Inside Information

I hitched a ride with the staff of our sister magazine, VM+SD, to Chicago for the second "annual" Digital Retailing Expo (DRE), held May 18-19 at the Navy Pier Exhibition Center. VM was heavily involved. The first show, held seven months prior, included 45 exhibitors and 11,000 sq. ft. of space. This one attracted 83 exhibitors who took 24,000 sq. ft. of space.

VM, and its corresponding website, www.visualstore.com, joined with our other company venture, www.electronicdisplaycentral.com, as three of the event’s four media sponsors. VM’s editor, Steve Kaufman, coordinated the judging of DRE’s first competition, plus he MC’d the resulting awards ceremony. VM’s May issue included a special, 19-page supplement, entitled In-Store Digital Media, which included a 32-item products section.

Darek Johnson, ST‘s senior technology editor, accompanied me, armed with reprinted copies of Darek’s third annual Electronic Digital Signage (EDS) survey (see ST, April 2005, page 60). I had one goal, to try to figure out how everything I’d see would relate to everything that you readers create. (Read Darek’s take on the show, page 16.)

Where’s the crossover (or at least the potential)? The sign industry is quite adept at creating retailers’ exterior, main-identification signage. But what about the interior merchandising signage?

OK, first some terminology. When VM says "digital," it strictly means electronic, digital displays. It has nothing to do with the digital aspects of large-format printing. Secondly, at the DRE, the word "signage" rarely means what signshops currently fabricate.

Prior to the tradeshow each day, educational "conference sessions" were held. Seven of the 12 sessions included the word "signage" in their titles. I attended four of them. None involved the types of signs I’m accustomed to writing about.

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When the on-premise sign industry thinks about electronic message centers (EMCs), hardware is 95% of the game. However, my notion that, in the DRE world, content superceded hardware, couldn’t have been more correct. In fact, I underestimated its importance.

At the first session I attended, Todd Taylor, formerly with Walt Disney (which tends to study marketing effectiveness), said, "Content is the key, not the technology." I heard that same refrain frequently.

And that’s why the on-premise-sign industry won’t automatically mainstream into the digital-retailing sign world. The distinct priorities are apples and oranges. Not that the sign industry couldn’t. It just couldn’t by simply doing what it does now.

At the second booth I visited, Data Display Systems (Philadelphia), I explained who I was and what ST is. The company’s national accounts manager, Douglas Blatchford, already knew about ST, because his company makes the electronics for signs. To him, 100 is a very small order. Douglas has attended the United States Sign Council’s Sign World show. He succinctly told me, "The companies here will put your readers out of business."

I walked the floor and at least looked at every booth’s product or service. Only three were companies that I’d expect to see exhibiting at an International Sign Assn. show, including EMC providers |2111| Media (Logan, UT) and |2090| (City of Industry, CA). To my untrained eye, I saw a sea of high-definition (HD) TVs. I asked the booth personnel who would install these TVs. Most of the time, the content providers would also handle actual installation. Fifteen years ago, in CAS’ infancy, we would have called content providers "systems integrators." Mostly, sign companies weren’t mentioned.Barco, Optec Displays

I spoke with quite a few content providers. Their products/services included video production, audio (including music, such as DMX Music) and broadband networks. We don’t know these people.

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I finally tracked down Brad Gleeson, president and COO of |2212| (Poulsbo, WA), who seems to have the best handle on DRE/on-premise crossover. He was the first person to compile a digital-signage buyers guide, plus he published his first, 32-page Digital Signage Quarterly in March. He agreed that traditional sign companies are rarely involved with digital-signage projects. However, he did know a few.ActiveLight Inc.

So, I think I know the best way for ST to proceed. Case histories. I can pompously warn sign companies that they must get involved, but I might be more useful if I tell you how. Even better, I hope to show you. I could easily borrow press releases from VM about these HD screens and content providers, but that’s not going to tell you what to do with them, or how to integrate hardware with software.

Also, I was glad my silver lining was confirmed. In a session entitled "An Introduction to Retail Digital Signage," Circle K’s marketing communications manager, Pat Riha, said, "The street LED message centers are more important than the in-store displays. They’re what drives the traffic into the stores."