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Understand How QR Codes, Near-Field and Crowdsourcing Technology Work With Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising has always benefitted from the development of new technologies. Just when you think it has advanced as far as possible, something new is just around the corner! With the invention of the smart phone, outdoor now has the ability to become more interactive, social and viral.

Some of the new technologies available to incorporate into outdoor advertising campaigns are Quick Response (QR) codes, Near Field Communication (NFC) and Wisdom of the Crowd technologies. These campaigns can be effective if used correctly.

Some important things to keep in mind: Remember that the percentage of adults in the US who actually have smart phones is still rather small. The number of people who have a QR Code app downloaded is even smaller. Also note that owners of NFC-enabled phones are a small population in the US as well.

Quick Response (QR) Codes

In June 2011, 14 million Americans, or 6.2% of all mobile users, scanned a QR Code with their devices. Those who scanned QR codes were more likely to be male (60.5%), between ages 18-34 (53.4%), and have a household income of $100k or higher (36.1%), according to comScore.

The best uses for QR Codes are for calls-to-action and coupon or offer downloading. QR Codes are a great way to help build your email list if you provide email opt-ins on the landing pages. One key point is to make sure that the QR Code isn’t directing the consumer to the company’s main homepage. The landing page should be something that will excite prospects and not bore or disappoint them. Think of ways to make the process fun, such as by providing a QR Code scavenger hunt. Give the consumer a reason to come back.

The best places for QR Codes are in high pedestrian areas. For obvious reasons, they should not be placed in billboard creative unless the location happens to be in a parking lot or side of a building. Also keep in mind the height of the ad and the time the consumers need to be able to pull out their smart phones and click the picture. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) has established some guidelines for using QR Codes. For instance a good rule of thumb is that a board shouldn’t be any higher than 20 feet off the ground.

Placement in the ad is also critical. If a bus shelter design has a QR Code in the lower right hand corner, the pedestrian may have to get down on his knees to properly scan the code. Always test your creative when using new technology. Also, take into consideration the environment.

Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology

There has been a lot of information lately about NFC technology. NFC allows for the transfer of data between compatible devices simply by placing them near each other (within four centimeters).

Some of the ways NFC is being used:

• Airline ticketing/boarding passes
• Sharing files between phones
• Using your phone as a credit card
• Getting information by touching smart posters
• Brand Loyalty cards

Imagine buying products right off of a bus shelter. Many of the same creative guidelines that apply to QR Codes also apply for Smart Posters (NFC-enabled). However, there is a little more flexibility in that the consumer doesn’t have to take the time to snap a picture or find the NFC label in the lens. The consumer just has to be within the 4 centimeters to enable the technology.

Adoption of NFC technology may take a bit longer due to available technology, education and production costs of Smart Posters. QR Codes add virtually no cost to the production budget. But Smart Posters might be a little more prohibitive.

Wisdom of the Crowd Technologies

Does the crowd know best? Sometimes. Retailers have started using digital billboards, shelters and placed-based media to sell popular items, as well as items that aren’t selling. Stores can now communicate items and pricing with the public based on the inventory that is currently selling.

For instance, if a retailer has merchandise that is a “hot” seller, and they run out of stock, they can quickly change the digital creative to another item and price point. Also, if an interesting “conversation” is trending on their Facebook page, they can opt to change their creative to tie into what interests their customers. These campaigns are easy to implement with social media, inventory visibility and the flexibility of Internet technology.

Before initiating any interactive OOH campaign, do your research. There are many studies and associations available for most of these technologies. Not only does OAAA have many Interactive OOH case studies available on their website, but they also just released an Interactive OOH Primer. Contact Monisha Blair at OAAA at 202-833-5566 for more information.

If you have implemented an interactive campaign using these technologies, please send them to us to post on our site. We have over 450 agencies using our site as an information source.

In a recent Research and Markets Report, analysts from TechNavio forecast that the Global Near Field Communication Device Market will reach $560 million in 2014, driven by the growth of commercially available NFC enabled handsets (in particular smart phones) expected to hit the market. Around 60 million NFC enabled devices are expected to enter the market. Although there is a risk of security threats with the technology, consumer preference is increasing. The rise of NFC technology in smart phones has a particular implication on out-of-home advertising and digital place-based media. Expect to see innovative brands integrating NFC technology in advertising campaigns, such as mobile payments and the exchange of information.

Partnership Aims to Create End-to-End Solution to Propel Digital Out-of-Home Industry Growth

CHICAGO and COLUMBUS, Ohio – April 7, 2011 – NEC Display Solutions and DOmedia announced today the formation of a strategic partnership that creates an end-to-end solution for the challenges related to the buying and selling of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising.

DOmedia^TM Powered by VUKUNET allows for the efficient planning, buying, management and measurement of large DOOH advertising campaigns across many different DOOH networks.  This new ability to scale and measure effectiveness of DOOH advertising during the life of a campaign addresses two of the last remaining obstacles to the widespread adoption of DOOH advertising.

According to PQ Media, the digital out-of-home ad medium is one of the fastest growing media in North America, with 18.1 percent compounded annual growth projected for the next four years.   Advertising agencies have indicated a willingness to invest more money in DOOH, but first require the industry’s adoption of standards in the areas of creative, ad serving, audience measurement and performance reporting.

DOmedia^TM Powered by VUKUNET allows for the seamless integration of advertising agency and DOOH network activities from campaign planning through execution.  The solution incorporates DOmedia’s web-based, front-end media search, planning and buying tools with NEC’s back-end VUKUNET technology, which provides comprehensive ad inventory management, ad campaign placement, tracking, measurement and reporting capabilities to display to media buyers.  The combined solution is aimed at resolving issues with technology fragmentation by creating a standards-based solution that will benefit the entire DOOH market.

“The partnership with DOmedia will be the industry standard that will generate incredible growth in the DOOH industry,” said Pierre Richer, President and COO, NEC Display Solutions. “While the market matures, an open end-to-end solution will create value for both buyers and sellers by lowering operating expenses, increasing transparency and creating innovation like we’ve seen in the online and mobile advertising industries.”

Sue Danaher, President of the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DPAA), said:  “Companies like DOmedia and NEC coming together help to propel the overall industry and bring innovative products to market for buyers and sellers to choose from. The investment from companies like these is a true testament to the exciting future opportunities for the digital place-based industry.”

Among the benefits to media agencies and advertisers include an easier way to purchase and track DOOH media and a lower operational cost attributed to the buying process.  DOOH network operators will benefit from technology integration through inventory management, ad delivery, collaboration with agencies, and increased revenue potential.  VUKUNET’s unique approach allows the technology to work across many software platforms currently being used by network operators.

“One end-to-end solution from planning to execution for digital out of home advertising campaigns will enable advertising agencies to buy the medium on a larger scale more efficiently,” said John Muszynski, Chief Investment Officer, Starcom Mediavest Group. “This kind of technology innovation ultimately helps agencies effectively service clients and puts them at a competitive advantage in the marketplace.”

Rich Langdale, CEO of DOmedia, said:  “The DOOH industry has a need for technology to solve a lot of problems with inefficiencies and standardization, and we are taking a step in the right direction.  The open, end-to-end approach we are building with NEC will ultimately benefit both the media buyers and sellers.  Everybody wins.”

# # #

About NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc.

Headquartered in Itasca, Ill., NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc., is a leading designer and provider of innovative desktop LCD monitors, commercial- and professional-grade large-screen LCD displays, a diverse line of multimedia and digital cinema projectors, and integrated display solutions. NEC Display Solutions develops leading-edge visual technology and customer-focused solutions for a wide variety of markets, including enterprise, healthcare, education and digital signage. For additional information about NEC Display Solutions of America monitors, consumers can call (866) NEC-MORE, or visit the website at www.necdisplay.com. For digital images, please visit http://necdisplay.com/digital-media-library.

About VUKUNET

VUKUNET, from NEC Display Solutions of America, is the engine that powers the digital out-of-home advertising business. VUKUNET is the only universal ad serving platform that drives ads to any digital out-of-home network, regardless of content management system. VUKUNET makes the buying, flighting and reporting of digital out-of-home ad campaigns easy. For additional information about VUKUNET, visit http://www.vukunet.com or call (877) 805-VUKU. For VUKUNET logos and digital images, please visit http://www.vukunet.com/pressresources.aspx.

About DOmedia

DOmedia is the Out-of-Home Advertising Marketplace that simplifies the process of buying and selling media. Through its online platform, buyers and sellers can connect and do business more efficiently. The company product suite also includes a web-based planning and proposal platform for advertising agencies to efficiently plan and buy large out-of-home media campaigns. The company is privately funded and based in Columbus, Ohio. For more information and to do a free search, visit www.DOmedia.com.

Media Contact:

Philip Anast

Tech Image (for NEC Display Solutions)

(847) 279-0022, x238

philip.anast@techimage.com

Faraz Khan

Director of Marketing, DOmedia

614-324-2927

faraz.khan@domedia.com

Screenfeed understands digital signage networks and how important fresh, engaging content is when it comes to attracting viewership. But they also know the toll it can take on a company that creates custom content to fill a playlist, then attempts to continually refresh it. Oftentimes, it just isn’t economically feasible to take that burden on for a digital network.

As The Digital Signage Content Store®, Screenfeed provides the best licensed digital signage content in the industry. Digital networks and operators can subscribe to a number of different channels. Screenfeed will mix them up automatically and consistently deliver the content to the network. And because it works with any digital signage software, you can schedule hours of dynamic content in just minutes! Whether it is one screen or a nationwide network, Screenfeed’s scalable solution can deliver. Plus, because many of their channels offer great looking hi-def content based on photos, graphics and information rather than video, you can get HD content at a low bandwidth.

So What Are the Different Channels?

News-in-Pictures
To attract attention to screens, these channels feature high resolution photos of celebrities, sports heroes, well-known places and events people recognize at a glance. Each photo is accompanied by a brief headline. News-in-Pictures channels include Top News-in-Pictures, Celebrity Life-in-Pictures, and Sports-in-Pictures. Screenfeed also recently added Health, OMG!, Tech, Business, World, Canada and UK News categories as well. Learn more »

Daily Video News
This channel engages viewers at a deeper level, providing videos that include a brief story of a breaking news topic including interviews, movie reviews, politics, business and sports. Choose to receive either a single news minute covering the best stories of the day, or subscribe to a full set of 5-9 video stories daily for each channel. Daily Video News channels include Today’s Top Video News, Entertainment Video News, Sports Video News, NewsMinute Daily Video, Showbiz Minute Daily, and Daily Celebrity News. Recently added channels include Today-in-History, Lifestyle, Tech, Business, and Strange News categories.

Weather Graphics & Video
You may not know it, but weather is the #1 requested type of content on digital signage. So why not give the people what they want? Stick with simplicity using the Basic Weather or Weather Graphics Package. Or you can really “wow” your audience with the HD Video Weather, Weather Radar Package, Premium Weather Center or even customize your weather services.

Infotainment
People want to be entertained. Using Screenfeed’s Infotainment channels, you can easily capture your audience’s attention with some fun facts and information that actually engage them. Perfect for doctors office waiting rooms, Healthy bites provides health information in HD that can be branded or sponsored. Also great for a waiting room or area with a captive audience is the Photo Trivia Channel, complete with HD photos and interesting facts about science, travel, celebrities, sports, nature and history. Or check out the Top Tweets Channel, a moderated feed of the most interesting and appropriate tweets of the day. Want to provide localized content? Try the Local Event Information channel, offering community, sports, music and theater event details. Screenfeed also provides unique content with the Celebrity Biographies channel and Weekly Fashion Review channel.

Ambiance
Captivate your audience with the ultimate visual appeal. Through the Naturescapes Channel, eye-catching high-definition footage of pristine beaches, mountains, dense forests and colorful rainforests combine with natural sounds and relaxing music to create the right environment. Want something a bit more exciting? The Extreme Sports Video Channel shows wipeouts, tricks and unbelievable scenery on water, land, snow and air. And perfect for banks, offices, hospitality, cafes, restaurants and golf retail, the Golfscape Channel offers breathtaking photography of golf landscapes around the world.

Learn more about Screenfeed’s Content Channels

Getting started is pretty simple.
1. Browse the vast collection of digital signage content channels and decide which of them you’d like to subscribe to. Once you’ve chosen your channels, call 1.800.461.3002 to subscribe.
2. Next, Screenfeed will gather info about your network and software, then set up your account to provide the right format and delivery method.
3. Finally, you schedule the content in your playlist.

Once the content is scheduled, delivery will be automated with no further work from the network.

To find out more or to subcribe, call Screenfeed at 1.800.461.3002 or visit www.Screenfeed.com.

With a history in electric transportation that dates back to 1989, ECOtality North America has worked on every Electric Vehicle(EV) initiative in North America since the 1990’s. Under the guidance of ECOtality, the EV Project will install the largest EV infrastructure to date. The EV Project is scheduled to deploy 15,000 chargers and 8,300 EV’s in 2011. All chargers will have an individual digital display that will inform consumers of their charge event status and deliver advertising.

Blink DC Fast Charger

A select number of the charging stations, the Blink DC Fast Chargers, will use a 42″ LCD touch screen to display charge status, statistics and cost, convenient payment options and billing information, and connect to the Blink Network web portal for further information. The Blink Network will enable full network coverage for delivery of national ad campaigns and will have hyper-local customization capabilities. The Blink charging units are available for wrap effects. They are scheduled to start appearing at BP and ARCO fill stations as early as March 2011. This further displays the growing relationship between new consumer serving technologies and digital ad networks.

The test markets for this round of infrastructure development are 16 major cities in 6 states including 6 of the top 10 DMA’s. Check out a live map of current locations on ECOtality’s website.

More information on the EV Project and ECOtality

Blink 220V Chargers

This post was written by Jacob Thomas. For more information about this story please email jacob.thomas@domedia.com.

For the launch of the new 4-door MINI Countryman, the company took more of an interactive approach, actually getting consumers involved in the advertisement. Over the summer, replicas of the new car made special appearances in shopping centers, stations and streets around the UK. The challenge: how many people can you fit in a MINI? And although the cars looked packed to the brim with crammed-in people gasping for air, they were, in fact, empty.

So how did they do it? Using video cameras inside the MINIs, passersby could take the challenge, packing as many people as possible into the car while recording the whole scene. Then, the footage was projected onto the inside of the MINI, as if the challengers were still inside. Participants could then share the video with friends via Facebook.

Remember some of MINI’s other executions the past few years, some of which landed them in the 2010 OBIE Awards Hall of Fame and as finalists for AdWeek’s Best Out-of-Home Ad of the Decade?

The campaign for MINI Clubman also made it as a finalist for the 2009 Out-of-Home Media Plan Awards.

This technology offers a glimpse of what advertisers are pushing these days: interactive out-of-home media executions. The technology, called ‘augmented reality,’ adds virtual imagery to the environment as the audience sees it. A notable example is the yellow ‘first down’ line in football games on TV. In this case, the Na’vi cat-eyed, blue face staring back at users is augmented reality. Other technologies gaining popularity in the OOH advertising world include holograms and nearby motion generated sights and sounds. According to Lance Porter of LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communications, “Technology has finally caught up with what marketers have dreamed about since the Internet went commercial in 1995.  [Technology] has moved so quickly now that so many things are possible.”

This isn’t the first digital out-of-home campaign Inwindow Outdoor has created. Similar campaigns for Sprint Mobile, The CW’s The Vampire Diaries, and the popular children’s movie, Coraline, were featured in big cities across the United States. The Avatar advertising experience (also delivered by FOX Studios, Zenith Media and Blue Bite) is on display for a month, beginning April 16^th.

Since the earthquake in Haiti, DOOH has really stepped up to the plate and proved its worth the past couple weeks. In the aftermath of a tragedy felt around the world, everyone knew something needed to be done–but what? And we all wanted to help–but how? A single, unified message had to be created and made available to the masses. Quick, effective and capable of reaching millions of people worldwide.

So when Matthew Stoudt, CEO of Outcast, rang up the presidents of Zoom Media, TargetCast Networks, CBS Outernet, PumpTopTV, Premier Retail Networks, Captivate Network, AdSpace Networks and IndoorDIRECT, it wasn’t as a competitor but as a fellow industry leader trying to take action. With combined efforts and the help of the Red Cross, the group is now running “Text ‘Haiti’ to 90999″ ads across thousands of screens in malls, grocery stores, gyms, doctors’ offices and much more. By running the message across all of the biggest digital screen networks (40,000+ screens to be exact), the donation effort will reach about 100 million Americans each month.

Originally, the Ad Council worked with the Red Cross to develop a digital image to distribute across OOH screens. From there, it was picked up and distributed through OAAA. Lamar, Clear Channel, Health Media Network and Zoom Media have all picked up these ads as well. Some of the Ad Council messages include Michelle Obama or Bill Clinton and George Bush asking for donations. Some companies, such as iDklic Digital Signage and Narrowcasting in Belgium, put together their own ads and began running them across all of their networks. RAMVISION is also running a 2-week campaign for the Disaster Emergency Committee, broadcasting across their Shopping Centre Network.

Interested in joining the effort but don’t have the time or resources to put a spot together? The Preset Group has you covered. They’ve put together PSAs for use by anyone in the digital out-of-home community. For more info, click here.