Article
Next-gen digital signage advertising lands in U.S. airports
Monster Media has launched a network of permanent next-generation digital signage installations at nine major airports in the United States.
September 20, 2010
In what might turn out to be a very significant play in the point-of-transit digital signage space, Monster Media has launched a network of permanent next-generation digital signage installations at nine major airports in the United States.
The installations are 3x3-screen units comprised of nine total Samsung 460UT ultra-thin bezel screens. The entire unit measures about 12 feet by eight feet and protrudes only 14 inches from the wall.
Currently, these units are installed in Atlanta Hartsfield, Boston, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Denver, Houston George Bush (two units), Los Angeles LAX (three units), New York JFK, Philadelphia International Airport and Seattle/Tacoma International Airport.
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Monster has a history of working through agencies to land very significant brands on its interactive digital signage installations, such as ESPN, Oxygen Networkand HBO. Xerox is the first company to jump on board with the new network, placing an interactive experiential ad on all locations in the network.
The ad's creative was designed by agency Young & Rubicam and showcases Xerox's work with the Marriott Hotel Chain.
In the unit's idle state, the screens are made to look like hotel room doors that open and close randomly. When someone passes the system, a gesture-based camera registers the movement and the lights in the room turn on to catch people's attention and a call to action pops up that instructs people to touch the screen.
Through the use of Monster Media's multitouch technology, multiple users have the ability to touch the screen simultaneously to open doors to the "virtual hotel." The first few doors that are opened reveal random scenes of people in their hotel room (such as people jumping on the bed or putting on makeup). Once a certain number of doors have been opened, hundreds of invoices will fly out of that hotel room, towards the user and end up in a pile in the hotel's hallway. A maid then enters to clean up the mess. Then comes the Xerox tagline: "We focus on automating Marriott's global process. So they don't have to."
Airport digital signage is nothing new, but I see this network as being significant in several ways:
1. It is a first-of-its-kind installation in the digital signage industry, as it combines gesture-based, multitouch and mobile integration technology into an installation using the latest in digital signage display technology. According to Monster Media CEO Chris Beauchamp, these are the only true multitouch walls over 85 inches deployed in the public space.
2. Anyone who has attempted to install digital signage in an airport setting knows there are two major barriers to entry: the advertising company that owns the contract with the airport (typically JC Decaux or Clear Channel in larger hubs) and the local airport authority. Through existing partnerships, Monster is working with JC Decaux and Clear Channel on these installations, which will no doubt give them a foot in the door to international and domestic expansion, given the airport-advertising dominance those two companies have.
3. The connection between Monster Media's successes with recent installations involving big brands means that those brands are seeing the value in digital out-of-home advertising and deciding to include it in their campaigns. It also means that ad agencies are starting to understand the power of interactive digital signage and are becoming keener to using this medium when looking to make a big impact with large brands.
(For more images from Monster Media's airport deployments, check out thisphoto galleryon DST.)
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