In 2007, I was working with Best Buy on what Best Buy called “New Blue,” a new approach to the physical retail space: wider aisles, more carpeting, lower shelving, a center-of-store experience, and “stages.” These stages were placed at the front of each major department as demonstrations of products in a home. The computing stage was a home office; the home theater stage had a big HDTV, surround sound, and a comfy couch; and the kitchen stage had a kitchen. I felt they never worked because the stages were too open to the rest of the store and didn’t have the warmth of any of those locations in the home. It still felt like a big box environment; the ceiling was still that big box-exposed-rafter ceiling that made the store noise reverberate through everything. It just didn’t feel right. Best Buy claimed the customer response was positive, but that’s a seriously subjective statement.

Last summer, Bill Gerba wrote an article about audio and digital signage, and suggested reading “Sound Business” by Julian Treasure.

Working in an industry concerned almost exclusively with the visual medium, sound is largely an afterthought. While at Best Buy, I realized the power of sound in experiential and brand engagement, and now consider it crucial to the strategy of effective communication.

I wish I had this book in 2007.

Mr. Treasure’s book is a must if you work in an industry where sound is in any way a part of the communication medium or environment. The book does a splendid job of covering the spectrum of sound, from creation to transmission to impact in just about every type of environment where sound is used.

The book is broken into three sections. Mr. Treasure first educates us on the technical side of sound: decibels, resonance, frequency, waves, creation, transmission, and the factors in sound’s impact on the listener. He ends the section on listening. “Hearing is a physical process, but listening is a relationship, a choice, and a skill.” The text dives deep into the ability to listen and decode information, citing research that states, “We can handle only around seven chunks of information at once (plus or minus two).” This is important when thinking about a retail environment and all the competing noise.

The second section tours the several different classifications of sound and applicable rules for working with sound, including Mr. Treasure’s “Four Golden Rules of Sound:” Make the sound optional, make it appropriate, make it valuable, and test, test test. He writes about some new tools, such as Reactive sound, where computers with environmental sensors create sound on the fly. For example, when the room lights dim, the computer senses a change in light and automatically alters the sound.

Mr. Treasure introduces the SoundFlow™ model, a detailed process map that outlines the effects of sound on people and environments. He also introduces the SoundMap™, a 12-cell matrix with over 90 questions designed to drill down to the core issues around sound associated with a brand, product, or service. I’m willing to bet that you, Mr. or Ms. Marketing Executive, will be unable to accurately answer two-thirds of those questions. If so, you do not have a solid sound approach to your brand or product.

All of this information is the foundation for the third section where Mr. Treasure takes you on a journey through the application of sound in any given environment. He explains the value and impact of sound on a brand, ranging from brand music (British Airways using “Flower Duet” from Delibés’ opera Lakmé), to sonic logos (Intel’s five note logo or NBC’s three-note chime).

Mr. Treasure explains the factors of sound in just about every type of environment, from retail spaces, to hospitals, reception areas, office environments, private spaces (living rooms) and vehicles.

The book is loaded with case studies and examples of good sound and bad sound, providing detail on how sound can affect sales and engagement. Mr. Treasure cites a retail project where the front windows were transformed into giant loudspeakers, resulting in a 50 percent increase in customer traffic stopping to investigate.

Mr. Treasure provides ample detail on the effect of sound in a retail environment. For example, he describes how up-tempo music results in customers with a higher degree of energy that move through store faster. He suggests that slower music results in longer dwell times. But, if you’re Abercrombe and Fitch you would be hard pressed to change your Top 40 and electronic up-tempo music aimed at the teen and young adult demographic to slower music. Going back to the SoundFlow™ and SoundMap™ processes, Abercrombe and Fitch would be able to make the sound applicable to the environment as part of the brand, not just noise from the heavens.

The book comes with an accompanying CD that exemplifies the very situations he cites. After going through the CD along with the book, I cannot fathom how this book would work without it. I spent several tracks thinking, “So that’s what he means!”

This book has proven to be an invaluable resource for my work with some of my clients, substantiating details I already knew about audio and providing me with knowledge on appreciating audio’s impact and developing solutions better suited for the client and the audience.

I believe this would be a great addition to anyone’s desire to understand the impact of interactive experiences, and highly recommend it.

You can find some more of Treasure’s insights on his Sound Business blog. And you can watch him talk about sound at a TED event last year.

I’ll let Mr. Treasure close: “If this book achieves one thing only, I hope it is to move us out of this denial and into recognition of the enormous, varied and wide-ranging effects that sound is having on us all.”

You can find the book on Amazon.com here.

Awaiting entrance into the trade show. I'm third row, second from left.

Another Digital Signage Exposition has come and gone. Last year I spent all my time in the sessions. This year, I spent all my time on the floor. Instead of giving you the top five things I learned (as was my habit with shows I attended last year), I will just drop some thoughts on you. Take ‘em or leave ‘em. (Or hold ‘em or fold ‘em, as Mr. Rogers would have you do if you’re the gambling sort.)

The industry is selling to the wrong audience and doesn’t know it.
The real audience for the exhibitors was upstairs in the conference sessions. The conflicting schedules kept many of them from diving deep into the trade show floor. And the buyers that walked the floor had more questions than answers after leaving. I know. I ran into two of them.

The sessions were well attended…
I did the opening keynote session and a final session of the conference, and both were well attended. I heard most sessions had good crowds.

…but there are too many of them.
Day One had three full day seminars, a half day seminar, and a half-day tour of Vegas. Days two and three had 43 sessions. This is too much, and I’m certain there is a lot of redundancy. I hope that over the next 11 months, the DSE will find a more efficient way to make sure everyone has the opportunity to learn, network, and explore without having to decide between one session or another.

The DSF was on people’s minds…
One of the interim DSF board members asked me if I thought it was the right thing to do.  It is, if you take this opportunity to do what the industry needs. If not, the DSF and the DSA will battle themselves into apathy while the NRF, InfoComm, and other shows continue to lure away the exhibitors and experts.

…but not on all minds.
One executive told me, “The companies in there [the trade show] couldn’t care less about these boards. They care about landing clients and buyers.” Ouch. But I see his point.

#dse2010 was pretty cool…
Many screens throughout the show floor displayed the Twitter hashtag tweets, and it’s really great to see so many engaged with a community tool to spread the cheer of the show. There were over 1,200 tweets.

…but not very cool
So we all tweeted. Big deal. The DSE promoted that session attendees could use Twitter to ask questions of the session moderators and panelists before the conference. I was in two sessions and never got a question. Did anyone else? I doubt it. Was anyone not at DSE really “following” what was going on? Twitter is here and will be a great tool for communication, but we’re trying too hard to jam this into the ecosystem without allowing it to grow organically.

Good Rumor.
There is a deal for PRN on paper in the range of 80 million. That’s a song compared to what Thompson paid for them, but I believe PRN is doing a lot of good stuff. They are refining their business model, breaking apart their bundled services, and partnering with key companies to offer better solutions. What I mean is: They ain’t Walmart’s bitch anymore. I hope that continues. There are good people there working hard.

Bad Rumor.
One service provider told me his company learned they lost a bid for a client to their competitor. They heard it from their competitor. Bad form, folks.

Everyone is busy…
Everyone I asked said they were busy. And many that I spoke with said they had the resources (read: money and people) to make traction in 2010. Let’s hope that’s true.

…so don’t waste their time.
One guy wrote to me and asked me to meet with him. He wanted to talk to me about some “new retail initiatives” his company was working on. I was excited to hear this news and made it a point to connect with this gentleman. After shaking hands, he proceeded to tell me how drunk he got the night before. Then he walked away from me. That was the meeting. Oh, and he did this in front of his CEO. Classy.

Shoes, Socks, and Business Cards
Adrian Cotterill, of DailyDOOH.com fame, has a small list of suggestions for your next show visit.

Want to read more? Head over to these blogs and get more first-hand accounts of the show. Lots to read, but all of it worthwhile.

Dave Haynes, Sixteen-Nine
DSE Impressions…So Far
More DSE Impressions

Mike Cearley, 11th Screen
2nd (and last) Official Session of the Day #40
Cutting Through The Clutter at DSE 2010
Top 5 Moments of DSE 2010

Adrian Cotterill, DailyDOOH.com
#dse2010 – The Gossip

David Weinfeld, DS Insights
Thoughts from Digital Signage Expo 2010

Ken Goldberg, Broad Thinking. Narrowcasting
Themes from DSE

Finally
The UMA Motorcoach Expo was taking place at the same time as our little shin-dig at the Convention Center. I snuck into their show and checked out a few of their rides. There was a huge banner that said, “We’ll see you next year in Tampa!” I don’t know about you folks, but I’m liberating one of those moving condos and going on a road trip to Tampa next year. Right now you should be hearing the theme song to Vacation.

Would you like a six foot-long with your two liter?

Starbucks Formula For Social Media Success
“…a social media plan that works beautifully to create millions of fans for the brand and keep them involved in the brand’s doings.” I have said this so many times: Companies do not build brands. Customers build brands. This is a perfect example of how a major brand allows its users to define and shape its place in their life.

Jim Mitchum provides a nice piece on how to be more proactive in social media. At the end of the piece, he links to an article about Pepsi skipping the Super Bowl to focus more on online marketing efforts. Last year, Best Buy’s network did as well as it had ever done while I was there, even in the wake of bad economic news. Why? For this very reason. When an advertiser says they’re skipping the Super Bowl, everyone believes that the advertiser is just not spending money. Not true. It may be that they are spending the money somewhere else, for a more targeted audience with a higher ROI. Pepsi just made my argument. And if you think that Coca-Cola has the run of the roost now with the big game, think about this: Pepsi drinkers will still be watching the Super Bowl. Is Coke really going to be taking advantage of a competitor’s absence?

How To Run A Meeting Like Google
I know too many people who need to read this. Read it.

Alex Lundry Chart Wars: The Political Power of Data Visualization
“Pictures are a superior and more efficient delivery mechanism for information.” Sounds like a good reason for digital signage. 5:00 video, but watch the first 2:30 where he shows some examples and talks about data visualization. The last half of dos/don’ts are stuff we all should know anyway.

An Augmented Building
Scroll down the page for the english translation and video. Very cool.

Projection on Buildings
Another version of an augmented building. More for the visual art, but I can see museums all over this.

First Person Tetris
Make sure you haven’t been drinking. I got about 45 seconds into this and realized I was laying on the floor. And I wasn’t drinking.

Card Flourishes in Advertising
Dan & Dave have teamed up with Christopher Wicks to create advertising for Wicks’s shirt collection. I love card flourishes. This spot had me completely mesmerized for 60 seconds. Watched it once. Did not even see the shirts. Oops. My first thought, when considering how this type of content works, is that it is so cool that the producers and advertiser completely forgot why they made the ad – to promote the shirts. A good example of content that should work but doesn’t.

Coke Happiness Machine
Interactive? Check. Engaging? Check. Customer retention and brand loyalty? Yep. Digital? Ummm…not really. Much ado has been made lately about Coke’s interactive machines, but I can say with some confidence that a customer would remember this interactivity more than with a digital interface. Especially when the coke comes with a pizza. Very clever.

Part of my enjoyment with this industry is the opportunity to get up on a stage and talk about it. I love the speaker circuit. I really do. I also love watching really good speakers. Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs is a really good speaker.

I’m fascinated with Jobs’s presentation capabilities. On occasion, I have emulated Jobs’s presentation style, like using a photo instead of copy to tell a story. When the iPad was released last week, I thought I would watch his latest presentation introducing the iPad to the world. He’s a master storyteller and takes you on a journey each time he gets on stage.

At the beginning of the presentation, he gives the audience updates on other Apple products. Apple just sold its 250 millionth iPod since 2001. Nice. The App Store has over 140,000 applications available for download to the iPhone and the iTouch, and it just recorded its three billionth download (that’s nine zeroes, folks). Very nice.

Jobs talked about Apple’s 284 retail sores, with the most recent store opening in New York City, on the upper west side.

Commenting on the newest store, he said, “It is so wonderful to be putting these stores, with their phenomenal buying experience, right in the neighborhoods  of our customers. It feels great.”

Wait. Hold up. Let’s hear that again.

“It is so wonderful to be putting these stores, with their phenomenal buying experience, right in the neighborhoods  of our customers. It feels great.”

Pregnant pause…

I wrote it down because I just had to break this sentence apart. It struck me how a CEO and regular mountain-mover like Steve Jobs can say this about an update. You would think he would save his best material for the iPad. Not for me. To me that sentence was a smack in the face, a kick in the shin, a wow moment. (Actually, that was me falling out of my chair after trying to readjust while starting to write this post. Darn you, rolling chair on hardwood floor!)

The customer experience inside a retail environment is one of the reasons for my existence This little comment was music to my ears. I wasn’t using iTunes. Shame on me. Look at the words he used in the sentence:

“It is so wonderful to be putting these stores, with their phenomenal buying experience right in the neighborhoods of our customers. It feels great.”

Wonderful. “Wonderful” evokes feelings of whole, positive joy, that it feels good from his head to his toes to talk about this, that he’s intimate with the new store. It’s not what Apple does, it’s what Apple is. This is not a CEO of business, this is a CEO of passion.

Phenomenal. A powerful word with more impact in this sentence than an adjective like outstanding, fantastic, or terrific. The word makes the subject feel bigger, more magical. “Phenomenal” is a word used by a CEO who believes that brand engagement with a customer or consumer is yin to the yang of high-quality products that make customers unabashedly loyal.

Experience. He knows that purchasing a product doesn’t end at the register (or the hand-held checkout). It starts when the customer walks through the doors, and ends when the product has completely served its purpose in the lifestyle of the customer many years down the road.

Neighborhoods. He didn’t say “city.” He said “neighborhoods.” That evokes a feeling of community, of local flavor, that several of your neighbors work there, and you shop there, and at any time you may find yourself sitting out front in the hot afternoon sun while recalling the old days of the Apple IIc. Brilliant.

Our. With ‘neighborhoods,’ this little word completes the sense of community, as if you may see Jobs jump behind the counter and actually start ringing up items. Using that word, instead of “the,” sells the brand strategy that you (Mr. or Mrs. Apple Product Consumer) are part of a family, not just on the other end of a transaction.

Great. He ends with a simple sentence that means two things: It feels great to drop another license to print money in New York City, and the store’s presences itself makes the entire physical and mental experience of the brand great.

And listen to the inflection and emphasis of those words. He wants to make sure you get this.

The best part of this quote is that it’s not scripted. It’s a point he wanted to make, and there’s no doubt that he has mastered the use of language as part of the presentation, but this is an update, and therefore not as scripted as the rest of the show. This was a comment. Yet it comes across with such insane passion that you can’t help but believe that this guy wanted to drop each pane of glass into place by himself. He’s really excited.

To me, this is why the cult of Apple continues to grow as a brand. Apple is a viral brand that emanates from the pores of its CEO down to the guy at the Genius Bar who can fix your MacBook Pro by just staring at it.

I have yet to watch the rest of the presentation.

There are two reasons people do digital signage: One is to get their message (or someone else’s) out there. The other is to make money doing it. And not not necessarily in that order.

It’s at this very moment where the philosophy and impact of branding comes into play. How do you make your message look and feel like…well…you? What are the proper principles of branding and how can you apply them to your company, or your message, or your existence in a given environment so that you have that crucial impact on the customer or client?

Digital Signage continues to grow, embracing principles and practices from several other areas of customer and consumer engagement. The philosophy of branding for many network operators may be a new thing because in the past there was never a real need to brand the message. A static sign in a store was just wall covering, for the most part. But, with a dynamic medium the need is greater than ever, especially for merchandisers who want to differentiate themselves and use their network as a factor of differentiation.

What is Brand Strategy Insider?
Brand Strategy Insider is the branding blog of The Blake Project, a brain trust of branding experts that “…design, manage and build brands that drive revenue through differentiated customer experiences.” Pretty much the purpose of a digital sign for many network owners and operators.

Who writes it?
The blog has several contributors: Derrick Daye (Managing Partner of The Blake Project), Martin Lindstrom, Steve Rivkin, Al Ries, and Brad VanAuken. All of them write on various topics within the brand strategy universe, and all of them write very well. Occasionally, they will disagree openly on the blog, and it makes for some fascinating reading among branding experts.

The blog also has several contributors from various disciplines that dip into the psychology of branding, advertising, and marketing, even going so far as to understand the neuroscience of marketing.

What do they write?
In VanAuken’s book, Brand Aid, he cites The American Marketing Association’s description of a brand as a ‘‘name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition.” In a nutshell, they try to cover the universe of branding, taking real-life examples of brands and breaking down the reasons behind their successes or failures. The blog has over 50 categories of branding topics.

The length of each post ranges from a few hundred words to over a thousand, sometimes, and they post just about every day. It can be a challenge to keep up with all the entries. But each entry is a deep dive into the topic at hand. At the end of every article, you should feel like you learned something.

Why should I read this blog?
Because one of the most important things we can do in our industry is understand the impact that digital signage can have on an audience. With a screen’s capability for dynamic engagement, the opportunity to connect a viewer with a product or service and, particularly, with the provider of either the product or the service, the need to understand how branding functions is paramount.

Another important reason is that all of us in this industry lead or work for companies trying to be leaders in a category, whether you’re a hardware provider, creative agency, or consultant. This blog is loaded with insight on how the big companies succeed and fail with takeaways you can apply to your own organization, regardless of size.

Three To Read
Because they write every day, don’t try too hard to read everything. Instead, dig through their posts and find the articles most relevant to your discipline in the industry. They do write some about digital media, including social media, but I have found their overall marketing and branding insight to be truly valuable to me and my work.

There are literally hundreds of articles on their site, all of them great reading. Here are three posts that can give you an idea of the depth of their knowledge and experience:

The Principles of Marketing – January 14, 2010
In one post, Al Ries puts forth a great acronym to sum up the principles he practices and educated in marketing: FOCVS, “…a word using the original alphabet of the Roman Empire…” It’s a great piece of education on marketing, and I highly recommend reading this one first.

GM’s Appointment Shows No Respect for Marketing – August 19, 2009
I had put this post in an earlier Clicks post of mine. I think this is one of the best lessons in marketing you can read. It clearly shows that marketing is a discipline you acquire thorough years of marketing experience, not years of loyalty to a company.

Brand Focus Leads To Power and Profits – December 21, 2009
“…line extension inhibits the branding process. When a company makes and markets a broad range of products under one name, it is extremely difficult to build that name into a powerful brand. ” For a long time, Japanese companies like Sony have survived on a brand that connotes power and profitability. Al gives us a little reality check and helps us understand that focus can drive profits much higher.

And One More
Forgiveness and the Tiger Woods Brand – December 16, 2009
Part of the allure of the Tiger Woods debacle is the impact his personal brand has on the companies he endorses, how much money companies would lose by continuing to associate with him, and how fast some of those sponsors were to jump ship. This post is from contributor Dr. Robert Passikoff, and I found this very interesting. Two weeks after Tiger’s “transgressions” hit the airwaves, my partner, Pat Hellberg, formerly of Nike, said, “Remember Kobe’s mistake in Colorado? Nike stuck by him then. Today, Kobe’s Nike shoe is the number two best selling shoe in the world. There’s no way Nike abandons Tiger.” Sure enough, a week later Phil Knight issued a statement saying Nike would remain with Tiger.

You can follow The Blake Project on Twitter as well.

Past BUs:
Bill Gerba: Digital Signage Insider
Ken Goldberg: Broad Thinking. Narrowcasting.

Do you read a blog I should be following that is worth showcasing here? Send me a link. If I like it, I’ll write about it.