Living with outdoor digital signage.
Transit locations are essential in any country; this is why outdoor digital signage is being deployed in most high footfall locations in the USA.
Trends in outdoor digital signage.
Recently we have seen on vehicle digital signage, this is not a new technology, there are some companies who do supply them, one in particular (LCD Enclosure Solutions Inc ) who has been manufacturing and supplying these units across the USA for the past 12 months!
The benefits of vehicle signage is that the vehicles have access to the city at peak times of the day, to the audience is massive and the ads are more successful, than say in a less busy environment than say, Manhattan New York. We have seen taxi topper signs on cabs, we have seen LED video walls on buses and coaches.
Have you ever been in a transit hub and needed to check train connections? Now you can using these floor standing kiosks, they even notify you of any cancellations or deviations from the original travel information.
Then on to hotel digital signage is yet another trending sector for outdoor digital signage, here you may find outdoor digital signage hardware in car parks, so guests can check in right from the car park and go hen take their luggage to their room! Some solutions are also equipped with wayfinding, so guests can be directed to their room or even by scanning a QR code displayed on screen, guests can download a map of the hotel, so they know exactly where the restaurant and bars are!
Casinos are also investing in outdoor digital signage hardware, as this gets clients in the habit of touching the screen, without thinking. Then when they go into the casino, it is embedded on their brain to touch the interactive gaming machines within the casino. You may not agree with this practice, but you have to admire the technology.
Challenges with outdoor digital advertising.
There are many challenges with installing any outdoor digital signage solution, the first and most important is the screen has to be seen, if for whatever reason it is not, the project is dead, clients will reluctantly advertise. The only solution is to use a screen that is sunlight bright, or high bright. This means that the display is extremely bright, even in direct sunlight, normally if a display is outdoors and in direct sunlight and not a high bright screen the display starts to blacken with the harmful effects of the sun on the LCD crystals. There are several bands including Dynascan and LG who offer high bright displays for outdoor digital signage.
The next challenge, is the location and has to be researched, otherwise the hardware may be installed in a quiet area of the outdoor location, rather than a high foot fall environment. These are usually entrances to the establishment or main walkway to entrances.
You also have to think how the ads are to be updated, advertising campaigns are usually seasonal and may even be for a specific brand’s product launch.
Benefits of outdoor advertising.
Outdoor advertising using digital media informs customers of changes within the transit hub, this may be a change in connection locations, changes to the route or even worst cancellations. In the case of cancellations you can use the outdoor kiosks to search for local hotels that have availability if your connection is delayed to the following morning.