“One key difference may be a shift in the balance between unconscious mirroring of another person’s actions and expressions and conscious attempts to grasp the other’s motives. This may lead to a decoupling from the other, a kind of separation within the interaction, as activity diminishes in areas that mirror experiences, while higher-order, cognitive frontal functions kick in.”

via How our brains build social worlds – opinion – 02 December 2009 – New Scientist.

• Retail, hospitality and grocery companies will demand better interplay with customers through their signage networks
• Special consumer offers triggered by external events – such as weather changes – will help drive sales.

via Research identifies Customer Interaction as key trend for Digital Signage in 2010.

Ontario, Canada – 01 December, 2009 – Research from Capital Networks Limited (CNL), a leading global provider of broadcasting and dynamic digital signage software, identifies ‘Customer Interaction’ as the key driver for the digital signage industry in 2010. Companies across a range of industries, including retail, hospitality and grocery, will look at ways to engage dynamically with their customers, to boost sales and customer loyalty. With the average person exposed to thousands of marketing messages a day, only the most engaging content will break through the clutter. To be effective, digital signage must be able to deliver hyper-targeted, dynamic messaging to a specific audience. In the coming year, businesses will explore smarter ways to use their signage networks.

Software currently enables companies to schedule or pre-program their digital signage content to interact with any set of data, target audience or environment. Content can be programmed using simple codes, then triggered to play by real-time automated data feeds, such as local weather conditions, essentially delivering the message most relevant to the current environment of the screen. Through this type of ‘Dynamic Screen Scheduling’, retailers, restaurants and supermarkets can interact with customers in real-time to increase sales, boost footfall and encourage customer loyalty.
 
“Reports suggest that the US economy is beginning to turn a corner, yet it remains unclear whether consumers will resume spending or remain cautious with their money,” commented Jim Vair, Vice President of Business Development at Capital Networks Limited. “Companies that we work with are looking ahead to 2010 and identifying ways to ensure customers – old and new – feel they are getting the best value for money. And to do this, they want to interact with their customers, in real-time. Interactive digital signage is the only advertising mechanism that enables companies to immediately promote cost-saving offers when they most appeal to consumers.”

Smart digital signage in action – just some of the ways it can work:

Retailers – Coupons, Vouchers and ‘One-Day Sales’ are very effective ways of increasing profit, however they have to be organized and advertised days or weeks in advance, which can be time-consuming and costly. By utilizing ‘Dynamic Screen Scheduling’ shops can program content to interact with current data. For example, if the current conditions are rainy, consumers coming in from the rain or about to go back outside will see content promoting umbrellas, rain hats, etc but if the weather is bright sunshine, content will automatically switch to promote sunglasses, sunscreen, etc.

Sports Bars/Pubs – Establishments showing live sports events can have their signage pre-programmed to offer promotions when the score of a game changes. For example, every time the home team scores, adverts automatically pop up promoting half price nachos for the next ten minutes. Customers will already have their full attention directed at the screens and such offers can encourage long-term customer loyalty, which is just as important as attracting new customers.

Supermarket Wine Boutiques – Interactive applications are very popular with consumers. Touch screen applications are now available that allow shoppers to press a button indicating what they are planning to have for dinner that evening and the signage would display suggested wine pairings based on the store’s current inventory.

If they can beam dynamic, digital video data to the surface of your eyes, there are going to be advertisers willing to pay for THAT space. I’m telling you, no place is sacred anymore. Signs, signs, everywhere a sign. So, what do you do? Fight the future? Embrace change? Pursue happiness? Rock & Roll! Happy Friday …

“A contact lens that harvests radio waves to power an LED is paving the way for a new kind of display. The lens is a prototype of a device that could display information beamed from a mobile device.”
‘Our hope is to create images that effectively float in front of the user perhaps 50 cm to 1 m away,’ says Parviz.

“Future versions will be able to harvest power from a user’s cell phone, perhaps as it beams information to the lens. They will also have more pixels and an array of microlenses to focus the image so that it appears suspended in front of the wearer’s eyes.”

“Despite the limited space available, each component can be integrated into the lens without obscuring the wearer’s view, the researchers claim. As to what kinds of images can be viewed on this screen, the possibilities seem endless. Examples include subtitles when conversing with a foreign-language speaker, directions in unfamiliar territory and captioned photographs. The lens could also serve as a head-up display for pilots or gamers.”

Contact lenses to get built-in virtual graphics – tech – 12 November 2009 – New Scientist.

Remember this? >> Tesla \”Signs\”

Digital out-of-home advertising will reach $2.2 billion this year, hitting $3.7 billion by 2013.

According to a BIA/Kelsey forecast released this week, the segment, which includes digital billboards and place-based networks, will grow at an annual rate of 13.5 percent, outpacing traditional OOH’s 1.4 percent growth rate.

Traditional out-of-home is forecast to inch up from $4.4 billion this year to $4.6 billion in 2013. In 2010, DOOH will increase 9 percent to $2.4 billion, while traditional OOH will dip 2 percent to $4.3 billion.

Unlike the traditional segment, which is heavily concentrated with three firms commanding 85 percent of all billboard revenue, the DOOH segment is highly fragmented among more than 2,100 companies, making the business ripe for consolidation.

“DOOH must get easier to plan, buy and measure in order to reach scale. With consolidation, partnerships and interoperable platforms, we see the buying process becoming more integrated, which will spur growth,” said Rick Ducey, chief strategy officer for BIA/Kelsey.

Source: Brand Week

More good news from the signmakers and people who hang out with them!

In that distance one can find an internationally known casino, gleaming new buildings, shuttered old ones, historic sites, pawn shops, high- and low-end bars, two no-frills nude dancing joints and enough neon to read the sports pages at midnight.

And now it’s a National Scenic Byway.

The designation, reserved for roads with historic, cultural or scenic significance, was bestowed Friday, capping off a nine-year effort to join the program. The Strip south of Sahara Avenue was already a designated byway.

In naming the road to the byways program, the Federal Highway Administration noted its importance in Las Vegas’ development and the vintage neon on hotels and wedding chapels that makes the boulevard one of the more unique U.S. streets.

There soon will be more of that neon. Rep. Shelley Berkley’s office has announced a $300,000 grant to pay for restoring two more signs from the Neon Museum.

Three other signs were recently restored and put on display in the median of Las Vegas Boulevard north of Bonanza.

“Neon is to Las Vegas what skyscrapers are to Manhattan,” said Berkley, D-Nev. “These signs along Las Vegas Boulevard enchant visitors and locals alike, and each tells the story of our past in its own way.”

Eventually, restored signs will decorate the median all the way to Sahara.

The byway designation doesn’t impose new requirements on properties along the route, according to a city spokeswoman. It’s expected to make Las Vegas’ grant applications for work in the corridor more competitive.

The city has imposed its own rules, however, saying that new signs must have at least 75 percent exposed neon or animation.

There’s more to the byway designation than neon.

The old Mormon Fort sits at Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington. Originally built in 1855, it was the first permanent non-native settlement in the valley. It’s now a state park.

Farther south is the Fifth Street School, which opened as the Las Vegas Grammar School in 1936 to serve a population that was growing because of Hoover Dam’s construction. It was restored and reopened last year, and is now used for office and meeting space.

And there’s Wee Kirk O’ The Heather wedding chapel at Bridger Avenue that has been open since 1940 and served as a minister’s house for 15 years before that.

Chapel manager Michael Lambermont said Las Vegas Boulevard is different from most scenic byways, but it deserves its place among them.

“It’s a little obscure, but it’s part of the new American arcana,” he said.

There’s new stuff too, such as the striking federal courthouse just across the street from Lambermont’s chapel.

There’s also plenty of evidence of tough times: vacant lots, empty storefronts, homeless people passing the time.

This stretch of road offers Las Vegas in microcosm, including half-realized high-rise condo dreams, the glitz of the city’s temptations and the pawn shops some turn to when ends don’t quite meet.

And, because it’s Vegas, you’ll find young women doing what they can to make the route more scenic.

Talk of the Town, a combination strip club and adult video retailer, has swings and a mechanical bull in the parking lot that female employees use to draw attention.

A few blocks down, Showgirl Video has gotten into the act too, with scantily attired women standing out front to advertise its nude dancing booths.

One of those dancers, who goes by the name Georgia Peach, declared that Las Vegas Boulevard deserves the designation.

“Of course!” she said when asked whether Las Vegas Boulevard is scenic. “It’s lots of fun.

“We have (us). We have all the chapels and the hotels. I love it.”

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.

via The Scenic Strip – News – ReviewJournal.com.

Read the full story …

Lucky Strike wanted to display static and video artwork in a new way and update it regularly to keep the venue fresh and appealing. The goal was for each artist’s work to be shown in the highest quality resolution for eight to 12 minutes per day, seven days a week in Lucky Strike locations. Effective management of the visual projection and playback, as well as its timing and scheduling, was also a key requirement.

via Entertainment | BrightSign digital signage networks go into Lucky Strike Lanes | Digital Signage Today.

The key enabling technology – printed electronics – is about to reduce costs by 99%.

Consequently, many leading brand owners have recently put multidisciplinary teams onto the adoption of the new paper thin electronics on their high volume packaging. It will provide a host of consumer benefits and make competition look very tired indeed. This is mainly about modern merchandising – progressing way beyond static print – and dramatically better consumer propositions.

via Brand Enhancement by Electronics in Packaging 2010-2020: IDTechEx.

via Creative Review – PhotoSketch.

I really like how simply this could be used to more fully develop storyboards and sell ideas. Nice work. Look for this technology everywhere, soon.