Digital Signage

A flexible & creative medium

Digital signage is a great option for retailers who need a flexible way to communicate with customers frequently and consistently across a store network.

At a glance, digital signage seems easy to buy and implement. But scaling digital signage across stores with variations in base-building and technology infrastructure can quickly become a headache. Add to this the need for content planning across trade areas targeting different customer segments and most retailers begin to realize they need some added bench strength.

Avida helps retailers establish the vision for elevated shopping experiences.

Planning for digital signage

Digital signage is a powerful communications tool that can help transform retail environments while supporting business and customer experience objectives. At Avida, we see digital signage and digital content as potential solutions to three distinct but related challenges:

The value of a digital signage program is best realized when it’s planned and deployed based on clear and prioritized business needs. Such understanding of priorities will ensure a focused program that is measurable, adaptable, and is useful when deciding where to locate screens in store and how many screens to include in the plan. This information will also influence the development of your content strategy.

Omnichannel shoppers who visit brick-and-mortar stores have various motivations and missions they set out to achieve. Digital signage programs, when designed thoughtfully based on customer insights, can be effective touchpoints that engage and support shoppers along their path to purchase.

The functional and operational realities of physical retail environments provide both opportunities and constraints for planning and deploying digital screens across a store network. Avida incorporates insights gained from studying business and shopper contexts to design technology-driven solutions that are scalable across your retail store network.

Digital signage solutions that work for your business context

Digital Signage as a Service

Avida’s premiere digital signage offering is Digital Signage as a Service, our full-service, turnkey offering. This is a great option if your organization is ready to deploy digital signage across a large network, but you don’t have a dedicated internal team to:

  • Research and vet different solutions
  • Plan and manage installations across a large geography
  • Ensure base-building and IT infrastructure are sufficient for program rollout
  • Plan content calendars and playlists
  • Design and create content
  • Schedule and traffic content to ensure your screens are always on and working for you

A La Carte Digital Signage Solutions

Some organizations may not require our full suite of services, whether it’s because they have internal capabilities, or due to strict procurement policies. At Avida, we’re adaptable to ensure we’re able to provide the right solutions and services that make sense for your business.

Avida helps retailers establish the vision for elevated shopping experiences.

Make us your sounding board and let’s figure out the best solution together.

Avida helps retailers establish the vision for elevated shopping experiences.

Components of a digital signage program

All digital signage programs require four key things:

Hardware That’s Fit for Purpose

Avida is hardware agnostic and works with a range of original equipment manufacturers for displays, media players, and other equipment. We make hardware recommendations that work for base-building and IT integration and that balance business objectives with budgetary and operational realities.

Avida’s Content Management System

A robust content and device management system is essential to delivering great digital signage experiences.

Avida’s content management system includes the following features and benefits:

Content Management

  • Rich content playback in up to 8K quality
  • Extensive content and playlist management options including nested playlists and advanced tagging
  • Advanced scheduling capabilities including conditional scheduling and dayparting
  • Simultaneous multi-video playback
  • Seamless multi-screen takeovers and syncing
  • Content overlay messaging
  • Optional Client portal to view active playlists or manage content using roles-based system permissions

Data Integration

  • Integration with virtually any data system
  • Expanded insight with proof of play analysis with detailed performance reports
  • Sales data to content playback analysis at national, regional, or site-level
  • Real-time dynamic content based on changes in variable elements (price, weather, events, etc.)

Device Management

  • Completely integrated solution for monitoring and controlling hardware issues remotely
  • Cloud-hosted environment so content can be managed from anywhere
  • Advanced device health checks with automatic proactive monitoring and alerts
  • Automatic firmware updates with no disruption to the network
  • Advanced system backup and playback
  • Remotely managed settings including power, panel status, input source, and volume
  • Complete built-in remote device control, live content view

Security

  • Industry-leading security with ISO certification
  • Device input locking for enhanced security
  • Multi-layered, built-in security controls and unique threat intelligence to help identify and protect against rapidly evolving threats

Some thoughts on content

Good content matters. Content is what your customers are ultimately engaging with in a digital signage program. Who’s your target audience? How does messaging work together across channels? What types of messages are needed? How should content look? How should assets be animated? How long should it be? In what sequence should content play? For how long? At what time of day?

These are some questions that need to be considered through content strategy and planning. Avida’s in-house team of program managers, content strategists and designers can work with you and your agency partners to ensure your screens are always live with relevant and timely content that brings your brand and products to life.

A team approach to scaling digital signage

Fact: It takes teamwork and collaboration to scale digital signage effectively. Avida’s team prides itself on being the added bench strength that our clients need to ensure their digital signage programs are up and running and delivering on business objectives. Every organization is different. We’re here to help support your internal team and resources to ensure program success.

Working with Avida

Implementing a digital signage program isn’t complex, but it can get complicated when it needs to scale across a large store network.

Whether you’re engaging internal stakeholders to define business requirements, working through your communication objectives, or changing solution providers, Avida has a systematic methodology to ensure the process is clear and well managed.

Digital signage program planning methodology

Ready to start building your digital signage program? Let's chat.

Contact Avida