It would seem obvious that replacing a static sign with a digital screen, or adding a screen to an environment, would automatically create more awareness for whatever was being communicated. It’s easy to see that putting really great video (herein generally referred to as “content”) on an HDTV that someone wants to buy is a foregone conclusion. But that is not the case. In situations where the shopper is buying a staple, like shampoo or toothpaste or milk, the shopper is so focused on the mission at hand that almost all signage, static and digital alike, is ignored. The potential to miss the audience can be frustrating to a network operator that has spent enormous amounts of money to put in a network and wants to see a return on the investment.

The ultimate goal of digital signage is to change behaviors. It could be to navigate through an environment, or learn more about a product, or catch up on the latest news. But digital signage alone does not allow the operator to be better at communicating.

You need terrific content.

The ability to engage a viewer with outstanding visual content is not easily accomplished. The awareness and respect for content is increasing because providers continue to learn about the medium. The common battle cry of “It’s Not TV!” runs through the industry. It isn’t TV in the traditional sense of what we sit down and watch in our homes each night. But it is a screen designed to communicate, and the understanding of how to communicate is evolving as fast as the industry itself. It is TV, just a different kind of TV.

In the past, the novelty of a screen in a store or elevator or subway was enough to allow the network operator the freedom to simply hang a screen and turn it on. Now we are seeing screens treated as vital elements of design, being built into the physical structures. This completes the experience for the end-user and the audience. The screens and content look like it was made for the store, rather than just added on at a later stage in the environment’s evolution. Venues are constantly looking for advantages over their competitors, but brand logos, colors, and store layout can only go so far. Compelling, relevant content can give one environment over another by bringing the environment to life.

As much as good content has the ability to engage a viewer, bad content can detract a viewer just as fast.

High quality, relevant, and compelling content is the most important feature to digital signage in any application. It is the reason you’re adding the screens. It can connect you with viewers in ways never before achieved through the traditional methods of communication. Whether you are a brand, or a product, or a service, or just someone who has information to share, digital signage gives you the ability to engage the viewer with your message.

There are myriad variables to consider when creating good content. What works in one retailer, or waiting room, or on a billboard, will not work on screens of the same nature because the audience makeup is different each time. This creates havoc for providers who are trying to get the right content in the right place at the right time. But there are a few basic principles that can be understood and applied across any medium that will give the provider and/or end user great content, great impact, and a greater return on the investment.

Great content tells a story. The unique environments and audiences give creators the opportunity to tell more intimate stories with greater impact, focusing on key features of the subject that appeal to the viewer at that particular time and place, rather than trying to cover all the bases in a short message you may find on television at home (a good reason why “It’s not TV”). Because digital signage is a more dynamic way to communicate, providers can leverage the creative resources to tell a better story about their brand, or product, or service. For example, a cell-phone provider may be able to show live action of the cell-phones screen and interface (think of the iPhone commercials) as an advantage over other cell-phone manufacturers. This has tremendous impact at the point of sale, where the phones are on the shelf, where customers ready to buy. Great content creates competitive differentiation.

Great content can engage a viewer like no other type of communication. And with the growth of interactivity through touch screens and mobile devices, that engagement can become personal and inspirational. Brands, products, and services can now connect with customers and consumers at all points of interaction, from the internet at home to touch-screen kiosks in the store to mobile social media that allows users to define a brand or product in their eyes. The effort to change behaviors and create impact is tremendous when the customer becomes engaged with the message.

Great content makes money. In the case of retailing, relevant and compelling content will encourage a viewer to purchase a product. The revenue generated from more product sales in turn becomes a budget that retailers can spend on bigger and better digital signage applications. The technology of digital signage alone does not generate the revenue needed to purchase a network. The largest revenue generator for digital signage is the content and the amount of money someone will pay to put a message on your screen.

Here’s the catch: This is easier said than done. The research and strategy that goes into creating an engaging network can be extreme and often nebulous. The factors of audience demographics, environmental attributes, and advertising requirements all play very heavily on the composition and execution of great content. For example, creating content that runs longer than a person’s dwell time at the point of viewing will keep the viewer from getting the message because she has already moved on. Another example is sound. In a noisy environment, audio will not be effective in communicating a message, so the message should be entirely visual. Any aspect of the message in audio can and will be lost on the viewer because he cannot hear it.

However, the front-end work that goes into understanding the variables of compelling content can pay dividends in the end when the understanding of important features creates guidelines from which terrific content, and viewer engagement, can be achieved.

Content is that important.

A core factor of the retail customer experience is advertising. But, how we speak to a potential customer versus a point-of-sale customer is not the same.

Sacrifice for the Greater Good

In a consumer’s home, the advertiser competes with everything; there is nothing “endemic” about a TV program, a magazine, or the internet. During a break of a recent sporting event I saw the following ads: Nextel (Wireless), Taco Bell (Food), Zantac (Medicine) Progressive (Insurance), and Ford (Auto). Each advertiser thinks you need their product more than anything else.

Something about the proposition will be sacrificed for the greater good of brand awareness due to factors like broadcast running times and lack of actual products or services. You can only drive a car when you get to the dealership. You can only experience a wireless device by actually using the wireless device. Lifestyle benefits are a core proposition of broadcast advertising; it’s easier to show how your life will be with the product because you can’t actually use the product…yet.

Terrific creative and understanding the audience and the environment is crucial in winning a viewer’s attention.

But retail is different. Very different.

At retail, the competition narrows down to the category. When Nike competes with Budweiser at home, it’s only a matter of who likes shoes and who likes beer. But when Nike competes with Adidas and Reebok and K Swiss and Puma on a wall of footwear, the category focus by both the customer and the advertiser at the point of sale is paramount. This is where the brand “wins the last 10 feet.”

And, in many cases, you can use the product. You can try on the shoes or the clothes. You can test drive the car, or make a wireless connection.

So why do advertisers and venues accept external advertising for the network in a retail environment? Why do so many brands and manufacturers just re-purpose their 30-second awareness ads to run on the shelf?

The Push (or Pull) for Better Content

The simple answer is insufficient data to support the theory that custom content does any better at selling a product than regular broadcast advertising. Numbers get thrown around all too easily: 70% of shopper decisions are made in-store. Or is that 50%? I recently read that POPAI’s MARI project claims that only “… three percent of in-store marketing communications is currently passed and seen by shoppers…” So that means that 97% is ignored? Or is it missed completely? How does this affect the 50-70% of shoppers who make the purchase decisions? In a 2008 study from IMI Consumer Track, North Americans were asked what influenced them to purchase brands they don’t normally purchase. The respondents said they were influenced by an ad they saw on TV 24% of the time.

Statistics, always subjective and often misleading, should compel an argument, not decide it. They should not stand in the way of engaging the customer. Instead of believing in one side of the statistic, look at the other side: 50% may be influenced, but 50% are not. 50% is a really, really big number.

Why should retail marketing push brands and advertisers to create custom content?

You have to stand out. The amount of retail environmental stimuli waging a war for the customer’s attention is close to immeasurable.

Re-purposing advertising does two things: It tells the customer what she already knows, and it tells her you don’t have anything to add to your proposition. Result: She deselects you because there are other, newer things to look at.

Decisions. Decisions.

The customer’s mindset is different in the store. Marketers must stop believing that “purchase decisions” and “unplanned decisions” are the same thing. A purchase decision usually starts outside the store.

I need bar of soap.

Where do I get soap?

At the store.

I’m going to the store.

I’m at the store.

I’m here for soap.

There’s the soap.

External advertising starts the path to purchase by compelling the viewer to decide whether or not he needs what you’re selling. In-store advertising must pick up where broadcast left off – at the curbside or front door – and guide the customer along the path, not simply reiterate what he already knows.

Purchase decisions may lead to unplanned decisions. An unplanned decision is based on impulse. Oh…I need shampoo, too. While I’m here… Where the two types of decisions mix is in the shopper’s mindset at the point of sale. Therefore, the approach to the customer should be different.

Advertising is part of the equation, not the solution; it must work in tandem with everything else.

The Effort Starts Here

The marketing team must collaborate with merchandising team to create that holistic experience. Merchant teams will negotiate massive deals with brands for product placement with little regard for how the product is actually presented to the customer. A big victory for the brand is a prominent location, but the surrounding presentation materials may not complete the entire experience. Marketing must sit at the table and be a part of the deal so that proper attention can be given to the messaging that accompanies the product.

To this end, the need for extra money to create custom content will diminish. The content and production will be part of the negotiated deal for the product life-cycle in the store. It will not be an afterthought tapping into other budgets. Further, because of its separation from any other kind of advertising, it will give marketers the ability to better measure impact.

While statistics may support some of the arguments, they should never make a case. Knowing that the customers at home and customers at a store are different should warrant the argument for custom creative at the point of sale.

Terrific creative, coupled with understanding the audience, is crucial in winning a viewer’s attention.

The thing that I enjoy most about shows like DSE is connecting with industry contemporaries and those who I have established connections with via online communication platforms. Having the opportunity to meet face-to-face with industry friends I have made through this blog, Twitter, Linkedin, and other social media channels is something that I cherish. At DSE, it’s the people you meet and the conversations that you have which make the event unforgettable. I always welcome the opportunity to meet new folks and share interesting conversations with people who exude passion for digital signage, retail customer experience, emerging communication platforms, etc.

I shared conversations with a wealth of uber-smart individuals on topics such as location-based mobile services, real-time news, the future of digital out-of-home media, social media pollination across the enterprise, using digital technologies to enhance internal communications, digital signage as a brand/customer experience gateway, emerging mobile platforms, etc. It’s in these conversations that industry participants and I waxed analytical on digital signage’s role in our communications ecosystem and the technology’s advertising future. To those who I shared conversations with, thank you. To those who I didn’t get a chance to connect with, please feel free to reach out if you would like to talk (best way to reach me is via email: david.weinfeld@presetgroup.com). I am always happy to talk and help out in any way that I can.

Thoughts from the Show Floor

I don’t think that a single person who attended the show would argue that the technology on the event floor wasn’t impressive. As you entered the expo hall floor, it was like a treat for your eyes. Digital signs stretched as far as the eye could see. From thin screens to video walls and outdoor displays, the technical side of the industry was more than well represented. If you love digital signage (I assume that you have at least a passing interest in the technology if you’re reading this blog), your feelings about the environment would run parallel to my own.

The technology that powers the digital signage and digital out-of-home media industries was front and center on the show floor. While screens, media players, and interactive elements stretched across every square foot of the Las Vegas Convention Center, such a setup ran counter to the goal of educating newcomers and longtime attendees about digital signage and future industry developments. For anyone that was new to the digital signage industry, they likely left the show floor with more questions than answers.

An enormous focus was placed on digital signage technology at the detriment of featuring solutions that solve real business problems. The show floor lacked balance between the hardware/software side of the industry and the experiences that the technology powers. Too much emphasis was placed on the physical boundaries of the technology. Many missed the chance to feature digital signage as a gateway to expansive customer and brand experiences. The technology, and all of the bells and whistles, are great to look at it, but the sheen of these objects fade if they aren’t framed within the greater context of digital signage’s far reaching impact.

Many people I spoke with described the show floor as “cluttered” or “difficult to navigate.” For some, it felt like a summer camp reunion, drawing the conclusion based on a limited number of attendees outside of the digital signage and technology industries. If you got a nickel for every agency or brand rep. that was at the show, you would barely be able to afford a fast food combo meal.

One industry friend who is extremely knowledgeable on digital signage technology even admitted that he dreaded walking the show floor. This sentiment came from someone who loves digital out-of-home media. I can understand why he felt this way. For anyone who was new to digital signage, these end users were met with software companies all appearing to do the same thing (some claiming they could do more, others claiming best-in-class solutions, and none willing to admit that a potential customer would be better suited speaking to one of their competitors).

One of the few advertising agency reps. in attendance equated the expo to a “picks and shovels show.” He found the show lacking in relevance to his specific discipline. He commented that his agency colleagues don’t have anywhere near the same interest in technology as he does. They just want to know that it works.

A screen is a screen, but a true digital signage solution is an experience. This is an ethos that needs to be shared across the industry and, most importantly, carried throughout the Digital Signage Expo.

In an effort to attract customers, retailers are becoming more category and product agnostic. Walmart’s consumer electronics department is beginning to look a lot like Best Buy’s layout. Best Buy adopted a red theme for their new Musical Instruments department. It looks a lot like Guitar Center. Amazon just takes on everyone with unrivaled inventory. The customer has two choices to make: Click-and-order, or brick-and-mortar. And if the customer can get the same product from any number of retailers, the brand experience becomes the deciding factor for the customer.

The most valuable thing a retailer can own is its position in a customer’s mind. At the retail level, digital signage augments that perception by bringing the brand to life.

A digital signage network is an investment in your brand, not a line item on your P&L sheet. You build it to create a differentiated experience, not to show an ad a customer can see on her TV at home, online, or in another retailer’s space. Running ads for the sake of revenue denigrates the brand equity you have built for the customer experience. The network has a higher purpose at the intersection between the brand and the customer.

Your digital signage network allows you to consistently deliver your brand proposition, withstanding the ebb of market forces, product sales, and incremental revenue. This reflects in a customer’s choice between you and another retailer. Relying on revenue to drive the programming or the experience will force you to rethink your strategy every time the market fluctuates.

With a customer’s ability to deselect messaging as she moves through the retail environment, it is critical that your brand engages her instead of becoming a casualty.

The new American Eagle store has an absolutely towering 25-storey wall of tight pixel LEDs rising from a corner off the landmark square, and wrapping around it. Other stores and media companies have also spent Lord knows how much making themselves noticed.

It’s all quite amazing, and has very little to do with digital signage as it plays out day to day, Yes, they are signs, and they are digital. But the comparison end pretty much there.

What these big boards tell us, though, is just how important it is to be big with visuals. Most of what’s deployed in the digital signage industry right now is, quite arguably, too small for its surroundings. A screen that eats a wall in someone’s main living area at home looks relatively tiny hanging from a high ceiling in a 100,000 square foot food barn. Unless a screen is down at eye level or nested with product, a big LCD or plasma in many settings struggles to get noticed.

The novelty factor of big flat panel monitors is long gone, so people aren’t looking at them because they are there.

So what do you do? Try other stuff.

In retail, and the other indoor spaces that are the mainstream of what we called digital signage, big LEDs don’t really work. Too costly, too bright, and while the image reproduction on the indoor versions can look pretty good from a distance, up close, the visuals look terrible. The LED bulbs are too far apart. They have a role, but a limited one.

Big projection screens present too many maintenance issues and physical challenges, and the visuals never look great in a bright room. Sunlight and ambient light are the enemies and may always be.

LCD and plasma walls that have screens stitched together look much better, but even the newest ones still have very noticeable seams between the screens, and are a lot of work to keep all looking the same. They have presence, but what gets put up tends to look compromised from the moment these walls turn on.

That’s why I was very intrigued about a new product being rolled out by Christie Digital, a company that has been in the projection business for many decades, but has now developed a product that takes the display business in a new direction.

I did some writing for the company in the lead-up to the launch of MicroTiles, so there is my conflict declared. But that’s where my interests end. I am writing about the technology now, because it deals effectively with the BIG thing.

The tiles have very bright LED light engines inside self-contained units that can stack and join in any number of shapes. So instead of a video wall always being a uniform wall, it can be as jagged as a bar chart tracking the stock market. It can wrap around door frames. It can run up support columns, or look like an LED ribbon board in a sports arena.

The difference is that the clarity and color reproduction are superior to LED and better even than the monster LCD and plasma stuff in rich guys’ home cinemas. The units will last for more than seven years at 24/7 usage. And they service fast and easily from the front, and are self-aware, meaning the Tiles talk to each other and calibrate on the fly. Where regular video walls get patchy from screen to screen, these tiles steadily compare notes and sync up.

And the seams are 1 mm. That’s it. Hairline.

Gorgeous stuff. A little pricey and meant for now for flagship stores and big-ticket venues. But over time, these units could be very commonplace.

The reason: They deal with all the issues and needs of BIG.

That is very good news for all of us. A lot of retailers are not yet doing digital signage because what they have seen in store has large been uninspiring and lacking true impact. Ad sales on many networks struggle because the screens they install doesn’t get the notice numbers they need.

But when display technology can get fitted into these sorts of environments and both dominate and fit the space, that really is BIG.

The retail world now sees more money spent on a single point-of-purchase display than many stores spent on an entire campaign two decades ago. The effort on getting the customer to choose you rather than the other guy rockets freely into the millions of dollars without so much as a free ornament (the plastic kind) for your tree.

Today, the brand reach created by a campaign extends beyond anyone’s wildest dreams of engagement. The internet and social media have allowed end-users to absorb campaign material and keep it forever, literally. We enjoy reminiscing about great retail campaigns from bygone days thanks to the likes of YouTube.

Campaigns are no longer the five or six major calendar holidays they used to be, either. Campaigns revolve around calendar events for dozens of cultures. The holiday campaign includes Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa, and opens the can of slogan worms on what to call it. Happy Holidays? Merry Christmas? Happy Hanukkah? All of them? Brands and retailers find themselves walking a fine line between spreading good cheer and kicking political correctness in the shin.

And, campaigns are no longer cultural events; they are social events. Best Buy devoted the entire month of January to its Home Theater campaign so that you could have the perfect home theater for the “big game,” the Super Bowl. Some retailers build promotions around the Academy Awards. They have a countdown leading to it. The day after the show, the movies that won awards are proudly displayed in the front window DVD shelves, and you can find the latest celebrity fashions online to purchase for yourself.

But there is a point where the efforts of branding via campaigns become suspect. If “brand purpose” is to create an ecosystem in which people can engage, then the idea of campaigns is contentious. Brands are not built through episodic events; they evolve through long-term relationships.

When brands spend too much time and money on a campaign, they spend too little time on the brand itself. While working at Best Buy, I spent almost 10 months of every year in projects that concerned a campaign. The other two months were spent cleaning up from the other 10 months of work. I rarely spent ample time simply focused on the brand — the foundational engagement with customers that we strived to achieve.

It was kind of like putting a new coat of paint on an Edsel.

I believe that in this culture of short attention spans and fast knowledge, it is much more important for a brand to embrace the engagement with the customer and utilize campaigns as talking points, not as brand builders. Campaigns are conversation starters, not conversations. They are a great way to get customers in the door, but not very good at keeping them there. When a campaign ends, you should never hear your customer ask, “That was fun. What now?”

How do you keep them after the campaign? Some do it by hammering another campaign down your throat. The back-to-school campaigns seem to start earlier each year; they cannot get here fast enough on the heels of the 4th of July campaigns (in the U.S.). That doesn’t work. At some point, the campaigns stop.

You build your brand by focusing less on how you look during a particular time of year and more on how you look at all times.

When building a campaign, three questions come to mind:

a. How does this campaign support our brand as a whole?
b. How will this campaign be perceived AFTER it expires?
c. How does this campaign work with the next campaign?

These are only three questions, and they may appear elementary, but when you have several internal teams working on a campaign, you will get several different answers, and not all of them will be right. This is crucial in knowing the role your brand plays in the culture, and the value you have in your customer’s lifestyle the next day.

Effective brands build relationships; they do not have affairs. Affairs always end bad.

Like the first two in the series, it is full of good insights into what’s happening in stores. It is also suggests digital signage is woefully ineffective, and anyone reading this report without thinking it through and getting some perspective would quickly toss out the concept of in-store digital as something even worth pursuing. It’s that bad.

As you might imagine, that’s a bit of a problem for companies trying to sell the dream into that sector.

Miller Zell and a research firm did a survey of 999 shoppers in March of this year “to determine which in-store marketing communications elements influence and inspire purchase behavior.”

The research revealed and confirmed 60 per cent of brand decisions are still made in the store, and that in-store advertising is more influential than out of store. It suggested mass merchandise stores are where people prefer to shop and convenience stores are the least favourite. And it suggests the in-store experience is incredibly important, with more than 2/3s of respondents saying the experience was a make or break factor for them in choosing where they shop.

Notice-ability sorted out what was actively noticed in stores by shoppers, and what was not. At the top, end-caps and merchandising displays, with percentage rankings in the 60s and 70s.

At the bottom, digital signage, at a woeful 10 per cent or so.

Floor graphics did better!

Digital signage did a little better when it came to purchase and brand choice influence, but not a whole bunch. It ranks 9^th of 11 choices, and just ahead of ceiling banners and overhead mobiles.

Now at this point you may have closed your laptop, had a last sip of your coffee and headed for the roof of your building. It really could seem awful and hopeless.

But let’s stop and think about this. I can pretty effectively argue that the reason the numbers are so bad is that the execution, to date, has been so bad in retail.

One of the reasons digital screens are rated right down there with ceiling banners and overhead mobiles is that they have been hanging from the ceiling or high up on a wall, just like ceiling banners and mobiles. Except they are a fraction of the size. No amount of zippy motion graphics in ads will get people looking if the screens are well above the normal field of vision and are, in relative terms, tiny in the context of the retail environment.

An HDTV that looks massive in your living room is just a speck on the horizon of a big box store, and even in smaller retailers. And it’s just a flat-panel TV, and they’re everywhere. That novelty factor is long, long gone.

Sprinkling a few screens around a big store, hoping they will get noticed and have an impact, really isn’t much more than wishful thinking, and this sort of data really drives that point home. To service the general environment of a large retail space, you need equally large displays that actually command attention and set the tone and experience that shoppers clearly want.

That technology is coming, but the other, easier route is to use what the research tells us, and get the screens in positions where they are noticed. Those are the ends of aisles, merchandise displays, department locators and at the shelf-edge in the aisles.

I have a client that has been working with a major brand on a merchandising fixture that includes a large LCD screen integrated into the fixture, with strategy and programming specifically tuned to working that fixture hard with rotating promotions and regularly changed SKUs. The fixtures where wheeled into place in stores and the results were immediate and phenomenal, with sales jumps against control stores well, well into the double figures across scores of sites. The program has been doubled in size.

Other retailers that have put screens in positions where they can’t help but be noticed, and where the content is well-executed and steadily refreshed, are seeing sustained sales increases that easily justify the effort and cost. The recently opened Microsoft store is a fabulous example of a retail design that really exploits the possibility, with full walls of tiled screens. Expensive, sure, but not all THAT expensive. Hugely impactful, though.

Miller Zell also told me (I asked) that another reason the numbers were low was critical mass. There aren’t all that many retailers yet with real screen networks.

This stuff DOES work, but getting it right takes a lot of careful consideration and use of the information available, LIKE these kinds of reports. The days of retailers and network operators “hanging and hoping” with their screens have to end, and people in the industry have to take a role by flat telling their clients, “That’s not going to work.”

As part of its retail reboot, Disney is seeking to transform its fixed locations into all-encompassing brand experiences. Identifying the brand victories that could be realized in building its retail stores into platforms for vibrant consumer engagements, Disney is owning the fact that its current retail strategy is missing the mark. While other companies cite high infrastructure costs as limitations to making retail improvements, Disney understands that if it weren’t to adapt to changing consumer behavior, its fixed retail operations might not be in a position to be saved in the future.

The company plans to revamp all of its 340 U.S. stores, complete with theaters where children can watch clips from their favorite Disney films. Visitors can also speak with characters via satellite, role-play costumes, interactive displays activated by computer chips built into merchandise and touch screens where parents can book a Disney Cruise.

“It’s about making this an experience rather than just picking up a toy,” said Disney rep Shawn Turner. “We want them to leave feeling like they had the full Disney experience. They don’t necessarily need to go to the park to have that experience, they can get it at the local mall.”

“You have to build a brand experience that’s enriching enough in its own right, but also amplifies that experience after they leave the store.” (via BrandWeek)

Instead of looking at its retail stores in a vacuum, Disney realizes that these environments are arms that extend from the body of its brand. Seeing that improvements can be made, the Company is seizing the opportunity to change things for the better. Changes are being made both for the good of the business and the customer. Disney knows that improvements like these shouldn’t be looked at purely through the scope of “What is this going to cost us?”

Disney is asking the question, “What is it going to cost us if we don’t improve our retail stores?” More companies need to be asking themselves that question. More brands need to realize that retail improvement and technology enhancement costs aren’t just line items on a page. They are gateways to more enriching brand experiences.

Thanks to the current shift in content creation, distribution, and consumption, emerging media companies stand to reap the greatest gain by turning old business models on their heads. It’s important to remember; however, that there are elements of the old guard that are worth preserving and building from.

I’m not here to echo the death of newspapers or other forms of traditional media. I think we can all agree that newspapers, magazines, TV, etc. aren’t going anywhere. As we enter the age of real-time news and constant communication, they may not look the same, behave the same, be distributed in the same manner, or rely on their current business models; but it’s illogical to think that pillars of the media industry will just vanish. Just as companies in a vast array of industries have had to adapt in order to stay relevant and survive, so too must traditional media companies reimagine themselves in a world of universal publishers and empowered consumers.

In the same way that traditional media companies must expand beyond their once safe silos of operations, digital OOH networks must not fall into the trap of fencing themselves off from other media outlets and content models. Rather than solely focusing on the DOOH platform, which can bring stars to they eyes of the most seasoned entrepreneur, these organzations must embrace the opportunity to become 360 degree media companies.

The disclaimer here is that I’m not promoting a DOOH media company launch a radio network or newspaper; or create business lines that are incongruent with the organzation as a whole. But, what about launching a podcast series or a digital newsletter? For niche place-based networks in doctors offices and veterinary clinics, distributing content through media platforms like these can serve to spread the reach of the network’s brand. Cross-channel distribution can increase a DOOH network’s status in its respective vertical, and create opportunities for its content to be discovered by a broader audience.

The financial barriers that once restricted a new media company’s ability to reach a mass audience are now gone. You don’t need radio towers, satellites, or large infrastructures for distribution. A blogger, an upstart online magazine, or DOOH media network all have the opportunity to become pillars of our media future. To do so, they need to be ready to adapt and expand at a moment’s notice.

Thanks to emerging mobile and digital technologies, a static advertisement doesn’t have to cede to being a one-dimensional branding tool. It can be a call-to-action that takes you on a scavenger hunt around an arena. Using image recognition technology from LinkMe Mobile, you can capture visual answers to sports-related trivia questions as you move throughout a venue. An advertising display can become the starting point for an augmented reality adventure. Stadium attendees can unlock clues, prizes, and special discounts by connecting their phones to mobile-enabled billboards. Whether it be via Bluetooth, augmented reality, QR code, or NFC (near field communication), a billboard doesn’t need to exist within the silo of a singular creative approach.

As CMOs and brand managers search for new, creative ways to engage consumers in sports stadiums, they must make ample use of the resources that lay before them. Instead of focusing solely on building brand awareness, advertising professionals realize widespread benefits by crafting campaigns that focus on activation and ROI. With out-of-home media and digital technology working in concert, brands can create all encompassing fan engagements.

With digital signage and interactive displays playing a larger role in stadium environments, brands have more platforms from which to create unique campaigns. Arena Media Networks offers advertisers a number of creative opportunities that extend beyond generating brand awareness. Thanks to the timeliness and flexibility of digital signage, brands can exhibit greater fluidity in these environments. Messages can be aligned with team performance and specific events that occur during a game. In building creative ads that leverage real-time information, brands can forge more lasting impressions with stadium visitors.

It’s about taking an active role in the stadium environment, building off of the emotion and excitement that flow through sports arenas. While it forces brands to think outside of the silo of brand awareness, it allows them to become part of the complete fan experience. One must not be afraid to seize upon the many interactive opportunities that fans come in contact with. Through the use of guerrilla marketing tactics and digital applications, static advertisements can become much more than single points of contact.

When you think about all of the different advertising initiatives that networks like Arena Media make possible, you can get lost in the creative possibilities. Fans can engage in multi-player fantasy sports games, interact with screens via mobile applications, and communicate with fans across the arena through digital displays. What’s exciting about sports arenas acting as the backdrop for marketing campaigns is how technologically-advanced they are.

With a myriad of technology platforms at their finger tips, it’s hard to imagine why brands wouldn’t leverage every possible opportunity to connect with fans who are already at the peak of excitement. It’s great for brands to get involved in these environments because stadiums encapsulate the shared sense of belonging amongst fans, the passion they hold for their teams, and the all-encompassing entertainment that characterizes the in-arena experience.

Media planners and marketing managers were once able to fulfill their duties by buying boards throughout stadiums and quantifying the number of people that would “see” them. But as digital technology has forced brands to better scrutinize their use of different media properties, so too must sports marketing professionals be liable for the decisions they make. The days of just buying a stadium banner or a couple static displays along an arena concourse are numbered. Brand managers must activate the engagement opportunities that grow out of these environments. Brands can now move seamlessly across stadiums, shifting messages according to team performance.

Thanks to continued innovation in the areas of experiential marketing and fan participation, sponsors can challenge their sports marketing partners to create campaigns that speak to the unique aspects of their brand. I imagine that as Arena Media grows across professional sports stadiums (the company is in over 50 professional sports venues), we’ll see an increasing amount of cross country multi-player rivalries. Thanks to smartphone application development, we’re beginning to see more venue specific mobile offerings. Whether it be direct mobile ordering, customized venue maps, or augmented reality layers, fans can unlock the core elements of the stadium experience from the palm of their hands.

The jobs of brand executives and marketing managers require greater research and creative development beyond the tried and true tactics of old. For those who are reticent to cede their brands to the control of their customers, they will continue to drift into the abyss of zero relevance. To exist in today’s stadiums and thrive therein, brands need to be willing to step from the static billboards of old and participate in the environments themselves. That could be via touchscreen interactivity, mobile activation, or any number of experiential marketing tactics. Instead of being another logo on the wall, companies must seize upon the chance to “interact” with fans.