times Square and Las Vegas are ample

evidence of that. But the placement of it

in a new environment may cause grow-

ing pains.

The Federal Highway Administrationrecently commissioned a study on what

digital billboards mean to driver safety.

The federal government also committed

$150,000 to study the issue.

John McDermot, analyst with technology

consultancy Accuvia, said digital billboards

will present risks and safety hazards,

especially initially. “They are not an ev-

eryday occurrence for most drivers,” hesaid. “I believe legislation will eventually

strike a balance and dictate a correlation

between video and trafc speed.”

The burden, it seems, will fall on ad

agencies and content creators: They

are going to have to resist the urge to

pull out every ashy tool in their bag of tricks. They also will have to take new

factors such as brightness control

and how it interacts with dayparting

into account at the design stage,

“When the screen (on I-95) is display-

ing something with a lot of white or light

colors at nighttime, my pupils constrict to

the point where I do have to slow down

and let my eyes adjust,” Gerba said.

David Little of Key West Technology

agrees. “I believe digital billboards with

motion are distracting to drivers,” he

said. “They shouldn’t be used.”

Even so, Bill Collins, research analyst and

president of Decision Point Media, points

out that advertising by its very nature aims

to capture the viewer’s attention, and

that the complaints being leveled againstdigital billboards are nothing new.

“It’s important to point out that in the

past, many people have made unsup-

ported claims that billboards in general

are a trafc safety problem,” he said.

“However, to date, I am not aware of any

reputable trafc safety experts that see

billboards, in general, as being a major

safety problem.”

“I believe legislation will eventually

strike a balance and dictate a correlation

between video and trafc speed.”

John McDermot, analyst, Accuvia

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Digital billboards and advertis-ing on the road

The billboard industry, a mature one, is

hungry for new innovation. Federal and

local regulations make it difcult to put

up new billboards; the challenge then

becomes squeezing more revenue out

of existing ones.

Digital billboards that are installed seem

to be doing very well. Tracy Libertino,analyst with Accuvia Consulting, said

94 percent of people who saw a mov-

ing billboard recalled the product being

advertised, versus 43 percent for tra-

ditional billboards. That led to a sales

increase of 107 percent for products

shown on moving billboards, versus 54

percent for static ones.

The billboards also open the door for alarger number of ad sales. Typically, ads

on a digital billboard are sold in eight-

second increments. Sales executives

can offer targeted packages that deliver

content to boards in strategically chosen

locations at strategically chosen times

of the day an impossibility with paper

signs.

They can charge more, as well. Liber-tino said the average cost per thousand

impressions on a traditional billboard is

around $2; the CPM for a digital bill-

board can be almost 20 times as much.

And then there is the very real public

safety benet, which already has proven

Ask the expert:What is your opinion on

digital billboards?

“It appears they are very distracting, which

makes the value for advertisers attractive for

sure, and they are investing.”

Wayne Ruttle, ADFLOW

“We believe digital billboards are one of the best

values for advertisers and a great service for

potential customers.”

Rocky Gunderson, SeeSaw Networks

“I believe digital billboards with motion are dis-

tracting to drivers. They shouldn’t be used.”

David Little, Keywest Technology

“I believe legislation will eventually strike abalance and dictate a correlation between video

and trafc speed.”

John McDermot, Accuvia

“To date, I am not aware of any reputable trafc

safety experts that see billboards, in general, as

being a major safety problem.”

Bill Collins, Decision Point Media

to be priceless. On Feb. 12, 2007, a

14-year-old Minnesota girl disappeared.

Several digital billboards in the area ran

a multimedia Amber Alert; the girl was

found the next day.

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In Huntsville, Ala., police recently com-menced a manhunt for a registered sex

offender. Lamar Advertising Co. put

together artwork that resembled the sus-

pect, ran it by the local Crimestoppers

organization for approval and put it on

the regional billboard network at 5 p.m.

At 9:45 p.m., the suspect was captured.

Pump-top displays come of age

As pay-at-the-pump technology turns

20 years old in 2007, the concept has

been a tremendous success. In 1994,

13 percent of c-stores offered the time-

saver; today, that number has risen to

93 percent.

But perhaps it has worked a little too

well. Pay-at-the-pump has meant a

drastic decrease in c-store trafc.

Margins on gasoline are razor-thin,compared to the higher prots made on

items sold in the store. Andre van der

Velk owns four c-stores in California, two

independent and two Shell; he said two-

thirds of his gasoline customers never

set foot in his stores.

“There is a constant drive for the opera-

tor to get people to come into the store

and buy,” he said.

That drive has been the motivation for

traditional pump-toppers static signs

advertising in-store specials and is

the force behind a number of companies

building digital signage networks at gas

station islands.

Founded in 2006, Michigan-based GasStation TV (GSTV) quickly landed a con-

tract to be the exclusive screen provider

for Murphy Oil. So far, the company has

placed about 1,000 screens at c-stores

in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston. GSTV

chief executive David Leider said the

screens feature national content from

ABC, mixed in with original GSTV con-

tent that takes aim at local interests.

The screens are provided to the c-store

owner at no charge; GSTV pays the bills

by selling ad space to national accounts

such as Chevrolet, Progressive Insur-

ance, Dodge, 1-800-Flowers and Quick-

en Loans. The network is managed by

GSTV and runs Scala’s InfoChannel

software.

PumpMedia, which won the exclusive

contract for Chevron’s video-at-the-pumpprogram, uses a similar business model

and value proposition, with one differ-

ence: C-store operators can opt to pay

for the screens and eliminate the outside

advertising. Under the ad-subsidized

model, the storeowner gets 75 percent

of the screen’s loop time, and PumpMe-

dia sells ads on the other 25 percent.

Peter Tawil, president of PumpMedia,said the idea for his company came to

him in 1999, when he was working in

television advertising. While fueling his

car one day, he heard audio advertise-

ments for in-store products and services

being played over the station’s loud-

speaker.

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“The guy had a shoe shine inside, amagazine rack, a small restaurant,” he

said. “He had it all going, and he was

smart he was promoting all of his

products inside the store. When I heard

that, I thought, ‘OK, that’s smart, but if

you can do it with audio, wouldn’t it be

more powerful with video attached to it?’”

Larger companies are getting in on the

action, too. Daktronics is part owner of

Fuelcast Network, a joint effort with VST

International to get digital signage onto

self-service gas pumps, and Westing-

house recently announced an exclusive

arrangement with AdtekMedia to provide

technology for that company’s PumpTop

TV program.

Pump-top digital signage is in its infancy,

still at the stage where any number of

small players are trying to eke out anexistence selling screens and ad space

on them. Ken Goldberg, chief execu-

tive of Real Digital Media (which, along

with Avocent, supplies the technology

for PumpMedia), said he recently took

some c-store clients on a road trip to

survey the competitor’s landscape. They

found three different regional pump-top

networks, each with their own propri-

etary hardware set-up and contentstrategy.

“The content that (the clients) saw was

not in line with what they wanted their

customer to see,” he said. “One of the

ads was a preacher talking about a lo-

cal church they certainly don’t want

religious messages coming out of thepumps.”

On one of the screens, they spied an ad

for the pizza restaurant down the street

a direct competitor from the pizzeria

inside the c-store.

“They will take any ad that they can, in-

cluding Rev. Billy Bob and cheap pizza,”

Goldberg said. “And there are a lot of

them. You might put 10 bucks in your

gas tank and you’ll see three ads.”

All of which hints at a market that is ripe

for consolidation. Clearly, there is great

potential in using digital signage at the

pump, but widespread adoption par-

ticularly by large chains associated with

big-name brands will require a uni-

formity of experience and a heightened

understanding of how to handle brandassets.

“In an old-fashioned way, this is what the

industry has been doing with pump-top-

pers since the 1970s,” said van der Velk.

“This is just a technology advancement

of the old pump-topper. The only reason

it is taking so long is that the oil industry

is very protective of what they put above

their logo.”

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Manchester Airportgets 72-screen digitalsignage installation

This article originally appeared on Digital Signage

Today on Jan. 30, 2008.

MANCHESTER, England Pixel Inspi-

ration has completed the hardware in-

stallation of a 72-screen digital signagenetwork in Terminal 2 of Manchester

Airport.

The installation comprises a 116-meter

run of 72 individual 84-inch diagonal

rear-projection screens, coupled with 72

Panasonic PTD 5700 dual-bulb pro-

jectors positioned above the check-in

desks.

Pixel Inspiration worked with the airport

and airline operators to develop animat-

ed airline branding, promotional material

and passenger safety information for

display on the screens. The animated

content is broadcast on the digital

displays, giving operators a presence

within the terminal, while making it easy

for passengers to nd the appropriate

check-in desks.

This branding approach is designed to

allow Manchester Airport to maximize

the use of its check-in desks, which re-

main exible rather than being assigned

to a single operator. The screens above

those desks that are not in use are used

to display the airport’s own branding andcontent.

To complement and enhance the archi-

tecture of the terminal building, Pixel

designed, fabricated and installed a

completely new hanging support system

for the screens and projectors. The can-

tilever design provides the terminal with

a high-tech appearance, while providing

the necessary support and access to the

digital signage hardware.

Last year, Pixel Inspiration completed

the hardware installation in Terminal 1,

which consisted of 97 screens.

“The results are excellent and the sys-

tem of branding exibly (is) proving very

popular with the airline community,” said

Jackie Neville, head of product develop-

ment at Manchester Airport. “The scaleand quality of airline content has created

a new navigational tool, making the pro-

cess of nding check-in desks far sim-

pler. The screens also provide a great

opportunity to target passengers whilst

they are queuing with essential airport

information. This means we are able to

reduce the amount of paper-based infor-

mation within the check-in hall, creating

a better experience.”

Appendix Additional reading

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APPENDIX Additional reading

Managing digitalsignage content

By James Bickers

Editor, Digital Signage Today

This article is excerpted from “Content and Con-

tent Management for Digital Signage,” a how-to

guide on Digital Signage Today.

Opinions are sharply divided on whether

it is a good idea to divide the screen real

estate on a digital signage network. Of

course, there are those networks whose

entire business model is built on the

segmented screen for instance, cap-

tive audience networks such as those in

elevators or airports that sell ad space

around and alongside streaming media

content such as news and entertainment.

But aside from those very specic models,

it sometimes is wise to segment screens

into different “regions” or “zones,” each

with a specic purpose. Doing so wisely

requires more than a little restraint, as

well as a concerted focus on what is in

the best interest of the viewer.

Here are six “best practices” for dividing

screen real estate:

1. Go with the ow. The screen as a

whole should suggest a logical “ow”

that is, viewers should be able to

tell intuitively where they should look

rst, what they should look at next, etc.

Generally, this is accomplished by

making the content that is of greatestvalue to the viewer the largest. If a

recipe is sharing screen time with an

ad for a specic food product featured

in that recipe, the recipe itself should

get the majority of the screen space.

Otherwise, the consumer will subcon-

sciously register the entire screen as

an ad, and is more likely to ignore it.

2. Keep it consistent with your brand.

On-screen content should be consis-

tent with all other messaging in the

enterprise. This begins with simple

things such as color schemes and

fonts, and extends into more esoteric

matters such as the size of design

elements, relative positioning of type

and images and visual styles. It doesn’t

matter whether your content is created

in-house or by an external agency; in-

store digital media needs to be addedto the list of products managed by your

creative team, and that same team

should be involved in meetings to

decide how to allocate screen space.

3. Make smart use of contrast, color

and size. Human eyes always will land

on the largest, brightest item in any

given eld use this as a way to

guide the viewer around the screen. If you are using scrolling text for ancil-

lary messaging, don’t make that text

larger or brighter than the message

that needs to get the primary focus.

Minimize the attention given to infor-

mation that people will seek out when

they need it, such as weather condi-

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tions or news updates. And again, usecolor schemes that reect the rest of

your branding if your brochures

and static signage have trained

people to know that your headline

text is in beige type on a light yellow

background, use the same pairing

on-screen to create a psychological

connection with other messages.

4. Understand motion and how it af-

fects viewers. If something is moving

or changing, our eyes are naturally

drawn to it. You can use this to your

advantage, or you can allow it to be-

come a liability. If animation or motion

are going to be used, make sure they

are most prominent in the area of the

screen that deserves primary focus.

Too much movement elsewhere

on the screen will distract from the

message, if not cause the viewer togive up in frustration and look away.

And keep in mind that viewers hate

unnecessary or gimmicky movement

and effects overly cute transitions,

tickers that move too quickly and

blinking text all should be avoided.

5. Keep it simple but only if it

needs to be. If you are trying to tell

your viewers about the movementsof the NASDAQ, updated every 10

minutes, you’re going to presenting

a visually sophisticated message,

with lots of sidebars and graphs and

scrolling numbers. If you’re trying to

tell your viewers how to make deli-

cious chicken skewers that the family

will love in just a few minutes, thesituation calls for a much simpler ap-

proach perhaps just a single large

window with a video demonstration.

Understand the level of depth of your

content, and plan a visual strategy

accordingly.

6. Eschew gratuitous information. It’s

a great time to be in the business of

delivering content, because there is

so much of it out there. Weather tick-

ers? You bet. Sports scores, updated

by the minute? Headline news? Lat-

est blog posts on any given topic?

Viral videos? User-generated con-

tent? It’s all there for the taking, but

just because you can put something

on your screens does not mean you

should. Take a step back from the

entire endeavor, and remind yourself

what it is you are trying to communi-cate. Phrase it in the simplest terms

possible (“I’m trying to tell people

about XYZ new product,” “I’m trying

to get people to go to the bank coun-

ter at the front of the store,” “I’m trying

to increase sales of house brands.”).

Now, what content do you truly need

to convey that message?

Give the people what they want:building a content strategy

based on customer expectations

Human beings enter into virtually every-

thing they do with one or more expecta-

tions, and when those expectations are

met, they feel happiness. When their

http://www.lge.com/

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expectations are not met, they feel anynumber of negative emotions disap-

pointment, betrayal, anger, frustration.

Imagine picking up a glass lled with

iced tea and taking a drink only to

nd out that it actually contains soda.

The immediate visceral reaction is a

negative one, as if the drink tastes bad.

It does not, in fact, taste bad it’s just

not what you were expecting, and your

subconscious threw an alert at you,

saying “Something is wrong here.” In

fact, you like soda, and a moment later

you take another sip, and this one tastes

much better. The liquid did not change;

your expectations did.

Customers entering your space will have

expectations about the experience they

think they are about to have; the same istrue of each individual aspect of the ex-

perience as a whole. If you serve coffee,

it had better be good coffee; if you have

shopping carts, the wheels had better

not stick; if you hire “customer service

representatives,” they had better give

good customer service.

When customers look at a digital sign in

your place of business, they likely areexpecting one of two things: information

that is directly related to their relation-

ship with you (marketing-driven mes-

sages, product promotions, etc.) and

information that is not (weather, news,

community events, etc.). Critical to the

success of a digital signage network is

delivering the information customersexpect, when and where they expect it.

For instance, do subway commuters

looking at a screen want to see informa-

tion about what is on sale at the nearby

grocery store? Probably not, even

though they might nd that information

valuable at a later time. They more likely

would appreciate weather information,

since they are about to step out into the

world where weather will directly affect

them.

“Customers walking in a shopping mall

will not stop or even slow down to watch

an advertorial,” said Anke Gill, director

of marketing for 1-2-1VIEW Corporation.

“These customers want quick and rel-

evant information that can be digested in

a short period of time. Customers sitting

in a doctor’s waiting room or in a bank,however, expect something very differ-

ent from digital signage they want to

be entertained so that their waiting time

is perceived to be shortened. The con-

tent emphasis here should be on longer

content segments with high entertain-

ment value.”

“Shoppers want to be entertained and

informed, not just advertised to,” saidTony Turiello, group manager for Pa-

nasonic System Solutions Company.

“Don’t broadcast advertising for 40 or

50 minutes at a time break it up with

other non-advertising content. While the

audience is captive, don’t penalize them

for it creatively engage them.”

http://www.lge.com/

http://www.lge.com/




Some possible goals for marketing-driv-en messages include:

Improved customer experience

making the customer happy through

entertainment clips, lifestyle messag-

ing, or positive afrmation (“Thank

you for your business!”)

Product information not just

where things are, but creative use of

video to demonstrate product value(recipes in a grocery store; tax-time

tips in a bank; in an auto parts store,

video on how to change your own oil)

Special promotions weekly

sales, overstocks, upcoming events,

“micro-sales” (“For the next 15 min-

utes, get 10 percent off XYZ!”)

Ambiance nebulous content that

might not create a top-of-mind im-

pression on viewers but instead aims

to create a general feeling of well-

being, to make the customer glad he

is there

Goals for information-driven messages

include:

News content headlines, weather,

nancial news, sports

Community events

Corporate communications wel-

come messages in a lobby, cafeteria

Waynding

Public relations messages

Most digital signage networks will bene-

t from a selection that draws from both

lists, usually woven together (e.g., don’t

stack all of the sales information up next

to one another; intersperse community

information and ambience between pro-

motions to eliminate the subconscious

notion that “this screen just shows ads”).

“Consumers want to be engaged,” said

Richard Fassio, founder and president

of creative content agency Modern

Digital. “Engaging can encompass ev-

erything from entertainment to informa-

tional content. Every situation will have

a different denition of what is engaging.

This is why it so important to dene what

the user experience will be in order tocreate a compelling media strategy. If

you aim at nothing you’re going to hit

nothing smack dab on the head. Den-

ing what experience you want someone

to have … this is the rst step.”

C S C

Calle del Viento nº 10 E

Tres Cantos

28760 - Madrid

Tel. 918 046 085

Fax. 918 046 085

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