Digital Out of Home

Very interesting announcement from the UK’s Virgin Radio with regard its deal to supply a dedicated stream of Virgin Radio to the 48 Moto Hospitality Ltd (motorway service station) outlets.

The deal starts the end of May we believe, with TEAMtalk Broadcast losing out in the supply of the actual radio / music content THOUGH continuing to own the network delivery and maintain the network.

We are told that the relationship between Moto and TEAMtalk Broadcast is still very strong and everyone we have spoken with seems genuinely excited about the Virgin Radio deal.

In the press release below, Virgin make it quite clear what their intent is and, we quote…

“The new audio business division pits Virgin Radio against radio production companies, specialist branded content and advertising agencies and will offer clients a production service for unique download and podcast audio for websites and portals, as well as tailored audio streams for retail and travel networks such as Moto”

We have been told that the Virgin Radio customer profile and that of Moto is very similar. Without Moto demographics we couldn’t check that of course, however, when you think that the BBC’s Radio 2 is the UK’s most listened to radio station we can think of better fits (but then the BBC is not a commecial station so that wouldn’t work!!)

Whatever spin is put on this deal, it’s a very good deal for Virgin Radio which enables them to extend its reach across the UK.

VIRGIN RADIO GETS ITS MOTOR RUNNING!

National rock and pop station, Virgin Radio, has signed an exclusive deal with leading motorway services provider Moto Hospitality Ltd in a brand new initiative to provide its 48 outlets across the UK with a dedicated stream of Virgin Radio to entertain customers and provide innovative advertising opportunities for brands within the outlets.

This is the first deal in Virgin Radio’s plan to diversify it’s business with a new Audio Business division, a first among the UK’s radio companies, which has been created to exploit the growing demand for branded content and bring a new revenue stream into the business.

The specialised stream of Virgin Radio will carry bespoke spot advertisements from a maximum of five brands available within the Moto service stations that will be signed up as sponsors for a fixed time period.

This pioneering approach of limiting the number of brands heard on air will guarantee standout for the sponsors by ensures customers are not overloaded with brand messages during their average 26 minute stop over.

The new audio business division pits Virgin Radio against radio production companies, specialist branded content and advertising agencies and will offer clients a production service for unique download and podcast audio for websites and portals, as well as tailored audio streams for retail and travel networks such as Moto.

“This partnership is another example of Virgin Radio continuing to create targeted advertising opportunities for brands with creative programming concepts.” Says Nick Hewat, Sales Director at Virgin Radio, “Advertisers will be able to engage with consumers when they are very receptive and inclined to make impulse purchases - during a break from a potentially stressful environment - and Moto adds value to its relationship with its customers - a win-win situation.”

“This is a fantastic fit for us. Virgin Radio has massive appeal with our core customer demographic of 24-54 year olds and will create the perfect atmosphere for our customers.” Adds Kirsty Birkin, Marketing Manager at Moto, “They’ll be alerted to promotions and deals that are happening on site at the same time as being able to listen to great music.”

- Ends -

The channel piped into Moto is, what is called, a clean feed which means that any sponsorship or advertising can be sold independently and separately from the main Virgin station.

This of course avoids any conflict with existing Moto partnerships and allows the advertisers to target a very clear demographic.

About Virgin Radio

Virgin Radio is the UK’s only commercial pop and rock music station. It can be heard on 105.8FM in London, 1215AM nationwide, on any DAB Digital Radio, via Freeview, Sky Digital and the cable TV networks and via WorldSpace. Virgin Radio is the world’s most listened to station on the internet and can be heard at www.virginradio.co.uk. Virgin Radio Classic Rock, Virgin Radio Xtreme and Virgin Radio Groove extend the brand across the internet and Sky nationally, and on DAB in London. Virgin Radio is wholly owned by SMG plc.

We see that Celia Tong, Vice President, Focus Media is presenting at The 2008 Walpole British Luxury Summit on Wednesday 21st May 2008 at the Royal Automobile Club, London.

Walpole hosts two seminars every year which debate issues relevant to the luxury market. The topics chosen are thought provoking and provide forward thinking issue analysis. Our key note and experienced panel speakers are drawn from the luxury world and include industry experts, research practioners, market leaders, agencies and others who can provide market leading insights and thinking on discussions topics.

We’ll be in Las Vegas the whole week of Infocomm 08, good to see that Dynamax are continuing to try to grow in the US (they haven’t done a European show all year but this will be their second US one) and will be attending also…

Exhibition: June 18-20, 2008, North and Central Halls, Las Vegas Convention Center

InfoComm 08 - the leading business-to-business marketplace for display, projection, audio conferencing, lighting and staging, digital signage, internet streaming and networked presentation and communications systems.

Dynamax will be attending and exhibiting at this major industry event in June 2008.

Our booth number N7257 is in the Digital Signage arena of the convention center.

Schedule your appointment to meet with our team at InfoComm, and see how our solutions can help you deliver real value to your customers. We look forward to seeing you there.

We have written a couple of times before about LocaModa (and of course EnQii) but had no idea they were talking to each other!!

Here is an interesting US initiative…

EnQii Advances “New Media Triad” with Mobile Phone Interactivity

Partnerships Signed with PingMobile and LocaModa

New York — EnQii, a global leader in the digital out-of-home market, is taking aim at the future of digital signage networks by partnering with PingMobile, a full-service mobile agency, and LocaModa, a mobile social platform provider. By joining forces with PingMobile and LocaModa, EnQii is optimizing the “new media triad” of digital signage, mobile devices and the web while becoming part of the largest growing network of connected places.

The full PDF in the link below is only 2 pages long but well worth a quick read.

See http://www.enqii.com/press/2008/05/09/

Mungo Knott, Managing Director, Streetbroadcast had a letter published this week in the UK’s 08.05.08 Marketing Week (page 15) about “Six Sheets Crucial To Display Market Growth”.

The week before last there was an article basicallly saying that there were too many traditional (not Digital) 6-Sheets in the UK marketplace and the format was giving signs of being tired. A number of traditional 6-Sheet folks including the airport team at JCDecaux had there say (in defense of the format).

Anyway, Mungo wrote a nice letter, reproduced below…

Your analysis (MW last week) on the decline of six sheets raises two fundamental points for the future growth of the medium. First, buyers and sellers need more rigour over what gets built and what gets bought and, second, research shows that head-on panels are more effective than parallel.

Since 2001, Streetbroadcast has been building a network of six sheets placed on lampposts road edge and above the clutter for maximum visibility. Every panel is head on, they deliver the best average conversion from opportunity to impact (Source: POSTAR), memory recall is two-and-a-half times that of a standard roadside six sheet (Source: Nottingham University), and every panel is purchased individually with no packaging.

Buyers at all levels must recognise their responsibility to try and improve the value of their six sheet out of home communication. This is in the long term interest of all who need to see the out of home medium grow alongside an ever-competitive ad display market.

Yao Ming with bad case of food poisoning? A bootleg DVD copy of the summer 2008 blockbuster “The Incredible Hulk“? - well, loyal readers of the DailyDOOH, both guesses are incorrect.

The correct answer is … The “Zero Energy Media Wall”

By day, this mild mannered glass curtain wall soaks up the sun with its embedded photovoltaic cells, storing up the 100% free eco-friendly sunlight energy. When the sun sets, its party time! the building sheds its conventional image and fires up a massive 24,000 square foot mother of all LED screens.

The good news? The energy footprint of this bad boy is 100% sustainable thanks to the solar power used to power the LEDs throughout the night, creating a full on, self-sufficient organic system

The bad news, it really can’t be used as a messaging system as the resolution of this display is way too low, meaning, you can’t really read text on it, most video or image content will look like psychedelic anamorphic shapes and colors.

But all is not lost, I predict the technology advances in this project will lead to the development of next generation of eco-friendly, granola crunching, tree-hugging, zero carbon foot print digital displays that will reduce our reliance on foreign oil, fix the giant hole in the ozone and stop global warming… or maybe it will just make for good press as everyone loves to say that they are “going-green” these days!

Montreal-based iGotcha Media is heading to Avenue A Razorfish’s Rock The Digital World event in New York City May 13-15 to show off its interactive digital window, designed, in this case, for JC Penney stores.

Similar iGotcha’s interactive digital windows in various designs (and available in numerous sizes), have been used twice by retail outlets in Canada: by Roots in Toronto, and Garage in Montreal. (Roots claimed a sales increase of 40% from the Toronto area following the screen’s installation, as well as a large increase in e-mail sign-ups.)

The JC Penney Interactive Storefront - powered by Avenue A Razorfish and iGotcha Media - will demonstrate the latest in interactive touch screen technology and how the window display on the front of a store can be turned into an immersive, engaging and playful experience for shoppers, even when the store is closed.

For example, a shopper passing the store at midnight could look for fashions available for certain activities (eg. parties, casual, work), see what’s available, zoom in on a specific dress, flip it over for details, add it to a shopping cart and have her order delivered. The touch screen window, which uses two types of foil in its production, also has a virtual keyboard for such details as an e-mail address, allowing a store to build a database.

When they launched iGotcha in 2005, founding partners lawyer Greg Adelstein, president, and engineer Michael Terni, vice-president, started the business offering WebPads with free Internet access in 50 high-traffic coffee bars and other Montreal hotspots. However, they have since refocused their business to concentrate on the development of interactive digital screens and conversion of stationery posters to interactive boards. They are planning to put their products in subways and airports as well as retail outlets across the U.S. and Canada. (Their Webpads may be refocused for use in niche markets such as doctors’ offices, based on an advertising and sponsorship model.)

The JC Penney window exhibit will be iGotcha’s first major showing in the U.S., but the company has developed prototypes for a range of possible advertisers, incorporating games, theatre information and numerous other possibilities.

“Imagine during the Grand Prix weekend that a tourist passes a window and sees the driver’s hat he’s been looking for,” says Adelstein. “He could order it immediately via the store window, even if it’s midnight and arrange to have it sent to his home.”

iGotcha offers a full turnkey operation, including managing the content, but also offers the option for clients to handle it themselves. IGotcha’s interactive digital windows can provide clients with such information as the number of people using, the length of their sessions, which buttons were most used (eg. Was the blue or red dress more popular?), and other details, as well as database collection.

The eagle eyed amongst you will have spotted the - DailyDOOH SHOWCASE - a new paid-for-feature that went live on Friday!

We make no bones about this being a paid-for-feature. If you are interested in showing off a digital signage / digital out of home deployment or campaign then you can for ONLY UK PDS 299.

First up to use it is Jason Cremins’s Remote Media business which is using it to showcase its innovative Harrods Window Display using Screen Technology’s ITrans system.

Your very own - DailyDOOH SHOWCASE - could run for 2 weeks in our usual 1:6 banner rotation.

For UK PDS 299 you will get a complete package that includes design, graphics and banner hosting, along the lines of…

1. Single slide with company logo and URL
2. Single slide with text description of the campaign or the deployment, for example “Harrods, 15th April to 24th May Design Icons”
3. Half a dozen slides containing photos of the deployment or graphics of the campaign

Running time is likely to be no more than 30 seconds.

About - DailyDOOH SHOWCASE -

Runs in the 300 x 250 pixel (RECTANGLE) Banner Advertising space (top right of site). It comprises a specially designed Widget developed by our very own R&D team (move your mouse over the widget and notice the ‘video’ controls appear - click on the widget and see the video pause, click on it again to see it start, etc).

If you are interested in using this feature then simply drop us an email.

Strange! A story that was up on aka.tv yesterday (7th May 2008) is not up there today?

Could it be that someone in the UK asked them to remove it?

Could it be that the owners of aka.tv who also own Esprit Digital were so keen to run a story that gave themselves some publicity that they didn’t stop to think AND didn’t get permission from said owner (i.e. the ’someone’ above) before publishing!

We don’t intend to fall foul of that ’someone’ (they seem happy with our ‘proper’ researched exclusives) but an excerpt from said post is interesting (as it hardly counts as COMMENT when you know that one owns the other)…

AKA COMMENT

The Esprit Digital model of renting the complete system, fully installed offers an extremely flexible solution for outdoor contractors and brands to run specific targeted campaigns over defined periods. The model reduces the risk to the advertiser and contractor - as Esprit rent on the basis of available screen hours, ie if the screens are not on or are not functioning, then there is nothing to pay.

We haven’t met one company that would prefer to rent a consumer-screen based 6-Sheet when they could buy one from the likes of Remote Media or others. Vision Media Group (VMG) have even designed and manufactured their own and reckon that they can bring them in for a little over UK PDS 10K each.

At that price why on earth would you rent?

PS. It’s article http://www.aka.tv/articles/article.asp?articleid=1625 that is missing.

magink as you may probably know manufactures full-color digital ink display systems. Clear Channel in both the US and the UK used them to some degree instead of and as well as LED technology.

We have written before that in the US, Clear Channel’s choice (or lack of it) when it came to rolling out LED and magink technology SERIOUSLY slowed down their digital deployment and certainly we feel let Lamar Advertising get a head start (who simply opted for an LED rollout) with the migration of traditional to digital large billboards.

Clear Channel’s recent digital initiative in the UK -announced earlier this week of course, with Barco LED as the preferred technology must surely now be the death knell for magink’s UK business.

At the very least we understand that Clear Channel will be phasing out the 10 magink screens that they had in operation in the London area and would seriously doubt whether any other large outdoor operator would now opt for this technology for large, outside use.