Digital Signage

An area we spent lots of time on in innovation labs, check out the 'digital signage' tag below for more.

About this event and signup,
The latest interactive, future-proof tech puts digital signage at the forefront of in-store customer experience.

Digital signage has gone from non-responsive one-way messaging in the 80’s and 90’s to a broad array of platforms today. It offers retailers innumerable opportunities to engage shoppers, direct foot traffic and energize their in-store sales with targeted offers and promotions from this data-rich source. 

Join us for this educational webinar to learn the latest in marketing reach and shopper engagement through IoT-fueled digital signage — including actionable consumer insights from digital displays, display-to-mobile advertising and personalized marketing via displays. You’ll learn how to capture more visitor time, spend and mindshare with these onsite customer experience tools and will hear inspiring retailer case studies.

June 19, 2019, Wednesday,  12:00pm to 1:00pm, Eastern Daylight Time

About the presenters: 

Featured Presenter Jeth Harbinson, IoT Segment Lead, Retail  Arrow Electronics
Featured Presenter, Ajay Kapoor, CEO, TouchSource
BrainTrust Panelist, Adrian Weidmann, Principal, StoreStream Metrics, LLC
Moderator, Al McClain, CEO, Co-founder, RetailWire

Wal-Mart Testing Digital Shelf Tags

An idea that has been around for a long time, we tested it extensively.  Costs versus value often interfered.  Now both Kroger and Wal-Mart appear serious with broader tests. 

Walmart testing digital shelf tags at 2 locations  in Progressive Grocer

Walmart is testing two types of digital shelf tags in the baked goods section at two stores in Rogers, Ark. Test shoppers sent by market research firm Field Agent preferred the labels to standard ones, but were split in their opinions between the long, full-color LED strips and the smaller digital tags. ... " 

Ultimate Selfie Sculpture

In Digital Signage Connection.   Though this is nearby, I was unaware of it.  Ultimate self-referencing engagement?

" ... Renovated Convention Center Features “Ultimate Selfie Machine” Digital Sculpture

Dubbed the “ultimate selfie machine” since its opening in September 2017, the 14-foot-tall interactive digital sculpture resides in the renovated Greater Columbus Convention Center (GCCC). Bringing a truly unique experience to visitors, the sculpture named “As We Are” incorporates a 32-camera 3D photobooth within the LED head form and uses photogrammetry to map a photo of a visitor’s head onto the surface of the sculpture. This attracts passersby from inside and outside the glass-walled lobby.

Nominating Company: DCL (Design Communications Ltd.), Avon, Massachusetts
Venue: “As We Are” Digital Sculpture, Columbus, Ohio
Project: “As We Are” Digital Sculpture
Category: Event Venues & Hospitality  ... " 

Intel RealSense 3D Camera

Had heard of Intel's Realsense project some time ago, an unusual hardware play, when they were proposed for retail signage application.  Now the devices are out and deserve a look:

Intel's new cameras add human-like 3D vision to any machine
They're ready-to-use devices meant for makers and educators.
By Mariella Moon, @mariella_moon in Engadget .... "

Healthcare Signage Displays

Brought to my attention, useful resource.

LG white Paper on healthcare digital displays ...
In healthcare, digital signage displays are changing the way patients receive customer service and information. Download this whitepaper to learn more about digital signage solutions that will improve the experience of your patients, visitors and staff.  .... "  

Digital Signage 2.0 Advances as Data Art

Good overview of the advance of digital signage.  We spent much time trying to understand its effective in store use.   Beyond retail grocery retail?  Perhaps.   " .... Their secret weapon is "data art," a new breed of highly creative data visualisation that uses business information to create real-time visual effects. So rather than resorting to a relatively dull amber ticker tape to communicate the latest stock market movements in real time, this data can now be presented in a far more engaging way through stunning visuals; for example — liquid gold to represent commodity fluctuations. ...  " 

Advanced Pedestrian Detection/Analysis

Detecting and counting pedestrians is not new, has been done since the 90s, but advanced analysis of real time video is rapidly changing.   Called VCA, or Video content analysis.  Interesting that Google is involved.  Likely for driver less car applications.  But possible for other retail applications, which we also examined.  Consider also how such methods can be connected with digital signage.

" ... Google Research has quietly made a breakthrough in the emerging area of image recognition and rapid video analysis — a breakthrough that has significant implications for pedestrian detection. Pedestrian detection refers to the analysis of statistics of pedestrian scale, occlusion and location. It gives detection systems a base of knowledge under which to operate ......  As an experiment [PDF], Joe Yue-Hei Ng, Matthew Hausknecht, Sudheendra Vijayanarasimhan, Oriol Vinyals, Rajat Monga and George Toderici — researchers from the University of Maryland at College Park, the University of Texas at Austin and Google — applied several deep neural network architectures to analyze a dataset of videos over longer time periods than previously attempted. ... " 

See a long ago item on project BlueEyes we participated in.

Print v Digital Advertising

Print vs. Digital: Another Emotional Win for Paper - Neuromarketing.   by Roger Dooley.   "... The latest findings come from Temple University consumer neuroscience researchers. In a study conducted for the U.S. Post Office, they found significant differences in the way our brains process the two ad formats. ... " .  I think this is place where neuromarketing can be best used,  to get broad understanding of what works, rather than precision analysis of particular ads. 

Tailored Digital Sign Experience

A long time research interest, better and more personalized interaction with the shopper via digital signage:

" ... Photon Interactive, a company that’s been focused on building mobile experiences for large brands, is teaming up with Panasonic to bring what they say will be a more personalized experience to the digital signs you see in stores.

The goal is to combine Photon’s software with Panasonic displays, so that those displays will know more about the customer. That information can be used to deliver targeted offers, as well as check in, make purchases,and more. ... "  

Whole Foods Digital Signage

Whole Foods Store of the future utilizes digital signage.  They have been innovators in this space for some time.   " .... Whole Foods has unveiled a new range of touch screens and other digital tools at its new flagship store in Alpharetta, Ga., that incorporate social media and other technology to provide product information such as food source and nutrition. The move is part of the retailer's effort to stand out among an increasingly crowded market in which more traditional retailers are starting to offer natural and organic items.   ... " 

On Really Big Signs

We did lots of work using signs in the retail aisle.  Here in Gizmodo, about really big signs, in Times Square.  Along the way you get interesting information about the evolution of big, dynamic, complex signs.  In a places like Times Square they dominate the space.

Gamifying Intelligent Digital Signage

A concept we looked at in the innovation centers.  How do you engage with participants in alternative contexts?  Here, from RMG Networks.   A thoughtful white paper on the integration of gamification concepts with digital signage.  Primarily here in internal business settings. This can be problematical due to culture and different motivational goals.

" ... To summarize gamification researcher, futurist and author of Reality is  Broken Jane McGonigal, games provide us with “real positive emotions,  real positive experiences and real social connections” during a challenging time [work]. She goes on to state that the real world is at once too easy, depressing, unproductive, hopeless, isolating, disconnected,  trivial… the list goes on. But reality is our destiny, she goes on to say, and  our mission is to engage as fully as possible with reality. ... " 

See more resources from Jane McGonigal at her site.

John Curran (Updated)

I see that John Curran, who we worked with extensively in our innovation centers and with retail innovations using advanced display technologies, has unexpectedly passed away.  I mentioned him a number of times in this blog.   He was most recently connected with MCOSM Digital signage solutions.   And the 5th screen startup addressing multiple media delivery modes.  Our condolences to his colleagues and family.  I will follow with more information as it is received.

I see that the 5th screen blog has put up a remembrance post

Please pass this on to others that may have known John, especially regarding his work at P&G.

Update: Another tribute from the DOOH (Digital Out of Home) site for John.  I can relate to this, several times when I met with John he was keying away developing software for clients.

Intel Shows Roadmap

Correspondent Michael Curran of Micro Industries, a company we used extensively for in-store displays,  posts about Intel's Developer's forum, which I do not normally follow.   He suggests this shows a roadmap for technologies destined for intelligent retail signs:

" ... Each September, Intel® demonstrates its latest technology innovations at Intel’s Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. In addition to the traditional rollout of new microprocessors, this year Intel unveiled a number of software initiatives that leverage their recently acquired assets at Wind River and MacAfee to provide a basis for the next generation of personal and embedded computer applications. From a digital signage perspective, the most interesting aspect are Intel’s new software tools that make it easier to integrate various types of interactive technologies into digital signage applications. ...From Intel’s perspective, I am sure that these tools are targeted at the Ultra-Book market but their relevance to the digital signage market is significant. Intel is poised to deliver software development tools that address touchscreen interfaces, gesture control, voice control and facial recognition along with a number of enhancements to their currently available tools for Anonymous Video Analytics (AVS) ... " 

Advertising Adapts to Gender

An example of a public advertisement using facial recognition software to alter an advertisement based on gender.  Another example of adaptive interactivity in displays that we will continue to see more of.   Again I point you to Keith Kelsen's excellent book on digital signage for more fundamental content strategies in this space.   There continues to be research and development into how ads can be adapted for specific locations, formats, times and contexts.

Digital Signage Continued

I will have to mention Keith Kelsen's book: Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage once again.   An excellent book that I am making my way through now.  I particularly like the fact that it includes quantitative analysis of the value of signage uses, and a useful classification of context issues.  Much more here.   

If you are considering a digital design display in stationary, mobile, interactive or other environments, this book is a great place to start.  This was one of our key experimentation topics in the innovation center,  and it is of great value to have key topics laid out.

Digital Signage, Part II

More Commentary by Keith Kelsen on the future of digital signage. One of my favorite retail innovation center topics. Engaging the shopper with technology.

Digital Signage in 2012

Keith Kelsen, colleague and author of the excellent book "Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage .... ", which I am reading now, has released his Digital signage predictions for 2012.. Essential.

Digital Sign Deployments

In Digital Signage Today: A video of cool out of home digital signage deployments from 2011.  By Keith Kelsen.   I am currently reading his 2010 book:  Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage: Content Strategies for the 5th Screen. Which has some great examples as well.

3M Visual Attention Service Update

We examined the 3M VAS Attention Service scanning tool several times,  some new developments.  Press release. An Explanatory video.  Worth looking at  closely, free trial available.

" ...3M launches the fourth generation of its Visual Attention Service (VAS) scanning tool, with new video capabilities and sequencing features. VAS - viewed by marketers as a more convenient and affordable alternative to eye tracking – enhances the visual impact of professional design across advertising, marketing, and all forms of digital and print media, increasing the probability that the most desired elements will get noticed.

VAS analyzes video to illustrate how people are most likely to interact with any scene and identify where the average human eye will focus at any given moment – a capability invaluable to those looking to predict consumers’ visual journey in retail environments, and how that journey plays into the path to purchase. New sequencing capabilities demonstrate the sequence of fixation points where the human eye is most likely to pay attention in the first few seconds of viewing an image. Customized setting options for direct mail/email and in-store contexts automatically take into account how human vision interacts with different viewing circumstances.

Additional applications include:
Product placement
Packaging design
Point-of-sale displays and signage
Television and infomercials
Film trailers
Rich media advertising and other online video
Direct marketing   .... "