We have had a London Digital Signage Week advert running across ECNlive‘s agency network, which (and this is an impressive list), includes: Ogilvy, UM, Arena BLM, Kinetic, Maxus, Mindshare, MPG, OMD, Open Outdoor, Posterscope, Starcom, VCCP, Vizeum, Talon, MGOMD and Rapport, for some weeks now.
Registrations for The DailyDOOH Media Summit are coming along nicely and as organisers we’ve reached that lovely stage in the process where we (a) pretty much know that we have a full room and (b) can start analysing the attendee list.
London of course is looked upon around the world as one of the true innovators and leaders in the digital outdoor space so it’s no surprise that we have a fair few people from outside the UK coming over to the event.
A new public service announcement that will be appearing nationwide in Regal Entertainment Group and Cinemark movie theaters, was launched by U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, with the aim of encouraging men to speak up and step in if they see someone in danger of being sexually assaulted.
The PSA is being launched in coordination with the ‘1 is 2 Many’ campaign and the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. While anyone can be a victim of sexual assault, some are more at risk than others: one in five women is sexually assaulted while in college, and young women, ages 16 to 24, experience the highest rates of sexual violence at the hands of someone they know.
The PSA, produced by the White House, features several film and television actors, President Barack Obama, and Vice-President Biden. It encourages men to be part of the solution by delivering a simple message: “If she doesn’t consent – or can’t consent – it’s a …..and if you see sexual assault happening, help her – don’t blame her – and speak up.”
In addition to the movie theatre screens, the PSA will air over NCM Media Networks’ Lobby Entertainment Network and in movie theaters on military installations and ships underway worldwide starting in May. Joining the President and Vice President in the PSA are actors: Daniel Craig, Seth Meyers, Benicio Del Toro, Steve Carell and Dulé Hill.
“This PSA is about reaching out to people and letting them know that there is an epidemic of sexual assaults,” says Del Toro. “Those who commit sexual assaults will be condemned, whoever they are. The PSA also encourages any witness to such acts to speak up, do the right thing, and be a hero. It is about protecting and respecting our loved ones – our mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, and girlfriends.”
Hill says, “One sexual assault is one too many. My desire for this PSA is that it will heighten awareness and in turn be a catalyst for more prevention.”
“The message is clear and simple: everyone has a responsibility,” says Craig. “There are no exceptions. There are no excuses. Please watch it and pass it on.”
AOPEN has created a new Channel Partner Program (ACP Program) to help resellers, integrators and solution builders take advantage of the sector’s stellar growth.
The ACP Program, a first for AOPEN Europe, is aimed at allowing AOPEN’s partners to differentiate their business and drive growth in the competitive digital signage landscape.
It’s intended to support partners with marketing assets, technical contact information, and special events and skills trainings. Most importantly it will give AOPEN’s partners the opportunity to get discounted, not-for-resale demonstration units.
The Program includes a portal with information available on demand, including a roadmap that allows customers to always know what and when new products are due. Ready-made marketing content and sales tools allow the sales process to be simplified.
Anthony Gerrits, Channel Sales Director AOPEN Europe said “Through this program our customers will get information first-hand and they can benefit from unique promotions with participating AOPEN distributors. The ACP program includes incentives to reward our customers for their success with AOPEN products, such as the ‘project of the year award’ where we will select the three best projects and award them with a written case study and free publicity,”
The Channel Partner Program (ACP Program) is available for partners who buy directly from AOPEN value added distributors (VADs) located in Europe and CIS countries.
Scala is officially launching a monthly webinar series designed to provide a foundation of continuing education for Scala Certified Partners.
The sessions will take place the second Wednesday of every month at 3pm EDT. For those that can make the live session, there will be 10-15 minutes of Q & A with the presenter. For those unable to make the live sessions, each presentation will be recorded and posted to the Scala Partner Portal. (For information on joining the Scala Partner Portal, e-mail channelsupport@scala.com for further directions).
Partners can write to marketing@scala.com for suggestions on what topics they would like covered. The first three sessions are already lined up. They include:
May 14: Everything Android, presented by Darren Greenwald, Scala’s Director of R & D – Greenwald will be providing a technical overview covering media players, embedded screens, player architecture, APIs and configuration. He will also mention HTML Widgets, but that topic will get its own webinar session in July;
June 11: ‘What’s New from MediaVue’ – A premier sponsor from the Scala America Partner Conference 2014 will do a presentation on their latest and greatest;
July 9: ‘HTML5 Widgets” presented by Marc Rifkin, Scala Director of Training – One of the MOST highly attended breakout sessions at the Scala America Partner Conference 2014, Marc’s presentation will be an overview of widgeting with HTML5 in Scala. One of the partners that attended the breakout session said, “This session alone made the trip worth it.”
Scala really seem to have got the bit between their teeth with regard London Digital Signage Week and not content to run a couple of tours, a partner dinner AND their International Scala Conference that week, have also organised a select invitation only Retail Forum.
Titled ‘How to win the Digital In-Store Communication Race‘ the event, being held on Thursday 15th May 2014 starting at 10am, is fully focused on the latest digital in-store communication concepts.
Two items of special interest:-
Learn from Argos, Tommy Hilfiger, TUI and Tesco Brands and retailers are faced with the challenge of continually renewing themselves in order to secure the loyalty of their existing clients and to attract new customers. Inspiring case study presentations will offer innovative leadership perspectives on trends that are really delivering positive outcomes; trends that have resulted in the transition of Digital In-Store Communication from a ‘Special Projects’ budget to an absolute requirement in the store planning phase. Attendees will learn how retailers like Argos, Tommy Hilfiger, TUI and Tesco are using digital signage to interact with their customers.
‘The Data Connection’ – Connecting and Optimising Customer Experiences Today’s consumers don’t really think about the ‘Omnichannel’. They simply expect to be able to shop whenever, wherever, and however it suits them. Marketers trying to accommodate this expectation need to understand what works, what doesn’t, and where to go next. Creating a cohesive, relevant customer experience is about using data and analytics to optimise digital content across all devices and channels.
The Scala Retail Forum Programme starts at 10am, closing at 1:30pm with lunch.
Interested parties can contact Saskia Savelsbergh at saskia.savelsbergh@scala.com
If Barnaby Fudge writes to you on behalf of FESPA and invites you (or a colleague) in making a short presentation for the learning programme running alongside the Sign Hub at FESPA Digital in Munich, 20th-23rd May, you can (trust us on this one) politely tell him to Foxtrot Oscar.
Photographers’ works are now the subject of Pattison Onestop’s ongoing Art in Transit campaign, with Drowning World by Gideon Mendel surrounding viewers within the massive underground gallery in the Queen’s Park subway station with his Water clips playing every 10 minutes on the PATTISON Onestop digital platform screens throughout the subway system.
Shirley Armitage, Moorland Village, Somerset, UK, Feb., 2014. by Gideon Mendel
And PATTISON is also supporting Retail Compositions by Owen Kydd, with Kydd’s works displayed on digital screen kiosks that have been positioned within the Allen Lambert Galleria at Brookfield Place, a highly used access point into the PATH mall—an immense underground shopping complex.
An official public installation of Scotiabank CONTACT, Contacting Toronto features London-based, South African photographer Gideon Mendel’s portraits of people whose lives have been devastated by floods, as well as excerpts from his Water videos, which capture people navigating their lives in the midst of recent floodwaters.
Drowning World is an art project with photojournalistic roots, which Gideon Mendel began in 2007 as a response to climate change. This long-term effort spans 9 countries to date: the UK, India, Haiti, Pakistan, Australia, Thailand, Nigeria, Germany and the Philippines.
New York City-based startup Vengo Labs, a manufacturer of mini vending machines, has raised $2 million in Series A financing to expand its reach.
Vengo has an installed base of 60 compact, interactive digital kiosks which sell a variety of items including candies, chewing gum, pain relievers, pens, toothpaste and more. The kiosks also act as a digital signage advertising network driven by the Vengo platform, running campaigns for a number of brands such as Mondelez and Uber.
Vengo’s kiosks can be found in New York University, Fueled Collective, IPG Media Lab, ProHealth, and Raven. Company management claims that its kiosks are seeing 280,000 active customer engagements per month.
Investors in the financing round include Coinstar founder Jens Molbak, Brad Feld, Nas and Anthony Saleh’s QueensBridge Venture Partners, Joanne Wilson, Kensington Capital, Tony Hsieh‘s Vegas Tech Fund, Scout Capital and Vector Media.
Crowdfunding platform SeedInvest was also a major participant, contributing $720,000 to the Series A financing round.
Vengo investor Wilson said in a statement. “Vengo is changing the way that brands interact and engage with consumers by providing a smarter alternative for research and sampling. It is already influencing consumer consumption patterns in New York City.”
Vengo recently partnered with large New York area-based vending machine operator CC Vending, in order to add a high-tech complement to CC Vending’s thousands of locations and also to benefit from CC Vending’s logistics and fulfillment.
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