By H. Jay Patel, BlueFire Digital April 26, 2008

Digital Signage Forum and BlueFire Digital will bring series of papers on digital signage interactivity from mobile phone. Topics will include SMS, Bluetooth and Wi-fi at technical level, real life scenarios and more importantly how to monetize from it.
Recently on my trip to Screen Expo in London a customer asked me regarding why he needed SMS interactivity for his LED digital signage? He may have been playing devil’s advocate but being supplier of the product the questions forced me to explain why he or any digital signage network operator will need some sort of interactivity. Now there are few of interactivity technologies are available in the market for digital signage. These include plain kiosk, interactive window display, gesture based interaction and others alike. Some of these technologies can be very beneficial to the advertiser since they can track usage and collect data, with permission, while others can provide longer exposure to the brand. In most cases these technologies provide interactivity to one consumer at a time and requires them to be in arm's length (or leg’s length) of the screen. Mobile interactivity can alleviate limitations inherited by interactive technologies mentioned above. Mobile interactivity doesn’t require the consumer(s) to be in arms length of the digital signage screen at same time allowing many consumers can participate in the interaction. But these dose not answer the question proposed by the client why mobile interactivity and in general any type of interactivity is needed? Mobile interactivity connects ubiquitous mobile phone to the digital signage screen. It is highly likely that a person passing by a digital signage screen is carrying a mobile phone (excluding infants and children). Connecting viewers’ most personal device the digital signage screen can be an invaluable branding tool for the advertisers because it allows advertisers to be in the hand of the consumer. Mobile interactivity and SMS in general allows the network owners and advertisers to pass promotional material to the consumer on their mobile phone.Second, mobile interactivity keeps consumers’ eye to the screen. Not only the participant is looking at the digital signage screen frequently but bystander’s attention is drawn towards the digital signage screen equipped with mobile interactivity. Simply, more people looking at the digital screen for longer period of time equating to higher CPM hence higher revenue. One of the most basic mobile interactivity is text to screen and text to vote. These applications allows viewers to send a SMS or text message or vote on a poll or question from their mobile phone to digital signage screen. In these application viewers send text messages of their opinion or vote to a number listed on the screen. Once the viewers’ text messages are received they are displayed on the digital signage screen. Typically these digital screens are behind the bar, hanging from the ceiling or from the 5 floor of some building. Examples: Text to Screen Live Voting One can apply creative topics to all text to screen interaction to increase user participation and per user text to screen messages. For example, a creative network operator posed a question on the text to screen content on who will win this weekends game. This lead to 21% increase on overall SMS traffic compare to previous week. In addition, polarizing questions or topics can lead to substantial increase in the traffic (network operators are responsible for their own action). Since these applications forces to viewers to look at the digital signage screen more frequently text to screen and text to vote contents can be branded to sponsor or an advertisers to generate additional revenue. Further, mobile interactivity allows network operators to deliver promotional material to users’ mobile phone when they vote or send their text message to the screen. This also can be leverage for additional revenue or closing the sale. Promotional SMS or text materials include informational message, coupon or web address where user can get more information about the product or service when he or she leaves the venue. In most cases text to screen can be a fun and engaging medium if used with care. Offensive and rude text messages can be filtered out automatically while maintaining pleasant environment. As with all interactivity, network operators should consider where and how mobile interactivity should be applied to digital signage. In addition, network owner should consider dwell time of the target consumers and response messages to maximize purchase or follow up visit on web site.
H. Jay Patel is President of BlueFire Digital. BlueFire Digital provides mobile interactivity solutions for out of home digital advertising industry. BlueFire Digital specializes in Bluetooth and SMS connectivity to engage brand with consumer on their mobile phone.