Digital Signage Asia ’07: Consider ambience when formatting in-store TV: Partho Dasgupta

Partho Dasgupta, CEO, Future Media, highlighted the factors to keep in mind while formatting content for in-store television

Partho Dasgupta, CEO, Future Media, elaborated the methods to deploy and maintain content in in-store, multistore and multinetwork locations as a lucrative option for targeting audiences.

Digital Signage Asia 2007, organised by Outdu, discussed how to go digital in OOH (out of home) and multistore formats. Dasgupta began by giving pointers. These pointers helped in narrowing down what content needed to be part of the screen. The primary point was where one could display such screens. Malls, supermarkets, multiplexes and coffee shops are good locations to cater to a wide audience.

At each of these locations, the ambience is variant and the content displayed should adhere to the ambience. Dasgupta said space could be used optimally within a mall or multiplex. He chalked out four specific wheels that would drive optimum results – reach, content, technique and advertising.

“The screen should follow the consumer,” said Dasgupta. How well the media is distributed is an imperative factor. Dasgupta indicated that aisles in shopping malls; vantage spaces such as cash counters and prominent pillars; and innovative places such as trial rooms, too, make for good spots. He provided examples of how Future TVs are placed in malls and multiplexes.

“While preparing content for digital media, one needs to keep one focus in mind. That is, to convert the footfalls into eyeballs,” emphasised Dasgupta. The eyeballs need to follow the screen and, hence, the stickiness factor of the content is also important, he said.

The stickiness can be brought in through different methods. Dasgupta said, “Humour, gags, comedy, adventure sports, hard hitting visuals generally rate well with any audience.” The distraction, as he called it, would ensure viewership even in a crowded mall or multiplex. Promotional offers, contests and in-store information provided on these screens hold the viewer’s attention. However, he warned that this information must be updated regularly.

Dasgupta said heavy investment should be encouraged in research to obtain content specific to the area of display. For example, viewers are known to enjoy content based on fashion, gadgets, cookery shows and recipes, songs and ringtones.

The technology, too, must support the changing mode. Future TV, he says, is geared to point cast across networks. That is, each display screen can play different content within the same premises. Though it is not seen yet, very soon, the women’s section of a shopping centre will play women centric content, the entrance to a mall will have a different screen, and the interiors will play different content.

Dasgupta highlighted the faux pas that can be committed while addressing digital media. “You cannot play the same commercial that you’d run on television on a digital display,” he said. Equal effort needs to go into creating content for the digital space. The advertising needs to be formatted particularly for in-store television.

There must exist a balance between audio and video. And by this Dasgupta meant, “The video space must exceed the audio space on an in-store TV.”