It seems like there is a new ad based digital network popping up every other minute. We see them in malls, airports, stores, restaurants, hotels, even hospitals; really, just about everywhere we go.

They all claim to be a "soft landing" for TV ad dollars.

Truth is, if we really expect advertisers to move dollars from TV, Radio or any media for that matter, we need to make it easy to buy. Stop selling the media and start selling the audience.

Instead of saying "I can sell you 50 screens in 20 different malls", why not sell the audience. Instead of a number of screens, sell a number of eyeballs; specific eyeballs. The pitch then becomes "I can sell you 100,000 pairs of female eyes, age 18 – 36, with high disposable income at the time they have money in hand".

Imagine how happy your client will be when you tell her that you are only going to propose locations to her that meet her requirements. She’ll be spending her ad dollar more intelligently. Spend less and get more!!

A program that combines digital media and static to deliver a relevant, targeted message to an interested audience is the ultimate in smart, strategic advertising.

You can use Scala's Ad Manager software and data providers like Generation 5 to generate and manage audience based proposals and contracts.

Jeff touches on many topics including "justifying the capital expenditures necessary to deploy digital signage networks."

Pretty neat stuff - check it out:

I was a little unsure about the next steps for the digital signage industry when I became a part of it only recently.  But, working with an established company has shed plenty of illumination on the fact that digital signage is not going away and will continue to pop up in places that are a very big part of our everyday lives. 

The question is:  where will it show up next?

I have a few places that I see digital signage showing up in the next 5 years:

1. Travel coffee mugs – if I can plug my travel mug into the cigarette lighter in my car to warm it up, I expect every sip to be sponsored both audibly and visually.
2. The moon – Really?  We’re not there yet?  What’s the hold up?
3. Microwaves – An ad for Orville Reddenbocker’s synched up to play on the oven door while you’re making your microwave popcorn?  Scary, yet a possibility.
4. Fitting rooms in retail stores – Captive audiences…hello!
5. Places of worship – Amen…

Crazy?

Maybe - but don’t be surprised when the actual 'Man in the Moon' is brought to you by Velveeta.

You heard it here first.

If you are working in a company that sees the importance of a good communication strategy both internally and externally in combination with efficiency in every work process, you might find this interesting reading.

The challenge for many companies today is to update all their information both to customers and employees in time and to be able to continuously deliver catchy and interesting information.  Customers expect to see the same offers in the store as they just read about on the internet. Employees need to be informed about these campaigns so they are able to perform good customer service.

Scala’s Norwegian office has recently started cooperating with a company called Enonic. Enonic delivers award winning Java Web Content Management solutions for organizations worldwide, based on a product that is flexible, easy to use and committed to web standards.

Scala and Enonic have integrated their two systems on a couple of occasions:  once in a potential customer based presentation and once for a big Norwegian company.

The case is very easy to understand. As a marketing person for instance, you still work in the same program as you are used to. You are able to update relevant information on the internet, intranet, screens in the store and other screens for internal information. This integration makes a big change for the information flow in the organization. The information is updated easier and much faster. Many people fear to learn another tool in addition to all the ones they already use. For this integration, there have been a few changes done in the design so you are able to cross out where you want the information you just added into the system to show. As a part of the integration, different templates, pictures and texts need to be made for the different channels.

As our customer told us, their challenge was to give information to the employees that don’t use a computer during the day, i.e. people in production. They also wanted to emphasize some of the messages to all the employees and to show different kinds of information in different areas. Internal communication is an area of commitment for them because internal communication is a decisive factor to get satisfied employees.

From a marketing/communication perspective, the integration of these two systems must be God’s gift sent from heaven…The workflow in the marketing department runs smoothly, they can focus on updating the system they already know and it is time and cost efficient. What else can you ask for??

By Andrea Waldin, VP, Marketing, Scala, Inc.

I, of course, pay special attention to all types of signage - particularly digital signage. Sadly, I've spotted some rather lame attempts at the art of digital signage. One struck me as particularly awful and I thought I'd share. In a hotel (that shall remain nameless) in Montreal, the management had made the investment to hang a screen in the lobby. Seems like all hotels have screens in the lobby these days, so that wasn't interesting on it's own. The content on the screen is what shocked me. Here is a mock up of what I saw...

Seriously? I know that lots of people think that PowerPoint works for digital signage, but this was just pathetic. It was a 4x3 slide on a 16x9 screen. Never mind the fact that they used a standard PowerPoint template and didn't even make an attempt to add any movement or graphics at all. It might as well have been a white board.

I applaud the fact that this hotel was forward thinking enough to spend the money on a screen and PC for their lobby, but this is exactly why some digital signage networks fail - no one thought about the content and the content is the whole point of the sign.

This type of "digital signage" is becoming more and more prevalent because people think this is the cheapest way to get started when in reality it's a waste of money. Digital signage companies are offering all kinds of entry level digital signage products. These low end digital signage offerings have the low price point with the necessary functionality. For the same price as this screen+PC+PowerPoint license, this hotel could easily have deployed a cheap digital signage product that would have given them the ability to deliver compelling content.

I'm sure that if this hotel had all the facts, they would have made a wiser investment. I'm also sure that when they understand their options going forward, they will choose a different path. The problem lies in educating the world on what digital signage actually means and how to make the most of it. So that's my goal:  to get the word out on digital signage (because THAT is NOT digital signage).