Digital Out of Home

Siemens we are told is about to launch its own Digital Signage hardware and software solution.

Minicom, Ingram Micro and Philips get together at DS Expo in Essen last week.

Aris Parravicini, Minicom’s Channel Director is on the right. The chap on the left is from Philips.

Barclays Bank in the UK have had the strangest approach to signage that we have yet come across anywhere in Europe - having stopped and started a wide number of pilot installations and switched vendors back and forth on a number of occasions.

They must have been trialling systems for just over a year now and have been through a number of suppliers.

At this moment in time there are just two retail branches running a pilot and they are both using the C-nario software solution.

Our understanding though is that the whole project is to be canceled shortly.

The Great Outdoor Network Inc. based over in Florida has just published its 3rd newsletter.

In this issue:

We are opening the vault to read and review over 30 outdoor media companies. In this edition we focus on youth marketing, big media platforms changing our landscape to the new companies to entering the network. Stay on top of some of the latest developements of top players in the industry and more. This month’s edition is bigger and better than the last edition. From the response we are getting here, you’re going to really like OUTREACH MAY 2008. Thank you for reading.

Click Here to Download The Great Outdoor Network newsletter

Vision Media Group International are, we believe, about to announce a couple of marketing and sponsorship deals etc with regard its Theme Park Media (TPM) division.

We are expecting no more than half a dozen deals in one announcement - probably along the lines of a music channel and some film studio type tie-ups.

It will all be content related we expect.

Beaver Group (a Scala reseller) seem to be hinting that they have won a big UK deal with a Cinema Chain.

We don’t beliebe it is Cineworld as they are talking to a couple of other vendors and had a budget meeting only at the beginning of May so our guess is that it is most likely to be Vue Entertainment.

Vue is a cinema company in Ireland and the UK. The company was formed in May 2003 when SBC International Cinemas bought Warner Village Cinemas. There are now 62 Vue cinemas, with 607 screens[1] totaling 134,413 seats in the UK and one in the Republic of Ireland, including the rebranded flagship Warner Village Cinema in Leicester Square. In April 2005 the chain acquired the Ster Century chain from Aurora Entertainment, who had previously acquired it from Ster-Kinekor. This included the highest grossing cinema in Ireland or the UK at Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Dublin, Ireland.

As of June 20th, 2006, Vue’s executive team completed a management buy-out of the company with the backing of Bank Of Scotland Corporate, with the management team retaining a 51% stake. Also, as part of the buy out, Vue took full ownership of the 4 Village sites it had been operating under contract from Village Roadshow.

The picture here shows the panoramic display by 3Sixty:TV who are currently running and rolling out McDonald’s TV in Germany.

Managing Director, Carsten Schneeweiss proudly explained that his company is concentrating all their efforts on making this a benchmark channel before taking on other clients.

They are currently at 270 McDonald outlets installed and aim to reach 600 in 2009 with a final target of 800 out of the total of 1300 ‘restaurants’ in the nation. Progress is allegedly slow and laborious because of the high proportion of franchisees in the network.

3Sixty:TV is working hand in hand with McDonald’s on getting the programming up and running to the clients specs until the end of this year - after that they’re on their own!

..or did Fred Flintstone invent digital signage..?

One of the most unusual exhibits in Essen last week was in the Kiosk side of the event.

The model on show was red granite but you can have whatever stone you like. Apparently banks and insurance companies like to put them in their lobbies - either to show off or presumably to reassure visitors of their SOLIDITY!

Mediazest, as well as having a great working relationship with Cisco, have been a long term ‘informal’ partner with 3M as well.

Mediazest shared a stand with 3M a few years ago at the same show and regularly seem to be making use of 3M’s Vikuiti rear projection technology.

Mediazest know how to work with the big OEMs and the big OEMs are keen, it would seem, for some of that creative, content, merchandising magic to rub off onto them - at least by association!

If, somehow, (perhaps you have been living on Mars) and haven’t seen Vikuiti in action then this show is a good chance to do so and talk to 3M about it.

3M say about the show in their press release…

We look forward to seeing you at The In-Store Show, 20-22 May, Earls Court. Our stand (#G12) will resemble a dynamic in-store environment using innovative and eye-catching display screens featuring Vikuiti Rear Projection technology. A circular screen will be in the centre with a shaped screen on one glass window and an interactive screen on the other, all three running vibrant multimedia content.

This is one of the stands that we will be heading straight to at next week’s show.

We know of two European based companies looking seriously at China at the moment. We have also heard rumours that Streetbroadcast has now done some form of joint venture in China as well.

That JV is not expected to be up and running until early 2009 but it’s an interesting development from a well funded screen network.