Article
Five tips for reaching audiences on the move with digital signage
Best Buy's in-store video producer Paul Flanigan says ‘less is always more' and emotional messaging may be the most compelling.
February 11, 2009 by Paul Flanigan — Producer, Best Buy
When I lived in Sacramento, I operated a ballpark video billboard that had the unique feature of rotating 180 degrees to face the highway just outside the park to broadcast messaging when the team was out of town. When I started creating messages for road travelers, I learned about effective messaging on digital signage. Here are five points to consider when creating digital messaging for moving traffic, either on a billboard or in a closed environment like a store, and an example to show the difference between good and not-so-good copy messaging:
Less is more. It started with newspaper headlines and has moved toward Twitter: Humans like their information in bite-sized portions. If your message is compelling, viewers will decide whether to go deeper.
Feel their pain. When you put yourself in the position of the viewer, you're likely to think about the copy as more vernacular and less Madison Avenue. If you were walking by a screen in a mall and you glanced at the screen, what would compel you? You might see how easy or hard it is to relate to the message.
Eight is too much. Most likely, the locale where you see billboard signage has a law about the maximum allowable time a board may live on the screen, somewhere around eight seconds. I have seen this loosely translated to non-billboard venues as well. But some operators treat that as a viewer actually using all eight seconds to read the copy. There is a good chance that while traveling past a digital sign you may see it change two or three times. Instead of planning copy to be read over eight seconds, plan for copy to be read in four seconds, giving those with potentially slower comprehension time to read it twice if needed.
Big muscle memory. Make the takeaway memorable by making it the biggest thing on the screen. If it's a URL or phone number (rarely should you need both), make sure it satisfies two criteria: It's simple, and it's easy to remember. If you were being chased by police and going 120 miles per hour and had about two seconds to see one thing on a billboard, it should be the bail bondsman's phone number, not the nifty slogan.
Helvetica rocks. You have put a lot of work into simple and effective copy, smart timing, and the right sizes for the right words. Don't destroy this by using Olde English or Papyrus. If you think a unique font enhances the effect of the message, you may very well be doing the opposite: You may be annoying people and keeping them from reading.
Here is a real world example of not-so-good digital signage and a better alternative:
Not good:
Good:
The second example is better because it's simple, easy to understand, and allows the URL to do all the work. If your TV is ready, no further action is needed, but if you need an answer to that question, you know where to go. The "dtv.gov" is the most imporatant message people will take from this. (I would even remove the "www." It's not needed and I tried it without the prefix. It worked.)
A terrific demonstration of how to build better signage can be seen with this "pecha-kucha" by Daniel Pink. I encourage you to watch this and think about how your signage can be smarter for your audience.
As producer at Minneapolis-based Best Buy, Paul Flanigan manages the U.S. chain's in-store video network and coordinates with internal partners on the Best Buy stores in Canada, Puerto Rico and China. He oversees the business model, creative, execution and research associated with the network.Related Media
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