Digital displays are far more likely to attract today’s knowledgeable consumer than are old-fashioned hoardings and posters. ‘Adfortainment’, an amalgam of advertising, information and entertainment, is ideally conveyed by this ‘out of home’ – OOH – digital signage. An investment in this type of display will yield higher returns than can be achieved by traditional static signage. In fact, research shows that it can boost sales revenue by between 5 and 50 percent.
If you’re not sure what digital signage is, then just think of the travel information boards at airports or bus and train stations or the billboard in Times Square. But this electronic wizardry is not confined simply to moving text. Also included are videos, images, designs and colours, all of which can be incorporated in any kind of advertisement.
Types of Digital Displays.
There’s little limit to where you can position your display; it can be outdoors, indoors or even attached to a moving body whether inanimate or animate.
You may see two types of electronic display technology offered – LED and LCD. Though LCD digital signage technology is used by both LED and LCD televisions, the way their screens are illuminated is not the same. An electric current passing through pixels filled with minute crystals creates the display with LCD whilst LED are simply light emitting diodes. In lighting terms LCDs are permanently ‘on’ whereas LED displays, a sort of backlighting, can be dimmed or brightened as necessary.
Outdoors: large LCD display screens (that stands for liquid crystal if you’re interested) are used in combination with a media player and run from a central computer – a laptop is fine. It’s essential that the display is enclosed in such a way as to be proof against the climate and vandals. What’s so wonderful about this type of display is the fact that a countrywide or even worldwide network can be fairly cheaply set up and can be constantly updated. You can create and upload your own content or you can outsource it.
Indoors: You need only a simple and cheap media player and LCD display to illuminate a digital poster, interactive kiosk or entire wall with your advertisement. It’s also a perfect way to advertise to customers who are sitting in the waiting rooms of such people as doctors, dentists and vets.
Mobile: This is a rapidly expanding market and basically comprises an ‘enclosure’ for the LCD display screens which must be weather and vandal-proof. The use of wireless or Bluetooth technology means that some enclosures are small enough to be worn on the body. Those who advertise with old-fashioned sandwich boards should be warned that their end is nigh!
How Much Does it Cost?
Clearly this depends on what type of digital signs you have, how many screens are linked to your network and what the content is. But as a ball park figure you should be able to get a one-screen installation starting from £1500.
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