Digital Signage Cross-Channel Marketing Continuum
Guest Contributor, Michael Mascioni
Digital signage is at the threshold of a new era, where interconnectedness and interactivity are paramount. It should no longer be viewed as an isolated medium, but as an integral part of broader multi-channel marketing campaigns.
Those were key messages behind some of the more farsighted presentations at the Digital Signage Investor Summit in N.Y. this week.
Rob Gorrie, President of Adcentricity, flatly predicted that integrated media strategies combining “mobile, social networking, and digital out-of-home will drive the digital OOH market.”
Chris Phillips, Manager of Meeting Production at Target Corporation, also alluded to his company’s 360 degree marketing approach, combining “mobile, online, in-store, circulars, print, and evolving social media.”
In this new 4-screen world the aim is to “connect digital media connections at home, in-store, in-life, and at-shelf,” as Laura Davis-Taylor, Principal of Retail Media Consulting, described it.
Daina Middleton, Senior VP and Director of Sunao at Moxie Interactive, emphasized the need for digital signage to deliver a “complete customer experience” that exploits new technologies. She noted that augmented reality, for example, enables marketers to offer consumers unique experiences.
The impact of new technologies on the digital out-of-home market is increasing in significance, as many speakers noted. From the perspective of Stuart Jacob, President of Programming and Creative Services at CBS Outernet, digital signage companies must consider that “the consumer takes brands with them wherever they go,” utilizing such new technologies as the iPhone to interact with brands. In this regard, he maintained that the integration of the iPhone in kiosks will dramatically improve consumer acceptance of kiosks.
Alan Schulman, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer at UDIG-The Digital Innovations Group, asserted that “the future belongs to brands that travel with consumers” wherever they go, making particular reference to the iPhone’s impact on brand marketing.
Beyond that, technology is playing a major role in “unleashing creativity in the DOOH” market, according to Jeff Bell, Chairman of DOmedia.
As a number of speakers noted, interactivity and two-way communication will be at the heart of the digital out-of-home market. Schulman underlined the importance of interactivity and personalization for digital signage, contending that digital signage networks will be “more compelling if they’re interactive.”
Middleton also called attention to the key role of interactivity in digital signage, which was central to the participant model she advanced for the DOOH market. That model entails affording consumers the tools and assets to interact with brand experiences themselves.
As some of the presentations made clear at the Strategy Institute’s Digital Signage Investor Summit DOOH is becoming part of the broader marketing landscape.
The event also illustrated the need for greater coverage of this new paradigm for DOOH.
October 9th, 2009 at 14:20 @639
I agree that in this digital age, one must take advantage of what’s available at your fingertips. Going online and interacting with customers through social media is a very useful tool with marketing your products. It not only gives out a very unique experience to customers but you’re range of customers becomes global—which is good for the business.