Target digital signage, facial recognition ban stories hit top spots for June 2019

We are now in the thick of summer and the heat is only going to get worse from here. Readers of Digital Signage Today cooled off last month by soaking in stories on Target and Walmart and San Francisco's facial ban recognition.

The top story for this month looked at how Target and Walmart are mainly using digital signage to deliver simple messages and how these retailers can take it to the next level by delivering more interactive and dynamic campaigns.

Another top story looked at how San Francisco has recently banned law enforcement from using facial recognition technology to identify suspects. The story examined how this ruling might affect digital signage as many vendors are integrating some form of facial identification technology into their displays.

You can read more about the top five most read stories of June 2019 below. They are posted in reverse order.

5. What's your biggest struggle with digital signage?

At Digital Signage Today, potential digital signage users often send us questions about how much digital signage costs, or how they can convince their bosses that digital signage is worth the price. Others are confused about what digital signage even is, and whether it's the same thing as a kiosk or touchscreen display.

We always aim to provide the best information possible at Digital Signage Today on topics ranging from best practices for 4K displays and pitfalls to avoid when deploying digital signage across multiple locations. Now, we are asking for you to submit your own questions and struggles about digital signage so we can directly answer them.

4. Will San Francisco ban on facial recognition affect digital signage?

San Francisco recently put its foot down on facial recognition technology. The Board of Supervisors voted 8-1 early in May to approve the ban.

The city was aiming to proactively prevent law enforcement from using facial recognition technology to identify suspects, even though the San Francisco police has not yet used the technology. Annapolis, Maryland did use facial recognition technology in June 2018 to identify a mass shooter who killed five people during an attack at the newspaper The Capital Gazette.

However, this ban raises an important question for the digital signage industry: how will it affect the industry's usage of facial recognition technology?

3. Menu boards deliver upgraded restaurant experiences

With increasingly tight margins and fickle audiences, many restaurant franchises might balk at spending more money on technology. Despite the initial cost, digital menu boards can help restaurants boost sales and improve guest experience.

Measuring advertising effectiveness with digital signage is slowly getting easier, especially due to increasing integrations with other systems, such as point-of-sale.

Restaurants can directly integrate data from their menu board campaigns with their POS systems

2. 3 ways to effectively integrate social media with digital signage

While I was waiting to get my cell phone upgraded last week, I took some time to look at the digital signage in the store. The displays were mostly pushing advertisements and some videos of skateboarders. I did however, noticed a Twitter symbol at the bottom of the display, and a line of text moving very quickly across the page.

As I looked closer, I realized that was the company's twitter feed, which was speeding along so quickly, I could barely get a sense of what it was trying to say.

The only really effective part of that social media feed was that the company's Twitter handle was in full view. This is a shame, because end users can integrate social media into their displays far more effectively by simply making content visible, highlighting interactions and including a clear call to action.

1. 2 ways Target, Walmart can take digital signage to the next level

As a customer and technology writer, I often take notice of how big retailers utilize technology such as digital signage on the storefront. While I can't speak for every store(since many stores will run trial campaigns), I do notice a pattern with how retailers in my area such as Target and Walmart use digital signage.

Target for example, uses digital signage to:

• Push out the latest music videos in the entertainment section.
• Push out latest Target advertisements.
• Deliver branded videos that emphasize the happy, stylish brand image.

Walmart, on the other hand typically uses signage to:

• Deliver advertisements throughout the store.
• Integrate shelf-edge displays to provide information or videos about products.
• Attract loops on kiosks.

While these are all valid uses for digital signage, these big retailers can push the technology much farther to deliver next level customer experiences through interactive and dynamic content.