ANYWHERE WITH A PIXEL

As we are garnering tremendous feedback from global brands and their advertising agencies on building the most intelligent, versatile, and dynamic network possible, we are finding that the issue of distributing content on sound-enabled displays keeps popping up. Bill Gerba wrote a great post on the pitfalls and benefits of audio-enabled capabilities for digital signage. This post highlighted the Arbitron Study conducted back in 2005 with interesting findings about how impactful audio-enabled screens can be at the point of purchase from the consumer’s perspective.

Gerba’s post focused on the pros and cons from a network’s perspective and how sound-enabled screens would affect their staff, customers’ dwell time, and the retail environment’s influence on purchase decisions. The last element is the most interesting to me, but I’d like to look at it from different perspective. I think that it would be interesting to go deeper into this discussion by exploring the value audio capability from a brand and agency POV while revisiting his Gerba’s key points, as this issue continues to stir up debate. The key findings of the Arbitron study included these facts:

·         More than half of the retail audio audience recall hearing commercials while

shopping. Fifty-four percent of the shoppers who recall hearing retail audio during

their most recent shopping trip also recall hearing commercials or promotional

announcements.

·         Seven in 10 shoppers who recall hearing ads have a positive attitude toward

retail audio advertising. Seventy percent of shoppers who recall hearing retail audio

advertisements find the commercials and announcements to be very or somewhat

helpful to their shopping experience.

·         As the chart shows, more than 40% of the shoppers who heard a retail audio advertisement made an unplanned purchase. Specifically, 41% of shoppers who recall hearing retail audio ads made a purchase they were not planning on making after hearing a commercial or announcement about the product in the grocery store or drugstore.

·         More than one-third of the shoppers who heard a retail audio advertisement

purchased a different brand. Thirty-seven percent of shoppers who recall hearing

retail audio advertisements purchased a brand different from the one they originally

intended after hearing a commercial or announcement in the grocery store or

drugstore.

It’s interesting to see how general assumptions can be confirmed by syndicated research. Gerba articulated the concerns that networks should have when considering making their displays sound-enabled. But in terms of what advertisers would find valuable, the discussion is more intricate than meets the eye. One would assume that it is preferable to launch campaigns with sound-enabled ads, because of the reasons stated above. But how do you attribute value to audio-enabled campaigns versus silent, display-only campaigns? I think that this discussion naturally centers around what elements deliver levels of brand-awareness and registered recall, recency, contextual relevance, and purchase intent.

What Advertisers Find Valuable

We always want to focus on what advertisers find valuable and from our extensive experience in dealing with agencies, we’ve found that delivering campaigns through sound-enabled screens is a must. Duh, right? Considering most major brands already have broadcast-ready creative assets. But when it comes to digital out-of-home, plenty of informational broadcast campaigns require sound to get the message across, or at least closed-captioning capabilities. The challenge for advertisers then becomes a matter of selecting screens within a network that can distribute content to only sound-enabled screens.

In our network of almost 500k screens, a significant amount of screens will not be sound-enabled, but we have a robust search feature that can filter out the screens that have this capability. Advertisers have found this feature to be extremely valuable. When this is resolved, the advertiser then just has to decide whether or not their creative gets the message across without sound. An advertiser that has a specific campaign meant for broadcast would benefit from repurposing the same creative without having to recreate it for a digital signage campaign.

Ads that are ready for broadcast can be naturally integrated into a content management system and added to a playlist or loop. Advertisers will not be down with having a creative with witty dialogue or specific voice-over narration that plays a key role in the messaging of the ad on screens that remain silent. Doing this would be counter-intuitive for the campaign. The exception to this rule is when a particular ad has a message that can be easily interpreted and retain from the visual messaging alone. These types of ads are rare, but there are also circumstances in which they are valuable regardless of audio delivery.

 I am finding that many advertisements that have very strong visual narratives that can deliver the same kind of impact regardless of whether or not sound is enabled. TV commercials are very theatrical—especially those that utilize humor to convey their message. These ads will have the highest level of broadcast to DOOH portability.

Like I had mentioned in a previous post, digital signage display creative will evolve to a point in which ads that sustain a brand’s message throughout the entire spot will garner more retention. Think of an out-of home poster that breathes and glows to radiate a brand’s logo. Retention rates for these types of spots are higher. There have been ads like this created for television. A visual image is conveyed, text appears in and out of the picture at the bottom of the screen, and the brand’s message remains consistent throughout. This creative can be easily repurposed in the retail environment. Sound will essentially enhance the message’s impact by 40%—again referring to the facts noted in the Arbitron study.

So advertisers don’t fret—audio enabled screens can be targeted not only within each network, but also filtered to hyper-target your audience. Entourage Advertising gets this done. In terms of broadcast to DOOH portability, utilize humorous ads that are theatrical, even over the top—creative that has strong visual narrative elements that convey the message in a compelling way. An image is definitely worth a thousand words. Throw sound in the mix, and you exponentially engage your audience and maintain retention in a retail environment where they are more likely to purchase your product.

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.