Still holding fast to the vision of what this new media can be. Closed networks -- be the delivery be through IP or cable or wireless or some other technology -- must carry content that keeps people watching. For the most part, I ain't seeing it and wanna know why?
Because the people making the investment and building the networks are not trained to create "entertainment." Mostly these are advertisers trying to push product, which they do very well. Or merchandisers who have Adobe Photoshop or a Flash program. Or its a hardware/software company who -- in order to get the deal -- agrees to program the network.
Very few people are looking to bonefide entertainment producers to program their networks and even if they were, it would be difficult to find any. Wanna know why?
Right. Not enough money flowing yet to attract them. But guess what? They's a comin'. And when they do, it will be the wild west all over again as another "solutions-oriented" team of professionals jumps in the fray -- next to the guy selling his "state-of-the-art" delivery system, the guy with the best mounts and brackets, the guy with the best screens, the marketing team who is hellbent on the programming loop being under fifteen minutes, the Owner of the place who just wants revenue generated, and the aggregator who is trying to sign up the network so's he can sell ads for it.
Rarely are all these people on the same page, and none of them has the lead and all of them think they do... It is the primary reason networks fail (read: lose money).
The answer?
Strategic Relationships.
I hear all the time this idea of agnosticism when it comes to systems. We have decided to align ourselves with an industry leader and become an add-on to their offerings. We provide "targeted entertainment". That is our core competancy. I do not want to choose a Peerless mount or a Planar screen; I don't want to go out and pitch media buyers in order to get national advertisers. I just want to create content that connects so that when all those decisions are made, people have something worth watching on the screens.
We are finding companies who are like-minded and stealth enough to move quickly into this new paradigm, who know the value of entertainment when it comes to "hits" and who also stick to their own core competency. Assembling people who are the best at what they do is a skill in itself. Cultivate it. And watch your business grow.
12.16.2007
8.24.2007
Synergy
Okay, because I am not sure anyone ever reads these posts, I am feeling more free to expound on more cockamamie theories and ideas I have been tossing around in my noggin.
First, I don't believe DIGITAL SIGNAGE can continue to be audio free if it is to get the kind of ad dollars that people are hoping. We need to hear the entertainment, so I turn to the TECHNOLOGY breakthroughs to direct audio, to control audio. If OOH remains 80-90% audio-free then it is a long road.
Having said that, I realize that it is location-dependent. Most retail networks can remain audio free (personally, the cacaphony of retail is aggravating enough without Sunjay Gupta telling me I'm gonna get a heart attack or some grating music video. Tired solutions. Uninspired.
So invigorating to think and strategize, the sheer scope of the possibilities is intimidating, like facing an open blue sea.
On Tribal lands, we have a unique opportunity to create narrowcast networks that will create jobs and revenue and, most importantly, an outlet for self-expression. Suddenly the media can be harnessed.
We can teach people to fish. Why not use TRAINING as a part of any network. People tend to support that which they had a hand in creating. Why not enroll the employees in the space. Play with us. What are your ideas? How would you suggest we use this tool in your space?
Too many think they are the one who knows best and thereby miss out on the answer that is just outside of the box.
First, I don't believe DIGITAL SIGNAGE can continue to be audio free if it is to get the kind of ad dollars that people are hoping. We need to hear the entertainment, so I turn to the TECHNOLOGY breakthroughs to direct audio, to control audio. If OOH remains 80-90% audio-free then it is a long road.
Having said that, I realize that it is location-dependent. Most retail networks can remain audio free (personally, the cacaphony of retail is aggravating enough without Sunjay Gupta telling me I'm gonna get a heart attack or some grating music video. Tired solutions. Uninspired.
So invigorating to think and strategize, the sheer scope of the possibilities is intimidating, like facing an open blue sea.
On Tribal lands, we have a unique opportunity to create narrowcast networks that will create jobs and revenue and, most importantly, an outlet for self-expression. Suddenly the media can be harnessed.
We can teach people to fish. Why not use TRAINING as a part of any network. People tend to support that which they had a hand in creating. Why not enroll the employees in the space. Play with us. What are your ideas? How would you suggest we use this tool in your space?
Too many think they are the one who knows best and thereby miss out on the answer that is just outside of the box.
8.23.2007
Plotting
We are inching towards creating something that is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Our initiative has gathered some serious momentum and gotten the attention of some serious players. Next week we are hosting a SUMMIT on Digital Signage at the Westin Hotel LAX.
This is an invitation-only gathering of some real visionaries in the space who want to synergize and strategize a significant entry.
Among the participants is one of those BEHOMETH global companies that has been prognosticated about jumping into the DIGITAL SIGNAGE INDUSTRY. One of those 30+ billion dollar companies who needs to step into the space in order to help standardize procedures and start piecing together the fragmented environment that the 500+ little companies scrambling around vying for contracts has created.
This would be an amazing step in the right direction for the industry at large.
My partner likened this company's interest in our goings-on to "a bear being interested/investing in a tick," but it proves that we are onto something here.
We have identified a niche in the marketplace that is difficult to penetrate for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the distrust that still exists in the world between the oppressors and the oppressed (... but that is a different blog entirely). Suffice it to say that we have nurtured our relationships within the American Indian community by having a sincere desire to CREATE CONNECTION by mending the hoop.
We want to BUILD MEDIA CAPACITY in Indian country so that people can harness the tools of this century and tell their own stories.
We aim to be the biggest provider of targeted entertainment for "closed networks" in North America. In order to accomplish this mission, the tick welcomes the bear's interest.
Aho!
Our initiative has gathered some serious momentum and gotten the attention of some serious players. Next week we are hosting a SUMMIT on Digital Signage at the Westin Hotel LAX.
This is an invitation-only gathering of some real visionaries in the space who want to synergize and strategize a significant entry.
Among the participants is one of those BEHOMETH global companies that has been prognosticated about jumping into the DIGITAL SIGNAGE INDUSTRY. One of those 30+ billion dollar companies who needs to step into the space in order to help standardize procedures and start piecing together the fragmented environment that the 500+ little companies scrambling around vying for contracts has created.
This would be an amazing step in the right direction for the industry at large.
My partner likened this company's interest in our goings-on to "a bear being interested/investing in a tick," but it proves that we are onto something here.
We have identified a niche in the marketplace that is difficult to penetrate for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the distrust that still exists in the world between the oppressors and the oppressed (... but that is a different blog entirely). Suffice it to say that we have nurtured our relationships within the American Indian community by having a sincere desire to CREATE CONNECTION by mending the hoop.
We want to BUILD MEDIA CAPACITY in Indian country so that people can harness the tools of this century and tell their own stories.
We aim to be the biggest provider of targeted entertainment for "closed networks" in North America. In order to accomplish this mission, the tick welcomes the bear's interest.
Aho!
8.08.2007
Wild West
I gained a cursory interest in digital signage in January when I heard the two words put together for the first time. I wanted to know more so I went to the Expo in March. I called my mentor and friend -- tv producer Bob Banner -- from the streets of Chicago and told him about the electric atmosphere there, about how no one seemed to be thinking about THE POTENTIAL of using these closed networks as TARGETED AVENUES FOR AD-SUPPORTED ENTERTAINMENT.
I told him that it seemed as if no one knew what the eff they were doing or should be doing.... and found out that he went through the exact same experience in that same city...nearly 60 years ago.
In 1948, he was a theater professor at Northwestern recruited to make sense out of a new media called television.
Digital Signage is such a brand new industry. In spite of all the bluster, no one knows nothin. And those that act like they do, still haven't convinced the other pieces of their "team" (manufacturers, software folks, retailers, advertisers, merch folks) to follow their lead.
Consequently, it's a big clusterf*ck, totally fragmented environment.
Why am I excited by this?
Because it is exactly the way TV started in the late 1940's. No one knew anything about the new medium of television.
Watch this interview of one of the pioneers of television describe the atmosphere in those days. Copy and Paste the addy below into your BROWSER. About 6 minutes into the segment, Bob tells how TV started, how no one knew what they were doing, and how this exciting environment created real opportunities for those with their heads up:
CLICK HERE
So I take all these on-the-cutting-edge machinations and countless iterations of THE solution with a grain of "how can my organization be doing this better?"
Standardization in the space is a couple of years away, at least. There are simply too many people who think they have THE answer and therefore stop looking around, and thereby further delaying our trip up the bell curve.
So with all that in mind, here are links to trade organizations. A cursory glance will illustrate what OOH advertising trends are in place at present:
CLICK HERE
AND HERE
AND HERE
Hang on to your hats, this could get a little western.....
I told him that it seemed as if no one knew what the eff they were doing or should be doing.... and found out that he went through the exact same experience in that same city...nearly 60 years ago.
In 1948, he was a theater professor at Northwestern recruited to make sense out of a new media called television.
Digital Signage is such a brand new industry. In spite of all the bluster, no one knows nothin. And those that act like they do, still haven't convinced the other pieces of their "team" (manufacturers, software folks, retailers, advertisers, merch folks) to follow their lead.
Consequently, it's a big clusterf*ck, totally fragmented environment.
Why am I excited by this?
Because it is exactly the way TV started in the late 1940's. No one knew anything about the new medium of television.
Watch this interview of one of the pioneers of television describe the atmosphere in those days. Copy and Paste the addy below into your BROWSER. About 6 minutes into the segment, Bob tells how TV started, how no one knew what they were doing, and how this exciting environment created real opportunities for those with their heads up:
CLICK HERE
So I take all these on-the-cutting-edge machinations and countless iterations of THE solution with a grain of "how can my organization be doing this better?"
Standardization in the space is a couple of years away, at least. There are simply too many people who think they have THE answer and therefore stop looking around, and thereby further delaying our trip up the bell curve.
So with all that in mind, here are links to trade organizations. A cursory glance will illustrate what OOH advertising trends are in place at present:
CLICK HERE
AND HERE
AND HERE
Hang on to your hats, this could get a little western.....
8.06.2007
Movement
Time flies when you are trying to change the world! We have made tremendous strides in the last 2 months towards getting our new initiative off the ground. Rob Gorrie is my new hero. He is a next-level business owner who has taught me so much about this new industry. He founded a company called AdCentricity that provides a hugely important service in the marketplace.
AdCentricity's model is to aggregate digital signage screens in order to make the space more attractive to premum media buyers. Advertisers are not going to put out-of-home advertising dollars into the marketplace until there is a critical mass of screens (read: eyeballs) for them to reach. AdCentricity is accelerating this growth.
Instead of myriad Digital Signage networks INDIVIDUALLY vying for premium ad buys, Rob is quietly building a powerful platform from which to sell space/time. Everyone wins. SeeSaw is another company in the space; they too are non-exclusively aggregating screens but there is an important distinction between the 2 companies. AdCentricity is changing the way the game is played by forcing the national brands to make PREMIUM AD BUYS into the space while SeeSaw is placing remnant buys. The Industry is so fragmented that I am grateful for both of these companies. They are both accelerating what would take forever if it were up to individual Networks to do.
I spoke to the owner of one of these 'individualists' who scoffed at the idea that someone would charge a fee to sell advertising on their behalf (typically 20%-30%).
"They are doing exactly what we want to do."
Yeah, but...They are doing it NOW.
"The national brands will be coming to us. We won't need a middle man."
Oh yeah? And when exactly do you think Coca Cola or The Gap is going to be interested in your 30 screens?
This kind of thinking is keeping the industry fragmented as well as keeping these networks from generating the kind of revenue that we all know is possible.
My interest is in the future of these Networks, which I know will soon be clamoring for the kind of content that I think of when I hear the word content. Not commercials. Entertainment. This day is coming, and industry innovators like Rob Gorrie are leading us there.
AdCentricity's model is to aggregate digital signage screens in order to make the space more attractive to premum media buyers. Advertisers are not going to put out-of-home advertising dollars into the marketplace until there is a critical mass of screens (read: eyeballs) for them to reach. AdCentricity is accelerating this growth.
Instead of myriad Digital Signage networks INDIVIDUALLY vying for premium ad buys, Rob is quietly building a powerful platform from which to sell space/time. Everyone wins. SeeSaw is another company in the space; they too are non-exclusively aggregating screens but there is an important distinction between the 2 companies. AdCentricity is changing the way the game is played by forcing the national brands to make PREMIUM AD BUYS into the space while SeeSaw is placing remnant buys. The Industry is so fragmented that I am grateful for both of these companies. They are both accelerating what would take forever if it were up to individual Networks to do.
I spoke to the owner of one of these 'individualists' who scoffed at the idea that someone would charge a fee to sell advertising on their behalf (typically 20%-30%).
"They are doing exactly what we want to do."
Yeah, but...They are doing it NOW.
"The national brands will be coming to us. We won't need a middle man."
Oh yeah? And when exactly do you think Coca Cola or The Gap is going to be interested in your 30 screens?
This kind of thinking is keeping the industry fragmented as well as keeping these networks from generating the kind of revenue that we all know is possible.
My interest is in the future of these Networks, which I know will soon be clamoring for the kind of content that I think of when I hear the word content. Not commercials. Entertainment. This day is coming, and industry innovators like Rob Gorrie are leading us there.
6.16.2007
One Step At A Time
InfoComm is this week in SoCal. Strategy Institute's Brand Conference in NYC. Since the Digital Expo in Chicago I have been searching for other opportunities to learn about this strange new land.
I have met some creative and forward-thinking execs who all express frustration at the fragmented environment. The frustration belies a clear excitement about the future though. While we all seem to be fumbling around in the dark, searching for new and workable revenue models, there seems to be a commitment to stretch this new delivery system towards TARGETED ENTERTAINMENT. The cries for content that is not traffic feeds and weather updates and headline news is getting louder and louder.
We seek answers. I have to constantly remind my team to live the question. We will eventually live our way into the answer. Right now, we just keep plonking away, building relationships, seeking and creating opportunities, believing that we are all walking in the right direction.
I have met some creative and forward-thinking execs who all express frustration at the fragmented environment. The frustration belies a clear excitement about the future though. While we all seem to be fumbling around in the dark, searching for new and workable revenue models, there seems to be a commitment to stretch this new delivery system towards TARGETED ENTERTAINMENT. The cries for content that is not traffic feeds and weather updates and headline news is getting louder and louder.
We seek answers. I have to constantly remind my team to live the question. We will eventually live our way into the answer. Right now, we just keep plonking away, building relationships, seeking and creating opportunities, believing that we are all walking in the right direction.
6.15.2007
Content does NOT mean advertising
Was on the phone today with a great guy and potential partner and we were discussing INFOcomm next week and the fragmented environment that is Digital Signage at the moment.
And he happened to say something like, 'Yes, XYZ are good at creating content for their screens."
Now, he was not talking about ENTERTAINMENT. He was talking ADVERTISEMENTS.
Compelling content to MOST digital signage networks still means Ads that are cool or sticky or move product or whatever...
I am so excited to move the ball on this point. CONTENT in closed network environments has to become TARGETED AND RELEVANT ENTERTAINMENT. Otherwise, we lose this great opportunity to create a revenue model that works for big brands.
And he happened to say something like, 'Yes, XYZ are good at creating content for their screens."
Now, he was not talking about ENTERTAINMENT. He was talking ADVERTISEMENTS.
Compelling content to MOST digital signage networks still means Ads that are cool or sticky or move product or whatever...
I am so excited to move the ball on this point. CONTENT in closed network environments has to become TARGETED AND RELEVANT ENTERTAINMENT. Otherwise, we lose this great opportunity to create a revenue model that works for big brands.
Stick to your knitting
Easy to get hooked by the fast pace of the market. Seems every day I am reading about the "next big innovation" in Digital Signage. I am trying to stay focused to what I know: programming development and television production. And the landscape I see up ahead: these closed network environments are soon going to be clamoring for compelling, relevant, targeted ENTERTAINMENT.
We have a companion vision: we think that the technology has become so user-friendly that we can go in and teach "network environments" to program their own content. We will be there to offer content packages but a fare amount of their content will be self-generated. It has become so easy.
In the American Indian communities this translates to community members taping their own Tribal Council meetings or documenting their own languages or high school basketball games.
In Home Depot, it might mean Team Members being taped giving a tutorial on fixing the garbage disposal.
This kind of TARGETED ENTERTAINMENT is the future of Digital Signage. It has to be. How many commercials do people need to see before those screens all over the store become like the grandfather clock ding-donging every fifteen minutes in the corner. No one is listening to that either.
In order to reach the audience, you must create content that creates connection.
So.... we are trying to stay above the fray of the delivery systems and the new delivery systems and the new, new, new widgets and 'stick to our knitting': innovative ways to create content that connects.
We all know that the big ad money will follow.....
We have a companion vision: we think that the technology has become so user-friendly that we can go in and teach "network environments" to program their own content. We will be there to offer content packages but a fare amount of their content will be self-generated. It has become so easy.
In the American Indian communities this translates to community members taping their own Tribal Council meetings or documenting their own languages or high school basketball games.
In Home Depot, it might mean Team Members being taped giving a tutorial on fixing the garbage disposal.
This kind of TARGETED ENTERTAINMENT is the future of Digital Signage. It has to be. How many commercials do people need to see before those screens all over the store become like the grandfather clock ding-donging every fifteen minutes in the corner. No one is listening to that either.
In order to reach the audience, you must create content that creates connection.
So.... we are trying to stay above the fray of the delivery systems and the new delivery systems and the new, new, new widgets and 'stick to our knitting': innovative ways to create content that connects.
We all know that the big ad money will follow.....
6.14.2007
In the land of the blind, a one-eyed man is king.
The more I read and surf and talk to people in the DIGITAL SIGNAGE industry, the more convinced I am that no one knows anything. People seem to think that advertising is the name of the game. It can't be! In 1949, my mentor Bob Banner started in TV. This was before TV was in homes. TV's were in stores! People couldn't afford them so they would gather at stores to watch important events. TV Entertainment was invented in order to fill the time between commercials. Advertisers STARTED television. Advertisements still PAY for television. Why can't closed networks or digital signage become the new frontier? Why can't closed networks start providing ad-supported entertainment? It will be TARGETED in a way TV could never manage to do in the early days. Not until CABLE came and provided all the niche markets, which again are ad supported. Advertisers are thrilled to buy time on HGTV because they KNOW WHO WATCHES IT!
Digital Signage will become the next iteration of this. Otherwise people will simply stop paying attention.
Digital Signage will become the next iteration of this. Otherwise people will simply stop paying attention.
6.12.2007
Targeted Entertainment for Closed Networks
Attended the Digital Signage Expo last month as a television producer on a recon mission. What was all this "digital signage" hubbub? A month later, I have started gathering resources and partnerships towards plugging up the vacuum that the fragmented environment is spinning around in.
It is a world dominated by hardware wonks and software wonks and advertising wonks and retailers and merchandisers. What seems to be missing is the CONTENT piece. No one is going to tolerate ads as content. And one can only watch so much CNN and weather before crying uncle (or more likely, turn that thing off!).
Will targeted entertainment be enough to keep eyeballs? I don't know but I aim to find out. Stay tuned...
It is a world dominated by hardware wonks and software wonks and advertising wonks and retailers and merchandisers. What seems to be missing is the CONTENT piece. No one is going to tolerate ads as content. And one can only watch so much CNN and weather before crying uncle (or more likely, turn that thing off!).
Will targeted entertainment be enough to keep eyeballs? I don't know but I aim to find out. Stay tuned...
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