MediaPost’s Marketing Daily has an article about how some advertisers are setting up digital signage networks in the windows of out-of-business vacant retail stores.
I have no problem believing digital signage can be an effective tool in a window display (see my recent Harrods post). But most successful windows displays are designed to draw you into the store. In this case, these windows need to drive you someplace else. Worse, the overwhelming majority of closed stores are in less than desirable real-estate where the shopper has already migrated away. If I were an out of home advertiser (happily I’m not), I’m not sure I’d be too excited about buying sub-optimal locations and then hoping to change a hundred years of consumer behavior by using the windows to drive traffic to some other shopping venue.
Since the inventory of advertising locations is likely to be pretty liquid, it’s going to be a challenge for the network operator to have capitol equipment available to set up ad-hoc digital signage displays.
Does digital signage offer some special opportunity in these empty windows that some form of static advertising does not? (other than all the usual intrinsic advantages of digital sigange).
All and all I just don’t get excited about this. Am I too cynical?
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