I have worked in media, advertising, and marketing for more than ten years now, in all facets: from broadcast, event planning, guerilla marketing, and print, to sitting on the agency side of the business building online CPM campaigns, interactive strategies, and of course, immersing myself in the digital space, and now working intimately in the digital signage industry.
I have learned a lot about the digital signage industry over the past two years. The most important thing I’ve learned is that the industry is very broken. This post is simply a rant that is dedicated to how we can begin to approach solving the major problems of the industry and leaping over the major challenges by shifting our perspective of the industry. In turn, a collective shift may just evolve into a unified solution that will bring value, insight, and efficiency to a newly invigorated industry.
Let me start by saying that there is an immediate need to invigorate the digital signage and digital out-of-home industries so much so that we should even change the name of the industry itself. The term “DOOH” should only remain to be a remark coined by Homer Simpson and not an acronym that identifies the sophisticated animal that it is: fast-growing, rapidly-evolving, cutting-edge, and technologically advanced; these elements are its core strengths, but there remains to be a need to utilize the full-scope of these vast media platforms, as they grow and evolve with astonishing velocity. The power and versatility of these networks have great potential that is far from being reached. Herein belies the need to reinvigorate it. The need comes from two major sides of the business: the networks and the advertisers.
This need is underscored by a significant lack of advertising dollars allocated to digital out-of-home platforms. No allocated media budget means no business for networks equates to no growth. But the barrier is quite legitimate from the advertiser’s perspective. They don’t allocate budgets because networks are so fragmented and vast, that advertisers and media planners don’t have the time to navigate through cluttered networks inefficiently.
Therefore the pattern is detrimentally reciprocal. On the network side, major digital networks simply need to fill their remnant space. On the other side, advertisers like large footprints, but need to target their audience intelligently. Not to mention the challenge of having to reformat a single piece of creative content to distribute on multiple digital platforms. The industry needs a completely fresh perspective on how to maximize efficiency with creative technology, and a way to harmonize creative content across all digital platforms.
The terms “digital out-of-home” or “DOOH” are somewhat stale and uninteresting, undermining the dynamic nature of the platform and “newness” of the industry itself. These terms take with it some mediocre connotations about the platform’s performance and the terms don’t quite resonate as dynamically as Web 2.0, Interactive Media, or Integrated Advertising.
This notion reveals something inherent in the current perception of the industry, as well as a shift in thinking from the thought leaders that decide what is valuable and efficient. These are the digital media providers, the advertisers and the agencies that represent them. Perhaps a shift in thinking means that we need to get rid of these terms completely, as the terms “out-of-home” advertising still carries with it implications of freeway billboards, coffee sleeves, and wallscapes. Not that these media vehicles are subordinate– it’s just that the digital age requires a new lexicon to guide a new and reinvigorated industry. There is indeed a new perspective, a new way to approach it, a new term altogether.
What if we call it Digital Destinations. A digital destination simply refers to anything with a pixel. Our vision for a versatile, fully integrated digital network must have the capability of being able to distribute content to any digital destination within any given network with an API. The power of this vehicle must have a robust technological infrastructure that allows networks to deliver digital content to any endpoint in their digital real-estate portfolio:
· Digital Billboard
· Digital IPTV
· Large Format LED
· Digital Vending
· Mobile Device
· Email & Web
· Streaming Media
· PC Platforms
· Wireless Networks
· Public Kiosks
· VOIP Networks
· Outdoor LCD
· Jumbotrons
A new term is needed to encapsulate how to seamlessly reach digital endpoints at the touch of a button, and more importantly, the term is needed to embody the implications for a revolutionized integrated solution, and a digitally-transformed industry.
The term ‘Digital Destinations’ was originally coined by Steve Roberts, the visionary CEO of Digital Advertising Technologies, who simply wanted to create a solution that works, a solution that advertisers would actually find useful, a solution that advertisers and media planners actually took part in building, which contributes to its success. This new terminology is the foundation of D.A.T.’s philosophy and brand, because this company is intent on changing the way advertisers communicate to their audiences, the way brands plan and buy media, and the way marketers micro-target individuals.
It doesn’t mean that there should be a new dictionary for everyone to learn among the many media planning languages they are already learning and just starting to build confidence in. It just means that there should be a more effective solution that will take this “new” industry to captivating levels of efficiency, growth, and success. The new term “digital destination” encapsulates the ultimate vision and philosophy of what’s to come.
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