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3 big ideas from Day One at DSE16

After a dizzying Day One at the show, here are just a few first impressions from Day One at the digital signage industry's annual conclave.

March 16, 2016 by Christopher Hall — w, t

Day One at the annual Digital Signage Expo is always a bit of a blur. Between meeting with solution providers, trying to squeeze into sessions, taking time to just walk the floor and the overwhelming sensory assault of just walking onto a show floor covered with a dizzying array of digital signage solutions, it can take a minute or two to get your bearings.

But then you start walking the floor and talking to people — and you're off to the races. With more in-depth coverage to come, here are just a few first impressions from Day One at the digital signage industry's annual conclave:

1. Solutions, solutions, solutions – Everyone is talking solutions, from startup newcomers like FriendMedia to the big kids like LG, Samsung and NEC Display. Media player provider BrightSign is partnering with SiriusXM to provide ambient in-store and on-hold music. FriendMedia puts their own software on their own media players to craft an all-in-one solution. The display providers are highlighting their own tech, but also showing off the work they do with partners to craft solutions from bespoke curved OLED video walls to ruggedized outdoor displays for train and bus stations. And they're trying to cover all their format bases too, whether it's LEDs, projectors, LCDs, 4K or OLEDs, to accomplish the customer's goals.
2. OLED, OLED, OLED - Speaking of OLEDs, whether it's curved, wallpaper, transparent or something else, the display manufacturers are looking to the future or in some cases preparing for the present with a variety of OLED display solutions either ready to go or very close to it. (And this item could just as easily be LED, LED, LED. There were LED manufacturers dotting the floor, but the display manufacturers also are getting into the LED game as a bezel-free alternative to LCD video walls for extra-large-format displays.)
3. Experience, experience, experience – How do brands, agencies, retailers, restaurants, you name it, capture customers' attention and either lead them down the path to purchase or develop relationships with customers to keep them from heading to Amazon.com to get what they want? You give them an experience, and digital signage providers are answering the bell to help provide that experience. On the show floor there were solutions that allowed customers to virtually try on clothes without changing a stitch in the real world, or use a mirror display to both look at themselves in their new clothes and view promotional content or call a salesperson to bring a different size. As Infusion Digital and Technology Advisor Brandon Elliott said in a session called "Beyond Digital Signage: Creating "Intelligent Spaces": "Your retail space needs to be half theme park, half retail. That's what people are going to come to. That's the answer to Amazon."

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