Article

What to expect from your digital POP deployment

A digital signage R & D director outlines similarities and differences between digital and traditional POP displays.

July 19, 2011

by Ben Stagg

Vital Media director of R & D

More and more retailers are joining the digital revolution, deploying digital signage programs in place of traditional print-based static POP assets. In over a thousand digital signage deployments, we've had an opportunity to work with brands and retailers in setting expectations (and observing excitement levels) during rollout and beyond. To get the most out of your digital signage investment, it's important to have a thorough understanding of what digital POP is, and what it is not, when you start replacing those cardboard end caps and shelf talkers.

What Digital Signage Isn't

Television: Customers don't go to stores to watch TV. They go to shop, so the digital signage content is optimized for the quick-hit informational and call-to-action requirements of the retail environment.

Static: Digital signage is not deployed to present static information such as pricing.

Out-of-date/out-of-season: Instead of waiting for the next shipment of POP to arrive and be installed, digital signage with centralized management is updated over the Internet, ensuring that the current specials, seasonal offers or new ad campaigns are in front of the customer.

One size fits all: Digital display form factors are evolving all the time. Display size, shape, orientation, environmental and glare tolerance mean you can place a digital sign pretty much anywhere you want to.

What Digital Signage Is

Dynamic: Flexible messaging at the point of sale allows change as often as desired, enabling easy display of seasonal and special offers.

Entertaining: Digital signage provides superior messaging that reaches and engages a target audience.

Informative: Digital signage helps the customer make decisions based on brand and product differentiation at the point of sale.

Creatively aligned: Digital signage is able to campaign the same brand message in the store that the consumer is seeing out of the store, leveraging brand awareness and communication effectiveness with tightly aligned creative.

Timely: Today's digital signage program can deliver content on demand, ensuring a timely message according to season, special or even time of day.

Measurable: With the advent of NFC, or near field communication, applications and interactive options, viewer metrics can be collected and measured against sales.

Managed: Centralized remote management of your digital signage assets and messaging ensures these properties are trouble-free and delivering the right content.

What Digital Signage Will Be

Interactive: Interactive digital signage provides not only what other digital signage provides, but it also provides a way for consumers to give feedback instantly, adding another level of value and engagement. Metrics can be gathered based on what content areas consumers engage with most. This also allows interactive digital signage to truly reach the target market and creates a reason for consumers to spend more time with your message at eye level.

Three dimensional: DigitalSignageToday.com writes, "Three-dimensional digital signage, which provides a more detailed, eye-catching and immersive experience for the customer, is becoming more affordable and accessible." Three-dimensional digital signage helps consumers retain your message longer as well differentiate it from other brands. As 3-D applications become more available to consumers in home appliances and entertainment, they will expect it from brands and retailers to enhance retail experience.

Mobile: According to Steven Gurley, "The most significant development in digital signage in the next few years will be an increasingly tighter integration between digital signage and mobile devices." He writes, "Digital signage represents a tremendous medium for setting the mobile context. It can be used to expose consumers to mobile, it can be used to guide them through the potential complexities of mobile, and it can also be used to articulate the overall value of the mobile experience." The convergence of digital signage and mobile consumer experiences is the future of both enterprises.

Stagg is a Digital Signage Certified Expert and director of R&D for Vital Media Inc., responsible for the technology solutions and deployment infrastructure for Vital Media's digital signage solutions.