MediaPost’s Marketing Daily has an article about how some advertisers are setting up digital signage networks in the windows of out-of-business vacant retail stores.

I have no problem believing digital signage can be an effective tool in a window display (see my recent Harrods post).  But most successful windows displays are designed to draw you into the store.  In this case, these windows need to drive you someplace else.  Worse, the overwhelming majority of closed stores are in less than desirable real-estate where the shopper has already migrated away.  If I were an out of home advertiser (happily I’m not), I’m not sure I’d be too excited about buying sub-optimal locations and then hoping to change a hundred years of consumer behavior by using the windows to drive traffic to some other shopping venue.

Since the inventory of advertising locations is likely to be pretty liquid, it’s going to be a challenge for the network operator to have capitol equipment available to set up ad-hoc digital signage displays.

Does digital signage offer some special opportunity in these empty windows that some form of static advertising does not?  (other than all the usual intrinsic advantages of digital sigange).

All and all I just don’t get excited about this.  Am I too cynical?

Adrain Cotterill who writes the excellent Daily Digital out of Home blog, sent me a heads-up this morning about a new window display being unveiled at Harrods.

For US centric readers, Harrods is based in the UK, and is one of the premiere department stores in Europe along with the likes of KaDeWe from Germany or Printemps of France. The US doesn’t have a true equivalent in terms of eclectic and comprehensive product assortment, but I suppose the closest comparison would be to a premium Macys.

In any case, the new Harrods windows features a display technology called Itrans provided by Screen Technology Limited. The technology allows for super-bright daylight viewable video images that can be configured into irregular shapes. The Harrods window features a series of modules configured in the shape of an “L”.

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On Tuesday April 15, I had the opportunity to attend my first ad:tech event, and speak on one of the Power Panels (Tales from the Bleeding Edge - Game-Changing Opportunities for Tomorrow’s Marketer).

Ad:tech is an interactive advertising and technology conference and exhibition. They do a number of events each year at a variety of international venues. The primary attendees are brands, agencies, publishers, portals, and service providers.

I’m not sure if it’s the intention, but the bulk of exhibitors and content are primarily focused on web based activities (media buying, search, e-mail marketing, web analytics, affiliate marketing, blogging, etc…). There is not (yet) much of a presence for Digital Out of Home, much less retail environment specific content.

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In a world in which most of us are exposed to over 3000 advertisements today, and are enticed to read/listen/watch almost 300 of them, you have to take your shoes hat off to advertisers that can rise above the noise.

I was recently traveling through the security checkpoint at the San Diego airport, and found this tray provided to pass my luggage through the X-Ray machine.

This ad works for two reasons.

1. It surprised me by hitting me with a message when I wasn’t expecting it. I’ve been watching TV for my whole life, I’ve trained my brain to tune out the advertising noise from that channel. I was completely unprepared for the ad in the tray, so it got by my usual mental filter.

2. The ad for shoes hit me , precisely at the time I’m holding (and slightly embarrassed by) my slightly passed their prime Allen-Edmunds. Not only will I remember that the ad was clever, but I’ll actually remember what product the ad was for. That’s perfect context sensitive advertising.

By the way, if you haven’t shopped at Zappos.com, it’s the best online shoe shopping experience you’re ever likely to find.

What about you? What ads have managed to rise above the noise for you?

The PR folks at Microsoft have to be feeling pretty good. On March 26th Fortune Magazine and others reported that Microsoft’s often hyped multi-touch user interface product, Surface, would not be ready for consumers until 2011. Less than a week later, AT&T Wireless stores and Microsoft announced that Surface would be going live in select AT&T Wireless stores on April 17th (via Engadget, CNET, and BoyGenius).

The confusion comes from the fact that the 2011 date is an estimate for when a touch screen table top computer might be available as a consumer purchase, versus the (apparently) immediate availability for select business partners.

AT&T has a concept store design which blends it’s traditional wireless offerings with AT&T Broadband services in what AT&T calls its “Experience” stores. On Thursday April 17th, the first five experience stores were retrofitted with the MS Surface to help consumers make wireless phone purchases. I visited the San Bruno, CA store on the go-live day.

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In my 2008 CES recap post, I mentioned that while Microsoft had some great demos, and did a terrific job of brainstorming customer experiences for a multi-touch interface, I didn’t expect them to be able to get the Surface hardware to market.

According to Fortune Magazine, Microsoft now doesn’t expect to make Surface available until 2011.  I’m guessing we’ll see multi-touch implementations from others long before that.

Curbed LA: CurbedWire: Digital Billboard Sabotage on La Brea?

It almost happened. A number of Clear Channel digital billboards in Los Angeles appeared to get hacked, in the first appearance of digital graffiti that I’ve heard of. As it turns out however, the graffiti was actually a purchased advertisement on the signs, made to look like a hack. A clever marketing gimmick to be sure, the digital equivalent of the “advitorial.”

Every digital signage provider will tell you how secure and hack proof their software is, but the reality is that even with the best security in your software there are countless ways in which you are relying upon the perfect compliance from a variety of people. A dirty little secret is that many public installations are far from secure. Do a Youtube search for “kiosks hacks” if you don’t believe me. It’s only a mater of time before something like this does happen for real.

I wonder if these signs will cause some hackers to set their sights on the digital billboards for real?

I’m happy to report that traffic picked up at the show on Wednesday. I still think overall attendance will end up down for the show, but day 2 was much better than day 1. Thursday is a half day and typically has pretty light attendance.

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Global Shop has long been one of my favorite shows. I love to hang out with lots of smart people who spend their days thinking about great retail experiences.

This year’s show got off to a slow start. After getting swamped in our booth the last two years, I was surprised to the trickle of people coming by. Our traffic is probably down 25% from last year, and although we’re seeing most of our key clients, we’re not seeing as many new prospects as we’d usually expect.

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So far this quarter I’ve visited:

CES, Las Vegas

NRF, New York

EuropShop, Dusseldorf

DSE, Las Vegas

The next stop on the tour is Chicago for Global Shop. My company MTI has an exhibit here, and the team has been working long hours to get the booth constructed while complying with the all the quirkly Chicago exhibitor rules. The show opens tomorrow, and I’ll look forward to posting a recap. If you happen to be attending the show, feel free to stop by booth 3416 and say hello (ask for Jason G).