One of the guidelines Mike will cover in his book is what he calls the “5 As of digital content.” He has kindly allowed us to reprint them below:

Appropriate, Attractive, Affordable, Adaptable, Assembled

For digital signage content to be successful it must be appropriate. Customers should see relevant content on the screens — based on the right time, day, place, and location.

Content must be attractive. The brands that are participating want the content to look good, to be pleasing to the eye and ear. Customers have enough visual clutter in their lives.

Digital content should be appealing, not a distraction. Most retailers do not have the resources to create a network with both appropriate AND attractive content. Therefore it must also be affordable.

Retailers are not media companies. They sell products. A digital signage network cannot be a negative drag on their resources. The pressures of the first three A’s compel signage networks to ensure that the creative is adaptable. The content must be flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways and approaches while still being relevant. The only way to do this is by assembling content using technology. Retailers should look for technical solutions that can produce a wealth of sharp-looking, relevant content at a low cost. This is the future of digital signage content.

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How quickly are banks adopting digital signage? What obstacles are they encountering? What can we learn from banks who have already pioneered this emerging medium?

Join us for “Digital Signage in Retail Financial Services: What John Ryan’s European Survey Means for Your Bank,” a free webinar that explores these questions and more. Hosted by Bob Steele, Vice Chairman of John Ryan, the webinar will review the results of John Ryan’s survey of European and South African bank marketing Envirosell, Wal-Mart, WalMart, Mike Hiatt, Bob Steele executives.

Bob Steele, Vice Chairman of John Ryan

Paco Underhill, Envirosell founder and CEO, and best-selling author of "Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping"

Mike Hiatt, former Wal-Mart digital media director

The webinar also features two guest panelists, who will discuss their thoughts on the implications of the John Ryan survey:

Attendees can expect to learn about:

• The state of Digital Signage in banking
• The three Cs of Digital Signage success
• Ideas on how to use Digital Signage to optimize branch marketing

Reservations can be made at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/318457499

• Dutch Fond Of Social Technologies, But Why? – Jeremiah Owyang (a must-follow if you even remotely dabble in online marketing) points out an interesting phenomenon: that the Dutch adopt social-network technologies at more than twice the rate of other Europeans. Which makes us wonder: What other anomalies do marketers encounter as they try to extend business models across countries and ethnic groups?

• What Target Learned from Channel Red: 18 Tips from Mark Bennett – Christie Liu at Digital Signage Insider was apparently taking good notes when Mark Bennett Target’s executive producer and group manager for media production spoke at the Content Strategies Summit. There are some universally applicable learnings in his talk. At the same time, it’s hard not to see the tremendous difference in the content needs of a store like Target or WalMart, which is primarily dependent on vendors for promo spots — and a bank, which generally needs to generate 100% of its own content. Same digital signage technology, but two different ballgames.

• YES Bank launches “Bank Branch of the Future” – Using RFID for customer identification is not a new concept, but until now has been implemented mostly in “branch of the future” videos created by tech companies. But Mumbai-based YES Bank is taking the technology to the street in its new South Extension, Delhi branch. The bank hopes to use RFID to identify customers as they enter the new branch, which YES describes as a “Service Oriented Advisory Center.” See also: YES Bank to identify you at the door