Anna Kuzina
Public Relations Manager
DigiSky

 

 


About 10 years ago, digital signage first appeared in the Russian market. Currently, digital signage systems are widely used in metropolitan cities and are being actively introduced in regional areas.

Digital signage advertising networks in the Russian Federation are similar to those in the United States and Europe, but there are differences and varied features. The networks in Russia are mostly from the old generation, in reference to general concept and installations. The majority of the retail and corporate digital signage networks do not use content management systems; instead they utilize USB flash drives or CDs for upgrading and managing the systems. This method appears to work, due to the smaller size of retail and corporate networks compared to Europe and the United States.

The first digital signage advertising network in Russia appeared in the retail sector. Scala’s digital signage network was integrated in the Ramstore retail network. The Ramstore chain features shopping centers, hypermarkets and supermarkets throughout the Russian Federation. Multiple screens were installed throughout stores, displaying advertising content along with entertainment to shoppers. Now, digital signage appears in a variety of retail stores.

The extent of the digital signage expansion also can be seen in the corporate, information and safety sectors. For example, DigiSky, a digital signage network provider, launched a pilot project for the OBI franchise center, a home improvement retailer in Moscow. The OBI deployment included a display with corporate content, Bluetooth capabilities and touch screen kiosks.

In Russia, the main focus of digital signage is in the implementation of interactive technologies and audience measurement tools. Also, there is a clear interest in the innovative information medium, such as interactive kiosks and digital shop windows.

Satellite content distribution systems are another widely used feature in Russia. Due to the country’s massive size, the use of remote access helps minimize operational costs. For instance, DigiSky and City Fitness, a chain of fitness clubs, worked together to develop a content distribution system that is managed remotely from the headquarters in Moscow. Each fitness club has portrait-shaped digital posters and two channel audio devices. The content is then distributed remotely, so every club, even those thousands of kilometers from Moscow, feature the same content.

Digital signage deployers in Russia are eager to learn about the newest technologies and systems. The key Russian industry players include:
• Captivate Media
• DigiSky
• Dismart
• Magitel
• Polymedia
• Screen Media

The interest in the digital signage industry in Russia is rapidly developing and more international players are planning to start activity in the market, such as Harris, Haivision, XPlace and others.

Furthermore, digital signage events are starting to grow in popularity in Russia. The fourth annual Colours of Digital Signage show, organized by the AV Club, takes place on Sept. 6, 2011 in Moscow. For the past four years, this has been the only show held in Russia dedicated to the use and innovation of digital signage and audio-visual informational systems. In 2010, the conference was attended by 189 industry specialists; representatives of more than 15 companies, including both the world leaders of the market; and well-known Russian companies specializing in digital signage. The first day of the conference was aimed at the corporate sector, and the second day was dedicated to the issues of using digital signage systems in the advertising sector. Lectures presented at the conference described all the aspects of digital signage industry development.

The Colours of Digital Signage is the main Russian conference in the digital signage sphere. For now, there aren’t many digital signage shows or exhibitions in the Russian Federation. This year, Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB) Europe is scheduled to begin hosting seminars in Russia on a regular basis. In November, the Digital Signage Conference (DiSCO) will be a part of an Integrated Systems Russia show.

The digital signage industry is a small world – but it stretches across the globe.

And that global community is pulling together to do what it can to help relief efforts for the still-developing catastrophe in Japan.

Organized by digital signage expert consultants Dave Haynes and David Weinfeld, DOOH4relief is "a collective, voluntary effort to drive fundraising for the still unfolding tragedy" in Japan, according to www.dooh4relief.com.

Spurred by a Weinfeld tweet over the weekend recalling a similar effort for the Haiti earthquake last year, the two Daves started working on rounding up help.

"The idea is you've got literally hundreds of thousands of available screens out there in North America, and globally and virtually all of them will have some available media inventory time ... between us (Haynes and Weinfeld), we kind of got the word out that this is going on, we can help, who wants to pitch in?" Haynes said via telephone this morning.

"It's just kind of steamrolled from there."

The effort already has garnered several spot ads soliciting donations to Red Cross and Red Crescent relief efforts that have been made available for download at www.dooh4relief.com. Some of the ads were already in development independently by companies such as rVue, Haynes said, but the site is now providing a central clearinghouse for the public service announcement content.

DOOH4relief has been a catholic effort, with agencies and firms from across the world offering to help out. Insteo, headquartered in California, is hosting and managing the site. And according to Haynes' 16:9 blog, Cineplex Digital Solutions and Groupe Viva in Canada are working on spots, and a U.K.-based associate of Montreal-headquartered Ayuda is working to spur efforts in the United Kingdom.

Belgian firm idKlic has contributed a spot that references both the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies – that is already up and running in 600 Belgian pharmacies.
Al Barq Digital in Abu Dhabi/Dubai has joined in and is working to get the ball rolling in the Middle East region.

According to Haynes' blog, "ScreenScape has asked its SMB user base to run spots, the Canadian Health Media Network is poised to run spots on its member networks as soon as they come available, and RMG Networks in the US – has already started running spots on its large New York Times and fitness networks."

"We are also in touch with the Canadian and US digital out of home/place-based member organizations, and OVAB Europe via Al Barq."

Spots developed by rVue and Context Media also are available, according to Haynes' blog.
Also according to his blog, "the files will be 15s and 30s and will conform where possible to the DP-AA content guidelines for resolution, bitrate and file type."

There are now four PSAs up on the site, and there should be several more coming in today, Haynes said this morning. There are more in development for the French-speaking parts of Canada, he said, and he's hoping a company will soon step up to develop spots in Spanish aimed at Latinos.

Also, Haynes is "taking great pains" to make sure that this effort is not used in any way "as a back-patting exercise," asking networks and others to not alter the spots beyond tweaking them for formatting.

It’s official. DSA will be reaching out to 41,000 attendees at the CTIA wireless and mobile conference in Orlando next week. It won’t be the grand booth, large video wall and hyper-engaging video that we originally envisioned, but it will be a coordinated effort, sponsored by Symon and Intel, to educate the mobile industry on the value of digital signage and kiosks.

What will DSA be doing? The association will be conducting two educational seminars in the CTIA Emerging Technology Pavilion. DSA will be introducing the mobile industry to digital signage, kiosks, the Digital Screenmedia Association and to the Customer Engagement Technology World show. DSA will be talking about how digital signage can create “context” in the mobile world and how wireless carriers, mobile app developers, advertisers, and others can use digital signage to expand their reach. For more information on this topic, see the article I recently published in Mobile Commerce Daily.

Why no digital signage pavilion, video wall and compelling video? The answer is simple: not enough time. By the time DSA received the agreement of all involved, there was simply not enough time to put together the big splash that we desired. Rather than do nothing and wait until next year, we decided to do the next best thing to capitalize on the momentum and CTIA relationship-building that we already had going.

DSA, Intel and Symon are pleased to be on the forefront of establishing linkages and relationships between the digital screenmedia and mobile industries. We fully expect that we will be able to identify and exploit new synergies that will be of benefit to all involved.

On average, 70 percent of all new business is gained through referrals or relationship marketing. It is also considered to be one of the most cost-effective ways to build your business.

I’m a believer that business relationships, companies and products are built by people, and the more you engage with, value, and leverage those people and their individuals skills and talents, the better your solutions and organizational performance will be.

If the DSA was to sponsor and build out a powerful industry networking program that outlined a referral marketing strategy for its networking members, and designed networking programs to develop individual, executive and company wide networking skills, what type of opportunities, mapping of online marketing, social media, and events do you feel would be most valuable?  

Should networking be regional? By vertical market? Or by solution set?