Interactive Digital Signage On The Retail Shelf

Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief

nCap

The nCap, a clever play on the words / phrase ‘End Cap’ which was shown at GlobalCap yesterday is a nice example of a branded fixture (internal ‘street furniture’ if you like).

Artisan Complete are offering retailers (and brands) an integrated, modular and
measurable digital merchandising solution.

The ‘measurement’ is supplied by audience measurement newcomer Cognovision.

We are told that the nCap is a custom reskinnable fixture, allowing it to be used for multiple retail campaigns – not sure what that means but guess it has an easy way to add vinyl to the non-digital bits of the display?

Someone with a product marketing hat on has thought a lot about its design; we particularly liked the ability to rotate the 24″ LG monitor into portrait or landscape mode in situ.

They chose Broadsign for content management and reporting though we would have thought that someone like MediaTile would have been a better fit (MediaTile have done ‘branded fixtures’ elsewhere and have a solution that works well with cellular / mobile / 3G / GPRS connections). It may even have been better NOT to partner with any particular software solution at all and allow the retailer to use whatever they wanted / what standards they may already have in place BUT I guess that ruins the all-in-one product concept (so may not have been a good or viable idea).

Artisan could have chosen any measurement system (and had pretty much the same affect) but we understand that they chose Cognovision as they were local.

Mike Brown, Managing Director of Artisan Retail and Artisan Live (the retail marketing and digital signage divisions of Artisan Complete) said in the press release “The nCAP solution creates unlimited opportunities to attract and engage consumers at the point of purchase. Using the nCAP, marketers can combine traditional static elements with full motion interactive messaging and receive continuous audience measurement from each location.”

Perhaps as the press release goes on to say, the nCAP is the natural evolution of the “end cap” fixtures used at the head of shopping aisles in most retail settings. As we say, it is a neat and well thought out package. Only time will tell if it sells in sufficient volumes in order to justify all the (obvious) hard work that has gone into it – or maybe retailers will continue hanging screens just about anywhere with little or no thought to measurement, branding, position or content?

The nCap also goes to show what press and general interest one can get if you package and market something rather well.

About Artisan Complete

Artisan Complete is one of North America’s largest providers of retail communication solutions, offering creative and production services for static, digital and interactive POP signage and display. Through the manufacturing capabilities of Artisan Print+, the
design and marketing services of Artisan Retail and the digital expertise of Artisan Live, we offer comprehensive in-store marketing solutions for brands, retailers and their agencies. With award-winning digital content services and an expertise in the constantly evolving technology landscape, Artisan Live provides a single source to marketers looking to extend their message onto new media at retail.

Picture courtesy of David Haynes at sixteen:nine who also comments on the nCap on his blog


5 Responses to “Interactive Digital Signage On The Retail Shelf”

  1. Anonymous Says:

    Ugly very Ugly

  2. Dave Haynes Says:

    This was a product co-developed by a big team at Artisan and a smaller team within BroadSign, hence the close ties.

    The response to the unit on the first day of the show was massively positive. The booth version is plain white and black to match the minimalists look of the Artisan booth, and this shot was taken on set-up day before it was stocked with items and the booth tidied.

    Regarding why not MediaTile, any serious company in this space can support 3G networking if that’s what needs to be used. It’s networking, not black magic. Companies that put a big emphasis on things like wireless and 3G support sound as silly as someone saying their LCDs how support color!!!

  3. Adrian J Cotterill Says:

    we like the look of it – imagine it stocked with product (won’t look so bare) !!!

  4. Stephen Says:

    I am lucky to have such a great set of partners for this product. BroadSign, LG, CognoVision and others will make sure that nCAP takes “intelligent” digital signage into the retail space where it can really make a difference.

  5. Sean Says:

    I think the use of POS systems to change prices at the shelf level will be instrumental in increasing efficiency for the retailers as well as in improving shopper experience.

Leave a Reply