Article
A meeting of the digital signage minds
DSA Advisory Board meeting blends vendor and user perspectives as the board looks to move the digital signage industry forward in uncertain times.
March 11, 2009
Despite the unsettling condition of the economy, members of the Digital Signage Association Advisory Board say the digital signage industry is moving ahead at a steady pace, and the Digital Signage Association is at the forefront of that movement.
Stuart Armstrong, president of EnQii and association president, said that was the mood of the Advisory Board meeting that took place Tuesday, Feb. 24, on the eve of Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas.
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Stuart Armstrong, president of EnQii and of the Digital Signage Association, addresses attendees of the User/DSA board member luncheon held immediately after the Advisory Board meeting. (Also pictured: Suzanne Alecia, president, OVAB) |
"My feeling is that the association is really starting to turn a corner and it's beginning to develop some
momentum," Armstrong said. "That momentum is being powered by the quality of the membership and the growth of the membership. We're seeing a lot of knowledgeable and energetic people that are raising their hands and getting involved."
Members increase
Some of that energy is coming from an influx of user members, Armstrong said. That influx can be attributed to the association's recent user membership drive, which provided free membership to eligible digital signage deployers.
The association currently consists of 238 members, 129 of which have joined in the last five months. Of those new members, over 80 are users including retailers, hotels, restaurants and banks.
Those new user members include companies such as Dunkin Donuts, Hallmark Cards, Delta Air Lines and Fifth Third Bank.
"Six months ago, we had six users," Armstrong said. "At the time of the event, we had 86 users. And they are bringing a very valuable perspective."
One such user member is Sean Andersen, director of interactive services for Six Flags Inc. Andersen said his company is in the midst of deploying roughly 250 45-inch outdoor LCD screens throughout seven of its parks. The project, including content creation, was managed in-house, and he was eager to attend the Advisory Board meeting to see how other users have handled their digital signage projects.
"We wanted to see what else the industry was doing," Andersen said. "Obviously we were tackling it from our own microcosm world and I wanted to see what other vendors were doing out there, and more importantly, what other users have been experiencing."
Andersen chose to use the board meeting for a special announcement: from this point onward, he says he is going to require all digital signage vendors who work with Six Flags to become association members.
"What the board has done by not making users ante up to be part of the association – that was brilliant," he said. "Our way of thanking you guys and thanking the committee is for us to flex our muscles and make our vendors, in essence, pay our ride. And they should."
Return on investment
One aspect of digital signage deployment that particularly interested Andersen was identifying costs and return on investment. During the meeting, Steve Nesbit, president and chief operating officer of Reflect Systems, expressed his desire to lead the association's efforts in providing strategies for digital signage ROI.
"I'm not sure that we as an industry have really come up with a cogent set of guidelines that are really usable by retail, quick serve restaurants, banks, public spaces or whatever that might be," Nesbit said. "My thought was that it would be a terrific benefit if the DSA could help along those guidelines."
Nesbit said digital signage does represent a wise investment — even in today's tight economy — because it 1) creates a positive customer experience, 2) becomes a medium for branding, and 3) can be a persuasive tool to get shoppers to purchase goods and services. The key, he said, is providing guidance to users so that they capitalize on these benefits.
Nesbit said he hopes to form a committee that will start putting together an ROI model that will be beneficial to digital signage deployers.
Content focus
The topic of digital signage content was also a central focus during the meeting. The recent success of the association-sponsored webinar, "Content Best Practices for Digital Signage Networks," demonstrated that there is considerable interest among digital signage users in creating effective content.
Keith Kelsen, founder and executive chairman of MediaTile, said the shift from technology to content was bound to happen as the digital signage industry matured.
"We solved the technology problem and now it's all about what's on the screen. It's all about the strategy for a network and content is a huge part of that strategy," he said. "So we're going to get more focused around that and we're going to provide more in-depth webinars that will help people get their strategy and their minds wrapped around these types of networks."
Kelsen, who chairs the association's Content Best Practices Committee, told attendees that the DSA will release three best practices documents over the coming year, focused on digital signage content at the point of sale, the point of wait and the point of transit.
He said hearing about the association's upcoming initiatives, as well as the enthusiasm of new user members, filled him with a sense of mission for the future.
"I thought it went great. I think the list of things before us, we can accomplish," Kelsen said. "It's almost like we need to accomplish this for the betterment of the industry. That's why we're there."
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