Digital
Study reveals nearly 10% of digital signage projects 'failing'
Almost 10% of digital signage projects "fail completely" to meet their objectives.
In a Futuresource Consulting white paper, a study of nearly 100 such initiatives showed nine to have failed completely and another 10 were declared only partially successful.
The company found that although the hardware and software platforms were now available for many businesses to take advantage of the benefits of digital signage, major obstacles still stood in the way of the format replacing print and entering the mainstream.
In some of the projects studied, the fact eight different parties were engaged and a lack of metrics to measure success or failure made digital signage overcomplicated and impossible to measure the return from.
However, Futuresource Consulting said this is likely to change, with more plug and play devices coming on to the market and industry standards beginning to emerge.
Even so, it recommends a "temperate approach to market potential" of digital signage.
The survey polled senior decision makers responsible for signage and digital media networks in France, the Netherlands, Portugal and the UK.
Comments
Michael Marcus - 10 July 2008
In our view there is a tendency to over-complicate the output of digital signage. The result is extravagant, complex and expensive solutions that deliver equally extravagant, complex and expensive-to-produce messages to the customer.
Most DS applications are initially intended to be used to transmit "basic" Product or Brand messages.
At some point these messages become so "ornate" that the viewer often doesn't know what the message is (because there is so much other "stuff" on the monitor which is of limited, if any, value to the business).
Our suggestion is: Keep it simple. Keep it inexpensive. Keep it relevant.
There will be time to consider "sexing" it up after it gets traction in its basic format. And the reason for making it more complex should have nothing to do with keeping the marketing/ creative guys interested, and everything to do with ensuring that the viewer gets a clear "clean" message.
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