2012 100 - Networld Media Group

28 DISNEY 29 DIGITAL SIGNAGE
Following record sales and profit, the
Walt Disney Company, owner of the
namesake theme parks and ESPN sports
network, increased its annual dividend
for 2011 by 50 percent, the most in at
least 20 years. The Burbank, Cali.-based
company, which also owns Marvel
Entertainment and the ABC TV network,
is returning cash to investors
through stock repurchases as well,
buying back $5 billion of shares in the
year ended Oct. 1. The Steven P. Jobs
Trust, Disney’s largest shareholder,
will reap $82.8 million, an increase of
$27.6 million based on the 138 million
shares held by the estate of Apple’s late
co-founder.
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H&M
The world’s second-largest clothing retailer,
Hennes & Mauritz AB, recently
announced its “Versace for H&M” line
featuring apparel and accessories designed
by Gianni Versace SpA, ranging
from $17.95 zebra-print underwear to
$299 studded leather jackets and floorlength
“goddess” gowns dotted with
Presented with so many attractive buying options, consumers often gravitate toward
the lowest price, which they usually find online. Thus, retailers have been
searching for new engagement strategies, such as interactive digital signage. By displaying
targeted eye-catching content that can easily be customized according to
the context and the audience, digital signage is helping brick-and-mortar retailers
attract — and hold — the attention of the same customers that many feared
were just stopping in to check prices before making an online purchase. Described
by one retailer as being “like having a giant smartphone in your store,” interactive
digital signage delivers some of the online world’s most appealing capabilities and
functions in a real-world environment, replete with attentive sales associates.
Grecian buttons, and fluorescent micro-minis.
H&M creative adviser Margareta
van den Bosch sees “design and
celebrity collections as crucial to establishing
the fashion authority of H&M
as a brand.” H&M has been marketing
limited-edition designer collections
since partnering with Chanel creative
director Karl Lagerfeld in 2004, and
this most recent partnership between
the Swedish fashion giant and a luxury
designer will give the Italian label global
visibility, according to Versace Chief
Executive Officer Gian Giacomo Ferraris,
with targeted sales expected to
reach $700 million by 2014.
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