As part of the NYC Digital Signage Week, the Digital Signage Federation (DSF) hosted Coffee & Controversy: A Breakfast Debate at Guy’s American Kitchen and Bar on November 3.
Ken Goldberg, DSF Chairman, moderated this entertaining discourse between four panelists. Each participant had to answer the same questions on topics ranging from technology to content and operations.
Over 80 attendees voted for their favorite panelist answers via a mobile app.
The panelists were (left to right):
Phil Lenger, President & Creative Director, Show + Tell;
Randy Dearborn, DSF 2015 Vice Chairman & Vice President Multimedia Technologies, MGM Resorts International;
Moderator: Ken Goldberg, DSF Chairman, CEO, Real Digital Media
Bryan Meszaros, CEO & Founder, OpenEye;
Dan McAllister, SVP/GM Americas of Scala.
The fresh format allowed for short answers and a quick pace of discussion. Everyone could see whose answer the audience liked the most, as the results were displayed live on a digital sign.
Some insights that got my attention included:
- Although beacons are being deployed at a fascinating rate, not many companies have figured out ways to use them effectively in DOOH campaigns. DOOH content can be relatively easily integrated with mobile interaction, however, adding the beacon component requires more complex strategies and content. The consensus was that at this moment beacons present more of a challenge and a distraction than a solution to marketers.
- Virtual reality and artificial intelligence may be the next disruptive technologies for digital signage.
- Integration with mobile will continue, as it is increasingly becoming a means of proving the DOOH advertising ROI via the data registering user interaction with screen content.
- The importance of specialized shops that can create content specifically for DOOH campaigns will continue to rise.
- Google Chrome for digital signage caused mixed reactions, as some panelists expressed concerns that Google might abandon this project at one point as they often did in the past with other niche markets.
Networking before the debate
The Coffee and Controversy debate
The debate was followed by a tour of the Fulton Center, the fully digital transit and retail hub in lower Manhattan.