Acuity Omnimedia
Grand Blanc, MI  48439

Digital Signage

Acuity is mid Michigan's digital signage expert! With over 15 years of creating digital signage solutions for fortune 1000 companies, and smaller ones too, we can tailor a signage solution for your business and your budget. Digital signage is not just for the big-box stores and large companies any more. Digital signage is environmentally friendly, can be changed easily and frequently, and actually saves you money compared to traditional print signage.

If you are not familiar with the term “Digital Signage” you are not alone but almost certainly you have seen digital signage and have been marketed to using digital signage. In some major metropolitan areas digital signs have reached a point of near saturation. Even in the more rural areas of mid Michigan digital signage is quietly taking a toe-hold in big-box retailers, highway billboards, and less frequently in small businesses who are realizing that digital signage can help them reduce budgets for printed materials. They have also learned the power of tapping into the most productive advertising market available to them…..the customers in their own store.

Highway billboards are probably the most recognizable form of digital signage today. If you have ever driven a stretch of interstate with three or four lanes going each way (meaning lots of cars) you’ve seen at least one new-fangled billboard that shines brightly with a vivid, computer generated image that changes about every 6 seconds.  Alternatively, if you have spent any time in a big-box retailer such as Walmart or Best Buy you have seen video monitors suspended from the ceiling showing advertising and merchandising messages. McDonald’s has recently launched a nationwide digital signage system that is one part digital menu board and one part merchandising display.

So clearly Digital Signage is a productive tool for large corporations and franchises that can use their deep pockets to gain yet another advantage over the individual entrepreneur and make it just a little harder for the small business to be cost competitive. Right? Wrong!

There is no arguing that large corporations have figured out the power of this medium before the small business has but the large corporation is at a very significant disadvantage. Their large! They have hundreds or thousands of locations. To make their digital signage solution work they require very expensive, highly complicated systems. Yet they still do it because they can see the value in reducing printed materials, creating a green-environment signage, and most importantly they do it to reach the most ripe advertising market they have available to them….their own customers.

Smaller businesses have a clear advantage over the large franchise when it comes to digital signage. With fewer locations to coordinate and usually a much smaller geographical area to cover the small business owner can capitalize on digital signage technology that is a fraction of the price paid by the big-box. Hey small businessman, how many times do you get to pay less for something than your corporate Uncle Sam (Walton, that is)  pays for the same thing?

In fact, it’s quite possible that a small business could launch an effective digital signage system with no out of pocket cost if you happen to have spare PC and video monitor around.  Even if you don’t have these things the plummeting cost of flat panel monitors combined with the increased availability of simple, low-cost media players means that a digital signage start-up budget could be less than $500. Programmed with the right content a shop owner could return their investment in as little as one to two weeks.  You can be sure that’s a much faster ROI than the one the corporate Goliath is getting.

What exactly does it take to start a digital signage solution? Digital signage can be broken down into a 4 part  system: 1) hardware to play the media such as a PC or media player, 2) hardware needed to display the media such as a LCD flat panel monitor or projector and the materials to mount it, 3) the labor to install and connect the hardware components, and 4) content creation so you have something to show on the monitor. It is very possible for a store owner to manage all 4 areas of a digital signage system without enlisting the services of a digital signage provider.  A PC connected to an external monitor which sits on a counter in the store displaying content created in PowerPoint can be a very effective tool if the content delivers a well designed message. Anyone could create this type of system on their own. However, similar to a DIY home improvement project, a business might have more complicated needs than the basic solution and it might reach a point where the project is a little beyond its comfort level and the owner would feel better with the assistance of an expert in the field. Let’s take a closer look at how a digital signage system works and what should be considered when deploying the system.

The first thing that must always be considered will be the last part of the solution…the content. The content a merchant intends to show their customers should influence, if not completely drive, all decisions in how the system is installed and what digital signage components are selected.  An absolute first step is simply to determine what would be an effective message to deliver to the customer. What does the merchant want to tell them or show them or advertise or demonstrate? In simple terms the merchant wants the customer to take action and usually to buy more stuff. What does the merchant need to show them that will make them buy more than what they came in to buy anyway?

The answer to this question will significantly impact the merchant’s choices. Do the customers just need to be able to see an item is available, emulating a menu board, and simple text on the screen will suffice? Do they need to see a picture of a new product or service? Would video of the new product or service tell them more than just a picture or text?  Are the pictures or video of the product or service available or will they have to be created? Is there more than one thing they need to see? Will the sign need to change what it is showing at different times during the day or will one or two key messages showing all the time do the trick? Evaluating content needs in the beginning will indicate how simple or complex the digital signage system needs to be.

Digital Signage Players

The device that provides the images for the digital sign is commonly referred to as the “player” in the digital signage industry. Players can take many forms and come with pro’s and con’s that need to be weighed against the type of content that needs to be shown. Players can be something as simple as a DVD player set to play the disc content in a continuous loop or as complex as a full PC with special cards.

 A DVD player would be extremely cost effective, very reliable, and easy to setup and operate. However, using a DVD player as your digital signage source would require the availability of DVD based content. A merchant would have to evaluate the availability of appropriate DVD content or their ability to create DVD content either themselves or by using a media production company. If the merchant’s needs do not call for the sign content to be changed frequently then a DVD player with a custom made DVD may be a very cost effective way to create professional looking digital signage. If the merchant does need  the content to change more frequently then a DVD player connected to a monitor will not be a very useful solution.

A variety of disk-drive media players are available that include various types of embedded software that allow the user to build media playlists or even schedules that automatically turn content on or off at given dates and times. Media players may cost the same as a high quality DVD player or may be a few hundred dollars more depending upon the features of the embedded software. They offer the same simplicity and reliability of a DVD player but do not require the creation of a DVD video. Media players are capable of playing digital video saved to a disk but can also play still image formats such as JPEG images, BMP images, and even digital audio files.

In some cases merchant’s will select more sophisticated players that have well developed web based software or small PC’s running custom applications for digital signage. These more complex solutions are usually selected by small businesses with multiple locations that may be spread over a larger geographical area. These solutions add a considerable value of being able to remotely manage players and change their content over the internet.  These digital signage systems will come with a higher price tag but when these features are truly needed they are usually well worth the added expense.

Digital Display Devices

Perhaps nothing has put digital signage in the reach of the small business owner more than the proliferation of flat panel plasma / LCD / LED monitors and the changeover to HD television. With flat panel monitors offering such large viewable surfaces in a minimal form factor and the HDTV conversion placing such a high demand on this style of monitor manufacturers have been able to mass produce enough units that prices have been driven down to levels never seen before.  Even relatively large digital signage monitors are well within the budgets of smaller businesses.

With a few exceptions just about any newer flat panel display will be compatible with most any digital signage player due to both the television and computing markets standardizing on the High Definition Multimedia Interface. (HDMI) Display selection for a digital signage system will largely be dependent upon  the required size, pricing, warrantee, color and shape of the bezel and other aesthetic factors and not as much for the performance of the monitor. Therefore, for new equipment installations, the choice of monitor will usually have little to do with selecting players or designing content.

In some cases where the selected monitor or player is not compatible with HDMI more care may need to be taken to match image resolutions throughout the system to prevent minor scaling issues. However, even when a player and monitor may be mismatched in resolution the monitor will likely automatically scale the player signal to meet its native resolution. The small amount of distortion introduced to the image during this process will not likely be noticed by most people viewing the signage. Where possible it will be easiest to stick to the HDMI standard and design content accordingly.

In other unique cases monitors may be selected due to environmental factors. Digital signage does not need to be limited to the interiors of a store. Weather ready monitors are broadly available for outdoor applications and can operate in fairly extreme temperatures ranging from around -20 degrees Fahrenheit to 120 degrees. Some monitors can be exposed to nearly any level of moisture and are safe for use in a rainstorm….or in a car wash. Proprietors who would like to create a unique type of signage with environmental challenges should not be discouraged but would probably be smart to contact a digital signage integrator to help them sort out the finer details.

Content Design

Content is both the Alpha and Omega of digital signage. A well designed digital signage system considers the type of content to be displayed before the design begins and it is the culmination of the investment. After the system is built its success (or failure) hangs on the ability to provide compelling content that delivers an effective message to the customer. This in essence is no different from any other advertising and marketing channel. Print, radio, and television advertisements can be successfully placed in front of an audience but if the message is not effective there is nothing the medium can do to drive new business. The principles outlined in this section can be universally applied to any form of marketing and advertising.

Unlike the video display, content creation needs to be significantly considered when selecting a digital signage player. What will be needed to fill the player with usable content must be completely evaluated before selecting a player. Does the design quality of the content need to be expertly designed to integrate with your brand or will home grown media be suitable to deliver the information the customer needs?

If the DVD player or media player is selected the owner needs to be prepared to provide pre-packaged content  for the player to use. Does the system owner have stock video or images available that can be loaded into the system? This media can frequently be provided by the vendors of the product lines they carry. If they don’t, do they have staff with the time, tools, and skill sets to create the quality of message needed for their customer base? Do they have a good media production partner that can create the custom content their system needs? The basic digital signage players are extremely cost effective and reliable but rely almost entirely on other media software and service providers to create the content. The player only takes the job of playing the content back.

The higher end media players and PC based solutions frequently provide tools to assist in creating content from scratch but even with these added features the business still need to create the new content that applies to their products and services. Once again the onus is on the owner to provide pre-created content or to identify staff members with the skills required to create effective content. They could also still need to find a reliable media design firm to assist them with the creation of the content.  The true advantage of the higher end solutions lies in the great ability they have to remotely manage distant players, automatically distribute content over the internet, and once the branded graphics and visual resources are loaded into the system the user can very quickly and easily create a professionally branded message using templates similar to those used when creating a PowerPoint presentation with templates.

It should now be clear that regardless what digital signage components are selected the one constant in Digital Signage is the need for effective and actionable content. The goals and objectives of the system are considered when constructing the system and a solid plan for providing content after the installation is crucial to the success of the system. These observations, however, should be in no way construed to mean the plan for providing content needs to be complicated. With media today it is very easy to feel as if expensive equipment and software combined with the skills of a graphic artist are necessary to deliver an effective message. This could not be farther from the truth and all the evidence that is needed to prove this can be found on YouTube and other social media outlets where self-made creators of media are successfully reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers with just a camcorder or a series of still photos assembled into a slide show. PowerPoint and a PC or a media player with a digital camera  and camcorder may be all that is needed for the small business to create digital signage that reaches its customers in a compelling way.

As with most things, a company’s solution to creating content for their digital signage will probably be a blend of the options available to them.