THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL SIGNAGE

Content Rush

2008-06-17T16:51:00.000-07:00

We are being inundated all of a sudden with opportunities to create content for various "channels." We are very excited and cautiously optimistic. It creates another chicken and the egg scenario: first it was the whole who is going to put in the screen without advertisers in place vs. what advertiser is going to buy ad-time on a non-existent network; now it is create the content and then we'll sell the advertising vs. sell the advertising so you can afford to create the content!

HD video content done well is not cheap. It is not TRIVIA art cards or powerpoint. It is not ads. These channels are going to have distinct "broadcast-quality" graphics packages branding each one of them. They are going to have general interest and site specific short form dynamic media content.

It is astounding what has happened in a little over one year in terms of the industry's sophistication as it relates to video content.

It indeed is not TV. But then again, television is the closest experience that the public or layman can relate to... When I say "digital signage," it is an inadequate term. I am not talking menu boards or screens displaying sale items on aisle 3. I am talking about comedy and short films and informative and entertaining hosted segments on any variety of topics. So what do I call this?

I need like-minded individuals to help me coin a term for this next iteration of digital signage. What is it? Is it "closed networks"? Too limiting. Doesn't describe what it is. "Media out-of-home"? TVlite?

Ideas? We need a new term. Narrowcasting almost gets it. out-of-home media networks does to... IPTV is not Digital Signage: the software isn't sophisticated enough to manage content playlists or stream the kind of quality we need or zone screens.... So it is Digital Signage because we use DS software and media players... Hmmmm....

The Future is upon us. Game on.

Blind optimism

2008-06-07T08:14:00.001-07:00

Had an eye-opening meeting yesterday with a blind man who is head of sales for a digital signage company here in LA. He has a terrific model that has his screens generating revenue by filling the 15 minute loop with 30 second ads from businesses within a 5 mile radius of the business that has a screen. This helps business owners generate revenue (as they participate with a percentage of ad-revenue) as well as local businesses who don't want to advertise on local cable or radio.

If I have a barbershop, it doesn't make sense to advertise on cable or radio because 98% of the viewers and listeners will not be in the vicinity of the barbershop and will not travel across town for a haircut. I see an ad on cable for Tito's Tacos in Culver City. It is indeed an amazing taco, but the same ad is running all over Los Angeles. If I'm in the valley or Hollywood, the chances of driving to Culver City for a damn taco is remote, no matter how good --- especially now that gas is about to be 5 bucks a gallon!

As natural resources become more valued, communities will become more insulated. Needs will change for small business owners and residents alike. I for one would like to discover a new dry cleaner or bank in my neighborhood. Smart marketing.

While not as scalable as other business models, I think my sightless friend has a unique community-based "vision" that can be replicated in other markets. Perhaps we tweak the model to include some "targeted entertainment" and streamline content management, we just might find a worthy niche. Many business owners would like to get the word out to the people who may indeed populate their stores or use their services! What a concept!

We laughed at the fact that this blind man was educating sighted small business owners all over town about the power of digital signage.

"digitized signage"

2008-05-28T11:21:00.000-07:00

The vast majority of the people in the entertainment industry don't know anything about DIGITAL SIGNAGE. I work in Hollywood and meet with people in mainstream entertainment. Yesterday, I had two meetings that illustrate this point. My morning appointment was with a prominent TV writer who writes for the Oscars and most of the variety TV specials on broadcast and cable. He --- like most --- never thought about all those damn screens he sees everywhere as a new avenue for "targeted entertainment," that people have to program those screens like ANY network and that advertisers have to get their messages out there and that OOH is a natural avenue for them, and that --- like TV in the 50's --- CONTENT ultimately will drive the marketplace. He immediately saw the frontier.

My afternoon meeting was with a casting director who has done movies and TV for the last 15 years. She too had never considered the various flat screens popping up at her bank and florist and coffee shop and pet store as a bonefide vehicle for broadcast-quality media. She said "all I see is powerpoint and bad production value and news, news, news...maybe some weather." Exactly. She immediately saw the future.

Being at the epicenter of ENTERTAINMENT and coming from a pedigree that can be traced back to the very beginning of television gives BCP a huge advantage in this burgeoning industry. We are walking in the right direction and, as Oliver Wendell Holmes said (paraphrasing) sometimes that is as important as where you stand.

We are certainly not there yet. Advertisers are skittish. Research is spotty. Standard practices are non-existent. People are in a huge chicken-or-egg battle over how to start (do I build out or sell advertising? Wellllll, can't do one without the other and can't do the other without having the one...). And the old guard in this industry (people I respect greatly and in whose debt we all owe our present open field running...innovative technology and forward-thinking leaders like Gerba and Haynes and Gorrie and these companies out carrying the canary....thank you thank you thank you...) are attached nonetheless to the "known."

Think about it: the possibilities are unlimited. It is a revolution out there. Here in Hollywood, the writing has been on the wall since the proliferation of CABLE CHANNELS. Fewer and fewer big numbers; more and more niche audiences.

With digital technology creating the highway and the possibility of out-of-home Networks, we can go anywhere. Possibilities are unlimited. Those that say we need to stop and establish what works and duplicate that fail to realize that at this point in the industry, by the time you duplicate success, the ball is somewhere else. And so is the audience.

We must keep trying new things. New ideas. Stay fluid. In the flow. We must. Otherwise we do not innovate. We do not break through the morass of obstacles we all face.

Onward!

possibility

2008-05-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Dave Haynes is an elder statesman in this industry. I bow before him. I enjoy his steady and measured output even though I'm not a fan of BroadSign. Below is a link to his BLOG and an excerpt from an entry yesterday and then a response I posted.

His Blog: 16:9
Yesterday's Entry (check out link to report below):

"Interesting little analysis posted today by Northern Sky Research , a Boston-based market research firm."

And here is my comment on the matter:

Ridiculous naysaying. Ours is a nascent industry. Of course people are getting it wrong.

And the people that come after will learn from these trailblazers. And the “bad” and the “ugly” are essential for there to be “good” in the first place.

We have to remember that Everything About Communication is changing in our society…and that to try to assess or find or even try to establish rules or a definitive how-to is folly.

I realize that this is VERY unsettling to those who do not have a high tolerance for ambiguity (read: analysts, researchers and most in the traditional media industry).

However, NOT KNOWING is essential in order to move things forward.

Advertisers have been trying to find a place to take their money where they can reach their customers’ customers for years as cable cut into broadcast eyeballs and now as internet et al cuts into cable.

To raise this kind of a red flag is static on the line between you the industry visionary and the goal of a breakthrough…

Ride the waves and don’t be scared off by those who fall off their boards — and especially not by those standing at the shore, waving and telling us how dangerous it is out here in the water…

All there is… is possibility.

Media Training for Native Youth

2008-05-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

BCP and NMTN also helped jump start a media training initiative at Fox Studios.

Thanks to visionary leadership by Gerald Alcantar (pictured), Fox Studios VP of Diversity Development, the program is now one of the industry's success stories. Every June, the Fox Studios American Indian Summer Institute gives native youth hands-on experience in production and post production. In addition, they are introduced to job possibilities in the industry, and, as important, the industry is introduced to native youth from around the country.

View Excerpts from BCP Training Projects:

2002 - Tribal TANF high school workshop

2003 - Fox Studios AISI

2004 - NPR Next Generation workshop

2005 - Fox Studios AISI

2006 - Fox Studios AISI

The Evolution of a Vision....

2008-05-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

In 1999, BCP began working with Floyd Red Crow Westerman (pictured left), Syd Beane (pictured right middle) and the Southern California Indian Centers, Inc. to create a job training program for American Indians in film and television production.

Floyd passed on in the fall of 2007, but his vision is alive and well...

The job training program he initiated has grown into the Native Media and Technology Network, a national initiative dedicated to building media capacity and a job pipeline for American Indians through training and the creation of culturally relevant programming. NMTN has since affiliated with non-profit community centers all over the country and over 300 tribes.

The NMTN tri-chairs are (pictured upper right: left to right) Frank Blythe (Omaha), Syd Beane (Minneapolis) and Lyn Dennis (Pacific Northwest). Shortly before Floyd died, BCP partnered with the leadership of NMTN to form a digital signage company: Earthstream Media promises to be a tipping point for native media. Digital technology now makes it possible to create private media networks on Tribal lands, thereby creating job opportunities while building media capacity and an outlet for creative expression.

CNIGA/DSE/NIGA in April

2008-02-08T13:59:00.001-08:00

Earthstream Media's coming out party is next week in Palm Springs as we attend the convention of conventions for California Indian Casinos. We and Wireless Ronin are partnering in this exciting initiative. We will be in BOOTH #727. Come on down and see the future of Digital Media Networks as it applies to tribal communities. This is a run-up to the NIGA convention in April. However, since 60% of all Tribal Casinos are in California, CNIGA is the big show...

And in 3 short weeks we will again be paired up with Ronin at the DSE in Las Vegas. What an exciting time. Hard to believe it has only been 9 months since we found out what Digital Signage was....or rather, since we saw what it could be...or will be.

So much has happened since May in this space. Not sure it is any less fragmented ---- especially since there are so many people (like us) jumping into the fray. Although with CBS buying SignStory in what, October?...that was the first sign that a major shift was starting to happen.... Still waiting to see how the recent movement by the big corps (like starving cats who suddenly see mice over by the door....running blindly at us, claws out) bodes for the entrenched. The congloms are not going to swoop in and solve what ails the industry.

What ails the industry, you ask?

A colleague (ok....actually, he's my brother) works for an "inside sales" company and I have been pointing him at the industry for the last 3 months. He has big publishing clients...like big newspapers...and I keep telling him that paper is going away... Anyway, he may come to DSE. So, he asked me yesterday the questions that sum up the whole industry:

"Ben, who do I approach? Help me understand. Should we offer services to the people who own the networks? Or the vendors that are advertising on the networks? Or the actual providers of the system? It seems like no one is leading the charge. It's this amorphous thing with no head."

Exactly.

His company would call prospects on behalf of a BroadSign (...if BroadSign were worthy....)...or a NanoNation, trying to find real estate for systems. Or they might work with existing Network owners to call potential advertisers in order to increase revenues. Or (as is in our business plan....---only serious investors need apply----) his company would become our representatives in the space. He would call other Network Owners and Network Managers to find out whether they need content. His company becomes our sales force.

Once we have the streams of content for the different verticals, then it is simply a matter of marketing. Best content wins.

So....

Oh man, did we come across some paradigm-shifting mo-co application today!!!! So excited to launch this new content play at DSE. Come by the Ronin Booth in Vegas.

And don't look in the box.

2008: the future is NOW

2008-01-05T13:46:00.001-08:00

We are as excited as ever about the moves we have made towards this new frontier. I am a faithful member of the Writers Guild, and this strike (now in it's 3rd month with no end in sight) has inadvertently given the creators of digital media the push we needed to de-centralize. It is WAYYYYYY too easy to create and distribute without the help of huge, multi-national conglomerates that have been so entitled for so long that they have forgotten how they were built in the first place.

It is the same in the music industry and the publishing industry. Artists of all stripes who also have a bit of an entrepreneurial spirit look around and see an open field.

Quick digression: two years ago I wrote a novel. I tried for 18 months to get a NYC agent and/or an old school NY publisher. I am not a quitter. Hustle I did knocking on many, many doors.

Hoping is not a strategy; and in this world of ours we can make things happen without permission.

Last month I published my novel. It has an ISBN number for international tracking and is in cue at The Library of Congress. Here is the link: CIRCLING THE DATE. Soon it will be available at all online retailers and who knows what lies ahead for it.

Granted, obviously there are pluses and minuses to both models. The point is we now have ways to get in the publishing game without the old guard gatekeepers holding us at bay.

And the same holds true in digital signage. It is the wild west. NBC is holding upfronts for media buyers not for broadcast TV but for out-of-home networks! It is the best news of the year so far! While certainly not going to sort out the fragmented environment that is the industry, it indeed validates our premise that the future of digital signage is some version of the broadcast model.

Strategic Relationships

2007-12-16T21:21:00.000-08:00

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.

Synergy

2007-08-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Plotting

2007-08-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

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!

Wild West

2007-08-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

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.....

Movement

2007-08-06T09:22:00.000-07:00

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.

One Step At A Time

2007-06-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Content does NOT mean advertising

2007-06-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Stick to your knitting

2007-06-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

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.....

In the land of the blind, a one-eyed man is king.

2007-06-14T11:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Targeted Entertainment for Closed Networks

2007-06-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

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...