As always, after an exhibition, I come home with hundreds of new ideas and a better understanding of the LED walls market. After talking with several customers and visiting several booths at Visual Communication 2007 in Milan, Italy - I realized something that I already knew but that hit me. LED walls have been on the market for a few years now but they are still in their infancy as a developing media for outdoor advertising! The more I walked around the exhibition centre, the more I understood the HUGE advantages of LED giant screens for outdoor applications - LED large format screens offer a greater flexibility of use than conventional billboards could ever provide! I think LED giant displays main benefits are the following: * Moving messages - have been proven to catch the human eye's attention up to 8 times more that a static advertising billboard * Higher brightness - which allows the LED billboard to stand out of the crowd both during the day and at night * Increasing LED resolution - that is transforming the outdoor screens in HUGE high-resolution TV monitors * Videos and animations capabilities - that allows to broadcast TV commercial as seen on television * Multiple message provider - that allows advertising companies to run multiple campaigns on the same screens * PC remote control - so you can change the ads in just a mouse click rather than sending out a crew to pull down and replace a billboard message. Over the next decade, we can expect to see more and more LED billboards and displays popping-up along the streets - first along the most trafficked highways and near major urban centres, and then spreading out to less populous areas. Here a real-life example: a few weeks ago I had a meeting with some Customers that purchased 9 giant screens. They installed the screens in 9 different villages to create a network.
Let me explain you their idea which I find incredibly simple and effective: the content they broadcast on the LED screen is divided as follows: * 60% customized advertising for local businesses (ie. real estate agencies, car dealers, shopping malls.) * 40% shared public information regarding the 9 villages that belongs to the network (ie. weather forecast, traffic, air pollution data.) The great thing I find about this idea is that they managed to use the LED giant screen as an advertising tool capable of providing a useful service to the citizens. Furthermore, having 40% of the broadcasting space dedicated to public utility information, is a huge benefit to advertisers as well.
Why? Because providing useful and updated content to the citizens keeps their interest and attention level very high. In this way, people DO NOT get accustomed to the LED wall but will keep on watching it even after many months with the same interest because they know it will provide updated information which is important TO THEM. I think that this savvy mixture of advertising and valuable information represent the future of a successful advertising business based on a LED giant screen installation. As a general rule, in order to easily manage the LED wall, I strongly suggest that you provide each installation with an broadband connection.
To obtain one, you simply need to make a request to your national or local phone services provider. Connecting the LED giant screen is not much different from connecting your house. Usually it takes a few days or weeks to get the broadband line from the moment you requested it (but please note that the installation time may sensibly vary from nation to nation). The broadband line will allow you to control the LED wall from a remote location (ie.
your office or home.). With this fast connection, you can easily transfer videos and ads to the display in just a few minutes. If your software allows it, you can also manage the scheduling with a dedicated software (some of the best manufacturers provide one managing software included with the screen, which is specifically designed to manage the advertising's playlist. and eventually make changes.
Or, always from remote, you could decide to adjust brightness and intensity with a few clicks, using the control panel (usually by default, the screen is provided with our factory setting, which fit most of the applications but slight adjustment might be needed). Important: some of the best LED walls on the market, can be controlled by ANY data-transfer technology available on the market, therefore even GSM, bluetooth, wi-fi. Nevertheless, I strongly suggest you to use an broadband connection because, based on my experience, this solution provide the best results in terms of reliability, ease of use and costs.
Fabio Aversa is marketing manager at Euro Display Srl, the manufacturer of LED walls, giant screens and LED displays and author of the FREE ebook How to make money with your LED giant screen in 7 easy steps
