Houston, we have a network
Woodforest National Bank in Texas is rolling out a digital-signage network not only in its own offices, but also in Wal-Mart stores where it operates branches.
The Houston-based financial institution has so far deployed more than 100 screens, but plans eventually to extend the network to some 600 branches, the majority of them in Wal-Marts.
The screens, driven by Omnivex software, are located at entrances and teller positions.
Sky News adds another out-of-home site
Sky News could get a significant boost to its UK viewership through a new deal signed with digital-outdoor operator City Gateway Media.
Each four-minute loop on City Gateway's Manchester Tower screen (pictured) in the eponymous northern English city is to feature 30 seconds of Sky News material.
City Gateway claims the screen reaches 207,000 viewers daily – a substantial number to add to Sky's UK satellite viewership of
Research raises doubts over effectiveness of drug ads
New research published this week in the British Medical Journal casts doubt on the value of using pharmacy screens to advertise prescription drugs.
Researchers from the universities of Harvard and Alberta set out to assess the efficacy of direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising by comparing the drug purchases of English- and French-speaking Canadians.
Their reasoning was that although DTC ads are prohibited in Canada – as they are in
Celebrity chef calls for end to restaurant TV
One of Britain’s best-known chefs has joined the chorus of opposition to out-of-home TV with a magazine column criticising the spread of screens in restaurants and bars.
Writing in the latest issue of Waitrose Food Illustrated – a magazine produced for and distributed by the upmarket grocer – Richard Corrigan recounts a recent dining experience: “As you try to converse with your companion, a screen hovering over your table
Arabian Gulf network owner eyes 500 locations
Bahrain’s diversified Mofakro Group, whose properties range from fast-food outlets to a film-production company, has launched a digital-signage advertising network which it is hoped will grow to more than 500 sites.
The network, whose first screens have appeared in Jawad supermarkets in the small Arabian Gulf nation, will reach about 50 locations and 250 screens in its initial phase.
Located along aisles, in high-traffic power aisles and behind
Shopping-centre screen specialist heads for Siberia
Russia’s fast-growing digital-signage sector is moving beyond the major cities of the country’s western region into smaller, further-flung centres.
In the latest installation, Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siberia and an important junction on the Trans-Siberian railway, is to get a screen-media system from SPK-Media in the new Ogni shopping mall.
The digital-signage system will use 3D displays, contactless loyalty cards and touchscreen kiosks.
According to Sergey
Wal-Mart begins rollout of next-generation network
U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart is this month beginning rollout of the long-awaited next generation of its in-store TV network, the company said today.
Dubbed the Wal-Mart Smart Network, it is the successor to Wal-Mart TV, one of the world’s most prominent retail TV networks.
Premier Retail Networks, the Thomson-owned in-store TV specialist which has long handled Wal-Mart TV, will continue to be involved in network operation, ad sales,
Digital signage drives growth of Russian OOH market
Outdoor-advertising revenues in Russia soared by around 13 percent in the first half of this year, mainly on the back of a surge in the use of digital signage, according to the Association of Communication Agencies in Russia (AKAR).
The country’s advertising market as a whole grew by 20.4 percent in the first half of 2008, compared to the same period last year.
But it’s not all caviar
Screens loom large at U.S. party conventions
As the U.S. election campaign reaches fever pitch, digital signage is ever-present in the background – and sometimes in the foreground too.
Just as the political campaign is being fought on the Internet, so the managers of the Obama and McCain campaigns have also discovered the power of public screens.
The resources of XLVideo, which claims to be the world’s largest video-screen rental firm, were put to the
Promotional screen will fly high over Vegas
A new casino resort in Las Vegas is using a giant screen built into a blimp for promotion and recruitment.
The 2100-square-foot LED display will go airborne at the site of M Resort this month, although the $1bn establishment is not scheduled to open until next March.
Supplied by The Lightship Group, the twin-engine A-170LS blimp has a 70-by-30-foot LED screen on one side and M Resort’s logo
Digital signage to raise money for Venetian heritage
Outdoor screens could help save historic buildings on Venice’s iconic St. Mark’s Square.
Local authorities hope that selling advertising airtime on the screens will help fund a €3.6m ($5.2m) restoration project on buildings including the Ala Napoleonica and Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana.
However, reaction to the plans has been mixed, with one local newspaper commenting – perhaps hyperbolically – that the famous piazza, for many years ad-free, could end
Statoil rolling out screens to gas-station C-stores
StatoilHydro has contracted with Scala for the supply of a digital-signage network to around 1500 gas stations located across the Nordic region as well as in the Baltic nations, Poland and Russia.
Unlike in the U.S.. where screens are typically at the pumps, to be seen while drivers put gas into their cars and lorries, the Statoil network will mainly feature LCD screens inside the convenience stores that are
Special report: goodbye ABC1, hello behavioural analysis
Many digital-signage networks are described by their operators as reaching “ABC1 consumers”, or perhaps “18-to-30-year-old males”. But are such broad-brush definitions really much use when it comes to deciding which types of advertising and content are appropriate for the network – and, equally importantly, are they precise enough to convince an advertising agency’s media planners that these are the screens they ought to employ?
After all, taking the UK
Russia, India, Mexico are fastest-growing ad markets
Advertising expenditure will continue to surge in the emerging economies through 2009 despite some slowing in China, according to the latest predictions from media-planning and market-research group Aegis.
For 2008, the fastest-growing markets will be Russia (pictured) at 22.8 percent, India at 21 percent and Mexico at 20 percent, Aegis says. In 2009, central and eastern Europe (15.2 percent) and Latin America as a whole (14.1 percent) will lead
TruMedia software can detect age of consumers
Audience-monitoring firm TruMedia has built an age-recognition feature into the latest version of its iCapture system, allowing the package to differentiate older consumers from younger when they are detected by its camera viewing a digital-signage display.
The software already had the capability to distinguish adults from children as well as guessing at gender and ethnic origin.
“We believe we have come up with a breakthrough in targeted marketing
