DailyDOOH

Sankei Biz this week reported this large 200-inch curved plasma display…

It measures 4m (H) x 3m (W) and was inaugurated this week in Japan’s Kansai International Airport Departure Area.

So our rumour first thing Thursday that Scala was going to make (and announce) an acquisition (today) was proved correct. Scala announced later on Thursday that it was to acquire the SignChannel division of Thinking Screen Media.

Now Scala needn’t hold their breath waiting for what we have got to say about the acquisition because it’s actually quite a GOOD one. That’s right, it’s a good acquisition.

Buying SignChannel is basically a way for Scala to address the low-cost (digital signage) challenge without cannibalising their own sales.

For those wanting to know a little more about SignChannel our CEO Spotlight with Alan Phillips, CEO Thinking Screen Media is quite a good start.

SignChannel is an advertising-free, subscription-based service, it basically lets subscribers supplement their own promotional content with commercial content such as weather, stock, news or sports updates. For those of you who have been anywhere near a Scala stand at a show in the last 12 months, where SIgnChannel has almost always shared stand space, you will know that it is an innovation that the average ‘punter’ has found intriguing.

Gerard Bucas, Chief Executive Officer, Scala is of course NOT entirely accurate in the press release where he says “No one today has a digital signage offering for small business owners to deploy and manage themselves. SignChannel is the first” – there are plenty of people who offer this sort of service; Ridge Logic, Wirespring, Nanonation, signagelive, Amscreen and even UC View has a nice, easy affordable product to name just a few!

It’s just that none of them are Scala – with all that should entail if ONLY Scala would do the job of marketing themselves and protecting their brand properly!

What Gerard should have said is “this allows Scala to REALLY compete in the small business space with the likes of WireSpring, signagelive and Nanonation” – NOT that their is no competition in this space or that Scala are there first.

Anyway, Gerard is more on-target when he says what COULD be achieved going forward “By leveraging low-cost media players such as wireless photo frames and Scala’s template capability, a small to medium business owner can easily set up their own digital signage network, create compelling content and manage their playlists through a simple Web interface. Coupled with SignChannel’s built-in media content, it is so innovative that we feel it truly presents a new paradigm in our industry”. – the templates better be damned good (they need to pay top dollar to get them perfect cos’ they are always done poorly and always an after thought) and they need to think content – it’s unlikely that any ‘compelling content’ will be created without a bit of work.

It looks like Scala paid USD 2 million for SignChannel though whether that was just for the software part or both the software and the content channel as well is unclear.

It’s actually nice to sit down and write about a positive acquisition in this space for once rather than the usual bought-for-a-dollar on your knees fire-sell.

Now Scala the challenge is for you to show us what you can do with it!

Italian digital signage solutions provider Digimax S.r.l. has just announced that it is to bundle signagelive with its digital signage hardware portfolio to provide an out of the box solution.

Digimax evaluated several digital signage software platforms before deciding that signagelive offered the best solution that enables a wide range of digital signage player hardware from SMIL devices through to PC based platforms to be shipped as ready to go out of the box digital signage.

Lorenzo Spalluto, Digimax Marketing Manager told us “Signagelive is a strong and new opportunity for Digimax, We strongly believe in simple, fast and cost efficient software solution, we found the good one in Signagelive. We believe Digimax-Signagelive can be a fruitful partnership and a good opportunity for customers “

About Digimax
DIGIMAX, founded in 1996, is a leading Industrial PC & Power Supply distributor, covering with sales all Italian territory.

Key winning points for Digimax are

strong teamwork
long term partnership with selected Far East Manufacturers.

A dynamic and motivated team is dedicated to offer the best technical and commercial solution to customers.

Our Engineers suggest solution for every application, with mechanical assembly, special configuration and software embedded installation according to customer’s demand.

We offer strong and efficient logistic service to our customers.

We nearly spilt our espresso’s this morning when we opened our email inbox to find some great pictures courtesy of JCDecaux showing their PrimeTime digital network and the Torch – we read one of the JPGs which was attached as ‘independent murdochcrap.jpg‘ it was of course ‘independent murdochcrop.jpg’ but sometimes you know (especially during UK general election fever) the eyes don’t lie!

Anyway this campaign went up early this morning on JCDecaux’s PrimeTime digital network (20 digital sites in London) and on the Torch just showing the wonderful flexibility and immediacy of outdoor.

It’s a one day campaign for The Independent – a UK newspaper owned by Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB spy turned media mogul who paid 1 British pound for the newspaper back in March 2010 (and no you could NOT make this up if you tried).

Booked through Posterscope and Walker Media, the creative reads “Rupert Murdoch won’t decide this election. You will”.

This follows similar recent work from creative agency Beattie McGuinness Bungay on JCDecaux’s Transvision screens in railway stations.

Exton, Pennsylvania-based Scala, provider of end-to-end solutions for the digital signage and advertising management markets, has named RGB Communications, Berkshire, England, as its sole distribution partner of its new SaaS offering, Scala QuickStart, in the UK and Irish markets.

RGB Communications, technical trade distributor of audio visual connectivity, will also provide Scala QuickStart customers in its markets ongoing product support and consultation to assist them in making the most of their digital signage networks.

Scala QuickStart builds on the basis of Scala’s SaaS offering. It provides the power, flexibility and reliability of Scala through a quick, easy and cost-effective digital signage deployment for companies seeking a solution for a few single-channel media players. It is considered a perfect solution for corporate reception areas, educational institutions, independent retailers and many other users who do not want to be concerned with complex network management without compromising on content quality and delivery reliability.

The newest programming on Ivine, California-based PumpTop TV screens is urging gas station customers to ‘Pump Up at the Gas Pump’ through fun and interactive workout programming being broadcast at thousands of gas pumps across te U.S..

The new exercise program was created by PumpTop TV and ExerciseTV, the leading digital fitness network that provides fitness videos, workout plans and exercise tips to support a healthy lifestyle through a cable video-on- demand channel, DVDs, an iPhone app and online at www.ExerciseTV.tv. PumpTop TV features 30-second exercise videos at gas stations across the country.

Viewers can download 10 videos of exercises that can be done at the pump, or, anywhere else, at www.exercisetv.tv/pump. These 10 original videos were created exclusively for PumpTop TV by ExerciseTV, which was founded by Jake Steinfeld of ‘Body by Jake’ fame.

ExerciseTV trainers provide a quick tutorial and then demonstrate in 30 seconds how the exercises are done. Customers are now stretching, bending, and lifting as they watch 30-second videos that teach quick and easy exercises to supplement any fitness regimen.

“Pumping gas is five minutes of down time that could be used to fuel a healthy lifestyle,” says Chris Mansolillo, ExerciseTV general manager. “So why not get pumped up at the pump with effective 30 second video programs in over 15 categories including abs, yoga, cardio, Pilates, pregnancy workouts and kickboxing?”

Doug Woo, executive vice-president of AdtekMedia, parent company of PumpTop TV, says, “These new 30 second workout videos are a unique and interactive way to jump start the rest of your day. This reflects PumpTop TV’s continuing commitment to millions of viewers at the pump to bring fun and freshness to the gas station experience.”

PumpTop TV is viewed by more than 12 million motorists each month. Exercise TV reaches more than 37 million customers through its various mediums and avenues.

Scala are all set later today to announce an acquisition. There is a company wide call this afternoon – which could be simply to tell all the employees about how good March 2010 was for them (which it was we believe) but is most likely to be news of said acquisition.

It will be interesting to see who and what sort (of acquisition) it is but here are our thoughts…

1. A SaaS provider? This would probably be an admission that either their brand doesn’t resonate in that sector or their app hasn’t translated well to that model. With the focus the company, especially Europe has at the moment on Scala QuickStart we doubt that this is the case. Buying a SaaS provider could of course be a customer grab.
2. An interactive provider? This would be more like it and a nice extension to what they offer now. It’s an incredibly interesting space for us as we have one project on the go internally looking at the interactive / touch gesture space for investment. There’s also a lot of scope in this space to acquire specialists in interactive content tools.
3. Analytics? Apart from DS-IQ (and it’s not them btw) we are not sure who is a candidate – it would make no sense to try and buy any of the automated audience measurement folks when (as proven by STRATACACHE and 121View) it is relatively easy with the right chipset to build your own algorithms into your own software.
4. Mobile? Again an incredibly interesting space and lots of scope for clever vendors to lay down a marker here but we don’t see Scala going there just yet
5. Someone else in our DSTop10? Whilst we do expect consolidation of our Top 10 Digital Signage vendors, Scala are an unlikely candidate to kickstart that process. EnQii should merge with BroadSign, Jason should sell signagelive and go live on a caribbean island, C-nario may not be a going concern for much longer – they certainly don’t seem serious about this space anymore and have no real big deployments anymore AND Dynamax simply need to be bought (that’s a good customer grab if anyone is listening and wants the OOH sector as customers) but hey that’s another story (and another post so watch this space!)
6. Not an Acquisition but an IPO? There’s one more possibility; that it is not an acquisition but an announcement that Scala would go public. We don’t think this is likely at this time but going public – probably on the Oslo Stock Exchange in Norway is a remote possibility. Scala originated in Norway in the late 80’s and went through a series of investment rounds much of which was actually preparing for a Nasdaq IPO in 1995/96 (a poor launch of early products blew that plan). Meager years followed and Scala nearly went under completely in 2001 until a new Norwegian investor (having made their fortunes in the oil and shipping business) and a re-focus on digital signage brought them back to life. Back in 2007 there were rumours and even artcles in the Norwegian business press about one of the investors pushing for an IPO. We still think it is too early for them but you never know?

And for those of you who simply think that all us industry analysts and commentators make all this up as we go along, take a look at Gill Berba’s excellent article over on his WireSpring blog ‘M&A List: Digital Signage Mergers, Acquisitions and Bankruptcies‘ which was published last night!!

If you are exhibiting at #ScreenMediaExpo and looking to hire then Steve Morahan at DOOHjobs may just have the deal for you.

Steve tells us that to mark DOOHJobs recruitment surgery, in association with WOOP!m they are offering exhibiting companies a complimentary job posting credit on www.doohjobs.com

They have a limited number of credits worth GBP 95 each to give away to organisations who are looking to recruit.

All requests recevied before the show will not only be displayed on the site but also on the screens on the stand!

To receieve your credit email s.morahan@doohjobs.com as soon as possible.

Note the bespoke graphic that Steve is using (shown to the right here) to advertise never.no‘s TextTheStand service ‘Text STAND H1 to 60155‘ on the screens on his stand.

Yesterday, with little or no advertising that we could see, NewBay Media ran their 2010 Virtual Conference for Digital Signage. Whilst it only had 8 booths and as best we could tell, something like 412 folks who actually logged on (not sure if that includes the exhibitors) it wasn’t too bad and with a bit of marketing could certainly be improved.

Dave Haynes told us “I don’t think this thing is entirely without merit, and hats off for trying it at least” and we’d fully agree with that BUT would have to point out that any onlne (virtual) conference is always going to be a numbers game – 400 folks online is pitiful when u think that several thousand actually make their way to Las Vegas or London for (proper) events!

It’s all down to marketing and exposure.

The online system they used was very good – it was a shame that their online system didn’t support Chrome but that wasn’t a show stopper and I expect that folks just fired up IE (yuk) , Firefox or Safari instead. The chat sessions were good, some of the women in the promotional videos on the booths very good looking and the vCard exhange of information worked really well – all told the whole thing held together quite well!

Quite why Cisco bother with these sorts of things is anyone’s guess. Everyone we know who tried to engage Cisco in pricing discussions about DMS left disappointed and none the wiser.

Who attended the event? Well one informed source told us “We would guess 10 per cent NewBay Media people (i.e. the organisers), 20 per cent end users, and 70 per cent biz dev, sales people and independent consultants sniffing for their own business!!” – perhaps that’s about right for any industry event these days (#CETW not withstanding of course).

We’d love to know what NEC and Cisco paid for their presence because the ROI justification would be tough at only 400 or so online (and guess what? Yep; it’s all measurable)?

The usual consultants were online; Lyle Bunn, as well as the international man of mystery and Laura Davis Taylor (ex-consultant now of course having previously been assimilated by the Carpet and Rug Institute as VP of Global Retail Strategy) but all did a good job promoting discussion.

Again, this is quite a good idea and I guess it’s a start.

We made brief mention of this last week, see ‘Das Glasperlenspiel‘ but now have a bit more understanding into what is probably the second largest digital signage install in Germany at present.

echion AG kicked off this project with Deutsche Telekom AG in the branches of REWE Markt GmbH – from April 2010 around 480 outlets operated by the food retailer will be equipped with In-Store TV systems.

echion Director Marc Doderer told us that “the REWE project provides a clear indication that the food retail trade will increasingly make use of the benefits of moving images at the point of sale (POS)”

He added “With the help of In-Store TV we can access consumers in a completely new way in the actual sales area. Information which is relevant to their purchase, product advertising and infotainment will make the shopping experience more compelling, help the brand communication of the retailer and will also create positive purchase incentives. The design of the moving image content takes full account of the media habits of modern customers. It offers major advantages compared to static media such as billboards and ceiling hangers.”

According to Doderer, the content creation, control and marketing for the REWE projects will all be handled by the Augsburg-based company, “At echion’s head office we ensure that the REWE image channel is filled with perfect content and properly controlled. At the same time our subsidiary, Magma Media, the market leader in the field of media marketing at the point of sale in German food retailing, is responsible for approaching industry customers. The supply and integration of the technical infrastructure is carried out by Deutsche Telekom acting as the general contractor. This enables us to supply REWE with the complete package from a single source.”

Doderer is convinced of the pioneering nature of this project for German food retailing “echion has been supplying successful projects in the field of In-Store media since 2000 for well-known retailers such as real, HIT and the shoe business, RENO. The REWE project is now the ultimate trial for the digital signage medium in food retailing.”

About echion AG

echion AG is based in Augsburg and specialises in media brand systems at the point of sale. Our customers, retailers with chains of outlets, appreciate the contribution that echion makes to creating added value. As the technology and quality leader we offer individual bespoke communication solutions to act as the pinnacle of successful trade marketing. Standards were yesterday – echion is the future!