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Digital signage without the smell of ink

December 9, 2010 by Steve Acquista — Director of Digital Signage, Black Box

I recently presented at the SGIA - Specialty Graphic Imaging Association show in Las Vegas and came away pumped and enthused about the future of digital signage as seen through the eyes of traditional print signage providers, or as they preferred to be called, digital signage print and graphic designers.

I've been so accustomed with dealing with the technology side of digital signage that I forgot how important the content creative element was to the business relationship — that was until I was reminded by some of the most amazing graphic designers and printers in the business. The level of passion and entrepreneurial spirit we encountered was inspiring, something we don't see as much in the traditional technology sales channels. The discussions were more about delivering value and sustaining client relationships than they were about technology. Although we talked about the capital investments made in the latest printing devices and technology, it was the creativity and content quality that they attributed to their success and long-term relationships with their clients.

I have to admit that my pitch changed toward the latter part of the show. Rather than spending time talking about the robustness or the infrastructure of our DS platform, I began to focus on the value proposition and benefits. This seemed to translate much better to the print and graphics crowd. More than once, we found ourselves comparing LCD and LED displays to paper, and pixels to printing ink. We discussed that we felt the future was to send an image to a display instead of the printer, or what we now refer to as digital signage without the smell of ink.

We look forward to presenting at SGIA next year and anticipate the interest in dynamic digital signage to increase dramatically if this year's show was any indication.

About Steve Acquista

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