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2014: The digital signage year in review

After looking at the biggest stories of 2014 in terms of traffic, we now turn to a panel of industry experts to find out what they thought were the biggest stories or trends in the industry in terms of impact.

January 8, 2015 by Christopher Hall — w, t

As the page turns to 2015, one last look back at 2014 will be instructive — heading into the New Year it's valuable to look back at what just happened to help figure out what's still to come.

We've already looked at what were the biggest stories of 2014 in terms of site traffic on Digital Signage Today, so we also turned to a panel of industry experts to ask them what they thought were the biggest stories or trends in the industry in terms of impact.

This is what they had to say about the year that was:

Clark Brown, vice president of digital signage, LG Electronics USA:

Over the course of 2014, we saw customers and content providers become more aware of the importance of investing in displays that deliver stunning images through advanced screen technology. Moving away from static digital signage, displays are becoming more immersive and interactive in nature through crystal clear panels that display content and images in true-to-life form. These technological advancements are essential for business owners looking to stand out by improving their communications platform. This type of true-to-life beauty can pull more attention and appeal to more consumers by displaying more captivating content through advanced delivery methods.

More than ever before, digital signage displays are integrating features and technologies that reduce glare and shine, protect from overheating, enable viewing from wide angles and provide an expansive color palette. Having a low standard of deviation for response time also is important for smooth viewing of images and messages, and assists in achieving that authentic color quality at every viewing angle. This is crucial for ensuring content is clearly and effectively conveyed in an attention-grabbing manner.

Lyle Bunn, analyst, advisor and educator in North America's dynamic place-based media sector:

• Proliferation: Static sign providers, interior designer, brands and agencies sought more information. High participation by brands and agencies at industry events such as Customer Engagement World, Digital Signage Expo, and association events such as those of InfoComm International and International Sign Association (each of which gather over 20,000 delegates).  Multivendor demonstration events such as Digital Trends Showcase held in Toronto and other vendor User's Group events helped to advance awareness of best practices.
• Using digital signage became a high priority as organizations sought to improve staff communications. Maximizing staff-related productivity is well served through unified communications, while organizations also sought to reduce costs of staff retention and hiring, improved workplace safety and staff motivation. Human resources showed itself to be an important and growing market segment.
• Integration into the "Paid-Owned-Earned" media model continued as enterprise "owned" media leveraged paid advertising, social media and Internet communications investment. Dynamic content from external and database feeds, as well as curated social media commentary formed a strong basis for maximizing "owned" on-location media ROI, and this will be a strong continued direction of digital place-based media. The transition from the digital signage "audience of many or some" to the "audience of one" is a marketing and media imperative as the engaged consumer is increasingly positioned at the center of the brand universe.
• Foodservice was a high-growth area of dynamic sign application in 2014 as programs of digital menu and promotion boards and tabletop interactive were deployed across large food chains and smaller food retailers including specialty foods and grocery deli moved forward. Experimentation by high-profile retailers such as Whole Foods suggests future strong growth as innovations are broadly applied.
• General retail continued in its growth of dynamic media use. The commitment of Walmart to an improved in-store media program and in-store programs by discount retailers to some extent echoed the use of video walls for simultaneous branding, merchandising and improved ambiance and vitality in fashion, financial services, hospitality and other retail.

Paul Flanigan, executive director, Digital Screenmedia Association:

As the executive director of the DSA, I live between the buyer and seller in the solution. I find out about things that will happen weeks before anyone else. I hear about slam dunks that never materialize. Around these are internal and external forces that shape my eight-hour day.

"This could be a game changer." I heard that maybe a dozen times this year. I'd ask, "What are you changing? The rules? Or the score?"

It depends on where you sit with the industry, but I reckon the majority of activity was seller-side: mergers and acquisitions, patent trolls poking their ugly heads up, and the continual revolving door of people clients, and projects moving from company to company. 4K, HTML, Android, and the cloud bought tickets to the dance before 2014, but seemed to move up the card.

The economy, and the industry, have enjoyed charts pointing northwest for quite a while. This must be attributed to our actions rather than comparing to seven years ago. Interest from buyers, interest from investors, and the bright shiny object of technology have generally put more smiles on people's faces. Now, when you ask someone how they're doing and they say, "Busy," they really mean it.

Jeff Ittel, senior vice president of Avnet Embedded

Digital grew in momentum in 2014 as out-of-home advertisers were focused on environments with a captive audience who were offered venue-specific advertising. This is best exemplified in doctors' waiting rooms where a well-executed DOOH advertiser can recoup his initial investment in less than a month. The success of digital signage in these venues is also pushing the monitor manufacturers to deliver better quality sound in their displays than had previously been needed in most digital signage applications due to higher customer expectations for quality sound, but price pressure to avoid external sound bars.

The year has also seen a greater influx of large-format outdoor displays. High-brightness and high- temperature technology has matured to the point where these displays are more reliable and less expensive to operate than ever, helping seed a fertile field of installations such as drive-thru for QSR and retail window-fronts. Along with this trend, we saw more consistency in content messaging, unifying outdoor and indoor concepts.

Paul Price, CEO, Creative Realities:

In 2014, the evolution of mobile computing and payment tools (including mobile coupons, Kuapay, Gmail money, Ribbon, etc.), along with the greater Internet experience that has been spoken for by increased mobile use, have served to propel further change in how digital signage integrates with mobile in-store. Mobile marketing, I believe, is an arena that companies will do well to intensify their focus on in the coming years.

Also seeing significant development this year is omnichannel, which has grown in importance to marketers as online and offline retail experiences converge to define key roles for digital signage. Through the adoption of omnichannel technologies, consumers not only learn about brands, but they're empowered even more to complete the cycle by purchasing. Stores are open to everyone almost everywhere via e-commerce or digital in-store engagements. Retail success is no longer a question of being offline or online but doing well at both, all the time, and the digital signage industry must be able to support this.

Last but not least, this year, innovations such as beacon technology grew as an application for integration with digital signage. Beacons are a unique and cutting-edge tool in the world of merchandising and marketing because they offer the potential to target a consumer at the most opportune moment. They are especially strong on the retail sales front because shelves and store displays can rapidly become interactive and personalized. Brand marketers can go beyond the store floor or shelf to deliver customized, digitized outreach to identified shoppers.

Gajendra Ratnavel, CEO, L Squared Digital Signage:

We have seen two powerful trends in 2014. The adoption of digital signage by the small and medium-sized business has accelerated greatly, as well as larger businesses using digital signage for non-advertising purposes. This in turn has put a lot of pressure on the platform vendors to create lower-cost, easier-to-use and reliable digital signage. We see this trending increasing in the next 12-24 months.

The rapid adoption of Android TV Boxes on the consumer side has led to a plethora of Android media player options for digital signage. This has resulted in great pressure on media player hardware vendors which, in turn, has led to a rapid drop in media player costs. The Android TV box has also caused a significant price drop on Windows-based media players on AMD and Intel hardware. This is great news for end-users and digital signage software companies as the price war means significant cost savings on digital signage projects.

Rich Ventura, vice president of product marketing and solutions operations at NEC Display Solutions:

Video walls, touch-enabled displays and ultra-high-definition resolutions all made their mark in 2014. Some came into popularity quickly and strongly, whereas others took more time but still made an impact. One of these quickly adopted trends was the video wall. Organizations realized in 2014 the impact that video walls could have on their visitors through not only their large screen size, but the opportunities to create new, engaging experiences. Today, it is no longer uncommon to walk into a retail store or an airport and see a video wall installation.

Living in a society full of interaction, it's no surprise that the next booming trend of 2014 was touch-enabled displays. Looking around, almost everyone has a device that they are interacting with content on. This commonality creates expectations from consumers to be able to interact more closely with brands. Touch-enabled digital signage screens and kiosks were the answers to this consumer need in 2014.

Lastly, there were ultra-high-definition resolutions or UHD. Although it took a little longer than expected to grow, display companies, media player suppliers and content creation companies did began showcasing 4K at various shows and conferences in 2014. Yet, there were a few factors holding back UHD from expanding fully into the market, like infrastructure needs. Looking ahead however, costs are decreasing and technology capabilities are increasing, making it a major contender in the upcoming year. 

Glen Young, senior product marketing manager, Envision Peripherals Inc. for Philips Signage Solutions North America:

The 2014 year in review can best be characterized by new buyers selecting consumer TV displays rather than commercial-grade signage solely to save money. Display vendors were wise to this trend last year and made every effort to try to get into what we call the "prosumer" market.

As a result, we see display vendors move away from edge-lit LEDs in the low-end market and more toward direct LED panels and consumer panels to reduce cost.  This trend will carry over to 2015, and we'll see increasing use of direct LEDs with the so-called "prosumer" displays.

Also in 2014, we saw a surge in cloud usage with more digital signage users going to cloud service to distribute content for each display. The impetus behind using cloud services is to remove the media player  — and its attendant cost — attached to the display. While cloud service has its proponents, it still is plagued with many issues for digital signage that need to be resolved.

(Photo courtesy of Wally Argus.)

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