Digital Signage Expo, the world’s largest international trade show and educational conference focused on digital displays, interactive technology and digital communication, took place at the Las Vegas Convention Center from March 27-30, 2018. Every year, the conference features breakthrough technology and advanced approaches for brands aiming to better connect and communicate with consumers. Adrenaline’s Haig Megerian and Mark Dodge attended this year’s gathering and reported back with their perspective on what these state-of-the-art tools will mean for the way brands engage with consumers in retail spaces and beyond.
1) Leading-Edge Technology
Mark Dodge, Senior Director of Business Operations at Adrenaline, says, “One of the big advancements on display all around the exhibit hall was the evolution around the display technology from LCD, LED, OLED, and some of the big impressive displays with different shapes and waving. We’re seeing vast improvement in LED resolution in OLED and the QLED type displays, which provide a crisp true-to-life image.” While beautiful and engaging, cost-effectiveness is still an issue for all but the biggest brands.
According to Mark, “I still see these kinds of big elaborate displays for more flagship type applications. But we’re beginning to see the LED pricing getting to a point where we will soon see that kind of application in smaller retail locations. One of things that’s always really important to me at an event like this is gathering information and getting it into the hands of our design groups, so they can start to monitor what’s cost effective and appropriate for a brand environment at all levels.”
2) Data Analytics and Insights
Behind those big, beautiful displays lies a data backbone making digital signage part of a larger holistic brand strategy. Haig Megerian, Senior Vice President of Digital Account Executive Sales at Adrenaline, says “Data and analytics are becoming more immediate and responsive. Brands can measure their impact through a traffic count – who is engaging – and real-time snapshots of activity are now being fed back into the system to adapt programming to the feedback that you’re getting with the analytics.” Signage is no longer a passive eye-candy, but a dynamic piece of the communications process.
And it’s not just direct brand data that is making its mark. Data and insights are coming from numerous directions. Mark says, “Data is having a huge impact on how brands do business. Information is available in the marketplace from a lot of different places. You can get data from aggregators, from your retail environment directly and from insights that companies are gathering themselves through interactions. So, clients can leverage all that data in retail to make signage more effective and directed toward the customer in front of a display.”
3) Message Mapping
Digital signage is part of a host of channels of communication brands should be leveraging. Haig says, “Data that’s coming from digital signage has been around for a while, but what we’re seeing now is a real coordination of data, feedback and messaging under a larger umbrella. In a workshop by High Street, they noted that content management systems (CMS) are integrating in three areas: emotional, physical, and social. This is a focus on what a customer gets out of their mobile apps or perhaps being online, allowing the customer to have more control when they’re in a physical space. It allows for personalization when the customer curates information they want in the physical space and start playing off of the social aspects of sharing or peer validation.”
From the messaging standpoint, all of these data points help brands design appropriate messaging for curated, customized experiences. Mark says, “What I find really exciting is all the ways we can help our clients leverage data – from a retail environment, customer behavior and market insights – and tie them together. Through a management platform like our own AMP, clients get feedback on how their retail space is performing on certain goals. This helps our clients make decisions not only in the digital component of their network but also in designing all other aspects of their customer experience.”
For more information about incorporating digital signage into an experience design strategy and best practices for banking digital signage, contact Adrenaline at info@adrenalinex.com.
