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Last week, while at a local electronics store, I saw a man, maybe 30 years old, browsing in the computer software section. He was wearing headphones attached to some device in his pocket. It struck me that he was wearing headphones in a retail environment. What was he listening to? Science Fiction? Music? A podcast on computer programming? And would the sound coming from that device affect his behavior in the store and, ultimately, his purchase for the day?

With technology, we have changed from media consumers to media customers, controlling every aspect of how we digest it.

This places special emphasis on the programming strategy of a digital signage network, and as we acquire and play content from external sources, we are starting to create experiences beyond the bubble of a brand or product.

We need to understand the strategy of endemic.

CORPORATE AND THE ENDEMIC ‘R’EVOLUTION

“Endemic” was the corporate buzzword a few years back when retailers were trying to figure out a brand’s relationship among environments, products, customers, employees, and the culture that this mix created.

When reviewing content, I would ask myself, “Does this fit in the store? Does this help the customer make a decision?” When thinking about the store, we would ask ourselves if what we were doing was endemic to the to the brand.

Technology has provided retailers with the opportunity to create a stronger bond between the brand and the customer. Digital signage forces us to rethink the idea of endemic because it combines multiple channels of information including content from outside the native environment. In turn, this forces us to comprehend the psychology of a brand’s influence on the customer’s lifestyle, not just what goes on inside the store.

Therefore, when thinking about the experiences we generate, we must ask ourselves, “Is this endemic to the customer?”

THE ENCONOMY AND THE CUSTOMER SHOPPING SHIFT

The current economic situation has exaggerated the customer’s shopping behavior and the retailer’s focus on that behavior. Because the conglomeration of retail and technology has never been greater, the effect on revenue has never been as significant.

Retailers must work doubly hard: They must sell the products people want to buy both in the store and on the web. But, more importantly, they must foster a culture that people want to engage in and evolve.

The customer builds the brand, not the retailer.

For example, if I own/operate a bookstore and know that my core customer demographic loves Subaru cars, should I start advertising them even though I don’t sell anything related to Subaru?

Yes. You need to relate to your customer and your consumer. Digital Signage plays a key role as an enabler, a device that moves the customer from point A to point B, whatever those two points are: From sad to happy (emotional engagement), from the back of the store to the front (navigation), from reality to fantasy (perception), or from money in the wallet to money in the till (impact/ROI).

THE AUDIENCE LANDSCAPE AND STRATEGY

We used to think of our audience as captive: A group of people stuck in a store with no alternative but to stare at the big shiny screen and all the pretty things it said. (If you’re thinking about Apple’s “1984” ad right now, you’re not alone.)

Rob Winston, Senior Accounts Manager with Arbitron Out-of-Home, says the audience landscape is changing, and I agree. Customers are no longer captive; they are much more selective about what they receive. Mr. Winston asks, “In this audience landscape, how do you create engaging, effective content?”

There are myriad methods to finding the right mix for an engaging experience. No single equation works for all environments. In my own research, I have seen the spectrum of endemic and non-endemic advertising. One customer said, “Don’t sell me Budweiser if I can’t buy it here.” The idea of placing non-endemic content comes with reluctance due to fear of alienating a customer.

The way to find out what your customer wants is to do two things: 1) Ask; 2) Try. But, do not assume a priori. Some of the best responses from customers came when they didn’t know what was next.

WHERE THE HEART IS

Endemic and non-endemic messaging encourages the need to consider culture: The idea that customers are made up of more than a product, that they prefer the influence of other factors when making a decision, factors that originate in their lives outside of the store.

When building an effective Digital Signage strategy, you must ask, “What is endemic to the customer?” Do you promote experiences and merchandise that you don’t sell because it’s what the customer wants to see and hear? If you work at a video game retailer, do you put a Coca Cola commercial on your program even though you don’t sell the product? Yes, it generates revenue for you in ad sales; and yes, it’s an untapped market for the advertiser.

But the value goes much further than revenue. It creates an experience and an environment that the customer wants to be in.

You make the customer feel at home.

EVEN THE SILENCE IS DEAFENING

At the electronics store, I continued to keep my eye on the gentleman with the headphones, wracking my brain wondering what he was listening to and trying to figure out if I could tie that into what he purchased, which appeared to be a role-playing computer game. I timed my approach to the register to end up in line right in front of him. He continued to wear his headphones through the transaction, and after he bought his software I asked him what he was listening to.

He said, “Nothing. I wear them so no one will bother me.”

You can purchase the doormat in the picture here.

A little quiz for you: Below you see 10 current HDTV models, 10 different brands and no repeats. Each is a 1080p with an actual size of between 40” and 50”. The only digital alteration I have made is to remove the brand logo from the frame. Can you tell which model belongs to which brand?

The answers are at the bottom of the post.

Al Wittemen is the Managing Director of Shopper Marketing with TracyLocke. In Mr. Wittemen’s book, How To Store Walk, he describes how humans navigate:

As humans we navigate through our day visually scanning the world around us and making subconscious comparisons. Regardless of where we are, we scan the world through three distinct lenses: 200 ft, 20 ft, and 2 ft to make sense of what is around us and to easily complete tasks.

Retailers understand these navigation principles and design their in-store environment and marketing/merchandising strategy around three corresponding propositions. The three propositions and key attributes for each are explained in [this diagram]:

Quote and graphic used by permission.

By understanding how a customer perceives an area of a store, we can see where the influence of a digital experience has the highest value. Let’s look at a home theater department from those three lenses:

200 Feet: Area Proposition: Low Emotion, High Information At roughly 200 feet, you know there are TVs in the back of the store and they’re turned on. That’s about it. The content on the TVs is not meant for storewide comprehension. However, collectively, the TV wall does a great job of saying, “Hey, we’re back here, come check us out.” With the height of the TVs on the wall, they work as well as the overhead signage for area proposition and store navigation.

This is about 100 feet from the back wall. There is not much difference between 200 feet and here.

20 Feet: Category Proposition: Way Finding, Navigate Choices At 20 feet there is very little, if any, brand differentiation. It is in this distance range where the content performs the most important role in three main areas: Branding, Emotion, and Enabler. Between 20 feet and two feet, the customer narrows the search to a set that is perfect for his or her lifestyle. As is said in retail, this is where retailers, “win the last 10 feet.” This is where digital experience is the key driver for the decisions.

Two Feet: Product Proposition: High Information Drives Choice, High Emotion By now, the customer has narrowed the choice to two or three brands. But look how small that brand logo is. Even at two feet, all the logos are shiny little letters at the bottom of the frames. Is the customer still shopping by brand at this point?

Winning the Last 10 Feet
The content must be a tour guide to help the customer narrow down the choices and physically move from 20 feet to two feet. The experience should be an enabler, a conversation point between the employee and the customer.

The content is part inspiration and part information. Depending on the strategic purpose of the screen, the percentages waver in those two categories. If your goal is to show how the TV is ideal for the customer’s home theater lifestyle, you’ll rely heavily on content that inspires. In a convenience store or point-of-transit area, the strategy is more toward informative; the content is bite-sized information that can influence a viewer while in that area, or walking by the screen.

Knowing the purpose of a digital experience in your environment is only half the battle. Knowing the lenses (or distance) through which your customers can digest that experience is critical in winning the last 10 feet. Combining both when building a strategy for your experience will differentiate you from your competitor.

TV TEST ANSWERS: a. Insignia; b. LG; c. Panasonic Viera; d. Pioneer Kuro; e. Proscan; f. RCA; g. Samsung; h. Sharp Aquos; i. Sony Bravia; j. Toshiba.