The Minicom Interview

Today the Minicom Interview speaks to Nate Nead from the recently acquired and up and running DigitalSignage.com. Nate is currently the VP of Sales at Projective Marketing, a company specializing in mobile SMS solutions along with advertising creation and sales for digital signage networks.
For the past four years, Nate has worked in sales, installation and tech support for a regional satellite dish sales and installation company. Originally from Seattle, WA, Nate is a graduate in business management from Brigham Young University.


Minicom Blog: Hi Nate, thanks for joining us
Nate Nead: My pleasure.

MB: How did digitalsignage.com come to be?
NN: I was working for an advertising company and while there was reading and hearing more and more about digital signage. Digital Signage is the next wave of advertising and it’s a good time to be here. When I find out that the domain name www.digitalsignage.com was available I did some research, made a bid and ended up winning it.

MB: What are your plans with the site?
NN: In about three months we plan to have our own unique system for a digital signage platform. We plan to optimize the site. A number of sites already fill niches in the industry. We aren’t competing with them – the opposite in fact we plan to work with a couple of them. We also want the site to be a portal for digital signage resources.

MB: Can you say more about the platform?
NN: Not that much now but it integrated social networking with digital signage and mobile SMS.

MB: How did you win the rights to the domain name?
NN: There was a private auction. We had a limit as to how much we would bid and it didn’t reach the limit. We won it for less than I thought it would go for.

MB: Since then have you had offers from people to buy it off you?
NN: Some but not that many.

MB: Good luck with it all.
NN: Thanks.

Digital Signage News – July 23, 2008

Digital Signage news headlines from across the web:

Installations:
Adidas deploys new digital network at Beijing flagship – Digital Signage Today – The world’s largest Adidas store (4 stories) gets a 40-channel network installed throughout
PumpTop TV Gets Political - Earthtimes – The largest gas pump network (7000 screens and counting) is running political ads
Vision China Media Signs Exclusive Contract with Shanghai Metro – Marketwatch - The contract grants VisionChina Media the exclusive rights to provide planning, production, sales and placement services to Shanghai Metro's 292 digital screens
Media wall officially launched on Liverpool’s Lime Street – Daily Post – Built by St Johns Centre owners Land Securities, advertising will be managed by Ocean Outdoor, and the 31 meter high wall will be accepting commercial advertising from July 28th

New Products:
NEC's ad system pumps out spots based on gender, age – Engadget – the system combines a camera, a large display and a FeliCa contactless IC card reader / writer
Mini-ITX board enables dual digital displays - Dataweek - VIA Technologies' new board is the first to feature the VIA VX800 chipset, for sophisticated digital signage and retail display systems.

Industry Announcements:
NetFaze Digital Signage Company Announces Its Grand Opening – Emailwire – A showroom of 5100 square feet of digital signage networks with many partners for all to see
IBM webinar reveals self-service trends – Self Service World – “Serving the New Consumer through Self-Service”
CyberTouch Announces New Representative in Western Region – Newswire - Anew C.T. will be the technical sales representative for California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii

Sweet Smell of Success?

Right Guard deodorant have joined the dots of digital signage and advertising deodorant. It's got people talking which I guess is exactly what they were trying to achieve...

Digital Signage 101

There is another digital signage webinar happening tomorrow - Monday, July 21, 2008 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT.
For those interested in getting a good grasp of the digital signage industry, Dave Haar, Vice President of Minicom’s Digital Signage Division will take you through all of the components necessary to build a successful Digital Signage network.

The Minicom Interview

This week the Minicom Interview speaks to Nick Deen, Senior Market Development Manager (EMEA) at Sony. Nick has been active in the IT sector for many years. His career started with a small IT company offering a wide range of automated data entry solutions, followed by a newspaper publishing-software company.
With Sony Europe, he started as Marketing Services Manager for the Videoconferencing business in product marketing. Currently, he’s active as Senior Market Development Manager, and is responsible for promoting the Sony portfolio of B2B products and solutions to major European Retailers, Transport & Venues companies and is an expert in digital signage solutions for these markets.


Minicom Blog: Thanks for joining us Nick and welcome to the Minicom Blog.
Nick Deen: My pleasure.

MB: What exactly is Sony’s involvement with digital signage?
ND: We have been involved with the digital signage market for quite some time. Around four years ago we got move involved with our end to end digital signage solutions. We were already present in terms of our flat panels and projectors but we added the Ziris software which gave us a bigger presence in the market. Ziris Professional is aimed at the large digital signage installations. We recently introduced an entry level solution called Ziris Lite, aimed at managing and uploading content to smaller networks. Ziris Lite is easier to install and maintain.

MB: How is all that going?
ND: Quite good. There is a lot of interest in it and there is a huge market for it.

MB: In terms of the end to end solution you offer, is content part of that at all?
ND: Yes and No. We aren’t a content creation company but we receive a lot of questions about it and we know about it. We know what works and what doesn’t work and if our clients ask us we are happy to give them advice. Our office in Norway has teamed up with a creative agency and to provide the complete package and this is something we may look into further.

MB: You alluded that you have a sense of what does work and what doesn’t work in terms of digital signage. Would you be able to expand on that?
ND: What doesn’t work? Someone who runs content without clarifying what their objectives are. The content needs to be action driven. Also the content must change accordingly depending on their motivations and the environment the screens are in. There are four basic models when it comes to digital signage.

MB: What are they?
ND: Merchandising which is the biggest model, information such as in airports and train stations and then you have two types of advertising. Client funded such as a supermarket who has the screens and sells space to their suppliers or operator funded where someone has their own network and sells space to anyone.

MB: Has Sony done or is doing anything in terms of the measurement of digital signage?
ND: We are doing some research on it and looking into the results it has whether it be cost savings or increased sales.

MB: What digital signage trends do you notice?
ND: The systems are becoming smaller and easier to manage. There is more interactivity whether it be via SMS or barcode reviews. Screens are getting bigger and will be capable of operating perfectly despite the presence of direct sunlight on them.

MB: Does the SONY name a big door-opener?
ND: It is – it definitely helps us but then again a lot is also expected of us.

MB: Well good luck with it and thanks for joining us.
ND: No worries.

Digital Signage News – July 16, 2008

Digital Signage news headlines from across the web:

Installations:
King Drug and Home Care Pharmacy installs StrandVision – PRWeb – King Drug manages the system remotely, from headquarters
65-inch Digital Posters Tested at Tokyo Station – TechOn – 10 LCD’s in Tokyo Station will be a part of a test thru Sept, and are expected to remain installed afterwards

New Products:
ADTI Media Inc. to unveil SkyNet(TM) – MarketWatch – From August 11th, a giant, LED-illuminated flexible video screen will broadcast convention activity, advertising, news, and messaging on the side of the Colorado Convention Center

Industry Announcements:
ADFLOW Networks and Shopguard partner – espaces – companies to develop the latest in trigger technology for tethering products
“Choosing the right connection for digital signage networks” – Digital Signage Today – article by Christopher Hall
Distributor Medium has been appointed as a strategic partner with Sanyo Europe Ltd. – AV Interactive - The deal will focus on Sanyo's system solution business category including its digital signage products.
Digital Signage: Advertisers enter China market - sindhtoday.net - Group M Media reports that “China is set to take over from the United States in 2008 as the biggest source of growth in global ad spending.”
Digital Signage: Interactivity Transforms Consumers – Article Supplier – David Little of Keywest Technology writes about the trend going towards interactive digital signage

Digital Signage Poster Boys

Staying over in the Orient, this article talks about an exciting new digital signage pilot which is happening at Tokyo Station. They are setting up LCD panels where the images will alternate every 60 seconds. Check them out...

Chinese Whispers

According to this article, which quotes the Group M Media Report, China is set to take over from the United States in 2008 as the biggest source of growth in global ad spending. Although the United States remains a much larger advertising market over all, China will account for 24 percent of new spending worldwide, compared with 20 percent for the United States.
Things are buzzing in China at the moment and even more so with the Olympics just over three weeks away.
As for the USA, things could be better.
Could all this affect digital signage? Possibly. Probably. Wait and See.