Implications of Multiple Screens

This is not often talked, but it is important.   New kinds of channels to take advantage of this?

In Think With Google

In 2016, 85% of U.S. internet users surfed the web while watching TV.
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Source: "With a few tweaks, you can use the same ad on multiple platforms. Clinique shows how it's done" September 2017
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Why it matters
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A multiscreen world poses a challenge for brands. After all, creating separate campaigns for each platform can stretch even the healthiest of marketing budgets. What if instead of reinventing the wheel for each digital campaign, you could transform your print ads into six-second bumpers by adding motion graphics, saving creative resources, time, and money? Clinique showed how it's possible to do more with less.  ...  " 

InHalio Just Launched

" ... We have been in development on this for the last four years…therefor heads down and nose to the grind stone and  all that…as you know. .... 5th Screen Digital, Inc. just launched the new website today which reflects our current offerings and business in retail, connected home , auto, and entertainment! 

Welcome to the “Internet of Scent” a new form of content that will drive new experiences. ... Ahh… the sweet smell of success.

www.inhalio.com     @Inhalio 

Best,
Keith Kelsen, CVO

Report of a recent partnership in gaming.

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. ...  " 

InHalio: Towards an Internet of Scent

From a long time co-participant in retail.   Our innovation center tested a number of sensory interaction devices in retail environments using smell, touch, vision and sound.  The data gathered during such interactions is also valuable.

Entertain your senses.  A digital Gateway to Fragrances.  An Internet of Scent.

5th Screen Digital enables a bold new world of smell based on its Inhalio platform. Years of development led to this disruptive and scalable solution to add scent to the digital experience. Inhalio brings a personalized scent experience to the connected world…the Internet of Scent.

Inhalio Retail enables a retail experience unlike any other. Consumers are greeted with gorgeous animations, and they touch the screen to select a fragrance. The dry fragrance is dispersed for them to smell. Consumers can determine their individual preferences in a personal experience. Inhalio platform creates a new engagement for digital signage.

While engaging and entertaining the consumer in a remarkable new manner, the Inhalio platform monitors the system, tracks usage and provides invaluable feedback and data to the retailer and brands. ... The Inhalio platform can create a mood scent that just like music or lighting allows the dispersion of scent to help create a mood.

The sense of smell is the most powerful memorable sense that we have. The olfactory cortex is embedded within the brain’s system where emotions are born and emotional memories stored. That’s why scents, feelings and memories become so easily and intimately entangled.

We look forward to how you will connect the Internet of Scent with the Internet of Things!   ... " 

Video.

Background on Digital Scent Technology

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.

A Store as an Internet of Display Panels

Attended an Ascendum meeting this evening and got a demo from their Zingo subsidiary.  They have a projectable sign system that is suitable for retail augmentation via personalization.  Nicely done approach.  The system was described in a recent Biz Journals piece.    A kind of internet of displaying panels.  The result can be a very adaptable approach for signage in a store, without the expense of flat panels.  Clever idea.

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. ... "  

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.

In Store Gamification

Using in-store gamification. Via John Curran of 5th Screen Display Services, who worked with us at our Innovation centers and introduced us to advanced interactive displays.  How might such displays be used as part of an engaging in-store game?   Contacy John for more information.  More details will follow here.

5th Screen Digital Display Services

I was reminded today of 5th Screen Digital Display Services.  They worked with us in our innovation centers to provide excellent examples of in-store marketing engagement.   They have updated their site and blog.   More information from them will follow.

" ... We help Brands, Retailers, Restaurants, Hospitality and Corporations meet the digital consumer within their physical space by using amazing technology to create engaging unforgettable experiences while they are shopping, dining, checking in, or waiting. ... " 

5th Screen and McCormick

I had mentioned a company we worked with in our innovation centers: 5th Screen.  Had reason to look at some of the work they have done with McCormick spices in the innovation and retail spaces. Check out a description of their work here.   Includes a video.  Of particular interest to me the interaction of flavor and innovation.

" ... FlavorPrint is designed to provide a profile for a person’s tastes giving them a fun personality to walk away with.  This evokes the emotion “Self-Creation”. This is an emotion that reveals itself through creating, enhancing and expressing one’s identity by stimulating self-reflection, status, bragging rights and values.

Looking at the personas of 12 different “Flavor Personality” types, this interactive engagement leads the viewer down a path of engaging choices from food pictures.

The user will select their favorite food dishes and the FlavorPrint Analyzer will determine their personal FlavorPrint based on their choices.  Ultimately users are given a personality flavor name. This is represented by an ICON with slogan.  Some users give answers that provide insight to secondary likes. They are given a second FlavorPrint when appropriate.... " 

Specializing in the Visually Impossible

In our innovation center we featured a number of technologies to engage with the consumer in retail.  Digital signage was a common application.  We invited companies, large and small, to participate in providing new technologies.  One such company was 5th Screen, which has just updated their web site.  See also Digital SignageToday, which mentions one of their principals, Keith Kelsen, Who posts about trends in the space.   Very visual and forward looking, they have much experience in retail.    They write in their blog:

" ... We help you bring discovery and education to the in-store experience and deliver an Immersive experience. Every visit is an opportunity to create loyalty, add value and tell the brand story.We develop, with our clients, unique in-store digital experiences that serve to ENTERTAIN and EDUCATE the consumer.  The success of our digital engagement projects are a result of their VISUAL APPEAL, integration with the overall store design and their EASE OF USE.  We understand that retailers and brands have different and sometimes conflicting goals.  Retailers focus on increasing their top line sales SELLING MORE.  Brands increase their top lines sales by ENHANCING THE BRAND experience.  Our challenge is to create a store environment that meets both brand enhancement and retail sales objectives. We work with our client, store designers and fabricators to create a true DIGITAL DESTINATON STORE that develops and maintains an engaging, ongoing and relevant relationship with the consumer.  ... " 

Bendable Screens

In a broader study of how interactive screens could be used, we looked at bendable screens to improve shopper interactions, using packaging and other modes of communication.  The idea has been around for a long time, but has never clicked, especially due to costs. Might this ultimately lead to better means to provide augmented reality?    Reuters gives an update on the idea.

Large Interactive Public Displays

In IEEE Computer:   An area we looked at for retail presence.  We worked with several companies that used novel light fiber approaches and installed them high on the walls of our retail lab.  The impact could be considerable.  Lower down, on shelf systems could be used to conduct directly the flow of shoppers with messages.  This article is about public displays, but has broader application.  See also the book by 5th-Screen's Keith Kelsen for key insights about display.   Much more on digital signage here.

Safeway Avoids Print

In Adage: Safeway looks at a world without print ads, moves digital.   " ... Safeway is doing its best to eliminate print advertising in favor of more personalized digital ads. The fifth largest grocery player in North America spent $20 million on newspaper ads through November of 2012. That's consistent with 2011, though a big drop off from the $33 million spent on newspaper ads in 2010. ..."

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) ... " 

Fighting for the Fifth Screen

It is a challenge.  With tablets and phones, and now watches and even goggle-glasses, added to all the screens popping up everywhere,  there is real motion  to get every last bit of attention and information serving delivery space filled out.  This Fastcompany article states it well.  Once again I recommend Keith Kelsen's book and my related writings on the subject.  We are moving quickly in serving up how this works and will evolve.   Next are the details of how will this work, what will be shown and how the interaction will be tailored.  How can that data then be used?   What models of interaction will be needed?    We are working on the details.

See also the 5thscreen blog for more.

More Screens are Better

In Think With Google:  They state the obvious, but also that having your message clearly and efficiently delivered is important.   We already know from lots of research that the message also needs to be tailored to each of the kinds of screens used.  In multiple contexts.   See Keith Kelsen's book for more strategies about that.

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.