Digital Signage: Consumers Want Control

Digital Signage: Consumers Want Control
Control tower, control grid, taking control, controlling interest, command and control, and even control freak. Nearly everywhere you look and everywhere you go, the name of the game is control. Whos in charge here, anyway? Perhaps you have a friend like mine who wants more control over his own destiny. The good news is that this new technology can give everyone more control.

When I question him about why the set is on, he never has a very definitive answer, just some nebulous comment about background noise. Without question, my friend and millions upon millions of other Americans- have found a way to tune out the endless stream of information, commercials and promotions and selectively focus in long enough if something arises to pique his interest.

At the same time the popularity of touch-screen interactivity is growing, the cable TV industry is hard at work developing new standards and systems to let viewers interact with programming through their remotes. What they envision far exceeds the rudimentary implementations of interactivity popping up on cable systems across the nation. The next generation of interactivity potentially will be far more grandular than todays offering, allowing viewers to click on on-screen items to get information about the blouse an actress is wearing or far deeper information about a car than what can be presented in its 30 second commercial.

According to market research firm iSuppli, worldwide shipments of touch-screen modules will reach 341 million units in 2008, or about $3.4 billion in value. However, five short years from now, the research organization forecasts global shipments of touch-screen display modules will more than double to 833 million units.

When coupled with digital signage technology, such touch-screen sensors can transform ordinary linear digital signage content (in other words, a succession on visual and audio elements presented one after another) into dynamic, interactive content that lets the public seek out the information about a product they desire. Interactive digital signage combines the best of the kiosk world namely touch-screen interactivity- with the power of consistent messaging delivered when the sign operates in a traditional linear mode.

Fortunately for digital signage marketers, a variety of interactive technologies are being built into some of the latest digital signs available, delivering the same sort of touch-screen interface thats gaining broad popularity. Best of all, incorporating touch-screen technology into a digital sign is doubly powerful because doing so combines the best of the kiosk world with the strengths of digital signage.

Basically, such interactive, hybrid digital signs can playback messaging designed to attract the attention of passersby while in linear mode and with a simple the touch of screen be transformed into an interactive resource consumers can use to find the product information or other piece of information they desire.

To compete in the battle to influence the buying decisions of consumers, digital signage content producers soon will be forced to incorporate interactivity into their presentations just to stay competitive. Thats not to say all digital signage content must give consumers control over whats being presented. However, its hard to imagine a digital signage future in which interactive hybrid digital signs arent at the least added to the mix, delivering the interactive control over what consumers access.

To ignore the message consumers are sending by their mass adoption of iPods, Blackberry devices, and GPS navigation units to name only a few, as well as the efforts of the cable and IPTV markets to elevate interactivity, doesnt make sense for digital signage marketers who wish to tap into the true potential of digital signage.


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