DDC taking awards for digital signage

DDC won a silver award for Non-Interactive Advertising Content for its work with Canadian brewer Labatt on a highly successful digital merchandising program rolled out to hundreds of Canadian liquor retailers. The Labatt POD fixture is an all-in-one merchandising unit that integrates a cellular-networked digital display with beer promotion space. The winning content was for Bud Light Lime promotions.

The POD fixture also won a silver award for permanent fixtures in POPAI's beer-beverages category.

The company picked up a third silver for Non-Interactive Informational Content work done for the Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. The SunTrust News program provided informational and promotional messaging, as well as dynamic news and weather, on screens behind the teller stations, to decrease perceived wait times and elevate the customer experience.

The Holiday Fascination Wall developed for a Canadian wireless retailer won a bronze honor for Non-Interactive Experiential Content. Designed for a horizontal, tiled set of displays at the customer service area, the content was intended to be experiential and entertaining, and reduce perceived wait times. The wall was used to grab attention but not overwhelm customers or other digital marketing channels in the stores.

"The awards are flattering, but we're actually most happy for our clients," DDC president Stuart Kirkpatrick said. "They're the ones who take the real risks and encourage the kind of innovation and boundary-pushing that results in awards. It's wonderful working with people who understand the connection between strategy and creative."

"Recognizing the most innovative and effective point of purchase displays in each industry category is an important way to establish the ever-changing standard of excellence in marketing at retail," said POPAI Board of Directors Chair Leslie Nagy in announcing the winners. "Each year the OMA Awards Competition receives myriad entries from around the world that demonstrate the impressive creativity and evolution of the marketing at retail medium. Winning an OMA is a great way for an organization to establish and communicate its understanding of the power and effectiveness of marketing at retail."

The awards came just two weeks after DDC picked up a separate honor, winning a bronze Apex award at the recent Digital Signage Expo trade show, also in Las Vegas, for its comprehensive strategy, execution and ongoing management work on a $3-million, 320-screen digital display network at Toronto's Air Canada Centre sports and entertainment facility.

In November, DDC won another two DIGI Awards for corporate communications and advertising content. The awards were handed out in New York in conjunction with The Digital Signage Show/KioskCom, a major trade show for the digital signage and digital out of home sector. DDC also won three awards at the 2008 DIGI Awards.