Tag Archive | "sixteen"
With local authorities raising various stinks about digital billboards and stopping some of those plans in their tracks, it's nice to see some government rules and regs that have the potential to drive growth in this sector. Myles Mjolsnes of WAND Corporation, a Minnesota POS vendor that has expanded in to digital signage, sent out a note suggesting the new health care reform passed into law by U.S. Congress last week (and last I checked, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse did not ride onto the scene when this happened) sets new national standards for nutrition labeling on restaurant menus. The reform will affect all Quick Service Restaurants with 20 or more locations, regardless of ownership, says Mjolsnes.QSR franchisees who own only a few locations will still be affected if the total number of brand stores is 20 or greater. By setting one consistent national standard the National Restaurant Association says the new law will help consumers make better choices for themselves and their families. Since details may remain unclear until as late as the end of July the versatility provided by digital displays justifies a solution to replace standard printed menu boards.“This is a complex and industry changing event for the entire QSR community,” said Greg Perrill, Chief Operating Officer for WAND Corporation. Caloric and nutrient information will be required on restaurant menus, menu boards, and Drive-Thru displays. WAND Corporation, the global leader in Digital Menu Board and Point Of Sale technology for the QSR space, plans to be a part of the solution process. WAND Corporation’s Digital Menu Boards already handle nutritional information and their dynamic content can be changed or updated instantly. “We foresaw the need for providing customers with nutritional information of menu items and built the feature into our Digital Menu Board technology,” added Perrill. You can read the 2,016 page bill here, something I'm sure most of you will do right after this ... I'm not as convinced this will be a major catalyst for more investment into the sector. Nutritional information is no more fluid in its changes than the actual menu items, and could be built in just as easily into revised back-lit material than to digital. This added stuff doesn't demand digital, as far as I can tell. But what it does do is present a compelling reason to now make the cut-over to digital, something i'd imagine most chain QSRs are looking at anyways. In other words, "The new regs mean we need to change out what's on all of our menu boards. This is as good a time as any to make the digital transition." WAND, by the way, is tied pretty closely to Wendy's - so a full conversion would be a very big deal with that client. UPDATE: Austin, TX-based Starmount Systems has done up a release about its menu-board capabilities as it relates to this new legislation... Starmount Systems today announced that it will unveil their digital software suite at KioskCom 2010 in a proof-of-concept demonstration for restaurant chains that are facing new requirements to disclose nutrition information to the consumer. The provision in the U.S. health bill passed last week will require all restaurants with 20 or more locations to publish information such as calorie content and sodium levels for all of their menu items.“With menus changing on a regular basis, restaurants using static or printed menus face costly updates to fulfill this requirement. Many will be looking at new technology solutions such as digital menu boards and interactive kiosks to address this need,” said Joe Halloum, President and CEO of Starmount. “With Starmount Marquis™, we are proud to offer an easy-to-use, cross-platform software solution that can be implemented today to address the new provisions that are coming two to three years from now.” With Starmount Marquis™, we are proud to offer an easy-to-use, cross-platform software solution that can be implemented today to address the new provisions that are coming two to three years from now. Digital menu boards and self-serve kiosks are becoming widely popular in a variety of industries including the restaurant and retail space. Marquis provides an easy interface to assemble, monitor and manage media assets for digital signage and interactive kiosks. It can be tightly integrated with mobile and point-of-sale applications to deliver a complete multi-channel commerce solution.
I have my doubts that membership counts are all that telling until real money is being dropped, but nonetheless some 200 companies and individuals have signed on as members of the new Digital Signage Federation. The DSF says memberships are from the US and Canada, as would be expected, but there are also sign-ups from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, El Salvador, France, Ghana, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Russia, Slovenia, Taiwan, the UK, and Vietnam. The organization also got some people to stick their hands up and lead the interim board, with Rich Cooley, the CEO & Founder of Visser Digital Media acting as chair, Bob Stowe from Wendy's as Vice Chairman and consultant/industry trainer Alan Brawn as Secretary/Treasurer. The DSF also now has a lot more shaking on its Website now and Executive Director John Johnson appears to be doing all the meat and potatoes stuff needed for things like bylaws and codes of ethics to make it a real non-profit body. I remain happily on the fence, watching this play out between the DSF and Digital Signage Association. The DSA had 400 plus members when this all bubbled up, and it has been announcing any new members of its own via Twitter. Meanwhile, the newly re-dubbed Digital Place-Based Advertising Association now has a splash page that redirects to the older OVAB site. Not great, but better than a placeholder page on Go Daddy pointing to Doberman Pinscher breeders , which was the case last week.
I was chained to a booth two years ago at DSE, when three guys wandered up and told me they were from Muzak and looking to expand their operations into video. Music they really knew, video ... not so much. It was Jon Luther and a couple of consultants.A year ago they had a small booth towards the back of DSE, and had just officially announced they were in the game with a Visual Solutions wing, albeit at just about the same moment as they were heading into Chapter 11. I had a retail network client last summer sniffing around about a music and video solution, and spoke with Muzak. They were still, at that point, getting organized, with about 10 people in an office up around Charlotte, NC and plans to be something of an integrator.Now two years out, Muzak has done a partnership with YCD Multimedia, an Israeli company with a large, growing office in NY. Muzak is effectively a YCD reseller.I mention all this for a couple of reasons. It is a great snapshot of the real-world sales cycle in this space. Most deals take for-e-ver to come fully together. I no longer sell stuff, other than my services, but am aware of more than a few software deals that are well into year two now. My last brush with working for someone else involved a couple of guys who concluded, unilaterally, that closing deals in this space was a one-or-two meeting, done in days kinda thing. Nope.It happens once in a while, but nope. So if you are new to this sector and expecting things to happen quickly, good luck to you!I mention this, as well, because this is a good deal for all concerned. YCD has a direct background in marketing a full licensed music and video solution, so their platform was likely ready to go out of the box, with limited monkey work to get it all going. And Muzak is now out of Chapter 11 and pretty active. What they have, which should raise eyebrows, is a huge client base and a very solid brand.Congratulations to Josh and Noam at YCD and Joe Hall down at Muzak. Looks like a smart partnership and a well suited pairing.Side note: YCD does a really nice e-mail newsletter, which is how I learned of this deal. I know EnQii does one, as well, but very few companies in the sector do a client and industry-focused email newsletter. That's a missed opportunity, I think, to let people know what you are up to without it being a merciless sales piece. My guess is a lot of companies would like to but don't have the time or skills. A little shamelessly, I'll just mention I know someone who could do that stuff in his sleep.
Christie Digital took over a nightclub in New York last night and formally launched its MicroTiles products, with the event hosted by fellow blogger Adrian Cotterill of DailyDOOH fame.This was the second time I have seen the gear and was impressed once again, this time by the scale. Bob Rushby (below), one of the inventors of the tiled displays, showed off a wall of tiles that was 16 wide and 6 high (96 tiles) that amounted to (I think he said) a 37 million pixel image. It was some crazy-big number like that.The Christie folks also showed some other new designs and more content, including a huge display suspended at an angle and meant to emulate a 16-sheet out of home poster shape. Impressive stuff, and good event. Lots of familiar faces there, as well as a lot of people from the AV industry who will be all over this. (Disclaimer: I do some work for Christie, but I'd like it no matter the ties)
Toronto-area audience measurement guys CognoVision has been named Canada's Innovation Leader for 2009 at the Canadian Innovation Exchange (CIX), describe as Canada’s most important gathering place for innovative technologies. The exchange does an annual search for innovative technology, products, services and companies in Canada, and whittles that down to a list of 20 finalists who then present and pitch to both Canadian and US senior executives and investors at a one-day conference held last week in Toronto. Industry peers at the event then vote on who they believe should be the year’s Innovation Leader.“This year’s competition brought out some of the country’s most amazing companies and technologies. From super computers and unmanned aerial intelligence gathering systems to new cleantech solutions, we were extremely pleased to see such impressive technologies being developed by Canadian companies,” says Robert Montgomery, Co-Chair, Canadian Innovation Exchange, in a release. “CognoVision was chosen by industry peers based on their innovation and dedication to using technology to provide in-demand solutions consumers will benefit from.”CognoVision (winner of Innovation Leader Award and Digital Media Award at the 2009 CIX) was commercially launched in 2008 to help companies measure the effectiveness of in-store media and shopper behavior in retail environments. This is achieved with the use of CognoVision’s proprietary retail audience measurement software solutions. Using small camera sensors and computers, the Company’s anonymous face detection and people tracking software gathers data on how people watch ads and how they navigate within retail venues. This information is easily communicated to clients with the use of CognoVision’s proprietary reporting system. This system allows end-clients to make data driven decisions to: dramatically improve the effectiveness of media campaigns, increase product sales and advertising revenue, optimize retail execution and to reduce operational costs.The runners-up by were companies that make unmanned surveillance planes small enough to fit in the trunk of a police car and financial grade GPS metering technology that, oh great, provides data needed to migrate roads and parking from taxpayer-subsidized to pay-per-use.
I got the PR direct from YCD Multimedia but I am too stinkin' busy to post (and others do that stuff all day long). However, this is very nice and worth noting. A nine-screen tiled array using, I assume, the Samsung thin-bezel screens.Flat panel screens are so ubiquitous now that consumers would walk by one or two sprinkled around a cosmetic section. But a wall of them three-high and three-wide, has genuine pop and impact. More detail on OOH-TV.
When I was selling software, one of the 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 legit2 - the EULA did not apply to PCs and therefore it didn't matter3 - it was unclear, and Adobe wasn't helping add any clarity4 - Flash for digital signage sucks, and is such a buggy, memory-leaking, CPU-intensive pig you'd be crazy to use it anywayI 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's people, 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
Tons of people will know Rebecca Walt as one of the more broadly experienced and sharper people in this space, having come out of retail and packaged goods, and spent time with both Convergent and Reflect Systems.
One of the guys who spoke last week at that industry forum in New York is the CEO of an interactive agency, and not all that suprisingly, he said the future of digital signage is all about interactivity ... and therefore the better name to hang on this industry is Interactive Out-of-Home, or IOH. Trevor Kaufman, of the agency Schematic, suggested one of the reasons NOT to go with DOH is it is too reminiscent of Homer Simpson's DOH!!!, and DOOH is far worse for some reason. Now while I heartily agree that interactive is a big part of the future of this space, it's just a part. There are countless ways in which digital screen are going to be used that will have little or nothing to do with interactivity. They're just going to be a more efficient means of getting information across, and I can't even fathom the chaos of every screen in an environment beckoning to be touched or wireless devices constantly popping up invites to download coupons and more information, and on and on. I recently read a separate suggestion that the term In Store Digital Marketing be used, or ISDM. They're both good, but they're both just more words. The industry news portal AKA.TV was launched with that handle a few years ago because no one could land on the perfect name, so it was digital signage, Also Known As .... My impression is that there are lots of things holding back this industry, like good content, sustainable success stories and better customer education, but I don't think coming up with JUST the right name -- that encompasses it all -- is holding much back. Digital signage is well short of perfect. Same with Digital Out Of Home. But they're out there and I don't think confusion or derision abound. And I have never heard anyone use DOH.
Pretty much every major street in Winnipeg had a succession of banks and strip malls with full color digital LED boards flashing away at drivers and passersby. These were not full-tilt billboard replacements, but sheet of plywood-big screens, nonetheless.
MediaPost handed out its first Digital Out-of-Home Media Awards last night following a day long conferencer in New York.
n">Wired: Adobe Flash for Your TV Means Hulu in Your Living Room Adobe is at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Lost Wages this week, and its big announcement was how the company has put the pieces in place to allow it to deliver Flash content and interactivity to residential TV.
I like this for the simple reason that it is useful for people. People waiting for a bus can key in their route number or destination and get real-time information back, as the shelters are 3G connected. This is one of the larger out of home companies out there, so ads on these units will follow.
There has been a buzz for almost a year now about the Intel Atom CPU and its ability to offer a small form-factor PC at an affordable price - but the ones that have come out to date have had mixed reviews about their real capabilities versus the marketing hype.
The Strategy magazine digital out of home event that was planned for next week in Toronto has been canceled due to weak ticket sales.It's unfortunate because there was a pretty good roster of ad-oriented speakers lined up, and Canadian Out-of-home Digital Association board member Peter Irwin had worked his butt off to get this pulled together with event organizer Strategy magazine. It was a Strategy event through and through, but CODA had a big influence on how it would come together. Both Strategy and CODA were prepared to shut it down if the sales and sponsorship levels weren't there.This is a busy time of year for events, and with budgets tight and a lot of marketing directors hiding under their desks when the accountants are about, the cancellation is no surprise. Better times are ahead, but I'd imagine it's pretty hard these days to get budget approved even for local events, never mind ones people need to travel to.It probably didn't help that MediaPost's own DOOH Forum and Expo is on next week in NYC, and I know some locals going to that. CODA is still busily planning its own breakfast series and there will be news on those soon.
Neo Media Group has finally come out with formal word that they have designs on building a digital out of home footprint in the US as they have done in Europe, and to a lesser extent, in Canada.The Swiss-based company has retail-oriented networks in several European countries and has screens in the food courts of many malls in Canada, with designs to get into the rest of the mall area.The company announced today, after months of quiet work, that it is going after the US market.Neo Advertising Inc., a leading digital OOH network owner in Canada, has established an infrastructure for US operations. As a result of legal restructuring, Neo Advertising Inc. has become part of a new parent company, Neo Advertising North America Holdings Inc. (”Neo Advertising NA”), which formed Neo Advertising USA, LLC to lead the holding’s activities in the US.Neo Advertising USA, LLC has set up sales and marketing offices in New York, NY, and a production and operations facility in Los Angeles, CA.Former CEO of Neo Advertising Inc. Benjamin Mathieu, who has brought the Canadian company to profitability two years after its inception, has been appointed President and CEO of Neo Advertising NA. Christian Vaglio-Giors, founder of Neo Advertising Group and CEO of the holding Neo Media Group, will act as Chairman of the Board.Phil Tweedy, formerly VP of Operations at Ascent Media, has joined Neo Advertising NA as Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Tweedy is an industry pioneer who brings along extensive expertise in building and managing the world’s largest digital signage networks. “With my vast experience in the Digital OOH market combined with the great team we are building in the US, the timing could not be better for Neo to become a sector leader in the US in a very short time,” says Tweedy.“The US market has been in our sights from the very beginning,” says Benjamin Mathieu, CEO of Neo Advertising NA. “We needed time to field-test various business models and establish a solid track record in Canada. We had also dedicated a lot of time and effort to researching the robust market south of the border. We are now confident that we can import Neo’s success story into the United States. Strategically, it is also a good moment for such a move, as entry barriers for real estate acquisitions are lower when the economy slows down.”Various surveys suggest that digital OOH is one of the few sectors that have been growing despite the recession, while all other media contracted.According to Benjamin Mathieu, further announcements about Neo Advertising USA, LLC’s progress are to follow later in the year. Mathieu and Tweedy have actually been at this for a year or so, and are well advanced in their plans and discussions. I am aware of some of what they are up to, but it is for them to announce. They are former clients and I have particularly enjoyed chatting with Tweedy (no slight on Benjamin), as he has a really intriguing background in video and entertainment work going back to his roots in London, England. Among other things he was a concert promoter as a youngster, and toured with The Who, capturing concert footage. Cool guy. And smart.
Once in a while, and mercifully only once in a while, a client has asked about whether the pots and pans I sold could support a digital screen network in a place like a ballpark or hockey arena. I even had one that was already doing that sort of thing.But generally speaking, it scares the willies out of me ... because it strikes me as way more complicated than everyone seems to think.A Gizmodo photo tour behind the scenes at the new ballpark where the Mets play is a great confirmation of that. Granted, this is a big stadium in a big city. It's going to be a less than typical job. But the tour pretty much confirms that this sort of thing is best left to the AV pros who build TV stations, because that's what's really shaking here.The control room for the 850 screens, all of them Sharp (except in the control room), looks very much like a TV control room, and the screen network does everything from pump live TV into the luxury suites you and I will never see, and the more public walkway and concession areas. You can see all the pictures on Gizmodo, including how a couple of $100K monster LCDs are used.
Well, it is no great reach to suggest nothing draws a Canadian to an event like free drinks.Which is my only logical conclusion as to why last night's mixer numbers dipped by about half. Sheesh.I also know some people who are regulars couldn't make it because on travel, commitments, kids, you name it.
Paul Flanigan is a relative newcomer to the digital signage blogging community, but almost immediately started writing one of the more interesting ones, called Experiate.He runs the in-store screen network for Best Buy and spends his time thinking (and some spare time writing) about content and the impact of screens. Flanigan has a lengthy post this morning raising questions about the timing and merits of audience measurement, combining his own thoughts with quotes cherry-picked from a bunch of industry smarty-pants.At a time when technology and content are finally developing a synergy that enhances the experience, is it truly imperative that we start measuring right away? This industry is growing so fast that any statistical measurement done today could be obsolete within a few years, if not a few months. Network operators and venues are in no hurry to become metric compliant; media planners and buyers don’t fully understand the medium yet; agencies are still working toward a full understanding of creative and compelling communication techniques for OOH; OVAB is trying to enforce compliance with only a few dozen members; and there are other companies out there with different and perhaps stronger methods for measurement and definition. This feels like I should grade my daughter on calculus while she’s still learning to count to 10. Good stuff, and very relevant, compelling questions. I agree with Paul that the argument for audience measurement as it is now done is flawed, particularly as it relates to retail networks that are more about sales impact and shopper experience. But for full-on ad networks, SOMETHING, ANYTHING is needed to at least start herding the cats and creating some commonality in how networks sell themselves.The elephant in the room, though, when measurement results come in is the discussion around how many people are actually watching versus the raw numbers that have been used to tout audience size. Well worth a read ...
This is what I would describe as a big reach, and funny, in a tortured, silly, shark-jumping kind of way. Somehow or other, the rather relentless freelance PR machine working for a small Maryland-area digital signage company has put Noventri and pop singer Madonna together in the same press release.Madonna Makes an Appearance on Noventri Digital Menu Boards at Minute Maid Park Madonna fans never missed a minute of the sold-out concert, says the press release, as they purchase goodies from food stands at the Minute Maid Park. The stadium's club level digital menu boards, previously installed by Noventri, provide tasteful and dynamic menu solutions with a live video feed of the concert to attendees.Madonna performed at the Minute Maid Park on November 16, 2008 for her Sticky & Sweet Tour. Noventri's Content Creation and Management Team, who continues to create and manage content for the stadium's menu boards, created digital menus that featured Madonna and her tour with a video feed that encapsulated the live concert to prevent fans from missing any part of the show. Oh, where to start ... It happened four months ago. It was embedded live video in a menu board at the hot dogs and soda stand (way, umm, cool). It was Madonna!!! At least if you are going to do this, somehow drag Barack Obama in on it. Or the Octo-mom-thing. The PR person, who is perhaps paid by the press release, has been mercilessly firing off marginal stuff about Noventri for several weeks now (she has my e-mail, and she's using it). With this one, she has officially helped her masters jump the shark. Now I don't know a thing about Noventri. They may have an amazing solution. But I'm not sure I subscribe to the notion that PR press, ANY PR press, is good press. This is just goofy press.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
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