Digital POS Signage is coming

Last month Intel unveiled a digital signage concept that will open up new digital opportunities at retail and ultimately change the face of point of sale signage. You wouldn't know it from the cheesy, low-budget announcement video from Intel, but this will be big.

This POS concept has a small camera that processes male/female, height and approximate age factors in order to serve up appropriate merchandise selections that might be relevant to you. Add in an RFID sensor that could read an Radio Frequency tag embedded on a loyalty card in your wallet and it would know how valuable you are to the store and what to show you. The logic of "what to show to whom" could be determined by the manufacturer partner, the "when to show" could be determined by the local store along with co-branded content.

We've had customizable price tags and POS templates in our Ad Builders for years, but I can certainly see the advantages of deploying promotions and messaging to these digital POS signs from the same Ad Builder system. That Ad Builder can help the store owner deploy Digital POS, Google AdWords Search, microsite content, outbound email and other media in one seamless campaign. Multiple media managed in one place, made simple. It's a store owners dream and helps the manufacturer keep its branding intact as well.

Publishing group changes name to be less "ancient"

The Custom Publishing Council (CPC) announced an official name change last week. It will now be known as the Custom Content Council (CCC). Formed in 1999 to represent custom publishers and content creators -- anyone buying a luxury automobile lately has seen their work. A slick 4-color magazine with articles about road trips, new technology coming in future models, and feedback from loyal owners fill the pages. Major universities also publish these editions as they help inform alumni and generate donations.

Just 11 short years into its cause, the CPC had to change. Lori Rosen, Executive Director stated "...Publishing sounded ancient...Marketers and content providers are constantly challenging themselves to find ways to offer their audiences the broadest possible mix of relevant content—integrating print, the Internet, video, mobile media, social media, and more..." Full announcement here: http://www.custompublishingcouncil.com/news-members-article.asp?ID=706

The CPC realized it wasn't about print. It's about creating and delivering relevent content in all ways consumers interact with it. Print obviously isn't "dead", but it continued to be the defacto standard for brand communications even as the Internet boomed. Perhaps this will signal a change to marketing groups in companies large and small to continue to connect with their consumers online.

Liberate your content from the dusty pages of print and find consumers searching for you on Google, feed your blog and start a Facebook fan site. You'll reduce your printing and postage costs -- generating less waste and more efficiency. Don't forget your sales channel either. Your dealers and distributors need support, programs and good online tools to enable them to leverage your branded content to extend the reach of your content and make sales locally. Start here with a good dealer microsite platform and local Google search program. This will give you the ability to adapt quickly as new online avenues emerge.

The message behind the CPC name change isn't as subtle as changing one letter to "C". It has a resounding impact if we listen.