InWindow turns to malls; sales house for WindowGain
Mall advertising looks set to increase on both sides of the Atlantic, with the entry of U.S. firm InWindow into shopping centres and a new sales deal for Britain’s WindowGain.
InWindow, going into malls for the first time, will install its billboard-sized Storescape displays in empty storefronts and on walls.
The firm, which has up to now placed its displays in vacant street-facing stores, has signed up mall 
Network gets go-ahead in Danish Kvickly stores
Denmark’s Coop is to roll out digital signage to all its Kvickly supermarkets following a successful trial.
Systems provided by Mermaid Technology’s Acrossmedia will be installed first in 24 outlets as part of renovations, and later in the remainder of the estate. The chain has about 80 Kvickly and larger Kvickly Xtra stores.
Screens carrying product information and promotions will be placed at entrances – where they were
NDS looks to smaller airport operators
Net Display Systems of the Netherlands says it has found a new niche for digital-signage systems: small and medium-size airports which are reluctant to invest in the kind of full-blown networks found at their larget counterparts.
The company, which has been selling software for flight-information displays since 1994 and has more recently moved into digital signage, is marketing a bundle based on its PADS digital-signage system. The PADS Airport
PRN signs first TV Kart advertisers
Premier Retail Networks in the U.S., which this spring started selling advertising on Cabco Group’s TV-enabled shopping trolleys, last week said it had signed up its first five advertisers.
They are Unilever; sodium bicarbonate firm Church & Dwight; breath-freshener manufacturer Cadbury Adams; Bush’s Baked Beans; and American Greetings.
Cabco’s TV Karts incorporate screens which both entertain young children sitting in the trolley’s “cab” and provide information for parents
NEC: the future is LCD
NEC Display Solutions is moving away from plasma technology in favour of LCD panels.
Lower power consumption, customer demand, and increasing LCD response rates – now close to plasma’s – are the driving forces behind the decision, according to president Pierre Richer.
The company cites iSuppli and DisplaySearch research that suggests virtually all growth in the U.S. market for digital-signage displays will be found in sales of LCD
Pierhouse integrates digital signage with retail system
UK retail-technology firm Pierhouse has added digital-signage control functions to its net.tickIT system, allowing retailers to update their screens as well as ticketing and kiosks simultaneously with the same content.
The browser-based net.tickIT system is already in use by British retailer groups including Co-op, Mothercare International, Somerfield and Waitrose.
“Assisted selling – whether by a member of the sales team or by a customer using a kiosk –
Digital signage draws visitors into hot topics
The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology is using an interactive digital-signage system to enhance its exhibits.
Based on Scala software and deployed by Eytor Interaktiv Media along with Scala certified partner Kongsberg Intellifield, the system in the Oslo museum complements other innovations intended to deeply involve the public in the topics that it covers.
The global-warming exhibit, for example, requires visitors to wear rubber boots as they
JCDecaux-News Outdoor: the deal is off
JCDecaux and News Outdoor, the Russian outdoor-advertising subsidiary of News Corporation, have abandoned negotiations for a takeover that would have seen JCDecaux become the world’s largest outdoor firm.
“Economic and capital-market conditions have made it increasingly difficult to conclude strategic partnerships on this scale,” the companies said in a joint statement, contradicting suggestions made last week by JCDecaux’s co-chief executive Jean Charles Decaux that the deal could still be
Indian survey shows young audience, high recall
The audience for digital out-of-home in India’s big cities is young, well-educated and remembers the screens they see, according to new research conducted by Nielsen for network owner OOH Media.
Surveying 14,574 consumers in 175 locations over several months, the researchers found 60 percent were in socioeconomic class A and a similar percentage were university graduates or equivalent. About 70 percent were aged 20 to 34.
Perhaps most
Jingwei abandons Chinese OOH takeover
China’s Jingwei International has pulled out of the deal it made in the New Year to buy digital out-of-home specialist Red Flag.
“Jingwei has decided to strategically pursue less capital-intensive opportunities which provide immediate cashflow by focusing on its core business,” the company said.
Russians rebel against audio in digital signage
Bus passengers in Moscow, apparently fed up with digital signage, have asked the Russian Presidium for help.
And perhaps surprisingly, the government council – headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin – has ruled that the audio feed from digital signage in buses may be breaking the law.
According to the Presidium, since the sound from a bus can be heard outside the confines of the passenger cabin, it
Warning: credit crisis could hold back digital outdoor
A U.S. investment analyst has warned that the credit crunch could lead to outdoor-advertising operators cutting back their billboard digitisation programmes.
Downgrading Clear Channel Outdoor and Lamar Advertising stock this week, Laura Martin of Soleil Securities said that restricted access to capital could mean billboard owners slashing non-maintenance expenditure and postponing upgrades to digital.
And a weakening advertising market in the last weeks of the third quarter is
Touchscreen slides along retail shelving
U.S. retail-merchandising specialist Frank Mayer & Associates will next week bring to market a touchscreen unit designed for use on store shelves.
The SlideBuy Shopper Information System combines an interactive screen with bespoke software and can glide along the shelf, pulled by a handle, allowing access to products stored behind it.
The unit will be available with a range of monitor sizes and customisable frame designs.
Channel M launches bilingual network for finance firm
Channel M in the U.S. is rolling out its first bilingual in-store network for PLS Check Cashers.
Following a 50-store trial, the Spanish-and-English network will be deployed across the PLS estate. The company has more than 300 cheque-cashing outlets in Alabama, Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, New York, Texas and Wisconsin.
Promotional spots for PLS, which occupy about 60 percent of airtime on PLS TV and are produced
JCDecaux, News Outdoor still in takeover talks
JCDecaux is still in talks with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation concerning a possible takeover of its Russian outdoor-advertising subsidiary News Outdoor, according to reports.
Despite the current economic crisis, News Outdoor “remains a quality asset”, said JCDecaux’s co-chief executive Jean Charles Decaux (pictured) this week. His company is currently performing due diligence, Decaux added.
The deal, which would most likely create the world’s largest outdoor-advertising firm, was seen
