The Digital Screenmedia Association (DSA) has announced the winners for the DSA Crown Awards, which recognizes excellence in digital out-of-home content.

The DSA Crown Awards ceremony was held aboard the Duchess Yacht, which cruised around Manhattan, New York on Nov. 7 following the first day of Customer Engagement Technology World.

The categories for the content awards were Point of Sale, which is all about content on screens in store catering to the shopper; Point of Transit, which is all about reaching people are on the go, such as at airports and with digital billboards; and Point of Wait, for places where people have dwell time such as banks, elevators, and doctor’s offices. New sub categories based on budget were introduced this year.



The awards ceremony was co-hosted by Marcy Patzer of Scala and Keith Kelsen, author of Unleashing the Power of Digital Signage.

The winners are:

Category – Point of Sale (content budget of $10,000 or more)

• Gold: McCormick - Guess That Spice, submitted by 5th Screen Digital Services and HP
• Silver: Sprint - Green Mountain Bike LCD, submitted by Two West
• Bronze: Sprint Studio Holiday Grand Moment, submitted by Two West
• Honorable Mention: McCormick – Flavor Print, submitted by 5th Screen Digital Services and HP

Category – Point of Sale (content budget less than $10,000)

• Gold: Mercedes-Benz “Visualizer,” submitted by Scala and Pro-Motion Technology Group
• Silver: Sprint - Need For Speed EVO 3D LCD, submitted by Two West
• Bronze: Cedar Fair - Digital Menu Board Optimization, submitted by Allure Global Solutions

Category – Point of Wait ($10,000 or more)

• Gold: BBVA Flagship, submitted by John Ryan
• Silver: Sprint - Trail of Destruction, submitted by Two West
• Bronze: Sprint - Buyback Virtual Queue, submitted by Two West
• Honorable Mention: Loews Don CeSar Hotel - Concierge Board, submitted by JANUS Displays

Category – Point of Wait (less than $10,000)

• Gold: Sprint - Total Equipment Protection, submitted by Two West
• Silver: Family Dental Care, submitted by Digital Clinic

Category – Point of Transit ($10,000 or more)

• Gold: Monterey Bay Aquarium - 150 Feet of Awesome, submitted by Inwindow Outdoor
• Silver: Tesco - The UK's First Interactive Virtual Grocery Store, submitted by Monster Media
• Bronze: McCarran International Airport Digital Signage, submitted by Four Winds Interactive

Mark Lopez and Lou Thurmon of Two West with their six Crown Awards.

Judges for the DSA Crown Awards included Michael Chase of St. Joseph Content, Pat Hellberg of The Preset Group, Jim Kealy of 2hemispheres, Keith Kelsen of 5th Screen, and Anne White of HypeHouse.

Each of the entries were scored independently by the judges, who took the following into consideration:

• Did the content meet the objectives?
• Was the content engaging?
• Did the content fit the environment?
• Did the content fit the audience?

After all the judges submitted their scores, the scores are tallied and the highest average score in each category were chosen as winners. Judges who had entries in the competition recused themselves from judging their entry.

"The spectacular thing about this year's awards were the amount of entries featuring interactive engagement,” said Keith Kelsen, judge and co-host. “Looking at this year's gold winners shows that interactive content is a significant trend for the industry. For retailers, interactive engagement helps make their stores a digital destination.”

Connectivity is key to the future of retail. Retailers are working to make Wi-Fi available so they can facilitate mobile marketing, mobile shopper services, mobile store operations and mobile payments. There’s another piece to keeping the mobile lifeline open that deserves more attention, and that’s mobile phone charging.

A recent Google study found that almost half of smartphone searches are goal oriented. Smartphones are driving consumers to physical stores, and once they’re there, more than two-thirds are using their devices as shopping aids. Beyond transactions or price checking, shoppers are taking pictures, collaborating with friends and family, searching for coupons and reading ratings.

It would be worthwhile for retailers and hospitality businesses to facilitate this meandering path to purchase by insuring that shoppers’ mobile devices are powered up because:

1) Phone charging as a service offers the potential to pull customers into a retail establishment – be it a store or restaurant. Think of a window sticker or poster advertising "Free Phone Charging Here."

2) It gives businesses from restaurants to retailers to entertainment venues a way to increase dwell time. After all, you can get a 25 to 50% charge in the time it takes to eat dessert or browse the accessory department.

3) Complimentary phone charging is differentiating. As a hotel guest amenity, for example, it has obvious advantages over the tangled box of orphaned chargers behind the desk and compliments other business center services.

4) Customized graphics provide the perfect opportunity to target messaging like text communication opt-in programs or invitations to interact on social media to the right audience.

Frankly, the advertising potential can turn a phone charger into an interesting co-op vehicle that can be funded through vendors. Consider a counter unit charger in a restaurant funded by a soft drink company or one in a hotel  funded by a local attraction.

Mobile charging units come in all sizes from accessible counter units to secure kiosks. Units can be designed to project a customized branded image.  Could they be the missing piece in mobile customer experience?

Gail Tanner is the Director of Social Media and Mobile Marketing at DSA member company Frank Mayer & Associates, Inc.