Everyone's doing it... Justin's Top 10 Ways Digital Signage Isn't Being Used

Hey so...tomorrow is New Year's Eve and it appears EVERYONE is doing a 'top 10'...thus far I've gotten four different emails from services with their 'list'. So here is mine.

Justin's Top 10 Ways Digital Signage Isn't Being Used

10. Embedded in your desk at the office...THEN the boss could sell advertising to offset the cost of paying you to look at Facebook.

9. Strapped to dogs...I mean think about it...they've done it to people...why not dogs?

8. BOUNCE HOUSES! Be the first in the untapped market of jumping hyper kids. Your screen will probably get destroyed...but it will be so sweet!

7. Replace your outdoor Christmas decorations with screens displaying a rotating playlist of Christmas decorations...for the Clark Griswold who doesn't want to spend three weeks on his roof.

6. Digital Signage in bathroom stalls...they're already doing it over the urinals. It makes even more sense to place the screens in a higher dwell time location...am I right? And seriously...what about the ladies...they don't have urinals.

5. Digital Signage in APARTMENTS. Call it 'Wall Art' or something...and display some art and some advertising...tell the tenant they get a 'discount' on the apartment if they leave it up.

4. Embedded within the human body. I already mentioned Pixman who attaches screens to people walking around...but what if you actually embedded the screen into someone. New beach bum demographic maybe?

3. Attach to a child's little red wagon. Seriously...kids should be pulling these everywhere. In this starving economy - people need new a creative ways to not only market but to make money. I'm thinking Playskool marketing to little Timmy's friends?

2. Replace bumper stickers with screens. Get rid of the "Bush/Cheney '04" sticker and put up a small screen. THIS way you don't look like a complete moron four years later when you regret your choice in President. ALSO...you could actually make it change when you want and say "stop riding my @$$" or "if you don't get off your cell phone and drive, I'll wreck for you".

AND THE NUMBER 1 WAY WE'RE NOT USING DIGITAL SIGNAGE IS....

1. Gravestones. Screens can look like the gravestones and then change out to advertising or premium graveside content! PERFECT for funeral parlors.

My hiatus...

Apologies...I took a brief hiatus from much of social media during much of December. Things got pretty crazy and will continue to be crazy through this week...but I felt ready to jump back into my Musings. So...here we go!

TO A NEW YEAR!

Ad Age...couldn't you pick something better?

Dear Ad Age...I read the paper this week and in the back like normal you list your 'Work of the Week". Most of the time, I like your choices. And I checked out what I could from this issue, but there was one that just left me thinking...is there something better?

'Cat Sandwich' is a commercial by Swedish Fish...it's meant to be funny...but honestly the scene grab that you have in the paper is the best part of the ad...I wanted more of that...but didn't really feel like I got it.

Watch the ad...I could only find it in one place....so you have to go to their site to see it...but have a look.

Am I wrong?

What do you hate about owning your network?

I had the opportunity to speak with several network operators a couple weeks ago at the Strategy Institute summit and it occurred to me this week how many of them were finding things that they really didn't like about owning their own network. For some, it was the advertising sales - they just didn't have it in them to go out and sell or to seek out sales. For others it was content - they wanted to contract it out, let someone else handle it. They had the entrepreneurial spirit to build the company and to do the sales, but not the creativity to manage the content. Others still just wanted to make money and really didn't care about anything else with it - so they were seeking out people who could do it for them.

So, how did I find this out? I didn't really pull it out of them, I didn't try selling them on what Neoti is offering (all of the above), I just listened. I listened to what they loved and hated, what they wanted and what they really needed. I discerned the appropriate times to bring a topic to the surface - perhaps something that we could help with - not just because I wanted to make the sale, but because I saw the need.

The digital signage industry, I believe, is at a nexus. We're at a point where next year is going to suck - it's going to be difficult to get new venues, advertisers, clients etc. And so we must work together to keep the industry alive. We need to communicate with each other and provide tips and leads to other networks. We have to realize that while there is competition, there must be solidarity - a brotherhood, if you will, of industry professionals who can work together.

The interesting thing is that I think that is occurring...in multiple places. Between the Digital Signage Association and OVAB - we have organizations being built to support the industry. We have TONS of conferences to go to...which if you ask me...we have too many. I look forward to the day when consolidation begins to happen - both in conferences and in business.

So where do we go from here? I'm not 100% sure...leave your thoughts and lets discuss.

This Sucks. A Digital Signage Nightmare.

(Thx Gizmodo)


Gizmodo had a post today that was sent in by a reader with this picture. It's a digital sign over a restaurant in Montreal on the busiest street in Montreal. I like Gizmodo's commentary on it:

Seriously, virus alerts? You shouldn't be using this machine for anything else besides displaying this banner, so where the hell did the virus come from? Either the machine's already been infected (a big possibility) or somebody's going to broadcast his Gmail login for prospective customers of Restaurant Basha.