Sensors and network administering


More Signs of Digital Signage Adolescence

Last week, another sign that dynamic digitalof in-store media in general and digital
signage is entering media adolescence emergedsignage in particular. Out of that confidence
with the announcement that global informationwill emerge media buys that fit the
and media company VNU and the In-Storetraditional mold of media decision making. In
Marketing Institute will jointly launch a newother words, marketers can justify the
service to help marketers better understandpurchase of in-store media in the same way
how to reach and influence consumers whilethey justify buying radio,television and
they  shop.print: based on audience size and
demographics, not simply advertising rates
A key component of the effort is theand a wish. An article on the In-Store
measurement of the audience for a new arrayMarketing Institute Web site put it this way:
of in-store marketing vehicles, including
digital signage, television and radio, shelf"Adoption of the P.R.I.S.M. model by the
talkers and other point-of-purchase displays.industry would deliver a common language for
retailers, manufacturers and media buyers to
Offered by a new VNU business unit calledassess the value of retail as a marketing
Nielsen In-Store (part of NielsenConnect),channel and compare its effectiveness to
the service aims to give marketers andother media such as TV, radio and print. It
retailers alike a way to quantify in-storealso would give marketers a metric through
audiences and measure the impact of theirwhich to evaluate the store as a vehicle for
in-store marketing efforts. The service alsogenerating brand awareness and trial, putting
will deliver a means for marketers to assessthe store on a level playing field with other
the value of their in-store marketingforms  of  mass  media."
strategies when compared to other media and
marketing approaches, said VNU chairman andIn announcing the launch of Nielsen In-Store,
CEO  David  Calhoun.global managing director George Wishart said
the business unit will offer those in the ad,
VNU's partnership with the In-Store Marketingmedia and retail communities "a new currency
Institute will allow the newly createdstandard that can increase the efficiency of
business unit to leverage work the institutethe  media  buying  and  selling  process."
is spearheading known as P.R.I.S.M., or
Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric.That currency -quantifiable audience metrics-
An important aim of the P.R.I.S.M. researchis precisely what's needed for retail digital
is developing statistical tools to deliversignage to advance to the next level and take
audience metrics "to the category or area ofits place among mainstream ad-supported
the store, by retail format, and by day ofmedia. If Nielsen In-Store can deliver on its
the week," according to the In-Storepromise, digital signage as a medium will
Marketing  Institute.catapult from the media backwater reserved
for funding from discretionary ad and
Just as the recent announcement from themarketing budgets into a position as a
Screen Association of the first-ever U.K.legitimate contender for top-tier advertising
digital signage directory reflects a maturingdollars. Immediately, it will shed the stigma
of dynamic signage from a technology into athat shrouds any media that come to the table
legitimate media made up of identifiablewithout audited circulation statements or
networks, the announcement of Nielsenindependently measured audience ratings.
In-Store and the P.R.I.S.M. researchWithquantifiable metrics, digital signage
demonstrate another aspect of its coming ofnetworks can stake their claim to being a
age as a media, namely definable audiencebona fide media choice and one that marketers
metrics.can safely choose to carry their out-of-store
advertising message past the store doors into
With audience metrics, in-store marketers canspecific departments and ultimately to the
develop a sense of confidence about the reachcash register.



1 A B C 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95