January 2010 Archives

Haiti Content from Preset Group

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We wanted to thank the folks at Preset Group for creating and freely distributing simple, effective Digital Signage PSAs for the Haiti relief effort. We had a chance to share these with our customers and and received great feedback. Seems these spots were exactly what many HR departments were looking for to help rally their staff behind the case.

Digressing, it's great to see so many Digital Signage companies supporting the aid effort and donating content or space on their networks to promote fundraising. Such instant response is another example of flexibility of digital signage compared to classic "plywood" out of home billboards. Although classic billboard advertisers (Patison, Clear Channel, etc..) often donate space to PSAs in slow booking months, such gestures incur costs and take time to be deployed. Digital Out of Home by contract was able to mobilize almost instantly, taking up the relief cause.

Back to the point of this post, big thanks to the team at Preset!

Can you out-shine the Sun?

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Outdoor InstallWhen working with the latest client on an in-window street-facing installation we received much resistance attempting to justify use of commercial LCD's. ...until we took the store manager for a brisk walk on Yonge street. Attached picture was shot on an overcast day, in a relatively shaded window outside the Eaton Centre. Even under these 'optimal daytime conditions' the screens are barely noticeable. (NOTE: We even had to re-upload the picture emphasizing the screens in the picture....)

Suddenly the "screen brightness" lesson became clear. (Consumer LCDs typically offer 450 nits brightness, while Commercial DX range from Samsung runs at 700 nits, and the DR range at 1500 nits).

For those deploying outside or street-side, here are a few quick notes:

1 - Minimum screen brightness should be 700nits, 1000+ is preferred.
2 - check your spacing from the window. Not enough space and you may have an internal ventilation issue, compounded by heat from direct sunlight.
3 - Check window orientation and how much sunlight is allowed by surrounding landscape.
4 - Design content using colors offering highest readability in brght sunlight (our content team made us promise we won't divulge all their secrets, so if you want to know more, please drop them a line)
5 - PILOT, PILOT, PILOT!


 

Toronto Digital Signage Mixer, January 12, 2010

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Six Steps Restaurant Lounge, Tuesday January 12, 2010 my first opportunity to show-off TetrAD's new business cards. What a success. Thank you Dmitry @ Samsung for the invite. 

Hosted at Six Steps, a trendy lounge known for their collection of wines, event was well on the way by the time I arrived. I was asked to tweet with hash tag: #torontoDSmixer during the event, but the mingling caught me the second I stepped in. It was difficult removing my scarf, let alone working the iPhone.

Side note: Anyone who's interested in Digital Signage, Dave Haynes is the man to follow.  Check out his blog @ http://www.sixteen-nine.net/. Dave's articles are absolutely worth the RSS feed.

Event turned out to be a great opportunity to meet face to face many of the people/companies involved in my past media buys and installations. Putting faces to phone calls and trading business cards with people who sell, design, install, feels encouraging.  It's good to know Toronto has so much talent in digital signage space.

At the next event, look for me, the guy with the transparent haircut!