Latest News from Dave Haynes

A Call for Clarity: the Adobe Flash Issue

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:45:00 EST

When I was selling software, one of things that came up and that I was coached to use as a selling tool was the whole issue around what is OK and not OK about using Adobe Flash.

There were a few schools of thought or lines of attack, depending on how you looked at the world.

1 - the Flash End User License Agreement (EULA) expressly forbade the use of the Flash player for digital signage, and software companies needed to buy/license the developer libraries to be legit

2 - the EULA did not apply to PCs and therefore it didn't matter

3 - it was unclear, and Adobe wasn't helping add any clarity

4 - Flash for digital signage sucks, and is such a buggy, memory-leaking, CPU-intensive pig you'd be crazy to use it anyway

I hovered somewhere between 1 and 2, knew 3 was true, and figured 4 was pretty much true, but there were too many good capabilities in Flash and too much of it out there to just go away. Flash is installed on 98 per cent of PCs, after all.

I wrote a piece on this years ago and the post still comes up high in searches when I look up digital signage and Flash, but I am not, at all, certain, my assertions in that post still hold. I have been revisiting the question recently with industry contacts, and been dismayed to learn the whole issue remains clear as mud.

One contact told me the new Adobe media player, not the Flash player, makes the issue go away. Another said the Open Screen Project removed any restrictions. Another said the EULA does not apply with the latest version of the Flash player. Another said nothing has changed. Sheesh. These are all smart people and they are all operating on different points of view.

Here's what it says:

3.1 Adobe Runtime Restrictions. You may not Use any Adobe Runtime on any non-PC device or with any embedded or device version of any operating system. For the avoidance of doubt, and by example only, you may not use a Adobe Runtime on any (a) mobile devices, set top boxes (STB), handhelds, phones, web pad, tablets and Tablet PC (other than with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and its successors), game console, TV, DVD player, media center (other than with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and its successors), electronic billboard or other digital signage, Internet appliance or other internet-connected device, PDA, medical device, ATM, telematic device, gaming machine, home automation system, kiosk, remote control device, or any other consumer electronics device, (b) operator-based mobile, cable, satellite, or television systems or (c) other closed system devices.

That suggests OK for Windows-based PCs, but maybe not Linux. Who knows on Apple OS. Or does it??? Does it mean you may not use it on any digital signage device???

Oh, bother.

So I sent a note and left messages at Adobe. And got no love back.

Digital signage is all-encompassing when you live this stuff, but to Adobe, I assume it remains a little side project they keep hearing will be big, but doesn't merit much attention yet.

The Open Screen Project, which is intended to make Flash available with a consistent runtime across multiple platforms, SEEMS to suggest licensing issues will disappear:

From the FAQ: What motivated Adobe to remove the licensing restrictions from the specifications?

The SWF specification has been published since 1998. Until now, the specification had a license agreement associated with it, which said that developers could write software to output SWF but could not make software that would "play" SWF files. These license terms were initially included to prevent fragmentation, which most client technologies have experienced. These terms have worked well for Flash Player over the past decade as it now reaches over 98% of personal computers on the web with a consistent runtime, enabling things such as the video revolution we see today across the web. With this announcement, Adobe is removing this restriction from the SWF specification, as we have established a consistent runtime and we want to ensure the industry can confidently continue to support the SWF format. This will permit the development of applications that play SWF files. Adobe will, of course, remain focused on making the best, most reliable, and most consistently distributed implementation across desktops and devices.

SO ... I am doing a little manual crowd-sourcing here. I want to develop and release V1 of the definitive point of view on working with the Adobe Flash/Media Player. I want to be able to knock something out that puts to rest all the head-scratching and "I'm not sure" stuff, and clearly tells industry people, these are the rules ... if there are indeed rules.

A side project would be best practices (or is it practises? ... never nailed that one) on working with Flash and how to stop the leaks and keep systems happy.

I am hoping people will:

a - comment, usefully, below ...

b - send me their thoughts or insights ...

c - or point me to the person at Adobe, or the definitive letter or document, that says what's OK and what's off-base.

d - or Adobe sends a note that we can all use, so we can move on ... please.

Private note? dave.haynes at presetgroup.com

Tire maker uses signage as dealer incentive

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:58:48 EST

Tire manufacturers probably wouldn't be the first guys you'd think of as innovators and early adopters in the sector, but Toyo Tire Canada has announced it is going ahead with an expansion of its long-running trial to dealers across Canada.

The company has 79 dealers on its retail TV network and is opening the program up to a potential (repeat POTENTIAL, not actual) of 1,600 dealers, all part of the independent franchise O.K. Tire Stores. The stores have one or two screens and marketing content is divided between messaging from Toyo Tires and OK Tire, and programming is provided by AutoNetTV.

What's interesting is the business model.

“As a manufacturer, it’s always important for us to offer incentives for our dealers to carry our tires,” said Ron Golab, Advertising and Marketing Coordinator for Toyo Tires. “Digital signage is a great way to reach our customers, and it’s also an almost instantaneous way to update our current messages. We no longer have to worry if our posters are up on the wall in time to advertise the current retail campaign because they are simply programmed to be on the network.”

Dealers pay a monthly fee to belong to the network, which is paid in part by a special co-op program between Toyo Tires and OK Tire. The fee covers the monitoring of the network, as well as producing and adding new content to the playlist. Eventually, individual dealers will be able to work with The Data Works (integrator, using Scala)to request store-specific content to play on their screens to promote specific products and services or communicate news to their unique customer base.

TV for fashionistas and gas pumps seems like ballroom gown and high-tops

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:40:21 EST

I am seriously skeptical about the applicability but applaud the efforts by PumpTop TV to offer something different on its screens.

As spotted too early this morning on the Digital Signage Expo site:

PumpTop TV, a digital out-of-home media network comprising more than 12,600 screens at service stations and convenience stores nationwide, is bringing a world of personal fashion and style to gas stations across the country with original content from StyleCaster, an online personal style discovery platform.

According to the company, the ongoing series of 30-second video fashion trends is part of the PumpTop Network’s effort to provide its estimated 12 million monthly viewers with engaging and informative custom content that cannot be found anywhere else. The series kicked off nationwide on November 16.

StyleCaster is integrating Content, Shopping and Community to create a unique, personalized experience for each user. The site helps users get to know their personal style better with every click — from clothes to styled looks to articles — tailored just for them, the company said. StyleCaster’s executive fashion director, Carol Han, will be presenting the latest in fashion and style trends in the 30-second spots.

As viewers enjoy the StyleCaster videos, they also will be exposed to adjacent banners filled with information such as where to buy and how to wear certain fashion pieces. The surrounding banners serve as value-added content to any video or even text shown on the main screen. According to the company, the StyleCaster spots reflect PumpTop TV’s unique position to enrich video content with creative functionally-rich banners highlighting the interactive capabilities of its digital out-of-home network.

“Both PumpTop TV and StyleCaster are very synergistic when it comes to taking advantage of digital content,” said Doug Woo, Executive Vice President of Irvine, Calif.-based AdtekMedia, the parent company of PumpTop TV. “We are both experimenting with all the new digital applications in order to captivate our wide audiences wherever and whenever possible. We hope more and more content providers will realize the enormous opportunities PumpTop TV provides once they see how StyleCaster applied their talent to our video network.”

“The future of new media is based on distributed content that can be seen on multiple platforms,” added Ari Goldberg, Founder and CEO of StyleCaster. “Whether it’s a 2-inch screen, a 20-inch screen or a 200-inch screen, StyleCaster is creating engaging content that provides utility for style enthusiasts as we continue to democratize fashion.”

Me passing judgement on fashion is about as amusing as me passing judgement on particle accelerators. But I do understand the concept of contextually relevant. I think what the StyleCaster people are doing could be really relevant for certain types of screen networks, particularly those bubbling up to go after women in high dwell places like hair and nail salons.

But gas pumps?

Again, kudos for getting beyond the usual sludge like last night's edited-down newscast from CBS, but I am not sure this is what I'd recommend as part of the mix for people standing by a busy road squeezing in a few gallons. I do like how the company's programming mix is far more inventive than most screen networks. They have partnered with a lot of Web-based TV companies and seem to be trying things out. TV networks introduce a lot of new shows each fall and dump most of them. Why not gas pump TV networks, I suppose.

Halifax's DIME closes deal to roll lifestyle screen network in Atlantic Canada chain drug

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:37:00 EST

Toronto, Montreal and the Kitchener-Waterloo region (home to BlackBerries) have a lopsided amount of the activity going on in the digital signage sector, but there's absolutely stuff shaking elsewhere. If you subscribe to Google Alerts you see the daily release from PEI-based ScreenScape --- nice product but enough with the carpet-bombing PR, guys. Anyway, there are other things shaking down east, as well, including news of a rollout in an Atlantic Canada drug chain called Pharmasave.

Nice Screens, Shame About the Dancing

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST

I have not seen the stores in person, but from a distance I really, really like what Microsoft has done with its retail presence. Sure it looks vaguely familiar to Apple's stores, but big whoop. The wall to wall screens are brilliant.

However, I am now second-guessing whether I'd actually want to step inside a store and be trampled by line-dancing geeks rocking out to Will.I.Am and Fergie. Sheesh.

I'd love to see the look on the guy who walked up to cash to buy his Windows 7 upgrade and got stuck watching this horror show. "Umm, can I, excuse me, can I pay for this ... EXCUSE ME!!!"

And check the "Oh please God don't let my buddies see this" look on the face of some of the staffers."

As spotted in Gizmodo ...

If this is best practice advice ...

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:18:46 EST

From an article on an industry news portal - by a good, respected vendor - on poor communications and missed opportunities, and how to do it right. Amazingly, this is the main art and it is meant to suggest HOW to do it properly.

It's one thing for companies to have software that supports this stupid carved-up screen, image-overload, tickers and teeny fonts crap. Customers want it and they learn the hard way. It's another when the vendor trots this stuff out as best practice advice and is, in effect, actively encouraging a dismal approach to effective communications.

Absolutely loopy.

Great mixer in Toronto

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:40:54 EST

The Toronto and area digital signage and DOOH industry got together last night for the first mixer in a few months, and the turnout was tremendous - with at least 75 and perhaps more crowding the downstairs area of the Six Steps lounge.

There were a lot of people who I had not seen for a while at these functions, and others I had never seen. I heard there was a guying coming from an Aussie display mount company, but did not meet him. However, I did meet an EnQii guy in from the UK, another from New York (Owen Griffiths, also from EnQii), Fiona Campbell from PopStar Networks (she's based in Ottawa) and Richard Fortin of ITES Media in Montreal.

There were also some new faces, including Timothy Lamch, who is the dedicated specialist on DOOH at Toronto agency MAGI Communications. First conventional agency to have such a person solely tasked with working that space, to my knowledge, though I could easily be corrected. I met folks, as well, from Architectural Media, BlueAcrobat and Twist of Lemon Design, and waved/nodded/shook hands/chest-bumped a bunch of other people I did not have time to more than see in the room. Such a good mixer it was over way too quick.

Thanks to Dmitry at Ingram Micro for arranging once again, and Peter Bougadis of Samsung who hosted.

Also heard some things I need to look a little deeper into, and got some updates on other things. That LG Director of Digital Signage gig, for example, is still on. They got close but have not settled on the right person, as yet.

EnQii bags nice deal with food services giant

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:09:48 EST

Nice win for EnQii announced today - but in the works for a while, from what I hear.

The DS software firm has announced a partnership with Compass Group, which does food service management support services and did about $9 billion (that was the illion with a B in front) in revenues. Compass is in the very good business of managing cafeterias and other food services for all kinds of companies and institutions, and because they change menus and offers a lot, site by site, digital signage is a very good thing to be accurate and efficient.

Reports an EnQii news release:

Compass Group locations that have already installed the new solution use a mix of various media content including menu boards, promotions, community messaging, news feeds, and other on-screen information and entertainment. This keeps the signage fresh, relevant, and informative for the consumer, and has led to an increase in customer satisfaction overall at those locations.

The company will be using some of the new site messaging capabilities released last week by EnQii. I had a demo recently and the new Engage platform is a very different animal from the legacy Remote Transfer system I used to sell when I was at what was then Digital View (now EnQii).

“With EnQii digital signage we are able to enhance the dining experience for our customers. Industry studies have shown an uplift of over 20% in sales as well as significant increases in customer satisfaction when digital signage is deployed well. We are already beginning to see the value generated in the sites where we have rolled out the solution and expect this to continue to increase as we expand digital signage across our estate” said Rob Watkins, chief information officer, Compass Group, North America.

The mood and the market: trade show registrations suggest retail rebounding

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:07:54 EST

I have been asked a few times what I think the mood is out in the marketplace, and whether I get a sense business is picking up.

Things are obviously a lot brighter than a year ago, when the market was tanking and I have the distinct memory of closing a decent sales deal and having a glass of single malt at 2 in the afternoon to quietly celebrate, and exhale. NOT something I do. Ever.

The mood at the DS Show last week was pretty upbeat, and most people I spoke with were talking earnestly about closing some nice deals. I think it is still desperately hard for entrepreneurs to raise money for DOOH ad networks, but it should be, given the track record of many of those networks.

I saw some major brands poking around the show, and I know some retailers are now looking hard at making the investment because the ROI models work and the body of evidence is compelling.

But that's all soft impressions. Here's something tangible:

The National Retail Federation's show in January is tracking 11 per cent higher in retailer registrations than in 2008, and 47 per cent over last year's event. Overall registration is so far up eight per cent over last year.

That might not mean wallets are opening right up, but retailers presumably go to this show to look at innovation and at least thinking about what they need to get in budgets.

It was pretty quiet at the 2009 (only time I have been) and thought it was still a pretty good event to attend.

Reminder: Toronto DS Mixer is Tuesday

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:33:21 EST

We have not had one in a while for various reasons, but if you are in Toronto on Tuesday cancel your tattoo appointment, talk to your lawyer and arrange bail, or whatever you need to do, and get out to the event.

It is at the Six Steps restaurant in downtown Toronto, in pretty easy reach of subway, Union Station, etc.

The event is being sponsored by Samsung, and I would assume that means they will be handing out free HDTVs to the first 50 people in the doors. But I could be wrong. I do think Peter Bougadis and crew will be buying a round.

Canadians won half of the awards at the DIGI Awards this week, and some of those guys should be on hand from CognoVision, Omnivex and DDC, and do make a point of offering congratulations.

Details:
6:30 and on
Six Steps Restaurant & Lounge, ask at reception where to be directed
55 Colborne Street
T - 416.504.4800
http://sixstepsrestaurant.com

For those who are new to the event, everyone involved in or interested in the industry is invited to come down and meet some people, trade some cards, and fib mightily about how well things are going when speaking with competitors. At 9 PM, Lyle Bunn usually starts showing off his Inuit throat singing skills.

What's a MicroTile?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:41 EST

This is the form factor of these things. They are about 10 inches deep and then need a couple more inches clearance for proper ventilation. The units are serviced from the front, by pulling off a shatterproof acrylic optical lens.Christie Digital has a pile of photos on its Facebook page, where I grabbed this one.

Sightings: Tim Horton's full menu boards

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:14:05 EST

As a Canuck it is very nice to wobble into Penn Station in New York at 6:30 AM and discover a Tim Horton's outlet. Coffee snobs will sniff at this, but familiar fuel is good at that time of day.

It took me a bit because the branding is a little different for these outlets than back home, and then I realized the printed menu boards I know well were actually digital here in NY. I have heard from EK3 these were starting to go in here and there around the Timmy's home office, but this is somewhat further afield. They looked good, but I think they are video, as the images seemed a little soft and the font edges just a teeny bit choppy. Not Flash (I think), which seems more typical with menu boards.

Heading home after a productive week and thinking the one thing I ate all week that was vaguely good for me was a carrot sliver between wings and Rolling Rocks the other night. Eeesh.

Sightings: Good and bad in NYC

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:13:09 EST

Good - Monster wrap-around screen that envelopes and soars above the American Eagle store at Times Square. Great visuals and simple color schemes that really pop.

Bad - Very large projection screen on a walkway between platforms at 42nd Street subway/Port Authority Terminal. Tens of thousands of people pass this every day. The bulb must be going because believe or not there is an ad running on this screen. It looked like this on Monday afternoon and again on Thursday. Sad, given the opportunity.

First look: Christie's MicroTiles

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:18:00 EST

I had an invite to go see the new MicroTiles display technology announced this week by Christie Digital. They did a soft-launch of the product for environmental (as in rooms, not trees) design people at a function in New York.

Disclaimer - I am doing some writing for them

I had not seen it until now, and the technology is very impressive. The seams all but disappear and the shapes are really interesting. The event had a strong Canadian touch as the technology comes largely out of the Waterloo, Ontario office of Christie and most of the stunning content that was done was by Montreal's Arsenal Media. The gesture technology that was demo'd was by another Montreal company, Float 4. Content was also produced by UK-based AMiGO and NY's Show and Tell.

This really does change the display game in some environments, though the MSRP price per cube is north of $3K right now, so this stuff will turn up flagship installs, not in corner stores. Mass production would change that.

I took some pix, and also grabbed a couple from Christire's Facebook page.

Kioskcom/Digital Signage Show - Day 2

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:59:25 EST

Day 2 at the DS Show had what looked to be very solid foot traffic. Saw some big brand names wandering around.

Observations:

- HP is working with a Toronto company on a live webcam app for retail, using its all in one screens. They are testing a store in a store concept that allows people to use an app to talk to a product expert. located remotely, to get deeper information and ask detailed questions.

- Got a demo of the Harris Punctuate ad management system, which runs in parallel to the Infocaster platform. Looked good. Like EnQii, BroadSign, CoolSign, PointMediaPro, Omnivex and a few others, the platform uses meta data for media targeting. The business rules capability is getting to be something of a standard part of the offer for enterprise level accounts.

- Chatted at length with Nanonation. I loved being in a full booth for a digital signage company that is all about retail and had not a single carved up screen, weather report or stupid news ticker.

- Had a good discussion with Black Box, which has brought on ex-NEC biz dev guy Steve Acquista to run its DS group. I like the fully rounded out offer and he showed me a nice solid state HD-ready player they are rolling out.

- I really liked the retail-centric interactive work being done by Seattle-based Intava.

- There was a little speculation that the NEC ad management platform was written by Ronin (given they made some announcements together) but was told by someone who should know that it was not. General response to Vukunet was "Hmmmm."

- Finally met Jeremy Gavin from ScreenFeed and Jason Cremins, CEO of Signage Live. Cremins' company has focused very much on Europe so a lot of us over here don't really know much about what they do. Lots. They have an installed base of 15,000 seats and are doing some really interesting development work.

- Also got a chance to meet Dirk Hulsermann of Neo Advertising and OVAB Europe.

- And I bumped into a new company called Ludicast. Flash-based, real estate-focused, OS neutral, SaaS, based right in NY. Interesting, but joining a crowded field.

Overall thoughts on show. Definitely far less glitz than DSE. The hall is kinda gloomy, but fine. Exhibitors seemed pretty happy with traffic and the qualified nature of the people wandering around. I know there were comments about people being more educated in their questions. Lawrence and his guys seemed to run things pretty efficiently. I thought the show hours seemed kind of tight (short) and could have used and would have used more talk time on the floor. I ran out of time to see YCD and DC Media and a few others.

Oh well. One more day in NY then back home.

DIGI Awards - 2009 list now in hand

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:34:55 EST

OK, finally got them.

Retail Roll-out, Local:

House of Media Experience for Miele Inspirience Centre

Retail Roll-out, National:

Level 5 / Hammond Communication Group, for Sprint Studio Store

Interactive Technology Roll-out:

2C Visual Communications For BC Children's Hospital

Best Deployment, Transportation:

iMediaT Digital For British Columbia Rapid Transit Company, SkyTrain

Best Deployment, Entertainment:

Cisco for Cisco Digital Signage System at Dallas Cowboy Stadium

Best Deployment, Integration of Digital Signage and Mobile/Cell Phone Technology:

Microspace Communications Corporation for City of Raleigh, Capitol Area Transit (CAT)

Best Content, Merchandising:

Schult for Regal Entertainment, Digital Menu Boards

Best Content, Ambient:

Professional Communications Systems for Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (TBPAC)

Best Content, Corporate Communications:

Digital Display & Communication for Rogers Communications’ UR Music

Best Content, Interactive:

Monster Media for Oxygen Network’s Dance You’re Ass Off Storefront

Best Content, Advertising:

Digital Display &Communication for HYPE Campaign/Rogers Stores Canada

Best New Technology Innovation in Digital Signage Displays:

Samsung Electronics America for the Samsung 820TSn Interactive LCD Panel

Best New Generation Display Device, Large Screen:

ADEX International, Dual- Projection Glass Walled Structure with Polarized LCD Overlay

Best New Display Device, Small Screen:

MicroSigns Inc. for Integrated, Wireless Display Network and Content Management System

Best New Generation Display Device, (non-LCD or Plasma):

GestureTek for 3D Depth Sensing Interactive Digital Sign with Mobile Phone Interactivity

Best New Content Management Software/Web-based (SaaS):

SignChannel, from Thinking Screen Media

Best New Content Management Software/Premise-based:

Omnivex, for Moxie

Best New Audience Measurement Package:

CognoVision Solutions Inc. for Anonymous Impression Metric (AIM)

Judges Choice Award:

Walt Disney World for Their Digital Guest Communications

Digital Signage Weekly says it will post details on winning entries in December. I will resist the the temptation to comment further on that.

MicroTiles technology from Christie makes big screens inside more viable

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:49:06 EST

Christie is well known in the display industry as a manufacturer of high-end digital projection systems, but the company will also be known now for a new display technology that may actually earn the slightly tired tag of revolutionary.

I have not yet seen it, but there is a function tonight in New York where it will be on show.

In essence, Christie's new MicroTiles are modular display units that can be stacked and clustered like building blocks to create display walls of any shape or scale, using an entirely new, advanced optical design that produces very high quality brightness, contrast and color reproduction.

The system has very wide viewing angles, and a near absence of seams on display walls, with only a one mm gap between the tiles. The key component, the tile’s LED light engine, is rated at 65,000 hours usage, or nearly 7.5 years of continuous operation.

The color reproduction is apparently wildly good, according to people I know who have seen it, with 115% of the color spectrum of NTSC broadcast signals.

Servicing is dead simple and the tiles are all self-aware, meaning there is is no calibration work needed to keep all the tiles at the same levels. The tiles "talk" to each other steadily and balance out the brightness and saturation on a steady basis.

I have been doing some writing for Christie lately, but like a lot of people have been hearing about this project for about two years. It really does have the possibility of changing the way motion visuals are done in big spaces. LED boards cost a bunch and look terrible up close. Projection systems need a LOT of maintenance and the brightness and contrast are tough to get right in well-lit areas. And LCD and plasma panel arrays have considerably thicker seams.

What I like about these tiles is that those compromises go away, and a lot of opportunities to do big visuals in public spaces open right up. One of the reasons digitals screens have not been very successful in places like retail is that the screens that have been put in are too small to be impactful. What looks huge on a living room wall looks teeny hanging from the ceiling in a supermarket.

LCD arrays are starting to get pretty thin bezels, but there are still very noticeable seams (see the new Microsoft store screen walls). There is also a seam with these tiles, but is a hairline.

I also like that Christie understands the importance of content and has engaged a lot of the top digital screen content shops out there to start showing off the product.

I will post again on this when I can pass on some direct impressions. Adrian and his DailyDOOH team have also posted extensively on this.

WTF - "screens need to be placed in spots that will attract advertisers"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:25:08 EST

From white paper I stumbled on. These screens are in the right spot if the only people who shop here are eight feet tall.

MediaTile heading for victory in Indiana (nutty)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:25:46 EST

I'm sorry but this is just inadvertently funny:

Our very own Chuck Gose and his Digital Signage Solutions blog is in a heated battle to win the Top 50 Blogs in Indiana competition. It would be great recognition for MediaTile and the digital signage industry if we could pull out the win.

So far, MediaTile is ahead, but slightly over a political action blog from the lesbian and gay community and Casey Mullins: Pretty much the best mommy blogger I know.

Yes, this would be a BIG moment for the industry ... possibly the tipping point. Go Chuck go!!!

DIGI Awards - handed out but not announced (yet)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:48:32 EST

Last year I stirred up a bit of a stink because the DIGI Awards were announced at the Digital Signage Show and I could not get anyone to tell me who won. For days.

I was actually at the thing this year and being old and stupid, forgot about last year's fuss. But then I started to remember and asked a couple of guys who were going to be writing about it if there was a press release or winner list passed around. Nope.

So I asked the organizer/sponsor. Later that day on the New Bay Media (Digital Signage Weekly) website, I was told. Nope. Checked again this morning.

Grrrr.

Why would you go through all the motions of doing awards and then not make the results immediately and widely available? The awards are done, in part, by a publication, so the editor wants people coming to his website. Understood. Got that. So say who won and drive people to the site to get details and see pix.

Anyway, the awards were rattled off pretty quickly and I missed some. Pending the release of details at some point, here's what I know.

DDC won two awards for retail work. Omnivex was named the best new non-SaaS platform. Thinking Screen and Scala were the best for the digital picture frame SaaS offer they have. Cognovision won for its measurement technology. GestureTek for its gesture stuff, maybe with Monster Media (missed that). MicroSigns from Montreal won for its little LCD screens that are used at the shelf edge in wireless retailers. Walt Disney, Microspace, Harris and Adex were also winners.

Apologies if I missed any, but, well ... oh, don't get me started again.

Interesting note - of 16 awards, half were won by Canadian companies.

Bill Yackey from DS Today took more notes and said he would get a list up today on his site, so look there for more detail.

The crowd for the awards was very thin and the event had all the glitz of the grand opening of an auto body shop in Brainerd. It was at the very back of the hall in a draped off room and the awards were rattled off quickly by a guy at a mike. I contacted a couple of clients who won and it was the first they knew of it.

I like that this is done and kudos for those who make the effort and spend the money, but from what I saw and how it shakes out, it needs a serious re-think.

Congratulations to the winners, who all do great work.

NEC launches media sales business unit (please do not adjust your sets)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:14:00 EST

NEC is known in the business as a manufacturer of high quality professional monitors, so it was only a matter of time before the company took the natural next step and became an advertising media company.

What? Huh?

Yup. The Japanese display giant's US wing has launched a new product called VUKUNET, a Web browser-based media booking and placement platform for digital out-of-home networks. This is probably a far less than perfect analogy, but at the core of the system is the the DS equivalent of Google AdSense. Network operators can sign up, enter their sites and meta data describving their network, venues and audience, and opt in on ads.

The system works across different Windows-based software platforms, dropping a file in a slot or container in a playlist and firing up the VUKUNET player when the time comes in the schedule. This means, in theory, the VUKUNET software can co-exist with a media-centric platform like BroadSign, EnQii or CoolSign. RiseVision and Omnivex are platforms described as partners.

VUKUNET is also a content management system, so if you are a network operator, you could in theory use it as THE platform instead of SaaS platforms, and if you opt in to the ad program, or buy NEC panels, the software is free. Yes, free.

VUKUNET (www.vukunet.com) helps digital signage network owners generate incremental income by making it easier to connect all screens that currently have time/space available on their networks to advertise. Ideal candidates are networks that have locations with heavy foot traffic, substantial dwell time (time spent in front of the screen), strategic monitor placement, numerous locations in key demographic areas, and that can run a variety of ads from different advertisers instead of being focused on a single brand. Retails stores, hotels, airports, rail and bus terminals, universities, hospitals, convention centers, stadiums, museums and restaurants are a few examples of these locations.

VUKUNET is a breakthrough in digital out-of-home advertising because it is the only platform that connects all digital signage networks, with the ability to provide the largest single reach in the industry. Advertisers and ad agencies that formerly had to contact hundreds of potential network owners to determine rates and availability can now use the companion ADVUKU ad-serving platform to search for the best networks in any location. In addition, the proof-of-performance automated technology enables networks to receive a consolidated payment on a monthly basis for all the advertising that ran.

The VUKUNET platform is completely agnostic, meaning ads can be distributed to screens from any manufacturer, not just NEC and networks that are using any CMS (content management system). There is no charge to become a member of VUKUNET. It consists of VUKUNET Ad Manager, which enables networks to run ads on their screens and an optional VUKUNET CMS, which is a fully-equipped SaaS (Software as a Service) Content Management System available for free to VUKUNET Ad Manager participants as well as NEC Display hardware customers.

Interesting development. Somebody was going to take a run at an AdSense-like system for DOOH, but I am thinking not too many people would have picked NEC as floating in with a Death Star. The free SaaS platform offer will be awfully compelling to a lot of small network operators for obvious reasons, and the lack of confidence in start-ups that have tried the (sort of) free thing goes away when the platform is offered by a major display company.

I was told in a meeting with NEC that the platform was built by NEC US and that it has been tested out on several platforms. Development too about a year.

No demo was available to pound around and so I cannot pass any real judgement on the software and the breadth of offer. One year is NOT a lot of time to develop something that is robust and fully shook out, and companies that have been doing this for many years are still adding new functionality.

The larger question is how NEC will make out getting into the media sales business. They intend to have advertising sales execs calling on agencies. Making that bunch fit into the culture of a technology company is a big challenge. It would seem to make more sense to have Adcentricity or someone like them do the sales and let NEC do what they're good at. But Adcentricity has its own media sales planning engine.

NEC plans to make its money through media sales revenues and processing fees on interests, like aggregators, who use the system. Networks that opt in get a piece of the ad revenue. I was not bright enough to ask what the split was.

The track record of big companies diving into a line of business that is somewhat foreign is not good. But who knows. There's painfully little margin is selling panels, so due credit to NEC for thinking way outside the rectangle.

Kioskcom/Digital Signage Show - Day 1

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:26:35 EST

Back at the penthouse suite sipping on a glass of Bollinger Special Cuvee Brut and throwing things at the butler for giggles, and I have some time to write up my impressions from Day 1 before the limo comes and me and Flanigan go to Studio 54.

Busy show. Lotsa people and lotsa vendors on the DS side.

I think the DS side was busier than the kiosk side.

I spent a lot of time catching up with people and not enough seeing stuff. Tomorrow will be better for that. Amazed to see yet more new software platforms doing what looks to be the same stuff as the 300 other ones already out there. Why would you bother?

The show is at the Javits Center, which manages to price a bottle of water at $3.75. Pirates.

The booths are, generally, far more austere than they are at the DSE show. Less cost, same impact, probably.

Only complaint I heard was about the location of the speaker sessions. Too much ambient noise from the adjacent show floor made it hard to hear and stay focused.

Detailed posts on NEC and Digi Awards to follow...

Heading to New York next week

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:22:39 EST

The guys at the Rainbow Bridge border post at Niagara Falls (how many border crossings have a natural wonder out the passenger window?) will be grilling me again on Monday morning as I head down to Buffalo and on to JFK to spend most of the week in NYC.

There are a few things on, and I am partyicularly looking forward to seeing some new technology getting unveiled at a private event Thursday, but the main reason is the Kioskcom/Digital Signage Show, which show manager Lawrence Dvorchik has been on me to attend for at least a couple of years.

The show is Tuesday and Wednesday and the speaker line-up is filled with names who, mostly, are not the usual suspects at these sorts of events. Sometimes the usual suspects are there because they are good speakers and people want to see them, but I am happy not to see some names yet again. I don't usually get a chance to listen to speakers because I am chained to some vendor booth, but blissfully free, I can wander in for a listen.

That noted, I have seen a lot of press releases and Tweets to suggest I want to have a good look around the show floor, as there is some interesting stuff being shown. YCD has new ad campaign software and this is a chance to see some of UK-based Signage Live's stuff, among several things.

If you are going and want to meet up, let me know - dave (at) sixteen-nine.net

There will be a few Preset people about, including me, Paul Flanigan and David Weinfeld, as well as a new member we can't ... quite ... annnounce ... yet. Hellberg at home babysitting. Wife in China.

Wireless Ronin's latest quarterlies not very pretty, but probably pretty common

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:10:50 EST

As stated a few times, Wireless Ronin Technologies is in the unenviable position of having to lift the veil every three months and show everyone who's interested how crappy things are going. I am not picking on these guys in any way, but when the results come out, they are too interesting to ignore.

It has been a very tough year for the publicly listed company, as it has probably been for the majority of companies trying to sell a non-essential service in a stalled economy.

The Company reported revenue of $1.1 million for the third quarter of 2009, a 45 percent decrease from $2.0 million in the third quarter of 2008. As of September 30, 2009, the Company has received purchase orders totaling approximately $0.8 million for which it has not recognized revenue. The Company also reported a third quarter net loss of $2.5 million, or $0.17 per basic and diluted share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.31 per basic and diluted share, in the year-ago period. The Company attributes the decline in revenue for the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in the prior year to general economic conditions and customers' lack of capital for substantial digital signage deployments. The year-over-year improvement in net loss for the third quarter of 2009 primarily resulted from reductions in workforce taken during the third and fourth quarters of 2008 and other cost cutting measures primarily taken during the first half of 2009. Third quarter 2009 results also included costs of approximately $152,000, or $0.01 per basic and diluted share, of non-cash stock compensation expense related to FAS123R compared to approximately $201,000, or $0.01 per basic and diluted share, in the third quarter of 2008. Revenue for the first nine months of 2009 totaled $3.5 million compared to $5.5 million in the same period a year ago. The Company's net loss for the first nine months of 2009 totaled $8.0 million, or $0.54 per basic and diluted share, compared to $13.8 million, or $0.94 per basic and diluted share, in the prior year.

On the positive side, and echoing things I am hearing pretty regularly now, is that the situation is looking up:

James C. (Jim) Granger, president and chief executive officer of Wireless Ronin Technologies, said, "We continue to operate in market space with extended sales cycles requiring large capital resource commitments on the part of our customers. However, we are starting to see early evidence of companies willing to commit capital dollars to digital signage deployments by receipt of two new projects late in the quarter that are projected for delivery within the next 120 days. One contract awarded is the development of a digital menu board web portal for KFC and its franchisees. This highly customized tool will be used to manage the digital menu board program. The second contract awarded was to use the digital signage application of i-Showroom to create a web application that has potential, in the near term, to be deployed to desktops in 2,200 Chrysler showrooms. We have made tangible progress demonstrating the benefits of RoninCast(R) digital signage to several substantial quick serve restaurant (QSR) customers and prospects. Ongoing company trials or pilots at QSRs represent opportunities of chains with more than 22,000 total sites combined."

Ronin still has a pretty big crew in its Minnesota home base, and at $2.3 million burn per quarter, and about $7.5 million in IPO cash still on hand, the meter is now really starting to run down. Hopefully things pick up, as that's a lot of mouths to feed.

DDN Plans to Roll Out Massive Digital Signage Network with 7-11

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:15:00 EST

This is a deal that has been around for all of this year, and I know the NYC-based guy charged with pulling the technical pieces together. He has been looking at software platforms for months and separating contenders from pretenders based on the criteria he's established. To my knowledge no decision has been made on technology, but if you are not yet aware of it, it is probably pretty pretty darn late to try to get in on it.

AdFlow's pilot with AMA looking more like a rollout

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:53:55 EST

There are a lot of decent sized networks that will never be about third-party advertising and are instead about integrated marketing and cross-promo. The guys about five minutes up the road from me at ADFLOW did a release recently and sent me snappies just now showing what they are doing with the Alberta Motor Association.

The organization has retail storefronts coupled with branch offices that offer a range of services, and they are testing out screens that are integrated with their more conventional marketing efforts.

I like this because of the proximity to the brochure racks and how the screen was kept at eye-level and designed in to actually belong there, rather than hung somewhere that had space available (still too common). There are nine screens sprinkled around the branch. The AMA is now extending the pilot to all of its branches, which my tiny mind interprets as no longer being a pilot.

NCR buys Netkey; kiosk-DS firm to continue operating

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:54:38 EST

Lotsa hoo-hah this morning about word that point of sale giant NCR Corporation has bought into the kiosk and digital signage business through the acquisition of Netkey, Inc.

Curiously, the release says NCR has "purchased the assets" but I am told this is a real acquisition that involves acquiring the whole company and keeping it operating, and where it is, in Connecticut. NCR is in the process of calling around to Netkey customers and making them comfy that the change has no material impact on service delivery.

It's pretty rare when nothing really changes in the wake of M&A activity, so we will see what things look like down the road. There is considerable history to suggest really large companies getting into this space struggle to get it right, mostly because they're really big and going off in so many directions. This stuff takes focus.

Adrian at DailyDOOH has his doubts about all this.

But it is also hard to dismiss the notion of a POS company doing well in retail and fast food when it has SO many clients.

Netkey had quietly up for sale for at least a couple of years. The company's name rarely came up as a competitor when I was selling software, but they did win a nice deal this year with mobile retailer Wireless Zone, whose offices were a short drive away.

Netkey is a major sponsor of the KioskCom show next week in New York, so I am sure there si someone running around madly tweaking literature and booth plans.

Lottery daydreamers picture themselves rich using augmented reality in DOOH campaign

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:30:05 EST

Volt Media's Jay Aird tweets a lot about augmented reality, so I wasn't all that surprised that his digital out of home company in Halifax, Nova Scotia has worked up an application involving AR for the Atlantic Lottery.

Volt says it is the first use of AR in an out-of-home campaign (no idea if that is true or not) but it is interesting no matter the case.

The lottery's new game, Lotto Max, markets itself on the the big dream of being somewhere else after winning (big dream=big price, $5 per ticket, by the way).

Using rear projection, projection media and cameras, people walking by four storefronts across Atlantic Canada kast week could picture themselves engaged in "extreme" lifestyles of the stinkin' rich.

The campaign was done for the lottery corp by Volt, Time + Space Media and Volt, Total Immersion and motion graphics shop Ad Dispatch.

And now for something useful: subway train locators on NYC Transit platforms

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:57:12 EDT

As spotted in Gizmodo, which spotted it in Gothamist, which ... well, you get the idea ...

Gothamist: The screens cull data from the L line’s computerized operating system, which tracks exact train locations and then shows them advancing (or not!) along the screen.

The screens are at eye level and are inside a cabinet to prevent tampering. This is the transit authority's work, and if I am a NYC subway rider, I would like this. Ads breaking up the screen would be a bad idea but I could see these being sponsored with a logo to offset costs, particularly if the app that is displaying this info could also route to smartphones.

Giant, interactive vodka bottles that do everything but tell you to go home and sleep it off

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:32:00 EDT

The party crowd that drinks up a storm this weekend may have some surreal moments on the streets of Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto as they stumble by a giant, interactive vodka bottle.

According to Media in Canada:

The large, street-level installations, launched this week, feature motion-sensor pads for people to step on, which then activate live video streaming to Absolut.ca. Visitors to the website can see the videos in real time, manipulate them with different templates or send the street-level user a scripted message. The person on the street can then retrieve their video from the site or text Absolut to request it using a short code.

The installations are part of a larger national campaign, rolling out in phases through November until the first week of December, developed in tandem by Toronto-based agencies Carat Canada (media, strategy), Isobar (digital) and Titan (bottle sculptures). (Absolut's AOR is TBWA\Toronto.)

The media buy includes pre-movie cinema ads, print placement in Famous magazine, an online media buy, large-scale night-time projections onto buildings in six Canadian cities markets, a billboard in Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto and in-bar promotions. The campaign also includes a social media strategy.

I know the guy at Titan who gets these things thrown in his lap, and I am sure he said something like, "Oh my ..." The second word might have been different. THIS would have been a challenge, but it looks pretty cool.

Onestop rolling out screen network in residential lobbies

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:08:19 EDT

Toronto-based Onestop Media Group has branched out into a new market - setting up an ad-supported network in the lobbies of condos and apartment blocks.

As reported in Media in Canada, the company has done deals with seven major residential property owners, including Minto Management, Park Property Management and Berkley Property Management. The various companies own several hundred buildings in major Canadian markets. About 30 buildings in the Toronto region are already up and running and the company is talking about 200 buildings within the next 12 months, all in the same region (read: critical mass).

A national expansion would follow.

The screens are 22" to 32" LCDs, installed at the elevators. The screens have roughly the same layout as the ones that Onestop has operating in the city's subway system, on the platforms. But instead of news about the next train, there is space for the building owners to get pertinent information to tenants.

"The positioning statement is ‘out-of-home comes in-home,'" Onestop president and CEO Michael Girgis told Media in Canada. "You attach that to catching [consumers] as on-the-go commuters, and we start to complete the digital experience for our advertisers."

The residential network currently has long-term ad deals, including category exclusivity, in place with Rogers (cable and wireless) and Shoppers Drug Mart. The arrangement has Onestop and the buildings splitting the cost of the system, Girgis told me.

The attraction for the buildings is they have a way to get out information that everyone should see, like the parking garage being paved, and in theory at least the number of flyers for pizza joints getting dropped in the building might go down if the market is somewhat covered by the footprint of this screen network.

That's a bit more of a reach, but ...

Onestop also has screens in major malls in a partnership with Pattison Outdoor, and works with retailer Sporting Life. The company is also the one nudging the Toronto school board on the, so-far, curious plan for ad screens that can't really show ads, except PSAs and college recruitment stuff, in city schools.

Digital signage dead-last in things that get noticed in stores

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:38:37 EDT

Retail design and strategy firm Miller Zell has released a report on what effectively captures the attention of shoppers in stores, and digital signage was 13th of 13 things measured for notice-ability.

Nice.

But before you start re-thinking your career, there are reasons. For more on the report, have a look at another blog I write (why stop at 2?) along with my partners at The Preset Group.

More than half of OVAB members complete metrics guidelines work; but what did they find out?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:04:49 EDT

OVAB had its annual summit in NYC this morning and the first word out of it is that a year after its audience metric guidelines were released, 11 member organizations have gone through the process of getting audience research done based on those parameters.

“This announcement marks a significant shift as a large group of networks made the investment to move beyond traffic measures as their media currency to data based on audience impressions. Their data will give advertising decision makers the information they need to compare them with other traditional forms like television, the Internet and print,” said Suzanne La Forgia, President of OVAB. “OVAB companies are releasing their data to their key agency and advertising partners now and will continue to over the next several months. We look forward to more announcements like this as more research studies are completed.”

“Third party audience research is key to us evaluating place-based digital and video advertising networks,” says Ryan Laul, Managing Director, Posterscope - Hyperspace and member of OVAB’s Agency Advisory Board. “Networks that provide us audience data make our jobs of incorporating this medium into our overall strategies easier and will give clients more confidence to grow their investments.”

Presumably, it took 11 months to read and re-read the guidelines doc to figure it out (joking, but that thing is hard going) and then a month to get the field work done. Those who were in:

* Access 360 Media

* Adspace Digital Mall Network

* Buzztime

* Captivate Network

* CBS Outernet

* Channel M

* indoorDirect

* Premier Retail Networks

* RMG

* Target Channel Red

* Zoom Media & Marketing

That's more than half the membership and given there are a few vendor members like BroadSign and EnQii who don't have networks to measure, it's a strong take-up.

What would be interesting is to learn how the changes in metrics impacted the way these companies define their audience and how it impacted things like CPM. The worry at least some networks would have about getting better measurement is that more precise measurement is going to see their real audience numbers drop like a rock. The flip side of the argument is guys like Laul weren't buying because they didn't believe what they were getting before,and even if the audience is now smaller, it is substantiated.

The research results are being distributed to the planning community and OVAB "will conduct educational training seminars and meetings for agencies and advertisers to further educate them on what this move to audience research data means to them."

For a knuckle-dragger version of the guidelines, try this Dummies version

Toronto industry mixer now set for Nov. 17

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:25:40 EDT

The Toronto industry mixers have been thrown off by a few things this fall. Our normal haunt was under reno and then more recently, the traditional second Tuesday was a TEDx event run by a few mixer regulars, so we begged off that night. But now it is back on, with the timing adjusted to consider that several people will be in NYC for the Kiosk.com/Digital Signage Show.

Ingram Micro's Dmitry Sokolov has again got things together (thanks!) and had building neighbors Samsung stepping up as sponsors.

Details:

6:30 and on

Six Steps Restaurant & Lounge, ask at reception where to be directed

55 Colborne Street

T - 416.504.4800

http://sixstepsrestaurant.com

For those who are new to the event, everyone involved in or interested in the industry is invited to come down and meet some people, trade some cards, and fib mightily about how well things are going when speaking with competitors. At 9 PM, we go up on the roof and wait for the flying saucers.

Vertigo Group back up and running; Gleeson confirmed as CEO

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:55:04 EDT

Toronto-based Vertigo Group has indeed been rescued from its demise, the official word coming down in a press release about a new entity called Vertigo Digital Displays.

As expected, founders Ralph Idems and Chris Bolton are back as COO and CTO respectively and industry veteran Brad Gleeson will be the company's CEO and President.

The new wrinkle is the deal with Taiwanese LCD material supplier Chi Lin Technology, which is described as a strategic investor along with management consultants TargetPath, the Portland, OR company run by Gleeson and partner Scott Hix.

The Chi Lin connection is intriguing, as this is a company that has started to pop up at trade shows in the past year but is still relatively unknown. It would be hard to out-market Samsung and LG for conventional monitor sales in this sector, but focusing on integrated outdoor displays is a nice, potentially very high volume market to go after if you are a vertically integrated LCD panel maker and have good enclosure engineering behind it (as in Vertigo).

The presser:

October 27, 2009 –TargetPath LLC founding partners Brad Gleeson and Scott Hix, in partnership with Chilin Technology, today announced a new company, Vertigo Digital Displays, which has acquired the digital division assets of Vertigo Group based in Toronto, Canada.

The focus for Vertigo Digital Displays is on the continued development of advanced, engineered outdoor LCD display solutions first developed by Vertigo Group for the most sophisticated outdoor digital signage applications. Vertigo customers and projects include Titan Outdoor Chicago Rail project, Lamar’s Vancouver Rail Project, and Astral Media’s “Info-to-go” digital wayfinding pillars. Vertigo has over 10,000 advertising displays installed around the world with over 1000 of these digital. Vertigo was the first to introduce upgradeable displays that effectively enabled their customers to upgrade products as new display technologies emerge.

Managing the new company operations will be Ralph Idems (COO) and Chris Bolton (CTO), along with digital signage industry veteran Brad Gleeson, who will serve as the new company’s President and CEO.

“We are pleased and excited to be able to continue the development and delivery of the advanced display solutions first pioneered by Vertigo Group, under this newly-founded company,” said Brad Gleeson, CEO, Vertigo Digital Displays. “We have known Ralph and Chris for several years and have tremendous respect for the products and business they have built. With much of the original team returning, and with the support and encouragement of the previous company’s customers and suppliers, as well as our strategic investors at Chilin Technology and TargetPath, we are extremely confident in the future prospects for Vertigo Digital Displays.”

Vertigo Digital Displays’ products include the successful Vertigo Universal Outdoor Display, which is the integrated outdoor display deployed on Chicago commuter train rail platforms. Consisting of a modular design for ease of service and maintenance, and Vertigo’s revolutionary Environmental Control Unit providing reliable low power outdoor performance, the Vertigo Universal Outdoor Display is the first digital signage solution of its type to offer modular configuration designed specifically for deployment in harsh environments. The Universal Outdoor Display is available in a wide range of sizes and configurations, is rated for temperatures from -20C to +50C and is IP65-rated for exposure to rain and harsh weather.

As mentioned previously, and sincerely, Idems and Bolton are two of the good guys in the business who also happened to do good work. But they ran smack into a recession that slowed the OOH business right down at just the wrong time.

Surprisingly, I have never met Gleeson but have always heard very good things. Looks like a nice match-up.

Follow the money dep't: wireless up $3B over last year

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:09:33 EDT

Right about this time last year we were all hiding under our desks and thinking about soup kitchen etiquette as the economic news kept getting crappier by the day.

A lot of deals were drying up and the smart people were trying to figure out which industries were going to be largely recession proof. The most obvious one was, at least to my feeble mind, wireless retail. People might trade down in a pile of shopping categories, and put off a whole bunch of purchasing decisions like big screen TVs and cars, but they were NOT going to let anyone mess with their phones, and they were still all going to want the latest, greatest handsets.

The latest findings from CTIA - The Wireless Association back up the notion that mobile is still growing rapidly. How many charts have you seen in the past year that are pretty much the opposite look of the one here?

Reports Marketing Charts:

More than 740 billion text messages were sent in the US during the first half of 2009, a figure that breaks down to approximately 4.1 billion messages per day, according to findings from a semi-annual industry survey from CTIA-The Wireless Association.

This number is nearly double the number of texts sent during the same period last year, when 385 billion were reported in H108, the wireless-industry association said.

The survey report (pdf), which includes numerous industry statistics from H109 across all US carriers, reveals that the wireless industry continues to grow, and posted six-month revenues of nearly $76 billion, up from just less than $73 million during H108.

The number of estimated mobile subscribers rose as well. In June 2009, CTIA said there were 276 million wireless users, a year-over-year increase of nearly 14 million in June 2008.

In particular, wireless data service revenues showed exceptionally strong year-to-year gains, climbing to more than $19.4 billion for the first half of 2009, CTIA said. This represents a 31% increase over H108.

Wireless data revenues, which represent what consumers spend on non-voice services, accounted for more than 25% of all wireless service revenues, the report said, noting that more than 246 million data-capable devices are in the hands of consumers today. More than 40 million of these devices are Smartphones or wireless-enabled PDAs, and more than 10 million are wireless-enabled laptops, notebooks or aircards.

“The survey results indicate that mobile broadband is an integral part of everyday life for many Americans,” said Steve Largent, President and CEO of CTIA -The Wireless Association. “The wireless ecosystem - infrastructure suppliers, service providers, device manufacturers, operating system providers, and applications developers - are simultaneously working together and competing against one another to generate valuable and unparalleled products and services for consumers.”

I hear regularly from folks looking for technology solutions that service that sector, and it is quite surprising how little is still being done to address the needs of wireless retailers with really targeted solutions, versus generic stuff that COULD be used in these settings. If there was ever a retail vertical to get focused on in the past year, this was it.

The Fun Theory: Making the mundane interesting

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:13:19 EDT

This is brilliant. Volkswagen has or had a campaign going in Europe that was all about taking something mundane and enhancing it with technology. In this case, the creative kids took the stairs leading into a subway station in Stockholm and turned them into piano keys. It has nothing do with the screen technology, but really reinforces the the power of creative thinking and doing something really extraordinary with an opportunity in a big space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JJu4l8h_nU

As spotted on the blog, Out of Home, Out of Mind. More detail on the project from the Daily Mail.

Study contradicts conventional wisdom on static vs motion spots

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:39:30 EDT

Denis Gaumondie has a post up on his Euro-centric Ooh-TV news portal about some really interesting new research that contradicts some conventional wisdom about content for moving audeinces.

The conventional thinking is that if an audience is stationary, as in sitting around a waiting room, motion in advertising is essential. But for moving audiences, such as people walking through a public space, static visuals are better.

Reports Ooh-TV:

At the OVAB Europe conference, Doris Braune (Marketing Ströer-Infoscreen) presented the results of a study by Ströer to measure the effectiveness of a moving image in comparison to a fixed image.

More precisely, Ströer wanted to measure the impact of Infoscreen, its digital signage network deployed in German public transport systems, compared to more traditional static postering.

The study was carried out by two research companies specialised in cerebral imagery – Neuro-Impact from Munich and Neuro-Insight from Australia. For each of the 84 individuals on the panel, they measured personal interest, emotional intensity, brand recall and impact for four different poster campaigns.

The participants were fitted with sensors to measure their cerebral activity, then immersed in a virtual public transport journey during which they were exposed to campaigns on Infoscreen and on static posters.

The results showed that a moving image on Infoscreen generated an increase of:

- 28% personal interest versus a fixed image;

- 36% emotional intensity versus a fixed image;

- 28% recall versus a fixed image;

- 46% brand recognition versus a fixed image.

Ströer also measured the impact of two different types of editorial content – quizzes and society news. Both achieved high ratings on the first three parameters (personal interest, emotional intensity and recall).

It's f'real - a big LCD screen on a milkshake machine

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:04:13 EDT

My Preset partner colleague Pat Hellberg was at the National Association of Convenience Stores show in Vegas the last couple of days, primarily to check out the content his team developed over the last few months for a very interesting new project aimed squarely at the c-store business.

San Francisco-based f'real has developed and put on the market the second generation of a very popular gizmo that gets parked on a counter in stores and bangs out milkshakes and smoothies in a minute. Frozen cups get pulled from an adjacent freezer, dropped in a collar, and off she goes.

There are 1,000s already out there, but the new version includes a 22" inch screen in portrait mode that plays an attract loop when not busy and a specific set of files when the machine is whirring away.

There will likely be 1,000s of these units in the market in the coming years and my 24-pack tummy has not, happily, spotted one in my area as yet.

I like this because the company went to the trouble to carefully think through and design something that had impact. They are using it to market their own product and not to make imaginary money through advertising. And they invested in good content (Pat used to run the Nike network, so he knows).

Those vendors reading this closely, wondering if there is an opportunity here, should note the software job was at play many months ago (when I was still selling that stuff) and it was long ago sewed up and now in good hands (so not mine).

I am not sure it is OK to say who, so I will leave it to those folks. The requirements were simple, but the DS part also had to talk to and interact with the blender part ... not so simple.

I like.

Giant hand engages people on the street

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:28:47 EDT

Hand from Above from Chris O'Shea on Vimeo.

If you are all about engagement, this is right up your street. It's not a commercial entity but an art installation running on BBC UK LED boards. This video is from the streets of Liverpool, where it ran for a few days last month. Now it is running on a board in Cardiff.

The work is all scripted and automated so that a giant hand tickles, pokes and removes people who stray into the live camera's viewer. The guy behind it is London-based artist and designer Chris O'Shea.

I like this sort of thing because it's a people-stopper and gets viewers talking and laughing. The commercial extension of this is pretty obvious, though it would need to get moved around to different boards because the novelty shelf-life would be short. The other challenge in a big public setting is that you need to be on the screen pretty much all the time, which means if it is advertising, it is the ONLY advertising.

Which means it will cost BIG to pull this off.

Microsoft's first retail presence a great show of what's possible when screens are planned in from the start

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:28:22 EDT

Say what you want about Microsoft products, and perhaps how its new retail presence seems oddly similar to Apple's stores. But you have to admit it is very, very nice to see a retailer go this hard with its digital signage efforts and pull something off we will all useas a positive reference case on the possible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9Hk0ZCqRxg

I think it is MTI's Jason Goldberg shooting and posting the video (he Tweeted about it) of the store opening in Scottsdale, AZ today, timed to coincide with the launch of Windows 7.

Somewhat crazily, the image I could easily find about the opening today was from a site called Apple Insider.

The best I could do from the Microsoft folks is a photo involving someone named Ashley Tisdale, who if we could include word bubbles would be saying, 'You can't, like, be serious about someone buying a laptop that is red with like, zebra stripes. Eeeew. Like WTF?"

UPDATE: Gizmodo has more snappies now

Microsoft has also not released any technical detail on what's all involved with the screens, but it is clearly one of the most ambitious uses of digital signage yet seen in a relatively small retail setting. You could quibble about the bezel seams and color matching looking not quite right, but far more to the point is how this shows what's possible when screens are integral to the store plan and not a bolt-on.

Another store opens in Mission Viejo, CA. next week.

Nice job, Jason.

Cisco not actually doing augmented reality, but they'll sell you a new router!

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:10:41 EDT

Networking giant Cisco got lots of attention last week with the viral and placed release of a YouTube video showing a young woman doing some pretty wild arm-flapping and waving to try on outfits, using a virtual mirror, in a clothing store. The video strongly inferred that Cisco was enabling augmented reality applications in retail.

The capabilities of what this was showing, and where augmented reality's capabilities are at right now, were, ummm, different. But dutifully we noted there was a big Cisco event planned for Oct. 20 to let the world know what this was all about. Dutifully, I checked it out again Tuesday and confirmed suspicions this was a pretty nice, expensive slice of Hollywood and not a bunch more.

The Cisco "Borderless Networks" marketing push makes the somewhat fanciful leap that the latest version of its integrated services router makes this possible.

That and a laundry list of other things -- particularly non-existent software capable of actually doing what the video shows.

Most people in this industry will suggest Cisco could stand to do a way better job explaining and marketing what they currently do in digital signage, never mind what they will have, at most, a tenuous role in when the technology catches up to the creative vision.

Cisco recently announced a 1,500 screen install at Miami's NFL stadium, which is a BIG deal. But the information release was so convoluted it barely got covered and noticed by this trade's press.

Are VC wallets starting to open up again?

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:08:23 EDT

TechCrunch has a post up about MoneyTree data from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association that shows an uptick in venture capital spending in the 3rd quarter.

More venture dollars went into startups in the third quarter than the two previous quarters of the year, but was still down 33 percent from a year ago, according to the latest MoneyTree report put out by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. The report counts 657 venture deals worth a total of $4.8 billion, up 17 percent from the second quarter.

We found a similar rise in venture dollars (up 17.5 percent) in our third quarter TechCrunch Trends report. Although, we measured a higher dollar-volume of deals—$7.7 billion in aggregate venture funding across 645 funding rounds. (We also came out yesterday with a ranking of the top 25 most active VC firms).

Does this mean happy days are here again? Well, no, not even close. This is money for Internet-centric companies and clean fuel technologies (with stimulus money tossed in). But my simpleton logic is that if VCs are feeling a little better about specific investments by extension that should spread to related industries.

Walmart's Project Impact cleaning up stores but hurting sales. Screens to the rescue?

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:56:54 EDT

Really interesting piece in Advertising Age about Walmart and its Project Impact de-cluttering exercise, and how the move to get a lot of the POP corrugate stuff out of the aisles is making shopping easier but slowing down sales.

Walmart is doling out hundreds of millions of dollars for "Project Impact," an ambitious five-year push to de-clutter its stores to make them more shopper-friendly. But having less merchandise on display has put a serious crimp in sales for some categories and dinged suppliers. And that's got Bentonville buzzing that the retail titan might just put the program on hold as a result.

"They solved half of the problem, which was un-cluttering the stores," said a person familiar with Walmart. "That leaves them with the other half of the problem: how to make up for the lost sales" from removing millions of square feet of prime merchandising space.

The conundrum of lost sales is real, but the "solution" to put the program on hiatus is being dismissed by some as wishful thinking on the part of suppliers. Either way, it's sure to be a hot topic when Walmart meets with investors and analysts in the retailer's hometown this week.

Walmart executives have described the Impact store remodels as a five-year plan for its 2,600-plus supercenters (out of more than 4,200 total stores), projecting conversion of 500 to 600 stores this fiscal year, which ends Jan. 31.

The revamps are extensive and run millions of dollars per store, including updated signage, new layouts with wide-open aisles, bigger and more prominent space for strategically important categories such as electronics and baby care, lower fixtures that allow for better visibility and an all-around brighter appearance.

But the process also removes those pallet-sized merchandising displays scattered throughout Walmart, stuffed with everything from $5 DVDs to health and beauty aids. And that extra elbow room for the Walmart shopper, has extracted a stiff price in merchandising space for categories like health and beauty, which derive about a third of their sales from Walmart. In fact, some industry watchers credit a combination of lost Walmart display space, along with more aggressive private-label merchandising by the chain, in part for a substantial slowdown in U.S. sales at $64 billion Johnson & Johnson (J&J declined to comment).

At a recent CODACAN event retail strategist James Fraser made the point that Project Impact meant that brands conditioned to years of stuffing big pallet-ized displays into stores no longer had that option. They'd need a new way to get noticed in a Walmart ... like on digital screens.

Vertigo appears to get 11th hour rescue

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:21:44 EDT

DailyDOOH had a post very late last week and then I saw another item today on Digital Signage Today confirming the very good news that Toronto's Vertigo Group has been somewhat rescued. The highly-respected and much liked guys at Vertigo, who specialize in well-engineered enclosures for digital screens for OOH home companies, ran into financial trouble last month when financing plans went off the rails.

According to reports, another guy with a lot of respect and friends in the industry has stepped in to become CEO of a "newco" called Digital Displays LLC. Brad Gleeson, who in past lives has been high up with ActiveLight, CoolSign and Planar, has put together a tentative deal to acquire Vertigo's assets and spark it back to life, with the principals still involved.

The deal is expected to close this week. This good on a whole bunch of fronts. The guys involved put out a great product and their sales pipeline looked really good from what I saw in the investment summary that had been circulating. The industry needs companies that work on things other than just price, and the new money in to revive activities suggests some others got that, as well.

Artisan Pulls Plug on Digital Signage Content Group

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EDT

Toronto-based point of purchase printing specialist Artisan Complete, which for the last few years has been building a business and reputation as one of the leaders in content strategy and production for digital signage, has pulled the plug on its Artisan Live group.

Mike Brown had been leading the group and left recently, and then on Thursday the well-known face of the Live group, Stephen Ghigliotty and creative director Kris Steeves were shown the door. The group had at least a half-dozen people in it going back two or three years, and had won awards and a lot of recognition for its work.

Both Stephen and Kris are great, talented guys and will be good picks for anyone who wants to grab them, Stephen on strategy and Kris on creative.

It's too bad, as good, innovative work was getting done. But this has been a tough year for the printing industry and the people hooked in to it. The other big content shop based in Toronto, Alchemy, has been very quiet the last few months, as well, but I know it is still active. Alchemy's Dave Dolejsi, one of their key guys, had a cryptic Twitter note up on Thursday about a big account win of some sort.

I don't know if it is just me, but it strikes me as a few companies that manged to wobble their way through the worst of the recession are starting to run on fumes, and being forced to make some hard choices. Maybe the worst of the recession is ending, but I think we will continue to see more right-sizing and exits from the sector.

This is how you find Stephen (and he can get you on to Kris, I'd imagine):

iPhone 647.680.8512

stephen.ghigliotty at gmail.com

Twitter @ghigliotty

Kris Matheson, the other Artisan guy well known for his involvement in the sector, is still around but has been involved in non-DS stuff with the company for quite a while now.

Cool installs: video art at the bowling alley

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:48:03 EDT

My first inclination, when seeing a vendor publicizing, a deal with a bowling lane, was things must be really slow if they are getting the word out about stuff like that. But there was a reason - what they are doing is kinda cool.

From a press release:

Up-market bowling venue Lucky Strike Lanes has deployed BrightSign media players to deliver high-quality video artwork to complement its trademark cocktails, private lanes and sophisticated menu. BrightSign Network Management enables art displays and promotional messages to be coordinated across North America.

Lucky Strike wanted to display static and video artwork in a new way and update it regularly to keep the venue fresh and appealing. The goal was for each artist’s work to be shown in the highest quality resolution for eight to 12 minutes per day, seven days a week in Lucky Strike locations. Effective management of the visual projection and playback, as well as its timing and scheduling, was also a key requirement.

Digital signage integrator ITMIS was enlisted to design and implement Lucky Strike’s vision. ITMIS has been in the A/V and IT-integration business for many years and has implemented a number of digital signage projects; however this is its highest profile digital signage implementation so far. The company selected BrightSign media players to deliver content in four prominent Lucky Strike locations: Kansas City, Mo.; Los Angeles; Bellevue, Wash.; and Hoboken, N.J.

Each bowling center has two 20 x 12-foot HD projection screens delivering artwork directly to the bowling lanes, a 20 x 12-foot 3D HD projection screen delivering the video art to a luxury private bowling room and a 50-inch plasma display plays promo stuff in the entry area.

Astral expands big digital billboard network to Toronto, Vancouver

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:01:25 EDT

Montreal-based Astral Media Outdoor is following up its presumably successful rollout of big-assed LED boards along the major traffic jams of Montreal by strategically positioning more of the big fellers along the clogged arteries of Toronto and Vancouver.

Reports MediaCaster:

AMO successfully launched ten 14’ x 48’ digital faces in Montreal last spring. Vancouver’s Digital Network consists of nine 10’ x 34’ digital faces located in high-traffic areas near the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver, the Lions Gate Bridge in West Vancouver, the Second Narrows Bridge in North Vancouver and the Sea to Sky Highway en route to Whistler. The Toronto network currently features three 14’ x 48’ digital faces – two located on the Gardiner Expressway and one on Finch Avenue. The national Digital Network is expected to be fully operational by early December.

“Advertisers now have access to the latest outdoor advertising technology in Canada’s top three advertising markets,” said Luc Sabbatini, President of Astral Media Outdoor. “This national digital network reaffirms our commitment to continue leading the industry by providing the most innovative and creative solutions to best meet the needs of our customers.”

The 14 by 48 screens are Yesco boards running Yesco software.

Both cities have had much smaller full-motion video boards sprinkled about for many years, but these will be the first of this size, save for a two-sided unit Pattison Outdoor sparked up a few weeks ago on the Gardiner in Toronto (which from what I have seen seems to selling well).

Now there are "fears" about ad screens in Toronto schools. Sheesh.

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:10:36 EDT

In a past life I ran a large team of newspaper reporters and invested time to get the kids to actually advance a story, as in move it along with some new stuff. If I was the guy's editor at the National Post, Canada's other national daily, I would have spiked this story about the digital screen RFP for Toronto schools, since all he did was take the story from the rival Globe and Mail and do it over again, but adding FEARS!!! to the equation to amp it up.

Here's the last thing I wrote about this, earlier in the week.

From the morning paper ...

The Toronto District School Board is attempting to dispel fears that a plan to install digital video screens in several downtown high schools this fall will expose captive students to commercial advertising.

“If there were to be any sort of revenue generation, it might come from the sale of advertising to people such as Health Canada, Toronto Public Health or universities and colleges,” TDSB chairman John Campbell said. “There’s a bit of concern on the part of some that this will be a slippery slope and will lead to commercial advertising, but there would be no appetite for that sort of endeavour in the board.”

In September, the board asked for proposals from digital signage companies, saying the screens would offer opportunities to generate revenue, without specifying how that would be achieved. While the installation of the screens is still a pilot project planned for three or four downtown high schools, the board says more schools in the GTA could see the screens if the test phase is successful.

The project is the brainchild of Ward 10 (Trinity-Spadina) trustee Chris Bolton, who says the screens — similar to those installed in TTC subway stations — would be a way to provide school-related information to students, such as dates and times of post-secondary institution visits, TTC schedules and weather updates.

Mr. Bolton would not say which schools will have the screens. His ward — where the pilot project will take place — is home to some of the largest high schools in the city, including Harbord Collegiate Institute, Central Technical School and Central Commerce Collegiate.

“We were looking for a communication method and came up with the idea that maybe something like a video screen might do the trick, so there would be an ability to share information,” he said.

But Annie Kidder, executive director of People for Education, a parent-led, non-profit public education organization, questions how the screens will improve student education.

“We need to think about whether we want our school hallways to be places where there is that advertising,” she said. “There already is a lot of advertising out there. We’re surrounded by messaging constantly. Is there evidence that this will be helpful for students?”

While she acknowledges any proposed advertising on the screens will come from non-commercial entities, she says it is often difficult to draw the line between “benign” and “commercial, for-profit” ads.

Ms. Kidder points to the experience of Mississauga’s Meadowvale High School, the sole participant in a pilot project 10 years ago in which students were asked to watch a 12-minute newscast — including two minutes of commercials for such things as cereal, gum and video games. In exchange, the newscast’s producer, a private company called Youth News Network, donated $150,000 worth of new computers and televisions to the school. The project ultimately failed after hundreds of parents objected.

“There was a lot of opposition to YNN and it said the ads would be public service announcements and wouldn’t contain overtly commercial ones,” she said.

“But there’s still this sense that you have a captive audience in students and we have to ask the question, ‘Do we want that captive audience?’”

As teeny little bits of detail come out, it is starting to make a bit more sense why OneStop Media would be pursuing this. The real money for this target audience is from the mobile and entertainment sectors, but there is also a pretty healthy ad spend out there from government and from universities, community colleges and technical schools that are said to be OK from the board's point of view.

But there are piles of open questions about how much impact a screen network could have on a school campus and how the screens would survive more than an hour when exposed to a steady tidal wave of teenaged boys. More to the point, the process of getting this past all the interest groups who would oppose it - and dealing with board bureaucrats - would be soooo painful.

Cisco Hops on AR bandwagon with Retail Demo

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:24:00 EDT

A Cisco online video is drifting around sites like Wired and Digital Signage Today that shows how augmented reality, blended with digital signage, could change shopping experiences. It shows a young woman going all Tom Cruise-y, like in that Spielberg movie I refuse to mention, flapping her arms and waving her hand to move things around a a screen/change-room mirror as she tries on clothes and even changes their colors virtually. It is pretty cool, but some of the sites that are posting this video are referencing this as being in the here and now. It's not, unless Cisco is months or years ahead of anybody else applying AR technology right now. That very slick, high production value Cisco video with the sound effects and acting talent is where it all might go, but the will be nowhere near as seamless as is shown. At least not yet.