DailyDOOH

How many men does it take to fix (just one, cos the majority of them are broken) a new Roland DisplayStudio digital sign system?

The answer here at #2014SignExpo seems to be four (there is one man inside the sign, another with a keyboard and mouse trying to connect to the computer and two on their phones).

Zoom Media & Marketing, New York-based fitness digital media company, recently collaborated with Nielsen to better understand the Path to Purchase habits of the ZoomFitness audience (more than 16 million health club members in the US and Canada).

Research collected in Fall, 2013, from Nielsen’s On Location demographic study of the ZoomFitness network found that 83% of health club members visit a retail location at least once per week within two hours of their workout.

When asked to recall the last week and then list which retail locations patrons visited within two hours of any gym visit, grocery stores yielded the highest incidence at 70%, while 54% of respondents reported visiting a convenience store or gas station. Over one third (34%) of fitness consumers went to a drug store or pharmacy, and more than a quarter (26%) of respondents said they had visited a big box store, such as Target or Walmart.

“Our venues are right on the line of these consumers’ Path to Purchase,” says Tom Link, Zoom’s senior executive vice-president. “Health clubs are an important environment for advertisers to connect, influence and motivate the fitness audience to purchase their product before they go to retail.”

The Nielsen custom study also reported that the average gym visit is 78 minutes long and that fitness patrons reported an average of three gym visits per week.

The health club custom measurement consisted of an on-site recruitment for an online survey. Postcard invitations with survey web address were distributed randomly among all visitors 16 years of age or older as they exited statistically selected health clubs. Data collected in the online survey consisted of questions regarding respondent visit including arrival time, areas visited, dwell time, media engagement, time spent viewing/listening, frequency, demographics and psychographics.

PetCARE TV LLC, the Baltimore, Maryland-based subsidiary of Care Media and CaerVision, has converted its network of 1,750 screens to the digital signage software platform of BroadSign International LLC., Montreal.

The healthcare network plans to be situated in 5,000 locations by 2016. Founded in the early 1990’s, PetCARE TV operates 32”-to-42” LED screens in the waiting rooms of veterinarian offices, and is believed to hold close to 100% market share within the vertical.

The network’s audience of over 1.5 million viewers per month is exposed to 40 minutes of educational content per hour, lessening perceived wait time and informing viewers of the procedures and services offered by the veterinarian. The remaining 20 minutes are set for advertising by big box retailers, pharmaceutical companies and brands for packaged goods such as cat litter and dog food.

Doctors running PetCARE TV’s eight-hour content loop are able to customize it as desired, and appreciate the network for its help in selling services and products while educating and entertaining pet owners.

“PetCARE TV is the product of two separate networks that were running on different software platforms, which created a huge headache,” says Kim Sarubbi, president of PetCARE TV. “BroadSign allowed us to migrate to one platform and its software possesses all the features and benefits we were looking for. It was a real win-win situation.”

BroadSign features used by PetCARE TV include monitoring to ensure screens are consistently on, and reporting to seamlessly assist in the fulfillment of ad buy contracts.

“BroadSign has developed an exceptional reputation in the healthcare and point-of-care spheres,” says Skip Beloff, BroadSign’s vice-president of sales. “We are happy to provide our services to PetCARE TV and know that they, along with our other healthcare customers, will continue to request new innovations that only BroadSign can deliver.”

Anzyma, the leading digital solutions expert in the Sultanate of Oman, has deployed the country’s largest digital signage network across all 70 Omantel retail outlets, powered by Scala (a nationwide rollout across 80 screens).

Anzyma has installed the digital signage network across all the Omantel outlets in all governorates across the Sultanate. The screens are currently used for running Omantel promotions, advertisements and new videos.

Mohamed Al Salmi, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Omantel said “Our need for an intelligent and versatile signage solution was well understood by the Anzyma team. The Scala solution they recommended is a powerful communication tool that our customers have already begun to notice and appreciate. The Digital Media Networking has completely transformed our marketing landscape. This new form of interactive advertising coupled with seamless merchandising solutions provides our retail stores with a truly digital experience; not to mention the decrease in costs and better return on investments.”

Commenting on the successful installation at Omantel, Costy Berberi, GM of Anzyma, stated, “Digital Signage, has rewritten the rules of marketing, enabling enterprises to deliver information to their employees and customers more dynamically and effectively. We strongly believe that this technology has a huge growth potential and will add a lot of value within the Omantel marketing framework.”

If your mobile device battery is dead and you have no way to power up, maybe it’s time to take a cab.

In partnership with Play Taxi Media, TELUS is unveiling the first-ever fleet of taxis in Canada featuring cell phone and tablet chargers. Rolling out over the coming months in 1,000 cabs, Canadian taxi-goers in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver will be able to power up their devices free of charge, while on-the-go.

“It’s Murphy’s Law that your device battery will die right when you seem to need it the most,” says Anne-Marie Laberge, vice-president of brand and marketing communications at TELUS. “We’ve all been there – running late for a dinner date with friends or in between meetings when your phone dies before an important conference call. Our in-taxi chargers are just one way that we’re working to put customers first – they offer a simple convenience that will go a long way in making their lives easier and more connected.”

Taxis will be equipped with a power docking station located on the reverse of the passenger seat headrest and will work with any phone or tablet. It’s as simple as docking your device, sitting back and enjoying the ride. And cabs will also be equipped with a note on the window to remind customers to grab their

“I am asked multiple times every day by customers if I can charge their phone phone before they go.for them,” says Angelo Georgilas, Toronto taxi owner and driver. “Sometimes they have conference calls in the cab and need a charge. Now they can actually get one in the backseat.”

Zachary Killam, CEO, Play Taxi Media, says, ”From the late-night crowd trying to meet friends, to business professionals who need to jump on a conference call, phone charging stations in taxis are a great solution to this common predicament.”

The in-taxi device chargers will be available through 2015 with Blacktop & Checker Cabs in Vancouver, Mayfair Taxi in Calgary, Ambassador Taxis in Toronto and Taxi Union in Montreal. The program will grow to include additional taxi companies over the coming months.

The presentation on Thursday at #2014SignExpo entitled ‘Demystifying Digital Signage For Sign Makers’ from Roland DGA Corp. President, Rick Scrimger (11:00 in the Dynamic Digital Park) should be an absolute hoot when they (Roland) are NOT embarrassed to show this (and I make no apologies for using this word) CRAP at the event…

Let’s take shall we, a pack of playing cards as our design metaphor … then forget totally that playing cards are like, PORTRAIT and then throw a digital display into the sign in landscape across, what would otherwise have been a nice static sign.

The ‘sign’ itself is nice, ‘Put another Ace in your hand’ a good call to action to advertise the new Roland DisplayStudio digital sign system (note to the ISA, not even Roland are using your ridiculous Dynamic Digital Signage moniker) BUT whoever figured out why a TV screen should be thrown across the middle of it should be fired instantly.

Then let’s take a look at the digital content on display – the designer has forgotten that the ‘pack of playing cards’ is the background to the design … there’s even an instance of the digital display going dark – where it looks like the screen is off .. so bottom line even their transitions are awful.

At worst this was designed by two different people, at best .. no wait there isn’t a best. This is probably one of the worst screen displays we have ever seen.

Daniel Parisien, vice-president product and strategic planning at BroadSign International Inc., Montreal, got the day-long session entitled Dynamic Digital Signage on Wednesday’s Educational Day prior to #2014SignExpo off to a good start with his talk ‘Show Me the Money: How network operators can succeed at selling advertising’.

Among the points he made were:

1. “The three factors that I believe are bringing digital signage to new heights and making the medium profitable for brands, advertisers and your network are: Android, the print to digital transition, and programmatic ad buying.”
2. “Along with the LCD’s rise above plasma, the Android revolution of PC-based alternatives will be seen as the biggest shift-causing trend in the digital place-based and digital out-of-home industries. Its appealing cost and reliable performance aside, Android brings remarkable potential to increasing the effectiveness of digital signage as an innovative and engaging medium of communication.”
3. “DOOH is no longer a trendy new niche tucked into a broad industry. Instead, it is acknowledged and taken seriously by suppliers and advertisers. In fact, market studies are indicating that the digital component is a primary reason for the OOH industry’s steady and rapid growth.”
4. “The Harvey Media Matrix, first presented by JCDecaux UK’s Tim Harvey at DailyDOOH’s October Thought Leadership Summit, grades campaigns on a two-dimensional spectrum. One dimension designates the approach to presentation, while the other specifies the method of audience engagement. When the dimensions are woven together, the matrix illustrates the possibilities of conventional signage in the top row versus those of digital signage in the bottom two.”

Those folks clever enough to get to #2014SignExpo a day early will have been rewarded with a whole host of different things to do and see. Almo were invited to host their E4 tour at the event which at first glance seemed to be really well attended.

The education sessions, I am currently listening to Alan Brawn, are typically attended by thirty plus folks eager to learn about digital signage.

Definitely a good start to #2014SignExpo which kicks off proper tomorrow with the opening of the show floor Thursday thru to Sat.

Lamar Advertising Co., Baton Rouge, is celebrating Earth Week 2014 by partnering with Recycle Across America and notable celebrities to announce a simple solution that will deliver a profound impact on the environment and the economy: standardized labeling for recycling bins.

For Earth Week, Lamar Advertising Company has donated space on 600 digital billboards across the U.S. to feature Recycle Across America’s ‘let’s recycle right’ campaign, which introduces the standardized labels and includes celebrities such as Kristen Bell, Angie Harmon, Stana Katic, Ian Somerhalder, Josie Maran, Alanis Morissette, Anthony Mackie, Gabby Reece, AnnaSophia Robb and Chris Salgardo, the president of the philanthropic brand, ‘Kiehl’s Since 1851’, who have donated over 200,000 standardized labels to K-12 schools through the U.S.

The campaign also combines social media and digital out-of-home to engage consumers and promote the importance of recycling right. Recycle Across America will ask people on Twitter to pledge to ‘recycle right’ using standardized labels. Those who re-tweet the pledge from @recycleacrossam or tweet with #LetsRecycleRight will have their twitter handle featured on digital billboards nationwide.

“At Lamar, we are committed to the environment, so partnering with Recycle Across America was a natural fit,” says Ian Dallimore, Lamar’s innovation and digital strategist. “Integrating social media with digital out-of-home is a great way to drive engagement.”

The Recycle Across America campaign is running on Lamar’s digital billboards nationwide through April 27, 2014.

We see that the Digital Screenmedia Association is offering a free membership to qualified deployers, so if you’ve been considering joining, this looks like the time to do so.

This will save you paying any initiation fees – up to $2,000 in savings!

The DSA is an independent non-profit association whose mission is to advance the growth and excellence of the global digital signage, interactive kiosk, and mobile community through advocacy, education and networking.

Its 700-member community includes buyers, deployers, manufacturers, integrators, consultants, agencies, and participants from every corner of the digital signage, mobile, and interactive technology universe.

By joining the DSA, you’ll have access to the industry’s largest community of experts, experience, knowledge, networking opportunities, publications, and much more.

Membership benefits include:

• Exclusive access to over 450 deployers;
• Sharing success stories directly with other members through email;
• New networking events;
• Access to DSA’s popular ROI Calculator, and new tools such as the DSA Map;
• More targeted leads from the DSA’s Project Help portal.

Paul Flanigan, DSA executive director says that the organization will be introducing more in the coming months, including a revamped website and participation councils, online tools to use for yourself or with your clients, and much more!

Deadline for this free offer is May 23.

And if you are a past member of DSA and are considering returning, you will receive a special discount fee of $495 regardless of your company size, and DSA will waive the initiation fee too!

To find out if you qualify for these offers, click here and choose the right membership level, and fill out the form.

If you have questions, contact Flanigan at paulf@digitalscreenmedia.org