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With MediaSignage, the future of signage is here, now.
Digital signage (electronic displays which tell us information), or digital out-of-home displays as they are also known, often grab our attention – deliberately so. When we (the kids and I) are sitting in the car waiting for mum we play the game “I Spy” which often, especially during the evening, incorporates the glowing informational signs and displays on show – many of these now include digital aspects. The kids are growing up with digital signage being a part of their everyday life.
We are getting used to being bombarded with this ubiquitous information which, as time progresses, is likely to evolve to a more personalized nature. Paper has, for a while now, employed personalization techniques – how many times have you received a colour brochure with your name and company in the headline? You think they went to all this trouble just for you? Think on – but it grabbed your attention right?
Advertising and marketing companies are continually looking for ways to grab and maintain our attention and our desire to impulse to buy and they are increasingly turning their attention to new delivery mechanisms including more personalized, custom, information. What is the ultimate purpose? To get a sale of course – or rather to assist us making a purchase.
Brands rely on it – who remembers the old Halifax adverts that employed the idea of skywriting a large X – they were a pretty common sight on television when I was young. Now, whenever I see two jet streams crossed in the sky I am reminded of this particular bank.
It works both ways. As we spend more time from home, in this faster moving world, we need to rely on information sources, including out-of-home advertising, and digital signage plays an important part. Digital signage can be updated faster, changed more often and made more relevant to us as a result. When I worked on my masters project one area I covered was the possibility of beaming information from roadside billboards to a Blue tooth enabled mobile phone – for later viewing, or better yet using narrow casting technology.
Only a few days ago the news was carrying a story about the new line of “point and find” (see Nokia Point and Find) enabled movie posters where you simply point your camera phone at a movie poster and useful information is returned.
With the move to digital information and two way communication information, known as Marketing Metrics, can be obtained from us in many ways including:
In-store information kiosks
RFID tags on the products we buy
Biometrics including facial recognition systems
Bluetooth push messaging
Mobile marketing
In-store loyalty cards
Credit card purchasing Information
Our web surfing activities
This information, once collected and collated, can be used to target and engage us on a number of different levels to ensure it has opportunity for maximum impact. This is particularly important for building brand awareness in our brand driven generation. Information gained from these systems can stretch to indirect analysis including frequency of use, the life of a sale, and the reach of a product. The next generation of technology are likely to see much more focus placed on the collection and analysis of marketing metrics.
Behind the scenes digital signage requires an advanced physical infrastructure from power, data cables, screens and routing equipment to software applications and middleware. Sitting on top of digital signage hardware is usually a content management and playback system to ensure the right information is displayed at the right time.
New wireless technologies are emerging which can reach our electronic devices faster, and with more information than we can imagine. The future is bright for digital signage. And with MediaSignage you get an amazing price and an incredible product that’s available for you today.
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