So yesterday was a bit of a frenzy, as I was doing a Tech Talk at The Digital Signage Show. Things went fabulously and I just wanted to send out my gratitude to the team there, particularly Lawrence Dvorchik of JD Events, who was kind enough to invite me to speak.

So what did I talk about? Well, here’s a quick run-down.

The key issue that I see coming up time and again with digital signage installations is that, rather than being approaced as a means to an end, technology is all too often treated as the end in and of itself. So tell me. When is the last time you heard a customer standing in front of a piece of digital in-store advertising say the following:

“Oh, I love how they’re drawing directly to the video buffer for better rendering performance!”

Yeah, I’m going to put my money on never.

Here’s the problem: as much as IT and operations and programming and finance and management need to be involved with the execution of a digital signage installation, no project should even be started without asking this question:

What value can I create for my customer?

As a firm – as any first year econ undergrad student will tell you – your goal is to create profit. The problem is, the consumer is inundated with a gazillion and ten options in your product/service category alone – that’s right, as much as we are all loathe to admit we’re not the unique butterflies we feel we are, from the customer’s perspective, your product will be replicated by one me-too or another in short order. What does this mean? Simply that you are heavily reliant on your brand to create connections with your customer.

So how does this impact the in-store experience? Well, come on now. How doesn’t it?

The printer who produces the posters for your retail snapframes: does he determine the content strategy?

The fixturing guru who designs your endcap structure: does she determine the featured item’s messaging?

Of course not. So why on earth are departments other than marketing driving decisions in the area of content when it comes to digital signage?

The retail environment is a medium in and of itself, just as billboards and radio are. Without a solid understanding of your customer (demographics, psychographics) and how they experience your retail envionment (ethnographic research, path determination, changing patterns), you can’t possibly design content that is relevant to that target customer in this medium. When is the last time you booked $2M in television media only to say:

“Oh my, well, we’ve spent so much on booking the media that there’s no budget left for creative. Let’s just throw up the transit poster we created for thirty seconds, that’ll get the message across!”

Again, I’d wager money on never. Why? Because it’s a completely different medium, and if you aren’t treating your customer’s behavioural patterns as unique to the medium, your brand will suffer for it.

Here’s the good news: 61% of purchase decisions are influenced by superior in store experiences. Bain recently reported that 80% of retailers feel that they’re indeed providing said superior experience. Here’s the bad news: Consumers only define 8% of their in-store experiences as superior.Why the difference? Well, probably a little bit of self-aggrandizing, and a lot of respect for the wow factor on the business end.

“My sign wipes off when a customer waves their hand in front of it!”

And on the customer end?

“Is this wiping thing supposed to do something?”

Digital signage advertising is reportedly growing at a faster rate than online advertising. Let’s all get our heads together and treat it as the marketing initiative it needs to be – as the opportunity to infiltrate your brand personality and messaging more effectively at the store level. If we don’t, we’re just spending a lot of money on hardware and flashy features without considering how those dollars are legitimately servicing our customers with a superior retail brand experience.