FSR March 2023

SmartChainDigitalSignage

stakeholder expectations mature,” says Jay Leedy, senior manager of business develop ment at Sony Electronics . “In many respects, this begins and ends with a well-defined content strategy. Who is the audience? Who is defining creative direction and pro ducing content? What teamwill be respon sible for approving and publishing content? How will assets be deployed, managed, and supported over the life of your investment?”

alone digital sign displaying a menu can not match the omnichannel expectations of consumers anymore.” Good content is critical to engag ing restaurant guests, but it can also help reach other stakeholders. Due to ongo ing labor shortages, supply chain issues, and employee communication woes, it’s becoming more important than ever to keep employees informed about the busi ness. “With today’s challenges, digital signage can and should be incorporated as a conduit to not only one’s consum ers, but the employees themselves,” says David Vance, vice president of quick-ser vice restaurant sales at Mood Media . “I think most would agree that an informed and educated employee makes a stron ger employee. By deploying digital sig nage and a screen in the back of the house or breakroom, though the pass-thru video option of digital signage, benefits, com munity involvement, new employment opportunities, training, and even messag ing from the executive leadership can be executed on a daily basis.” Hardware—specifically the number and type of displays in use across any given location—can have an impact on the effectiveness of a brand’s content. “For quick-service restaurants, with displays inside and outside, utilizing a single dis play manufacturer can simplify com patibility, support, and content delivery, ensuring that all components work cor rectly together and each display can be adjusted using the same interface,” says David Boerlin, digital signage key account manager at LG Business Solutions USA . “The more displays a location has, the more important it is to have immediate control over the content.” In order to serve the right content to the right people at the right time, it’s essential for digital signage platforms to be network-connected, integrated, and cloud-based. “Menu or pricing changes performed once are populated everywhere the menu is published, including the din ing room, the drive thru, third-party ser vices, and online,” says Arjun Wadwalkar, group product manager at Xenial . “Central sign-in enables the brand to not only extend permissions to the appropriate

satisfaction. The strategy should include creating a calendar, testing different vari ations of the content, and, after some time in use, doing an honest and thorough assessment of the results. After all, one of the best things about digital signs is they can be changed almost instantly.” The success or failure of digital sig nage programs hinges upon the measur able quality of the content—and how effec tively marketing teams and their partners can reach customers. “The most important component of a successful digital signage program is to have a solid content man agement service partner,” says C.J. Mays, director of sales and marketing at Uni Structures . With the right partner, res taurant brands can experiment and refine their strategy quickly. One common successful strategy is personalization, which is making rapid strides in foodservice. “Personalization and loyalty brought over from mobile and online are growing, and digital signage needs to be fed from technology inputs, dynamically changing at rapid speeds,” says Matthew Simpson, head of new prod uct and design at Coates Group . “A stand Coates Group

“Without a good strategy, it may not make sense to invest in digital signage,” says Gary Kurtz, vice president of sales and marketing at The Howard Company . “The marketing and operations teams should sit down for an honest discus sion of goals and the content has to be designed to meet the operational and sales goals of the business. And there may be some other important objectives like developing the brand story and customer “ Without a good strategy, it may not make sense to invest in digital signage.”

COATES GROUP

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