DigitalSignage Issue 5

issue #5

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Editorial:

Upwardly Mobile

Story: Christopher Holder

C

M

Y

CM

MY

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CMY

o, I just got an iPhone 4S today.

And… I get it, but I don’t get it.

My brain says: it’s only a phone for heaven’s sake. But there’s a part of me – a part of me, I must confess, I’m not hugely proud of – that’s saying “it’s mine, all mine!”. (In my mind’s eye I’m imagining the Warner Bros cartoon where Daffy gets shrunk and he’s scurrying around Aladdin’s Cave squeaking those words, pathetically trying to protect his loot.)

One thing’s for sure, smartphones are becoming extensions of ourselves – in some cases they just about define us. They’re always with us, they store our personal info, they’re a geo-location beacon and what’s flashed on the display normally occupies our undivided attention.

In short, they’re a marketer’s dream.

So who needs digital signage. Right? Everything that a billboard or retail signage does can be done better via a mobile device. Yes? With mobile devices we can communicate directly with consumers in a way that they want to hear the message, when the want to hear it and where they want to hear it. There’s no contest, mobile wins. Right? Well, not so fast.

The jury is in and mobile is at its most potent when tag teaming with signage. If you want your tech-savvy constituents to interact with your brand then give them something fun/novel/stimulating to do on their smartphone. This is done best when they’re interacting with a place-based screen.

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Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

When you think about how this is being done, right now, we really are only taking baby steps. I love the McDonalds Sweden Pick n’ Play case study (where customers play a computer game on a big screen for free food – see above), but it does illustrate how we’ve hardly scratched the surface of consumer interaction. Have a look at the game in question. It’s Pong, for goodness sakes! And in the same way that videogames have evolved out of sight since Pong in the ’70s; digital signage and mobile customer interaction has a ways to go.

Dave Gittins, in his column later this issue, highlights a few ways in which your mobile device will tag team with retail signage. Already touch n’ go mobile technology is being introduced and this is sure to revolutionise the way we interact with brands within the retail environment (and elsewhere). Music is another way that we viscerally relate to brands, and already a mobile app such as Shazam is allowing us to make that connection more tangible. Exciting times.

But as for the mobile versus signage debate? I think it’s hollow. The smart money is on both.

Postscript: I look forward to seeing you all at Digital Signage World in Sydney later in March. Please drop

by DigitalSignage’s stand and say hello.  Christopher Holder, Editorial Director

Reach out to Chris at: chris@dsmag.com.au

K

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CONTENTS ISSUE 5 2012 Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086

Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353

Publication Director: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@dsmag.com.au) Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@dsmag.com.au) Publisher:

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Philip Spencer (philip@dsmag.com.au) Art Direction & Design: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au) Additional Design: Leigh Ericksen (leigh@alchemedia.com.au) Contributing Editor: Graeme Hague (news@dsmag.com.au) Technical Editor Andy Ciddor (andy@av.net.au) Accounts: Jen Temm (jen@alchemedia.com.au)

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IN ACTION 12 Channel 7, Sydney 14 Burberry Store, Sydney

NEWS 8 Digital Signage World Preview 34 News & Product Info

TECHNOLOGY 10 Living Surface 11 Transparent LCDs

FEATURES 22 Rebel Sport, Bondi 24 Westfield Sydney 30 CBA, Darling Park

COLUMNS 16 Trevor Jones, PHD Creative 18 Damien Edmonds, Edmonds Marketing 22 David Gittins, The Innovation Hub

REFERENCE 36 Who’s Who Company Profiles COMMENT 42 Mug Punter

Circulation Manager: Mim Mulcahy (subscriptions@dsmag.com.au)

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright Š 2012 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title AV is a registered Trademark.

Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication. They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974. The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy. 22/2/12

DIGITAL SIGNAGE WORLD Two days of screen media heaven.

T

he third annual Digital Signage World exhibition and conference is looming large in the rear view mirror. Bring it on, I say. I can heartily recommend this event to anyone whose job it is to investigate the business case for digital signage and to see the state of the art in this growth sector.

For those serious about getting the very best from the event and those who want to avail themselves of the latest in international received screen media wisdom, then invest in conference tickets. The event organisers have pulled together a dream team of international heavy hitters and inspirational presenters. I won’t paraphrase the entire Digital Signage World website here but I will pick out a few highlights.

One standout sees the pinup girl of digital out of home (DOOH), Ms Kajsa Dahlberg, Digital Marketing Manager of McDonalds Sweden, providing the keynote address of Day 2. If you’ve not seen or heard about McDonald’s Pick n’ Play mobile outdoor game then hop onto the DigitalSignage website and have a look. Potential Maccers customers nominate an item off the menu they’d like to win then they wait their turn to play Pong against the Maccers computer – the computer on the huge outdoor screen and the customer on their smartphone. Kajsa will tell us how she managed to pull off the digital signage coup of 2011.

I’ll also highlight the program of the afternoon of Day 2, when DigitalSignage regulars Dave Gittins and Lou Giacalone get down to the nitty gritty of deploying a successful digital signage network with three sessions: Content Creation, Creation & Delivery, and Engagement & Customers. These two gentlemen will bring their considerable experience to bear to help you avoid the mistakes they’ve seen made over the many years they’ve consulted and innovated in this space. Bring your specific queries and an open mind, and you’re sure to get a hellavu lot out of this info-packed afternoon.

Elsewhere you’re sure to find something of interest as the screen media brains behind such household names as the NAB, Westfield, UTS and Sheridan help provide a snapshot of the international state of the art.

And that’s just the paid-up conference schedule. If you’re happy to simply dip your toes in the digital signage water then download the free seminar schedule from the Digital Signage World website. The program is particularly strong this year, covering the basics, such as ‘10 Things you Need to Know Before you Set Up Digital Signage’, through to monetising your network, video walls, and content creation.

The exhibition floorspace features over 40 solution providers, showcasing the latest in technology, content management, creative services and more. Register for free from the Digital Signage World website, where you can also download the full conference schedule. – Christopher Holder  Digital Signage World: www.terrapin.com/exhibition/digitalsignage-world-australia March 20-21 2012 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre

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Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

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Living Surface Comes Alive Interactive projection system

In Action

DAT Media (a full service digital signage provider) is harnessing some smart technology from German company Vertigo Systems, called Living Surface, to bring the fun back into bricks ’n’ mortar shopping. The challenge is to design an interactive and entertaining system that will also provide all the necessary product information and isn’t too complex (potentially discouraging technophobes from giving it a try).

So what is Living Surface? It’s an interactive surface with intelligent content you can touch, experience and play with.

The digital elements swim, hop, swirl and move – always responding to the movements of one or more participants.

Hotspots can also be programmed into the projection, turning certain icons – or whatever you like – into buttons.

The image itself doesn’t need to be from a projection-based unit. The pictures can be shown on a large LCD or plasma display (for example) and the motion detection is ‘seen’ across the screens’ surface. In other words, Living Surface can exist on any scale you like (for example, a large projection with a game for branding and promotion, or a more personal gesture-controlled screen for product discovery).

DAT Media: (07) 5575 7798 or www.datmedia.com.au 10

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

‘But haven’t I seen something like this before?’ Quite possibly, but most likely in the more controlled environment of an art gallery or tradeshow. What’s special about Living Surface is its tolerance to spurious ‘distractions’ or outside

influences. Thanks to Vertigo Systems’ infra-red camera and motion detection technology, the interactive display will stay selective and obey only the users, not passers-by who happen to be waving to their mum at a critical moment. Improving the motion detection technology, focusing it tightly inside a display area, has allowed Vertigo Systems to fully develop Living Surface products for busy retail outlets.

I’m hearing cogs turn in the brains of retailers. Already, experience suggests that Living Surface is something suppliers want to be involved with, making a Living Surface a cost-neutral exercise… or better still, a money spinner.

For example, the interactive applications and content can be customised to promote a certain product or brand (or several) – something suppliers are attracted to especially as part of a wider promotion or product launch.

Getting to grips with the possibilities of a Living Surface installation isn’t a theoretical exercise – it needs to be experienced! In the meantime, have a look at examples of Living Surface in action on the DAT Media website. You’ll begin to understand how easy it is to create complex interactions and to exchange graphics and logos with your own branding and advertising content.

Contact DAT Media, the Australian exclusive representatives of Living Surface, to see how your retail environment can be brought to life. – Graeme Hague 

Top See-Through Transparent displays set to rock retail.

Transparent displays have landed, and the retail implications are as multifarious as they are obvious. Head along to the DigitalSignage website and see these displays in action and, if you’re in retail, your imagination will soon run wild. The display case will never be the same. Product launches will be a whole new experience. Mobile phone chains will be plotting their moves as we speak.

In Action

A few examples of this technology have crossed our desk in the last few months: First up, the Interactivity Transparent LCD comes in two sizes, 22-inch and 46-inch, and, as discussed, is designed to be mounted in front of any real product that can be framed by the LCD screen. You can upload content to the LCD in Flash, AVI or WMV formats via USB. It provides a transparent background so the product placed behind effectively becomes a part of the digital signage display. Aspect ratio is 16:9 and there are optional chrome floor stands to jazz things up further. Touch sensitivity can be added, too. The two models sell for $687.50 and $1687.50 respectively.

Mood Media Australia has launched a new Transparent LCD screen as well (pictured). Simon Lee, Sales & Marketing Director of Mood Media Australia said: “This is brand new technology for the Australian market that is sure to have an enormous impact on a range of store designs and physical product showcases and we are very exited to be making this available to our retail clients, design and agency partners.”

The Mood Media press release goes onto say that Transparent LCDs can be used to showcase products by integrating it into shop windows, refrigerator doors(!) or to create digital showcases to enhance the visual merchandise experience. Products can be placed behind the transparent screen and then content overlaid to create a totally new visual experience. 

Mood Media Australia: (02) 8514 8446 or www.moodmedia.com Interactivity: (03) 9500 1401 or www.interactivity.com.au Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

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NEWS PANORAMA Channel 7 picks Panasonic plasmas.

In Action

Panasonic: 132 600 or www.panasonic.com.au Mediatec Group: www.mediatecgroup.com.au

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Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

The Seven Network has revitalised its Martin Place news set in Sydney with the installation of three Panasonic 103-inch full hi-def commercial plasma display panels. The panels provide an impressive backdrop for the national and local daily news bulletins that are broadcast from the set to up to 400,000 viewers at peak times. The set was specifically designed to accommodate the large plasma panels, which span a 6m-wide space directly behind the newsreaders. The panels replace a 2.5m projection screen previously used as the set background.

According to David Lewis, Facilities Manager of Broadcast Operations at the Seven Network, the panels’ sheer size as well as superior resolution and image quality were key factors in deploying the solution: “The Panasonic Plasma solution satisfied our requirements for an eye-catching set backdrop with excellent image quality and striking dimensions that was also flexible in terms of content,” he said. “The challenge for us was to find a display solution that allowed our team to present a wide variety of content in any combination across all three screens simultaneously with exceptional picture quality, such as live backgrounds, live remote crosses as well as both still and moving graphics.”

“It was also crucial that the displays were robust and reliable for use in such a demanding ‘live on air’ environment that is used 365 days a year,” he said.

The news set is used to broadcast the 11:30am News (Network), local hourly updates, the 4.30pm News (Network) and 6pm News (local) as well as two local updates and two Network updates each evening, totalling around three and a half hours of news content every day.

The network’s design team, 7Design, creates and updates the content through the Studio Control Room (excluding live content), and the vision is then processed through a Vista Spyder unit that controls and manipulates all elements in an effective and reliable presentation.

“We have been very pleased with the results that the solution has delivered – it has met all our expectations for a robust, reliable and certainly visually stunning backdrop to our news set,” added Mr Lewis.

Mr Lewis also praised specialist AV solution provider, Mediatec, for providing the network with excellent technical and design support both during the installation and after completion.

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Burberry: Dressed to Impress Marblous Orion screens

In Action

Last issue, DigitalSignage featured Burberry’s Sydney flagship store. Unfortunately, the contact details for the über-impressive video walls weren’t correct – it was, in fact, the Orion MPDP Plasma wall, distributed in Australia by TR Vidcom.

There’s no question that TR Vidcom exceeded Burberry’s expectations on this job. According to the brief, the solution would need to present cutting-edge quality and usability. Specifically, the technology would need to allow for multiple signal feeds and remote connection. Versatility was a key characteristic in this complete solution, as an eye-catching configuration would also need high functionality on the technical side – a crisp design and clear picture would not be enough. Any technical faults would need to be fully manageable at all times while maintaining a visual concept that stood out. Throughout the process, integration required factoring in the demographic aesthetic. An uncommon vertical or portrait installation of the main Video Wall completed TR Vidcom’s fulfilment of this turnkey solution.

TR Vidcom’s exclusive distribution has seen a number of exciting installations for some of Australia’s leading corporate, retail, marketing and entertainment sectors. 

TR Vidcom (Orion Videowall): 1800 843 266 or www.trvidcom.com.au

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Creative:

Why Content Should Come First Trevor Jones is the principal of phdcreative, a retail marketing agency, based in Sydney. He works across the creative and digital teams to help brands take advantage of the opportunities offered by integrating traditional with digital communications. phdcreative was an early advocate of the power of digital placed based media to engage consumers in the retail environment. You can learn more by visiting www.phdcreative.com.au

Story: Trevor Jones

“I

t’s getting better, it really is…” This was the claim of a colleague of mine in the digital signage industry, after I told him the story of a recent meeting with a potential client, which had left me deflated.

The meeting was called to discuss the concept of putting a digital network into a national retail chain. My focus was on providing a content solution and having discussed the client’s objectives, I presented our ideas and potential costs, at which point the client asked, “why can’t we just put PowerPoint slides up there? It would save us money.”

Fortunately, this was an extreme case of a client not understanding the real value and role of digital content. However, when my colleague claimed the situation in the industry was getting better, I had to ask myself: was my experience with this client the exception, or was it the norm?

There’s evidence that supports both cases. For example, one major retailer has just started to roll-out a managed network in its retail stores but is displaying the same static creative used in its catalogues. It’s cluttered, confusing and totally useless for the media. It’s ineffective and is a waste of hardware that has been positioned very well.

On the other hand, I’ve been observing the digital content strategies of the telcos with great interest. They seem to be getting it mostly right, employing a good mix of simple external messaging with more detailed product information inside their stores. They understand that each content zone has its own specific role to play. They are producing content that meets the needs of consumers while successfully communicating their own brand values.

So while there are signs of encouragement, overall, I’d say that most retailers and marketers still haven’t got their heads around the possibilities of digital content.

The power of effective digital content is undeniable. When done well, it enables marketers to communicate targeted messages that engage with audiences far more effectively than static POP or out of home.

However, the single biggest failure of both managed and mediabased digital signage networks, is that those brands using them regularly fail to develop content specifically for the media, and, which meets audience needs.

If you’re a managed network owner, your network is communicating to the most targeted audience that you’re likely to access: your customers, in your stores. Why would you not make every effort to provide them with relevant, interesting and dynamic content that engages them and drive sales?

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Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

Alternatively, if you’re using digital out of home (DOOH) as part of your ad campaign, it’s your chance to really stand out, especially as you’ll be one of the few brands that utilise the media properly. And you know what? Your digital creative could be the most cost effective part of your campaign. With simple animations created from existing creative, your costs will be a fraction of your overall TV or out of home budget.

If you want your digital network or media campaign to be successful, getting the basics of your content right can have a huge impact. The good news is, that if you’re prepared to put some thinking in up front, it’s really not that hard to achieve.

If you are going to use digital content, either across your own managed network, or as part of a media campaign, I’d recommend that you ask yourself these simple questions:

Who’s going to see the content? Are these actual, or potential customers? Do they already know about your product, or your brand?

How long will they see it for? Are they walking past an out of home screen, or are they waiting in a queue in your store or branch? This impacts the level of complexity of your content.

There’s a big difference in being able to communicate a message to a passerby, who may glance at your content for 2-3 seconds and a customer queuing in your store for 2-3 minutes.

What are your audience’s needs? Once again, where your audience sees your content will have a big impact on what their needs are. If they are a passerby, they will have very different needs from a customer in your store.

What are the objectives of my content? Your objectives must be driven by your audience’s needs, as well as your business needs. Do you want to inform, entertain or just make them aware of your product or service? Do you want to up-sell or cross-sell? Improve sales, or brand awareness? Your digital content can meet all those needs, and even combinations of a two or three, but be careful not to try and achieve everything through one piece of content or campaign.

What action do I want them to take? So many pieces of digital content seem to ignore the opportunity to get its audience to take action. Always remember that once you’ve got your audiences’ attention, they’re more susceptible to your messages.

Once you’ve clarified these questions, you’ll be in good shape to create content that works and that focuses on the capabilities of the media, as well as the needs of your audiences.

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Retail:

Screen Media: So Much More Than Technology Damien Edmonds is an independent marketing and change consultant for the screen media industry in the Asia-Pacific region. Damien’s background is in international media and marketing. He’s been involved with the digital screen media industry since 2005, having worked with Eyecorp UK, Clear Channel UK and Laqshya India. He sat on the UK’s Outdoor Advertising Association’s digital board and has spoken in Australia for Popai and InfoComm. He is a Chartered Marketer and has a post graduate certificate in Change Management: Damien@edmondsmarketing.com.au

Story: Damien Edmonds

D

igital Signage World exhibition is bringing out a lady called Kajsa Dahlberg.

She’s the Digital Marketing Director of McDonald’s Sweden. If you’ve not seen McDonald’s Pick ’n’ Play campaign then you’re missing out (go: www.digitalsignagemagazine.com.au for a look). It’s the first real example of out-of-home consumers being creatively engaged by a large digital advertising screen.

Pick ’n’ Play demonstrates what can happen when all links in the chain are working: hardware, software, content, data integration, field operatives. But, if the content isn’t right, then your system will still fail in the customer’s eyes.

If you are to truly engage your audience, the following elements of communication should be understood: Communication involves a sender, an intended recipient and a message. This process is complete once the receiver has understood the message in a manner intended by the sender.

Marketing identifies, satisfies and retains customers. Traditional marketing was a one-way flow of information from client to customer. The new social marketing approach is two way – involving both physical locations plus an ability for customers to pass a campaign on virally. Which technology to best achieve this? Take your pick.

Media is human communication through artificial channels.

Media affects what people think about themselves and how they perceive others. Internationally, business spends around $50b on ‘advertising’ in media – from old-school newspaper ads to your smart phone. In 2012, we’ve moved to ‘connected communication’ where consumers are constantly connected and where dozens of messages are either consumed or ignored each day. It should be said that the 21st century mind is very good at tuning out information. But to quote Denise MacDonell from Harris Corporation, there is a new generation of “sophisticated, connected and demanding consumers with disposable incomes in metropolitan spaces who are open to trialling your product or service” if your messaging is relevant.

Your brands are your company’s most valuable asset. A brand quickly communicates a set of promises regarding what

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Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

that company/product stands for, implies trust, consistency and a defined set of expectations, creates customer value and loyalty, commands premium pricing, and builds company credibility and staff satisfaction.

Consider your customer’s perspective. How long do customers think about your company each day? What is the ‘total package’ they evaluate when they consider your service? What are the alternatives to using your service? Not just competition, but substitutes, ie. indirect alternatives. Understanding your customer’s needs is truly important.

Segmentation allows for more efficient targeting of your audiences. Tip: A report from prominent demographer Bernard Salt (go: www.kpmg.com/au and search on ‘two tribes’) shows that lifestyle choices have a far more powerful influence on consumers’ mindsets and behaviours than demographic divisions, such as age or income. This impacts on where to deliver relevant messages – digital out of home (DOOH) advertising and digital signage at retail provides increasingly valuable commercial opportunities in association with the advent of smart phones.

Your communication objectives might include any combination of the following when considering screen media: audience engagement, increased sales or traffic in-store, increased talkability or purchase intent, collection of customer data, or simply to keep people entertained while queuing.

Screen media’s audience engagement can also be defined as a customer’s interactivity. I see screen media’s role in today’s media mix as encouraging an audience to engage with your brand as much as possible – how many clicks, or comments on forums/blogs/tweets, or Likes can your campaign achieve? Ongoing measurement is important, so you can understand how successful your campaign is towards achieving your objectives.

Marketing and communication budgets aren’t going to double or treble in the near future, however creative screen media content that communicates effectively with an audience to sell a product/ service will help to overcome any objections.

Go to digitalsignagemagazine.com.au tap on the Digital Signage in Action tab and view videos of digital signage in action, including McDonald’s Pick ’n’ Play. 

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Retail:

Future Trends In Retail.

Dave is a consultant with The Innovation Hub, a digital signage and place based media consultancy based in Sydney. Over the past six years he has designed, deployed and managed over 5000 screens across 13 networks in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He also chairs the Australian Digital Signage World Show and the Content Manager’s Forum on LinkedIn.

Story: Dave Gittins

P

icture the scene: I’m on a lunch break walking through the CBD when my phone beeps. It’s a message from my favourite clothing store: “Hi Dave, the next season’s range of Diesel jeans has just landed and we’d like to extend to you an exclusive offer of 25% off for the next two hours.”

As luck would have it (or so I think) I just happen to be passing by the store, so I drop in to take a look. As I do, my phone display automatically changes to a floorplan of the store with a route to where the jeans are sold.

Arriving in the Men’s Fashion area, I walk over to a large touchscreen and browse through the range of jeans on sale, shortlisting the ones I’m most interested in. I then save my shortlist and the screen prompts me to go to Changing Room No. 3.

As I walk into the changing room the wall mirror becomes an interactive display showing an image of myself via a built-in camera.

On the right-hand side of the screen is a menu of my shortlisted jeans, from which I proceed to select the first pair. In doing so, the chosen item is overlaid virtually onto my existing clothing.

I continue to browse while being prompted to also consider recommendations for shirts based on my purchase history. Once I’ve settled on the clothes, I simply select the assistant option and a salesperson brings my selection in the appropriate sizes.

After trying on those clothes I decide to purchase the jeans and a T-shirt. I select a payment option on the touchscreen, tap my phone against the screen for payment and enter my PIN. With the payment approved, the security micro tags wirelessly deactivates and I leave the store with my goods.

On leaving the store my mobile receives another message thanking me for visiting the store and delivers a copy of the receipt to my inbox.

Sounds fanciful? But it’s not as sci-fi as you might think. The experience described above can be delivered today, by combining software solutions from cloud, digital signage and mobile app providers.

There is no one system that does all of this today and we are finally at a point when cloud computing and the use of common programming languages have made it possible to connect disparate systems and create powerful ecosystems that deliver true convergence. There is a small but growing band of solution providers working together to build convergent platforms. Below are a few of the more innovative solutions currently on offer.

Blippar: Blippar is a mobile app that uses logos and images in advertising to trigger interactive content on the mobile device.

Users can interact with virtual products, request information, enter a competition, download content or contact the brand simply by pointing their phone at an advert.

Although better suited to print, augmented reality still has potential uses in digital signage advertising, particularly within out-of-

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home media networks where the screens may be too large and too distant for people to physically interact with them.

Tapit: NFC or Near Field Communication is going to be big… very soon. Currently being trialled by all the major banks, NFC will turn our mobile phones into virtual wallets, eliminating the need for credit cards. Simply tapping your phone on an EFTPOS terminal will initiate a payment and typing your PIN onto your phone will approve the transaction. Look out for NFC in the next generation of your smartphone.

Australian software provider Tapit recently ran a trial with JCDecaux to add NFC to a number of digital screens in its outdoor network. People passing by could simply touch their phone to a screen to receive information about the product.

ComQi: Similar to both Tapit and Blippar, digital signage software provider ComQi recently announced a partnership with Shazam, the largest mobile audio recognition service (use your mobile to listen to a song/jingle and Shazam will recognise the song and the associated brand, triggering interactions and content on the mobile device). Imagine having people’s mobile device react to TV ad jingles, theme tunes to TV shows or even particular phrases spoken in a show.

AiR: One of the more innovative platforms available today, AiR is a cloud-based rules engine that connects different software and hardware systems.

It was designed as a one-to-one mobile marketing platform but has the ability to simultaneously link with digital signage systems, websites, booking systems and databases to provide a unique ecosystem of connected digital experiences.

For example, AiR can be used to sense the location and profile of customers from their mobile phone and match the information with data stored in your CRM. If that customer has shopped with you before, it can welcome them by name and personalise the mobile content to that customers known preferences.

AiR can also be used to connect traditionally ‘dumb’ fixtures such as shelving units with intelligent systems including digital signage.

One such concept allows AiR to detect the change in product position and sends an instruction to the digital signage CMS to increase the frequency of the ads relating to the product on that particular fixture.

Looking at the examples listed above, it’s clear that software development is moving at a rapid pace and yet no single platform is going to provide a seamless user experience across mobile, online, social media and digital signage. Systems that can integrate with other applications through the use of APIs or common interfaces such as Web Services will stand out above their competition – subject, of course, to the functionality and services they offer. Make sure you ask your software providers how well their product plays with third parties.  Click on the ‘Digital Signage in Action’ tab for examples of the technology mentioned in this article – www.digitalsignagemagazine.com.au

Good Sports

Web Content: See the Rebel Sport signage in action on the DigitalSignage website.

Rebel Sport hits digital signage home run.

Story: Graeme Hague Photos: Miguel Trinity

Y

ou may have noticed that sport has become big business – and I mean, big business. Cricket balls are being big-bashed in all directions, the Australian Open – a circus of flamboyantly-clad players, chanting fans and bright blue, yes, blue, tennis courts – has broken all records, we’re all trying our best to get excited about the A-League soccer – sorry, football – but c’mon, it ain’t AFL or NRL… and you can fill in all the gaps with golf, swimming, cycling, netball, F1… even darts!

CLOTHES MAKETH THE SPORTS DUDE

Product endorsement and sponsorship are providing much of the funding behind professional sports. It’s created an enormous market for sporting equipment and clothing, with the latter often treading a fine line between trendy fashion and clobber you want to wear while rolling in the mud chasing a footy. Not only is it an enormous market, but it’s cut-throat, and retail companies like Rebel Sport are well aware there’s a fierce competition of a very different kind to attract customers into its stores. When it was time to give its Bondi Junction store in the Westfield Shopping Centre a lick of paint and a makeover, always looking for the cuttingedge advantage, Rebel Sport enlisted the aid of a retail architectural designer who put digital signage at the top of his list of improvements.

Rebel Sport’s marketing department began some initial research into the various digital signage providers, while others in the Rebel Sport group started chatting with Stelatel Communications. Stelatel had been installing in-store audio, background music and data networks in one form or another for over 10 years and has also more recently been dealing with digital signage. Eventually, it was Martin Blunt and his crew at Stelatel that got the gig.

WESTFIELD SCREEN POLICE

By this time the architect was already putting forward a design and theme for the store’s new look, including a layout of the screens. Consultation with the team at Rebel confirmed a few obstacles to overcome – mostly that the Westfield management has strict policies in regards to what and where you can place digital displays – not in windows, for example – practically forcing any digital signage to be well inside the store. Plus, Westfield itself has some eye-catching signage nearby – meaning dragging the shopper’s attention into Rebel wasn’t going to be easy. Despite these best-laid plans of meeting the challenges, early in the project it became obvious that balancing the client’s wish-list, the architect’s vision, the allimportant budget was going to be tricky.

LINE OF SIGHT

The space within the store largely dictated where the screens should go – in a good way.

A balcony front that stretched the width of the shop was a prime location for a single line of screens that would be impressive, running

in a continuous ribbon across the customer’s line of sight from most areas of the floor.

The architect’s original concepts also had the screens curving to carry on down a side wall, amounting to something in the order of 28 screens in all. The vision was for a coliseumstyle feel of a sports stadium. It was an impressive and ambitious vision but achieving a curved screen was entering bespoke signage territory and the attendant cost increases that goes with that. Indeed, the possibility of installing signage in other areas of the store was also explored. But constraints such as – no screens near the changerooms thankyou – put paid to those proposals. The call was made to restrict the video screens to the balcony front – 15 screens in all.

ENTER THE SPOIL SPORTS

In another twist: the balcony itself put up an argument – when it was realised the total weight of the video wall was going to be something close to half a tonne, the structure of the balcony required closer scrutiny.

It was Stelatel’s turn to get creative. Martin’s solution was to mount the screens on a box truss-like construction that avoided making any demands of the balcony’s integrity at all.

The truss would be supported on its own legs and, in fact, produce a kind of industrial/ outdoor concert appearance that could inspire an interesting theme of its own that the whole store might adopt. There was an existing stadium look created by Rebel anyway, including a faux grass playing field on one wall. Nice,

Job: Rebel Sport, Westfield Bondi Junction

Purpose Drive sales within Rebel Sports’ Bondi store. Potentially act as a trial for a broader initiative.

The Team System Integrators: Stelatel www.stelatel.com.au Content Developers: Custard www.custardsydney.com Spinetix Media Players: Madison Technologies www.madisontech.com.au

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Big brands are also starting to take notice – and here’s where the real potency of the Rebel network begins to rear its head

outside-of-the square thinking, Martin – but unfortunately, Westfield Shopping Centre management stepped in and declared the truss couldn’t be done – rotten spoil sports (hah! I knew I could squeeze spoil sports into this story somewhere).

So it was back to the balcony and making that work instead. There was another momentary flicker of forward-thinking from Stelatel. The balcony front was bisected by a column and so building the rest of the fascia outwards to create a continuous, flat area was briefly contemplated, but once again it was deemed not worth the expense. Some serious carpentry was employed instead, strengthening the balcony with extra timber.

RIGHT EQUIPMENT

For mounting the screens Martin chose a new modular wall mount from Vogel’s Professional. These are a ‘strip’ mounting plate that you run as far as you want, supplied in a variety of standard lengths and you can even cut the last piece to suit. The design allows for tilting the display out from the bottom to allow servicing and cable connection. Clever, simple stuff.

For the displays themselves, 15 CIMA Digitec SNB 46-inch LCD monitors were used with the unit’s super narrow bezel com-

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ing into excellent use to create a near-seamless image right across the display – except, of course, for the single display mounted in the centre on that damned column. Choosing the CIMA Digitec panels also shaved some of the budget down.

And in the meantime, Madison Connective Technologies and the Rebel Sport marketing team joined forces. Each screen would require a Spinetix HMP130 media player and Custard, a specialist digital distribution agency, would use HMD content management software for creating and distributing content. It wasn’t a big leap for Pippa O’Regan, the Business Manager for Advertising at Rebel, since her department already uses a lot of graphics-based material in its workflow. A period of trialling what translated best onto the screens was all that was needed. The plan is for Custard to manage the screens remotely, however, Custard is currently loading the latest material on-site, giving them the best opportunity to check operations in the new system.

STRIKINGLY IMPRESSIVE

This is a familiar tale of the challenges and opportunities that goes along with installing a digital signage network into an existing premises. It’s not easy. It does require a number of disparate parties to co-ordinate their

efforts. And very often there are structural or landlord issues that can arise.

And after conversations with Rebel there’s no doubt that the jury is still out, in many regards. The network is still very new and its installation was a bruising experience.

But the good news is that the signage is functioning well and is a standout feature. In a showpiece, glamorous shopping centre, like Westfield Bondi, it’s often hard to compete for attention, and the high-impact displays along with the unique Custard-produced content serve to drag eyeballs into the store from the main mall.

Big brands are also starting to take notice – and here’s where the real potency of the Rebel network begins to rear its head. Plans are afoot for advertisers to ‘take over’ the screens to coincide with significant product launches. An obvious application, you might suggest. But being a signage trailblazer, as Rebel Sport has been in this instance, brings an extended period of advertiser acceptance.

The pitch is made, the content needs to authored (let’s not forget that the pallete is seven screens wide here) and the pay-off needs to be there.

But, as an independent observer of these matters, I would suggest Rebel Sport is onto an ‘unbackable’ winner. 

Innovation and ROI for business, advertising and partners 20 – 21 March 2012, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre Digital screen media is a fast evolving medium with endless potential for advertisers, major brands, retailers, outdoor network owners and communication facilitators.

Digital Signage World 2012 will bring together Australian and international leaders in digital signage and out of home advertising to share their expertise, learn from the best and make critical business connections

Brendon Cook CEO oOh! Media

Richard Herring CEO APN News and Media

Kajsa Dahlberg Digital Marketing Manager McDonald’s Sweden

Register now to secure your place. Enter promotion code: HTKT to receive a special offer price for Digital Signage Magazine readers.

Register now and get the offer price on your phone Scan this QR pattern with the camera on your smartphone.

www.terrapinn.com/dsw co-located with:

Don’t have a smartphone?

You can also register and get the offer on our website: www.terrapinn.com/dsw Quote voucher code: HTKT

2012

Westfield Upsells Westfield’s BrandSpace division makes digital out of home a no-brainer for retailers.

Story: Christopher Holder

W

estfield – the worldwide shopping centre leviathan – last year threw its considerable weight behind the redevelopment of a shopping precinct in downtown Sydney. Westfield Sydney – beneath Centrepoint tower – represents a $1.2b investment and is now one of the developer’s global flagships.

SPACE FOR BRANDSPACE

The new development allowed Westfield’s BrandSpace division to flex its muscle – setting aside prime display real estate for a big screen to attract big advertisers. For the uninitiated, what is BrandSpace? BrandSpace is the media and brand activation division of Westfield Shopping Centres which runs a range of media assets, including 21 large-format digital screens in 10 centres nationally. Each screen is located in a high traffic and high impact area such as Centre Court and above escalators. These high-impact areas will have the space to allow for the appropriate size of high-impact screen and capture the attention of the maximum number of eyeballs.

But the best position for big screens isn’t simply about traffic, it’s also about dwell time – capturing shoppers’ attention for more than a few fleeting moments to afford advertisers the opportunity to convey their message. “The screens are located in areas of high dwell time, for example, near escalators,” noted BrandSpace’s National Manager Operations & Development, Antony Keenan. “We identified that an average escalator ride is about 20 seconds therefore each advertising slot is 20 seconds in length.”

And in that 20-second slot it’s up to the advertiser to do their best to capture the imaginations of shoppers: “We encourage advertisers to be as creative as possible with their content to unlock the screen’s full potential,” continued Antony Keenan. “Equally, it can be used to display static content if the client desires.”

But a static digital billboard makes about as much sense as an audio-only TV ad, ie. not much sense at all. Thankfully, most advertisers are getting with the program. Antony Keenan again: “The impact of the screens certainly grabs the attention of shoppers. Depending on the goal of the advertiser, the messages can be tailored to a call to action for shoppers to be able to respond. Over the past six months we have worked hard to make the screens available to our retail partners within the centres. With repeat business growing, this is a good indication that the screens are delivering on the advertisers’ investment.”

IN-HOUSE CONTENT

There’s a lot more to this story than the big-ticket BrandSpace display.

In fact, there are more than 100 screens throughout Westfield Sydney.

Westfield pulled together a seasoned team to take care of all the signage requirements, including Adherettes, which won the signage tender; Interactivity, which supplied all the screens and touch components; and Abuzz, which took care of the sophisticated content and media management.

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“With repeat business growing, this is a good indication that the screens are delivering on the advertisers’ investment”

Job: Westfield Sydney

Purpose: Provide an integrated site-wide system that caters for store signage, wayfinding as well as a BrandSpace video wall.

The Team: Westfield BrandSpace: www.westfield.com Signage Head Contractor: Adherettes (03) 9214 2222 or www.adherettes.com.au Screens & Touch Panels: Interactivity 1300 797 199 or www.interactivity.com.au Content Creation & Management: Abuzz (02) 8323 5100 or abuzzsolutions.com

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The solution allows Westfield to manage the digital content across multiple devices and screens of different sizes including digital directional signage, touchscreen wayfinding, the BrandSpace video wall and multiple digital screens throughout the centre.

Abuzz developed a solution that manages all of the devices and content on one platform, allowing marketing to change their digital media content, messaging, and directions in one place via a web-based content management system.

Many of the visitors to Westfield Sydney are international or first-time visitors. The wayfinding solution includes multi-lingual translations, allowing visitors to quickly and effectively find what they’re looking for through the intuitive touchscreen interface. When not in use, the wayfinding moves into a digital presentation with the ability to play video, animation, images, messages in a highly visual and attractive format.

Further visual messaging is visible while in use while not interfering with the functionality of the kiosk.

TRADITIONAL SIGNAGE NOW DIGITAL

The signage plinths are all digitally networked, allowing centre management to dynamically change the listings and also play media on the screens. This has proven to be invaluable as sections of the building are opened up with new tenants. The possibilities are now limitless when it comes to the contextual messaging they can now provide to visitors throughout the centre.

ADD TO CART

Retail is undergoing an enormous upheaval as more shopping is done online. Retail can and must fight back with the convenience of one-stop shopping, and an experience that can’t be matched by a PC and mouse.

Westfield Sydney is at the vanguard of this fight back. And the stateof-the-art digital out-of-home advertising and signage plays a significant role. Not only do these screens have the eye of millions of shoppers every month, but clearly Westfield has some of the biggest names in retail as tenants. It’s a recipe for some very innovative marketing approaches – watch this space, as they say. 

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SIGNAGE SOUNDS LIKE

Antony Keenan: We are introducing audio into our screens to further enhance the interactivity. Our Westfield Sydney screen regularly has all advertisers including audio as part of their creative. We have also included audio at our most recent screen installed at Westfield Carindale in Queensland (which also was our first screen that rotates to capture shoppers coming from multiple directions). We are considering audio on a case by case basis with new installations and work closely with the shopping centre management teams on the inclusion of audio.

CREATIVE HISTORY

As the centre has a heritage listing, there was a requirement to provide visitors with information about the historic relevance of the site. Abuzz developed ultra-hi-def video comprising scanned archival photos and footage allowing visitors to see a comprehensive visual history in a 20-minute loop (see left). Screens were sourced from NEC Commercial.

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Bank Job

The Commonwealth Bank is supporting its 6 Green Star Office Design-rated Campus with intelligent digital signage.

Story: Christopher Holder Images: Tyrone Branigan (Courtesy of Frost Design)

Site Commonwealth Bank Place, Sydney

Purpose To influence the thoughts and actions of CBA staff as to what they’re doing in the building and how their behaviour and interaction with the building are impacting the green status and energy consumption of the building.

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T

he Commonwealth Bank has a brand new campus in Sydney’s brand new Darling Quarter district. It’s all very brand new.

And in the case of the CBA it’s “environmentally sustainable”.

Tokenistic green-washing? A few wind turbines and a lawn growing on the roof ? I think not. Commonwealth Bank Place (thanks to the work of Lend Lease, which designed, developed, constructed and project managed) does plenty that’s genuinely innovative with its power generation and water re-use and harvesting. In fact, everything about the new site is about changing habits and modifying behaviour. Gone are the days of acres of beige, fluoro-lit cubicles and hermitically-sealed levels serviced by vast batteries of power-guzzling air conditioning units. CBA’s new HQ is open, airy and green. Everything about the design encourages its staff to move about, collaborate, use the stairs, and power-down at the end of the day.

VITAL SIGNS

Sounds like CBA has got this sustainability caper covered, then.

Where does the digital signage come into play?

The CBA has employed digital signage to display the building’s ‘vital signs’ – energy consumption, water recycling; current and historical data – to enthuse and encourage staff. It’s fundamentally an internal communication that influences behaviour – use the stairs more, print out emails less – and shows them them the measurable benefits of those actions.

The data is displayed in two areas. The first is in the on-site café, where an LED display doubles as a menu board; while three Mitsubishi WD8200U 16:9 projectors replicate the data on a glazed wall, along with some stockmarket information.

MAXIMUM VISIBITILITY

The displays don’t scream for attention but they’re positioned for maximum visibility. The attractiveness of the custom graphics (designed by Frost) and the breadth of information on offer (there are hundreds stats feeds) have helped these displays to become part of the atmosphere without being paternalistic or lairy. It’s an almost subliminal message: I’m part of a company that’s actively doing something to decrease its impact on the environment; I’m playing an important role; and, you know what?, I feel pretty good about that.

The thought process for the design is that if people walking past the screens are reminded of sustainability and they can see they’re making a difference, then they will be more sustainable in their actions. Makes logical sense, I’m sure you’d agree.

Stat Attack: Real-time data communicates the environmental initiatives of the building. As well as building an image of an energetic, progressive and environmentally responsible company, it encourages staff engagement and positive change. This display uses 3 x Mitsubishi WD8200U WXGA dual-lamp 6500-lumen projectors, and 3M Vikuiti film on the glass. The WD8200U’s high brightness, network connectivity, now noise and ability to alternate between lamps during long-term use made them ideal.

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ZERO REPETITION Plugging the displays directly into the brains of the EMS (energy management system) was also a masterstroke. It means the displays are largely autonomous, cycling through a whole raft of data without the need for a daily or weekly manual update.

The design team took onboard feedback from CBA that “unless someone from the bank ‘owns’ the boards, they don’t get maintained or monitored”, hence the displays were designed to be as automated as possible, by taking feeds from the EMS, and the information is constantly and automatically updated.

That said, the EMS information would be about as interesting as watching paint dry if it wasn’t for the work of the technical and design team: Innova-Tech Consulting, CBA’s long-standing audiovisual design consultants, managed the technical design and specifications of the system’s interfaces and displays; Techmedia, which ensured the digital signage management software, Scala, played happily with the systems; and Frost Design, which was responsible for the gorgeous graphics.

BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE

Changing entrenched behaviour is notoriously difficult – especially in the workplace where habits form quickly and, ordinarily, play a positive role in getting a job done.

Commonwealth Bank Place represents everything that’s state of the art in big commercial office design. But it’s one thing to serve up the very latest in tri-generation, water recycling and energy efficient architecture on a platter, it’s another matter entirely to change the habits of those filing into work of a morning. Here’s where a welldesigned and maintained digital signage comes into its own. The CBA installation isn’t didactic and doesn’t over-reach, it has subtly inculcated its way into the thoughts and actions of its people. 

The Team Tenant: Commonwealth Bank of Australia Developer, Project Manager, Sustainability Consultant & Construction Manager: Lend Lease www.lendlease.com.au Audio Visual Design Consultants: Innova-tech www.innova-tech.com.au Graphics & Concept Design: Frost www.frostdesign.com.au Solution Supplier & Implementation: Techmedia www.connectedsignage.com.au Hardware Integrator: AllAV www.allav.com.au LED Screens: LED Signs www.led-signs.com Projectors: Mistubishi mitsubishielectric.com.au

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Powering Down: The goal is to show people the green initiatives that we’re undertaking in the building and to show how it is performing so they can see today versus yesterday and as the building ages, this month versus last month, this quarter versus last quarter and this year versus last year. Frost worked with Finemoves Media Production Company to create a wall that communicates information about the building and the initiatives CBA has taken to achieving its Greenstar rating. The wall brings this information to life, conveying live data, supported by video footage shot from around the building.

HOW DIGITAL SIGNAGE CAN HELP ACHIEVE GREEN STAR RATINGS Project Manager, Lend Lease, oversaw the technical aspects of this project and has noticed a move to employ digital signage to assist in a push to keep energy consumption down.

Commonwealth Bank Place is a 6 Green Star Office Designrated building. And to attain a a minimum 5 Green Star Office Interiors aspirational fitout, you have to be quite innovative to score the final point. Digital signage, with its ability to change behaviour, assists in reducing energy consumptions. Business is increasingly looking to digital signage within their new builds to tackle these issues.

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LOBBYING THE VIDEO WALL

ON RIGHT TRAC

Matrox Graphics announced that digital media solutions experts YCD Multimedia has selected Matrox M9140 multi-display graphics cards to drive a new 12-monitor video wall at the new South Carolina headquarters of sales and marketing firm Red Ventures.

YCD combined three M9140 quad-monitor boards within their MuVi Wall video wall system to drive the 12 monitors, all from a single computer, to run 4K, ultra-high-definition video content.

Meanwhile, new from Matrox is the M9188 PCIe x16 multi-display Octal graphics card , which is the world’s first single-slot PCIe x16 octal card, featuring the ability to support both DisplayPort and DVI Single-Link outputs to ensure wide compatibility with today’s monitors. It has 2GB of memory and advanced desktop management features, such as independent or stretched desktop modes.

The Thomastown Recreation and Aquatic Centre (TRAC) in New Zealand has had a $40m redevelopment of an existing aquatic centre into a state-of-the-art aquatic and leisure facility and has become a centrepiece for the local City Of Whittlesea council.

It features an indoor sports stadium, indoor heated water park, 50m swimming pool, outdoor water park and fully equipped health club, fitness studios and consulting suites. TRAC decided the new configuration needed a digital signage solution that would inform and entertain visitors. The solution had to be centrally managed and enable staff to instantly change the displays with a range of content such as video, TV, web content, Powerpoint, text and Flash. Facing the carpark, a 2 x 2 video wall of 52-inch displays are installed behind laminated antireflective glass and are driven by a OneLAN Net-top-box (NTB) 5505 media player. The screens displays centre information, forthcoming events, welcome messages, live video and Powerpoint presentations. At the TRAC reception desk are 3 x 46-inch commercial displays side by side each displaying content from a OneLAN NTB 510. The screens display a mix of pricing, classes, events and local news. The hallway and gym areas have two 40-inch touchscreens providing class information and schedules for visitors. All the content for each of the separate displays is designed, created and managed by the centre marketing team.

Multimedia Technology: (03) 9837 2500 or matrox@mmt.com.au

OneLAN: www.onelan.com

Global installed base of consumer connected devices will top 2.1 billion units by SUMO COUNTER TOPS: Sumo Vision has a new range of counter top solutions ranging from standard product to custom-designed cases. Aimed at point-of-sale applications or information displays (such as menus or one-off announcements) these are able to display static images or high-resolution video. Content is loaded directly into the counter top units by USB, or it can be managed remotely through the online Sumo Tools content management system. They can be built-in, provided in customised, free-standing cases with your company colours or logos incorporated in the design, and they also come available in portable, battery powered units. The 12-inch landscape

NEWS:

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model is priced at $280 and the 15inch portrait unit sells for $360.

Sumo Visual Group: 0434 775954 or www.sumovision.com.au CDT MAKES TOUCH EASIER: CDT Touch Screen Overlays are suitable for the Samsung DE and ME range of EcoFriendly LED Back lit (BLU) Displays.

The new CDT touchscreen overlay works in landscape mode and a portrait model is planned for release soon. CDT Touch Screen Overlays’ integration design provides a high-end matte black surface finish custom-built to a very high standard. Incorporating NextWindow’s new 2S thin borders and low pro-

file technology CDT have minimised the overall size of the overlay to maintain the narrow bezel and slim depth of the LED BLU panel. Clear tempered glass has been used in the overlay to maintain image clarity along with longevity and reliable non-stop operation of the panel.

NextWindow’s new 2S touch screen supports Microsoft Windows 7, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems and recognises common dual-touch gestures, such as zoom, rotate, tap and pressand-tap. Installation can be completed in a matter of minutes and sizes include 40-, 46- or 55-inch.

Image Design Technology (IDT): 1300 666 099 or sales@idt.com.au

FAIR TRADE

HARRIS PUMPS UP SPORTS BAR CHAIN

City Index is one of the leading international provider of trading products. As a group, it transacts in excess of 1.5 million trades per month on behalf of its clients. It’s known as an innovative player in the market. City Index UK completely renovated its London Finsbury Circus offices, including a significant investment in digital signage.

Harris and Swedish digital signage solutions provider, Effektfabriken, have developed and installed a new Harris Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) network that has enabled Swedish sports bar chain, O’Learys, to revolutionise the way it communicates with customers across 70 locations in seven countries.

The advanced DOOH network, already commissioned and operational in 50 of O’Learys’ bars, is based on Harris InfoCaster digital signage technology. The network provides a diverse promotional platform that offers a richer visual experience for O’Learys’ customers that extends beyond basic digital signage. This ensures the delivery of stunning visual content including HD-quality graphics and video across the network of sports bars and restaurants. Replacing blackboard communication with digital display screens, the network enables O’Learys to inform customers about their latest sales promotions, provide information about the rapidly growing O’Learys chain, and promote local events at individual bars across their enterprise operations. The highly scalable Harris DOOH network, designed and managed by Effektfabriken, is built around file-based workflows that merge broadcast technology with IT infrastructure. The Harris solution empowers Effektfabriken with sophisticated content creation, scheduling and network management tools.

The intent of the digital signage installation was to provide visitors and employees with a visually impacting display of the latest up-to-date real-time stock information. Omnivex is known for solutions that fit well with City Index’s goals.

Omnivex software enables City Index’s in-house IT team to manage the entire digital signage system from one central location. The system includes digital signage deployed in all of its conference and meeting rooms, the reception area, various office locations, and break rooms and is centrally managed from its operations pod. Managing this information system includes creating and disseminating content, integrating data from existing data sources and maintaining the system while going forward.

One of the primary areas where City Index is using Omnivex software is to manage a dramatic array of displays lining the trading floor. These displays provide access to realtime global stock exchange data and television feeds. The software can also display data changes to illustrate whether the stocks have increased or decreased in value, as well as depict this information in graphs and charts to help more clearly see trends.

Harris: (02) 9975 9700 or www.digitalsignage.harris.com

Communitech (Omnivex): (07) 3205 6188 or www.communitech.com.au

2015 – ‘Global Consumer Connected Device Market Forecast’, Infinite Research MAGENTA MULTIVIEW: Magenta’s MultiView II enhancements are all designed to make it even easier to perfectly replicate 1080p resolution (and higher) video at distances to 2000 feet. MultiView II products on display will include the MultiView II DVI, T4, STx and XRTx transmitters, plus MultiView II AK600 and AK1200 receivers. Other improvements include: no need to change internal jumper repositioning to change configurations; a totally revamped, all external configuration scheme with easyto-use buttons and status LEDs; improved EDID and DDC modes of operation; improved sync control;

fourth-pair configuration options (for aux data like serial and audio); streamlined connector locations for more intuitive rackmounting; and fully backwards compatible with all previously-manufactured MultiView equipment.

Image Design Technology (IDT): 1300 666 099 or sales@idt.com.au PHILIPS’ HD SOLUTION: Philips has launched three new multifunctional displays aimed at the upper entry level signage market.

Available in 32-inch, 42-inch and 46-inch and two 55-inch models, each of the new displays offers full HD resolution alongside an array

of new features and functionality including upgraded panels and connectivity options. All except the smallest model come equipped with an OPS slot which allow for the integration of an Open Pluggable Specification module, a standard interface being adopted within the digital signage industry.

Avico: (02) 9264 7977 or commercial@avico.com.au MULTITACTION INTERACTIVE DISPLAYS: MultiTouch has expanded its MultiTaction line of interactive displays with two new 42-inch displays, offering commercial systems integrators a smaller

unit with improved design elements and all the features associated with MultiTaction technology. The MultiTaction Cell 42-inch MT420W7 is the industry’s first embedded Windows 7 multitouch display for its size, featuring the Intel Core i7 processor. The companion MT420S offers a stackable product that can be designed for large wall, table, or asymmetric display configurations.

Lightwell: (02) 9319 0311 or www.lightwell.com.au

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WHO’S WHO:

3M AUSTRALIA 136 136 or solutions.3m.com.au When it comes to its digital signage products 3M Australia starts with the 3M Network Edition (NE) Software for scheduling, management and delivery of multimedia content. Other product offerings include 3M projectors and 3M’s Vikuiti rear projection film that transforms a window or almost any transparent surface into a screen for projectors to focus on from safely inside the premises.

A new product is 3M’s Visual Attention Service (VAS), a facility for analysing digital images and determining which areas of that image will attract the viewer’s attention within the first three to five seconds. It uses scientific comparisons of colour contrasts and shapes to help content creators fine-tune parts of images that are important or conversely scale back sections not critical to the message.

Last, but not least, 3M offers large-format touchscreen solutions including the new M2256PW Multi-Touch Display, a 22-inch (560mm) touch screen that can respond to 20 simultaneous fingers within six milliseconds. That makes it ideal for the whole range of interactive DOOH systems as long as your authoring software can take advantage of the M2256PW’s capabilities.

AERIS SOLUTIONS (03) 9544 6902 or www.aerissolutions.com.au Aeris Solutions saw the digital signage writing on the wall early and is well established in the industry with plenty of DOOH solutions on offer. It has a selection of stand-alone media players that range from entry-level to full-featured, high definition units. For networked installations, Aeris has a good handle on Sony’s DOOH line-up, offering Sony’s Ziris digital signage software in all its various forms from Lite through to Professional. Alternatively, Aeris can provide Signagelive, which is a relatively new take on Software as a Service (SAAS). Simplified, Signagelive clients share a single, common server and all use the same software to subscribe and upload to the Signagelive network via a secure Internet connection. Then through any web browser the user can manage their signage network, be it only one screen through to thousands of screens worldwide. The SAAS concept is relieves clients of the need to purchase and maintain the DOOH back-end server infrastructure themselves. The Signagelive subscription model allows them to expand or reduce their exposure as they see fit. Aeris also has in-store music solutions via Imagesound and VideoFlyer products, the latter being smaller stand-alone or networked media players enclosed within LCD screens designed for point-of-purchase installations.

AMBER TECHNOLOGY (02) 9452 8600 or www.ambertech.com.au To be strictly correct Amber Technology doesn’t have any digital signage services of its own to offer. However, it is the distributor of Gefen products, which are already listed on these pages – to mention just a few. In fact, that’s the point here. Amber

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Technology is the Australian distributor of such a large range of manufacturers, including the makers of just about every bit of electronic gadgetry you’ll need when it comes to installing a digital signage network, that it would be remiss not to bring Amber Technology to your attention. Another side to digital signage should be pointed out – plenty of companies are coming onto the scene offering to produce for clients broadcast-quality content without getting involved in the actual hardware installations. One of Amber Technology’s Professional, Broadcast and Consumer divisions can tap into a wealth of expertise and resources to help find the right studio recording or video editing equipment.

As a distributor Amber Technology may have to point you towards an authorised dealer, but don’t hesitate to give them a call.

AMX AUSTRALIA (07) 5531 3103 or www.amxaust.com.au AMX is synonymous with networking and control systems. Not surprisingly AMX has entered the digital signage industry in its own right (after all, AMX supply a huge amount of gear for everyone else’s DOOH) and have on offer two products. Inspired Xpress is for smaller or simpler installations with a ‘tiny’ media player called the Is-Xpress-1000. The integrated software is comprehensive, yet straightforward and intuitive enough to cater to clients to get their screens up and running quickly with a minimum of servicing the message afterwards.

Inspired Xpert is – as you might guess – a more serious DOOH product with better options like HD broadcasting that, among many other extras, takes advantage of those system command and control devices that AMX has in other corners of the warehouse to provide fully-blown large networks. Plus with Inspired XPert customers have access to custom content development and content management services from AMX.

CISCO SYSTEMS (02) 8446 5000 or www.cisco.com/go/dms Cisco is a large, US-based multinational companies that specialises in most aspects of modern business network and it’s surprising to learn the company originated from a husband and wife team who got peeved they couldn’t email each and decided to do something about it (no one explains why they weren’t talking to each other, but I’ll bet it was his fault). Now they’ve got over 68,000 employees and branches all over the world including Australia. Cisco Digital Signage includes three product lines: The Cisco Digital Media Manager is a web-based media management application that manages, schedules and publishes digital media to digital signage displays. The Cisco Digital Media Player is an IP-based hardware endpoint that handles the display and playback of digital media content including high-definition live broadcasts and on-demand video, Flash animations, text tickers, and more all sourced from, of course, Media Manager. The Scientific Atlanta Encoder is for live broadcasting of standard-definition video to the

Media Player. Models with both analogue and digital signage inputs are available.

COMMAND AUSTRALIA (02) 4560 1800 or www.commandaustralia.com.au Command Australia is an importer and distributor of digital signage and interactive products and provides full project management to get your DOOH designs and ambitions out there. Its products include Navori Digital Signage software, GlassVu, TransVu and other On-Glass Projection Films, Touch-Glass, Tap-Glass and interactive products such as Wincomm. If that all sounds a bit much Command can provide a complete Digital Signage Hosting service – just throw your digital signage ball into Command’s court and let it do all the worrying. It is also the authorised reseller of SoThink software, an authoring application that’s available in versions suitable for beginners through to professional programmers. However with 25 years in the IT, graphics and advertising industries Command has an impressive 2000 hours of stock ‘footage’ that can be used as a basis for your advertising designs. For hardware Command is a reseller of several well-recognised brands of projection and display devices such as NEC, Samsung, Mitsubishi and Projectiondesign to name but a few. Basically, Command is a one-stop shop for digital signage and interactive displays.

COMMUNITECH (07) 3205 6188 or www.communitech.com.au Communitech is based in Brisbane, Queensland and has the Australian and New Zealand distributorship of Omnivex Moxie, a digital signage software suite developed by Omnivex Corporation in Ontario, Canada. Omnivex Moxie offers authoring with a Layout Designer, Scheduling, Playlist Builder and more. A separate (but included) application is dedicated to synchronising large displays over grids of multiple screens, while SQLLink 4 and Datapipe are for sorting and sourcing data from all the corners of your databases. A neat application that Omnivex Moxie currently has in Beta development is the Omnivex GPS Link where digital signage that’s installed on mobile platforms like buses and trains can be linked to an onboard GPS device and the display changed according to the vehicle’s location. For example, tour buses could display information relevant to the scenery outside along with a live tracking map, and potentially public transport could display advertisements that match businesses nearby. Passengers can press their noses to the window and watch the storefront whizz by – hey, no one said the bus would stop. Communitech recently completed a project at the University of Wollongong proving that clients ‘south of the border’ are welcomed. In fact, it has done projects from the Pilbara in WA to Dunedin in NZ.

Digital Place-Based Media & Technology

DAT MEDIA (07) 5575 7798 or www.datmedia.com.au DAT Media was established in 2003 to manage BIG W’s national in-store radio network. With over 15 years experience within the in-store media industry, Managing Director Andrew Becker was quick to notice the emergence of digital signage advertising within the retail sector. He began focusing on creating a visual media solution for current and future clients to harness the power of what was still back then a developing media. The strategy resulted in DAT Media creating a complete digital media network for BIG W that now includes in-store radio, digital signage, register Point Of Sale (POS) and a customer queuing solution that reduces the frustration of being caught in a long – or even wrong – queue. DAT Media expanded rapidly as they claimed some serious scalps for clients – among them Coles, Target and ABC Shops. DAT Media offer a comprehensive Content Management System and can assist new clients in broadcasting material across existing networks such as those mentioned above or will help you create a complete digital signage network from the ground up. They also have a Creative Services department that can take the hassle out of putting everything together.

DYNAMIC VISUAL SOLUTIONS (02) 9431 6070 or www.dynamicvisualsystems.com.au Dynamic Visual Solutions is based in Artarmon, Sydney and approaches the digital signage business in a slightly different, almost refreshing way.

Rather than offer you its own range of screens, players and applications (though we should point out strong partnerships here with CoolSign and Nexcom) DVS suggests the very first thing you should consider in your digital signage concepts is exactly what you’d like to do, see and have to work with. From there, DVS will start putting a range of solutions on the table and take them right through to a turnkey completion. A distinction is made by DVS between Digital Signage, Kiosk and Video Wall systems but the tailor-made approach of building a DOOH network from the ground up based on a client’s initial vision still applies. Creative software is also sourced or supplied from inside DVS, however its parent company Digistor is an option to provide any bigger-than-Ben-Hur video content you’d like.

It almost goes without saying that full installation and support are a part of the deal.

EMSTREAM (02) 9280 2135 or www.emstream.com.au Emstream was started in 1999 by a musically minded entrepreneur who envisaged a customisable digital music service catering to the specific needs of the hospitality industry and business in general.

Today Emstream operates throughout Australia and beyond with hundreds of commercial sites connected to its services. Emstream has moved beyond just music but the vision is unchanged: to provide top quality digital media entertainment solutions to businesses. In achieving this vision, Em-

stream has developed enormous content libraries, unique customisation techniques, unrivalled delivery technology and super-reliable hardware.

ESCENTIA 1300 729 866 or www.escientia.com.au Escientia is a software consulting company providing Information Management solutions. Through innovative use of technology, Escientia develops solutions that increase productivity and are easy to use. Escientia’s consultants have over 20 years experience in the IT industry covering a multitude of disciplines including Analysis, Development, Project Management, Product Management, Marketing, Training and Implementation. Focusing on its digital signage services Escientia has two main products, Digital Tenant Directory (DTD) and Digital Menu Manager (DMM). DTD is a specific application for managing and displaying information about any building’s occupants, services, safety guides and such–usually in the main foyer. DMM is signage software aimed at menu displays, restaurants and cafes being the obvious application, but not necessarily. Escientia also provide software for medical practitioners, offer website design services and filemaker consulting. For digital signage installations Samsung hardware is usually deployed.

FUJITSU DIGITAL MEDIA SOLUTIONS (03) 9924 3468 or fujitsu.com.au Fujitsu’s digital signage services are marketed under the all-encompassing mantle of TELentice Enterprise, a concept that brings together three main components, the TELentice Player, the TELentice Monitor and a selection of Fujitsu-dedicated hardware media players and commercial display screens. The TELentice Player is a fullfeatured professional Enterprise software package for creating and managing all your broadcast media while the Monitor is a separate application aimed more towards system maintenance and control. Fujitsu Digital offers a true end-to-end solution, including content management and rights acquisition from global content providers. Thirdparty software and control can also be integrated.

Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand have earned a reputation as the single supplier of choice for leading corporate and government organisations.

GEFEN www.gefen.com Distributor: Amber Technology (02) 9452 8600 or gefen@ambertech.com.au When it started up in 1995 Gefen was developing products of its ex-tend-it Professional Series which were primarily solutions to separate the operators of audio/visual editing suites from the noisy computers, servers and peripherals of their trade. The basic tools of KVM (keyboard, video & mouse) were extended into silent environments. The original

market was post-production facilities, but the designs behind its products allowed Gefen to branch out into fields like live stage presentations, broadcast and now digital signage and, of course, there’s a bit more involved than providing a wireless mouse with fresh batteries. In the late ‘90s Gefen turned its attention to digital distribution of video and HDTV signals and another inevitable progression was to build up a large catalogue of splitters, converters, modifiers and cabling. Today Gefen caters for every signal format you can imagine. In fact, if Gefen doesn’t have the plug-converting gadget you need, you’re probably doing it wrong – not Gefen. But it’s all about connectivity for Gefen. Aside from a few media players, Gefen doesn’t provide large hardware solutions like video displays and such.

GENCOM (AUSTRALIA) (02) 9888 8208 or www.gencom.com Established in New Zealand in 1969, Gencom has provided expertise and technology solutions to the NZ broadcasting and multimedia industry for... well, over 40 years. After the first 20 Gencom expanded its operations overseas and it currently has offices and factories in Australia and Singapore, as well as a sales office in South Africa and representatives in both India and the UK. Gencom designs and builds facilities for all facets of the industry including studios and production facilities, TV Station playout facilities, transmission, outside broadcast, IPTV, web-streaming, archiving and media management.

You can see it was only a small step sideways into the digital signage business under the banner of ‘Integrated Solution’. The list of Gencom’s technology partners is long and includes quite a few of the names on these pages.

HARRIS CORPORATION (02) 9975 9700 or www.harris.com Considering that Harris Corporation has been involved in developing the network infrastructure for half the western world’s armies and navies systems, including a recent $135m contract for the Australian Defense Force, you can be confident its DOOH products should be reliable. And if you worry that digital signage will be a ‘small beer’ for Harris as the tech guys solder up the latest aircraft carrier you only need to visit its website to see Harris take DOOH solutions very seriously. From a small display in the office boardroom to large screens surrounding a massive sports arena, Harris does the lot. Its systems are based on Harris’ Infocaster products which include the Infocaster Creator, Infocaster Player and the Infocaster Manager.

The names are self-explanatory except to point out that Infocaster Players are a range of hardware components, not software. Manager provides playback functions. A further product called Punctuate is for more targeted media playback and management that includes further automation features and extras like generating invoices. Harris’ website presence is daunting, but persevere, get in touch and someone local with all the answers will drop by – probably in an FA-18.

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HERMA TECHNOLOGIES (03) 9480 6233 or www.herma.com.au Herma Technologies – the screen specialists – started business 15 years ago initially selling rear projection systems. The market (obviously) has since evolved significantly and so has Herma, which now distributes a stable of AV brands focused on the audiovisual, cinema and digital signage industries.

Herma owns and produces products under the LP Morgan, Grandview and 2C labels.

HEWLETT-PACKARD 1300 305017 or www.hp.com.au Hewlett-Packard (HP) has a Retail Store Solutions division which among the point-of-sale terminals, networked PCs and touchscreen devices there’s a digital signage range of products. Dig a little deeper and the touchscreen stuff begins to morph into the digital signage department anyway. HP offers two sizes of screens for digital signage, a 42-inch LD4200 LCD model – also available as the LD4200tm being the touch screen ‘interactive’ option – and the LD4700 which is (take a wild guess) a 47-inch version. This isn’t so much a lack of choices, but more that HP has identified what they believe are the optimum screen sizes for in-store displays and loaded all the DS goodies into these two models. Details on the software required to run your signage are a little sketchy other than to state on their website that, “our products are designed to work seamlessly together in any scenario. Together with software solutions provided by our ISV/solutions partners...” which doesn’t tell us much. They also offer to “make your entire IT lifecycle as simple as possible”. Jury’s still out on that one.

IMAGE DESIGN TECHNOLOGY (IDT) 1300 666 099 or sales@idt.com.au Image Design Technology (IDT) is based in Chatswood, NSW and operates primarily as a wholesale supplier of signal distribution equipment and commercial video displays including, of course, digital signage devices. Among a long list of products IDT is the distributor of Brightsign solid state digital signage devices and Magenta signal distribution solutions. Displays include NEC and Samsung screens. IDT doesn’t have any one particular digital signage service or software application to which they align themselves to – it doesn’t have its ‘own’ complete digital signage solution aside from the Brightsign products – instead, IDT’s specialty is in providing from its catalogue of preferred manufacturers of display and monitor screens, media players, streaming video over IP, matrix and signal distribution boxes – you name it, to get the job done. Have a look at the credits for any major project undertaken in Australia during the last few years and you’ll probably find IDT has been involved somewhere along the line.

INTERACTIVE CONTROLS (02) 9436 3022 or www.interactivecontrols.com.au Interactive Controls (IC) offers a variety of services to customers from consultation to sales, hire and installation of display and control system equipment and software. They also design and develop media and hardware control systems for specific events, installations, film and commercial shoots, exhibitions, museums... okay, you get the picture.

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products get the nod from Interactive Controls and for digital signage in particular IC offers the Medialon show and media control software and embedded controllers along with Dataton Watchout and Medialon MIP HD Interactive Media Player. There is also the Medialon Scheduler application, which allows control of multiple venues and screens from a central server. Given Interactive Controls’ wide experience in installing innovative display systems it can help you choose the best way to deliver your vision and with Medialon’s strong history in show control systems, IC will no doubt have a neat trick or two to suggest for impressing your audience.

INTERACTIVITY 1300 797 199 or www.interactivity.com.au In 2004 Interactivity was set up as a result of a partnership between F1 Software to develop the Interactivity foil which enables any window to become fully interactive ‘through the glass’ by allowing anyone, using their finger, to interact with a rear projected image or screen behind the glass. Interactivity is now embedded in this emerging popular industry of Interactive and Digital Signage and associated products. Its products and services are known for reliability, functionality and most importantly our ability to future proof the technology we deliver.

LED-SIGNS 1300 553 555 or www.led-signs.com.su With 35 years industry experience LED-Signs has manufactured, designed and installed over 5000 high quality LED visual displays in Australia and New Zealand. LED-Signs specialises in indoor and outdoor solutions which combine superior design, longevity, and environmental toughness. Its product range includes video super screens, multimedia displays, multi-line and scrolling signs, directory boards, gaming displays, scoreboards and multi panel LCD displays.

LG ELECTRONICS (02) 8805 4409 or b2b@lge.com.au or www.lg.com.au When it comes to digital signage LG Electronics has a Business Solutions sector that focuses on the supply of a wide range of LG Commercial Displays. Some are unique designs such as its ‘long stretch’ models – half-height widescreen displays that look trés cool – plus there are standard HD widescreen displays and large format screens. The largest size LG offers from its Commercial Displays is a 65-inch model. All the displays offer full HD or HD resolutions, portrait and landscape orientation and multiple software compatibility. They also operate in ‘any’ environment although that perhaps isn’t meant to be taken literally.

ISIGNPAK (02) 9457 6945 or www.isignpak.com iSignpak is a Sydney-based company which has banded together with ICP Signage to provide a complete end-to-end digital signage solution. Its package includes one of ICP’s own media players (of which there is a good range of products for various budgets and installation conditions), a copy of the Wallflower Dynamic Digital Signage Software and assistance in choosing the right display screens for your purposes. iSignpak will also lend a hand in content creation, financing any system, arranging installation and training with the software/ hardware, too. The partnership with ICP also provides access to ICP’s display controllers, video wall controllers and some neat gadgets like its 19-inch all-in-one LCD media player. The Wallflower software can have some specialised modules added to provide additional features such as interactivity, facial recognition, audience measurement, full reporting and site navigation.

KVM AUSTRALIA (08) 9411 6333 sales@kvm.com.au www.kvm.com.au KVM is one of the few companies to dedicate itself exclusively to Keyboard Video and Mouse (KVM) Technologies which includes Digital Signage products. KVM is the distributor for: Adder Technology (KVM and Digital Signage and Extension products); Icron (leaders in USB extension technology); Opengear, (console management solutions); Raritan (KVM and power management products for data centres); Rose Electronics (KVM and digital signage products); plus KVM’s own Smart KVM range of extenders and KVM solutions. KVM’s solutions are refreshingly original, grounded in common sense, devoid of ‘jargon’ and unnecessary complexity but at the same time are, progressive and practical.

MADISON TECHNOLOGIES 1800 669 999 or www.madisontech.com.au Madison Technologies specialises in the supply of communications infrastructure products for the Professional Broadcast, Audio Visual, Building Services and Telecommunications Industries. With more than 16 years of market experience, an extensive product range and a national team of over 100 staff, Madison Technologies is a company providing complete communications solutions. Madison’s main expertise lies in its massive catalogue of electronic goods, from enormous rolls of cabling to the smallest bits and pieces. Madison is the Australian agent for a wide range of products that are used in the digital signage business; names such as SpinetiX and 3M to mention just a few.

Australian owned and operated, recently Madison Technologies was awarded a $1 million contract to provide custom manufactured low voltage copper cable and fibre optic cable for Airport Link in Queensland, the second largest infrastructure project the city of Brisbane has seen. It doesn’t mean they won’t help you out finding a 0.99 cent fuse though.

MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC (02) 9684 7777 or www.mitsubishielectric.com.au Similar to some of the other, large electronics companies listed here, Mitsubishi Electric can put its hand up as a digital signage provider courtesy of a range of public LCD display models. Sizes range from 32- to 46-inch models in designs that can stand alone, or there are the ‘Slim-line’ models from 42- to 65-inch – ‘slim’ being the size of the bezes, not the depth of the unit – and finally there are two specialty displays of 46-inch and 56-inch that can be employed in a video wall configuration.

However, taking things a little further than just having fancy LCD tellies, the Mitsubishi Electric LCDs have in-built Cat5 receivers and an accompanying transmitter box which makes them ready-to-go for

hooking up to any digital signage content source.

Up to five of the displays can be daisy-chained together via the Cat5.

MOOD MEDIA AUSTRALIA 1800 808 368 or www.moodmedia.com.au Mood Media Australia is part of the global Mood Media Group a leading international provider of sensorial marketing solutions throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. We support over 470,000 commercial sites and have more than 39 offices worldwide, enabling Mood Media to quickly deliver solutions on a global scale to a global audience. Mood Media commands a significant share of the growing market around the world for branded music, visual content, scent technology, radio and digital signage services. It’s mission is to revolutionise sensorial marketing through creativity, cutting edge technology, content expertise and customer centric services. Specialties: in-store media specialists; music, radio, digital signage, scent for brands.

NEC AUSTRALIA 131 632 or displays@nec.com.au NEC Live is NEC’s leading digital signage solution that lets you distribute dynamic video, images, text and more to display screens anywhere, anytime.

With NEC Live you are empowered to dynamically display digital content across your network on NEC Commercial LCD panels based upon the individual schedules for each panel. The NEC Live user interface is easy to use, yet with the power and flexibility that is only limited by your imagination to achieve your communication objectives with your target audience. The NEC Live solution includes a range of commercial grade LCD panels offering full high definition performance and many supporting technologies to address the most demanding digital signage applications. Whether it be reliability over an operating cycle of 24 hours x 7 days, or an ultra narrow bezel for a video wall or ensuring that content is visible when an LCD panel is in an location heavy with sunlight, NEC has the LCD commercial panel to ensure you maximise your communications to your target audience.

NEWS DIGITAL MEDIA (02) 8114 7400 or www.newsdigitalmedia.com.au News Digital Media provides a service for including news coverage for distribution through any digital signage network. It’s the only publisher in Australia with access to newspaper titles in every state and can provide dedicated editorial categories such as Breaking news, Sport, Entertainment, National and World News, Technology & IT, Business and of course the Weather. Some of its brands include The Australian, news.com.au, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and the Courier Mail. News Digital Media can offer a custom news and information solution based on any specific content requirements and it can be updated anywhere from hourly to weekly.

The subsequent feeds are designed for the digital signage market with features such as rich images suitable for large screens and the ability to filter stories by keyword. News Digital Media can pretty much provide a suitable news feed for any digital signage network, both for public spaces or in-house office and private locations.

PANASONIC AUSTRALIA 132 600 or www.panasonic.com.au It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Panasonic, which already has a huge manufacturing base for televisions and monitors, should jump on the digital signage bandwagon. It’s fronted by the Commercial Plasma Display series of products that come in two configurations. One is a selection of Optional Terminal Boards that will convert your Panasonic plasma screen of choice to accept data signals to suit your needs ranging from digital PC inputs to the humble RCA video component. Alternatively there is an Embedded Solution with a small PC installed into the plasma that can operate as a stand-alone display without a network. Panasonic can provide DOOH authoring and network control software in the form of its digital signage application, NDS 3.1, which can apparently feed both analogue and digital screens in a variety of formats suggesting that your digital signage network doesn’t necessarily need to be confined to Panasonic’s plasma range.

As long as it’s a Panasonic display of some kind, I’m sure they’ll figure out a way to hook it up to your DOOH display.

QUINTO COMMUNICATIONS (02) 9894 4244 www.quinto.com.au For 30 years Quinto Communications has shown itself to be a key player in the Australian and New Zealand communications industry. Its main clients are television stations, post production facilities, telecommunications carriers, as well as corporate, educational and government departments. Quinto’s suppliers are market leaders in their respective fields of television, audio visual and digital signage equipment. As such, Quinto offers customers an extensive range of high quality products suitable for use by broadcast, AV, telecommunications IPTV and corporate users.

SALIENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS (02) 93135111 or www.salient.com.au It’s worth remembering that not all digital signage needs to be – or even should be –some kind of high resolution picture like you’re sitting at home watching television. Salient Information Systems specialize in LED digital displays ranging from announcing your burger and chips are waiting at the bar to the kind of large and complex data information displays such as you see at the stock exchange, airports and other passenger terminals. Salient’s main claim to fame is providing custom-built LED signs along with computer systems and software designed for Flight Information Display Systems (FIDS) and Passenger Information Display Systems (PIDS), but also have a full range of alternative displays like plasma, LCD and video monitors that can be the primary source of viewing or linked as repeaters of the main displays. Salient even still offer a range of ‘split flap’ installations, those motorized signs where the numbers and letters flip over. While the data delivery is very much digital and modernized, the split flap designed is often preferred in harsh environments.

portrait or landscape mode or as a part of a limited multi-screen display. A slightly different UD model can be linked with up to 250 units for a wall of vision. There is a Touchscreen version including an outdoor type with features to withstand the elements and a specialised uVending model for installing in the front of vending machines. MagicInfo is Samsung’s proprietary software for content control and creations.

Samsung’s PROM system is already taking DOOH solutions along the fast-developing path of providing audience statistics to tailor the signage content.

A wide dynamic range (WDR) camera embedded discreetly somewhere in the installation captures and recognises faces to determine who is actually watching the screen. PROM can either just collate the information for market analysis or actively change the display according to who is viewing it.

It’s both clever and almost scary ‘big brother’ stuff.

We’re assured these systems are completely anonymous. Still, maybe keep one hand on your wallet.

THE SCREENMEDIA GROUP (02) 8090 6565 www.thescreenmediagroup.com The ScreenMedia Group has been created to provide a range of managed digital screenmedia solutions to include the provision of network operations and management services to screenmedia network owners – in effect, the complete outsourcing of all elements relating to network design, implementation, operations, management and service including content ingest, content management and research. TThe ScreenMedia Group develops and implements clear convergent screenmedia strategies, its multi-channel marketing integrates and optimises digital signage, touchscreen, mobile, online and social media solutions. The ScreenMedia Group has designed, deployed and managed networks globally totalling 5000 screens with a combined value of $35m in the past 16 years developing best practice in all areas of digital screenmedia – helping clients to save time and money rolling out and operating screenmedia networks.

SHARP AUSTRALIA 1300 13 55 30 or www.sharp.net.au Sharp Australia has boosted its Professional range of information display panels. King of the Sharp hill is the LB1085, a whopping 108-inch stand-alone LCD monitor. At a paltry RRP of $185,900 we’ll be putting one in the corner of the office to keep an eye on the footy scores. After that Sharp offers a PN series of displays that allow for networking and remote control of digital signage content. Ranging from 60-inch down to 32-inch and with a choice of resolutions, it’s worth pointing out that these PN models are screens aimed at the DOOH market with slim, near frameless designs and the ability to display in portrait mode – they’re not just high-end televisions that have migrated over into digital signage. A dedicated application for controlling content called Sharp Digital Signage Software comes in three versions, a fully featured PNSS02 for networked systems, the PNSS01 for stand-alone displays and PNSV01 is only a viewer to monitor what’s coming from your server. A semi-professional range of displays is also available – think indoors like classrooms and office suites.

SAMSUNG 1300 362603 or www.samsunglfd.com Samsung’s digital signage is centred on its Large Format Display (LFD) range, a screen with chameleon characteristics in its role as the basis for all Samsung’s DOOH products. There is a straightforward model that can be used either stand-alone in

SONY AUSTRALIA 1800 017669 or www.sony.com.au For the moment, Sony is focusing its digital sigDigital Place-Based Media & Technology

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nage products on what it does best, a wide range of high-definition displays, then offers the VSPNS7 Media Player, the BKM-FW50 Digital Signage adapter and the VSPA-D7 Management Software to cater for them all. However, blink while you’re checking its website and things might suddenly change as its Ziris software takes over. Meanwhile, its Public Display series of LCD screens offers sizes from the 65-inch ‘Ruggedized’ GXD-L65H1 model down to a 32-inch KLH-W32 All-In-One unit (for which the English language isn’t asked to sacrifice anything at all). Some screens are capable of portrait orientation or can have added connectivity – suffice to say that all combined, the various models allow system designers enough choice to get the desired result along with a selection of accessories.

The VSP-NS7 Media Player is a separate unit with a 120GB HDD for content and it must have the VSPA-D7 Management Software to work. The BKM-FW50 Digital Signage adapter lets you use a CompactFlash memory card for data which will playback in a programmable slide-show style. But again, remember Sony’s DOOH product line is being revamped and all the above could be just a sign of things to come.

STREAMING MEDIA (02) 9460 0877 or www.streamingMedia.net.au StreamingMedia is a technology and services company focused on providing digital media technology solutions. The company has developed iCon, a suite of software applications for Digital Signage/ Kiosk media management and deployment. iCon has evolved over a six-year period and is delivered as a complete digital signage Software as a Service (SaaS) solution with associated hardware, Help Desk and Field Support allowing clients to focus on their business knowing that all aspects of their digital signage platform are being monitored and managed by dedicated experts in this field. In addition to media management, scheduling and reporting, clients can view the health of their network at any time, view the media playing on any player, view and provide input into the on-line Help Desk system and have automated alerts from the network and players directed to nominated personnel.

SPINETIX www.spinetix.com Distributor: Madison Technologies 1800 66 99 99 or www.madisontech.com.au From its developers in Switzerland, SpinetiX offers products to professionally schedule, combine, stream, update, animate and display in real-time video, audio, graphics and text on any digital video display. The hardware heart of its system is the HMP 100, a stand-alone Hyper Media Player that acts as an interface for converting any standard video unit into a digital signage display. Its Hyper Media Director is a software application that provides for data distribution across any network and also has an authoring component as well. Both the HMP and HMD are available as separate purchases with the latter offered for download with a 30-day trial.

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SUMO VISUAL SOLUTIONS (03) 9429 4552 or info@sumovisual.com.au Sumo Visual Solutions’ roots are in high-quality printing of signage on a wide range of products ranging from ceramics to canvas. However, since 2002 it has seen the digital signage light and now also offers DOOH networks – which they prefer to call ‘content on demand’. Sumo Vision supplies and manages hardware and software that is designed to suit the individual’s content requirements.

Distribution is through a secure web-enabled system which allows either one central or multiple sites to manage content.

TELSTRA 1300 835 782 or www.telstraenterprise.com/ productsservices/enterprisecommunications/ unifiedcommunications/Pages/TelstraDigitalSignageSolutions

TECHMEDIA DIGITAL SYSTEMS (SCALA) (02) 9526 7880 or www.connectedsignage.com.au

Check the website address above and you’ll agree that Telstra’s – yes, Telstra – new Digital Signage Division is well buried. That isn’t to say it isn’t serious about providing digital signage services, quite the opposite. There’s a bit of ‘scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ here with Telstra mentioning its partnership with Prime Media Digital, otherwise the information provided is a little shy on specifics as to who exactly is providing what, except to say onpremise equipment is from Cisco and everything else comes from “partnerships with acknowledged leaders”. Telstra can probably afford to play its cards close to the chest given its first-in-line access to the nation’s next generation networks will be an appreciable marketing edge on its own.

TechMedia is one of Australia’s premier digital visual communications companies. TechMedia’s expertise is centered around the digital platforms, content and services driving the growth in Connected Signage and DOOH. With over 17 years of experience with Scala-based network deployment and management as well as customised hardware and data integration development, there is an abundance of local knowledge to tap into.

At this point Telstra is offering three digital signage packages; the Core Solution for clients who can create and manage their own content or there are the Extras Packages A & B that respectively provide increasing levels of support and features.

Details are scarce here too, it’s like Telstra has announced the opening of its digital signage office, but they haven’t even put a nameplate on the door yet. One wonders if the phone is connected…

Scala boasts an impressive list of clientele and is responsible for over 200,000 screens worldwide.

Scala’s experience shows in its product; the comprehensive content creation and distribution software goes one step further with Scala Ad Manager, an accounting add-on that handles the financial side of your DOOH business such as generating invoices. In the hardware department, Scala has its own Scala Player for linking with the Content Manager software. From there Techmedia will source display screens and networks best suited to the job.

TECHTEL (02) 9906 1488 or www.techtel.tv Techtel is an independent broadcast technology systems specialist, providing dedicated hardware and software to the Australian, New Zealand and SE Asian broadcast industries. Incorporated in 1985, Techtel’s expertise includes straightforward consulting through to systems integration and the supply, installation and support of a wide range of film, video and broadcast equipment from Techtel’s catalogue.

Its digital signage services focus on two products.

X2O Media is a Canadian-based company that provides its Xpresenter Platform software for networks and larger installations or the Xpresenter Xe which is for single channel, smaller applications. There is also the Xpresenter vClips, software designed for touchscreen devices. X2O tell us that Xpresenter is based on Microsoft’s PowerPoint software, which is comfortingly familiar territory for some, then X2O Media added a large shot of steroids. Alternatively, Techtel can offer Playbox, a kind of closed-circuit ‘TV in a box’ setup.

WILSON & GILKES (02) 9914 0900 or sales@gilkon.com.au Wilson & Gilkes has been supplying Australia with locally designed and manufactured audiovisual equipment for 77 years. Nowadays it can provide a wide range of projectors, screens and whiteboards, plus a whole host of ancillary equipment such as custom-built trollies for laptops, rack-mounts, lecterns and AV stands. In the digital signage department Wilson and Gilkes has been developing a new range of Digicell digital signage technology units.

These are a robust, standalone signage mounting system for DOOH placement in shopping centres and the like where a bit of serious wear-and-tear might be expected – which I guess means everywhere these days. The Digicell can cater for any brand of display you care to install and has plenty of room inside for media players or servers. It has its own thermostatic exhaust fans. If you want your signage bigger and brighter than a Digicell can provide, Wilson and Gilkes’ projection and screens department will have a solution.

Should your business be included in our Who’s Who section? Listing is free. Contact Chris Holder at chris@dsmag.com.au

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Comment:

Prime position means a lotta lolly

Story: Mug Punter

I

used to flog lollies… Back off, I was young and needed the money! It was one of the least enjoyable fortnights of my life but I must (begrudgingly) admit that I learned a few things about the importance of prime POS real estate. I’m talking about that exalted area in a sales outlet where the customer is focused, captive, vulnerable or just plain within reach and most likely to buy something – normally something extra. Which is why any available POS space is hotly contested… especially by lolly salesmen.

Me, I was selling Lifesavers – that iconic Australian hole-in-themiddle sweet (invented in the USA and now made in Canada, where sugar is apparently cheap). The manufacturer was (and still is) Nestlé.

Mind you, back when normal people pronounced it “Ness-sells” instead of the linguistically more snooty “Ness-lay” of today. Regardless, Nestlé had a problem: no one gave a rat’s about Lifesavers. Particularly, none of Nestlé’s sales staff gave a tinker’s about selling a 20-cent pack of lollies.

Winter was closing in and it was all about chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. So management decided to employ a new Lifesavers expert, which turned out to be me. I wasn’t allowed to even try and sell chocolate. That was only for the real sales reps to do.

The head honcho responsible for my induction and early training was serious about Lifesavers (my newly-created position was all his idea).

In fact, he’d been the leading Lifesaver salesman for more than two decades and they’d given him a commemorative Leading Lolly Liquidator (or something) certificate every year. It was quite disconcerting to see over 20 pictures of this bloke staring at you from the office walls, all with him smiling and holding up a little bronzed Lifesaver trophy.

He sincerely explained to me that the profit margin for retailers on a pack of Lifesavers was 25%, which was “one of the highest confectionary margins available”. He paused to let this bombshell sink in.

My callow brain did the maths, that’s five cents.

Still I let out a startled exhalation, raised my eyebrows and nodded knowingly.

Next, they sent me out on the road with an experienced chocolate sales rep to learn the ropes. He was a friendly enough chap – as friendly as any commissioned-based salesman can be trying to mentor someone who might pinch some of his income.

‘Don’t sell any chocolate, son. Understand? That’s my job, these are my clients, this is my turf. You just try and flog those bloody Lifesavers.”

Yes, sir – no problem there.

And this is where I learned all about POS and prime counter-top locations.

For my Lifesavers it was all about the impulse sale of swapping loose change for a tube of lollies. Supermarket, petrol station, milkbar…

doesn’t matter, the theory was universal: anywhere that coins might be exchanged was a potential sales point and being right next to the cashier was the perfect spot for a Lifesavers display.

Unfortunately the guys selling chewy, Tic-Tacs and the like believed the same thing and it was always an issue that today’s Lifesavers display soon became tomorrow’s Juicy Fruit stand as soon as the owner’s back was turned.

There was only ever room for one product, and short of loitering in the store all week, there was nothing much you could do about another sales rep surreptitiously shifting your product to one side.

That was the game: furtively putting your product in the best possible POS position at the expense of someone else’s and hoping nobody cared or saw you do it – until the competitor’s rep came in changed it back.

The way I see it, digital signage is taking all the fun and skullduggery out of POS locations, since there’s so many ways that multiple products can be displayed even by the cash register itself. Sure, you’ll see packs of sweets and chewing gum within reach too and I guess the sales reps still fight fiercely over that space, but at the same time they must shake their heads in despair at the nearby touchscreen showing a 3D promotional clip shot in high definition, directed by Steven Spielberg and scored

by John Williamson. It’s always going to be hard noticing a pack of Lifesavers with that sort of competition.

I lasted two weeks, by the way. In desperation they offered me an extra 30 bucks a month pay – but I’d have to install a huge, flashing packet of Lifesavers on the roof of my company car too – so I declined.

When I handed the car keys back and left the boss’s office, I swear those 20-plus photographs of him all followed me with reproachful eyes, shocked and angry I’d thrown away such a golden opportunity.

And disappointed I couldn’t ‘cut it’ in the dangerous world of confectionary sales.

One lesson learned. Point-of-sale, prime real estate – not for the fainthearted and not be taken lightly.

DigitalSignage magazine wants to know what you’re up to. Share your plans and opinions with Chris Holder on chris@dsmag.com.au

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