Why We Expect Digital Signage To Be Perfect

Dmitry Sokolov is an outspoken evangelist of digital signage, and is not afraid to say what’s on his mind. He backs up his thoughts with a lot of experience. So his tweets are always interesting and appreciated.

Last Friday, he asked this question on Twitter:

I retweeted it, but more for the rhetorical effect. Now, I want to answer it.

We expect it to automatically be better than anything else out there. HDTVs are so much cooler than posters or backlit signs, right? And when you add in 3D animation, and bouncy text, and superdy duperdy cool sound effects, there’s no doubt it will be awesome, right?

And we are supposed to be experts. We tell clients and buyers how to install a screen, put software on a computer, and create gorgeous, award-winning content. Sometimes we act like Steven Spielberg is on our staff.

I asked if he could partner with me to help a client. He said he couldn't. He was busy. Pfft.

We never tell people how good or bad our installations or content is. If we did that, we would lose a sale. I’m all for humility, but not at the expense of losing a potential client.

Buyers have a very short grace period to justify the capital expenditure of high definition screens. If I’m going to pay this much money to have you put a screen where I could hang a piece of paper, I want my ROI. NOW. We tell people what these screens could do, but the screens don’t live up to the hype. And when the numbers (or bills) come back to the network owners, they start to ask questions.

This is why the sales cycle takes so long: We can’t prove it works, and buyers don’t have huge amounts of liquid cash to play with. They need to know it works. Now.

Maybe we criticize because it’s easy to see how we could do better than the other guys. Maybe the reason we criticize digital signage is because we over-promise on expectations, and we under-deliver on results.

It’s a technology and practice that continues to evolve. We, the executors of digital signage, continue to evolve with it; we learn every day.

But here’s the good news: We’ll get better at it.

The market will saturate with screens and technology to the point where the disciplines are about consumer engagement and great content. And because that’s where the rubber hits the road, that’s where the expectations of performance will be realized.

In the end, I’m not afraid to constructively discuss why digital signage can be better. I just hope I can bring solutions to the table as well.

Everyone's a critic.