This particular set of digital signage news highlights many successes of digital signage. It’s been a good month! For as tough a year as 2020 was and 2021 is currently going, outdoor spending actually increased. Through the 2020 Megabrands report we can see that Out-of-Home did its best to lessen the blow of last year. This is evident, as losses only occurred in areas that were beyond control. That was in the past. In the present, digital signage is helping businesses to reopen, stay open, and get back on track. In the future, we hope to see it help with adaptation to unpredictable trends that await us in the year ahead.
Let’s also not forget the stunning technology which continuously emerges, despite the challenges the industry faces. So let’s get the ball rolling this month with something exciting!
A three-dimensional motion display
Dragon O is a system which uses suspended LED strings to create motion visuals, developed by LED Pulse. It bears the semblance of a hologram, but in a rougher form. The pixel density is insufficient to make any highly detailed visuals, but it can certainly breathe life into a room.
A stunning visual, but it doesn’t appear to have any tangible uses for broadcasting information. Then again, nobody would use such a visually stunning tool for employee training, would they?
This McDonald’s stays afloat thanks to digital signage
Restaurants were among the industries facing the greatest challenges in 2020. As soon as an opportunity emerged, they did their best to catch up with their losses. Digital signage played a critical role in their recovery attempts. At one point, restaurants were lucky when they were able to serve food via drive-thru windows. In such situations, digital signage proved to be a critical tool for both employees and customers.
One example of digital signage being a key tool came directly from a McDonald’s restaurant utilizing digital signage solutions for solutions other than menu boards. Communication about supplies, restock reminders, employee training, and customer interactivity are only some of the areas where digital signage was helping the most. A challenging period we live in indeed, but this time serves as an opportunity for tools like digital signage solutions to showcase their versatility and adaptability.
Adapting digital signage to upcoming unstable trends
The shifting trends of tomorrow are presenting a true challenge when it comes to predicting which business decisions are worth the investment. The focus of digital signage and its purpose in any given business has severely changed in the past year. For one, we saw PSAs dominate the world more than ever before. COVID-19 restrictions made business a challenge, and digital signage aims to overcome it: the previous headline is one example of this. What does the future have in store?
The pandemic changed many consumer behaviors: the way shoppers get into stores, the way they buy, the amount of money they spend, as well as the online access to goods they opt for. Even before the pandemic, digital signage was tasked with integrating itself into the online world and using it as a complementary feature. This task is more important now than ever.
Furthermore, consumers are more orientated towards the outdoors: that’s where it’s safer today, as opposed to closed off spaces. This fact pushes digital signage to shift its focus on environmental adaptation to factors such as exposure to bright environments, humidity, extreme outdoor temperatures, as well as the security from theft with so many screens in the outdoors. Industry-specific trends affect digital signage as well, such as a change in travel preferences as a result of the pandemic.
OAAA 2020 Megabrands report
Out of Home Advertising Association of America recently published their 2020 Megabrands review of the largest national advertisers. This report focused on the top 100 OOH advertisers and top 100 total media advertisers. Here’s a rundown of the data.
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- In order of spending, the top 5 advertisers of 2020 were McDonald’s, Apple, Geico, Amazon, and HBO.
- 21/100 top Out-of-Home spenders were tech or direct-to-consumer brands including: Facebook, Google, Hulu, Netflix, PayPal, Samsung, Uber, Verizon, and Zoom.
- Despite the pandemic, over 25% of the top 100 advertisers increased their annual Out-of-Home spend from 2019.
- Overall OOH achieved a revenue of $6,1 billion in 2020.
- The Digital OOH sector dropped to 26% of total OOH spend in 2020. This drop is attributed mainly to the closing of movie theaters which reduced cinema revenue by 90%.You can take a look at the further insights in the report on the official OAAA website.
Of categories of advertising platforms in the 2020 Megabrands report, the billboard category ranked at the top, taking up 78% of total OOH revenue.
OnSign TV and Taggbox team up!
We wrap this news set up with some special from us: a collaboration that aims to bring user-generated content to your displays! In a nutshell, user-generated content is anything created by an individual rather than a business or marketing team. Think testimonials, social media feeds, reviews. It’s genuine, honest, entertaining, and—most importantly—influential content!
This collaboration between OnSign TV and Taggbox enables digital signage content creators to build a setup to automatically collect user-generated content and display it. One could advertise a specific #hashtag for customers to use, and then use said #hashtag to find and display the content they post. Take a look at how the OnSign TV Taggbox app works and how to set it up. In case you’re a new visitor to this blog, fret not! You can try out both OnSign TV and Taggbox for free, no strings attached!
