Up, up and away. Here we go, Mike’s Digital Signage Expo 2010 Adventure has begun. I’m going to chronicle A LOT of my adventure here, so be prepared. It’s not just going to be news, or the latest greatest technology and trends. It is going to be the entire experience from my point of view, every step along the way. It all started bright and early this morning:
4:11 AM – my body clock woke me up. I looked at the alarm clock. I had 19 more minutes to sleep before the alarm started barking.
4:30 AM – the alarm clock started barking. I turned it off, got up, dazily walked into the kitchen, pressed START on the coffee maker, and hit the shower.
4:49 AM – posted my first Tweet of the adventure.
4:52 AM – walked out of my house.
5:45 AM – arrived at Terminal D, DFW airport.
5:50 AM – checked in at the self-serve kiosk, which by the way is probably the most widely accepted interactive kiosk (what I call “Interactive Out of Home”, or “IOOH”) in the U.S. today, outside of the ATM.
6:13 AM – pulled money from what I suspect is the most widely accepted interactive kiosk (IOOH) in the U.S. today – the ATM.
6:32 AM – checked in “On Da Plane” via foursquare (become my friend – “mikecearley”)
6:45 AM – flight departed.
6:46 AM – found two interesting mobile advertisements that could easily have been made into IOOH examples in the American Way magazine. Before I get into those advertisements, I think it’s important to make clear, again, my viewpoint on OOH + technology. “Digital Out of Home” or “DOOH” is the term that is used to describe anything that falls into the OOH category and has technology associated with it. To me, that is such a wide generalization and practically accurate, but not always technically accurate. “Digital” Out of Home is any standard OOH solution that is made digital by display technology. There is a finite list of display technologies – LCD, LED, plasma, projection. If there are any other display technologies, please let me know, but it’s a small list. This, to me, defines Digital Out of Home. There is no interactivity associated with Digital Out of Home. But since technology is the foundation of “Digital” Out of Home, interactivity is inherent. Not always used (in fact, used much less than I think can be. I hope to see advancements made on this front in the industry this week), but inherent. Standard OOH initiatives can also be made interactive. Case in point:
Example 1:
Simple mobile app that the user can access at AA.com/mobile (which doesn’t work btw). Put a short-code on this ad (which I originally thought it was) or a QR code/MS tag, and send them directly to the app from the magazine ad.
Example 2:
Print any attachment from your smartphone on one of these fancy HotSpot Printers. There’s a simple process to go through, but when you do, voila, you’ve got printing on the go. So, here, if I wanted to take a picture of this map, from this magazine, I could take a photo of it, email it, and print it, all from my phone.
This magazine is a device, medium or platform that I do not own, so by my definition, it is an “Out of Home” solution (in this case, an object). The brand is driving me deeper into an engagement through the use of enabling technology, in this case, my mobile phone. Thus, we have an Interactive Out of Home solution, or IOOH, which is a term that I’m officially coining (at least the acronym). It’s my truthiness.
8:46 AM – passed over the Grand Canyon. Even from up here, it looks grand. I’ve had the fortune of visiting the Grand Canyon. It is something that I think everyone should do once in their life. It is amazing. I will bring my family here when the kids are old enough to appreciate it.
9:18 AM – landed in Las Vegas. Off to the convention center to get my press passes. Then, to the hotel to drop my bags. Then, to the Hard Rock Café to depart on an awesome behind-the-scenes tour of Las Vegas’ $11 Billion City Center and Hard Rock Café.
“The most exciting part of the tour is the behind-the-scenes look at advancements in digital signage control – everything controlled from single laptop computer equipped with state-of-the-art software to the remote control of over the 1,000+-screen installation at City Center and the other MGM properties up and down the Las Vegas strip.
Stops will feature Interactive reader boards, progressive Slots & Video animations that tie-in to progressive jackpot meters and table top displays; restaurant interactive Touch Screen Menus, interactive wayfinding through a 500,000-square-foot shopping center, video walls, and a huge multi-user, multi-touch interactive digital wall.”
Awesome, right?
More later……