Ooha Services India has installed its first Ooha Station in Chennai, offering free high-speed Internet to users for 15 minutes while carrying advertising on a public-facing LCD screen.

The station (pictured) is a 6.5-foot-high structure with an LCD monitor for free broadband Internet browsing and another 42-inch LCD mounted on top of it, according to Ooha’s founder and CEO Thomas John. The first station has been deployed at Abirami Mall in Chennai.

Ads on the exterior of the unit can be still or full-motion, with or without video. The kiosk can also print out coupons for promotions.

And advertising is displayed not only to the public through the exterior-facing LCD, but also to the Internet user.

“The catch is free Internet,” said John. “Once we have a user with us, then the person has to authenticate his or her identity. The monitor, during the registration phase, displays ads. [But] once the user is logged in, we ensure that the browsing experience isn’t diluted.”
Gathering information on usage patterns will help precise targeting of these ads, said John.

He added: “We are eyeing all sorts of public-access areas such as shopping malls, entertainment, educational institutes, theatres, hospitals and so on for placement of Ooha Stations.

“We initially plan to have 100 such stations in Chennai in the next six months. Post that we will focus on other southern Indian cities such as Bangalore and Kochi.”

The company, which pays rent to host locations, also has plans for other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Pune, and is eyeing breakeven in one to two years.
Ooha has been funded by US-based ProgramX, a company also founded by John and specializing in supply-chain management and enterprise resource planning, and by Chennai-based private capital.

Canada’s Omnivex says its latest screen-media software can link any on-screen graphical element to a dynamic data feed, allowing content to be automatically changed by the media player without human intervention.

“We started in the financial trading industry where real-time information and ROI are critical to business, so Omnivex recognizes the value of live data for updating content,” said president Jeff Collard.

The new package, Moxie, offers digital-signage design and management tools through a browser interface. It joins existing Omnivex software products such as Display, Control and DataPipe for digital signage, as well as DataDisplay and TickerDisplay for LEDs.

Omnivex also says that by exploiting the latest PC graphics technology, similar to that found in Microsoft’s Vista and in games, it can deliver graphics superior to much digital signage.

“With greater exposure to high-end graphics from computer games and with the pending [U.S.] cutover to HDTV by 2009, people’s expectations of video content are growing rapidly,” said Collard.

“3D vector graphics allow content to look like a movie without all the heavy lifting of rendering video files,” added spokesperson Christine Rojewski.

17-year-old Omnivex has specialised in a number of verticals for its screen-media systems, with clients including more than 20 American and Canadian universities; energy companies; financial institutions including Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank of Scotland; U.S. and Canadian government and military sites; healthcare organisations including Pfizer and the Howard Hughes Health Institute; and hospitality venues such as the Beverly Hilton and Metro Toronto Convention Centre (pictured).

It also has customers in the media, leisure, retail, transportation and manufacturing sectors.

A UK digital-out-of-home startup is set to install up to 500 cylindrical advertising pods at newspaper shops across England.

ICA Network Solutions told SCREENS.tv that in addition to local advertising and community messages, its iCan units will display live headline feeds from the Daily Mail newspaper.

The three-foot-high iCan pods (pictured) are based on advanced LED technology. When tri-colour LEDs are rotated at a certain speed, the device generates “virtual pixels”. This creates a full-colour cylindrical screen 300mm in diameter and 500mm high, capable of displaying video content. Each unit also functions as a POS device, with an attached rack to hold copies of the Daily Mail.

The screens are updated via wireless broadband and powered by PC technology with centralised control over ICA’s c360tv network. Web-based software developed in-house by ICA allows different content to be displayed on each unit, with support for a range of file formats (including MPEG, SWF, JPEG, GIF and TIFF).

“We don’t think there’s anything like this on the market at the moment in the UK,” said John Rowley, head of sales and development for ICA Network Solutions. “The site surveys from our pilot tests show amazing positive customer feedback. Although we plan to start with local advertisers, we think that the product will appeal to national brands in the future.”

Currently, there are ten units installed at locations around Horsham and Brighton in southeast England. However, according to Rowley, agreements are in place to set up the iCans in 500 further venues – all of them newspaper sellers – including locations in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol.
Live news

Rowley claims that the Daily Mail was looking for a method to communicate with its readers via a digital platform in-store across the UK. “The iCan was seen as the right solution,” said Rowley. “Live headlines can be broadcast to each store, where the consumer will be engaged with the display and the rich content, encouraging them to buy the paper.”

Associated Media, publisher of the Daily Mail and other papers, has already shown a willingness to try out-of-home digital promotions, using 32-inch LCD screens from Comtech M2M to display headlines for the Evening Standard, a daily London newspaper.

All 500 iCan devices are expected to be installed over the next four months. And Rowley believes that they also have potential in other high-footfall areas, such as shopping malls, airports, bars and clubs .

Although there is no clear picture yet of whether advertisers will get on board, the strong brand of the Daily Mail – Britain’s top-selling daily paper in the mid-market category – could be key to the success of the network.

TransWorld Media in the U.S. yesterday said it had started rolling out a screen network to independent convenience stores (C-stores) across the country, aiming for 1200 outlets by the end of 2008.

100 installations are already completed in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, with further rollouts due in urban regions including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.

When completed the network is expected to achieve 430m views annually. It is the first of a number of networks planned by the company.

“The content is a combination of news, weather, Amber Alerts, educational, entertainment, etcetera, along with paid advertising both local and national,” TransWorld CEO Shams Merchant told SCREENS.tv.

C-stores offer “high-volume, high-walk-in, and densely-populated locations”, said Merchant, adding that for advertisers they are a route to saturating narrowly-defined geographical markets.

Advertisers will be offered one-minute, 15-second and 30-second slots. Sales will be handled by agencies and aggregators, including SeeSaw Networks, said TransWorld. The stores will receive a rental fee for hosting the screens.

The network is based on Real Digital Media’s Neocast software-as-a-service system.

Digital-signage software pioneer Scala this week said it is to acquire Market Information Services, a provider of management software for outdoor advertisers both digital and non-digital.

The acquisition will allow Scala to bolster its existing InfoChannel product with a suite of tools enabling customers to manage large out-of-home networks.

Market Information Services’ main product is Charting Pro (pictured), which includes modules for functions such as inventory management, inventory mapping, advertisement billing, and site maintenance.

A digital-media module allows users to manage multiple media types in one advertising contract, create playlists, sell ads by day-part, and receive proof-of-play reports, among other features. It can create custom Web portals for accessing the information held in Charting Pro.

Also likely to be of interest to those deploying large digital-signage networks is the maintenance module, used for creating single and grouped work orders; communicating with handheld units, and tracking the revenue-generation, maintenance and profitability history of individual sites.

Existing Market Information Services clients include CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor, and Magic Media.

Market Information Services has offices in Canada and the U.S., and Scala will create a new subsidiary Scala Canada to take over its operations.

Terms were not disclosed.

ACCORDING TO A RECENT REPORT from the Carmel Group, digital signage is expected to exceed $2.5 billion in revenue by the end of 2010. And D3 LED is getting in on the action. The company just completed its latest project, the redesign of the ABC Ribbon Super Sign in Times Square, to enhance the network’s out-of-home marketing opportunities.

With a projected reach of 1.3 million people daily, it advertises ABC’s clients as well as promo spots for the network. ABC shows include “Dancing With the Stars,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty” and “GMA.” Various ESPN sports shows and Disney feature films and theatricals are also promoted.

The new LED display can show full-motion HD video, ranging from previews of ABC programming to commercials from advertisers. The 3,200-square-foot sign operates 24/7. In addition to its in-house efforts, the network is also approached by companies that want to advertise in Times Square. Others rent its studio and use the signage to showcase an event.

The 3-year-old D3 also produced digital displays in Atlantic City for Harrah and Caesars, and displays in Washington, D.C.’s Gallery Place. D3 has created additional signage for Fox News, Chase and the U.S. Armed Forces.

Pepsi has signed on as the first major sponsor of the Meadowlands Xanadu, a 4.8 million-square-foot entertainment destination that promises to offer visitors of all ages a broad array of engaging experiences, including interactive entertainment venues, fine dining, outdoor amusements, runway fashion shows and its main attraction—America’s first Snow Dome for indoor skiing.

Pepsi’s logo will light up a giant LED screen adorning the center of a 287-foot ferris wheel that will be visisble from miles away.

Pepsi’s ad deal includes a 10,000-square-foot indoor area where consumers can immerse themselves in Pepsi trivia and memorabilia. It could, for example, serve as a gallery space for displays on old Pepsi ads through the years. The Purchase, N.Y., company is also crafting specially designed recycling bins that will be placed throughout the shopping complex.

“It’s a way to connect with consumers in a nontraditional way,” says Cie Nicholson, chief marketing officer of Pepsi-Cola North America. “There are 50 million people that will come to the venue and another 40 million will be driving by.” (via Wall Street Journal)

This sponsorship announcement is a resounding example of advertisers’ continued efforts to identify non-traditional advertising platforms that exist beyond the boundaries of print, TV, and radio. The digital signage display that will act as a beacon of attention for the entire Xanadu complex promises to generate an enormous amount of attention for Pepsi.

China TransInfo Technology appears to be moving beyond the major east-coast cities to bolster its claims of market leadership, and has signed the first commercial contract for taxi-screen advertisements in the northern Chinese city of Urumqi.

The contract covers 4000 vehicles and is worth RMB2.35m ($330,000) in the coming year to February 2009.

Urumqi, with a population of more than 2m, is the capital city of Xinjiang Urgur Autonomous Region, near China’s borders with Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

Earlier, China TransInfo had already secured exclusive rights with the Urumqi Department of Transportation to operate its in-taxi GPS media platform, as well as advertising rights for about 7000 taxis in Urumqi over 15 years.

China TransInfo, through its subsidiary Beijing PKU ChinaFront High Technology, claims to be the largest integrated transportation-information company in China. Peking University, Beijing, currently owns five percent of Beijing PKU ChinaFront High Technology, giving the company access to the University’s GeoGIS Research Laboratory, including 30 doctoral researchers.
Original story from Screens.TV by Gareth Powell

Gregg Zinn, CEO of SmarterSign, Inc., A New York City based Digital Signage solutions company. SmarterSign, Inc.

The government’s new economic stimulus plan may just be one of the best things that could happen for the Digital Signage industry. While the industry is growing at an extraordinary rate, the new government plan should put additional fuel on the fire. For United States based Digital Signage companies like my company SmarterSign, the stimulus plan will help turn a good decision into a great decision for many of our prospective clients.

So how exactly does the economic stimulus package help the Digital Signage market? The details can be found in the portion of the plan that provides incentives to business for capital expenditures. The plan passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support will provide for approximately $50 billion in near-term tax savings for American business that buy new equipment this year. Businesses who buy new equipment this year will be able to deduct an additional 50 percent of the cost of their investment in 2008. The plan is intended to “encourage businesses to expand and create new jobs now because buying equipment, software, and tangible property this year will dramatically lower their taxes.”

The plan is not only designed to encourage large companies to invest in new technologies such as Digital Signage. Small to medium sized businesses will also see a benefit from the new legislation. For businesses placing less than $800,000 of equipment into service this year, the plan would allow them to immediately deduct up to $250,000 (up from $128,000) in 2008.

For many companies, this new legislation will be just the incentive they need to make the move to Digital Signage. The combination of the tax benefits with the obvious benefits of Digital Signage should provide a double win for companies who act quickly. With the economic future in a state of flux, any advantage a business can acquire should be in high demand. With the added benefit of significant tax incentives, the answer is obvious.

For details of the economic stimulus plan you can visit the
White House’s fact sheet.

Featured Story for 2Signage by Lars-Ingemar Lundström, Author of “Digital Signage Broadcasting”

Digital signage of today is mostly used for out-of-the home applications. And for the next few years the digital signage medium will revolutionize advertising and sales in stores and public environments. But quite soon we will probably find similar systems, based on media servers and media players, even in our homes.
What drives the development of digital signage is no doubt the thinner, larger, better and yet cheaper display devices. The flat displays may be located anywhere. This is not the case for the bulky cathode ray television sets. In addition there is a variety of display devices to choose from. Conventional LCDs, plasma screens and projectors are some alternatives but everything from cylindrical display systems to laser beams may be used to present the messages. In digital signage it is even allowed to be creative and mount a screen in portrait position. You may also choose everything from small LCD digital photo frame devices to large outdoor LED screens for your dynamic signs. This along with cheaper hard drives and flash memories for storage makes it possible to handle and present information in completely new ways never seen before.
In digital signage, media players are used to provide the content on the screens. Media players are actually computers. And with computers there are a number of new opportunities. The digital signage screen may be divided into regions and layers containing video, images or text that originate from separate files. This means that information originating from completely different sources may be shown simultaneously. Depending on distribution medium chosen, various parts of the screen may present information that is real-time, near-real-time or non-real-time information. Live television is real-time and one picture region while printed signs, books and newspapers are all non-real-time media. Examples of near-real-time media are RSS-feeds or teletext (Europe) containing news, gaming odds data or stock market updates. Digital signage is combining all that into one single medium. On top of this, digital signage allows for the content on the screens to be chosen individually according to the location of the screen or even based on who is watching the screen at that particular moment. (more…)