On a recent trip to London, I was in a station with a large format LED panel display. The screen in question boasted similar dimensions to a standard printed billboard, so it was a significant size.

When I had my back to the screen searching for my train ticket, I was suddenly aware of everything being bathed in an eerie red light. This did not last for more than ten seconds, so I didn’t give it much thought.

However, just as I was setting off to go to the platform the same thing happened again. I realised it was the large format display causing this effect. The designers of the sign had chosen an unpleasantly bright red hue to illustrate their advert. What’s more, I am pretty sure the ambient light sensor on the screen either was not working, or it didn’t have one at all. The sign perfectly illustrated why converting print media to digital isn’t as simple as many believe.

I was so offended by this monstrosity that I didn’t take in the product or service the screen intended to advertise. We all known the benefits of digital signage for attracting attention, especially large format displays. But there is a delicate balance to be struck between drawing the eye of your audience, and intruding on their environment. If you err towards the latter, you risk doing more harm than good by irritating and ultimately alienating your audience.

This particular instance is a prime example of this problem. I can tell you that there is a company who has paid to advertise on this screen that favour a particularly vibrant shade of red, but I couldn’t tell you an awful lot more. Advertisers and design agencies, you have been warned.

This time last week the DMP commercial team were working their socks off talking to all sorts of people at the NEC Solutions Showcase at London’s O2. It was a great event, and huge thanks must go to the team at NEC who went to every length to ensure a successful day.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the event, the NEC Solutions Showcase provides a unique platform focused upon solutions rather than technology, which means the exhibition space was divided into areas like retail, education, healthcare and leisure etc.

DMP was exhibiting in three areas at the show; leisure and 3D, professional office and retail. On display were our web-based digital signage solution, our Immersion media adapter hardware, and our HD and signage over coax solution. If you visited the show and are having trouble remembering us (heaven forbid), we were the people with the sports bar signage, as well as some impressively orange broadcast hardware.

On wandering round the show, it struck us what a fantastic array of advanced AV technology there is on offer from all sorts of UK companies. From video walls to touch screens, and everything in between. At DMP, we have always designed and developed all our own hardware, firmware and software in house. It was heartening to see other providers catching on to the benefits such an approach.

It was hard not to feel a little proud of all that is being achieved in the DOOH industry in the UK at the moment. From our own successes and talking to our contemporaries, it is clear that British technology is being sold all over the world.

So, the next time we hear someone complaining that manufacturing and innovation is in decline in the UK, we have a few suggestions for events for them to attend.

DMP will be exhibiting at the brilliant NEC Solutions Showcase on Wednesday 25th April at London’s O2.

As well as the chance to meet some of DMP’s lovely sales and marketing team (in the form of Andrew, Harriet and Laura), there will also be the opportunity to see a range of our ground-breaking technology in action.

On show will be DMP’s HD and signage over coax solution, our web-based digital signage system and our state-of-the-art IPTV solution, in addition to innovative technology from over 50 of the UK’s most innovative AV companies.

Let us know if you plan to attend the showcase, we would love to say hello. Email hcullum@dmpip.tv or call 0800 157 1119 for more information.

For more details about the showcase follow @NECShowcase on Twitter, or to register go to the NEC Solutions Showcase website. It’s free to attend, so what are you waiting for?

Champagne corks were popping at DMP after we won an award for our newest digital signage product.

Before Easter we were presented with a Yorkshire Digital and Technology award for our Immersion set top box and media player, in the Best Application of Mobile Technology category (and here’s our technical director Pete, with the award. Doesn’t he look happy?).

DMP Immersion, which is used by companies like Beefeater, allows deployment of dynamic digital signage on screens across remote locations, without the use of disc, dongle or hardwired Internet connection. The device simply has an internal SIM and all media is transmitted over mobile networks.

The use of this technology to deliver digital signage content removes the need for expensive infrastructure. Additionally, the web-based Creator and Content Management System (CMS) enable organisations to create, deploy, manage and amend signage at any location across their estate, from any Internet-connected device.

Needless to say, we’re really pleased to win this award for our mobile digital signage delivery solution. We like to think it is a great innovation, but it is always nice to have some official confirmation!

DMP has entered into an exclusive partnership with leading IT trade distributor Micro-P, who will be become the sole distributor of our products in the UK.

Working in partnership with their numerous resellers and our sales team, Micro-P has already generated a sales pipeline of opportunities across the retail, corporate and hospitality sectors. The agreement will also see the launch of our latest next-generation hardware, the Immersion media player and set top box.

A motivating factor in Micro-P’s decision to distribute DMP technology was our digital signage solution. Using the latest cloud technology, the system is low cost, with zero impact on the IT infrastructure within an organisation and no local IT security issues. As the platform is hosted by us and no installation is needed, the whole system can be up and running almost immediately. Easily accessible from anywhere with Internet connectivity, the solution’s cross-platform design means it will run on Linux, Windows and Mac operating systems.

Andrew Simister (pictured above), our head of UK sales, said: “Micro-P’s reputation for provision of cutting-edge IT products and logistics management is a great fit for DMP’s requirements and will help us to continue our rapid expansion. We have big ambitions, and I am sure that Micro-P will be a key component in achieving our goals.”

Head of the AV and consumer department at Micro-P, Ian Aitken said: “DMP has a very impressive range of products, in addition to extensive in-house expertise in development. This combination ensures they are leading innovators in their sector. We are really looking forward to distributing their products in the UK, and we are already seeing interest in their technology from well-known companies in a number of sectors.”

Ever fancied working in one of the most beautiful spa towns in the UK, for one of the coolest technology companies around? Well, now’s your chance! DMP is recruiting; we are looking for a systems developer and a designer for our highly innovative and expanding company, specialising in media delivery systems for the retail, corporate and hospitality sectors.

Systems developer role

The successful candidate will be responsible for the design and development of our cutting-edge digital signage and media delivery products. This is a great opportunity to experience a wide range of technologies from web applications to device drivers as a key part of a team responsible for creating some of the best digital signage products in the world.

The right candidate must be well organised, enthusiastic and capable of communicating well both within a team and to external clients. You will have strong commercial development experience, and above all will be a genius programmer.

Essential skills

• Strong C/C++
• Linux experience

Beneficial

• JavaScript development with a framework (JQuery, Mootools, etc…)
• MySQL
• Embedded systems development
• XML / XSL
• OSX / Windows development

More details

The role is a full time permanent position based in the attractive spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Some foreign travel may be involved so the right candidate must be able to meet international visa requirements.

Designer role

The successful candidate will work alongside other members of the team, designing and developing marketing collateral, the company website and innovative and eye-catching digital signage. You will also be closely involved in compiling impressive pitches for a range of national and international organisations. This is a fantastic opportunity to work in a vibrant and innovative company, to develop a wide range of skills, and to create world-class digital media.

The right candidate must be well organised, enthusiastic and capable of effective communication. You must also be an excellent key player.

The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate capability in the following areas:

• Print design;
• Web design;
• Use of Mac-based software;
• Adherence to brand governance guideline.

Essential skills

• Adobe Creative Suite;
• HTML;
• CSS / CSS3;
• Print design;
• 3D modeling;
• Native Javascipt;
• At least one Javascipt framework e.g. JQuery, Mootools etc.

Beneficial

• BSC/BA or equivalent in Multimedia Design, Digital Media, Web Design, Print Design, or Web Development;
• PHP;
• Wordpress;
• Motion graphics.

More details

The role is a full time permanent position based in the attractive spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire. Some foreign travel may be involved so the right candidate must be able to meet international visa requirements.

For more details on either of these roles or to send us your CV, contact Harriet Cullum on 01423 740 640 or email careers@dmpip.tv.

There is a rumour that Google are releasing some very cool glasses later this year, which will project information, entertainment and (as you would expect from Google) advertisements onto the lenses. For those of you imagining a Wall-E-esque dystopia where human interaction becomes a thing of the past, fear not! We hear the glasses are not being designed to be worn constantly, but will be more like immersive smart phones, providing services as and when needed.

The wealth of possibilities offered by this piece of technology got me pondering on how the invention might be used to revive the high street. Let’s face it; push marketing has had its day, especially where mobile phones are concerned. Bluetooth and text messages are frankly annoying and the capability of those mechanisms to get consumers spending just isn’t there. Plus, the whole concept of ‘push’ is invasive and often counterproductive.

These glasses present a number of very exciting possibilities ripe for exploitation by retailers. Just one example is specifically designed shopping services that provide augmented reality-style way finding to the best deals, and alerts to the best pricing when viewing a product.

With the high street suffering as it is retailers really need to embrace the ’store as showroom’ concept. The web is only a threat to traditional shops because it provides features that aren’t available in store: price and specification checks being the primary ones, certainly for technology products. Retailers have made attempts to provide these benefits with interactive tablets and price-comparison claims, but consumers remain skeptical. Even more so in these tough, competitive times where retailers will do almost anything to get us spending with them.

Admittedly, putting the information gathering in the hands of the consumer does take some power away from the retailer in influencing buyer decisions. But additional revenue earned from supplier support (i.e. the store charging for simply having the products on show) would help offset that. This concept is never going to shift all the power and margin back to the high street, but given the inevitable changes that are already underway it’s more about adapting and surviving than anything else.

If Google can bring these glasses to market with the great features at the right price it could well be the biggest thing to hit high street retail since the web itself. Except this time round hopefully the impact will be a positive one.]]> http://www.digitalmediaprojects.co.uk/google-glasses-could-make-%e2%80%98store-as-a-showroom%e2%80%99-the-future-for-retail/feed 0 http://www.digitalmediaprojects.co.uk/in-this-advert-saturated-age-why-digital-signage-makes-sense http://www.digitalmediaprojects.co.uk/in-this-advert-saturated-age-why-digital-signage-makes-sense#comments Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:40:53 +0000 Harriet http://www.digitalmediaprojects.co.uk/?p=3526 We are constantly bombarded by advertising messages every day. On the television, the Internet, sides of buses, billboards, social networking sites, shop windows and even our mobile phones.

With such a saturation of adverts everywhere we look, marketers are finding it more and more difficult to make their messages memorable. And the general public are finding it easier to zone out altogether.

We are constantly bombarded by advertising messages every day. On the television, the Internet, sides of buses, billboards, social networking sites, shop windows and even our mobile phones.

With such a saturation of adverts everywhere we look, marketers are finding it more and more difficult to make their messages memorable. And the general public are finding it easier to zone out altogether.

As consumers, we like adverts which are relevant to us. We gain a sense of satisfaction from Amazon suggesting that we might like to buy something we have been pondering on for ages (incidentally did you know they do this with algorithms that have been know to go wrong on occasion?) However, no one likes to feel harassed by unnecessary and untargeted nonsense.

Perhaps this is why larger retailers are turning more and more to the digital channel to get their message across?  Digital signage provides the tools to broadcast relevant, targeted and interesting marketing communications, perhaps explaining its rise in popularity over recent years. As a marketing tool, it offers:

• The ability to react quickly to market opportunities and deploy content immediately;
• The capability to create localised signage;
• The ability to schedule signage specific to different day parts and seasonal times;
• The ability to create eye-catching, and dynamic displays with RSS tickers, animation and video windows showing live or pre-recorded content;
• The opportunity for new revenue streams from third-party advertisers;
• The opportunity to improve environmental credentials by reducing paper signage;
• The capacity to display emergency messaging, automatically if necessary.

The main reason for its popularity is almost certainly the ability to react instantly to market conditions. A fantastic analogy for summing up this power goes as follows: you own a shop that sells umbrellas and it starts to rain, in less than a minute you can have a sign up on all your screens with the message “What horrible weather, 10 per cent off umbrellas today!” Soggy shoppers will thank you for understanding their needs, and addressing them so helpfully, enabling your brand to build a relationship with them and hopefully secure a sale into the bargain.

In a climate where every victory in increasing sales or market share is a hard fought battle, digital signage is an excellent weapon to have in your armoury.

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You may well ask what a digital signage and IPTV company is doing blogging about Steve Jobs. Well, we like technology (being a technology company) and we like Apple (Macs all the way here), so it felt fitting to comment on an historic day in the annals of one of the world’s most well-known companies. Plus their products all have a key attribute which is close to our hearts (more on this in a bit).

With the announcement of Jobs’ resignation as CEO due to ill health, there will be much discussion about what the future holds for Apple. News that the company’s shares initially fell five per cent on the US stock market suggests many believe Apple’s massive success is thanks to Jobs.

Love him or loathe him, Steve Jobs is one of the most successful businessmen in recent history. Founding Apple in the mid seventies and taking the helm again in 1997 after an absence of 12 years, he transformed the struggling computer company to arguably the most innovative consumer electronics organisation the world has ever seen.

Whatever your opinion, there are some irrefutable figures which amply demonstrate Apple’s success. Here’s just three; they have sold 275 million iPods worldwide, they recently overtook Exxon Mobil as the world’s most valued company, and they have sold 25 million iPads in just 14 months.

So why has Apple enjoyed such massive success? And why is the stock market reflecting a fear the golden years are over now Jobs has stepped down? Some may argue it is Jobs’ innate ability to sell that has led Apple to the heights it enjoys today. That is certainly part of it. But is one man really entirely responsible for the success of a company that employs in excess of 45,000 people?

Yes it is his vision that has made Apple what is it, but it is his team of talented developers that has allowed the company to create highly usable products that leave competitors standing.

Their products are complex pieces of technology, but they are so intuitive to use that you can practically throw the manual in the bin. Plain and simple, usability is at the heart of everything Apple do.

At DMP, this was our aim when designing our web-based tool for managing and creating digital signage. We wanted to make the system (which is accessible through any web browser) as familiar and intuitive as possible. Now, we’re not professing to be Apple, and but we like to think that our digital signage platform is the most user friendly on the market. Don’t believe us? We challenge you to come and see for yourself by booking a demonstration.

As for the Apple/Jobs conundrum, only time will tell how the story will end. One thing’s for sure, as long as Apple keeps making highly usable and innovative products (that look seriously cool), people will keep buying them.  And you don’t need to be Steve Jobs to work that one out.

DMP will exhibit at the Techmesh Expo 2011 at the Royal Armouries in Leeds on the 13th October.

With a place on the Interactive Stand, the team will show off the best of DMP’s products, including our next-generation set top box DMP Immersion and our low latency HD-SDI encoder.

The Immersion’s capabilities will also be on show in the reception area of the exhibtion, powering the content on the fours screens to welcome visitors.

If you are planning to go to the Techmesh Expo, we’d love to say hello. Drop us an email, and we can even create some bespoke signage to welcome you.

We look forward to seeing you there.