Article
KioskCom, The Digital Signage Show to make case despite economy
Show organizers say that self-service, digital signage have much to offer in a down market.
April 15, 2009
The question has always been asked, but as the economy continues to worsen, it has become more pronounced: How will self-service and digital signage help the bottom line?
It is a question organizers ofKioskCom Self-Service ExpoandThe Digital Signage Showplan to answer when the show convenes May 6-7 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. As businesses look to cut costs in a shrinking economy, executives have to be more focused than ever on efficient and effective ways to communicate with customers, employees, patients, and students.
"The real question businesses face is how does this address and solve a problem they have," said Lawrence Dvorchik, general manager of the event. "It's kind of always been there, but I think people are more openly focused on it than they would admit to before. Now it's front and center. Granted, it's cool technology, but it needs to be more than that. It needs to make their operations, communication and overall business better." Last year, the show floor saw more than 300 exhibitors and about 3,000 attendants. Dvorchik said he thought the conference would draw close to those numbers this year, if not more. To entice attendees, he said he is providing free full conference passes — as opposed to exhibit hall-only passes — which last year cost up to $1,500. Attendees can hear a host of customer-facing technology users from many different industries talk about the challenges they've faced and the solutions they've discovered. Experts will talk about maximizing existing data and on-screen content production to be used across multiple platforms and giving advice on the next logical step for first-time deployers — do you add content, invest in additional machines or try digital signage or handheld speakers? "I don't think there's a one-size-fits-all for any of these solutions," Dvorchik said. "There are many options to choose from, and people need to really understand the value of these options and select what works best in their situation." One scheduled speaker is Robert Fort, chief information officer and vice president of information technology with Virgin Entertainment Group, who will talk about how his in-store digital signage network pushes customers to listening stations that are tied to loyalty programs, blending all the components together to create a sales lift and enhance the customer experience. The company recently announced that it is closing all its stores, but that business deal does not impact the lessons attendees can learn from the store's programs, Dvorchik said. "You can imagine there's quite a bit of noise in that kind of store," he said. "He's very in tune with it being something customers pay attention to, rather than something they'll ignore." And Ron Potesky, a corporate communications executive for Ricoh Americas Corp., will speak about why his company chose to use wind- and solar-powered digital signage in New York City. The 35,000-pound sign will be 55 feet off the ground, and it will go dark if it doesn't get enough power, as a message to consumers and other companies that resources are important. "It's about their program that they launched of eco-friendly digital signage, and why they went green," Dvorchik said. "It's easy to put up a digital sign, which uses a lot of energy. There's always a risk with (solar-powered) digital signage that on a dark day it'll go out, and they've got it up in Times Square. Ron and his group weighed the options, and chose this route. It will be exciting to hear from him why they made that decision, and how it impacted their brand and their strategy." Other education sessions include a discussion of how digital out-of-home media is reviewed, analyzed and purchased by advertisers. The discussion will be led by former NIKE digital signage expert Pat Hellberg, ConAgra vice president of marketing and communications Gerald Johnson, and Ray Rotolo, senior vice president and managing director of Schering Plough DOOH agency Chrysalis. There will also be a session on employing digital signage on a limited budget, with tips on choosing low-cost but effective software, for example. "People are looking at every item within their businesses and how effective and efficient they are," Dvorchik said. "Those that are not are being replaced with alternative ideas. Getting the best practices of successful — and sometimes unsuccessful — projects first-hand helps to further that process."
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