Unbeknownst to the digital signage and digital out-of-home industry, there are groups of creative professionals out there truly excited by the opportunities of the space. These people are exactly what the industry has been waiting for to take it to the next level.

The key to identifying such leaders is to take a closer look at their backgrounds.

Those who have only worked in the traditional print/point-of-sale space jump on the chance to create digital content on signage and love it, says Peter Viento, a 15-year shopper-marketing veteran who has worked across media formats.

"They get really excited because now there’s the flexibility of going from a picture with words to telling a longer story — they can do more, come up with a bigger concept and really blow it out," says Viento, who is the executive creative director at Saatchi X in New York.

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Viento also loves the ability to tailor the messaging depending on the location of the screens in store, plus the quick turnaround nature of digital.

His team recently put together a mini-spot for a client. "It had really beautiful footage which we created the messaging on," says Viento. "Now when we go into that retailer and we see it, my guys are pumped. They think it’s the greatest thing ever."

Similarly, over at Atlanta-based SapientNitro, the team is fascinated by the endless opportunities with different screens and surfaces, with the goal to be everywhere the customers are and give them the same brand experience.

"We want to make everything touchable. We have whiteboards filled with ideas," says John McHale, who has been with the agency for three years as the creative director.

Without a doubt, Sapient has a culture of embracing new media and innovation: It was the agency, in partnership with client Coca-Cola and Samsung, that rolled out interactive vending machines. The 46-inch LCD touchscreen combined with Flash technology, motion graphics, video and Bluetooth capabilities for mobile downloads generated much buzz and recognition. Specifically, it turned what was once a pure transactional experience into a true interaction.

The experience really pushed McHale’s team to explore ways to expand the footprint of a brand. He has no shortage of designers and staff with a passion for new technologies that can help create unique and immersive experiences. Granted, Sapient is a digital advertising and marketing agency.

For creatives with the traditional print and TV background, the uptake and enthusiasm for digital signage can be less. This is sometimes due to the fact that "in-store" isn’t considered as exciting or that the budgets are much smaller than they’re used to for TV.

What one acclaimed creative finds most interesting about digital is the fact that it’s constantly evolving and the toolbars keep getting bigger as new technologies are invented. With over 14 years of experience in interactive marketing, Lars Bastholm has seen inventions that seem small and inconsequential at first, such as Google, YouTube and Facebook, turn out to have mass impact on marketing.

For the chief digital creative officer of Ogilvy in North America, digital media provides the playground for engagement, entertainment and involvement, but also utility. As an example, Bastholm cites the Charm Toilet paper "Sit or Squat" iPhone application. It’s not exactly a brand or category that goes for "fun" advertising, but the application where they crowd source information on all the public toilets in the world is brilliant, he says.

"It’s right for the brand. It’s incredibly helpful for the consumers looking for a restroom in a city they don’t know. It puts them top of mind."

To help encourage clients to try new spaces and channels, Bastholm typically asks clients to set aside 10 to 15 per cent of the budget to do things that have not been done before. The investment is used to test pilot different ideas to see how they work, see how consumers respond, then adapt accordingly.

In terms of digital OOH hitting that stride as a permanent buy, he suggests doing the PR and letting people know about the success stories in the space. The three constituencies to influence are:

McHale, who started his career in book publishing and design before transitioning to digital, sees innovation being driven from a peer-to-peer perspective. He looks for what’s recognizable in other formats and explores how they can be applied to different mediums. Examples include applying elements from the Web to phone, or how to build on the idea of the Wii interface. The Sapient digital team, much like Viento’s retail team at Saatchi X, is actively exploring RFID, quick-response (QR) codes, e-couponing and more to enhance consumer brand interaction.

At the end of the day though, one of the key drivers for adoption of new spaces and innovation is effectiveness.

While advertising-based digital OOH networks often stress the number of views generated, a successful digital campaign is often seen through the lens of data capture or actual sales lift.

"Anything that motivates a consumer to act, to give you their information and to engage with your brand or product or services, that’s definitely the number one metric for success," says Sean Cunningham, VP, associate creative director at Hill Holiday, a multidiscipline communication company.

"Lead generation and acquisition is very important."

In the retail world, "moving the needle" is the best way to gauge success, says Viento. This often involves running a digital campaign, then tracking sales from the particular retailer and seeing if there is a lift.

The number of impressions still remains important since it translates to "softer" metrics such as brand recall, brand recognition and brand love.

However, executives from the creative world readily admit there are many ways to measure success and defer to the analytics team on the details.

At the end of the day, what makes it worth all the late nights and extra hours for a creative professional is the talk value.

"If the consumers are talking about it, if the press is talking about it, if the industry is talking about it as something that’s pushing the boundaries, as something new and fresh, I would say that’s a success from a creative standpoint," says Bastholm, who is no stranger to industry and peer recognition. He is one of the most awarded creatives in the digital marketing industry, having won a multitude of international awards, including three Cyber Lions Grand Prix.

The more retail, interactive and digital talents continue to embrace and drive innovation in digital signage content, the more the industry will grow to its full potential.

For more insights on how creatives feel about the space, join Peter Viento, John McHale and Sean Cunningham at the fifth annual Digital Signage Content Strategies Summit on April 12-13 in Las Vegas. Also be sure to catch Lars Bastholm’s keynote on the "State of the Digital Creative Nation."

Christie Liu is a conference producer at Strategy Institute, host of the Content Summit.