It’s 2015 and the predictions are in from Soap (soapcreative.com).  The folks at Soap Creative give a tongue in cheek glimpse into the future with brash predictions that seem irrational but tend to contain at least a grain of truth.  A few of their predictions touch on things in the digital signage peripheral.  In the “hot” category: NFC Payments, 3D printing, and Machine Learning. In the “not” category: Google Glass, 3D TVs, and dedicated servers.  
 
Funny and entertaining predictions from the “Soap” report that may (or may not) have digital signage implications:

•     Somehow, “Hashtags” will still be in. Many campaigns will feature nothing but hashtags.  
•     “Being in the moment’ has been replaced by ‘being captured being in the moment.”
•     Exaggerated, Buzzfeed style headlines will take over all forms of journalism.
•     Publishers will start measuring (and charging) for “cost per laugh”, “smile to frown ratio” and “stopped looking at their phone to look at TV” metrics.
•     E ink will open a new frontier in personalization and digital retailing.  Ha.  Is that potentially the future of digital signage? Clothing with changeable digital artwork?  
•     The Tinderization of Everything. . . So look for the Tinder of restaurants, the Airbnb of pets, the Uber of childcare.  Try it yourself with The [start-up] of [Industry].  
•     Think the Jetsons with food science. . . you will be able to design your own cat food for example.  What other “food science” options will come from the current trend toward Nespresso, Keurig, and other food dispensing technologies?

Implications of Soap’s 2015 Trend Predictions for Digital Signage

While Soapcreative.com gives a humorous look at the trends and technologies of the moment, there are some great tidbits to consider when working with interactive digital signage and the vast opportunities still on the horizon.  Digital signage message and content are impacted by some of the “predictions”, and yet other predictions provide food for thought on digital signage methods that could be changing and improving.  What metric could shift to include digital signage views and interactions; should something other than views and clicks be our metric of choice?  How could the “Tinderization of Everything” apply to digital signage; for example, what is the “Subway Hair Ad of Food Signage”?  Is there an opportunity to integrate 3D printing or NFC readers with the interactive content and activities available for digital signage?

Finally, with the ever present and discussed “internet of things” and “omnichannel” everything, where does digital signage fit and how can we leverage the trend to benefit us?

Some answers can be found by focusing on the “interactive” part of digital signage, looking at how people interact and how new technologies can be leveraged.  Other answers are in the content being delivered, and keeping one eye towards mixing and matching content with trends.  While not every campaign or situation is suited for the funny and somewhat crazy predictions from Soap, we should all be giving a nod toward the outrageous as we look to create interesting, relevant, and impactful interactive digital signage for our clients.  

Shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation, has shared recommendations with their audience in an "Open Letter to Retail CEOs." Their recommendations are on the subject of talent mix. Shop.org recommends that retailers hire/promote based on digital competencies and experience. With digital playing a large role in the future of retail, Shop.org recommends retailers give strong credence to digital talents and creating a digitally focused culture.

What does this have to do with the self service industry, digital signage, and kiosk technology? In-store opportunities to integrate digital technology, websites, and electronic advertisements abound when utilizing kiosks. If retailers hire the right "talent mix," retail marketers will find opportunities to leverage the work they are doing against both offline and online mediums. If retailers integrate, incorporate and leverage digital marketing team members by promoting and hiring for those competencies, digital signage, kiosks and self-service technologies will be a clear path to increase ROI and brand awareness by optimizing the value of a brick and mortar visit.

Here are some of the talent hiring tips outlined by Shop.org:

1. Promote from within, those with digital marketing talent and skills. Build Digital Marketing Advocates in each department.

2. Recruit digital talent from outside of the retail industry and teach them retail.

Self-service and digital signage in a digitally fluent organization

Additionally, Shop.org recommends that retailers create "a digitally fluent organization." Make this a priority. To that end, those of us who are "digitally fluent" and who know digital marketing should be offering training for the retail sector. While digital marketing is clearly not limited to digital signage, self-service technologies and kiosk deployments, it is integral to our industry.  We should provide retailers a clear map from brick and mortar to digital marketing applications by way of kiosks and digital signage.

What other industries could benefit from digital marketing training and education? Where can we best share our knowledge in a way that makes it clear that self-service technologies are the natural bridge between offline and online marketing efforts? We need to make sure that retailers are aware that the self-service industry is where website, social and mobile experiences meet print media and traditional brand messaging. Maximizing their ROI and their digital marketing efforts via kiosks and digital signage will be an obvious extension of marketing efforts, particularly to those that are investing in a culture and hiring practice that focuses on "digital."