Holt Renfrew recently expanded its investment in premium audio with a second deployment of 1 SOUND solutions at its flagship Toronto location. Holt Renfrew partnered once again with GAV MGMT to elevate the in-store experience through thoughtfully integrated sound.

[More in Store]

Located at 50 Bloor Street East in Toronto, the project focused on creating a refined audio environment that complemented the retailer's luxury atmosphere while maintaining the clean architectural vision developed by STUDIO PAOLO FERRARI. The objective was to deliver clear, full-range sound with balanced low-frequency support and consistent coverage throughout the space without drawing attention to the technology itself.

After upgrading Holt Renfrew's experiential floor with a premium 1 SOUND system, the retailer experienced stronger sales and events during the first month following the installation. Encouraged by those results, the decision was made to continue investing in premium audio by upgrading another floor of the store.

The second installation became part of a larger initiative to create a more immersive shopping experience throughout the flagship location, recognizing that carefully designed sound contributes meaningfully to the way customers experience a luxury retail environment. Luxury retail presents unique design challenges. Every element of the customer experience is intentional, requiring technology to enhance the environment without competing with it visually. GAV MGMT approached the project with equal attention to acoustic performance and architectural integration.

The design process began with a detailed evaluation of the floor's layout, customer circulation, ceiling conditions, merchandising zones, and acoustic characteristics. Using 1 SOUND's Auralis prediction and 3D design software, the team modeled loudspeaker coverage before installation, allowing placement to be optimized for consistent performance while preserving the store's refined aesthetic.

Rather than forcing a standard loudspeaker layout into the space, the system was designed specifically around the architecture and customer journey. The distributed audio system utilizes 1 SOUND Cannon C5i loudspeakers paired with MiniSUB5 subwoofers to create a balanced listening experience across the retail floor. By combining column-mounted loudspeakers and ceiling mounted MiniSUB5 subwoofers extending only five inches below the ceiling, GAV MGMT created a system that delivers articulate music playback, controlled low-frequency support, and even coverage throughout the space while remaining visually unobtrusive.

The result is an audio environment that feels natural and is sonically intelligible rather than distracting. Music remains clear, warm, and consistent from one department to the next, contributing to the atmosphere without overwhelming conversation or competing with the luxury shopping experience.

Within Holt Renfrew, audio serves a purpose beyond background music. It helps shape how customers perceive the environment, how long they remain engaged within the space, and how the overall brand experience is delivered. By integrating premium sound seamlessly into the architecture, GAV MGMT created an environment where technology supports the retail experience without becoming its focus.

At its core, consistent sound refers to the deliberate creation of a continuous, predictable, and coherent auditory experience throughout an entire venue, which can be achieved through strategic design choices, most notably the commitment to using a unified family of loudspeakers from a single manufacturer. Consistent sound is an important concept in audio design, particularly in retail and hospitality environments where consistent brand experiences are essential. It transforms sound from a functional utility into a tool for storytelling, identity, and immersion.

When audio systems are designed around a consistent sonic signature—matching voicing, dispersion, and tonal balance—music, announcements, paging, and other audio cues maintain clarity and character from room to room, indoors and out. This creates a consistent experience not just technically, but emotionally and aesthetically, supporting both brand identity and user comfort. Hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail spaces, and other businesses that prioritize customer impressions stand to benefit significantly from this approach, as sound becomes a part of the brand, subtly guiding guest perception at every step.

Setting the Mood

Consistent sound is important for several reasons. First and foremost, it supports the emotional intent of a space. Audio is a powerful tool for setting mood. Relaxing spa music, upbeat lobby playlists, clear emergency announcements—all these elements rely on clarity, consistency, and predictability.

When the voicing of loudspeakers changes drastically from room to room, that emotional continuity breaks down. Instead of guiding and elevating the experience, sound becomes a distraction or even a point of confusion.

In a luxury hotel, for example, if the background music sounds warm and rich in one lounge but thin and tinny in the corridor, the shift can subtly erode the sense of quality and refinement. Consistent sound protects against that.

For guests and customers, consistent sound means a more comfortable, welcoming, and immersive experience. It reduces auditory fatigue by avoiding the sharp volume or tonal changes that occur when walking between zones with mismatched loudspeakers. This is particularly important in environments where guests may spend extended periods of time, such as at a resort or a fine dining restaurant, where even subconscious discomfort can negatively impact their perception of service or ambiance.

For employees, consistent sound also brings clear advantages. In spaces like a hotel or event center, paging systems and staff communication rely on intelligibility. Predictable voicing across loudspeaker types ensures that announcements sound the same whether they're heard in a lobby, hallway, or back office, making communication more efficient and reducing the chances of misunderstandings or missed information. It also simplifies training and day-to-day operation of the system, as employees don’t have to make manual adjustments for each zone or guess whether an area’s audio is behaving as expected.

Where It Matters Most

Structures that benefit most from consistent sound are those where guests, customers, or staff move through a variety of zones, each with unique acoustic challenges, yet where a consistent experience is expected. Hotels and resorts are prime examples.

A guest may arrive through the valet area, pass into the lobby, check in at the front desk, take an elevator to a hallway, enter a guestroom, dine at a restaurant, relax at the pool, and later visit the fitness center. Without a unified sound system, this journey might be sonically jarring—loud in one area, dull in another, with music that feels warm and full-bodied in the spa but shrill and flat in the bar.

Restaurants with indoor and outdoor dining areas, varied ceiling heights, and open kitchens face similar challenges. A consistent sound system ensures that audio is not just present but integrated, evolving naturally with the space and reinforcing the overall brand identity. Guests don’t necessarily notice consistent sound when it’s done well; it’s simply part of the environment, enhancing the experience without drawing attention to itself.

Problems associated with non-consistent deployments, where various loudspeaker brands or models are mixed haphazardly, are both technical and experiential. From a sonic standpoint, different manufacturers tune their loudspeakers differently. This means frequency responses may not align, tonal characteristics can clash, and coverage patterns may vary wildly. One brand might emphasize bass, another may skew bright in the midrange, and another might struggle with vocal clarity.

The result is a patchwork of inconsistent sound quality that disrupts the flow of a space, an inconsistency that can be particularly jarring when music plays continuously from one room to the next. Instead of providing a smooth, even listening experience, the music may sound boomy in one room and lifeless in another. Paging or announcements may be intelligible in one space but muffled in another, undermining both aesthetics and functionality. These inconsistencies are not just unpleasant; they can actively interfere with operations, confuse guests, and degrade the overall perception of professionalism.

Support the Brand Experience

This is why integrators often rely on a single family of loudspeakers throughout a facility. It's not simply a matter of logistical ease or economies of scale; a matched set of loudspeakers ensures acoustic consistency. Voicing, coverage, and output levels are engineered to work in harmony, allowing designers to predict how sound will behave in different spaces.

This consistency supports faster, more reliable system tuning, better integration with DSP, and easier long-term maintenance. It also allows sound designers to tailor experiences more precisely. If all loudspeakers in a system respond similarly to EQ and delay settings, a designer can confidently create spatial audio experiences that work across the entire venue.

In a hotel or resort, this means the same warm, detailed voicing can be maintained across all guest-facing areas. Ceiling-mounted loudspeakers in lobbies and corridors blend into the architecture while providing full-range background music. Pendant versions can hang gracefully in high-ceilinged atriums or lounges, delivering consistent audio over large open spaces.

In guest rooms and spas, discreet surface mount or in-ceiling options maintain the same tonal character, ensuring music and announcements remain smooth and soothing. Even outdoor areas like patios, pools, and gardens can be equipped with weather-resistant models, preserving the same quality and character without degradation from environmental exposure. The ability to maintain consistent voicing across different loudspeaker types utilizing identical transducer technology means background music and announcements maintain their integrity no matter where a patron sits.

As commercial spaces grow more sophisticated, the demand for consistent audio experiences will only increase, and those who prioritize consistency in their sound design will be the ones best equipped to deliver environments that feel intentional, elevated, and truly complete. Consistent sound is a critical part of how modern venues design for comfort, clarity, and brand consistency. A thoughtfully deployed loudspeaker system, built around a unified family like the Atlas+Fyne IsoFlare series, ensures predictable performance, simplifies system management, and enhances every aspect of the user experience.

Retail outlets are getting more sophisticated, with most recent ones employing a cloud-based content management systems (CMS) to keep LED displays on site up to date and attracting attention. Implementing digital signage solutions is seen as a key element in not only marketing a brand but also in laying the groundwork for future collaborations with other consumer companies.

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This was the strategy employed by Roasters Market, a full-service gas station, craft coffee bar, and convenience store in Chickasha, OK. The store, which is owned by Lawson Holdings of Norman, OK, includes a drive-thru component that represented a new quick-service concept for the company when it opened in December 2022—and is now a highly successful model for future locations to replicate.

Too Many Monitors?

The project necessitated design and installation work from the ground up. When digital signage systems integrator Coffman Media first came on the scene, power requirements for the internal signage systems needed upgrading. Jason Ault, Coffman Media co-founder and COO, oversaw a team that reinstalled extra power and networking cabling to bring the systems up to par.

“When we got there, other trades had already finished their work but some of the power and network requirements had to be upgraded to ensure the signage system’s success,” Ault explained. “So, we had to re-engineer what we were supposed to do, ensuring that power and data got installed so we could finish the digital menu board installation.”

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When designing signage systems for stores like this, Ault said the number of monitors required depends on anticipated traffic flow, location of the different store’s sections, and the welcoming environment you're trying to create. “If there's a coffee counter, that obviously that's always going to lend itself to a series of monitors,” he added, “but it’s important to understand that initial traffic flow. In our experience, there's always going to be at least four displays used. But we have done some convenience stores with as many as 10 displays inside. Available space and business models are key to the design.”

The client also requested an outdoor drive-thru digital menu board system with 55-inch outdoor LG displays, complete with customer detection and a two-way headset system. The system is mounted to a drive-thru pedestal mount system provided by Palmer Digital Group.

PDG’s QSRDMB255 mounting system supports three Samsung OHF displays in a pedestal structure that provides space for electrical and network connectivity, along with shelving for IT routers and media players. The displays are positioned side-by-side in a portrait orientation that, along with high-brightness qualities that reduce for the impact of direct sunlight, ensure that menu board content is both legible, neatly arranged, and quick to absorb. The system is unique in that there are no custom designed display cabinets; the Samsung OHF display is already IP56 rated and does not require additional protection from the environment.

“Our pedestal and canopy systems are structurally sound systems that go well beyond the protective capabilities of simple enclosures,” said Chuck Lewis, VP of Palmer Digital Group. “Auto-related incidents with menu boards happen more often than one might think. When a driver makes direct impact with our structures, the worst-case scenario is damage to the display. Often, they can remain in service until the replacements arrive, and it’s a quick swap.”

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“For the outdoor part, we considered one screen, two screens, and three screens,” said Ault. “The amount of content often determines the number of screens and the available physical space.”

Cloud-Based Messaging

For the Chickasha location, four 43-inch and four 50-inch LG UL3J displays were used, all synchronized via a cloud-based content management system called Signagelive. The software makes it easy for store employees to upload content and change the timing of messages to suit the different seasons and product offerings. The Signagelive platform also helps with perceived wait time. By displaying entertaining content, such as video clips, customers are given something to do while they wait in line or at a table.

The software-centric platform is also highly secure, with ISO 27001 certification compliance, an international standard that verifies an organization's information security management system (ISMS) meets best practices. Ault said this is very important to protect against hacking. “If your digital signage software and network are not secure, there’s all kinds of trouble you can get into,” he added.

Through its digital signage system, Roasters Market can control the content on each of its four LG displays independently or synchronize all four to act as one display. Coffman Media staff trained the Roasters Market staff on how to update the menus through the Signagelive web portal.

“Everything can be pre-scheduled and dynamic,” Ault explained. “We have some triggers built in for weather because Oklahoma is very seasonal. So, if it's cold out, they have some content that will trigger when it's cold. If it's hot, there's certain content that'll trigger those thresholds of temperature change.”

Serve The Space

Mounts for the displays were installed by Crimson AV. Low-profile CM in-line multi-display mounts were selected, with a single pipe dropped from the ceiling to provide flexibility in how the displays were installed. After they were hung, the displays were micro-adjusted in the corners to make four monitors look like one big array.

Crimson AV supplies all types of accessories and ceiling attachments. The Crimson in-line system features independent vertical and roll adjustments, unlimited lateral shift, and easy tilt adjustment, which simplifies the process and reduces installation time.

“We sat down with Roasters Market and figured out exactly what they were trying to accomplish from a digital signage perspective,” said Will Bear, VP of sales and marketing at Crimson AV. “From there, we focused on the content and how it would be displayed. We decided to go with two sets of four displays, one in landscape positioning and the other, for another section of the store, in a portrait orientation.”

Ault added that the Chickasha location didn't have a lot of real estate behind the counter without impeding on some other elements, such as refrigerators and coffee machines. As a result, hanging the displays from the ceiling made the most sense for both customers and employees.

Navigating the Last Mile

“The most challenging part of this project was bringing together the many different trades,” recalled Ault. “As the systems integrator for all of the digital signage, we're kind of that last mile piece. If something doesn't happen upstream, it rolls downstream to us very quickly, so we have to adapt on the fly. In this particular scenario, when we got there and realized that, OK, this is not going to be as we intended, but you know, we can figure out a fix for it.

“So, it’s up to us to redesign the whole thing, or just pick up where others left off because it wasn't ready,” he continued. “And then rather than create a lot of delay and extra cost with the site not ready for use and things like that for the end user, we figure out solutions to get the project to completion.”

[AI and Digital Signage]

While there’s not a consumer-facing vertical today that is not using digital signage in some form, Ault said the first question integrators should be asking the client is why they want digital signage in the first place. “At the end of the day, our job as integrators is to understand their goal and help them achieve it,” he explained. “So, we sit down and discuss ideas and then we help them reverse engineer that … by asking a series of questions.

"And it’s also determining how much physical space is available and the right products for the application. Because if you don't have the real 'why' behind this, the result could be a failed project starting on Day One. The important thing is the need to get the right information at the right time to the right person.”

Holt Renfrew, the luxury retail department store, recently unveiled ON 3, a newly renovated shopping floor in its Downtown Toronto location. To create an immersive shopping experience, Holt Renfrew partnered with GAV MGMT to design the audiovisual elements needed to support store events, who chose 1 SOUND’s Cannon C5s for this distributed audio system. 

The 1 SOUND Cannon C5s were chosen for their high-fidelity quality. Working hand in hand with their client, GAV MGMT asked 1 SOUND for a discreet mounting solution for the Cannon loudspeakers. 1 SOUND created the new Swivel Mount, an invisible mounting solution for the Cannon Series that allows for horizontal and vertical aiming. Holt Renfrew was pleased that GAV provided a fully integrated discreet system with high fidelity that blends into the retail space also helping to eliminate a need for outside rentals.

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GAV MGMT selected 1 SOUND’s Cannon C5 loudspeakers for the distributed audio system, recognizing their compact size and high-fidelity performance. Working hand in hand with their client, GAV MGMT carried out conversations with 1 SOUND on how to meet the store’s desire for a discreet setup, 1 SOUND developed their new accessory, the Swivel Mount, an invisible mount for the Cannon Series that enables horizontal and vertical aiming. Holt Renfrew was pleased that GAV MGMT provided a fully integrated discreet system with high fidelity that blended into the retail space which simultaneously resulted in eliminating the need for outside rentals.

“The Cannons in the space are outstanding. They have a certain texture to their sound that is nice to listen to and hear. We can walk and talk throughout the space without feeling like we are talking over the music, yet the music remains present and intimate in the space,” explained Jonathon Duquette, technical director, GAV MGMT.

Wanting to create a bit of audio impact in the space, GAV MGMT implemented 1 SOUND’s WSUB45 subwoofers. These were hidden in the ceiling and mounted using the WSUB45 C-Clamp accessory. The audio was powered by Powersoft’s highly efficient and robust T304 and T604 amplifiers. 1 SOUND supported GAV MGMT in the final system optimization for this venue. This design created consistent sound distribution throughout the entire floor. Holt Renfrew wanted to set a tone for customers walking in this luxury space, the evenly distributed audio proved to be a significant detail in creating this atmosphere.

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Store management expressed excitement about the new audio system, noting its sleek design and exceptional sound quality. “Everyone in the store is excited to showcase the new space and welcome our customers to experience ON 3,” said Ralph Roach, DVP and general manager of Holt Renfrew Bloor Street, in an online statement. “We are confident that our customers are going to fall in love with the new experience we have cultivated.”

The beauty brand market is highly competitive, and the hair tools division is heating up. Legacy brand, GHD, has a fresh strategy on how to remain a top-tier player in the category. Currently, the global hair styling tool market is forecasted to grow at an annual rate of 4.9 percent to reach US $38.4 billion by 2030. With challengers posing some of GHD’s toughest competition yet, the company is taking a proactive approach.

“We have to make sure that we are still uniquely positioned during this cost-of-living crisis, by remaining a significant company in the beauty tech space.” GHD chief executive officer Jeroen Temmerman said in an interview with Cosmetics Business.

The Plan to Strengthen Brand

GHD’s game plan to strengthen its brand position includes expanding into untapped markets and launching new products. The company is also committed to driving innovation and leveraging unexpected technology in stores.

In addition to research and development, the GHD team examined their in-store presence. They asked retail installation specialist, Lime Retail if they could help build an interactive stand to put in stores: “We are thinking about using sensor technology and putting a layer of mirrored glass in front of a standard screen.” 

Ross Halford, senior account manager of Luxury Brands at Lime Retail, agreed to make that goal into a reality: “We can use Nexmosphere presence and lift and learn sensors, all of which work well with BrightSign players. But do you know what happens if you put a layer of mirrored glass in front of a normal screen? You reduce brightness by over 50 percent and make content almost impossible to see. Let’s get a high-bright version in the size you want to get the best possible output.” Halford and his team knew Bluefin could get them what they needed.

The Lime team mocked up a comparison demo to show a normal screen with pane of mirrored glass in front next to the Bluefin custom-built, High-Bright 21.5-inch screen with mirrored glass built in. The difference was obvious!

Bluefin International believes in going beyond standard limitations. By designing to unique environments, they enable customers to achieve their goals. Each Bluefin screen comes with the OS built in. For the GHD project, Halford chose BrightSign Built-In as the operating system. BrightSign Built-In works seamlessly with Nexmosphere sensors, all of which are housed in the Bluefin screen itself for a clean, simple design.

Hair Triggers!

When you approach the unit, sensors trigger the screen. The lights, which are also controlled, dim to 20 percent and content referencing the products being showcased plays. Once it finishes, the lights brighten back to 100 percent so shoppers can see themselves clearly in the mirrored glass. A call to action comes up, cueing them to select a product. When they select a product and pick it up, the unique content for that item is triggered, lights dim, and content plays. The Bluefin High-Bright custom screens make all the difference in whether the shopper can see and engage with the content or not.

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This unit design keeps shoppers engaged for longer and acts as a virtual sales specialist for the brand, so they ended up being exactly what GHD needed to complete their beautiful interactive kiosks. “Bluefin really came through and designed for purpose,” Halford said. “GHD has embraced what we’ve recommended and they are really happy with the final product.” 

The installation has been so successful for the GHD brand and product sales, “We continue to order more screens as the client rolls out more units,” Halford said. “In fact, they are building out an experience zone on Oxford Street, and have expanded to a two-sided screen format for new units rolling out in other stores in the UK.”

Lime and Bluefin continue to work with GHD as they expand their footprint in beauty stores across Europe.

Nestled in a triangle created by the D.C. Beltway and two major roads that traverse the northern Virginia suburbs, Tysons Corner Center—the largest retail mall in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area—is a major economic and shopping destination for the area. It recently turned to SNA Displays to enhance its exterior with a 1,500-square-foot LED display. Eastern Sign Tech provided LED installation services.

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Owner representative and strategic advisor Sensory Interactive provided technology selection and procurement, documentation and acquisition, and construction management services on behalf of retail real estate developer Macerich, selecting SNA Displays to provide 10mm EMPIRE Exterior video display technology. 

The new outdoor digital signage is 34.8x42 feet wide and mounted to a six-story parking garage on the north side of the Tysons Corner Center campus, enhancing the space and creating on-premise advertising opportunities. With a 1,056x1,280 resolution, the LED video display processes approximately 1.4 million pixels.

The Spanish coffee shop and health food chain Faborit has chosen nsign.tv to digitize new menu boards at all its 28 locations across the country. This initiative aims to optimize the operation of the chain’s stores, improve the customer experience, and increase turnover.

The company, which opened its doors in 2005, wanted to radically transform the way customers interact with the brand, replacing paper menus with a more visual and personalized system. “We were looking for functionality and improved responsiveness when implementing and displaying the changes that we as a 'live' company are known for, in order to increase customer satisfaction and make their experience the best it can be every time they visit our stores,” explained Kristina Szasz, IT manager at Faborit.

Thus, nsign.tv installed 50 and 55-inch LCD displays with the nsign.tv digital signage player integrated in all of the chain’s establishments, thanks to which Faborit can dynamically broadcast both the menu boards and other content.

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“Through the screens we have managed to show all our variety of proposals and references in a visual and simple way,” explained Szasz. “In addition, the ease of the platform when making transitions means that the displays are always lively, full of Faborit news and allow us to show in a fun way something that we consider essential—our seasonal products—which is very much appreciated by our customers."

Faborit’s IT manager also highlighted the improvement in the organization, programming and reproduction of digital content provided by the nsign.tv platform: “This programming is allowing us to measure the impact on our sales according to the content we show, achieving both an increase in turnover and an increase in the average ticket."

The nsign.tv software is operated autonomously by Faborit’s own staff, as it is suitable for non-technical users: “It is very intuitive and flexible, which means we can implement changes faster, focus on what works best for us and discard actions that don’t achieve the expected result,” said Szasz.

Grocery shopping is about to get a lot more engaging.

Supermarket chain Hy-Vee is in the process of launching a new digital signage network across its 550 retail locations in the Midwest and Southern United States. Driven by the cloud-based Samsung VXT Content Management System (CMS), the deployment features more than 10,000 Samsung QBR Series commercial displays.

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Hy-Vee’s RedMedia, the retailer’s media network, is leveraging the technology for an in-store digital strategy designed to engage shoppers while generating new revenue streams through advertising. A+ Communications & Security, a Hy-Vee company headquartered in Des Moines, IA, is overseeing the technology integration.

Positioned in aisles, deli, meat and seafood counters, wine and spirits departments, and food courts—as well as Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh convenience locations—the screens display promotions, product pairing suggestions, recipes, cooking demonstrations, menus, and company announcements. For ad sales and placement, Hy-Vee RedMedia has partnered with Samsung Ads, Samsung Electronics’ advertising division. Launched in the spring of 2023, Samsung Ads combines in-home Connected TV (CTV) with Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising, so brands can connect with their target audiences both at home and while they shop.

“Hy-Vee’s RedMedia provides a best-in-class solution for suppliers and their brands,” said Jason Farver, president of RedMedia. “We pride ourselves on our excellent customer service and ability to allow companies to reach specific consumers across various channels so they can create an omnichannel marketing strategy via Hy-Vee’s in-store marketing, loyalty programs, and events.”

An Evolving CMS

Chris Allison, general manager, DOOH at Samsung Ads, said advertisers are seeking a tailored approach to engaging consumers through mobile, CTV, and DOOH. Then, Samsung Ads measures the impact of the advertising, so it can be "smart about the way we are targeting your audience, based off of the efficiencies that you can glean from data-driven advertising. The goal is to reach consumers as they move from the sofa to the store.”

Allison also noted that the Hy-Vee deployment, which features strategically placed displays throughout each of its retail locations, illustrates the demand for more targeted advertising in the DOOH space. “People don’t want to buy Digital Out-of-Home advertising on every screen out there,” he said. “They want to understand where their ads are running, and they want to make sure that those ads are going to be seen by the audience that they care about in premium locations.”

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Initially, the retailer opted for an on-premise solution. According to Parrish Chapman, senior director, enterprise retail sales accounts at Samsung Electronics America, the company’s relationship with Hy-Vee began with the deployment of its displays and MagicINFO digital signage software. “They chose, at the time—because of their growth trajectory—to have it hosted on their servers,” he recalled. As their business model evolved, so did the need for a newer, cloud-based system.

The VXT CMS prioritizes ease of use and scalability. “We had to design software for a one-store operator or a single location, but also an operator that may have 1,000 locations and 25,000 devices attached to the CMS,” Chapman explained.

He likened the user experience that VXT offers to building a stack in PowerPoint. “We wanted to simplify the software and change it to be more in line with today’s way of launching and using software," Chapman added. "We took all the really great things about MagicINFO, but we improved the useability with VXT and then we added some new features.”

In-Store Digital Strategies

Projects like the Hy-Vee deployment start with setting clear parameters for display placement and content requirements. For example, many retailers don’t want advertising that’s political or age inappropriate. “We want to partner with our retailers, so they have a say on the ads that are being run,” Chapman said. “We have to define the hardware placement and the client’s digital objectives.”

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From a retail advertising perspective, Allison explained this may include the display of endemic advertising (brands that the store sells) and non-endemic messaging (ads from other local businesses, for example). “For the endemic brands, when the customer is walking through the aisles of a store, this is their last opportunity to influence them,” he said.

Non-endemic advertisers can use this advertising opportunity to attract people to their own businesses—once the grocery shopping is done, of course. “It’s an opportunity to reach [consumers] with relevant messaging in a contextually relevant location,” Allison added.

However, the digital signage network isn’t all about the advertising. At Hy-Vee locations, 50% of screen time is dedicated to messaging designed to build a connection between the retailer and its customers. Segments may highlight the company’s corporate social responsibility efforts, employee profiles, or special promotions that are relevant to a specific location. “They want to tell a deep brand story,” Chapman said.

Scalability and Monetization

While the Hy-Vee deployment involves thousands of displays, the cloud-based VXT CMS allows small organizations access to enterprise-level capabilities. Content scheduling and management (including proof of play) is done through the Samsung cloud portal, and its managed services offering provides remote monitoring and troubleshooting, as well as onsite servicing.

“Our technology is built to where small operators and AV integrators can utilize it to build their business,” Chapman said. “This is a tech buffet where you can decide what you want to have on your plate, depending on your needs.”

For Allison, one of the biggest advantages that Samsung Ads offers is the ability to offset hardware and software costs through the sale of advertising on an in-store network. But the goal should be running ads that will be beneficial to both the advertiser and the retailer.

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“It’s really about making sure that we understand what the client’s concerns and considerations are when they’re thinking about the right advertising,” he said. “The whole theme here is quality: quality of advertisers and quality of placement.”

Retail shoppers must also be part of this equation, Allison added. “We want to make sure that this is a top-notch experience for the consumer,” he explained. “It’s not just about placing ads all day long throughout the store—it’s about interspersing them with relevant content, depending on what store location you’re in. It’s this combination that is opening the door to a new face of the retail environment and Digital Out-of-Home.”

Navori Labs has deployed a unified digital signage software and AI-based camera analytics solution for Walmart Connect, the omnichannel retail media business of Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica. The solution is now live across all 173 Walmart Supercenters in Mexico and 180 of 200 in-country Sam’s Club locations, with the remaining 20 stores to follow. 

The integrated Navori Labs QL digital signage and Aquaji analytics solution allows Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica to gather customer engagement metrics and offer valuable analytics, including shopper demographics, to DOOH advertising partners that advertise their brands across their in-store digital media networks. Navori Labs is the only digital signage supplier to also offer an in-house-developed marketing analytics solution, ensuring seamless interoperability with QL’s digital signage content management and playout workflow.

Navori Labs came onto Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica’s radar earlier this year when business leaders expressed an interest in developing a digital signage strategy that would also support programmatic DOOH advertising, ad campaign management and proof of playback reporting. Navori’s Aquaji solution provides shopper demographics and foot traffic data directly within QL’s CMS, alongside proof of play data for ads. 

The data is valuable for both Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica and its advertising partners, as all parties can access deep analytics that help them enhance campaign strategies based on real-time, store-level customer behaviors captured through Aquaji cameras. At present, each store has one camera near the entrance that can automatically swivel to anonymously track customers. The camera is installed with a “Totem” that also includes a large built-in portrait display for digital signage content presentation, powered through QL software. 

Walmart Connect expects to add more QL-powered displays and Aquaji cameras in strategic store locations moving forward, including integration with existing system-on-chip (SoC) displays that show digital signage content.

“The Totem has an audience measurement camera that provides us with invaluable data, as it helps us better understand our customers’ consumption habits in order to offer segmented strategies based on our advertisers’ campaign objectives,” said Jonatan Fasano, head of product, Walmart Connect Mexico y Centroamerica.

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In addition to adding more screens and cameras, plans include deploying additional QL features including its advertising campaign module, advanced content scheduling, and context-aware automation for content playout. The latter two features will allow network operators to automate all content management based on business rules, reducing the need for manual, day-to-day content management tasks.

In the meantime, the unified solution is helping DOOH advertisers monetize their campaigns by selecting the days and times when their target demographics are most known to be in the store. This is among the standout benefits that Navori Labs CEO Jerome Moeri had in mind upon bringing Aquaji to market.

“As the first to market with a unified digital signage and analytics solution, we are now seeing the benefits of this technology in action for Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica and other Navori customers,” said Moeri. “Rather than piece together software solutions from disparate vendors with inconsistent success, the native interoperability of QL and Aquaji offers our customers in retail and other vertical markets with an out-of-the-box solution that produces immediate results upon deployment to make smarter business decisions and improve the customer experience. We look forward to extending the solution into additional heavy foot traffic areas of Walmart de Mexico y Centroamerica’s to capture an even broader set of data for stores and advertisers.”

Blue Diamond, which has a portfolio of tractor attachments, wanted to find an easy-to-navigate way to engage its customers in retail environments. With the help of Red Dot Digital Media and its partner, spinTouch, Blue Diamond has an interactive kiosk solution that is doing just that.

The kiosks are a one-stop shop for Blue Diamond customers. They help customers search and filter to find their chosen product, while also enabling them to learn more, watch product videos, scan a QR code to download product spec sheets to their mobile device, and even call the Blue Diamond support line in real time by scanning a QR code on the kiosk’s display. This customer-driven workflow allows them to self-educate and even contact Blue Diamond directly without the need for salesperson intervention.

Red Dot built a robust and intuitive CMS solution that features a custom script that automatically scans the Blue Diamond website to pull appropriately tagged product data directly from the website into the kiosk’s CMS. This workflow automation alone saved Blue Diamond hundreds of hours by eliminating the need to manually enter product data into the kiosks. And while the kiosks automatically pull content from the Blue Diamond website, the user experience is uniquely tailored to the retail environment and gives customers an intuitive path to familiarize themselves with Blue Diamond’s diverse portfolio of tractor attachments.

[Interactive Content Brought to Life on Outdoor Kiosks Enhance Guest Experience]

Additionally, store personnel can easily adjust individual kiosks to display certain products and hide others based on regional availability. For example, stores located in the Midwest can ensure that farming equipment is displayed in their predominantly agricultural region, while attachments such as snowplows are displayed in stores located in regions that experience significant annual snowfall.

“Red Dot was the ideal partner to tame the complexities of this project and deliver an interactive kiosk that gives Blue Diamond the ultimate flexibility in how their retailers attach kiosks to their respective networks,” said Paul Hashemi, founder and CTO of spinTouch. “Thanks to Red Dot’s expertise working within the BrightSign ecosystem, the kiosks can be hardwired into the network, connected wirelessly via WiFi or even connected via cellular using the BrightSign Mobile solution. Offering this trio of network connectivity options gives retailers the utmost flexibility in where they place kiosks, ensuring they fit seamlessly into the layout of the stores, and deliver the most informative value to customers as well as store personnel.”

[Check Out How This Interactive Koi Pond Creates a Calming Space]

Red Dot also created a powerful analytics platform that collects data from each kiosk and helps Blue Diamond monitor how frequently customers interact with the kiosks, and which pages attract the most engagement. This helps Blue Diamond understand which products reliably attract the most customers, with the ability to adjust merchandising to maximize each customer interaction.

Each kiosk features a 49-inch touch-interactive display connected to a BrightSign XT1144 media player. While Blue Diamond initially considered using Android devices proposed by another vendor, they ultimately chose the BrightSign media player because it was faster and more responsive to touch and delivered faster page scrolls than the Android-based solution.

Because reliable internet connectivity was a challenge at some locations, Red Dot chose to integrate BrightSign Mobile, which enables cellular internet connectivity and eliminates the need for hardwired Ethernet connections. Additionally, each kiosk was also deployed with Wi-Fi and hardwired options in the event that Blue Diamond needed to rely on alternative sources of internet connectivity. 

The Houston Astros selected Watchfire to deliver a unique dual-sided LED halo display suspended from the ceiling in The Astros Team Store at Minute Maid Park. The display is designed to attract the attention of customers and entertain fans with captivating visual content as they shop. 

Measuring an impressive 5x29 feet from ellipse to ellipse, the custom-designed oval-shaped display features inner and outer rings with continuous Watchfire S-Series 2.4mm LED displays that showcase engaging content, including seamlessly stitched-together videos, live game feeds, and social media posts.

[World Series Champion Houston Astros Get Major League Upgrade from Samsung]

Serving as the centerpiece of The Astros Team Store, the display was a collaboration of the Astros management team, BrightSign, Wallboard, Datapath, Humble Sign Company, and Watchfire's own service and engineering departments.

“Watchfire collaborated with an exceptional team of partners to bring the display to life,” said Kyle Dines, vice president of sports and indoor at Watchfire. “I'm not aware of anything like this in any other major league ballpark. It's a showstopper.”

BrightSign contributed its innovative technology to create immersive and captivating experiences for Astros fans to stay connected to events while shopping in the retail store. BrightSign deployed two XT1144 players, which combine powerful 4k video and graphics and can play live TV from any broadcast channel.

[Ready Player One: 9 Media Players for Your Next Digital Signage Experience]

“When you pair best-in-class hardware with engaging content you create an experience that truly takes the retail environment to a new level,” said Misty Chalk, vice president of sales, North America, at BrightSign.

Wallboard, of Carrollton, TX, an enterprise-grade digital signage content management system (CMS), ensures seamless content management and scheduling for the display. Challenged by varying resolution requirements of different sized displays, Wallboard ensures that content looks great, syncs together, and can be easily scheduled across an entire screen network.

According to Rod Roberson, CEO of Wallboard, the company has worked with the Astros since 2019. It has provided close to 200 screens throughout the stadium used for digital menu boards, stadium advertising, and internal communications. “This project was a natural fit for us based on Wallboard’s capabilities to adapt to the unique requirements of this project combined with the Astros’ comfort level with using a CMS that they already knew. By collaborating with the other partners we were able to expand our capabilities and the result is a unique and dynamic display,” said Roberson.

Datapath, of Norristown, PA contributed its expertise with the Datapath VSNMicro 600-RPSU system, enabling seamless control and overlay of content zones.

[SCN Exclusive: Datapath Doubles Down on Service]

Humble Sign Company, of Humble, TX, a renowned sign dealer, played a vital role in the successful execution of the project.

“This groundbreaking collaboration has transformed The Astros Store at Minute Maid Park into an immersive retail environment that brings the excitement of the stadium inside,” said Dines. “Many partners worked together to ensure that Astros fans could visit the team store without missing a minute of the excitement.”

PPDS and Grassfish are partnering to deliver an exciting range of experience-enhancing features and opportunities for retailers on Philips Tableaux ePaper displays.

The solution sees the ‘zero power’ Philips Tableaux Series join other Philips Android SoC retail signage displays from PPDS, in becoming fully compatible and certified to run using the Grassfish In-store Experience Management (IXM) platform. The solution adds new capabilities and opportunities for retailers—including cost and energy savings. An installation at a major international airport is already underway, with more details to be announced shortly.

[Sustainability in Pro AV] 

More than just a partnership, PPDS and Grassfish are strategically aligned in their efforts to deliver outstanding experiences for retail customers using the power of digital displays, while at the same time, creating more sustainable and eco-friendly environments. Launched this year, Philips Tableaux ePaper displays have opened a new approach to digital signage, with the innovative series delivering full size, full color, energy efficient and eco-friendly opportunities. Tableaux displays deliver vivid content while running unplugged and using zero power (24/7 indefinitely) between content updates and using super low power—just 0.0025 kWh—to change the image.

“High stability and green capabilities are both musts for future-orientated projects. This is something we as a business demand from ourselves and our partners," Roland Grassberger, global head of IXM Platform at Grassfish, commented. "PPDS has demonstrated its commitment, not only to leading sustainability for the industry but to delivering solutions that can make a difference for retailers and their customers. We’re very happy to have certified the Philips Tableaux for use on our platform, delivering more impactful and sustainable opportunities to new and existing customers around the world.

[Is Your Digital Signage as Good as DFW's Restroom?]

"Through the power of Grassfish IXM, Philips Tableaux displays can now be effortlessly connected to digital ecosystems, including Product Information Management (PIM), Digital Asset Management (DAM), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This synergy enables the creation of next level, dynamic and personalized in-store brand journeys, while also reducing a store’s power consumption for a more sustainable retail digital experience.

“What is more, Philips Tableaux can now be seamlessly used alongside DOOH and SSP networks, leveraging the full potential of both technologies and enabling businesses to extend their reach and impact through unified advertising campaigns.”

Samsung Electronics has partnered with Warner Bros. Pictures to bring highly anticipated movie trailers to Neo QLED 8K screens in more than 65,000 retail stores around the world. Beginning with Creed III and now showcasing the mega-hit Barbie, the two are catching the attention from a vast array of audiences worldwide. 

“This partnership is an exciting step forward for 8K content, showcasing the Neo QLED 8K’s capabilities and getting people excited about seeing films in cinematic quality,” said Cheolgi Kim, executive vice president of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Collaborating with Warner Bros. allows Samsung to show how ultra-premium TV technology can take their favorite films to a whole new level.”

[It's a Barbie World—Watch This Godzilla-Sized Barbie Step Out of a Billboard]

To better understand the demand for 8K content, Samsung and Warner Bros. trialed their partnership by showcasing the Creed III trailer across more than 450 retail stores in the United States and Europe earlier this year. This garnered significant attention and enthusiasm from audiences worldwide. Since then, Samsung and Warner Bros. have worked together to expand the program. Now, shoppers globally will be able to see Samsung Neo QLED 8K in action with an appealing lineup of high-profile content, including trailers for upcoming films such as Barbie, Blue Beetle, Dune: Part Two, Wonka, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

[How Samsung Is Bringing the Pro AV 'Wow' to Citi Field]

Samsung’s Neo QLED 8K screens continue to revolutionize the TV industry, with their impact reaching content production and retail markets around the globe. Powered by Neural Quantum Processor 8K and Quantum Matrix Technology, they bring immaculate picture quality with crisp details, accurate colors and hyper-realistic depth to offer consumers the best viewing experience available in the consumer TV market.

GoodNews, the Spanish start-up specializing in the sale of coffee in kiosks and small stores, has digitized 20 of its points of sale in Madrid, Barcelona, and Paris with nsign.tv's digital signage platform, which allows them to display visual content interactively, improving the experience for its customers and increasing its turnover.

“GoodNews’ target audience is mainly young, grown up with new technologies and their adaptations, so it was clear to us that digitizing our stores had to be one of our big changes,” explained Jan Barthe, CEO of GoodNews.

The company, which converted traditional newsstands into Grab&Go coffee outlets, was looking to replace the illuminated menu signs with a more interactive and visual system that would help to better convey its brand beyond the product offering, offering the 360-degree experience that GoodNews is pursuing.

[Is Your Digital Signage as Good as DFW's Restroom?]

“We chose nsign.tv because it met all the requirements we had according to our needs and, from the beginning, the communication was very simple and easy, so we saw that the match between the two brands was perfect,” said Jan Barthe.

Thus, GoodNews installed in its various points of sale several LCD monitors—mostly 50 inches—managed by nsign.tv software, which allows them to broadcast both the menuboards and new creatives and campaigns. The GoodNews Design team is in charge of managing the nsign.tv software -ideal for non-technical users-, loading and programming all the contents of the screens in their stores in a fast and intuitive way.

“The nsign.tv platform is super intuitive and, most importantly, has previews so you can check your content before you send it,” said Barthe. “We would also highlight the user interface and the response time/speed when uploading content. The training provided at the beginning was more than enough for us to get to grips with the application.”

The benefits that digital signage is bringing to the company are more than noticeable. “This digitization improves the whole in-store experience for our customers; in the end, we’ve made our menu more readable and much more visual than the signs we had before,” explained Barthe.

“It also allows us to make more disruptive communications in video format that highlight new product launches, or surprise the consumer with flash promotions that are only active at specific times," he added. "In addition to the experience offered to the customer, the return on investment is being very positive, increasing the turnover of all points of sale as they have upgraded to digitalization.”

[Ready Player One: 9 Media Players for Your Next Digital Signage Experience]

GoodNews is currently opening new stores in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, and Amsterdam, where it is continuing its commitment to this model of digitized stores with the help of nsign.tv, and plans to incorporate new display devices to continue providing a differential experience to its customers.

“We would like to thank the GoodNews team for having trusted our platform for their digitalization," concluded Toni Viñals, CEO of nsign.tv. " We are proud that a young and modern company has seen the potential of digital signage to enrich their premises with dynamic and attractive visual content that helps them to impact and interact with their audience through any type of screen.

There is no denying the COVID-19 pandemic rattled the film industry, from film production to movie theater attendance. Now, with movies being released in pre-pandemic fashion, audiences are returning to theaters, excited to see their favorite stars on the big screen once again. 

Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theatres, an American movie theater group and a strongly community-oriented business, has adopted and installed advanced technological tools, including the Broadsign platform, to not only simplify its workflows, but making life easier for the guest as well. In turn, the theaters have increased digital concession sales by integrating their back-end sales system, Vista, through API. Furthermore, Megaplex gained dynamic capabilities that previously weren’t available, allowing them to innovate and further elevate the movie-going experience in their theatres.

[The ABCs of APIs: A Primer to All Things API] 

Founded in 1999, the first Megaplex theater was built to preserve a high school building that was a landmark in Sandy, UT. Today, they now have 15 locations with a network of approximately 800 digital signage screens. In 2022, the theaters welcomed 5.1 million moviegoers to their venues. 

The digital screens feature a wide variety of movie-related content, including movie posters, MyMegaRewards membership content, and concession promotions. They also offer paid advertising partnerships to local businesses that want to leverage their network and audience reach. Aside from leveraging Broadsign for its ad-serving capability, one unique way Megaplex is utilizing Broadsign is by integrating the platform with its back-end sales system to increase its operational efficiency and concession sales through digital channels.

Improving Operational Efficiency with Broadsign

Before the pandemic, all concession sales at Megaplex Theatres were made on-site. Customers would come in early to purchase their snacks and drinks before heading to the auditorium. However, with everyone having the same idea of buying items before their movie, it often led to long lines at the concession stands, leaving customers worried about missing the start of their movie. To eliminate that stress, Megaplex decided to sell their concession items through digital channels, including web, mobile, and digital kiosks on-site. 

By integrating with the Broadsign Platform, they were able to display the real-time status of orders on concession stand screens and notify customers when orders were ready for pick up. By the end of 2022, Megaplex Theatres’ concession sales through digital channels represented $6.1 million in revenue, with the success of this initiative primarily attributed to how smooth the pickup process was for customers. 

[Ready Player One: 9 Media Players for Your Next Digital Signage Experience] 

Megaplex Theatres also uses Broadsign to ensure that the right information is shown on the 800 screens across 15 movie theater locations. This is particularly useful in updating concession menu boards. Prior to adopting Broadsign, if a change needed to be made to a product, a graphic designer would have to manually modify 50 variations of their menu boards, taking around a week to complete. Now, they input the product or price information in their back-end sales system the night before and by the next morning, the new information is reflected on their menu boards. 

A More Dynamic Customer Experience with Digital Signage

For customers that forgot to place their concession order ahead of time, Megaplex Theatres found a way to entertain customers waiting in line for concessions. Leveraging Broadsign’s dynamic capabilities, Megaplex experimented with disruptive overlays on concession menu boards, allowing them to have some of our favorite movie characters pop-up on screens to promote movies they’re featured in.

Collaborating with the movie studios, Megaplex Theatres would receive masked out videos of the characters which they would then upload onto Broadsign for them to run on the menu board screens at the concession stand. To promote Disney’s “Lightyear” movie in 2022, an animated Buzz Lightyear sliced through the venire of their digital menu board, revealing characters from the film and title treatment. This allowed Megaplex to provide Disney with a fun, dynamic brand moment, while simultaneously promoting Lightyear-branded concession items on the menu. 

[Digital Signage: The Future Is Bright] 

During the promotion of Dreamwork’s The Bad Guys, Megaplex Theatres had the main characters drop down from the top of the digital menu board and steal the popcorn, highlighting a small movie promotion to appear on screen afterwards. While these may seem like small touches, it provides customers with a more personalized experience and gives advertisers new creative opportunities when they advertise with Megaplex.

The Future for Megaplex Theatres

As Megaplex continues to experiment with disruptive overlays, their network will become increasingly more valuable to advertisers that are looking to reach an audience that are in a mindset to spend. With manual operations now being automated with the Broadsign Platform, Megaplex can devote its time to building new innovative facilities so they can continue to innovate and stretch the boundaries of what can be done in a movie theater.

Orchard Road, Singapore has added another jewel to its crown in the form of the first and largest PUMA flagship store, not just in Singapore, in the whole of Southeast Asia. This unique retail environment, designed to mirror Puma’s brand essence of weaving sports into lifestyle, reflects Singapore’s vibrant heritage and Puma’s relentless energy.

PUMA chose the “LUMOS” LED display system, designed and developed by UK-based Esprit Digital. Together with Singaporean integration specialist PAVE, the two installed LUMOS throughout the flagship store. PUMA are the latest in a growing list of globally recognized retail brands to choose the LUMOS system, amongst them Adidas, Armani, Harvey Nichols, Virgin, and Westfield for their stores and screen networks.

[Why Go Wide with dvLED Displays?]

“The Singapore Flagship project was a really important one for Puma, as it is our largest and highest profile location in SEA (Southeast Asia)," explained Colette Hilton, head of retail at PUMA UK/IE. "As part of the overall project, we decided to make digital signage an integral part of our marketing strategy, not only to communicate with customers and enhance their in-store experience, but also to attract passers-by into the store. LUMOS LEDs delivered on every level—they can be updated live, look stunning, and they create a real vibe.”

On entering the store, customers are transported into the very latest digital era with a striking double-sided 13x13-foot indoor LED mesh, brought to life by the main attraction on the back wall—a stunning 13x6-foot display, situated directly behind the Customer Service Counters and a three-sided 6.5x3-foot LED display pillar located just in front, creating a visual impact.

"The whole PUMA experience starts before the consumer even enters the store, with a massive 62.3x6.6-foot, 5,500-nit ‘See-Thru’ LUMOS LED facing the street," said James Wilder sales director at Esprit Digital. "This display blends seamlessly into  the architecture of the building and grabs the customer’s attention from across the street, enticing them to cross over and explore the wonderful world of PUMA.

[The Mountains Are Calling]

“The LUMOS ‘See-Thru’ LED is a unique product and the perfect solution for when a digital display is needed on a façade. As its name suggests, it is transparent and allows light into the store, but still has high resolution to display powerful imagery to all passers-by.”

PPDS has teamed up with Sweden’s largest supermarket chain, Maxi ICA, to bring a highly engaging and more inspired shopping experience to customers in its flagship store, with the installation of 27 digital signage displays, and a spectacular 16-meter-wide (52-foot) direct-view LED videowall.

Opened in 2015 and part of the ICA Group, the owners wanted to create a more modern, engaging, and inspiring in-store environment for their customers, while binging new benefits to the store’s day-to-day operations, and to drive new and existing revenue opportunities. Part of a major digital upgrade initiative, key to its plans was the replacement of its traditional static and quickly outdated paper-based messaging (branding, marketing, and promotions) with a digital alternative, for maximum visibility and consistency, and less waste.

Working closely with PPDS and LTG Display—Sweden's leading supplier of signage software, digital signage and store communications for more than 3,000 retailers—a strategic plan was developed to evolve the store from traditional media to the digital world.

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Completed in just a few days, nearly all printed signage was replaced with Philips D-Line digital displays (75-86 inches), allowing the store to bring its branding and messaging content to life in a way never seen before in store, with creativity, only restricted by their imaginations, delivered in up to 4K picture quality. Linked seamlessly to LTG Display’s sophisticated POS system, the store is now able to update content instantly and entirely remotely, on an individual screen or collectively.

In addition, the installation of Philips digital signage removes concerns around outdated promotions being displayed, ensures staff are able to focus on their job rather than on changing posters on a daily basis, and eliminates unnecessary paper waste.

A Colossal Centerpiece

The 16x1.73-metrer Philips L-Line 7000 Series dvLED wall is certainly the main attraction.

Hailed as Scandinavia’s longest supermarket dvLED display, this unmissable installation is visible from anywhere in the store, providing opportunities to wow visitors on entering, while also creating an immersive experience that follows throughout their store journey.

[Pro AV 2023: Trends to Watch] 

The one-of-a-kind LED wall is strategically situated above an equally giant-sized pick ‘n’ mix selection, located towards the end of the customer’s journey, regularly displaying enticing—and often mouth-watering—content to grab a few extra sales (and treats) before exiting the building.

Designed for retail, the Philips 7000 Series provides the store with high bright, crystal clear image and color quality, bringing its marketing to life, while its low energy consumption—above 20pc lower compared to some competitors—helps Maxi ICA keep running costs to a minimum without impacting performance. All the Philips displays feature the benefits of Dynamic and Black screen power saving features, automatically and intelligently powering down when not in use. This helps to further reduce the total cost of ownership, while extending the life of each dvLED panel for a greater ROI. FailOver also ensures Philips displays never go blank, even in the event of an outage.

[Digital Signage on the Go]

“The result of this collaboration set a new benchmark in the shopping experience with clear and seamless customer navigation and endless opportunities in content creation related to each department," said Roeland Scholten, sales director for Benelux and Nordics at PPDS. "We’re delighted to have supported Maxi ICA in bringing their ambitions to life in this unique, forward-thinking store, where the customer experience really does come first.”

“Our goal is to be the number one choice for a customer when it comes to purchasing food, which means that we have to provide them with a different experience,” Erik Svedmark, store manager at Maxi ICA Stormarknad Universitetet, added.

Leeds-based digital out-of-home (DOOH) display specialist and certified PPDS Platinum Partner for Philips professional displays UX Global, has completed the first installation of the brand new Philips P3.1 high bright 7000 Series LED screen technology in the UK. 

“The quality of the new Philips high bright LED technology installed at the Bristol store has proven to be an immediate success for Footasylum, punching through the reflective glass and creating an attention-grabbing first impression to draw customers into the store," explained Alistair Wright, managing director at UX Global.

[Massive All-in-One dvLED Displays Arrive in a Flight Case and Install Fast: Spotlight on 10]

“The bold choice to utilize this new technology has helped to maximize return on investment from the refurbishment," Wright continued. "It is this kind of unrestricted creativity in any size, shape, or location while maintaining the highest visual quality that makes LED so appealing and we are confident this latest installation will stand the test of time for some years to come.” 

The 3.5x3.75-meter large format LED digital display screen was installed on the High Street-facing wall of UX Global’s retail client Footasylum’s newly refurbished Cabot Circus store in Bristol.  

The Philips P.3 high bright 7000 Series LED is the display manufacturer’s most energy efficient and cost effective ever. In response to the challenge of the site being in direct sunlight and in a confined space, UX Global’s expert digital signage team worked with the Philips professional displays team to recommend it, because of its capability to deliver clarity and performance in even the most challenging lighting conditions, and its flat design. 

[Digital Signage: The Future Is Bright] 

UX Global carried out the installation works over two consecutive nights so that trading and the smooth running of the store was unaffected. A light sensor was also installed to alter the brightness of the huge LED display screen so that it is suitable and comfortable for viewing in both sunny periods and overnight, with added energy saving benefits. 

 “We are delighted to see the launch of this vibrant new LED range in the UK with UX Global," said Lee Rudd, Philips LED business manager in the UK. "Versatility, safety, efficiency, and resilience are all built in with the Philips 7000 Series LED display and this high bright range brings added opportunity for stores to surprise and delight their customers with mesmerizing masterpieces in store windows and lighter areas, extending brand experiences and attracting footfall. We look forward to Footasylum reaping the results from this fantastic display.” 

[AV Network's top stories, product news, and expert insights] 

Established in 2005, Footasylum has made a name for itself as one of UK’s the leading retailers of fashion streetwear and sportswear with a young, trend-conscious customer base. Footasylum works with UX Global to create exciting, memorable, immersive digital in-store experiences, which showcase the brands on offer. Previously, this has included the implementation of a completely flexible cloud-based digital display content management system (CMS) from NowSignage across all 60 Footasylum stores in the UK, and the provision of additional 4K displays and signage licenses.  

Car shopping just got a little more exciting in Munich. With the help of PPDS and Philips LED and digital signage solutions, CUPRA is redefining the showroom experience. 

With over 350 authorized dealers and over 390 service partners, Spanish automobile powerhouse CUPRA is fast becoming a driving force in the electric car world, with its range of customizable racing inspired models for the street, track, or off-road fun.

The new era of automobiles has welcomed a new era of technology— both within the cars, and across the brand. That’s why when the CUPRA flagship showroom was set-up in Munich, it was just as important to have the right tech that reflects the brand’s authority on innovation. What CUPRA needed was a cutting-edge system that allows them to create a localized identity, whilst also having the flexibility to accommodate the ever-changing demonstrator and showroom models within the dealership.

[How PPDS dvLED Displays Bring Content, Communications to a Refurbished HQ]

Driving change

To turn their vision into a reality, CUPRA teamed up with MEKmedia and PPDS for a showroom like no other. Together, a custom solution was designed and deployed in less than three days. To ensure absolute showroom flexibility, a modular display set-up was created to allow for fast and versatile content playback.

Three Philips L-Line LED displays and an oversized 65-inch Philips screen were installed to showcase the features, branding, and benefits of each model. The display set-up was designed in such a way that they could be shifted to match the various showroom configurations, as well as being utilized in the front windows to attract more traffic. This set-up also allows for the car configurator to be utilized, enabling customers to create their dream car live on-screen—an important aspect to the CUPRA brand. This resulted in significantly greater brand awareness, customer interaction, and staff productivity.

“PPDS delivered the perfect solution with their Philips displays and flexible way of working,” commented Erik Händler, head of DND, SEAT Deutschland GmbH.

[AV Network's top stories, product news, and expert insights] 

Showroom Benefits

The digital enhancements are both beneficial to the customer and CUPRA. The showroom can be configured effortlessly thanks to a modular design, enabling various events to be held throughout the year. Along with simplified installation, the central system is easily updated, as all staff can push new content without being a trained Pro AV expert.

The retail car configurator brings a new element to the customer. Customers can configure their dream car live on screen to see how it will look before placing their official order. This increased customer confidence while also reducing the amount of demonstrator models required.

The IKEA brand is synonymous with fresh ideas. It should come as no surprise, then, that when the design team at the company’s flagship London branch in Wembley set about remodeling the store’s homeworking department, they wanted to create a high-tech, immersive, and interactive experience that would inform and delight customers. BrightSign media players helped to realize that vision.

“The objective was to draw people into the new space and increase the amount of time they spent learning about and enjoying the products,” explained Stuart Harris, founder and creative director of projection mapping specialists Motion Mapping who created the installation. “The IKEA team had come across a demo of an interactive table that we had shared on social media, and they approached us to do something similar. They wanted to combine digital elements with physical products in a way that was cool and exciting, and we had lots of ideas about how to do that.”

[BrightSign to Unveil New XC5 Media Players]

Although this was a new type of undertaking for the retailer, it was very much a collaborative effort. Basing the content around a story board from the in-house design and visual merchandising teams, Motion Mapping deployed a mix of carefully placed projectors, screens, and sensors to bring it life.

The result is visually arresting, engaging, and surprising. Pieces of furniture are animated or transformed into interactive information points. A friendly ‘co-worker’ character appears at intervals to provide titbits of knowledge about the products and prompt customers to explore them further. And elements such as windows showing realistic outdoor scenes and a dazzling art wall work in synchronicity to create a beautiful and stimulating environment that says all the right things about personal workspaces.

Motion Mapping used five individual BrightSign HD224 media players to present the five ‘windows’, which are in fact Samsung 65-inch 4K screens framed by wooden casements. Two further HD224 media players power the Optoma projectors that map animated images onto kitchen cupboards (Optoma ZU500USTe) and a desk in the lounge area (Optoma ZH406ST). Other elements of the display run on Green Hippo Karst using Datapath FX4 with Kramer fiberoptic HDMI cables. Motion Mapping uses BrightAuthor:connected to create, publish, and manage the content, which is stored locally and delivered to the players across a private Ethernet network. 

[AV Network's top stories, product news, and expert insights] 

“The BrightSign players are perfect for this kind of synchronized playback set-up,” observed Harris. “They’re extremely reliable and really simple to use. If we need to update content, we just log on to our control PC and push it out to all the players and it just works.”

Cost was another major advantage for BrightSign. “If we had used a media server for each 4K screen, that would have been several times more expensive,” Harris noted.

BrightSign players were also favored because Motion Mapping uses them extensively in the course of its work and therefore keeps plenty in stock. “Time was of the essence for this project,” Harris continued. “We would normally expect something like this to take around six months from initial conversations to going live, but we did it all in under two months.”

Motion Mapping has built the entire display to be self-managing. “We took eight or nine different systems, built some custom software to pull it all together, and now the only time IKEA need us is if they want to update the content, for example for Halloween or Christmas," said Harris. "The reliability and simplicity of the BrightSign players means there is never any problem in between times.”

[Digital Signage: The Future Is Bright] 

The installation of all the equipment for the display took around four days. “We had to do it while the store was open,” recalled Harris. “It was tricky because there was a lot of footfall through the area and we were working with ladders across a busy walkway. People were very curious about what we were doing.”

Interest levels have remained high since the project went live in early April. Staff report that shoppers spend longer in the workspace section than they did before and are keen to talk and ask questions about the display. “Customers want to know who created it,” said Harris. “We’ve also had lots of compliments about it on social media.” IKEA’s senior management team were also very impressed by it at the launch. “They were sending photos and videos of it to other stores, saying, ‘We need to do this!’ I’m proud that we pulled it all together so quickly, and it’s something that people really enjoy looking at.”

Retailers today are tasked with creating engaging and entertaining shopping, as customers desire more memorable events and experiences. Many retailers have turned to experiential digital signage to provide interactive, dynamic, and eye-catching moments that heighten shoppers’ experiences and ultimately drive an increase in sales. Lighter, smaller, and brighter, laser projectors are adapting and innovating with new technology to meet the demand of elevating retail stores and spaces to better enhance the overall shopping experience and make it more personal, unique, and interactive.

From compact PowerLite solutions with several lens options to the unique spotlight form factor LightScene, Epson offers a range of powerful, flexible digital signage projectors that deliver sharp, true-to-life images for small or large applications. Powered by a virtually maintenance-free, 20,000-hour laser light source with no lamps to replace, Epson’s expansive lineup of projectors for digital signage come with a suite of innovative software tools for content management and remote control, enabling retailers to create engaging, captivating experiences that enhance customer service, improve operational efficiency, deliver impromptu wayfinding, and much more.

[Captain's Log: FlexGlass Projection Screen Powers Starship Console in ‘Star Trek: Picard’] 

“Consumers today seek interactivity that elevates their shopping trips by what they feel, hear, see, smell, and touch,” said Remi Del Mar, product manager, Epson America. “Projected digital signage solutions continue to innovate and offer impressive tools for integrating creativity and adding personalization as more retailers look to evolve the shopping experience for their customers.”

Using Epson projectors, Dallas-based Glass-Media helps brands enhance customer experiences by transforming retail environments through proprietary, projection-based illuminations. “In addition to significant improvements in the product development roadmaps from leading OEMs coupled with the plethora of emerging display technologies, we're seeing a rather prompt and exciting shift towards new and improved techniques in content creation, such as anamorphic 3D optical illusions, pixel mapping and holographic animations," explained CEO and founder of Glass-Media Daniel Black.

Following are a few considerations and insights for creating one-of-a-kind experiences with dynamic, eye-catching displays that can elevate a brand, drive customer engagement and increase sales.

[Epson Projectors Create Innovative 360-Degree, Immersive Experience in Nashville]

4 tips to consider when creating eye-catching displays to enhance the consumer experience

• Elevate: Create an inviting retail space with contextual information projected on nearly any surface type. Make every trip to the store a remarkable shopping event by making customers feel connected to products and wanting to stay longer to engage and enjoy the moment. Visual merchandising with interactive product callouts, comparisons and cross-merchandising are creative ways to enhance displayed merchandise. Illuminating available floorspace to direct customers, provide wait times, or optimize space enhances the customer’s shopping experience.
• Design: Think big with a massive, illuminated wall that can draw a crowd with large-than-life displays. Or use smaller effects to make a big impression by implementing individualized applications, demonstrations and comparisons that will captivate customers and drive sales. Grab customers attention with stunning floor-to-ceiling displays and transform traditional brick-and-mortar venues into storytelling showrooms by converting virtually any surface into a dynamic digital display.
• Experience: Transport customers to another world by creating an aspirational environment. Share what the retail brand can offer by showing the places they can travel to or see when shopping and purchasing products. Delight shoppers with dynamic messaging on products and surrounding areas and display hidden product features and possibilities. Guide customers with wayfinding signage to interactive displays, taking advantage of floorspace.
• Fascinate: By using innovative projection technology, retailers can activate any surface with product details and change content instantly. Retailers can unleash the story behind products by highlighting seasonal themes, sharing relevant product information such as availability, inventory and more. With digital visual merchandising, retailers can engage customers more deeply, create a mood and make the overall shopping experience impactful.

Cartology, one of Australia’s leading retail media businesses, powered by Woolworths Group, and out-of-home (OOH) ad tech leader Broadsign announced a new partnership designed to enhance Cartology’s retail media network (RMN). The collaboration makes it easy for Cartology to schedule, manage, and deliver compelling content and advertisements across retail media displays located in over 1,400 Woolworths food and everyday needs stores throughout Australia and New Zealand. 

“RMNs are gaining traction with brands, and Cartology is leading the way in Australia. It’s established a powerful group of targeted omnichannel advertising solutions, and we’re thrilled to partner with them,” shared Maarten Dollevoet, chief revenue officer, Broadsign. “Together, our partnership will help showcase the power of in-store advertising, strengthen the in-store experience for customers, and unlock opportunities for advertisers as part of the growth of retail media.” 

[Broadsign Expands Programmatic DOOH Portfolio in the U.S. and Australia]

Retail media is expected to exceed $50 billion by 2023 and account for nearly 20% of digital ad spend, with the in-store experience a key factor. Reaching shoppers with compelling content at the point of purchase can make for a more positive in-store experience, which has been shown to increase the chances of higher consumer spending in-store, and return visits. 

With Broadsign at the heart of its in-store display network, Cartology can now create more engaging in-store shopping experiences and attract brands looking to reach audiences on both the path to and at the point of purchase with omnichannel messaging. Cartology has already begun on-boarding screens to the Broadsign Platform, including front of store digital totems, behind-the-counter displays, and other screen types.

[Digital Signage: The Future Is Bright] 

“Cartology holds a deep understanding of customer attitudes and behaviors and that’s invaluable to brands,” shared Stacey Lawson, head of campaign operations and delivery, Cartology. “As our business and the sector continues to evolve, partnering with Broadsign to leverage their content scheduling and management tools across our network provides media buyers with greater flexibility and enhances our internal operations here at Cartology. This ensures we can focus on creating the best in-store experience for Woolworths shoppers and drive sales overnight and customers over time for our valued clients.”

There aren’t too many supermarkets in the world that can boast Genelec loudspeakers, but K-Supermarket Hertta in Herttoniemi, Helsinki, is clearly not your average supermarket. Part of the K Group, the second-biggest grocery trade operator in Finland and one of the biggest in Northern Europe, K-Supermarket operates some 250 stores at the top end of the market, offering customers a high-end in-store experience with a carefully selected range of local produce and specialties. 

At K-Supermarket Hertta, Markus Ranne, the independent merchant who runs the store, decided to elevate the experience still further with the use of sensory marketing–a combination of scent and sound design to attract customers and encourage them to linger. He called on Helsinki-based sensory marketing specialists Sevende Aromas to design the environment–for which they specified Genelec 4000 Series installation loudspeakers.

[Jeff Balding Converts Nashville Studio to Dolby Atmos with Genelec]

“Sounds can affect people’s comfort and shopping behavior in most commercial spaces and environments such as supermarkets, hotels, offices, bars, and restaurants. The sense of hearing is our third most dominant sense,” explains Sevende Aromas’ founder and CEO, Eero Niskanen. “Studies have shown that the right kind of sound environment can increase sales by up to 30 percent and it also has a positive effect on the work efficiency of employees. When it comes to scent design, research tells us that customers stay up to 40 percent longer in a fragrant environment. Fragrance is therefore an important part of branding. K-Supermarket Hertta was keen to incorporate both elements as part of their commercial strategy.”

Sound designer Aki Päivärinne explains that the brief was to create a relaxed and immersive sound space for the newly renovated fresh fruit and vegetable section, and stereophonic sound for the candy department. “This was an inspiring task since I had also created the previous monophonic sound design for the store, including the beer and beverages department,” he said.

“In my work I use a variety of computer programs, including electro-acoustic modelling software. In this instance, as the speaker setup in the fruit and veg department is not symmetrical, I created a model of the space within the software to calculate the delay times required for realistic 3D sound images.”

[Genelec Aural ID Now Available as DAW Plug-in]

The setup consists of 12 Genelec 4030 loudspeakers evenly spaced above the refrigerator elements or suspended from the ceiling, while eight compact 4020s grace the drinks section and a further four are deployed in the candy section. These are complemented by eight strategically placed fragrance machines, which deliver the scent experience. Control comes courtesy of a QSC Q-SYS Core 110f processor with a touchscreen interface for managing level control across the various zones.

“To develop the soundscape for the fruit and veg area, I started by imagining some kind of surreal colorful fruit-world,” continued Päivärinne. “I started hearing the lush forests, distant animals, shifting weather patterns, poetic saxophone phrases, light and sea, and harmonic clouds overhead-creating a relaxing and safe feeling. After the first listening I made some small adjustments to the dynamics of the material which now sounds fantastic. I am really happy with the outcome.”

When asked what prompted the decision to specify Genelec loudspeakers in this context, Päivärinne’s reply was straightforward, “I have worked with Genelec loudspeakers in various projects over the last 10 years or so and have always enjoyed using them. In this instance, the 4000 Series offered a high-quality, reliable solution for creating an immersive soundscape. They also look good, which is a bonus.” 

Combined with the scent design provided by Sevende Aromas–who also handled the systems integration–the results have had a marked impact on sales, as proven by a recent study conducted by Helsinki University. “The study compared the results of sensory marketing against those of a similarly sized supermarket using traditional marketing techniques,” noted Niskanen. “The supermarket using sensory marketing was more successful in every respect and customer satisfaction levels were considerably higher.”

[In South Korea, Immersive Pioneer SOUND360 Favors an All-Genelec Solution]

The impact of sensory marketing is not only measured by an immediate increase in sales. Positive perceptions of where to buy help build a lasting and loyal customer relationship over the longer term. It is natural to want to do business in pleasant places, and it has been proven, time and again, that combining fragrance with the right sound has a positive impact on customer satisfaction.

“We used quality scents and worked with a talented sound designer to create an alluring soundscape,” Niskanen continued. “The soundscape uses a combination of natural sounds and musical elements. For it to be truly immersive it’s important that it sounds realistic; this is why we opted for a high-quality audio solution based on Genelec loudspeakers, which deliver detailed, transparent sound even at low levels. There is no doubt that Genelec played a major role in the outcome.”

Delivering the unexpected can be a winning marketing strategy when executed well. But the art of surprising consumers extends beyond traditional creative methods like standard digital signage and video. Sometimes the winning twist can be a clever way of reaching them.

Across the retail landscape, the largest block of untapped marketing real estate is right under their feet. Wovenmedia, a San Francisco-based digital signage firm, working in conjunction with projection specialist Sharp/NEC, is now rolling out dynamic marketing and messaging in retail environments using laser floor projection systems.

“Part of the strategy behind floor graphics is trying to utilize sales space that typically or historically isn’t utilized to engage shoppers in a new way from an advertising standpoint,” said Drew Walls, a strategic account manager at Wovenmedia specializing in big-box retail. Major retailers are now taking advantage of floor real estate for advertising just as consumers return to their aisles in big numbers.

In-Store Experience Impact

"When we went through the pandemic, the first thing to really suffer from a retail standpoint was the in-store experience," Walls explained. "It completely changed how people shopped. As we look forward to getting people back in a retail setting, and continuing their customer journeys within a retail environment, I think there’s a desire to reassess how they’re being engaged and how that in-store experience can be enriched."

A clear advantage of floor projection over other in-store marketing methods is that it disrupts the retail shopping experience and redirects shoppers’ attention. “If you’re pushing your cart, you can’t really help but stop and pay attention,” Walls said. “I think it’s also a case study in how we can effectively disrupt that journey. You’re trying to get them used to seeing information and receiving ads in a new way.”

Today, consumers are conditioned to look for display monitors to find useful information in public settings, such as a schedule of arrivals and departures at an airport or an electronic menu board at a deli. Those constraints are not an issue with floor projection.

“Typically, what you’re going to see, as far as an electronic display, is a large-format, flat-screen monitor that’s in your typical 16:9 aspect ratio—the all-familiar rectangle that you see,” said John Moezzi, national accounts manager at Sharp/NEC. “With this technology, we can do all sorts of things. We don’t have to project a rectangle down on the floor.”

Through projection mapping techniques, static images or dynamic video projected onto the floor appear in their own shapes and sizes by essentially removing the negative space from the visual assets. In a retail environment, the result could be a special sales message from a brand for that particular location or a general brand commercial.

“With creative uses of the content, you can do all sorts of things that look completely out of the ordinary,” Moezzi said. “Let’s say you use a black background—when you shoot black down onto the floor, it doesn’t show anything. So, if you imagine having a video with bubbles going across the screen, all you would see on the floor is bubbles. You can get very creative with the content in doing this projection mapping, which is totally different than what you could do using a large-format display, your typical flat panel.”

Laser Power

Moezzi credits the advent of widespread laser projection with enabling floor projection in retail. Although the concept of floor projection had been proven with bulb projectors, he said scaling to multiple locations—300 stores to date in the case of one big-box retailer—required the ease of maintenance afforded by laser projectors.

“The laser light source never has to be changed, unlike a lamp that you have to change after so many hours,” Moezzi explained. “Also very important is the optical block is sealed. With lamp-based technology, you would have a filter that has to be cleaned after so many hours to prevent dust from causing problems with the display of the images. Given the fact that there’s no lamp to replace or filter to clean, these laser projectors are essentially maintenance free.”

[So, You Want to Do Projection Mapping!]

That level of hands-off operation is crucial for executing a successful floor projection installation, Moezzi said. With the projectors mounted to ceiling rafters high above the sales floor, a motorized lift is needed to access them for maintenance (or replacement in the case of laser projectors). Interrupting the shopping journey to perform regular maintenance on overhead projectors isn’t high on retailers’ wish lists.

“We had to think through every possible scenario we could to try to mitigate any risk,” Moezzi offered. “You want to do everything you can to remotely remediate any issues that there might be, as well as proactively do the things that are required so that you don’t have issues pop up in the first place.”

Read the Room

Environmental challenges can determine where to place floor projection by narrowing the field of potential locations. Installed overhead lighting, as well as ambient sources such as skylights, can be gating issues for the designers and installers behind floor projection installations.

“From a technical aspect, the physical location is pretty important when you’re trying to execute these projectors, simply because you’re going to run into considerations like lighting in different retail settings,” Walls said. “Every store is going to have different lighting conditions. There’s just going to be tweaking that you’re gonna have to do, such as brightness [and] coming up with the best mix for maximum visibility within a setting that might have ambient light already.”

[Projection Mapping Transforms the Clocktower in the Mile High City]

Floor projection assets can be uploaded, scheduled, and implemented on site in the retail store or at a corporate headquarters—in this case using the WovenManager CMS with Projector Control Application in conjunction with NEC NP-P605UL laser projectors.

“Where are we going to place these, as it relates to high-traffic items that are the most profitable [and whose] ads speak the most relevantly to?” Walls asked. “I think, looking forward, location is really going to be a driving factor in adding more projectors or especially how these will serve more of a wayfinding and a human purpose. And that just completely depends on the strategy from a retail standpoint.”

Wayfinding could be a natural application of floor projection once marketers establish them as a source of information. For now, however, retailers are mostly using the technology to boost sell-through of products in their stores.

“Retailers have had an interest in this sort of application for a long time, but the technology was just not there,” Moezzi said. “This is an example of the technology meeting a need that retailers already had, so they’re very receptive to the idea of trying an application like this.”        

The forecast for the digital signage market is bright, with nary a cloud in the proverbial sky. According to AVIXA’s Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA), it’s one of the largest solution areas in the Pro AV industry, with an estimated value of $35 billion this year and growing to $44.7 billion in 2026. Numbers vary among market research organizations, of course, but analysts generally agree that digital signage will continue to grow over the next several years.

So, why is digital signage trending up? Researchers point to its increased use in commercial applications, such as retail, entertainment, and hospitality. Sean Wargo, senior director of market intelligence for AVIXA, told me the digital signage market—like so many other segments of the Pro AV industry—was negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Certainly consumers are becoming more mobile and have an increased willingness to spend,” Wargo said. “As they recover, digital signage is also able to recover. It all equals return to growth.”

Remember, hospitality essentially came to a grinding halt in 2020. For almost two years, hotels were focused on pandemic-based safety protocols, not enticing you to try the fish at the restaurant downstairs. In fact, on-prem restaurants were closed or had very restricted offerings. Even some self-serve hotel breakfasts were reduced to brown bag distributions by masked and gloved employees, because congregating in common areas was discouraged. With few customers, as well as limited opportunities to present them with information, digital signage was far from a priority.

[A Tale of Two TVs]

Now, the hospitality is redirecting its efforts again, this time toward filling rooms and improving the guest experience. That means digital signage is off the “good enough” list. Expect to see more installations, from the lobby to the valet stand, as properties increase their digital signage investments.

You can see a similar resurgence in retail. Consumers are returning to in-person shopping, and brick and mortar are businesses are using digital out-of-home (OOH) advertising and other digital signage solutions to differentiate their offerings from the online shopping experience. And you can’t miss the push by quick serve restaurant (QSR) chains to adopt digital menu boards, both inside the store and at the drive thru. Self-serve ordering kiosks will be unavoidable in the very near future.

From dynamic dvLED displays to more utilitarian LCD/LED flat panel installs, from wayfinding kiosks to immersive entertainment experiences, expect plenty of new digital signage on the horizon. Companies just need to keep the clouds away with engaging content.

For a company better known for supplying exceptional club sound systems around the world, there was a recent "sugar coated" opportunity for Void Acoustics. Kingdom of Sweets is a retail sweet shop operation in key cities around the United Kingdom, in addition to a number of flagship stores in major European cities. 

“We’ve been aware of Void Acoustics for many years, and when we got the brief from our client, it was evident that this was a quirky and demanding project which had Void written all over it," recalled Alan Smith, business development manager for AT&C. “We had been asked to specify a sound system to ‘up the ante’ on the customers’ audio experience, whilst providing a bespoke design complementing the eye-catching and colourful presentation synonymous with all Kingdom of Sweets stores.

[Curtain Up on Audio]

"Our client specifically asked for a clean sounding, bass-heavy system—with the audio reflecting the visually flamboyant experience for customers coming in to shop for their sugary goodies.  It was clear that Void were the audio manufacturer to work with.” 

Kingdom of Sweets outlets have opened around the United Kingdom, with bespoke manufactured and custom-coloured Void Acoustics speakers to reflect the vibrant orange and purple pantones of the retail brand. “Alongside the unique design of Void speakers, the fact the fibreglass speakers could be custom sprayed in the corporate colors was a major selling point," Smith added.

[LG's Transparent OLED and Augmented Reality Combine to Elevate the Retail Experience]

Void’s head of sales, Mike Newman, was excited to be involved in the project. “This type of project couldn’t be more polar opposite when considering the projects Void Acoustics are well known for," he explained. "The Void brand is more associated with clubs and dance venues than sweet shops, and so it was great to have a completely different project to introduce our systems into. And actually, the key elements remain the same—with attention-to-design-detail, an exceptional audio quality, and exacting installation values at the core of the project.”

A series of the Air 8s, supported by Venu 212 V2 bass enclosures and the Bias Q2 amp, were installed into the Bath store. In the smaller store in Berkshire, the Indigo 6s were installed alongside the Cirrus 6.1 ceiling loudspeakers and the smaller bass Venue 112 V2 unit accompanied by the Bias Q1 amp. In Leeds, the shop’s audio system features Venu 10s and Venu 212 V2s. 

Meanwhile, the largest store, located in London, opened with the two-floor shop being served by a number of the Airten V3s and Air 8s alongside Venu 212 V2s to supply the desired bass impact. The system also includes amplification from the Bias Q2 amp and newly released WM Touch Control Panel, allowing easy operation for the store staff.  

“We were delighted to have partnered with AT&C on this new type of project for us," Newman said. "Given the incredibly positive reaction from the client, and the way the project was managed, I know we have started to build a great relationship with Alan and his team."

Every year Systems Contractor News announces its Installs of the Year Award in November. These awards are given out to firms that go above and beyond to create ultimate user experiences. This year was challenging for integrators to work around the Covid-19 restrictions while crafting personalized experiences for their clients. CommLink Integration Corporation won the Install of the Year Award for its installation at Concepts, a luxury clothing retail store (created by Amazon). Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the new retail store combines authentic skateboarding roots with the brand's ability to convey a narrative and translate its identity through an immersive audiovisual retail experience designed and executed by the crew at CommLink Integration. Brands and products employed to help deliver the conceptual narrative at Concepts include Sonos, Sharp NEC Display Solutions, BrightSign, AVPro Edge video matrix, Symetrix audio DSP and UniFi network hardware.

[Symetrix Radius NX, Barco Clickshare Conference Now Compatible]

Concepts also uses an original custom control system, called Latitude, conceived and designed by CommLink's engineers Hunter Grayson and Tim Adams. It is based on CSS, HTML5 and JavaScript.  Latitude runs on an in-house spec'd 1U micro server, which serves a custom GUI via a local-only web page, which is interfaced with iPads in the store. They selected a Symetrix Radius NX 12 X 8 DSP and xOut 12 for the system integration.

Evan Landry, CTO or CommLink Integration Corporation, said many of the reasons why they chose Symetrix as the DSP for the system were the sound quality, performance and the ease of installation. Landry said, "Two of our favorite things about Symetrix are, one, the Dante Brooklyn chip is baked-in and you get the full 64 x 64 channels; and two, the hardware reliability is top notch. By the time of the installation, we had become heavily entrenched in Symetrix DSPs, with all our engineers being Composer certified. One of the biggest points for us, aside from rock-solid reliability, was being able to remotely control any parameter simply by assigning a remote-control number."

The café has the same set-up and can be its own zone for watching the game or join with the rest of the system for regular BGM. This zone joining and dividing is accomplished by two matrices, which are switched simultaneously by the preset controller in the  Latitude control system: audio by Symetrix and a video (HDBaseT) from

[Symetrix Introduces xIO Bluetooth Dante-Enabled Endpoint]

What made The Concepts store installation unique and different is that it is a multi-use space. It is a clothing and skate boutique, as well as a café, an elite sports bar and a night club. There is a DJ booth, which has its own set of XLR inputs thanks to a QSC Atterotech unDx4i. So, in essence, the audio system performs two job functions. It is required to provide even coverage for background music during the day and provide bumpin' power for the night-club scene. This presented its own set of challenges during the design), as the needs for these modes are very different. 

The smaller scenes are vignettes of the audio system: the skate room has its own 86-inch display, as well as a Sonos ARC sound bar. This does double duty serving as the audio source for featured videos, as well as playing background music (BGM) during normal business hours.

OnQ, a leading manufacturer of custom retail displays, today expanded its Converge platform to enable retailers to deliver touchless interactive experiences in store. Converge Display Control lets shoppers control interactive content on any connected TV by simply scanning a QR code on their phone. This creates a two-way connection between shoppers and any network-connected display, enhancing the in-store experience with customer-driven, interactive content. 

“Today’s retail climate demands a fresh approach to in-store interactivity, and retailers are desperate for new ways to engage customers in low-touch and no-touch environments,” said OnQ CEO Paul Chapuis. “Converge Display Control comes along at the perfect time because it opens up a whole new mode of engagement for customers to drive the in-store experience. With the flexibility of purchasing in store or using their phones to buy online and ship to their homes, customers can now tailor every aspect of the shopping experience.”

Converge Display Control lets customers drive in-store engagement by simply scanning a QR code to navigate the shopping experience with their phones, giving retailers a touch-free way to deliver in-store interactive content. Converge Display Control can be used to display and navigate on-screen product information, as well as control various consumer electronics devices such as smart speakers, televisions, and soundbars. The solution has endless development possibilities and can be adapted to customize virtually any in-store experience. 

[LG's Transparent OLED and Augmented Reality Combine to Elevate the Retail Experience]

While OnQ’s new technology can be embedded into any new retail display, integrating with existing displays is simple. QR codes can be incorporated into existing digital signage, or simply printed and placed on or near a display fixture. Customer interaction is intuitive and straightforward—there’s no need to download an app and no Wi-Fi connection required. Customer interaction takes place on a mobile browser using the customer’s own cellular connection, eliminating many of the most common technical hurdles to delivering in-store, phone-based interaction. 

Retailers can choose to track and log every step of the customer journey using OnQ’s Display Intelligence analytics platform. Retailers can measure key elements such as interest level and dwell time to help drive key business decisions about product assortment and promotions. 

[D=SIGN Conference Explores the Big Ideas for Digital Signage]

Converge Display Control is an in-store merchandising solution built for omnichannel success. Once a QR code takes the customer to the retailer’s website, the retailer establishes a customer connection that can last well beyond their in-store visit. Customers can continue researching products at home and purchase at their convenience. Retailers then have remarketing opportunities to share future promotions and updates with customers via their phones. Converge Display Control is fully customizable and each solution is tailored to the unique needs of the retailer.

Shopping during the pandemic shifted consumer behaviors to an online storefront. Building upon what consumers liked about the online experience, creative teams and retail brands are enticing shoppers back to physical stores. Technologies delivering immersive in-person experiences that combine the info-gathering power of the internet with the excitement of being able to touch and try a product have ushered-in the next-level shopper.  

The new Citizen Watch shop in a major Herald Square department store in New York City, recently installed one of the first consumer-facing augmented reality product display cases. Leveraging LG Transparent OLED technology, the new retail display overlays mesmerizing high-impact digital visuals onto a watch display case to pull the viewer in as it showcases the real watches behind the graphics.

Video Provides a 360-degree Product Examination

The innovative retail project is the brainchild of Citizen Watch with Pac Team Group, Luminary Design Co. and LG Business Solutions, each of which brought unique interests, requirements and expertise to the project. Situated in one of the most recognizable and heavily trafficked retail locations in Manhattan, Citizen Watch wanted to stand out among competitors while demonstrating its commitment to technological leadership.

“Our goal for this location was to present a highly engaging sales video that doesn’t require a salesperson and effectively mirrors the digital 360-degree product examination that online shopping has made standard,” said Peter Barry, director of Merchandising Operations & Logistics at Citizen Watch Company of America. “Luminary Design and Pac Team Group created this one-of-a-kind display case experience using cutting-edge LG display technology that very few consumers have seen before, and we immediately saw visible reactions of excitement and surprise among visitors.”

[ LG Debuts Enhanced Transparent LED Displays ]

Retail Experience Challenge

Located right next to direct competitors, the new Citizen Watch area in the store had to do something unique to stand out and draw attention. Recognizing the engaging effects of vivid digital content, it was clear that a technological approach would be the most appropriate for today’s shoppers who expect clarity and modernity when researching purchases or forming brand loyalties. For this, the store designers at Pac Team Group contacted LG, which offered assistance in choosing the best products and also introduced the team to the digital experiential experts at Luminary Design Co.

“When LG and Pac Team approached Luminary with the challenge of creating an entirely new kind of retail experience, we knew immediately that LG Transparent OLED was the best technology for the job” said Brian Beyt, founder and president of Luminary Design.

[Study Finds LG's 14mm Transparent LED Film Turns Windows into Digital Signage, Encourages C-Store Foot Traffic and Sales]

“We imagined an experience that pairs the depth of online shopping with the tactile benefits of physical retail. The result is a captivating product showcase that elevates and transforms real watches through a coordinated dance of visual effects, practical product information, and synchronized showcase lighting. All of these elements combine to turn shopping for a watch into an informative and exciting new experience for customers,” said Beyt.

Transparent OLED Plays Central Role in the Process

At first, the display was envisioned as a decorative element that would draw people into the store, where more information would be presented on traditional 75-inch digital displays. As the teams brainstormed and came to understand the full capabilities of the LG Transparent OLED, it found a more central role in the store’s design and digital journey.

According to Antonio Schiano, Pac Team Group’s vice president of project development, it was crucial that the technology and digital content in the store be seamless, easy to understand and not get in the way of sales, while also remaining passive so customers can shop and learn at their leisure.

“As a high traffic location with significant sales potential and hugely valuable branding opportunity, the customer experience has to be fluid and allow fast transitions from learning to trying to buying,” Schiano explained.

“Being located directly next to competitors inside a major department store,” he added, “the Citizen Watch store also needed a clearly differentiated aesthetic and vibe, including the color palette, lighting, spatial design and ultimately the feeling visitors have when they enter and leave. One sure fire way to hit all those marks was to use a technology that almost nobody has seen before, and Luminary was able to provide that with their unique use of LG’s commercial displays.”

[LG Improves Pixel Pitch for Transparent Color LED Film Displays]

Luminary leveraged its experience with the LG Transparent OLED technology to make it virtually “disappear.” Beyt said, “We sought to create something that fit seamlessly into Pac Team’s retail environment—something that didn’t look like technology at all. When what appears to be an ordinary display case suddenly transforms into an immersive product demonstration unlike anything people have ever experienced, it creates a rare moment of genuine surprise and delight.”

The visuals are tied directly to physical watches through carefully timed reveals using “Transparent Squares” within the video content. Once a watch is revealed, floating 3D animations emerge from the physical timepieces and fill the screen to provide larger than life 360° views of each model.

Incredibly, this brand-new display and sales experience didn’t even require all-new content creation, instead relying on a combination of re-tooled commercial assets and custom VFX produced by Overskies (formerly The CSI Group). Dynamic animations move and shift from individual product features to full-screen content takeovers, even including moments where one half of the display case is transparent, while the other half plays a thrilling product video.

The Result: Augmented Reality Display Case

Considered by all companies involved to be among the world’s first consumer-facing uses of an augmented reality display case, it’s common for discussions about the installation to include phrases such as “the next generation of physical retail.”  It’s easy to see why: Citizen Watch noted almost immediate upticks in traffic volume and sell-through rates. For the company and its customers, the concept store is a hit.

“I think the success of this admittedly experimental store concept is going to push competitors to try to recreate our experience, or perhaps consider other cutting-edge technologies to enhance the physical retail journey,” said Barry. “Internally, we’ve already recognized other ways LG Transparent OLED displays could be used, even in our smaller stores. As customer expectations ebb and flow, we are always looking for what’s next, and this semi-automated demo and sales system is perfect for promoting our products without a sales associate.”

The final video is a nearly 10-minute loop that examines the inner workings of Citizen’s famous timepieces, with the existing video repurposed and altered to leverage the specific strengths of transparent display technology, including graphics that appear holographic. The Luminary Design Co. team described the content production for the display as its own sort of art form, because small details can make on-screen imagery appear magical in ways that no other display technology can.

Smith said that, in the future, and possibly for other Citizen Watch stores, additional features and engagement tools may be added, including touchscreen capabilities and controls, proximity-based automation that changes content as a customer approaches the display, and even QR-code based interaction and screen control that doesn’t require physical contact.

According to Dan Smith, vice president, business development at LG Business Solutions USA, “This unique installation is a textbook example of creative designers and artists finding innovative ways to leverage new technologies and capabilities.

“Retailers and designers looking to reinvent in-person shopping in the digital age must be willing to adopt new technologies,” Smith said. “LG’s innovative commercial display technologies, including LG Transparent OLED, enable new kinds of sales interactions that captivate customers’ attention and provide concrete benefits for in-person shoppers. It’s exciting to witness the success of this project at Citizen Watch; kudos to everyone involved for breaking new ground in experiential retail.”

The Final Say

As Schiano from Pac Team Group noted, “The store has a gravitational pull that others simply don’t have,” which generates valuable brand recognition and respect while increasing traffic and subsequent sales.

While the technology is impressive and the experience is exciting, it’s crucial to remember this is a retail store, and there is one core purpose for all of this to exist. When asked what they hope visitors take away from the one-of-a-kind retail experience, Citizen Watch was quick to say, “We hope they take away [and buy] watches.” Thanks to LG, Pac Team Group, Luminary Design Co. and The CSI Group, that hope has been realized.

BrightSign players are powering an interactive perfume display at House of Rituals, the new flagship store for Rituals on Kalverstraat, Amsterdam. To launch the Talisman perfume collection, a new market for House of Rituals, and to mark the brand's 20th anniversary, Dutch audiovisual company First Impression built an innovative scent display controlled by BrightSign players. Once a perfume is selected based on the customer's inputs on an iPad, an LED light underneath the bottle is illuminated. If the customer picks up the glass pipette from the perfume bottle, a video plays describing the perfume. A fully custom skin around the BrightSign players allows them to interact smoothly with the iPads, and the application delivers valuable marketing data for Rituals to act upon.

"First Impression was invited into the project to explore how audiovisual technology could strengthen the brand experience and showcase the store's perfume range," said Menno Huizinga, Senior Solutions Architect at First Impression. "The result is an interactive lab where customers can try out Rituals products, delivering data that the brand can respond to. A key point of anxiety in digital displays has been the time and effort lost in technical glitches; however the reliability of BrightSign players has been invaluable in providing an immersive, professional and very stable scent showcase."

Customers can select a Rituals perfume based on their favorite scent in an AV display that connects the Rituals scent profiles with two databases. The customer is invited to enter their favorite perfume on an iPad first, and the system automatically finds the closest scent from the Rituals range. A further quiz invites customers to enter the basic ingredients that they like (eg: white tea and blond santal) and the application illuminates LED lights under all the bottles of perfumes aligned with this scents, narrowing it down to three possibilities, which a customer can then sample and purchase.

Two BrightSign HD1024 players control the feature lighting. By this means, the BrightSign players activate the LED strips under the bottles to draw the customers' attention to the perfumes the application has selected.

Furthermore, First Impression has offered House of Rituals a flexible, easy-to-access approach to managing their in-store brand experience through BrightSign's BrightAuthor Connected and a custom store control app. At the click of a button, content delivered by the screens can be changed for the new season, or for holidays, such as Christmas.

BrightSign players are powering an interactive perfume display at House of Rituals, the new flagship store for Rituals in Amsterdam. The display was built by Dutch AV company First Impression to launch the Talisman perfume collection, a new market for House of Rituals, and to mark the brand’s 20th anniversary.

Once a perfume is selected based on the customer’s inputs on an iPad, an LED light underneath the bottle is illuminated. Two BrightSign HD1024 players control the feature lighting, activating the LED strips under the bottles to draw the customers’ attention to the perfumes the application has selected. 

Customers can select a Rituals perfume based on their favorite scent in an AV display that connects the Rituals scent profiles with two databases. The customer is invited to enter their favorite perfume on an iPad first, and the system automatically finds the closest scent from the Rituals range. A further quiz invites customers to enter the basic ingredients they like, such as white tea and blond santal, and the application illuminates LED lights under all the bottles of perfumes aligned with this scent. 

[BrightSign Powers AT&T Digital Kiosks at Sam's Club]

If the customer picks up the glass pipette from the perfume bottle, a video plays describing the perfume. A fully custom skin around the BrightSign players allows them to interact smoothly with the iPads, and the application delivers valuable marketing data for Rituals.

“The result is an interactive lab where customers can try out Rituals products, delivering data that the brand can respond to,” explained Menno Huizinga, senior solutions architect at First Impression. “A key point of anxiety in digital displays has been the time and effort lost in technical glitches, however, the reliability of BrightSign players has been invaluable in providing an immersive, professional and very stable scent showcase.” 

First Impression has offered House of Rituals a flexible, easy-to-access approach to managing its in-store brand experience through BrightSign’s BrightAuthor Connected and a custom store control app. At the click of a button, content delivered by the screens can be changed for the new season or holidays. 

“We’re delighted to power such an innovative and customer-focused solution for Rituals, said Jeff Hastings, CEO of BrightSign. “One of the key concepts of the experience store was to start selling perfumes, and Rituals wanted to secure a foothold in this market in a very creative way. We’re pleased to help them achieve this goal with a memorable and reliable display at the flagship store.”

American Dream is a unique, expansive retail and entertainment complex nestled outside of New York City. The three-million-square-foot mall features an array of entertainment, including the Nickelodeon Universe theme park, Big Snow American Dream ski slopes, a 25,000-square foot “City Under the Sea”-themed aquarium and the DreamWorks Water Park. The ultimate luxury destination, The Avenue, features an array of luxury shops, including Hermes, Tiffany & Co. and many others. The complex, which has been 18 years in the making, boasts high ceilings, gigantic windows, luxe-yet-modern aesthetics and cutting-edge technology to create an immersive entertainment experience.

The Challenge

Designed and constructed to be a destination mall, American Dream takes entertainment, dining and retail to a new level, built on a foundation of interactive and immersive audio and video. 

“The video display on the grand staircase had to look fantastic. It’s a ‘wow’ factor for the complex,” said Pierre Sicard, SDVoE Alliance member development representative. “The challenge was taking the video signal and transporting it throughout the complex while preserving the image quality. Transporting video is simple nowadays but preserving the quality of the image can be quite challenging. Oftentimes, it means sacrificing something in a video display, which typically means compressing the video to deliver it more efficiently, but at the expense of below average image quality.

“Another concern in video distribution is latency. There are many variants in AV-over-IP technology, but they often suffer from latency concerns. For example, if you’re displaying a live event, it’s not acceptable to have a choppy image. The quality must be pristine, which requires an extremely low-latency video solution.” 

The Solution

Software Defined Video over Ethernet (SDVoE) was selected to drive content to more than 200 displays throughout the complex in collaboration with NETGEAR, Aurora Multimedia and SNA Displays. The high bandwidth offered by SDVoE technology is integral in supporting over 600 endpoints, and is therefore a key component to provide a seamless solution.

“SDVoE’s technology eliminates the need for compromise. It allows the transport of high-quality images anywhere within a complex or facility with virtually zero latency, and not a lot of technologies can effectively and successfully do that,” said Sicard.

As a result of the combined effort, delivering a high-quality audio and video experience at American Dream was made possible. Together, NETGEAR and Aurora Multimedia powered 40,000 square feet of display technology. SNA Displays supplied all LED displays, including the Grand Staircase, which is 12 feet tall and 107 feet long or approximately the size of two and a half highway billboards, and a traffic-facing exterior corner-wrap display measuring 24 feet high by 165 feet long.

NETGEAR’s M4500 Series was selected to facilitate and power the connectivity between Aurora Multimedia endpoints and the video displays. The M4500 Series enables instant multicast functionality for AV-over-IP technology. “NETGEAR is the backbone for connectivity at American Dream,” noted John Henkel, professional AV product marketing manager for NETGEAR. “Featuring high-capacity for AV-over-IP, the M4500 Series supports up to 640 SDVoE endpoints. It creates a cost-effective solution for 100 gigabit aggregation and 10 gigabit access layers, an integral technology component throughout the complex.”

Aurora Multimedia played a critical role in transporting video throughout the complex. Aurora Multimedia’s ground-breaking IPX-TC3-PRO SDVoE streaming product was essential to the installation. The IPX-TC3-PRO is the industry’s first 4K2K transceiver with zero compression and latency. “Aurora’s IPX-TC3-PRO is a key solution for the American Dream project,” said Aurora Multimedia CEO Paul Harris. “It allows 4K60 4:4:4 content to be distributed throughout the entire complex to the kiosks and LED walls. It even handles the USB and 1G Ethernet over the same fiber cable to each location making the IPX Series the ultimate AV IP product on the market today.”

SDVoE technology, as implemented through the NETGEAR, Aurora Multimedia and SNA Display products allowed for full high-quality 4K60P and 4:4:4 video with near-zero latency across all displays throughout the facility--from impressive LED walls to hundreds of digital signage kiosks--to create an immersive entertainment experience. 

In today’s digital world, information has never been more accessible online, whether on web sites or in social media feeds. Customers expect the same quantity of information to be available to them when they’re in physical public places, whether they’re attending an event or shopping for a new pair of jeans. Not only do customers want the same quantity of information, they want the same quality—that is, they expect that the information presented to them during in-person experiences will be just as interactive and engaging as when they’re online.

Digital signage, once a basic tool used by businesses to share static updates, has evolved to offer more complex content and real-time updates in any type of environment or in any form, from a video wall to a 4K touchscreen. Businesses can benefit from the integration of digital signage solutions to help them elevate the customer experience and build loyalty, while at the same time increasing operational efficiencies and generating additional revenue from advertising and upselling opportunities.

[ How Outdoor AV Can Help Move the Hospitality Industry Forward ]

Here’s how digital signage can advance different types of customer interactions and business scenarios.

For the quick-service restaurant: When entering a drive-thru, customers immediately look for information that’s easy to read and helps them decide what they’d like to eat. By integrating displays with crisp visuals that can be read even in direct sunlight, the restaurant can clearly present information about its dishes, including ingredients and nutritional facts, and assist the customer’s decision-making process. It’s also important to invest in software that helps to manage and update menu items in real time, accommodating seasonal specials or daily deals, which creates an opportunity to upsell and increase order sizes.

For the hotel or hospitality venue: During check-in, guests expect the lobby and public areas in the hotel to provide guidance about where to go for a smooth start to their stay, whether for work or vacation. Digital signage can be leveraged throughout the venue to assist with check-in (showing which counter is available, for example), while signage in hallways and meeting spaces can be used as wayfinding devices to help guests locate their room or meet up with colleagues. Digital signage can alert guests in real time in the event of an emergency, leading them to safety, or during construction, informing them that they need to find a different rendezvous location.

[ Integrating for the Hospitality Experience ]

For the museum: As guests wander through exhibits and galleries at a museum, they benefit from easily visible digital signage mounted on walls or ceilings that provides additional information about the artwork. Video tutorials or interviews about the creation of the art piece, for instance, or visual assets that show the historical context of the exhibit will enhance the experience and help to transport the guest into the stories behind each exhibit.

For the retail store: Retail can use digital signage to invite the customer into the design process and customize a product, whether it’s a new paint color for a living room or a custom shirt. Data collected about how the customer interacted with the content helps businesses understand their interests and needs, and ultimately improve store offerings to enhance future customer interactions.

There are many different applications of digital signage for public spaces in various markets, though all businesses can benefit from using this technology. By investing in these solutions, businesses can create a more informative and interactive experience that keeps customers coming back for more.

Click here to read more stories from the October 2021 issue of SCN.

Related Stories

Outdoor Digital Signage Makes Social Distancing Entertaining • Whether for company events or public gatherings, creative thinking has been key, and digital signage plays a key role.

Modernization Brings Changes to Drive-Thrus • Digital signage innovations—like digital menu boards—are helping quick-serve restaurants operate in a way that is more efficient and user-friendly.

Technology Trends in Kiosk Design • In an ever-evolving consumer landscape, kiosks are helping to ensure efficiency, security, and even safety during the ongoing pandemic.

How Display Solutions Can Help the Hospitality Market Recover and Thrive • New technologies and connected TV platforms make visual communication an essential part of health safety for hotels and restaurants.

Retail-focused technology integration firm Abierto recently conducted a blind study of convenience store shoppers and found that LG's 14mm pixel pitch Transparent LED Film (model LAT140) encourages spontaneous purchases, deeply enforces messaging recall and improves brand perception. The new LG technology, which Abierto has rebranded OPEN.LED as part of its OPEN platform of digital signage products and services, was tested at a Café Nouria convenience store in Maine and garnered immediate unanimous approval from shoppers who weren't told which part of their visit was being studied.

A convenience store's bottom line depends on in-store foot traffic, but according to the NACS' Consumer Insights 2019 report on Consumer Behavior at the Pump, 56 percent of fuel customers don't go inside the store. Donovan Woods of the Fuels Institute said, "In fact, the average person spends a total of three hours per year at the pump fueling their vehicles. These recurring three- to five-minute fueling visits provide excellent opportunities for retailers to market to them." 

"For obvious reasons, even fewer consumers entered stores during the pandemic, and retailers are now looking for ways to entice them to return and shop the store" added Abierto President Rick Sales. "To date, the most common exterior-facing signage solutions have been traditional flat panel displays and low-resolution LED window signage, both of which have significant drawbacks. We found that an OPEN.LED display promoting quality foods and displaying animated graphics directly encourages spontaneous purchases and improves the brand's perception as a more modern, upscale convenience store."

The LG Transparent LED film is especially beneficial for fueling station convenience stores, as the 73-percent transparent technology enables dynamic digital advertising while retaining employees' ability to monitor individual fueling pumps and parking lots. The transparency also gives customers an unhindered view of the store interior and provides tinting against glare. This is a major change from window-facing flat panel displays, which can completely block large sections of windows and may negatively affect in-store aesthetics due to unsightly wires and rear panel visibility.

According to Abierto, the advantages of LG's LED film go well beyond visual quality and transparency, providing the option to build digital canvases in custom sizes and presenting a much simpler installation process than alternative technologies.

"LG's 14mm transparent LED film is self-adhesive and consists of tiles that piece together, so any window can become home to a vibrant, attractive digital signage solution that requires no specialized mounts or infrastructure," Sales added. "As part of our OPEN family of digital signage solutions that includes cloud-based content management, an entire chain's OPEN.LED displays and other existing signage can be centrally managed, enabling near-instant company-wide messaging and promotion updates or to direct targeted messaging to specific sites testing new products."

Because it is an extremely light weight self-adhesive film, the installation process is worlds away from window-facing flat panels, which require significant mounting infrastructure and can weigh hundreds of pounds for a video wall. Abierto was also impressed with the brightness and clarity of the 2,100 nit, 14mm pixel pitch solution, which has an ideal viewing distance of 25-75 feet, down from the 150-foot optimal distance typical of existing 24mm LED film solutions. According to LG, this installation is precisely what the LAT140 LED film was designed for.

"Collaborating with Abierto has demonstrated the benefits of our Transparent LED film technology, with its OPEN.LED solution offering convenience store owners a content canvas to increase consumer actions," said Karl Jackson, senior manager, LG Business Solutions USA. "Any window can now become a prime platform for advertising convenience purchases and attracting more customers than easy-to-ignore paper signage."

On top of the 14mm LED film's ease of installation, customizable size, curvability and stunning visual characteristics, LG has also ensured that its content management is easier than ever through native compatibility with LG webOS-based digital media players and LG's Control Manager software, which is available on any internet-connected device. Through Control Manager, users can update and set timed schedules for content and automatic brightness adjustment throughout the day, in addition to monitoring real-time activity.

"LG webOS is important to these projects and to the product, offering simple content management tools and is baked into our OPEN.CMS solution to provide effortless content management across LG digital displays at any number of locations," Sales said. "Combined with LG's LED film technology that can be customized to fit virtually any size window and deliver virtually any desired aspect ratio, the content possibilities are almost limitless."

Kollins Communications recently partnered with digital signage media player company BrightSign and Visual Communications to create an in-store digital customer experience at Sam’s Club stores throughout the United States. The fully digital project, which was commissioned by AT&T Services, encompassed a comprehensive digital retail kiosk to merchandise AT&T wireless, TV and broadband services without conventional printed signage or price tags.

Digital Point-of-Sale Experience

AT&T Services tasked Kollins Communications with creating a compelling kiosk display to give customers a fresh point-of-sale experience in this high-traffic, big box retail setting. It was important to present a consistent image to reinforce AT&T’s brand exclusivity and identity in every store, and to encourage an intimate environment for customers to shop and discover new products.

The all-digital POS solution allows AT&T Services to instantly update its product offerings and pricing, solving the paper price-tag, graphics and poster updating lag on nationwide deployments. Transitioning to a digital platform also made it possible to explain details about the various phones and other devices on display, using digital price tag video screens in lieu of traditional printed placards.

Functionally, AT&T Services wanted to be able to remotely monitor the kiosks for operability and functionality, and needed the kiosks to be easily serviceable in the field with plug-and-play components. Naturally, reliability was key. AT&T Services expected a high level of kiosk uptime and 24/7 support to resolve any issues as they occurred.

The Kiosks

AT&T’s digital kiosks offer customers an in-depth look at its 5G wireless, TV and broadband offerings. Rich, informative content is distributed to multiple digital screens by BrightSign’s media players. An attract loop playing on a pair of 50-inch monitors prompts visitors to view current exclusive AT&T/Sam’s Club offers, while three 4x38-inch LCD digital price tag screens display animated pricing, manufacturers’ features and benefits, terms and conditions, and promotions.

[ Technology Trends in Kiosk Design ]

Apple and Samsung devices are available for customer evaluation, secured on MTI product stands with charging cables centralized out of sight. The placement of devices varies by Sam’s Club location, and the digital displays are easily adjusted to reflect orientation variations via a seamless CMS interface.

Special care was taken to ensure the kiosks were durable enough to perform flawlessly in this high-traffic, heavy-use retail setting. Using network commands through BrightSign players, the kiosks go into a sleep mode approximately 30 minutes before and after store hours to conserve power and extend digital screen life. The Samsung commercial displays also receive a repeating reset command throughout the day to ensure they are using the correct settings, and to minimize the effects of display tampering. Lastly, every kiosk features its own “toolbox” with necessary tools, spare parts and cleaning supplies to keep the kiosk functional and looking like new.

National Deployment

Kollins Communications turned to BrightSign for this large-scale deployment . Between January and April 2021, a total of 569 kiosks were installed in Sam’s Club stores in every U.S. state, with the exception of Alaska. Kiosks arrived at each location pre-assembled, with each having been tested while in an 85 percent assembled state, allowing for installations including electrical, data, and assembly to be completed on site in less than four hours. Between one and 16 kiosks were installed every night, all of which were fully operational by the following morning.

[ The Story Behind 25,000+ Screens in Sam’s Club Big Box Stores, Sixteen-Nine ] 

The project achieved the intended objectives of featuring AT&T’s recently launched exclusive marketing arrangement at Sam’s Club, offering a brand-specific digital experience. Even with recent pandemic-related restrictions on store traffic, reports on customer interaction along with dramatically increased sales transactions lend credibility to the investment in the kiosk and accompanying ongoing support.

Kiosk Technology and Installations

Technology Trends in Kiosk Design • In an ever-evolving consumer landscape, kiosks are helping to ensure efficiency, security, and even safety during the ongoing pandemic.

Samsung Unveils Kiosk for Contactless Ordering and Payment • Samsung’s all-in-one Kiosk includes a 24-inch HD display, receipt printer, credit card terminal, scanner, and NFC tap pad, with self-ordering kiosk software from GRUBBRR.

Touchless Systems: Manufacturers Discuss AV's Latest Trend • In a flurry of innovation, industry leaders have been developing new products and solutions to help facilitate a healthy return to corporate and college campuses, hospitality, and more. We reached out to manufacturers to learn about the solutions they’re working on for this new, touch-free world.

Privacy and Digital Signage • With AI and data analytics at the heart of today’s digital signage platforms, maintaining consumer and visitor privacy is becoming an increasingly important issue.

Samsung, Partners Bring New Display Tech to D.C. Landmark • Samsung’s dynamic smart signage, coupled with content driven by New Tradition, provides commuters and visitors up-to-the-minute travel, weather and safety information at Washington, D.C.'s historic Union Station.

Why Digital Signage and Wayfinding Technology Are Critical in a Post-Pandemic World • 22Miles' Tomer Mann discusses the importance of digital signage technology in the era of COVID-19.

Meyer Sound has appointed Sweetwater Sound of Fort Wayne, IN as a new authorized e-tailer for the company’s line of self-powered loudspeakers for music reinforcement and recording applications; a selection of Meyer Sound products will be available through Sweetwater’s website and catalog ordering channels, allowing direct access to a broader market of musicians and audio professionals.

“Sweetwater is unique in that it is the only national, internet-based retailer with the high level of in-house expertise required to represent Meyer Sound products and technologies,” said Meyer Sound senior vice president John McMahon. “Their sales engineers are not simply order-takers, but rather they are experienced professionals, many of them with extensive backgrounds in sound reinforcement. They know how to match Meyer Sound products to a customer’s requirements.”

[The Effects of COVID-19 on the Live Events Industry]

“We are thrilled to align with Meyer Sound," added Arend Raby, senior director of partner marketing at Sweetwater. "Much like Sweetwater, they have shown a passion for detail, quality, and the most rewarding end-user experience. We’re excited to reach new audiences for them and leverage our strategic partnership toward growth for both brands.”

Meyer Sound product offerings through Sweetwater will focus on applications for portable sound reinforcement and precision monitoring in mid- to high-level project studios. Several offerings will be in the form of “Power Couple” bundles, with full-range and low-frequency loudspeakers paired in pre-engineered configurations. These configurations are aimed at improving ease of setup for a new consumer base that might be purchasing a Meyer Sound product for the first time.

Quick service restaurants (QSRs) across the country are dedicated to providing valuable, timely, and cost-effective food delivery options for their customers, and Smoothie King is no different. But this QSR chain also prioritizes offering health-centric and tailored smoothie options for their clientele, which can often change based on the time of year, promotions from corporate headquarters, and the latest healthy trends.

[The Digital Signage Best Practices Guide]

Local owner-operators of Smoothie King franchises have historically relied on using printed menus in lightbox displays—both inside and outside—to present ordering options and deals to customers. But this has become an outdated and ineffective process as updating physical menus can often take weeks as franchise operators must send menu revisions over to corporate so they can make the graphic design changes, and then the menus need to be printed and shipped by a third-party supplier.

Smoothie King was looking for a digitized business solution that at the core would allow the operators to make menu changes without the wait time of going to the franchisor and offer in real-time changes to localize their promotions and menu items, as well as upsell high-margin add-ons. This need was expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic as one-on-one sales interactions between employees & customers were largely interrupted, making effective drive-thru menu boards an essential component for revenue.

Smoothie King franchisees turned to Samsung display technology to innovate their operations by integrating an updated indoor and outdoor digital signage with remote management capabilities. The Samsung collaboration encompasses the development, delivery, and management of a turnkey technology solution, including indoor digital menu display boards, an outdoor-ready multiscreen setup for drive-thru lanes, and promotional displays in store windows.

Several Smoothie King locations across Florida, Texas, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri deployed Samsung displays in their stores to make menu changes in real-time to influence consumers’ buying decisions, optimize visual presentations as a marketing tool, and maintain a new, successful drive-thru business that jumped up from 70 percent to 90 percent of sales during the pandemic.

The Samsung display technology, managed by Washington State-based digital signage solutions provider C3MS for immediate content changes, includes:

• 49-inch narrow-bezel LCD displays behind the ordering counters in tiled ribbon arrays, delivering UHD 4K visuals, and uses a combination of upscaling, color optimization and anti-glare technologies to optimize menus as customers place their orders.
• A set of three 46-inch outdoor-rated, high-brightness displays are stationed at the ordering position of the drive-thru. The screens are weatherproof, self-cooling, filter-free, and they're designed to be visible in even the brightest, sunniest operating conditions.
• A separate 46-inch "pre-sell" display is positioned earlier in the drive-thru lane to promote new products and special offers.
• Samsung's dual-sided, super-bright LCD OMN-D display is set up in a window, running promotions aimed at motorists and pedestrian traffic. On the other side of the window, a second screen faces the inside of the store, visible to customers as they weigh their ordering decisions.
• All of the displays are commercial-grade, rated for uninterrupted 24/7 duty and include a three-year warranty.

The Smoothie King chain has seen immediate benefits to the integration of Samsung display technology. Yonas Hagos, an operator of seven Smoothie King locations, has seen the advantages of a digitized system and having increased autonomy over solutions and programs that impact his business. "If I want to do certain things, or do certain specials, it's just easy when you have digital," he said. 

Hagos also highlighted the aesthetics of Samsung’s bright digital screens and the ability to run changeable, full-motion messaging. "It's more attractive to the consumer," he added. "It looks cleaner, and we're in the 21st century, you know; we've got to move with the times and not become a tired old brand."

With the success seen across the select locations that have deployed Samsung signage, Smoothie King’s chief development officer, Kevin King, commented on the future of a larger roll-out saying, "We are strong believers in consistency in our stores, so widespread adoption is a long-term goal. Samsung has also been a great partner. We love the quality of their products and the innovation they bring to having full digital capability in our stores."

Daktronics has partnered with Emaar Malls to design, manufacture, and install 24 double-sided indoor LED banner displays and two link bridge displays at Dubai’s Marina Mall in the United Arab Emirates. Installation and activation of the displays was completed in early 2021 as they are now operational and sharing messages with guests.

[Download the Digital Signage Best Practices Guide]

Lining the open atrium area of the mall between floors, these 24 double-sided displays are installed to share branding and tenant advertising and information. Each display measures 2 meters high by 1 meter wide and features 2.5-millimeter pixel spacing.  The two link bridge displays are located in the Dome Atrium. Each measures 1.5 meters high by 12.5 meters wide and each features 3.9-millimeter pixel spacing to bring additional messaging and branding opportunities to the mall.

“Emaar Malls is always keen to keeping current with the latest technology trends; they are continuously upgrading their systems with top-of-the-line display quality and performance to exceed the market expectations,” said Ahmad Dahmash, Daktronics regional manager. “The Marina Mall digital installation allows for high flexibility for adjusting messages quickly.”

The tight pixel pacing of all 50 displays ensures crisp, clear imagery at a higher resolution for audiences and shoppers as they pass by. Content and messaging can be coordinated on all displays at the same time or adjusted by area of the mall or direction patrons are facing as they move about the space.

More than 1,000 Philips Android-powered digital signage displays have been installed inside all 700 Kwik Trip convenience stores in the Midwest, revolutionizing the chain's marketing and driving new revenue streams. 

Serving more than 8 million customers each week, the retailer—notorious along the highways of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa—began executing its digital signage rollout strategy in 2018 as part of a store modernizing program, with the final installation recently completed in the city of La Crosse, WI.

[The 2021 Digital Signage Best Practices Guide]

Working closely with PPDS throughout the upgrades, the La Crosse store includes a range of 11 attention-grabbing and feature-rich 43-, 49-, and 55-inch Philips D-Line displays. For maximum visual impact, these displays are strategically placed throughout the aisles to continually connect with customers.

According to PDDS, the displays have provided Kwik Trip with substantial cost savings, estimated to be around $1.9 million, thanks to the display's built-in Android backed System on Chip (SoC) processing system, which eliminated the need for external media players. 

“The decision to go with PPDS came down to their System-on-Chip functionality, which led to significant cost savings over others," said Mark Meisner, director of marketing and advertising, Kwik Trip. "Also, a great (three-year) warranty that helped us feel comfortable about the investment.” 

“Here at PPDS, our focus has and will always be to provide our customers with the tools they need to be the very best that they can be—whether that’s in retail, hospitality, education, corporate, or healthcare among others,” said Joe King, vice president, PPDS, North America. “Working with Kwik Trip and their integration partners, we were able to fulfill their high demands with a solution designed specifically to meet their requirements, and while providing them with an advanced, best-in-class solution, positioned them for maximum ROI and significant cost savings.”

Noted digital signage professional Beth Warren of Creative Realities presented the keynote address at The Digital Signage Event, hosted by Systems Contractor News and AVNation, on March 4.

During her keynote, titled “Potent, Powerful, Purposeful: How Digital Signage Can Increase Your Bottom Line,” Warren explored how digital signage technologies can help drive the acquisition of new customers and retention of current ones, and show how to ensure digital remains a source of business growth irrespective of vertical or consumer target. 

[ Digital Signage Event Keynote Outlines Opportunities for Consumer Engagement, by Matt Pruznick ] 

“As customers get back into the real world, we’ll need to make sure we have systems that are ready to deliver the stories retailers and others are looking to tell,” said Tim Albright, founder, AVNation. “Beth will help you create powerful experiences and serve up purposeful messages.”

“The focus of the session is to guide those considering digital as commercial or visual merchandising tool to assess choices as they would any other media or marketing lever—so that it earns its right for funding,” added Warren. “I look forward to speaking at the event and receiving live questions from the audience on March 4.”

Held virtually on March 4, The Digital Signage Event took a deep dive into the ever-expanding world of digital signage—panels will cover everything from DooH to video walls and digital signage software. The event also featured a digital exhibit hall showcasing new and innovative digital signage products from major manufacturers like Sony and more.

Zoom Radio, a background music service provider serving retailers and other businesses throughout Mexico, has upgraded its Audio over IP delivery platform to the latest-generation Barix RetailPlayer solution. Zoom Radio’s November 2020 update adds the new cloud-based RetailPlayer Portal to simplify operations by centralizing configuration, management, status monitoring, and stream switching.

Zoom Radio first installed RetailPlayer in 2019, upgrading from a legacy store-and-forward Barix distribution system. RetailPlayer has transitioned Zoom Radio to a more cost-efficient SaaS-based OPEX model while simplifying operations. This includes regionalizing streams for end customers and more efficient management of customized playlists, including the insertion of client-supplied messages—that brings  efficiency to a service provider like Zoom Radio that often provides more than 2000 songs per client all over the country.

RetailPlayer has enhanced Zoom Radio’s ability to create a unique sonic brand for each client, which differentiates the service from competitors that deliver generic music streams. Customized programming and centralized control eliminates distractions to a business’s sonic environment—such as employees frequently changing the music—and legal problems associated with copyrights and permissions. Current Zoom Radio customers in Mexico include BD Laboratories and Mexibus.

“We call it musical architecture,” said Jorge Ortiz, commercial director for Zoom Radio. “We study the brand, the targeted location, and the behavior of customers from entrance to departure. That helps us define an architecture and build segments for different times of the day. RetailPlayer helps us create those segmented playlists with ease, and to add messages that support the brand. This includes early morning segments for employees with corporate, HR and motivational messages before moving onto commercial segments upon opening. We can also switch to alternative streams within the Portal on short notice as needed.”

While the RetailPlayer Portal strengthens operational and business value, Ortiz added that business locations benefit from a more compact technology footprint. “The new players are half of the size of our previous players,” said Ortiz. “This is especially attractive to our large urban transport clients like Mexibus that have players installed on buses and at bus stops.”

Ortiz also added that RetailPlayer allows him to more easily monetize streams by working ads into the mix, which he currently does with Mexibus. He otherwise charges a modest monthly fee for the service that is affordable for his clients thanks to RetailPlayer’s SaaS business model. It is also simple and affordable to scale a client’s RetailPlayer network according to Ortiz, both for Zoom Radio and clients.

“We are adding 150 players for a second urban transport client and another 47 for a retailer in the near future,” concluded Ortiz. “The process is simple for our clients, who have a plug-and-play box on arrival. They don’t need a great deal of technical infrastructure in the store. We handle the production and delivery, and the Barix players on location reliably handle playout. Beyond supplying us with promos and messages they simply focus on their business.”

Navori Labs is driving a continuous 360-degree 3D experience on the Middle East’s largest 8K LED ceiling screen at Mall of Dilmunia in Bahrain. The complete digital out-of-home network, designed and integrated by Four Square Media, also includes Navori’s targeted advertising and content synchronization applications to deliver 8K digital signage experiences everywhere.

The Navori QL digital signage network was launched in alignment with the mall’s April 2020 opening, entertaining shoppers with 8K content around the mall’s outdoor façade, entrances, elevators, and aquarium and entertainment areas including an ice rink. The core QL software integrates Navori’s Insane Performance Rendering (IPR) software to power all 8K content, including the massive 9x60-meter (29.5x196-foot) LED ceiling display. Navori’s IPR software can power and frame-accurately synchronize a full 8K wall, or up to four 4K screens (or 16 HD screens) from a single media player.

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to the New Era of Digital Signage

Advanced QL software applications generate revenue and maximize audience exposure across all screens, while also providing insight into ad campaign successes. Ad insertions are often based on end user input, with meta tags redirecting ads to specific screens. This enables network operators to meet targets around number of impressions, and specify the number of advertisements that will play in sequence. Navori’s advanced monitoring and analytics platform also generates detailed reports to measure successes and validate performance with network operators and advertisers.

The network also includes 60 Navori QL Players, with the ability to target different zones or play the same content across many or all screens. When the same content plays out on more than one screen, each player’s clock is synchronized with the core QL server down to 1/20th a second. Four Square Media used the same application to synchronize audio from the digital signage content to the mall’s public address system as needed.

According to Jaideep Narindra, Founder and CEO at Four Square Media, Mall of Dilmunia’s size and layout, and emphasis on enhancing the shopper’s visual experience, required extensive customization to ensure a successful network deployment.

“The majority of the displays were built with massive LEDs and resolutions to maximize impact, while each screen displaying 8K content to ensuring the best image quality content playback,” Narindra said. “They also wanted a way to manage and monitor all advertising campaigns in a structured way, with proof-of-play reporting and fair-play algorithms for advertiser validation. Navori Labs offered an outstanding level of support, offering quick and diligent technical support to meet all performance requirements. Their expertise helped us deliver a demanding digital out-of-home network solution with relative ease, given the advanced 8K content and targeted advertising applications.”

Navori Labs continues to work closely with West Edmonton Mall, North America’s largest shopping center, to scale and update a diverse digital out-of-home network that drives engagement in public and private spaces. Navori’s QL digital signage software is powering retail, hospitality, entertainment, and corporate content across a mix of video walls, menu boards, and digital signage displays. 

The multi-phase rollout has extended media presentation and interactive wayfinding to food courts, hotel lobbies, event venues, and meeting spaces—as well as along walkways with the heaviest shopper traffic.

Located in the Western Canadian city of Edmonton, West Edmonton Mall is home to more than 800 stores and services, over 100 dining areas, two hotels, and 12 world-class attractions. Navori’s strategic rollout has fully centralized content management and delivery, helping West Edmonton Mall improve the customer experience and increase engagement with shoppers, Fantasyland Hotel guests, and visitors to the Ice Palace, which hosts a variety of sports, concerts, and fundraising activities. 

[The Integration Guide to Video Walls 2020]

The centralized content management and delivery strategy has been instrumental to the success of the network, which allows unlimited users to contribute media with minimal training. This includes real-time updates such as price changes, promotions, and COVID-19 guidelines. The network has also provided a quick return on investment for West Edmonton Mall by eliminating printing costs associated with traditional menus, advertisements, and meeting space signage.

“Navori Labs has been an integral part of our marketing strategy,” said Tiffany Banh, digital marketing coordinator, West Edmonton Mall. “The QL software fulfills our need for flexibility, scalability, and ease of use. The Navori team supported us throughout the whole process and provided an effortless rollout. Our continued partnership with Navori is valuable in helping us achieve business success.”

West Edmonton Mall’s QL digital signage solution architecture includes an on-premise QL Server and a QL software driving each screen. Navori’s seamless integration with third-party data systems and support for a wide range of multimedia formats allows West Edmonton Mall to provide a diverse mix of video, graphics, and text to shoppers and guests, while clean integration with West Edmonton Mall’s back-end business systems drive reliable content updates, meeting room occupancy information, and effective wayfinding experiences.

“West Edmonton Mall required a technology provider that could ensure reliable and efficient management of all digital signage content and hardware across the entire property,” said Jerome Moeri, CEO, Navori Labs. “Our QL software is helping West Edmonton Mall meet its daily objectives across a very complex, multifaceted business environment that has helped staff grow more productive, reduced installation and support costs, and provided a foundation for network monetization through dynamic advertising capabilities.”

The AV/IT Summit took place virtually for the first time this year, providing an experiential challenge for the show’s organizers, which include the editors at Systems Contractor News, AV Technology, and our parent company, Future.

Our aim for this online summit was to at least replicate and at best improve on the engagement and community that have drawn attendees to in-person events for decades. 

This COVID-19 pandemic has forced a change—not only in the pro AV industry, of course, but in all industries around the world—and it’s really only recently that we’ve begun to figure out what factors are most important in delivering successful events and experiences. 

Though we may not be able to meet in person, we can still meet, and knowing what factors are most significant in a positive experience can help us all get the most out of it.

An afternoon panel discussion at the AV/IT Summit went into more detail on the subject of technology-mediated experiences. “Tech That Connects” brought together four subject matter experts—Bradford Benn, CTS, Anna Crider, Jeff Day, and Megan Sciarini Smith—who discussed experiential techniques AV professionals can employ to amplify a sense of community.

Editor's Note: All of the 2020 AV/IT Summit content—including the exhibit hall—is available on demand for the next month. To learn more, visit avitsummit.com.

Telling Stories

Meg Sciarini Smith, who’s an AV systems engineer at a Silicon Valley tech company, set up the discussion by describing how she uses technology to bring people closer together. She notes that the solution is not always found in the brightest, shiniest tech, even if that’s what the client thinks he wants. What’s important is finding the best technology to tell the story. “Because at the heart of it, audiovisual is about communication and assisting the message. To me, it’s finding whether that’s a media server with some fancy image tracking, or if it’s just a microphone and a spotlight. It matters about that human experience—that the message you’re trying to convey makes it to its audience and does it in a really good way, like a really awesome experience.”

She continued, “I feel like there is a responsibility on technologists’ plates, if you will, to say, okay, yes, I’m here to give you what you want, but is that more important than your messaging?” Her job, as she sees it, is to balance the competing desires, “articulating to your client or to your customer or to whoever the ramifications of that technology and why something else might facilitate the message better. When it comes down to using the right technology, you find that’s what creates the most magical moments, where you create that suspension of disbelief and your customer gets transported. You’re no longer in a lobby waiting for your next meeting. You’re in a space that makes you feel at ease. You’re in a space that makes you feel something visceral. That’s huge. But you don’t need an LED VR studio to do that. You just need the right messaging, the right content.”

Bradford Benn finds the same challenge in his work, at “a major theme park and media company,” where he is “designing the next generation of fun.” The experiences he creates are on a very large scale, and people must travel to the theme park to experience them in a group. “But we still have the basic challenge, as a theme park, of expressing the stories and not using technology for technology’s sake ... and not getting in the way of that experience,” he said. “The ultimate thing is, we want to immerse you in the experience and not let you think of the outside world, and give you an experience you can only get there.”

The best experiences may be facilitated by technology, but it’s the story that’s the star at Benn’s theme park. “No one goes to a Broadway show and says, ‘I want to have a chandelier that falls from the sky. And I need someone to go through a trap door, and I need this, I need that,’ but that seems to be what [some] people do with experiences. You always start with the script and the story. The way my company runs it is I’m the subject matter expert on audio, video, and projection. They give me a copy of the script—and there are scripts for theme parks of what they’re trying to do, what the experience is, all of that—and I choose what technology is best.”

Anna Crider is a principal at Entro and president of the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD). She explained that integrators should think of SEGD as a resource, not competition. “SEGD is a mix of every specialty, because it’s really about collaboration. And so for us, for myself, I will never say that I could come in and do some digital installation without experts like all of you on this panel. We’re the ones who are thinking about the overall experience. We’re thinking about how someone’s experiencing it, but then we’re teaming with fabricators or integrators or whomever we need in order to actually help us take this small pebble of an idea and really bring it to reality. Across the SEGD, we really thrive on that collaboration and all these different perspectives in the room to go beyond what our personal skillsets are.”

That thought process applies to her work at Entro, a company that provides design services in branding, wayfinding, signage, environmental design, and media architecture. “Everyone will say, ‘I want one of those apps that does the blue dot thing, you know.’” While that may be the right technology for the project, it may not. “It’s starting with the brief and understanding what the problem is that we’re solving. And then just developing that,” Crider said. “So it’s experiences. It’s really thinking about what is that experience that we’re creating for people, whether it be retail, a city, a hospital, anything.”

Jeff Day, the founder of North of 10 Advisors, a member of the AVIXA board directors, and “an AVIXer for life,” described the process of deciding when technology needs to play a role in an experience. He noted, “In the brand activation world, there are three pillars to what I refer to as the ‘connected brand experience,’ and that has to do with the entertainment aspect: being entertaining, being connected, and being a community. One of the things I think is really important is the community aspect of all of it. What drives people is the desire to be connected to people. And when tech can be used to help amplify a community, it has a really powerful effect.”

You Gotta Be In It to Win It

Megan A. Dutta, content director at Systems Contractor News and moderator of this discussion, asked the panelists about the word “experience”—why is that word still important and do we need to continue to use it?

Sciarini Smith answered, “I’ve based my career on trying to make people really feel like they are someplace else than an auditorium with some lights and some music coming in. In the entertainment industry specifically, your bread and butter is making people feel something. It is the experience.... What matters is that the person or persons sitting in the space, whatever that space is, walk out of it and either don’t know and don’t care what the technology was because it was just that seamless, or were totally transported out of their daily lives and for a couple of minutes got to feel something exciting and great and were like, ‘Wow, that was cool.’”

“And also, it’s what we remember,” added Crider. “I mean, regardless of when we go somewhere, or we’re in a virtual situation like this [the AV/IT Summit], it’s the technology, it’s the experience, it’s the way we feel when we’re in that environment that we remember, more so than whatever we were there to do. I would say it’s such a critical word [experience] because we all can impact the way people feel and remember and experience an environment.”

Day noted, “I like to think of the word ‘experience’ as both a noun and a verb, and it will always be relevant in both contexts. A noun in the sense that we observe something and we experience something like what Meg described, and a verb in terms of the sense that to experience something is much more of an active and an interactive thing.... The word ‘experience’ will never be irrelevant. It should always be attached to its outcome, whatever the outcome is.”

“The experience for my company [a theme park] starts at the parking lot,” Benn added. “If you’re having trouble parking and it takes a long time and you don’t know where to go because there’s no signage, you can’t remember where you parked and all that—you’re already stressed before you get into the park, or before you get into the movie or the building or the theater, wherever you’re going. That’s already started to change your experience.”

Experiences are multidimensional, complex events with many potential points of failure or success. And every interaction is potentially an experience: not only visiting a theme park but even buying a product online constitutes an experience. Benn noted, “How hard is it to set something up? How long does it take to repair it? All those other things that people forget are part of an experience actually are part of it. It starts at the very beginning. Is it easy to buy a ticket for the movie theater? Is it easy to park? Is it all these other things? Because that attention to detail is part of what you experience.”

The Humanity of Experience

Dutta brought current events into the discussion, asking the panelists how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting our experiences, “particularly right now, when we’re not really having live events, everything’s virtual, people aren’t really getting together.”

“The virtualized everything is just not getting it done. There are aspects of it that are great, but it just will never be enough, you know,” Day lamented. “When I’m talking to major brands or I’m talking to people in the event world, I hear them describe three things: It’s got to be live, it’s got to be virtual, and it’s got to be digital. And I think we’ve compartmentalized these three things pretty well up to now. But now we’re saying, ‘No, we’re going to go all virtual.’ It’ll never be all virtual, and it’ll never be all digital, and it’ll never be all live. Great brands are connecting the experience. They’re saying, ‘We’re going to think about all three of these and we’re going to deliver against it.’ To me, that’s the coolest part about this. They’ve all been great [individually], but now they have to be interwoven to be successful.”

“Yeah, I agree. And in some ways, I think, from an experience standpoint, what has happened to us in this kind of forced new world is that it’s been a shakeup,” said Crider. “We had all been cramming into one place. Everything had been quite rigid. And in some ways it’s actually opened up to, maybe experiences can be a little bit more tailored, have more of an individual, one-on-one aspect. Maybe there can be room to breathe rather than cramming us all in one space. Maybe there’s actually some flexibility now in terms of events, where they are online, plus in person. We have more of a say now, as participants, to be able to demand a level of humanity. So that’s my hope, that humanity is brought into everyday experiences, whether that be walking down a city street or attending an event. It can be on your terms a little bit more than it ever has been.”

Sciarini Smith agreed, noting that “when it starts with the human aspect, that’s when technology is its most successful.”

“This is the beginning of having to look at things as digital, live, and virtual. People will see the opportunity that exists to connect them. It’ll never be enough to do it just one way. Forever more, we get to look at things through three lenses,” said Day. “I think major brands are going to adapt their strategies to do that because I don’t think they are happy with 100 percent virtual. They still want to touch consumers. I’m using major brands as a backdrop, but I think the same is true of industry associations and other groups. We will crave live, virtual, and digital. We’re going to crave it all. Meg described some great immersive—we crave it and we’re going to expect it in corporate just like we do in theme. There’ll be no difference. We want it in both places, and we want it at home.”

“I think virtual and physical are going to start blurring more and more. It’s just a matter of course—not just for events, but for everything,” noted Benn.

Sciarini Smith summed up our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic well, borrowing from Charles Dickens: It is the best of times, it is the worst of times. She explained, “It’s the worst of times because it’s terrible what the world is going through right now, but it is amazing the ingenuity and the innovation that we are seeing and how fast it’s moving. That’s exciting.”

Crider reinforced the idea. “You pick up on a great point that this is our moment, in a way. The world has to change. It’s our moment as experience designers to help push things forward, and make it move quickly because it has to,” she said. “I think it’s really exciting that we can impact someone’s safety, their perception of safety. We can impact the experiences that we all have. It’s a really exciting time for us as a profession."

All of the 2020 AV/IT Summit content—including the exhibit hall—is available on demand for the next month. To learn more, visit avitsummit.com.

By greatly enhancing DOOH reporting capabilities, brands will be guaranteed real-time impressions and complete campaign transparency when advertising on The Westfield Network. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) announced a state of the art, digital out-of-home media network located in Westfield shopping centers throughout the U.S. Currently available across 471 digital media screens in 18 digitally powered centers, the network’s enhanced capabilities will provide even more accuracy and clarity into campaign reporting.

“So much has changed this year, and brands now need increased transparency and security when it comes to buying media and measuring advertising campaigns. Knowing this, we’ve reimagined what our digital out-of-home network can do to better meet those needs,” said Ghadi Hobeika, United States chief marketing officer and group director of digital and data. “The Westfield Network and its suite of technologies can now provide extraordinary R.O.I. to advertisers, amplifying creative possibilities.”

The enhanced out-of-home network encompasses:

 Accurate impressions: Only consumers who are onsite and within 20 feet of a digital media screen are counted as an impression, which means a campaign will be comprised of 100% actual network exposures;

 Trusted campaign delivery: Campaigns are guaranteed based on real-time, delivered impressions within a +/- 10% threshold;

 Live Data Access: Brand partners will receive exclusive access to live data via a media intelligence dashboard where they can view a campaign’s impressions, attention time by creative, and detailed demographic breakdown, all sortable by location, time, and piece of creative content; and

High share-of-voice (SOV) environment: Westfield owns and operates its network in premium retail destinations, creating a brand safe environment with no third-party vendors.

The Westfield Network, a pioneer in using digital out-of-home advertising technology, also enables advertisers to niche-target to better capture consumer attention and increase engagement. By using a suite of demographic triggers, brands can create unique, personalized campaigns tailored to the shoppers in front of the screens.

Launched in 2017, The Westfield Network is the largest digital out-of-home network in the U.S. that features real-time capture of consumer engagement and demographics. It provides meaningful analytics to optimize advertising content, making it more relevant and engaging for the customers in proximity to a screen at any given time. More than 400 brands in leading consumer retail, luxury, entertainment, and telecom have advertised on the network to date.

BrightSign has collaborated with Onward Content and Ping HD to integrate digital signage in Lightshade’s cannabis dispensaries. Lightshade is a Colorado-based dispensary of recreational and medical cannabis products. Each of the company’s eight dispensaries is outfitted with screens that deliver rich educational content to create the desired ambiance of each location, and to educate customers about the wide range of products available for purchase.

[BrightSign integrates CMS partners into BSN.cloud]

“In-store screens are an important element of Lightshade's ongoing effort to provide the best educational and learning opportunities for customers and patients in the retail environment,” said Lisa Farrimond-Gee, Lightshade’s director of marketing and corporate social responsibility. “Working with trusted partners such as BrightSign, Ping HD, and Onward Content provides us with a perfect turnkey solution for content management and digital delivery.”

Onward Content—a creative firm specializing in production of educational videos for the cannabis industry—created a vast array of informative videos, menu boards, and custom-branded content. In total, more than 160 video assets have been produced to date, with more on the way.

“Education is critical to ensuring a positive experience with cannabis,” said Julie Batkiewicz, Onward Content’s executive producer. “Being able to reach the consumer directly in the dispensary with dynamic content through digital signage is key to achieving that. We produced an extensive library of informative and custom content for Lightshade that enables them to not only educate, but also promote the brand and products. 

Each Lightshade dispensary has screens seamlessly integrated into the store’s décor—some are located in the lobby, while others are located in the bud bay. Ping HD’s EngagePHD content management software is used to manage content across the entire network, pushing content to 22 BrightSign LS Series 4 media players distributed across all eight of Lightshade’s retail locations.

"We frequently push new content to each location, which requires that we use hardware that’s reliable and works every time—that’s what drew us to BrightSign,” said Dave Petricig, Ping HD’s director of channel sales. “With BrightSign, we’re assured that each video asset displays as intended, every time.”

To maximize the unique presentation of 160-plus video assets created by Onward Content, more than 40 playlists are rotated several times each week, ensuring that no two screens in a single dispensary display the same content simultaneously. This ensures content is never stale, and that each customer enjoys a fresh experience whenever they enter the store.

The days of seemingly randomly positioned single-unit displays scrolling through still imagery to push in-store promotions and drive customer engagement may not be over, but in the 2020s, only a very brave retailer would rely solely on what is now rightly considered a modest AV tech solution.

Today’s retail spaces have to engage effectively with customers, with AV technology helping to drive in-store purchases and encourage repeat visits. But stores now have to go beyond merely shaping individual in-store customer experiences through AV. They need to deploy the tech in strategic ways that will shape the future of bricks-and-mortar retail, incorporating online purchasing into a more dynamic, touch-before-you-buy in-store experience. Digital signage still has a huge part to play, of course.

“No longer are retailers just putting up a display and throwing pictures on it; rather, they are creating targeted messaging that will increase sales,” said Brian McClimans, vice president of sales, Americas and APAC, at Peerless-AV.

“The most impactful way that AV is currently being used in retail is to create a feeling through digital signage. With this, retailers are focused on the experiential aspects of digital signage … working to deliver a message and a feeling to customers.”

With the internet and the increased popularity of home delivery shaping consumer choices, actually walking into a store has become more of a conscious choice, as opposed to a necessity—so that in-store experience better be worth it!

“This is a radical departure from the last 75 years of retail, where shoppers were forced to visit stores if they wanted to buy goods,” said Laura Davis-Taylor, chief strategy officer, InReality.

“One of the most important takeaways for retailers moving into the next decade is that if they want people to continue coming into their stores, they have to stand apart. The store is the only engagement channel that is truly multisensory, and that means it has the ability to be emotionally compelling.”

“AV technology is making the in-store experience much more intuitive, and serves as the driving force behind bringing the same level of intuitiveness customers are accustomed to when shopping online,” added Alex Peras, manager, product management DigitalMedia, Crestron. “Digital signage, video, and audio are all used to re-create the high-tech [online] experience customers are used to.”

[Innisfree Implements Interactive Signage to Connect with Customers]

Of course, technology is a powerful tool for retailers beyond merely attracting customers. When it comes to the choice of technology, the big focus is on ROI and selecting solutions for maximum impact. By deploying AV tech throughout a store, retailers can learn about customer interests, habits, and preferences, to help deliver a seamless shopping experience.

“AV-based solutions including digital signage, kiosks, computer vision, and artificial intelligence help retailers track and understand the customer journey from the moment they enter the store until they leave,” explained Peras. “This allows retailers to collect powerful data that can be used to ensure that their storefronts are appealing and attractive to new and loyal shoppers.”

Retailers are also using AV for visual tracking of important analytical data—shopping habits and trends, and product popularity—which produces important intel on best-sell goods, helping to increase retail ROI. However, many retailers still measure store success through sales per square foot rather than utilizing the data to its full capacity.

“Too many have rich data tracking models that go into a black hole when it comes to understanding shopper behaviors, feelings, and responses to their in-store engagement points,” said Davis-Taylor. “We have to unify the data connections to have a clear, full view of what’s really happening, versus what we think is happening—and the store is one of the most critical points to do this in, if not the most critical.”

Online retail casts a long shadow over bricks-and-mortar, but it has certainly altered the way retailers regard the shopping experience. AV is increasingly viewed as a holistic, strategic technology, essential to dovetailing online and physical retail. This omnichannel approach is having a huge influence on the retail sector and the technology deployed within it.

“Omnichannel retail plays a significant role in the way technology is deployed in stores,” agreed McClimans. “For many consumers, the online shopping experience has become stronger than retail … and has most certainly impacted the in-store experience.”

The transformed in-store visit involves offering increasingly engaging experiences for consumers, including the deployment of augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) tech that enables them to virtually experience products as they might on their PC at home—even though the products are there in store to touch.

“One thing about in-store shopping that still reigns supreme for retailers is the discovery process for consumers,” added McClimans. “When in a retail store, consumers are able to walk around and find new products they may be interested in.”

Stores today are all about providing their customers with opportunities to experience the brand and uniquely interact with product. It’s an experience-first mentality that is putting technology front and center within the store.

“One of the best examples I could point to today to emphasize the impact of omnichannel on retail is Primark,” said Bryan Meszaros, CEO and founder of OpenEye Global and past president of the Society for Experiential Graphic Designs (SEGD). “They operate a non-transactional website that only showcases their clothing and specifically encourages the shopper to head to the store to purchase.”

This is where the use of numerous LED displays comes into play: to engage customers by creatively merchandising the products they have seen online. It’s old-school, but working alongside online marketing, it’s also incredibly effective—and it’s what consumers want: the omnichannel retail experience made physical.

“Today’s consumers want to engage with brands and stores on their terms, whether online or in-store,” explained John Moezzi, national account manager, NEC Display Solutions of America. “In-store technology that facilitates the seamless movement between channels is vital to finalizing a transaction, whether in-store or online.”

Technology continues to disrupt retail, with new AV in-store additions looking to further cement omnichannel as the way forward for retail, while making bricks-and-mortar even more attractive to consumers, and also improving ROI for retailers.

“What brick-and-mortar has lacked until now is the ability to deliver relevant advertising and accurately measure content performance, including the impact displays have on sales,” added Kelly Harlin, analytics platform strategist, NEC Display Solutions of America. “Anonymous facial detection technology delivers an advantage traditionally reserved for ecommerce, and the business intelligence it delivers to retail will be a big story in the coming years. Sensor technology and data endpoints are becoming more accessible and will have the ability to gather a wide variety of customer behavior and interaction data.”

More obviously for consumers, experiential tech will continue to proliferate, with “experience retail” the buzzword as we move forward into the 2020s.

“It’s all about the theatrics that a consumer experiences when they enter a store,” said Meszaros. “How they interact with a product, how they are able to have a more personalized and tailored experience.”

[WATCH: Bryan Messzaros Discusses Balancing Physical Design and AV Integration Within Immersive Environments at the 2019 AV/IT Summit]

Meszaros sees projection and touch sensor technology as crucial to the broadening of customer experiences, with the former undergoing something of resurgence in AV due to technological developments, and the latter dovetailing with consumers’ day-to-day interaction with their own devices.

“It’s interesting to see how some display manufacturers have started to introduce displays that use haptic touch, which can create a more ‘lifelike’ scenario for a customer interacting with a display,” he said.

“Capacitive sensors are also interesting because I believe we are shifting to creating unique tactile experiences,” Meszaros added. “A consumer could touch a particular item, which in turn could make an action take place on a display.”

What About Audio?

Audio is an increasingly important part of the in-store shopping experience, adding greatly to the customer’s user experience, adding further emotional stimulus to complement the visual ones. Common monitoring and management systems allow control of the technology in various locations, helping retailers maintain a consistent brand identity as customers travel to different locations.

“Audio helps to evoke emotion and create a unique vibe within an environment,” said Meszaros. “Some retailers understand the importance of a full sensory experience, especially the balance between dynamic visuals and audio to help emphasize the tone of the brand.”

“Audio is definitely a challenge for retailers, but also a very important factor, as it can affect the customer experience greatly,” added McClimans. “The type of audio played helps to create the mood of that store. If the wrong audio is selected, it can inadvertently push people out of the store.”

It is therefore crucial that retailers know the demographic of their customers, and select the audio that appeals to both the brand and the consumer. Audio triggers powerful memories, thoughts, and feelings; used correctly, it can be a huge benefit to business. However, it’s important that customer data is analyzed to ensure that the sound is having a positive impact.

Davis-Taylor noted, “To beat the insights drum again, you have to know how shoppers are feeling (or not feeling!) if you are going to successfully address how audio can play into a better experience.”

Dara AV  recently deployed an expansive Harman Professional Solutions PA system at Staten Island Mall to provide crystal-clear audio for music, announcements, and more.

With over 1.2 million square feet of retail floor space, Staten Island Mall is one of the largest shopping centers in New York. In order to provide a more pleasant experience for guests, Staten Island Mall recently hired local installation firm Dara AV to update its existing PA system from the 1970s with a state-of-the-art Harman Professional Solutions PA system. After surveying the location, Dara AV designed a cutting-edge sound solution using JBL Control Series speakers, Crown DCI amplifiers, and BSS signal processors.

“Staten Island Mall asked us to update their outdated PA system with a controllable, scalable solution,” said Jak Daragjati, president Dara AV. “The biggest challenge was providing adequate coverage without impacting the aesthetics of the mall. The JBL Control series speakers were exactly what we needed—they provide plenty of volume and offer versatile mounting options.”

[How to Use Visual Displays to Stand Out in the Crowded Retail Sector]

Over 300 loudspeakers are installed throughout the facility to provide clear, consistent sound for music and announcements. JBL Control 14ct full-range ceiling speakers deliver extended coverage coverage in an aesthetically pleasing package. 

JBL Control 64pt full-range pendant speakers provide sound reproduction for sections of the mall with open architecture ceilings. According to the company, JBL Control 25-1 wall-mount speakers offer consistent dispersion and a contemporary weather-resistant design ideal for indoor or outdoor use.

Crown DCi 4|600 amplifiers were selected to power the system for their consistent power and rock-solid reliability. A BSS BLU-103 Conferencing Processor offers flexible signal routing, advanced AEC processing, and a built-in voice over IP (VoIP) interface for announcements. A BSS Contrio EC-8bv Ethernet wall controller is used for quickly and easily controlling volumes across eight different zones.

Every so often you have that moment where you look around to find the world has changed. It’s that feeling where you know things have been changing for a while, but it suddenly becomes clear the change has reached a critical mass where it becomes front and center in your vision. Others will say ‘I told you so,’ but it is only through one’s own recognition that we finally see what has been there all along. Such it is with digital signage and the pervasiveness of video displays and content. 

Across the last 20 years or so of my career as an analyst following the technology markets, we have been discussing the rapid evolution and price compression within the display sector. This is particularly true on the consumer side, where the price of a television set went from around $100 per diagonal inch in the early 2000’s to under $10 just a decade or so later. At the same time, displays became thinner, brighter, and offered higher and higher resolutions. We’ve seen forays into 3D and curved surfaces, and are now seeing transparent, flexible and modular technologies. 

At the same time, video content exploded. HD and now ultra-high definition capture technology in the form of hand-held camcorders and then embedded in wireless handsets facilitated a democratization of content creation. YouTube flourished and consumers became engrossed in billions of hours of available amateur and pro-sumer videos online. And so, our obsession with video was solidified. The kernel of cloud-based, backend distribution was also established. 

All of this has paved the way for what digital signage has become and the near ubiquity of displays it represents. Ultimately digital signage is just that – the proliferation of displays in public spaces, beyond the private or limited viewing of a TV or portable device, and even beyond the limited engagement of a theater or paid venue. In short, displays are everywhere and so we needed a new-ish term for this phenomenon – digital signage. Call it what you will, we are witnessing the paving of the world with displays. 

The numbers behind the digital signage trend in many ways cannot fully encapsulate what is happening. According to AVIXA’s own Industry Outlook and Trends Analysis (IOTA) reports, digital signage is the second largest solution area within the pro-AV industry, for now. Currently generating $34.1 billion in product and service revenues, it is expected to grow an average of 5.8 percent each year for the next five, making it the largest solution area by 2024. 

The data and analyst coverage of it (even my intro here) also doesn’t fully describe the scope of the phenomenon. It’s easy to think of signage just as an installed display, but the technology and the opportunity go way beyond this. To be sure, displays are a large chunk of the revenue captured by AV providers, 35 percent to be exact. Improvements in displays, declines in cost, and greater flexibility in configuration via newer direct-view LED all help drive the overall growth of the category. But much larger than this are the back-end systems to support the displays in the form of specialized or generic AV/media servers, storage and network technology. This segment represents a much larger 37 percent. Beyond this is another crucial component, the services offered by providers to design and install the signage for a client, capturing 21 percent. Herein is the value add created by the channel and also the profit avenue, since margin is only improved by a service component. 

And yet something is still missing from this analysis, though it is hinted at above in the trends driving the overall explosion of signage. I am referring here to the content itself. With signage being a key component of company branding statements, according to AVIXA’s research into the reasons for investment in AV such as signage, companies need and want content that is continually fresh and engaging. Gone are the days in which a single looping video, played for weeks on end is enough. 

Now signage content must capitalize on the large high-resolution capabilities of the display and offer something new on a more regular rotation. This opportunity is not well quantified today, but it presents a clear opportunity for a marriage between the providers of the technology solution and those of the content, perhaps in the form as content-as-a-service within a broader managed service offering. Yes, this is still new and nebulous, but this just means it is open to definition by an entrepreneurial spirit. So, with that I say, go get it!

Retailers can still use visual displays to attract and engage shoppers, even when everyone else is doing it, too.

Many brands now have fewer shops than they did before the online shopping and e-commerce industry boomed. Despite a difficult economy, many retailers are choosing to invest in brick and mortar. Stores, after all, are not just about selling goods—these physical locations encourage customers to connect with the brand and build relationships. To make these shops viable, customers must be encouraged to visit and then also urged to stay and engage with the brand. And this is where visuals play an important role.

[Innisfree Implements Interactive Signage to Connect with Customers]

Attractive displays have long been important to retail. From painstakingly put together window arrangements to improve footfall, to simple yet effective price offer banners to boost conversions, catching customers’ attention has always been (and will always remain) essential for retailers.

With indoor and outdoor displays, video walls, and stretched panels to choose from, business owners have many options to captivate their customers and passersby digitally—all in stunning resolution.

8K UHD resolution is being adopted by the TV industry, and professional-grade digital signage is expected to soon follow. As 8K UHD displays are capable of producing extremely detailed imagery due to their resolution of 7,680 x 4,320 pixels (4,320p or 33.2 megapixels), they are ideal for creating impressive talking points in retail stores. They help bring to life the finer details of the product and technology.

[Shoppers' Paradise: Digital Signage Retail Analytics are Raising the Retail Experience Bar]

Screens of this quality can be used to form part of industry-leading retail experiences and memorable pop-ups, with the displays’ hyperrealism and vivid colors capturing and maintaining people’s attention. As well as bold brand-building advertisements, they can also showcase products in detail.

The quality and scale of good displays alone will capture attention. However, in a retail environment where every store is competing to offer strong visual experiences, you need to do more than just be aesthetically pleasing to truly stand out.

In recent years, digital signage and its complementary technologies have evolved to bring us the smartest screens we have ever seen. With integrated solutions available, retailers can move from a generic, mass-market approach to data-driven, real-time personalized promotions. This sophisticated level of customization ensures that visual displays remain attention-grabbing—even when they become the new normal for retailers.

Displays can be used to show personalized dynamic content that can change based on engagement level, the weather and even the demographics of the viewer(s). This tailoring can hugely improve the experience of customers which, in turn, will maximize ROI for retailers.

[Razzle Dazzle Retail]

The future offers many possibilities for optimizing this experience. For example, cameras in shopping centers may be able to see customers throughout a mall, note what they pay attention to, the routes they take and translate this into ‘likely behaviors’, presenting highly targeted content on digital screens in targeted stores. It may sound like sci-fi, but it’s a future that’s not far away.

Highly targeted messages and ads like this can certainly attract customers, but you can go one step beyond to encourage engagement—augmented reality (AR). Again, it may seem futuristic but it’s already being adopted. At the moment, the use of AR is commonly used in apps and headsets but this still requires the user to take a step to engage with it (i.e. put on a pair of goggles). By combining AR into displays, you make it even easier to engage—helping people get involved without any hesitation. This can be done on a small (and practical) scale, such as virtually trying on outfits in false ‘mirrors’, or large (and memorable), such as interactive, gamified billboards.

Encouraging relationship building with your brand is key for survival in today’s competitive landscape. Visual displays is one of the ways this can be achieved. Combined with amazing high-resolution displays and contextually relevant messages, retailers doing this right will continue to stand out when displays are a staple of every shop.