The eighth annual Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas highlighted the marketing and operations appeal of maturing interactive and multimedia menu and marketing board technologies.
Among the technologies showcased were:
• Massive tiled LCD, LED or plasma screen walls showing mosaics of multiple still or moving images, or a giant rendering of a single subject.
• A specialized system funneling rich surround sound to a small area, giving a voice to marketing or entertainment video or audio that wouldn’t be heard by anyone in a multiuse space except the intended listener.
• Characters or objects in three-dimensional movies and photo collages that seemed to have depth and substance, yet didn’t require viewers to wear special glasses.
• A gesture-controlled kiosk enabling users to manipulate information with the wave of a hand or the pinch of two fingers, while never touching the surface of the device.
The man working at the motion-activated kiosk booth noted that a restaurant executive saw the technology as an answer to complaints by consumers that their hands feel too dirty to hold food after using touch-screen ordering devices.
Also seen during the expo, which producer ExpoNation said attracted a record 3,614 attendees and 195 exhibitors, were a variety of digital menu boards supporting simplified “dayparting,” including one bearing Straw Hat Pizza trade dress.
Dayparting refers to the practice of configuring a menu board to highlight specialty foods by meal period, such as breakfast or late night, as opposed to trying to continuously display all menu items.
Robert Stowe, director of marketing services for Wendy’s International Inc. of Dublin, Ohio, underscored the flexibility of digital menu boards during one of DSE 2011’s 55 educational seminars. Joining Stowe on the panel, “It’s the Law! Nutritional Labeling Made Simple with Digital Menu Boards,” were attorney Peggy Binzer of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP, and Terri Sayler, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Wireless Ronin Technologies.
Jason Stuehmer, information technology product manager for retail technology solutions at Dunkin’ Brands of Canton, Mass., was among the operators attending the labeling session. That presentation keyed off the new federal law stipulating that chains with 20 or more restaurants post calorie counts on menus and menu boards.
Stuehmer and the others watched Stowe demonstrate the much cleaner look of a digital presentation of calorie counts, comparing it to Wendy’s use of stickers on conventional boards in some markets that already have labeling requirements. Sayler told attendees it is a good time to weigh the benefits of digital signage, given the labeling law and the 100-percent write-off for capital investments made throughout 2011 thanks to the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.
“We’re testing systems and beginning to make decisions about the features we want” in a digital-signage package, Wendy’s Stowe said. “If all goes right, we’re looking at a rollout soon.”
Contact Alan Liddle at alan.liddle@penton.com.
