VUKUNET Development Campbell-Eward’s Role
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
When we wrote about Itasca, Illinois-based NEC Display Solutions of America launching VUKUNET back in early November, we were unaware of the role ad agency Campbell-Ewald , Detroit, played in the product’s development.
NEC enlisted Campbell-Ewald’s expertise about 14 months ago to help develop its new product, VUKUNET, a web-based platform that supposedly connects digital signage network owners to potential new advertising revenue and attempts to provide advertisers and ad agencies with what NEC calls a ‘revolutionary’ way to leverage digital out-of-home advertising.
Hardly 'successful' before launch?
Working with the NEC team, Campbell-Ewald contributed its ad industry insights and user experiences to VUKUNET ‘s design and development. From there, the teams collaborated on identity development, including product name and logo design, as well as product launch strategy and execution.
“We feel extremely fortunate to have worked with Campbell-Ewald’s people on the development of V VUKUNET,” says Pierre Richer, NEC Display Solutions’ president and COO. “Their knowledge was invaluable in designing this groundbreaking platform for digital place-based media. They brought their ad industry knowledge to help us design a revolutionary ad-serving tool that will connect all digital network owners with potential advertisers.”
“NEC is changing the digital out-of-home space,” said Candace Graham, Campbell-Ewald executive vice-president, account and digital director, who spearheaded the Vukunet efforts at Campbell-Ewald. Graham had previously partnered with NEC on a website project 10 years ago. “It was very exciting to be immersed with them in the entire product development process – from design to launch.”
NEC developed the VUKUNET platform to connect digital signage network owners (airports, retailers, hospitals, etc.) with advertisers. For network owners, the automated technology enables advertising inventory management, proof-of-performance reporting and payment consolidation for the ads. For advertisers and ad agencies, who formerly contacted hundreds of potential network owners to determine rates and availability, the companion ADVUKU ad-serving platform enables easy searching for optimal networks in any location.
Editor’s note: My take on VUKUNET is very much the same as it was back in November “A quick conversation … at KioskCom showed us that they quite simply didn’t have a clue; as to what they were doing, why they were doing it and how they were going to go about it. They also seemed blithely ignorant of any competition and the challenges that lay in front of them.” so despite all the press releases around this I don’t quite understand what Campbell-Eward did for them and pretty much expect this US only NEC initiative to go nowhere and quickly disappear.
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