Outdoor

Customers in shopping centres are having their every move tracked by a new type of surveillance that listens in on the whisperings of their mobile phones. The technology can tell when people enter a shopping centre, what stores they visit, how long they remain there, and what route they take as they walked around.

Digital Signage Today has published a new how-to guide for those planning for a digital signage network deployment. The guide is titled "Digital Signage Project Planning" and is immediately available for download. Sponsored by Diversified Media Group, this guide tackles the digital signage deployment process from concept development to rollout.

RMS Networks launched a free digital signage software offering on Wednesday that helps operators sell advertising faster and fill unsold slots on their networks. rVue, which RMS said has already been field tested by many businesses, is designed to streamline how ads are placed on digital signage networks and generate performance reports detailing how successful those ads are in playback -- including click through-rates by the outlets and revenue paid by the advertisers for those clicks.

People have discussed ad applications for RFID tags for some time, and they may be getting closer. Consider a YouTube clip titled "RFID in Mirror." RFID stands for radio frequency identification, small electronic tags manufacturers and retailers attach to products. The mirror in this case is being used for a party, but imagine it reading tags from a clothing store. You could program the signage to advertise related accessories. How relevant is that? And there's no better time to make a pitch than at the point of the sale (POS to you acronym lovers).

In case you're wondering if you can go anywhere these days without your every move being recorded, you might want to avoid digital signage. TruMedia is solving its metrics quandary with an iCapture Mini camera that basically records face views of the people who look at its signs. Fancy computing algorithms will measure not only face time, but also the viewers' gender and age.

Pop culture scholars have long noted that in America, the auto is an extension of the owner's personality. (This makes me Pigpen from Peanuts, I fear.) Toyota's new Scion campaign is banking on this association. Its new ScionSpeak site invites customers to use online tools to create a driving "coat of arms" that they can actually download and have airbrushed onto their Scions. How's that for a clever branding campaign? You boost the corporate brand by letting consumers create their own.

In today's media climate, digital signage is up, newspapers are down. The Los Angeles Times is aware of these trends, so will funnel some money to its ad competition to funnel back viewers to their papers. The Times is sending news teasers to ten digital signage boards across the city, which it programs right from the newsroom. The idea is to return casual readers to the fold, regaining those eyeballs that advertisers covet.

The Digital Signage Expo just took place is Las Vegas, and Digital Signage Today was there. For a comprehensive overview of the state of the industry, be sure to check out this excellent summary. Gas pumps, bar tops and more.

A sixteen-hundred square foot video screen will always attract some attention -- even in Times Square. But now application vendor LocaModa is teaming up with Clear Channel Outdoor for a fully interactive signage campaign. LocaModa's first application is a word jumble game that invites mobile users to submit answers by texting. Winners get the satisfaction of seeing their names on the big screen. Advertising appears to be taking an early back seat while the jumble clearly illustrates concept.