Digital Signage Forum, Digital Signage, Digital Signage Network, Digital Signage Product Reviews

The Digital Retailing Expo was held May 17-18 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL (Chicago). It is the largest tradeshow and conference dedicated to screen-based in-store media networks, digital signage and digital solutions. This year the event was added to Retail Week, an industry-wide event which also featured the Retail Interiors Expo and the Retail Construction Expo.

This year’s event was a huge success. The enthusiasm and participation was outstanding. Representatives from all sectors of the industry were able to come together and discuss current industry obstacles, emerging opportunities, future outlooks, but most importantly of all: best practices. The event served as a forum for sharing pertinent data and results from successful implementations. Industry leaders were exceptionally open about providing details on what did and didn’t work, their business strategies, and upcoming plans.

Aditionally, there was an incredible amount of international support. Some of the largest digital signage network projects from the past year were installed in Canada and attendees represented all parts of the world. The general consensus was that international adoption of the medium is more prevalent than in the United States, for a variety of reasons. The primary reason is because most countries do not have the advertising history that the U.S. has so they think outside of the traditional box that U.S. marketers and advertisers have become accustomed to. In addition, the lack of a centralized media buying directory and communications-planning tool for digital networks has proved to be a huge barrier to adoption of the medium. Retail Media Link, recently acquired by Mediaedge:cia of WPP’s GroupM division, has developed such a tool to address this issue and unveiled it at the Expo. It is currently in beta version and RML plans on offering the solution as a subscription service.

Many of the other challenges that digital signage faces parallel those experienced with internet advertising, but one thing is certain- it will soon become a vital component in media planning for all advertisers. Nikki Baird, Senior Analyst for Forrester Research, said she believes that digital signage will experience widespread adoption and take off within the next two years. With the recent pairing between Publicis Groupe and Simon Property Group for a large-scale digital signage network, it is only time before the other media giants follow.