Reflections from Suomi/Finland

Hi, just got back after visiting Finland 2 times in a week. I have meet potential new clients, conducted a seminar with one of Finland leading media agencies and trained sales personal at our partners office. There are some things I find extra interesting:

• Not many screens, I did not see a single screen in food markets and hardly any in retail environment.
• The Digital signage I saw was driven by advertisement (free monitor in exchange for showing ads from other companies) and some menu boards in fast food chains. Not even with moving content to make impact. I wonder why?

On the other hand there is a huge interest and many intelligent questions asked, thoughts and ideas are in the front line. Evaluation and proving benefits in figures is very important. Business models for new "not ad-driven" digital signage are reasonable and focused on revenues. Schools are planning courses in digital signage.  My impression is that platform suppliers that can offer 24/7 solutions, open API:s, service and support, extended warranties fit very well in that model .

Niklas Forslund

Business Developer, MultiQ

Who is to create and publish content, do installations and maintain digital signage within your organization?There is really very little difference between managing a website and managing a digital signage or self-service kiosk system.

One of the most common worries I have found among customers is that they worry about who is going to handle digital signage in their organization? It is not as complicated as you think.

In a previous blog spot I mentioned the initial problem of getting different departments within an organization to work together. When it actually comes to starting up a pilot project there are many worries about who is actually to do the job to get everything up and running. Things may seem to fall between the chairs which eventually may jeopardize the project.

The important thing to remember is that to handle a digital signage (and self service kiosk) system that has a central server is very similar to handling a website.

When it comes to content, this may be handled by the same people as are in charge of the website. Content is similar and much may be reused from the web activities. Many websites already include videos and the technical quality of video on the web has increased considerably during the last years. Today HD quality video clips are commonly used and handled by the same people that are handling the website.  Therefore much already existing content can be reused. When it comes to publishing, handling the content management system is really quite similar to maintaining a website. The main difference is that in a website you work with a tree structure to organize the content while in digital signage you work with loops of content. One thing that is much easier than in conventional website development is the fact that when using web content you only have one kind of web browser to take into account, the single kind of web browser that is used in the media player. This is to be compared to websites on the Internet where you need to consider all kinds of web browsers that are in use.

Another worry is how to handle the server system and security issues. The answer to this is the same as before. The similarities to handling the web make it possible to use the same solutions as for your website. The management server of the digital signage system can be hosted by you or by a hosting company (MultiQ can also provide this service). Just as for the website the server can be placed outside your company firewalls. It is always the media players that address the central server and not the opposite and you will not get any firewall problems at the sites. It is the media players that surf to the management server. All very similar to how your website works.

Installing the monitors, media players and kiosks is very similar and even easier than installing other similar equipment in the stores such as cash register systems and security camera systems. Digital signage is based on the well-known existing technologies of today such as broadband-, local area network-, computer- and display system techniques. Digital signage and kiosk systems do not include any unique components that cannot be handled by installers dealing with public areas. It is more or less just to plug in the power and network cables.

Setting up and maintaining a digital signage system is obviously very similar to running the company website and installing and maintaining the already existing equipment in the stores. Even though you may think that digital signage and self service kiosks are something new and strange, you have probably done it all before.

There is really very little difference between managing a website and
managing a digital signage or self-service kiosk system.

Lars-Ingemar Lundström

Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ

Where does digital signage and self-service kiosk systems belong in an organization?

Who is the best suited to handle digital signage and self-service kiosks within an organization? Should it be the marketing department, IT department or somebody else?

In most cases it seems as it is people involved in marketing activities who start up digital signage and self-service kiosk projects. Suddenly there is someone that sees the potential of modernizing the marketing and bringing it closer to the products and the customers. It’s often in the marketing departments where you find these visionaries when it comes to new marketing and sales methods. However digital signage and kiosks are often regarded as new and unknown tools. This may be compared to the days of website introduction. In those days using the web was something new and untested. There were lots of discussions about the profitability and value of entering such a medium. Despite the many doubts by many in the early days, the website is today a natural and necessary part of any marketing organization. The questions in those days were the same as you will hear today regarding digital signage; what are the benefits in relation to the costs, and who in our organization is going to maintain the media content used in the new system?

In many companies there is a sole person driving the new ideas. This person, often someone in the marketing department, then tries to start up a pilot project. This may cause some debate within the organization and the early adaptor may need quite a lot of help from the supplier of the digital signage system.

In some cases there is someone in the IT department that starts the discussion about digital signage. But in most cases the IT department is involved at late stage in the process. This may cause some resistance to the introduction of the new system. A better solution is that the marketing and IT departments start working together at an early stage. Unfortunately I have seen cases where IT departments have been forces to use systems that they cannot fully support.

Introducing a digital signage or kiosk system is very similar to handling the company or retail chain website. Also, there are many synergies between the two.  In a digital signage system there is a central server that may be compared to a web server and the server may be hosted internally or externally. Many questions are the same when it comes to content. Much images, video clips and text used for the website can be reused in the digital signage or kiosk system. In kiosk systems the kiosks can even be regarded as extensions of the web activities since web pages and database content may be reused. This means that it is useful to get the IT department and the people involved in web activities involved at an early stage to see the benefits of the new possibilities brought by digital signage and kiosks. By using open standards and relying on external industry standard creation tools, that are already used by content producers and web developers, the MultiQ digital signage system paves the way for a smooth entry into this new medium.

In most cases it is the marketing department that is most eager
to introduce digital signage and self-service kiosks.  

Lars-Ingemar Lundström
Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ

What do you want to convey to your customers?

In previous blog spots I have told about why and where digital signage and self-service kiosks can be used. But the most important thing is actually what you wish to convey to your customers.

There is probably no one that understands your business and your particular store(s) better than yourself. From your own experience you know that at each location of the store there is something in particular that you wish to tell to your customers. What you want to tell decides what content to put on the screens in different parts of the store.  Using digital signage instead of conventional signage makes it possible for you to provide several messages using only one screen instead of a static conventional sign at the same location. One sign can serve a whole range of products that are related to a particular department in the store.

Digital signs are dynamic and you can easily present the “offer of today” and you can run campaigns on products that you have special reasons for promoting. This also means that you are free to convey different messages at different times of the day; on different days of the week and that you can prepare campaigns in advance. The answer to the question about what to convey to the customers, decides what content there should be on the screens and when.

Try to analyze what you want to convey using your existing ways of customer communication such as conventional signs, advertising and web. Where do these media run short when it comes to conveying the message to the customer? Probably you will get to answers that the static signs are not dynamic, advertising does not give you’re the result that you wish for and your web site does not have as many visitors it should have. A way to sort this out is to take the same messages and to expose them right in your store using modern means. Remember that the advertising space at your own premises is a valuable asset. Use this asset the best way by combining conventional printed signs and dynamic digital signs.

Probably you have already decided what you wish to convey to the customers in your advertising, signage and web. Now the trick is to adapt the same thing to digital signage and kiosks. The new dimension is time, you can decide down to the second what to convey to your customers.

When it comes to self service kiosks, they may be regarded as signs where the observer can ask for the content. Self-service kiosks can relieve the store staff from recurring questions and to relieve customers from queuing to talk to store personnel. You may want the kiosks to handle the frequently asked questions. When deciding what content to be used in a self-service kiosk you should regard the kiosk more or less as if a person had been standing there ready to answer incoming questions. What recurring questions are asked by the customers?

It is obvious that the more complex product, the more use of a kiosk. Especially for non physical products, such as online games, betting and travelling offers, self-service kiosks and digital signage can help you to convey the right message to the customers at the right time and location.

Digital signage and kiosks work together to convey your message to your customers. It is up to you to decide what you wish to convey.

The essence of digital signage and self-service kiosks is
to decide what you wish to convey to the customer.

Lars-Ingemar Lundström

Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ

How to find the suitable applications for digital signage and self-service kiosks -Follow the customer’s route through the store

Try the customer’s route yourself to see where digital signage and self-service kiosks make sense, here are some hints.

In a store or in any public environment you can easily find several needs for information if you follow the customer’s path. This gives you important hints about where digital signage and self-service kiosks can be used in a successful way.

Starting outside the store you can affect the customer by screens in the store windows that display pull-in messages such as today’s irresistible offers. Next you can have welcome screens at the entrance (that may be combined with security camera images).

When entering the store there can be a “Welcome” screen with “Today’s offer”. This is also a suitable place to add images from security cameras. PVMs (Public View Monitors) with just security cameras are often located at the entrance to make visitors aware of the place having a surveillance system.  Why not use this location to have a combined PVM and digital signage screen?

In larger stores or in malls, way finder screens and touch panel monitors can help the customers to find various departments and products.

On top of general in-store TV channels that are adapted to different departments you can have POP (Point of Promotion) and POS (Point of Sales) screens placed next to individual products.

Web kiosks can give your customers in-store access to your web site or parts of the website. Even more efficient, are information kiosks that are designed for optimum in-store performance with touch panel monitors.

Customers standing in line in front of the cash register desks do not have much else to do than waiting. This creates an excellent opportunity for you to present your messages. By combining your advertising with a news ticker, stock market updates (in banks) or weather information, the experienced waiting time is reduced considerably.

At the cashier’s desk there is an opportunity to provide advertising that is related to what the customer has actually purchased.

Do not miss the opportunity to give the customer a “come Again” message as he or she leaves the store. Here you can inform about next week’s offers and you have an excellent opportunity to make the customer return.

There are lots of opportunities along the route of the customer. –Make sure not to miss any of them.
 

You can easily find more than a handful of applications for digital signage
and self-service kiosk along the customer’s route in a store.

Lars-Ingemar Lundström

Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ

How to improve the shopping experience by creating an atmosphere related to the product?

How can digital signage be used to improve the shopping experience? Is digital signage just about advertising? No, much more than that, it can also add to the atmosphere in the store.

In the old days monitors used in stores were considered to be ugly, bulky things that were there just to provide some demonstration video of a product or to display security camera images. Today this is different. Now, digital signage, thanks to flat panel displays, can be used as a part of the decoration of a store or any venue. The fact that the monitors are thin and have narrow bezels means that the impression created by the monitor more or less only depends on the screen content.

It is important to remember that digital signage screens can be used to display other things than just commercials and slideshows with arguments on why to buy specific products. Digital signage can be used to relate to a particular environment or activity such as different kinds of sports or perhaps to fashion or other specific interests. This will affect the atmosphere. By adding sound effects and music, customer experience may be further increased.

You can use screens just to create a particular touch to a store. However a common way of using digital signage to add to the atmosphere is to mix commercial messages with video clips containing real action sports and leisure. This can easily be implemented into any kind of store. Sports such as golf, skiing and sailing are perfect examples. The content on the screens is intended to bring inspiration and catch interest. Using screens in portrait mode associates to traditional signs rather than to television.

Especially this strategy is popular in stores focused on a particular brand of a product.

All screens available in the store can contribute to the atmosphere. While not used by a customer, a touch panel monitor may show a “screen saver” that contain some video clips or other images that adds to the impression of the store.

The nice thing about digital signage is the atmosphere created by dynamic messages that can be adapted to the season.

Using digital signage to create an atmosphere can be used in many other areas than just in the sports, leisure and fashion businesses.  Using digital signage for decoration is highly underestimated.
 

Use the opportunity to let digital signage create an atmosphere
that is related to the particular brand or product.

Lars-Ingemar Lundström

Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ

Why digital signage and self-service kiosks?

The first question that you may ask yourself is why should I invest in a digital signage or self-service kiosk system? Is it profitable? What does it add to my business? Is digital signage a good choice in relation to other ways of advertising? Will a self-service kiosk improve customer experience by reducing queues for the customers to get in touch with the staff in the store to ask product related questions?

Getting the attention and delivering the message to the right person at the right time   – That’s what digital signage and self-service kiosks are all about.

Catch people’s attention

Any location, where there are people, there is an opportunity to convey a message. Signage is a way to make use of this opportunity. Historically, static signs have been around for thousands of years. And for a very long time well-exposed locations have been used as advertising space. Today, such possibilities to affect people are more valuable than ever in the competition to catch people’s attention. 

The world is overwhelmed the ever increasing choice of information provided by commercial TV and the Internet. Therefore it becomes harder to reach to the customers using these media. Using physical spots where people pass through to expose the messages is a way to overcome these obstacles. Choice of information is less in the real world than on TV or when using your PC. This is what adds a significant value to the wall space in your store.

However, conventional signage has its limitations. The message is static and needs manual effort to be replaced. Replacing conventional signs is slow and you need to depend on the local staff or other people to do the job. Another limitation is the fact that the content on a sign does not adapt to the time of the day or to the person that is actually looking at the sign. To make best use of your advertising space it would have been desirable to be able to adapt the signs in such a way that the right content is shown to the right person at the right time. Digital signage and kiosks sort out these kinds of problems. Make it possible for you to use one of your most valuable assets, your advertising space, in the most efficient way.

Replace existing static sign with a simple slideshow

Content does not have to be very advanced. Just by replacing an existing static sign by a simple slideshow considerably increase the possibility to catch attention and to convey more information than the single sign. By adding a video clip with sound you increase the impact even more.

Some of the answers to why to use digital signage and kiosks can be:

• Your own premises may be the best place to advertise. Use digital signage and kiosks to make the most of it.
• You may have valuable advertising space in your premises that can be sold to others. Digital signage and kiosks are efficient and suitable means to do so.
• Avoiding printing which reduces costs and increase flexibility and decrease lead time for new messages.
• The signs can be controlled from anywhere you like. This is especially valuable if you have several stores or sites you want to control without being depending on the local staff.

In coming blog posts we will dig deeper into the possibilities of digital signs and kiosks. Also, we will take a closer look at how these signs can be used in your environment.

Do you make the best use of and leverage on your existing advertising space?

Lars-Ingemar Lundström

Documentation and Training Manager, MultiQ