There is really only one goal for digital signage: enabling initiative, getting the customer doing something with what he or she has just seen. Regardless of the engagement, a positive outcome is the only desired effect.

Here are three very general areas where digital signage can play a positive role in a customer’s experience within an environment, and the potential pitfall each encounters with poor planning and execution.

Environmental Navigation

Navigation is usually the first impression a customer gets of a store. “Where can I find…?” Good navigation will make the shopper’s experience positive and can reduce time and stress. Digital signage can play a key role in making sure that two goals are met: Showing the customer exactly where to go and showing the easiest way to get there. But you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. Poor navigation techniques, or making the customer work too hard to locate the destination, will disengage a customer before he is even at the destination.

Do we now need GPS in a store?

Education

Learning about a product or service through digital interactivity allows the customer to learn at her pace, not the pace of the employee or the store. The ability for digital engagement (most likely in a kiosk) to be flexible for the customer’s depth of knowledge and desire for education will generate interest, respect and loyalty from the customer.

In contrast, poor education or programming that makes too many assumptions about the customer’s knowledge and has ignored important messaging will sour the experience.

Perception of Time

The ability to cut down on a customer’s perception of time is taken very seriously by environments where waiting (hospitals) or poor attitudes (returning an item that gave you a bad experience) are part of the customer’s experience in the space. Engaging content can change behavior and ultimately reduce a customer’s perception of time.

However, poor execution on basic guidelines, such as the running time on a looping program being shorter than the average time a customer waits, can be a big disappointment. Customers don’t want to see the same thing twice. In addition, creating programming that does not effectively draw attention away from the customer’s purpose in the environment can backfire by making the customer even more aware of the time.

The detail that goes into each category is dependent upon the venue’s strategy with digital signage. Great care should be taken each time. Poor execution with one screen can wreck a customer’s experience in the entire environment. A bad digital signage experience can drive customers away just as fast as bad customer service.

To avoid that end, constant research and understanding will keep your digital experiences fresh and appealing for the customer and the venue.

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.

The people I was yakking with couldn’t figure out why, but it was pretty clear to me. The companies chose their thing. Their vertical. And then they went after it hard.

In a little more than a week the North American part of the industry will gather in Las Vegas for DSE, and prospective buyers will walk into the exhibit hall and be greeted by a sea of exhibits from companies that are all pitching pretty much the same thing. They will see countless booths and hear countless pitches about the nuances of why a particular company’s way of doing things is the cat’s pyjamas (always wanted to use that phrase …) but not a lot that distinguishes them.

Not that many companies at the show will set themselves up in a way that clearly tells prospects, “If you are looking for a solution that is laser-focused on doing this, or serving that, we’re your guys.” Almost all the pitches and positioning will be a riff on the right message, right time thing.

It’s all very general, and leaves the vendors engaged in an endless scrap over features, personalities and, what they really don’t want, price.

Then there are the other guys who are just quietly going about their business servicing a particular vertical category … and not a broad vertical like retail. I mean narrowed down to a sub-category of retail. Or maybe they just do campus. Or museums.

They got focused. They developed sector expertise and tailored their message and their product and service officer to a particular area. Instead of 300 software companies, maybe they’re competing with three on jobs. Or none.

There are companies in this industry who don’t show up at the trade shows. They don’t make a lot of noise. They just do their thing with their own narrowed list of targets. When they do trade shows, it is THE trade show in their vertical. Sometimes, they’re the only digital signage company there.

The people who run those companies figured out getting focused made more sense than trying to get noticed in the crowd.

If I am a guy looking for a solution, I am going to be a lot more engaged by someone who understands my business, and its dynamics and challenges,  than I am by someone else who may have more brand recognition and flashier material, but only a fleeting grasp of what I do and need.

People are going to walk up to booths at DSE in a few days and just flat ask salespeople, “What do you guys do?”

If all they’ve got to answer back with is some canned blah-blah-blah stuff with scale and reliable and cost-efficient lobbed in the patter, that’s a problem.

There are some big guys with big budgets coming into this sector now and they probably aren’t going away. But they’re just getting started and their offers are really undefined.

Pick what you’re really good at. Look at where the market opportunities are and what kinds of businesses are either recession-proofed and hopefully expanding. And look for those categories in which digital signage is a need to have, not a nice to have.

Get some focus, and you could flourish.

The show was great!

Not only did I enjoy countless engaging, vibrant conversations, I also came in contact with a wealth of exciting new technologies. The attendance was strong. Optimistic energy fueled the show’s atmosphere. You could tell that attendees recognized how important it is for them to integrate customer-facing technology into their environments.

I had to navigate large crowds throughout the day, especially as I walked through the Innovation Station, a collection of hand-picked retail solutions driving the future of the industry. Kudos need to be given to CRI for bringing together such a great, and diverse, array of solution providers.

The IBM booth (more like a control center) was picked with digital goodies and innovative retail solutions. Just like at the Innovation Station, I had to navigate crowds of engaged attendees to get from point A to point B. Within IBM’s “showcase,” I saw a range of technologies, including location aware mobile applications and in-store augmented reality displays. The company sees the writing on the wall, and knows that the world of bricks-and-mortar is undergoing an in-store digital revolution. IBM sees its deep involvement in various aspects of retailers’ operations as a clear foundation on which to build new media experiences.

NRF 2010 will be remembered for a number of different things, one of which is sure to be the number of tech giants showcasing new digital signage solutions. The show saw digital signage solutions from tech stalwarts like HP, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, and IBM (just to name a few). It is an exciting development for our industry to see the aforementioned “big boys” step into our pond. I’m not saying that they’re not going to stumble here and there along the way. As these companies acclimate themselves to the world of digital signage, they will learn from their mistakes and discover nuances of the market. Their depth of talent, experience, sizable R&D departments, and tech industry leverage is sure to drive DS forward. I see it as a ringing endorsement of the auspicious future that lies ahead for the digital signage marketplace.

With companies like Intel and Microsoft taking a major interest in digital signage, such activity is guaranteed to accelerate the growth of the industry. Not only do many of these DS newcomers want to grow their presence in the sector, they want to take leadership positions therein. We all know that such a thing is easier said than done, but I’m sure that some of the executives I met with are going to have a major impact on this industry. One such individual is Jose Avalos, the Director of Digital Signage at Intel.

Unless you were living under a rock, you heard about the multitouch, holographic intelligent digital signage concept that Intel featured at the show. Equipped with anonymous video analytics (facial recognition software from Cognovision) and an array of top-notch digital and technical features, the innovative solution captured the imagination of attendees. I must applaud Intel and Microsoft for recognizing that one must make a big splash when entering new markets to get people’s attention. Jose Avalos sees and understands the lasting place digital signage will have across the retail ecosystem. Speaking with Jose, even for just a few minutes, was illuminating. He spoke passionately about Intel’s approach to the industry and desire to deliver solutions that will enhance how we shop.

Looking around the show, you couldn’t help but feel the energy that circled the Javits Center floor. The time is upon us to grasp the ship carrying the future of retail. The vessel is filled with impassioned individuals who see the potential inherent in bringing real-time, efficient, and smart technology to the corner store and neighborhood shopping mall.

I welcomed connecting with professionals in the show’s Design Studio. Design houses and architects are definitely keen to the coming flood of technology at retail. I connected with RFID providers, audience analytics firms, customer loyalty companies, and automated retail companies (I love ZoomSystems). With everything I saw, and all of the people I spoke with, I can confidently say that the tide is rising. If you want to ride the wave of new retail engagements and experiences, you better jump on board.

The folks at VeriFone, who just acquired Clear Channel’s Taxi Media operations, are definitely thinking beyond the payment space. With VeriFone’s technical footprint across retail and a range of other industries, they are surely a company to watch as media begins to get further integrated into these solutions. It’s a natural progression to equip POS systems with small-form factor displays that enhance the retail environment.

While Intel’s partnership with Microsoft in developing a multi-touch retail solution has garnered the most press from the show, I was equally captivated by another solution from one of Intel’s partners at NRF. Mark my words that the company I mention next is one that will have a long, prosperous future in the digital signage industry (and beyond!).

YCD Multimedia displayed the robustness of the company’s software solution in driving a nine screen Samsung video wall (plus a tenth interactive screen) from a single player (powered by an Intel processor, of course). The video wall was capable of playing out 9 different channels of content, unique to each screen. I was blown away by the fact that the system was running from one media tower. The screen displayed 4K content, meaning 4X HD resolution, given that each display was running at its native 1080p resolution.

That by itself was impressive, but then Josh Kampel, YCD’s head of business development, took the covers of off the company’s most recent innovation – RAMP. An advertising management system that is as intuitive and beautiful as it is robust, RAMP bridges corporate and local network control, while supporting easy content creation, data management, playlist creation, and campaign scheduling. Their solution is a next step for the digital signage industry.

With everyone that I met (it was a pleasure), and all of the technology that I saw, going to NRF was like walking into FAO Schwartz for the first time as youngster. I feel this way every time I go to one of these shows. As geeky as this sounds, I love technology. I especially love how technology can enhance our lives, how we shop, how we interact, how we communicate, etc. What was great about my trip to NRF this year, is that the vast majority, if not everyone, whom I came in contact with shared that same passion for technology.

Without getting into the full details of Brogan’s retail misadventure (a search for the Timberland Earthkeepers brand boot), his frustration stemmed from contact with a string of apathetic store associates who lacked knowledge of Timberland’s new line of boots.The negative aspect of his shopping experience was exacerbated by the fact that the Timberland store he visited had not yet received their first shipment of the company’s new Earthkeepers boots. This element of the experience grew exponentially worse once Brogan returned home and found the shoes in stock on Zappos.

In summing up the whole experience, Brogan wrote the following:

I guess, in thinking this all over a bit more, I’ve come to realize that there’s really very little reason to walk into a brick and mortar retail store for most products these days. I can research better on the web. I can get better opinions on the web. I can find better deals via the web. And I can actually order something that was advertised, when using a web channel.

What does that tell YOU about retail?

Chris Brogan’s large community of readers responded en masse. While a large number agreed with his criticism of Timberland (”Why couldn’t the guy working at the original Timberland store pull up their corporate website and order them for him?”), some felt remiss that Brogan didn’t offer actionable marketing or customer service solutions to improve face-to-face retail.

Shifting one’s behavior to only shopping online, is not the answer. I wholeheartedly agree that the majority of face-to-face retail experiences underwhelm when compared to the online alternative. That doesn’t mean, however, that bricks-and-mortar retail is relegated to a subservient position to its online counterpart; or that consumers must accept that most in-store experiences will leave them wanting more.

Bricks-and-mortar is not destined to become an irrelevant relic of the pre-digital age. If anything, deficiencies in bricks-and-mortar service create opportunities for change. I believe that we are headed toward a bricks-and-mortar retail revolution. The Web has fostered customer expectations that call for quick, efficient, and flexible service. With countless alternatives to shopping in stores filled with disenfranchised, apathetic associates, retailers cannot afford to let their bricks-and-mortar establishments become customer service graveyards.

E-commerce has changed the game for retail. Customers expect to find what they are looking for in an instant, receive recommendations based on recent purchases, and, ultimately, have the ability to shape their own shopping experience. Retailers need to take technologies from the Web and bring them into bricks-and-mortar. They need to equip associates with devices and technologies that enhance their product knowledge. Associates must have digital tools at the ready. They need to have detailed product information at their fingertips at all times. They must have the ability to pull up real-time inventory information, access product fact sheets with the push of a button, and offer store patrons customized assistance.

The days of unknowledgeable associates being the status quo are over. The lessons learned through e-commerce and web-based shopper analysis call for more robust in-store experiences. Just as e-commerce storefronts offer targeted shopping experiences based on consumer preferences so too must physical stores fluidly respond to the needs of different customers.

The solution isn’t to transition to online-only sales channels, but to demand that face-to-face retail fulfills the same needs that consumers have come to expect online. Bricks-and-mortar retail is far from being as efficient, technologically-advanced, or flexible as it could be, and should be. This is one of the reasons why digital signage and self-service technology are such exciting fields to be in. Empowered consumers require retail experiences that speak to their individual needs and desires.

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 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.

Damn near everyone is using the same sales pitch.

I am talking suppliers. And I am talking operators.

When you manage to escape from the bubble that is your company, or the larger bubble that is your general technology or media proposition, you start to realize the sales and marketing pitch – those bullet points that people use to excite prospects – is pretty much the same one the next guys are using. And the next guys. And the next guys.

Everyone is the industry leader. What they do is the next generation. They’re the best in class. The audience is premium. Their medium is highly targeted.

My work now gives me the blissful perspective of looking from the outside in at the industry, functioning as a smarty-pants consultant and communications specialist. I get asked now to help companies pull together their marketing copy and strategy, and enable them to stand out from the many other companies that offer variations on essentially the same products, services or audience.

The problem is … most companies are so busy getting everything else done — to organize, launch and run a technology or media company — that the actual time spent developing a compelling set of marketing messages is minimal. It’s one of those, “Oh crap, we need a sell sheet and some stuff for the Website!” situations, that usually involves someone who shouldn’t be doing marketing pulling together a few points during spare moments.

I have done a couple of competitive analyses for technology companies lately, and what really struck me was how similar the value propositions are between technology companies. Go through 15 company sites and you will find most of them highlighting the things that everybody else is highlighting, like flexibility and scalability and support for most media formats.

Ad network operators are not as bad, but the same issues apply.

Volkswagen markets itself on statements like “The art of rocket science.” It does not plaster signs on its windows reading, “Tires on our cars are filled with air!”

So why, when I go to many Websites for vendors, do I read excited bullet points about Day-part scheduling!!!

Well, woohoo! Peddling features and benefits that just about all your prospective customers already assume you have is not the path to glory.

There are clear indications much of what gets written and trumpeted is a variation on what a competitor has on its site. Chances are, that copy was ‘inspired’ by another competitor’s copy. And so on. Companies need to spend more time thinking about how they set themselves apart from the mob, and far less worrying about how their competitors market themselves.

What is it that you guys do, or have, that makes you different? Are you particularly strong in a vertical market? Does your technology have some whiz-bang component that’s rare or unique? Is there something you are doing that others can’t touch?

There are companies I won’t name who market themselves on technology offers that aren’t even unique, but they’ve nonetheless made that gadgetry their own. They’re the guys who do (insert not terribly unique thing here) and they let people know. Compare that to what most companies go out with, which is essentially: “We’re one of countless industry leaders and we offer the same dynamic, flexible and cost-effective stuff for digital signage networks that you’ll find on the next 14 sites you browse and sell sheets you read!!!”

Try this exercise: Print off your main Web pages and sell sheets and grab some Hi-Liter pens. Underline in yellow those phrases and features you’ll admit are common across many companies, and in another colour highlight those features that are unique or more compelling than common. If there’s a lot of yellow, you need to get to work.

There are many, many reasons why a company might prosper or fail, but a really strong predictor for failure is a company that can’t put into words how it is different and why that matters. The same disciplined work that goes into product development, budgets and staffing needs to also go into how your company goes to market and sets itself apart.

If you can’t differentiate, you perish.