DIGITAL SIGNAGE
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Think for a minute how many distinct printed surfaces exist in the public and private spaces of your business. Sooner or later, a moment will arrive when it is more economical for each type of statically printed surface (ink on paper) to be replaced by dynamically printed surfaces (digital on screen). Odds are, that moment has already arrived for at least one type of sign in your business.
Digital signage can achieve many things which traditional signage cannot (motion, interaction, sound, etc.), but the most obvious reason to embrace digital signage is as a cost saving improvement over existing signage methods. After all, the purpose of any sign is to put compelling content in front of prospects' eyes, aiming to achieve maximum effect on sales revenue and minimum effect on cost of goods sold.
Less Expensive Over Time
How can the installation of multi-thousand-dollar HD monitors possibly be more economical than continuing to print/mail/hang/dispose of traditional signs? Because, once the equipment is installed, there is effectively zero marginal cost to sending out the next revision of that sign.
Accounting thus becomes the first driving force towards digital signage: for a given existing signage task, what would be considered a reasonable time-until-breakeven for replacing traditional with digital? Logistics becomes the second driving force: immediately after installation, you no longer have to worry about printshop schedules and shipping glitches, not to mention wondering whether store personnel have actually gotten around to hanging up last week's traditional sign before the mailman delivers this week's sign.
Reliability
Of course, every approach has its own potential glitches. Paper signs are not known for suddenly going dark or displaying error messages. But managing electronic equipment is not a new thing. What's required is to use only highly reliable equipment, to establish an automated method for continually checking equipment status, and to have a warranty repair regime on 24/7 standby to rapidly replace equipment whenever the inevitable glitch arises. All of these requirements can be satisfied today with existing products and services.
The ideal situation is one in which
- a sign machine is no more complex to install/maintain than a light fixture, and
- the content creation process is no more complex than Photoshop.
Distinct Functions
A digital signage system consists of up to five distinct functions:
- content management (layout & archiving) in the art/marketing department
- distribution of said content to the sign machines through the internet
- display of that content by the sign machines
- monitoring of sign machines (automatically alerting the repair provider as needed)
- logging what each sign is displaying from minute to minute (to compare with POS)
Depending on the configuration, some of these tasks may be performed on shared equipment (monitoring and logging, or layout and distribution, for example). The choices of function sharing, and of software and hardware components, depend on the scale of the task at hand.
At the small scale, layout and display can share a single machine, leaving off both remote monitoring and logging. A good example of this configuration is as a replacement for the chalk board sign used by restaurants and grocery stores to advertise today's specials. Since the content of such signs is locally composed, and since such signs are within constant line of sight of the person who composes that sign, the more advanced functions of remote monitoring and logging would be overkill.
At the large scale, thousands of sign machines can be governed by multiple content machines and monitored/logged by cloud-based servers. A good example of this configuration is as a replacement for the branding atmosphere signage which lets a customer recognize, say, a McDonald's restaurant anywhere on the planet. Shifts of signage over time (Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas, or from emphasizing coffee to emphasizing salad) require no effort from store personnel. One art director at the home office can change 10,000 signs on five continents with the press of a single "Publish" button. That 10,000 can also be subdivided by nationality, region, etc.
Different Kinds of Scale
There are several dimensions of scalability in digital signage, including
- the number of sign machines displaying the same content at any given moment,
- the number of distinct types of content to be displayed, and
- the size/footprint/style of display equipment appropriate for each given location/task.
Examples of size/footprint/style include
- wayfinder interactive obelisks at the entrance,
- wall-mounted daily special signs,
- endless-aisle online purchasing signs,
- twenty-foot-tall video walls,
...if you can imagine it, you can do it.
As with every transformative technology that's come before, the digital signage revolution does not have to be embraced all at once. The conversion away from paint/ink signage is on par with the conversion away from incandescent lightbulbs: a phased approach, spread out over time, will yield the greatest economy and the least complexity.
The Planning Phase
Early in the planning phase of digital signage, you should ask yourself several key questions.
First, how many separate messages will you wish to be sending at any given moment? A small coffee shop might be fully satisfied with sending one message (its menu) on one screen. A larger coffee shop might wish to send that one message to a second or third screen for customers waiting in line. A bookstore with inhouse coffee shop might wish to send the coffee-related message to screens near the front door as well as at the coffee counter, yet send one or more book-related messages to screens elsewhere in the store (New Releases, Today's Specials, Coming Events, etc.).
Second, what kind of distances are involved between the source of the message and the screen(s) which will display the message? Within the confines of all but the largest stores, various forms of closed circuit TV can deliver one video message from the source computer to multiple screens. For longer distances, the better approach is internet connections between the source computer which sends the message and a media player computer attached to each remote screen which displays the message. A chain of coffee shops, for example, would likely prefer to centrally compose messages then push the content to screens at each store. In addition, though, each local store manager might wish to display a separate message on a separate machine located just at his store.
Third, how data-intense will the content of the messages be? Scrolling text and the occasional .jpg photo are much less intense than video files, which in turn are less intense than live streaming television feeds. Can the bulk of the content be transmitted as batches during off-hours (On Sale This Week) or must the content be updated constantly (airport arrivals/departures signs).
The Right Tool(s) For The Right Job(s)
Media Sign Pro is the best choice for single-message situations. It requires the least amount of management because one application file running on one Mac serves as both composer and player. The composed content can be played from the one Mac onto one or more screens (or projectors, or even TV uplink feeds), with video hardware being the only practical limitation. A sign project can be created as a framework into which new text, photos and video can be inserted from a remote computer via network. And because the content is file-based, seasonal sign projects can be easily archived for re-use next year. Additional messages can be sent by installing additional licenses on additional separate Macs, but as the need for more messages rises, the need for centralized management also rises.
Sedna Presenter is the best choice for multiple-message and centralized management situations where cloud distribution is not desired. Under the Sedna approach, multiple Macs, each running a Player app, are controlled from one Scheduler app running on another Mac which is not a player.
NanoNation is the best choice for widespread distribution of a terse set of messages to display equipment located anywhere in the world. Because NanoNation is not file-based and lacks archiving ability, it is best suited to distribution of seldom-altered messages to very large numbers of displays.
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