Hey, digital signage industry folks…

Um, check this out for the ultimate OH CRAP moment:

Yeeaaa, that would be the opening ceremonies of the Olympics… where I hear there’s a pretty decent sized audience.
Get the guy who was managing that feed a tissue. Or… uh, a new job?

Pic via Gizmodo.

Can’t get enough of the parallel pommel horse, synchronized fencing, marathon ping pong, and that random USA swimmer dude that keeps winning gold medals every four seconds? (Oh Michael, I kid, I kid…)

So hey, you’re not alone. As a collective audience, you’re reportedly using new media more than ever before.

According to NBC, “about half of the people who are using mobile phones to pull down video or information about the Olympics have been trying out that technology for the first time.” [continued after the jump]

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A few months back, I posted about consumers’ resistance to digital signage, pointing up the issue that oftentimes what marketers see as dazzling is often construed by end user eyeballs as glaring, particularly among a Connected Class to whom (as one commenter eloquently put it, “loud noises mean “panic” and surprising movement means “danger, get away”).

The topic riled up a great group of industry folks as well as end users, and the discussion quickly branched off into sub-conversations about user experience, design decisions, industry best practices, and the OOH signage landscape at large. Audience aside, these threads converged exactly where the discussion started: the difficulty of escaping the mediated public perception of digital signage.
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I ran into this mini-rally encouraging people to recycle their old TVs right outside the Austin Convention Center on Saturday afternoon.  They were moving too quickly for me to grab any collateral (or perhaps I was moving too slowly).  It was also hard to catch their attention– you know, with the TV hats and all.
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First off… no, I’m not going to launch into a hypersyllabic erudite-fest of Lacanian identity theory (you would need to give me a glass of wine first).

In this case, I pose the question in a media sales sense.

Riddle me this:

Let’s say you have 300,000 social locations in the US (bars, restaurants, etc). Each of these locations hosts an average of 200 patrons per night. Now say an advertiser is promoting his brand via OOH digital signage in 300 of these locations. That would give him 60,000 visitors (but not “absolute uniques”).
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Upon our return from Vegas, we could all use a healthy dose of understated signage…

[tags]The Web Outside, Signage, Adverganza, billboards, OOH, out-of-home advertising[/tags]

This is a squid.

***

And this is a Digital Signage Squidoo.

Somewhat similar… but with less cartilage, and more helpful links. Now if only these resources came with a side of calamari…

Anyone use Squidoo on a regular basis? I’ve happened upon it through random blog posts now and again, but have trouble making it a habit. I’m signing up for this particular feed today, so let’s hope my iGoogle can help keep it top of mind– seems like it could be a great resource if it’s updated with decent frequency.

[tags]The Web Outside, Squidoo, Digital Signage, Digital Signage Squidoo, OOH Networks[/tags]

The headline of AdAge’s daily email blast demanded my attention within a crowded inbox this morning: “NBC to Host Its First Digital Out-of-Home.” While, sure, we all saw that coming from 658 miles back, it’s NBC’s timing that should have us paying extraclose attention to this particular media shift. As AdAge’s Brian Steinberg assesses:

It’s telling that NBC has chosen this year to roll out its first out-of-home upfront. As the writers strike drags on, it’s growing more likely that the big broadcast networks will pull back from their glitzy May presentations for their prime-time schedules. Should the strike, which began Nov. 5, continue past late January, it will eat into the networks’ development season, where they devise comedy and drama pilots to show to advertisers. It may be in many networks’ interest to highlight media properties other than traditional TV programs.

I’m not ready to commit to the stance that the writers strike will boost up the digital OOH market in any significant way, but it’s certainly a integral variable to track.

Exactly a year ago this week, Outdoor Advertising Association of America’s Stephen Freitas predicted that 2007 would be the “tipping point” for out-of-home digital signage…

Was he right?

If not, will the writers strike be the final “tippage-inducer”? (Wow, there’s gotta be a better word for that…)

[tags]The Web Outside, OAAA, Stephen Freitas, Digital Signage, AdAge, Writers Strike[/tags]

Brighton’s 30×45-ft. LED screen welcomes suburbanites into the city with a new “digital mural” each day, clearly viewable from a mile and a half stretch of the Mass Pike. The WGBH-owned screen displays a high-res “Picture of the Day” representing current programming on the station from 6:30am to 7pm; nighttime commuters will see a sky view of Boston from the west. TV viewers and web visitors are encouraged to submit ideas for images, and final choices are voted upon via online poll.

As an integrated part of their new office building, the design is understated enough as not to be visually jarring (i.e. cause traffic accidents), yet bold enough to attract eyeballs. Certainly nice model to start building upon…

Thanks to Stephen (and his iPhone) for taking the photo on his way into the office. Has anyone else seen this in person? What do you think– effective?

[tags]The Web Outside, WGBH LED screen, WGBH Picture of the Day, Boston, digital signs, digital signage, electronic billboards[/tags]

On the T this morning, I was seated next to a man listening to Marcy Playground (you know, the early 9os Sex & Candy guy). After taking a quiet, reflective moment to get over the fact that Marcy Playground actually recorded multiple songs, I realized just how loud this guy’s iPod was blaring. Now, granted, I only knew he was rocking out to MP because he had his nano perched on his knee and I could read the display, but had I been a bit more familiar with the artist (artist? really? Is that going too far?), I most assuredly would have been able to name-that-tune in under 6 notes.

Now, typically, no big deal. In fact, just last evening I was crammed up next to another commuter on my ride home who I swear had installed some sort of CrazyMonsterSuperSubwoofer inside of his little 1/4″-thick bundle of audio joy. The fact that I could hear muted strains of the Black Crowes didn’t bother me too much at that point, though; I was carrying three grocery bags plus my laptop, and my wool hat was so wet I could smell it.

But this morning, on a relatively quiet early ride inbound, I didn’t want to be thinking about Marcy Playground (I mean, honestly, does anyone? ever?)… I wanted to read my paper; I wanted to halfway listen to the conductor telling me I wasn’t missing my stop; I wanted to casually eavesdrop on the Chatty Cathys yammering next to me. Seriously, whatever– I just wanted him to turn his damn iPod down.

Sitting there with my iPhone and mini green Shuffle in my purse, my iBook in my bag… I was a hater. Not of the device, but of the user behavior.

And honestly, the Mac devotee in me still withstanding, I’m not sure if the two can really be cleaved.

I began to think about how user behavior and digital signage are similarly inextricable… and whose job this is to regulate. The user? The product designer? Or does it get sucked into the regulating manners and mannerisms of the prevailing cultural state?

Now, this thought process may have stemmed from a few different places (and let’s leave out subjective factors like “Jayne is a generally disagreeable person”)…

• I just finished reading The Perfect Thing by Steven Levy. I won’t turn this into a book review, but I will say that if you found your way to this blog, you probably want to read it; in fact– know what?– you definitely do. Levy, a personal friend of both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, does a fantastic job getting inside product design, company culture, market trends, and –most importantly– the essence of cool.

• I’ve been wrapped into this discussion on the nature of digital signage, and what makes it effective… or creepy. So, what’s the verdict thus far? Well, the lines have certainly been drawn. While I don’t think the split is as simple as “industry = optimistic, mass audience = pessimistic,” I do think that the industry has much to prove in terms of what they’re going to do to make this medium one that viewers don’t just simply “endure,” but actually embrace and look towards for entertainment and information. I’m not saying that industry insiders (myself included) aren’t willing to take on the challenge… as I believe the responses to the post (21 lengthy, thoughtful comments to date) indicate. I will say, however, that if interactivity is the golden ticket to gaining willing eyeballs, then the relationship between digital signage and its viewers, for the most part, needs some serious therapy (or rather, umm… contemplation). As commenter (and viewer) Henry Lihn remarks, “Please, stop thinking ads, and think, “Hi.” If you master that, try for “would you like to play with me?”

***

So what does all this have to do with iPod volume on public transportation? Actually, lots:

• People don’t want other people’s media shoved in their faces. Seems simple, but this is a necessary component of all one-to-many apps. The ipod is primarily a one-to-one device, even if it was originally designed for sharing headphones with one’s (willing) neighbor, but its lessons can be extended outwards. If I feel as if I’ve been accosted by Marcy Playground on my way to work, this should serve as a warning for how much “personal” (i.e. trendy, hyper-specific demo targeting) content should go up on these (very public) boards. I’m of the mind that, in an interactive setting, the more the viewer brings to the experience, the better… even if that means taking a minute or two to figure out where they stand in relation to the medium before engaging.

• If the US is steadily becoming a more insular, self-absorbed, I-like-what-I-like-and-mass-media-can-go-F-itself culture of “Earbud Recluses” (and, for the sake of this argument, let’s say we are), isn’t it worth noting that digital signage is the best way to tap into these consumers?

It seems that the demands of the Earbud Devoted (and many of us on the periphery of this culture, as I view myself) also serve as an ideal model for an effective manifestation of interactive digital signage. To bring this back to my question about product versus user behavior, here’s my first stab at rectifying the two (and please feel free to throw in your two cents). DS should:

1. Be customizable, with the ability to tap into the mass market and the long tail with equal ease (channeling iTunes…)
2. Be disruptive only when I tell it to be.
3. Be disruptive only to me, and not to my neighbor, unless I initiate the media share.
4. Give the user the ability to control the medium (it follows that it must be simple to navigate).

Digital signage, in some instances (many of which I’m honored to be a part of), is moving in that direction.

What’s missing? For one, as the commenters on this post have mentioned repeatedly, it’s just not cool yet. We continue to shape the blinking-colorrific-seizure-makers into an interface that invites viewers in (and gives them something useful and enjoyable to do there)… and well, that’s at least a start.

I trust that the savviest among us will find a way to complete the formula.

May as well start here… what ingredients for “cool disruption” did I leave out?

[photo adapted from flickr user Pro-Zac]

[tags]The Web Outside, digital signage, ipod, The Perfect Thing, Steven Levy, cool, electronic billboards, mobile web, interactivity[/tags]