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14 for '14: The top 14 digital signage stories of 2014
2014 has come to a close, and a brand new year is off to a fresh start, so it's high time to look back at the stories that made headlines in 2014.
January 5, 2015 by Christopher Hall — w, t
2014 has come to a close, and a brand new year is off to a fresh start — so it's high time to look back at the stories that made headlines in 2014.
The top 14 stories of 2014, as picked by the readers of Digital Signage Today, ran the gamut from practical to puckish, and featured donuts, digital menu boards, zombies and a brand so big it's now a verb.
So read on to get a taste of the most-read digital signage articles, according to page views, of 2014; here they are, in reverse order:
14. "Valentine's Day 'Invisible Coca-Cola Machine' only appears to couples" - A digital signage vending kiosk from Coca-Cola was invisible to singles and appeared only to couples on Valentine's Day.
For Valentine's Day this year, Coca-Cola rolled out a special gift for couples — and left singles out in the cold.
Coca-Cola has a long history of creatively combining digital signage and its vending machines — from the machines that would only dispense a soda if you danced, to the machines that allowed people in strife-riven India and Pakistan to reach out and see one another — and this one continues the tradition.
"The Invisible Coca-Cola Machine," as Coke dubbed the concept on its YouTube channel, was hidden behind a screen that blended in with a wall and remained "invisible" when people walking by themselves passed by. But when a couple approached, the machine revealed itself and asked for their names before launching a light show and dispensing personalized cans of Coca-Cola. Singles might see it, but only if they happened to see a couple activate the "hidden" digital signage vending machine...
Read the rest of the article, and watch a video about the deployment, here.
13."Look into the future of digital signage" - The fifth edition of the Digital Signage Future Trends report analyzes wide-ranging survey data and mines industry insights for actionable intelligence about the industry.
The future is coming — whether or not you or your company are ready for it.
And the business landscape is littered with the carcasses of companies that thought they were, but were not. The key, of course, is making certain your company doesn't join them.
But how?
There are plenty of good Sun Tzu or von Clausewitz quotes about intelligence leading to victory in battle, but this one from former Commandant of the Marine Corps General David M. Shoup is succinct and to the point: "To lack intelligence is to be in the ring blindfolded."
The key to surviving the future is being ready for it by having intelligence about what's coming down the road. And while the future is by definition unknowable and to a large extent unpredictable, there are ways we can gather intelligence on what the trends shaping it may look like.
One simple but effective tactic to gather intelligence is just asking for it. In the annual future trends reports we ask for it in two ways: First, we ask a few people for general information, and second, we ask lots of people for specific information. We ask people who are experts in their field what they think will be the key trends shaping the future of the digital signage industry. We also survey hundreds of people who either make or sell the technology, or buy and use it, what they think will happen or what they plan to do with it in the future. In other words, we ask the people selling what they think will be important, and we ask the people buying what they think is important and what their intentions are with regards to the sector...
Read the rest of the article here.
12."The business case for digital signage in the waiting line" - How digital signage reduces perceived wait times, increases customer recall and improves selling opportunities.
Digital signage provides an opportunity for businesses to reach their customers through electronic displays that deliver an array of information using images and videos. When placed in public venues, these digital displays reach more Americans each year than online videos, according to a TTV Marketing report.
Digital signage delivers both educational information and entertainment to customers during their wait in line. It also prompts them to actions which will better serve a business' customer flow and bottom line.
Why business are choosing digital signage
According to the same TTV Marketing survey, 78 percent of businesses report using digital signage and half planned to increase their digital signage budgets.
The popularity of this system is growing because of its ability to target customers through a fluid design. Getting the right message, to the right people, at the right time and the right place is a critical issue in a company's ability to engage its customers. Digital signage gives businesses the ability to control their messages to their customers at any given point in time at any location…
11. "Auto dealers driving digital signage to the bank" - Both inside and outside the dealership, the medium is helping the automotive industry maximize its marketing dollars.
Auto dealerships, like any other kind of store, face increasing pressure to maximize profits in a still-slow economy — and to make every dollar they spend on marketing deliver the highest possible ROI.
So, many of them are turning to digital signage, both inside and outside of the dealership...
Read the rest of the article here.
10. "In hospitals and digital signage, the media matters" - A health care wayfinding expert says installing digital signage wayfinding in hospitals means more than just hanging screens or deploying interactive kiosks.
Far-flung campuses stretching over a couple of city blocks. Multiple entrances and parking lots competing for a driver's attention. Add to the mix an already stressed patient, physically weak from a health challenge. And they aren't even yet inside the building, where they face more directional challenges.
These trials are a formula for short tempers, patient complaints and wasted resources. Hospital staff must often step out of their primary role and act as traffic cops to help disoriented, and often irritated, patrons find their destination.
Such can be the state of affairs at today's health care facilities — unless they tackle the challenge to improve the customer experience and get everyone where they need to be, when they need to be there, with as little fuss as possible. The fix: a wayfinding program based on methods perfected by modern business and utilizing a mix of both static and electronic solutions…
9."Augmented reality digital signage from Pepsi invades London" - Augmented reality and digital out-of-home surprise unsuspecting London bus riders with fantastic street scenes.
Digital signage and augmented reality are helping aliens, robots, a giant tentacled monster — and Pepsi Max — rampage through London.
Working with digital out-of-home firm JCDecaux and production firm Grand Visual, PepsiCo surprised and amused people waiting at a bus shelter with augmented reality scenes of a giant robot rampaging across the skyline, flying saucers approaching in the sky or a nearby pedestrian being carried away by a sewer-dwelling tentacle monster.
The trick involved using a transparent digital signage screen to show the normal streetscape before augmenting reality with animated scenes…
Read the rest of the article, and watch video of the screens in action, here.
8. "McDonald's UK getting a taste of digital signage" - The quick-service behemoth is expanding its in-store digital signage deployments in restaurants across the U.K.
McDonald's restaurants in the U.K. have been steadily testing and expanding the use of customer-facing digital signage solutions, with hundreds of locations already deployed, according to a recent case study from digital signage provider ComQi.
With the quick-service restaurant giant looking for new ways to increase foot traffic, communicate broader menu options and boost average customer spends, hundreds of U.K. McDonald's locations are using digital signage guided by The Linney Group and using ComQi's cloud-based EnGage digital content and campaign management platform. Based on clearly identified positive sales impacts, the digital signage pilot continues to grow in scope, the companies said.
The McDonald's U.K. digital signage displays have been shown to lift sales by as much as 11 percent on some items, and have helped increase average transaction amounts, according to the case study…
Read the rest of the article here.
7. "Dunkin' Donuts serves up digital menu boards" - Dunkin' Donuts shared the key lessons learned moving from a digital menu board pilot to a full systemwide rollout at DSE 2014.
Over the last two years, restaurant chain Dunkin' Donuts has gone from a 100-store pilot of digital menu board technology and moved into a full systemwide deployment that should see some 3,000 Dunkin' locations outfitted with the dynamic menu technology by the end of the year.
A representative of the brand spoke about the move from pilot to rollout at the recent Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas in an educational session, "System-Wide Digital Menu Board Deployment — Taking the Leap from a Successful Pilot to Implementation."
Jason Stuehmer, IT product manager for Dunkin' Brands, reconvened with Jan Malinovsky, the sales director of NCR Corp.'s Texas Digital division, two years after they spoke at the DSE show about the initial pilot. (NCR Corp. was Dunkin's primary partner in the DMB rollout.) This time they were talking about the process of going from 2012's multimarket, digital menu board pilot to 2014, and translating a successful pilot into a systemwide rollout.
"It's an awesome opportunity to go back and see what that pilot did for us," Malinovsky said at the outset of the presentation…
Read the rest of the article here.
6. "On-vehicle digital signage is on the move" - Is the on-vehicle digital signage frontier set to open up? Here's the road map.
Taxis, public transit buses and trains, shuttles and delivery vehicles are in the ultimate out-of-home environment and are poised for the expanding area of vehicle-mounted digital signage and LED messaging.
This frontier for digital signage is opening in high viewership urban areas, where a transportation authority or a network operator, as their agent, can leverage moving assets as well as existing ad sales and management capabilities. It is also driven by the hunger for display revenues, improved technology and advertiser demand.
There are four notable application trends in on-vehicle dynamic signage, including:
- Taxicabs currently use dynamic digital signage in an advertising model, with at least two companies, Insight Digital Signage and LG-MRI offering integrated signage units. Verifone operates more than 100 units in New York City, selling the 2-minute loop length as 15-second spots. The units operate at 2,000 nits brightness and offer many variations in creative layout. Mark Devereaux, business development, media, at VerifoneMedia, notes that dayparting, week-parting and geo-zoning capability add value for advertisers.
- Public transit buses and trains operated by municipal transportation authorities, which have long enjoyed advertising revenues from static sign advertising, are looking at shifting to dynamic signage in order to increase revenues from advertising on vehicles, street and station furniture.
- Special-use and event vehicles with integrated dynamic signage are in limited but growing use. LED outfitted trucks deliver dynamic pedestrian-level messages and a double-decker bus called "The Stage" operated by Carisma in New York City is an example of this emerging application of on-vehicle dynamic signage.
- The future may include vehicles operated by first responders (i.e. fire, police, ambulance) and security agencies including military, or drone-style delivery vehicles bearing dynamic signage for brand, advertising, public safety and information messaging…
Read the rest of the article by digital signage and dynamic media expert Lyle Bunn here.
5. "Shopper conversion through retail shelf media" - A dynamic signage expert consultant takes a deep dive into shelf-level digital signage.
The answer to confusion is always "no." As product selection at the retail shelf is, by definition, a source of confusion for consumers, brands have a significant opportunity for point-of-purchase conversion through shelf-level or service counter promotion.
When connecting the dots that represent the information and touchpoints on the ever-changing path to purchase, they ultimately converge at the shelf level. Even online ordering, the ever-increasing torture of physical space retailing with its "showrooming," is supported by shelf-level media. The culture of shopping is moving forward as consumers seek information, inspiration, ever-changing stories that put the product in the context of their needs, wants, life and events…
Read the rest of the article by digital signage and dynamic media expert Lyle Bunn here.
4. "Digital signage trends in 'The 7 Key Elements' for 2014" - Digital Signage Today's year-end coverage and look ahead at 2014 continues with these digital signage trends for 2014 from Brawn Consulting.
Polishing up the old crystal ball, there are going to be some inescapable trends in 2014.
From the perspective of The Digital Signage Experts Group's 7 Key Elements of Digital Signage — Business, Content, Design, Software, Hardware, Connectivity, Operations — this article looked at predictions for each Element, including:
- Ad-based networks will continue to proliferate, but, at long last, employee-facing networks will come into their own from a value-added perspective.
- There will be a proliferation of "simple" digital signage software for those not needing the "Full Monty."
- Yes, 4K will begin to rear its head but it will not dominate for a couple of years, due to content production costs and distribution complexity...
3. "Pizza Hut puts digital signage on the table" - New interactive digital signage tabletop lets customers design a pie at the table, order and play games while they wait.
Digital signage is taking its place at the table — or, more accurately, AS the table.
Pizza Hut has taken digital signage off the wall and put it on the table, literally. The restaurant chain is piloting a new, interactive digital signage tabletop enabling customers to design their pie on their table top, order and then play games while they wait.
A demonstration video seems to show that the table also reads from and responds to customers' smartphones, possibly via NFC, allowing an added degree of personalization — and allowing customers to also pay without ever leaving their seat or talking to a server.
Read the rest of the article, and watch the demo video, here.
2. "'The Walking Dead' take Vienna with augmented reality-digital signage campaign" - A Vienna tram shelter turns "Scary Shelter" in a "zombie apocalypse" on digital out-of-home.
The zombie-centric hit TV show "The Walking Dead" started off its fifth season last night here in the U.S., and the show's season premier is set to air tonight in Austria — with an added kick thanks to a gory augmented reality-digital signage campaign.
TV network Sky Austria and Austrian out-of-home ad firm Gewista (part of the JCDecaux Group) converted a Vienna tram stop into the "Scary Shelter," a two-day experiential campaign featuring digital signage and augmented reality making it appear as though the zombie apocalypse was hitting the capital.
The installation combined zombie footage shot for the campaign with a real-time feed of the Vienna streetscape, surprising people waiting for trams and allowing passersby to "appear" in the screamfest…
Read the rest of the article, and watch a video on the deployment, here.
And the No. 1 story of the year was...
1. "Google comes to the digital signage side" - Inexpensive Chromeboxes geared toward digital signage could be on the way, Intel and Google execs say.
Intel dropped a Google-sized rock in the digital signage pond in the middle of today's opening keynote at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas.
Intel's Jose Avalos, the company's director of digital signage, embedded and communications group, announced that, on the heels of the release of Google's Chromeboxes last week, the search engine and Internet services behemoth would be turning at least some of its focus to digital signage.
The Chromeboxes could become very inexpensive digital signage media players, and the Chrome platform itself could make the back end cheaper as well, Google's Rajen Sheth, director of product management, Chrome for business and education, told Digital Signage Today in an interview following the keynote...
Read the rest of the article here.
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