The Power of Interactive: From Drawing Crowds to Engaging Individuals (Digital Signage Expo)

The Digital Signage Expo is taking place soon! On March 6-9 in Las Vegas, the Digital Signage Federation & the Digital Signage Expo will kick off four days packed with 32 informational seminars and over 40 on-floor workshops given by the leading experts in the industry. Exhibitors will get the chance to present key products and services on the floor, in the Digital Content show, or the Interactive Technology Expo.

Reality Interactive’s very own, Craig Martin, will be co- presenting a session called, “ The Power of Interactive: From Drawing Crowds to Engaging Individuals,” on March 7th from 3 – 4 p.m. Craig will be talk about the following:

• What motivates an individual to take action on information presented in a touch screen deployment
• Insight into creating quality content for interactive environments implemented in retail & other common day-to-day locations
• Strategies for cost effective “roll-out” of interactive technologies to hundreds & thousands of pervasive locations

Take a sneak peek of session content, and in the meantime, take a look at the infographic below on how pervasive digital signage actually is in our everyday lives.

Digital Signage: It’s all around us [Infographic] compliments of DigitalSignageToday.com

Essential Elements of Kiosk Solution Implementation: What Should You Know about the Deployment Process? Part II

In part I, I shared that the deployment process is all about effective planning and thinking through the details beforehand. Here are practical considerations for connectivity, power, shipping/receiving, field services support, help desk and material removal during a kiosk deployment.

Connectivity

What’s your overall plan for connectivity? Do your units need to be remotely connected?  Will you work with an existing network? If so, gain the correct permissions and proxies and verify the connection works prior to going out into the field.

Gaining access to existing “hostile” store networks can be a fruitless endeavor, so I recommend you have viable alternatives. We’ve had great success with the use of a high gain antenna and a cell phone modem which virtually eliminates your reliance on in-store systems. Remember, test everything!

Power

Power is essential for kiosk units, but 120 volt receptacles can be elusive in retail and big box stores. Contact your install locations beforehand and take a site survey to make sure you’ll have access to the power you need. Bring plenty of extension cords and ensure the power is clean (e.g. no voltage fluctuations from large pieces of equipment turning on and off on the same circuit).

Shipping/Receiving

Who is going to receive the units? Use caution when shipping units to a big-box retailer, we’ve found that display units can get lost in the back room or simply disappear. Consider shipping the units to local or regional representatives rather than directly to the store.

Field Services Support & Help Desk

Many stores won’t let you install while they are open for business, so choose installation and support staff that will be willing to work during off-hours. Also, plan for extra help desk staff for the duration of the deployment as issues may arise at any point.

Removal of Materials

Often, pre-existing materials need to be removed to make room for your unit. Where do these go? Whose responsibility are they?

Think It Through

Deployment of a digital merchandising project is a complex effort with many moving parts that need to be seamlessly coordinated. Every part of the process should be thought through, tested and documented prior to “feet hitting the street.”

Super Bowl XLVI: Automotive Brands Compete for Conversion on the Day of the Big Game

No matter which team you support, there is no doubt, football fans from each side of the competition tuned in to the big game and witnessed the yearly, multi-million dollar spectacle of Super Bowl advertisements. The automotive sector was the most advertised product category during commercial breaks. At least 15 companies including, Acura, Audi, BMW, Bridgestone, Cadillac, Cars.com, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Honda America, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Lexus, Suzuki, Toyota, and Volkswagen carved out their piece of the advertising pie.¹

Some automotive advertisers, seeking to maximize their reach by engaging viewers, facilitated a channel for post-ad conversation. Honda, in their Ferris Bueller’s Day Off-esque ad, directed viewers to leaplist.honda.com and encouraged them to create their own leap list and participate in a contest to win a CR-V.

BMW leveraged two 30 second spots on the day of the game, “The Big Grab” and “The Close Call,” while airing four additional spots on YouTube. They promoted the new BMW 3 series with connected drive and directed viewers to bmwusa.com/allnew3.²

Meanwhile, Audi evoked the power of a song bird by promoting the twitter hash tag #SoLongVampires in their ad, Vampire Party. Audi’s Andy White gives us a real-time look at the impact on their traffic, in this video. Similarly, here’s the tweet deck for hash tag #superbowl during the day of the game.

Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm, reported that more than two thirds promoted cross-channel, 57% included a website or micro-site while only 16% included some form of social media. However, 49% of ads which directed a viewer online, directed to the company’s corporate url while only 7% introduced a Twitter hash tag.³

Whether it’s getting your audience to bridge the gap between the TV screen and social media, or from the shopping cart to check out, you’ll need quality applications and quality content to make that happen. You’ll also need a team that’s dedicated to the entire process from start to finish. Including social media, there are a number of other tools you can employ to engage and educate your consumer audience with your brand’s information. Connect with us to learn more about how interactive or mobile applications can help your target audience become tweet-happy brand supporters.

1 “Super Bowl Ad Roundup: Your One-Stop Location for Every Automotive Ad,” from MotorTrend.com.
² “BMW Gets in on the 2012 Super Bowl Ad Action,” from Edmunds Inside Line.
³ “Five Trends: How Brands Intergrate Social, Mobile, and Web into 2012 Super Bowl Advertisements,”
from Altimetergroup.com.