The Official Magazine of ISE 2012 - Amazon S3

DiSCO fever
returns to
Amsterdam!
The history of advertising is a fascinating one. As an industry,
it dates back thousands of years to Egypt, Greece and Rome. It
wasn’t until 1836, however, that the first paid-for advertising in
newspapers appeared in France. Inevitably, the advent of radio in
the 1920s quickly saw advertising assume significant commercial
importance – and that carried through to television. In 1965,
advertisers could reach 80% of Americans aged 18-49 by running
TV commercials on only CBS, NBC and ABC. By 1994, the ‘big
four’ networks – which now included Fox – reached a 52% primetime
audience share. By 2004, that share was down to 31%. That
decline was indicative
of a change in how
society worked, and how
advertisers responded to
those changes. The move
from mass marketing
to the need to address
increasingly smaller
groups – and eventually,
individuals – had begun.
It has been said that
the history of digital signage began in the 1970s, with VCR/
TV-based advertising in retail outlets. Realistically, however, as
the industry we know today, it dates back to the late 1980s and
early 1990s when the company we now know as Scala developed a
system for the Commodore Amiga.
Digital signage has, then, been around for a while: but, within
the wider context of communicating with potential customers, it is
still relatively immature. There is still plenty to learn, and it’s that
notion that sees DiSCO – the Digital Signage Conference return
to ISE. A joint venture between ISE, its signage industry partner
Invidis Consulting and the trade association OVAB Europe,
DiSCO will, as it did in 2011, take place the day prior to ISE.
“The timing is perfect,” smiles Oliver Schwede, senior analyst
at Invidis Consulting. “Running the conference the day before ISE
starts will give attendees all the important information they need
so that they can ask the right questions on the show floor. The
conference educates the attendees and provides direction to find
the right solution within the huge amount of exhibitors. It simply
makes the visit to ISE more effective.”
“Digital signage and Digital out of Home are two dynamic
42 Rise
and rapidly evolving markets,” continues Schwede. “Despite the
fact that these markets have existed since the mid-1990s, there
are many unanswered questions, especially regarding sustainable
business cases and effective concepts. The conference will pick up
on these issues and will focus on best practice, strategic background
information and market figures. The program will provide a
balanced mix of these categories.”
This year, the format of the DiSCO conference will be
slightly different, in that it will see presentations alternating
between the story as told by the user – focusing on the concept,
issues and solutions –
and the view of the
supplier or manufacturer
who will provide the
perspective from ‘the
other side’, looking at the
technologies and products
that were the platform for
the solution.
The gradual maturation
of the digital signage
market is evidenced in the fact that the ‘one size fits all’ paradigm
no longer applies – and individual markets have their own defining
characteristics as well as their own rates of growth. Beyond that,
new technologies are appearing over the horizon that will continue
to transform digital signage.
“There are definitely some vertical markets which are adopting
digital communication faster than others,” notes Schwede. “We
expect to have speakers from these markets with high potential.
Furthermore, we will be benchmarking the technologies used in
gesture control - which is a very promising technology that’s seeing
rapid adoption. We will also have a workshop covering the whole
value chain of 3D digital signage. The conference will cover the
whole chain, from content creation to screen playout – and we’ll
also have a presentation about the latest market figures on a global
scale.”
The growing use of gesture recognition, face recognition and
near field communication are examples of the way in which digital
signage is maturing – and, according to some commentators,
following the well-trodden path of other mass communications
media that have seen them transition from focus on the
“Hearing about successful projects
will enable delegates to transfer the
knowledge they’ve gained to their
own situations”
Oliver Schwede, Invidis Consulting