Interactivity Defacto: Facial Recognition and Increased Automation
I have a burning question: When will interactivity become the content defacto in digital signage? We’re moving that direction. No longer will the expectation be that only the mobile phone’s digital screen will be touchable and navigable, but every public display will become the defacto wayfinding and on-demand media device. At some point in the […]
Industry Consolidation: Looking Back as the Dust Settles
The growth ebbs and flows of nearly every industry reach maturity, then consolidation and finally decline. While the digital signage market has struggled to find itself there have certainly occurred the casualties so often present in high tech markets. Luckily the bad business models and managers are eliminated quickly, making room for those longer-lasting ideas, concepts […]
Reasons Google Can & Should Enter Digital Out-of-Home (and a few indications of how they already have)
From my perspective, Google’s entrance into digital out-of-home is more a matter of “when” than a question of “if.” For those who’ve been paying attention for a while, there are numerous features, acquisitions and products that have set-off a flurry of discussion and suspicion among those in this industry. Google brings additional insight, revenue and […]
Advertising: Bridging the Gap Between Small and Large Networks
Our freemium-based business model comes at a price. Roughly 5% to 10% of our users on the AWS-powered servers pay any type of monthly subscription or hosting fee. That’s completely fine and we expect it to be that way, but there are downsides. Most of the free accounts are VERY small (typically <10 displays). Where small […]
Free ≠ Cheap: Overcoming the Psychology that Says Expensive = Quality
It’s reasonable to consider something of lower quality when it comes to us at a bargain. Discount and free items naturally make us feel the items themselves are of sub-par quality. Terms like, “you get what you pay for” and stop being “penny wise and pound foolish” can contribute to make our freemium-based digital signage […]
Programmatic Advertising in Place-Based Media: Hype or the FINAL Solution?
Much has been said regarding the lack of performance inherent in place-based DOOH networks. The ad-based network has been a difficult sell among both advertisers and network operators alike. The lack of control, targeting and measurement combined with deflated ad budgets over the last decade have contributed to a general malaise among digital out-of-home advertising […]
Restaurant Tablet Menus Are Over-hyped
An old friend of my from my days at HughesNet sent me a link to a news article outlining how tablets used for “digital dining” represent a growing subset of digital signage, self-service and tablet computing for business. I personally think it’s overhyped, misinformed and setup for eventual leapfrog by other technology. Here are a […]
Is Some Restroom Digital Signage Really Appropriate?
The idea of digital signs in restrooms is nothing new. It’s been used above urinals and behind functional two-way mirrors, but when does signage in the restroom get out of hand? I had a discussion with a potential client last week that wanted to place signage in potentially one of two areas within the bathrooms […]
Why the StudioLite is the Next Strategy Phase
I have conversations with old Enterprise users, newbies and current customers on a daily basis. I’m typically on the phone with them for long periods, answering questions, resolving concerns and giving my two cents on ideas for business strategy. In the conversations with previous Enterprise users, I often ask what it was that drove them […]
Want Traffic? Make an Obnoxious Scene
Whether online or out-of-home, traffic drives sales. The big emphasis on traffic can make people do things they really shouldn’t, as we’ve previously outlined. We also know that these days, traffic is very often acquired through the shockingly obnoxious. Here’s a specific example from a couple of days ago. I was at the mall with […]
