DailyDOOH

For the third consecutive year, Google and Beaver Group are helping us kick off London Digital Signage Week (May 13-17, 2019) with a free-to-attend masterclass session at Google’s amazing Kings Cross, London Headquarters

The masterclass is entitled ‘Storytelling with Digital Signage’ and has a truly superb speaking lineup: –

• Ed Woodcock, Director of Narrative, Aesop. Ed is responsible for overseeing the strategy and editorial departments at Aesop, a company that rigorously applies narrative concepts to marketing problems – treating brands like stories, and campaigns as chapters in an unfolding narrative starring our clients’ brands and their audiences.
• Lyndon Fraser, Chrome Enterprise Specialist, Google. Lyndon has been a part of the Google Cloud team for over six years. During this time he has enabled customers to take advantage of services available across the entirety of Google’s Cloud solutions including AI, data management, and collaboration.
• Hemmy Edge, Program Manager, Google Cloud. Hemmy is looking after customer engagement programs and events across EMEA. Her team helps enterprises maximise their investment in G Suite and Chrome. Prior to her role in Google Cloud, she managed a global program for Google’s creative agency clients and started her career by launching the first digital storytelling training program at the BBC.
• James Hacon, Partner and Managing Director, Think Hospitality. James is a multi-award winning hospitality marketing, brand & development strategist. He has worked as an executive, consultant and investor to provide strategic advice to more than 50 hospitality brands around the world. His experience spans almost all sectors of hospitality from independent Michelin starred restaurants and boutique hotels through to multi-site restaurant brands and international hotel companies.

The event takes place: –

Monday May 13: Registration from 14.30
Google HQ, Six Pancras Square, Kings Cross, London N1C 4AG

Full details of the sessions and speakers is available here.

Interested parties should register ASAP as this is always an incredibly popular event.

The AVIXA Diversity Council are holding another meeting in London shortly, this time on Wednesday May 15, 2019 during London Digital Signage Week at the Future of Work theatre, ExCeL London during the Unified Communications Event – UC EXPO, Co-located with CCX 2019.

This particular diversity event will explore and celebrate the positive benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace along with practical suggestions for increasing diversity and inclusion in the AV industry through recruitment.

The agenda is as follows: –

15:40 Registration in the Future of Work theatre at #UCEXPO
15:40 Introduction by Kevin McLoughlin, AV Manager, Royal Society for Medicine, AVIXA Diversity Council member
15:45 Recruiting from ex-forces veterans – Justin Paveley, AVMI Project Director
15:55 Existing graduate career paths – Jack Laidlaw, BSc Audiovisual Technology Programme Leader, Middlesbrough College.
16:05 Case Study: Wendy Baker, HR Senior Specialist, Shure
16:15 Panel Discussion: moderated by Graeme Massey , MD Jacobs Massey Recruitment; Justin Paveley, Project Director AVMI; Jack Laidlaw BSc Audiovisual Technology Programme Leader, Middlesbrough College, Wendy Baker, HR Senior Specialist, Shure
17:00 Close of meeting
17:00 – 19:00 networking drinks with Pizza

It’s not complicated BUT two separate registrations are needed to attend this event;

1. Register in advance for UC EXPO to ensure free entry to where the AVIXA Diversity Council meeting is being held. Click here and use the promotional code AVIXAMEETUP
2. Register here for the AVIXA Diversity Council meet up itself

Attendees will be drawn from across the AV industry spectrum from end users, Technology managers, manufacturers, distributors, integrators, consultants and technicians.

London Digital Signage Week takes place May 13-17, 2019 and as with its counterpart in New York, the week is for anyone involved with digital signage and interested in retail, employee communications, smart cities, digital out of home and of course digital signage!

CACI has partnered with Huq Industries, provider of in-depth behavioural measurement data, with the aim to bring new location planning and insight capabilities to CACI’s clients, drawing on Huq’s mobile panel of 60+ million participants worldwide.

The detail and reliability in the data that Huq provides enables CACI to survey how consumers engage with the physical environment at the retail unit level, over time. These unique qualities provide valuable insights into the evolving role of commercial centres and destinations, and what motivates consumers to visit them.

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Mass Media Advertising has won an exclusive long-term contract with Reading Borough Council to provide a network of roadside large format advertising screens around the town. The initial installation, which will see a network of nine screens placed on major routes around the town, will begin in August this year.

Reading is one of the largest towns in the UK and a major hub for technology companies such as Microsoft and Oracle. We understand that the contract will also allow Reading Borough Council access to the important outdoor spaces for its own public information messages and consultations regarding local issues, as well as providing an advertising revenue to the town.

Mass Media Managing Director Mass Lambresa told us “Reading is our home town so winning this contract means a lot to the team. It’s also a major win for the company and very strategic to our growth as a major DOOH provider in the UK.”

In addition to Reading Borough Council, we are told that Mass Media Advertising’s portfolio of high-profile landlords and partners covers major cities including London, Manchester and Newcastle.

Daktronics (NASDAQ-DAKT) of Brookings, South Dakota, announced late last week the release of its small format digital billboard line. This is designed for urban environments and wallscapes, the product being intended for close-viewing audiences such as downtown pedestrian traffic areas, transportation hubs, or tourist areas.

Lamar Outdoor Advertising was the first to install this new product in downtown Des Moines, Iowa (shown above).

Tim Jameson, Lamar VP/Iowa-Nebraska territory manager told us “We are truly thrilled with our new Daktronics 10-millimeter wallscape. Our location is very unique in that it sits in the heart of downtown Des Moines on the side of a parking garage in the middle of an entertainment district. It sits high enough for road traffic but low enough for foot traffic and the farmers market is literally on the ground below this beautiful new display. We couldn’t be more pleased about the clarity of colors that it produces. I just wish all of our digitals looked this awesome.”

Available in both 8- and 10-millimeter line spacings, these high-resolution, small-format displays use SMD (surface-mount device) LED technology, enabling up-front viewing, wide viewing angles and the ability to cut through sun with adjustable, high-brightness.

Collin Huber, Daktronics Out of Home market manager said “Advertisers are looking for uninterrupted ways to communicate their brand and messages with flexible, real-time advertising options. Our recent addition of high-resolution advertising displays offers the same amazing image quality and reliability as our roadside displays. This allows advertisers to expand their inventory and capture new audiences with pristine messages in prime, urban locations, ultimately generating more revenue for our display partners.”

Huber also noted the new display line features an easy-to-install design that can mount to pole, wall or existing display structures to expedite the installation process.

Daktronics new digital billboard offering uses an embedded control system and the option to support third-party systems. It also features SmartLinkTM technology allowing users to power down a display remotely, avoiding unnecessary trips to the display site.

The urban display line is part of Daktronics full digital billboard offering, which in addition to the new 8- and 10-millimeter offerings, also includes 13-, 16- and 20-millimeter options as well as its high-resolution street furniture line, launched earlier this month at Digital Signage Expo. Daktronics has led the industry in innovation since installing their first digital billboard in 2001.

Signagelive has announced ArtPlayer as a new strategic partner enabling their customers to select from thousands of modern and classical artworks for playback on their Signagelive powered players and SoC Displays.

ArtPlayer is a TV streaming and digital signage art service that gives you the tools to create and display thousands of high-resolution masterpieces.

Morten Kryger, Managing Director, ArtPlayer told us “ArtPlayer can easily be implemented into Signagelive’s digital signage platform simply by adding a link to the playlist. ArtPlayer’s thousands of beautiful and crisp artworks can create great value for Signagelive customers by being used for decoration, enhancing work environment, increasing creativity and productivity, reducing stress and perceived wait time etc. In fact, research has in recent years had increasing recognition of the power of art for boosting the well-being, happiness and engagement of people.”

Fully integrated with Signagelive, ArtPlayer users can create and publish art directly into Signagelive, without the need to update manually. All subsequent changes to content in ArtPlayer are automatically updated on Signagelive players showing the ArtPlayer content.

Jason Cremins, Founder & CEO, Signagelive said “Through our Signagelive Marketplace, we aim to bring the widest choice of content and apps to our customers and partners. The inclusion of ArtPlayer to the Marketplace enables an extensive library of modern and contemporary artworks to be scheduled and published to any Signagelive supported player or display. Displaying art in the workplace and public spaces has been shown to boost productivity, lower stress and increase wellbeing; all of which are compelling reasons to add ArtPlayer to your digital signage content strategy.”

Research has shown that people work approximately 15% faster in an office with art. It can also reduce restlessness and perceived wait time in a waiting room by creating a stimulating atmosphere.

ArtPlayer is part of Cumedin ApS, a culture and media company focused on the distribution of TV and digital signage art to airports, hotels, restaurants, libraries, hospitals etc. Their vision is to become the leading global provider of TV streaming and digital signage art that can be adjusted according to purpose, style and mood for displaying in public spaces and the future digital home.

Broadsign International Inc., billed by many (including this publication) as the leading digital out-of-home marketing platform is now, surely, truly that, as it announces today that it has reached an agreement to acquire its main competitor Ayuda Media Systems.

Burr Smith, President and CEO of Broadsign told us “This is a tremendous opportunity to bring together two market leaders in OOH software. Together we can help media owners drive greater efficiency in their business while at the same time realize the full potential of the industry as it becomes increasingly digital. The OOH industry has never been in a better place. However, to accelerate growth even more, media owners and their advertisers need access to the most innovative capabilities available, such as tools for revenue optimization and the ability to sell via programmatic buying channels — both of which we can help them access.”

Ayuda was recently recognized by Deloitte Canada as one of the 50 fastest growing companies in Canada, with 647% revenue growth since 2014. Their impressive client roster includes AdShel (Australia), Astral (Canada), OUTFRONT Media (Canada), Rouge Media (Canada), Ströer (Germany), VGI Global Media (Thailand), VMO (Australia), and Vyoma (India) and of course, adds greatly to Broadsign’s long list of media owner clients, including JCDecaux globally.

It is our understanding that Ayuda will operate at first, as a separate division within Broadsign. Ayuda’s present CEO, Luc Filiatreault and employees will remain with the business.

Andreas Soupliotis, Founder of Ayuda Media Systems told us “The historical coming together of Broadsign and Ayuda makes so much sense. The combined offering of both companies creates an unprecedented best-ever offering for out-of-home media owners. I am thrilled to see these two powerhouse teams unite. The future of our industry is brighter than ever.”

This news comes after a record year for Broadsign. In 2018, the company evolved from a content management system to a DOOH marketing platform and launched three new products, including its market leading programmatic DOOH solution, Broadsign Reach. Seven months after its launch, Broadsign Reach has integrated with 17 DSP partners and has delivered campaigns in nine countries, for brands such as: foodora, John Lewis, Pepsi, Peugeot, SEAT, UFC, XITE Networks, and many more. With the acquisition of Ayuda Media Systems, the company will employ 230 people globally, and power over 425,000 signs around the world, including more than 180,000 digital signs. This transaction represents the first acquisition in Broadsign’s 15 year history.

Both companies are headquartered in Montreal. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019.

We understand that future acquisitions will play an important role in Broadsign’s strategic plans, complementing organic growth and further enhancing its position as the market leader in OOH/digital signage software.

DPAA, the leading global organization working to drive out-of-home into its digital future, announced this week that JCDecaux North America has joined its membership ranks. JCDecaux North America operates 2,100+ high quality digital screens in airports, cities, major expressways and shopping malls across the US. Advertisers benefit from JCDecaux’s exclusive digital advertising networks because they help brands leverage data to plan, optimize placements and broadcast relevant messages in ideal locations for the right target audience, with unparalleled creative flexibility.

Barry Frey, DPAA President & CEO, told us “JCDecaux is a leading, pioneering brand in the out-of-home space and a company that remains in the forefront of innovation and technology. We welcome them to the DPAA community and look forward to their involvement in our many initiatives.”

Jean-Luc Decaux, Co-Chief Executive Officer of JCDecaux North America, said, “We look forward to partnering with DPAA and its community to develop best practices for a very fast growing and exciting digital ecosystem.”

JCDecaux North America, Inc. is part of JCDecaux Out-of-Home Media Group, an international media and communications company founded in 1964. JCDecaux is the number one outdoor advertising specialist in the world, as well as the market leader in Europe and in Asia Pacific. As the inventor of the “street furniture” concept in 1964, the JCDecaux Group is one of only two companies worldwide to focus exclusively on outdoor advertising and develop activities in all three segments: street furniture, billboard, and transport advertising.

Srinivas Rao, best-selling author and host of popular podcast The Unmistakable Creative, will headline AVIXA’s TIDE (Technology. Innovation. Design. Experience.) conference at #Infocomm19 in Orlando, Florida.

The #TideConference brings together innovators from design, architecture, technology, live events, and art to discuss the dynamic results and incredible experiences that experiential design plays in business.

Srinivas Rao told us “We live in a world where every individual and organization has a microphone. When a business doesn’t understand or can’t articulate their unique value proposition, they will drown in a sea of noise. The temptation is to look at competitors. But mimicry is a short-term fix that will make your products and services obsolete in the long run. At TIDE, we’ll uncover what makes an organization truly unique and develop the mindset required to take creative risks that lead to innovative products and services.”

The #TideConference takes place June 11 at the Orange County Convention Center, the day before the InfoComm floor opens. He will join a speaker line-up of designers, brand marketers, architects, integrators, and live events producers who will share their perspectives on the role audiovisual technology plays in different environments to elevate experiences.

More information and registration can be found here.

If rumours are to be believed then all may not be well in the world of SIS Digital Vision Limited / SIS Digital / 8 Outdoor. We were the first two weeks ago to break the news that Cennydd Roberts, the CEO of 8 Outdoor was to leave the business. The official release on that is now out, which states that he will finish at the end of April and we get the usual platitudes…

Cennydd Roberts, Chief Executive, 8 Outdoor quoted as saying “I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved over the last three-and-a-half years at 8 Outdoor. It’s now established as a dynamic and innovative force in the out-of-home sector with a strong and highly talented team of people in place to take it into its next phase. I’m confident 8 Outdoor will continue to succeed and grow and I wish everybody involved with the business every success” and Simon Grice, Group CEO & Founder saying “Cennydd Roberts was appointed as the first CEO of 8 Outdoor in October 2015 and has been instrumental to the growth of the business from a start up to the successful business it is today. Cennydd’s strategy and vision has placed 8 Outdoor on a fantastic path to further growth and success for many years to come. We wish Cennydd all the success for the future”.

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