Projects: Vodafone Goes Big On Digital Signage Down Under

December 9, 2015 by Dave Haynes

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Mobile network operator Vodafone’s Australian wing has gone big on digital signage in its retail stores, switching on a national network that will exceed more than 1,200 screens before the year is out.

Vodafone Hutchison Australia’s business case for integrating digital into the store design was a reduction of its dependencies on printed  in-store material, and both the cost savings and speedier turnarounds on messaging coming out of that. The carrier also sees the move as enhancing brand awareness and providing a more engaging experience for consumers.

 

FUJIFILM Australia, another company I would not have connected to digital signage, won the procurement tender. The company is described, in a news release, as experts in designing, installing and supporting digital retail networks, across high footfall sectors including retail, telco, government, commercial, and real estate verticals. FUJIFILM Australia is also a big Signagelive partner down under, and the digital signage CMS is what’s driving messaging on the various screens around stores.

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Those screens are all Samsung Smart Signage Platform (SSSP) displays, the so-called smart panels with built-in system on chip media players. So far, 923 screens are up and running. I’d imagine it is one of the larger deployments Samsung has so far seen fort the smart panel program.

 

 

“This is our biggest Samsung SSSP installation by far,” says Jason Cremins, CEO and owner of Signagelive. “By integrating our SoC software into the FujiVISION brand, Fujifilm has eliminated the need for onsite media players and has been able to cost effectively roll out a digital signage network that can be managed locally, centrally or remotely using any device.”

Wireless retailers – possibly more than any other retailers – stand to benefit from going digital in their stores. They operate in a hyper-competitive sector where products, plans and prices are constantly changing, and where sales associates struggle to keep up with all the changes, features and specs. So it’s good to see a wireless carrier really adapt digital signage as part of the store messaging mix.

That said, the store merchandising people could probably dial back all the balloons and pennants and other POP stuff in there. It’s a bit of a visual riot, and I’m not sure where people people walking in would visually start. The screens and good content should remove the need for the old-school stuff.

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