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Dec 22 2022
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Last Updated: December 01, 2022
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When it comes to advertising, brands should realize how the choice of advertising medium impacts their business. The world is rapidly wheeling out towards digital reality, metaverse and whatnot. Digital means offer certain perks that conventional mediums find impossible to match. It all starts and ends with flexibility.
Digital signage offers advertisers a world of opportunities to experiment with creative storytelling and Human-computer interactions. In addition to the creative freedom, the software powering digital screens enables the advertising networks to scale and generate massive traction without crossing the hellfire of printing, processing, and regulating cross-channel consistencies.
With digital signage, launching advertising campaigns can be automated, for the most part.
Advertising screens take various shapes, sizes & forms, from the familiar billboard screens to the fast-growing interactive ads! But what does each of these digital signage ad mediums mean for a business? Let’s take a look!
DOOH advertising involves electronic display images, posters, and dynamic content like animations or commercials. DOOH is quite the rage in shopping malls, airports, and bus-stop. Brands that use DOOH ads often target a larger pool of audiences. For example, clothing brands, QSR chains, or hotel-booking services.
Here is an example:
Indoor (or in-store) narrowcasting is digital signage meant to catch the attention of the people walking into your store, cafe, or restaurant. Contrary to DOOH, these digital displays carry out publicity with a specific audience persona in mind. This can involve putting your new launches on the screen bang in the center of your store or installing digital signage at the store windows to flash exciting offers.
Narrowcasting in stores can also involve advertising campaigns through interactive digital signage displays such as: ‘spin the roulette to win what’s on screen.’ That hugely contributes to increasing the brand recall rate - something quite unachievable with a vinyl ad poster.
In layman’s terms, this digital signage advertising involves tailor-fitting ads to your audience through software programming. In such forms of advertising, intelligent digital signage systems automatically show the most relevant content based on the audience persona in the vicinity.
Beyond identifying audience demographics, programmatic ads can also display content based on ambiance. Say, a fresh-mint chocolate ice cream pops up on the digital signboard at the subway when the day temperature rises above 25 degrees. Or the digital footpath sign immediately changes into a real estate advert when it senses a family of three passing by.
Interactive ads initiate consumers to engage with the ad in an immersive way, turning an otherwise on-way ad monologue. They are an excellent way for marketers to reach out to consumers directly, encouraging them to act along rather than view an ad or ignore it altogether.
Studies have found that interactive advertising is retained longer than a typical ad, and at least 30% of the viewers tend to recollect what they have seen when engaging with it in some form or the other.
Digital signage is the only medium for blending interactivity with offline advertising. Take a look at this mindblowing interactive ad campaign for Fanta by JC Decaux:
Building a digital signage advertising network requires hardware, software, and content investments that will make screen management as smooth as possible. For example, the greatest challenge in building an advertising network is remote and real time signage management and frequently changing the adverts on screen.
An ad signage network is made up of several screens that businesses use to make their audience aware of what they are up to― launches, discounts, vouchers, free trials, etc. As companies increase the number of digital advertising screens in their facilities, they shift towards becoming a fully-functioning digital signage network.
If your ad company has electronic displays and you wish to establish an advertising network, a great place to work is a supply-side platform (SSP) that connects your network to an open exchange. To ensure the advertisers are a good fit for your screens, you can set parameters around the ad content you would like to publish on your screens and also put certain ad content “off limits” if it is inappropriate for you.
Typically, the screen dimensions vary between 6 feet to 14 feet in length and 12 feet to 48 feet in width, depending on what you intend to display.
The signage media players should ideally be system compatible and consume less power while offering optimal performance.
Finally, the content you put up on screens is what sets the ball rolling for the network, and here comes the images, animations, videos, or GIFs you would like to see on your screens!
A recent study by Fortune Business Insights pointed out that the digital signage market is projected to reach a market size of $35.94 billions by 2026. The network that often goes beyond the basics of the traditional hardware-software-content trio is a gateway to business opportunities for value-added resellers (popularly, VAR).
Factors such as how the signage market works, that is, integrations offered by the software, the value chain linking screen suppliers to the tech manufacturers, and signage deployment measures that identify and match the renters of ad spaces to the renter form the very basis of the business model.
Additionally digital signage content and content management play a crucial role in a successful digital signage strategy. By creating compelling and engaging content and utilizing effective content management techniques businesses can engage more effectively with their potential customers and achieve their marketing objectives and advertising goals.
Usually, three types of digital signage deployments constitute the signage advertising business model: merchandising, promotional, and informational.
Merchandising: This form of digital signage advertising is usually found in retail stores, banks, or restaurants and is meant to increase sales through brand awareness. These do not generally consist of the brand offers, such as discounts or vouchers but an image, video, or animation showing what the brand is about and what it offers—for example, a subway ad by H&M showcasing dresses and cardigans at the store beside the cross walk.
Promotional: Commonly seen in transportation venues such as airports, theaters, digital footpaths, and other high-traffic public spaces, the promotional form of digital signage advertisement is aimed at creating a buzz about the launches and discounts or vouchers a brand is offering. For example, an airport-lounge ad for Mango highlighting the brand’s highest-ever 20% off pre-winter sale.
Informational: Popular hotels, healthcare facilities, educational campuses, churches, and museums use such digital signage ads to educate or inform the target group. These advertisements frequently blend promotion and entertainment with information. A good example would be the digital signage in churches displaying All Souls’ Day or Christmas mass timings or showing instructions on donating to a cause.
Now that we are acquainted with what a digital signage ad campaign can mean to a business, let’s look at some successful ad signage campaigns that not just helped enhance customer experience but brought out a new side of brands loved by millions!
With 200+ stores across some of the major cities in the Indian subcontinent, Decathlon faced the challenge of reaching out to the maximum audience across all stores and promoting new launches in one go. That’s when the famous sporting brand decided to take the digital plunge!
It deployed 55-inch thin panels, video walls, and Android tablets at various points of purchase, such as the in-store decompression zones, product aisles and shelves, and on the merchandise body. To manage the ad content distribution across its pan-nation screen network, Decathlon used Pickcel’s digital signage solutioning platform.
Read the full story of Decathlon's success journey here.
Raffles city, home to some of Singapore’s (the world’s) most prominent names in the fashion and beauty industry, saw a tech twist with Sephora cosmetics going all digital with their products! Empowered with Zoom Visual’s software, the brand leveraged customer experience by electronically displaying what they have on offer, highlighting special deals and discounts, providing “How to” guides, promoting new launches, and much more!
The store uses a combination of digital displays such as hanging LED panels, visually appealing digital posters, and a P1.58mm LED Display Screen that works like a dynamic canvas offering high resolution.
Interact with customers more effectively and showcase your entire product range at one go across all stores
Boost impulse purchases by dynamically showing attractive offers on Point-of-Purchase displays during the peak-footfall hours
Remote management of what shows up on the screen alongside the flexibility of real time updates
Play synchronized ads across all stores on a state, national or global scale.
Avoid additional costs of replacing and repairing billboards, which significantly slows advertising agencies’ business.
Get valuable insights on consumer behavior and brand-customer interactions through screen analytics.
Digital signage ad screens are one of the most common ways to communicate your brand message! But where do they tend to get noticed the most? Here is a list of places where your advert will likely get noticed!
Read: Tips to make the most of your outdoor signage
Read: How NEC India uses screens to make bus commute easier
Read: Beyond the conventional use of elevator signs
Read: Best ways to use gas station digital signage for advertising
Read: Use cases of digital signage in shopping malls
A digital signage ad network of your own comes with its costs and benefits.
Pros:
Complete control over what you choose to display on the screen without needing agency approval.
Repurpose the corporate digital signage software for corporate communications, employee recognition, and internal branding.
Freedom to experiment with content by frequently changing and testing various ads & promotions.
Cons:
The initial setup cost of owning a screen network might be heavy for small businesses.
With most display software now available in the cloud, there is a bare minimum need for any IT infrastructure. Nevertheless, the upkeeps of hardware components will require additional effort.
If you look around, digital signage is slowly becoming an integral part of marketing & advertising. At least 3 in 5 of us would consider scanning a QR to book a table at a restaurant than enquire at the restaurant counter. And with advertisers looking to go for more than old wine in a new bottle, it’s time for your business to hop on the bus before it’s too late.
Take complete control of what you show on your digital signage & how you show it.
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