Out and about
Before entering the show hall, visitors were greeted by two buses parked just outside. One was showing the Pink Banana creative agency’s content and the other one was from Screen Forum. The later was used to take visitors to see the Westfield Shopping centre. Westfield is the first fully digital shopping centre and it is located in Shepherds Bush, west London. The mall houses a vast internal screen network installed and managed by CBS Outdoor and an external system operated by Ocean Outdoor.
In addition to the tour The Screen Forum hosted 'The Green Party' - Screen Forum Members and Expo Exhibitor's Drinks Reception - to launch the 'Green Screen' initiative. The initiative aims to produce a set of sustainable guidelines for companies operating in the digital signage sector.
Rent-a-sign
Bits AV was at the show with a new proposition: rent your digital signage. The packages came in three different flavours and worked out at less than a fiver a day. The deal is that you rent your signage for three years and at the end of it you can purchase it if you want.
The lowest package is the reception package, for £64.80 a month. Then is the Boardroom/meeting room package for £120.43. The higher end which included videoconferencing for £268.03 per month. The promotion was lunched at the show; we’ll have to see whether the market is ready for some ‘hang and bang’.
New technology
PSCo showed Prysm for the first time in the UK. The companies have partnered to bring to market the new Laser Phosphor Display (LPD) technology in the UK. The display works by a laser beam stimulating the phosphor material and creating a high resolution image.
The new LPD range is due to be available from June 2010. The 25” panel tiles are designed to be completely bezel-less with a 0.2mm seam. The cubes can be arranged to form a large panel display.
A bit of celebrity bling
Winner of the Apprentice TV show Yasmina Siadatan and her boss Simon Sugar – son of Sir Alan Sugar, were present at this year’s Screen Expo. Yasmina presented the last session of the DOOH Media Summit.
Sir Alan has recognised the importance of the Dooh Networks and digital signage company Amscreen is part of his portfolio of companies. Amscreen is going from strength to strength.
On its latest deal, the company was appointed by Shell as its exclusive digital signage provider in a five year contract. Amscreen's close proximity signage units will be installed in approximately 580 of Shell's company owned sites from April 2010 confirming Amscreen as the number one digital signage provider in the country.
Amscreen's forecourt network will now run across over 1,500 locations and deliver an audience of over 35 million people every fortnight. Every major petrol retailer is part of Amscreen's forecourt network including BP, Esso, MRH Retail, Euro Garages and Motor Fuel Group. All of these screens will carry customer information, live traffic updates, advertising for in-store promotions as well as messages from national and regional advertisers.
The network across all sites uses Amscreen's bespoke 'plug and play' technology, which allows screen content to be updated remotely and in real time without the need for any extra cabling or IT infrastructure on site.
www.amscreen.co.uk
Conclusion
DS is a bullish industry with much to offer and a lot to get. Big players, such as Intel or Christie, that had been looking at this market from the corner of their eyes, are now fully involved and pushing this industry forwards. The future for DS is multi screen, interactive and multi dimensional.
However, the general consensus is that the DS industry needs standardisation. DS is at the moment a fragmented collection of several hundred technology and solution providers, each of them providing one piece of the puzzle in the digital signage eco-system.