The Great Outdoors
I thought it was fitting that I sit down outside to write this article, enjoying what will undoubtedly be a depressingly short spell of lovely weather. Despite the more normal weather of a great British summer, people are generally very keen to get outside as much as possible and there are plenty of events to choose from. More recently, outdoor events large, small and spectacular have come to rely on some form of display signage, whether printed or electronic, banner or textile. Whatever the event, good outdoor displays are now top of the priority list.
Some of the really big events of the last year, such as the London Olympics and the Queen’s Jubilee, have seen electronic screen-based digital signage become an integral part of every-day life. We have seen a distinct shift in attitudes; where in the past you could exceed expectations by providing exciting, eye-catching on-screen information to passers-by, now you will fail to meet their expectations if you do not.
Today, viewers and customers expect excitement and engagement, so the size, brightness and visibility of outdoor displays are all factors to consider. Ultimately, however, in our 24/7 mobile enabled world, reliability is key.
“Signage needs to be reliable enough to deliver content that the viewer wants and expects to see out and about in public places,” says Jeff Hastings, chief executive officer of Brightsign LLC, who adds: “The signature reliability of Brightsign’s digital signage player is fundamental for winning signs in 24/7 outdoor environments.”
Brightsign used digital displays to create a unique presence at the Zurich Film Festival
Technology is always moving forward and there seems no limit to its potential. Mobile devices have enabled interaction with signage and this is becoming increasingly popular, with live text applications, including Twitter and other social media feeds, in high demand. Hastings continues: “The limitations do not fall with the technology; it is up to our imagination to create new and exciting avenues for discovery. Today, solid-state players provide the functionality of a PC in a much more user friendly, affordable and stable platform.
“I’m always thrilled when I see the innovative or fresh-thinking ways that customers are using our products, to support business models that we didn’t conceive when we designed them. Solid-state players provide a strong and stable foundation for a digital signage network without constraining the size and shape of the signage construction.”
Solid-state players are the future of the digital out-of-home industry.
Brightsign’s players offer reliable hardware, intuitive, feature-rich signage software and networking solutions, all wrapped up in a smart, compatible package that simply works.”
Hastings adds: “Brightsign’s products have a track record of reliability that far exceeds PC-based solutions—delivering reliable performance with near-zero downtime. Brightsigns offers a compelling mix of hosted and DIY management software to ensure the customer’s satisfaction long beyond the initial installation. Solid-state players are the future of the digital out-of-home industry. Brightsign’s players offer reliable hardware, intuitive, feature-rich signage software and networking solutions, all wrapped up in a smart, compatible package that simply works.
“Brightsign’s players are small, emitting almost no heat, making them simple to deploy in spaces where other digital signage solutions wouldn’t be possible. With high reliability, dura-bility against the elements and a wide operating temperature range, Bright-sign’s players are ideal for outdoor environments where continuous per-formance is a necessity.”
Lorry sidings are also a form of outdoor promotion that is steadily growing in popularity,
thanks to companies like Sapphire Graphics
Brightsigns recently teamed up with AV integration partner Imaculix to bring interactive content to 70 screens distributed throughout the city, from the airport to the festival itself.
“Brightsign and Imaculix created an innovative system that allows us to deliver dynamic and compelling content to attendees of the Eighth Annual Zurich Film Festival in a flexi-ble, original and professional way,” said Nadja Schildknecht, managing director and co-director of the Zurich Film Festival.
“The Brightsign TD1012 players are especially compact, which gives us a great amount of flexibility to situate digital signage at high-traffic areas within the festival.”
Digital signage was present through-out the festival, as well as at strategic, high-visibility locations within the city. Arriving festival attendees were greeted by signage at the Zurich airport, looping information about the festival and providing a countdown in anticipation of the annual event.
An innovative ‘Red Carpet Tool’ highlighted the interactive capabilities of the Brightsign installation. It allowed festival administrators to snap pictures at the event and, within two minutes, distribute them to the Brightsign Network so they could be displayed on every screen at the event. In addition, a Filmboutique provided attendees access to an on-demand library of 50 films, giving them the opportunity to learn more about the various films being featured at the festival.
Material world
Thanks to the increase in textile printing, there is a big outdoor market for print as well as digital screen promotions. Graham Wilkinson, Hampshire Flag Company’s managing director, comments on the enduring and ongoing demand for outdoor promotion products: “External pro-motional items and display products are perennially popular. Customers are looking for high quality products that are expertly manufactured and turned around at speed. Outdoor events take place all year round, but we’ve just entered our peak season as customers prepare for events coming up this summer.”
He continues: “Our most popular outdoor promotion products have to be feather flags, bunting, banners and hand wavers, all of which can be printed with custom artwork if required. Hampshire Flag is ideally placed to meet the demand for external promotion products thanks to our highly skilled team, in addition to an extensive range of state of the art machinery including digital textile printers and a digital cutting machine.”
Our most popular outdoor promotion products have to be feather flags, bunting, banners and hand wavers, all of which can be printed with custom artwork if required”
Hampshire Flag Company donated a wealth of flags and banners to support The Rowans Hospice, a charity which helps improve the lives of people with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. The flag manufacturer supplied nine roller banners, two teardrop flags and ten PVC banners to the charity, which is situated just a few miles away from the firm in Waterlooville. The flags and banners will boost the charity’s efforts to raise its profile and much-needed funds when they are used at a range of events, many of which take place outdoors, throughout 2013.
This commission saw Hampshire Flag create a
‘promotional flag’ for the ‘Unflappable’ documentary
on Brixton’s cultural landscape
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These events included the Dying Matters Week which took place last month when The Rowans Hospice had stands in the community to promote its Make-a-Will fortnight, the Moonlit Memories, the Ruby Ride in September and the Great South Run in October. The banners will also be used by community groups at their own events to brand them as supporting The Rowans Hospice.
The teardrop flags are manufactured from knitted polyester on a Dupont Artistri 2020 machine and feature three designs including The Rowans Hospice logo. The roller banners are manu-factured from polyester film on a Dupont Chromaprint machine.
Hampshire Flag has provided on-going support for The Rowans Hospice —in 2011 it donated five tear drop flags and five banner systems and pull-up banners for Dorothy’s Dream, the appeal to raise £1m for The Rowans Hospice at Home Appeal launched in September 2010. Citing outdoor promo-tion as core to its fund raising activities, The Rowans Hospice was established in 1994 and has helped more than 7,000 patients and families across Portsmouth and South East Hampshire. This year the Hospice will aim to raise over £4m to continue its work, a large part of which will come from staged events supported by outdoor signage technology.
Stepping up
Image Technique specialises in design-ing, building and installing signage and has recently invested in a super-wide format inkjet printer to provide an additional range of outdoor appl-ications to strengthen its product portfolio. The move did not come out of the blue and followed careful strategic planning which identified the outdoor promotional sector as a key growth area.
“The new Fujifilm Uvistar Pro8 is an extraordinarily productive and reliable piece of equipment,” says James Dawson, managing director of Image Technique."
We are the first company in the UK to have installed this advanced super-wide format platform, which is particularly suited to the point-of--purchase and outdoor advertising markets—we feel this has given us an edge in the market”
He continues: “We are the first company in the UK to have installed this advanced super-wide format platform, which is particularly suited to the point-of--purchase and outdoor advertising markets—we feel this has given us an edge in the market.”
Dawson adds: “The introduction of the new Uvistar means that we can offer a much broader service to our customers, beyond simply signage. Customers are increasingly looking for suppliers that can fulfill all their requirements and we believe it is important to meet these demands wherever possible.”
This claim from Dawson is not without merit. The outdoor signage sector is notoriously competitive, with clients that are often very savvy when it comes to getting bang for their buck. Indeed, there are horror stories from across the industry of having to re-do huge runs of graphics from scratch when brand colours were just slightly off, or image registration caused graphics to sit slightly awkwardly within a frame.
Rapidly rising: After spending several years on
the verge of the sign-industry, outdoor advertising
and promotional products—such as these feather
flags at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta—now
need to be a core offering
This high-quality standard is not really surprising when thousands of people are going to be looking at your brand image or message in a concentrated event such as a charity run or festival. As most sign-makers will just have to take the hit and do the print run again, rather than lose a big annual account, its worth investing in equipment that will get it right first time.
The Uvistar Pro8 also features an auto media handling system for rigid media and is able to switch between four and eight colour printing modes.
“This makes the Uvistar ideal for outdoor applications where the vibrancy of the inks and the versatility of the associated materials, including polyethylene, work extremely well together,” Dawson concludes.
Generally, outdoor displays do not require the same level of resolution quality as indoor, but increasing customer demand is pushing the boundaries of what is expected.
People are getting physically much closer to outdoor signage, so the quality has to be top notch, regardless of the medium. They are also wanting to interact more, whether through touchscreen or scanning codes into smartphones. The possibilities are almost endless and sign-makers should be looking to generate more business by offering a broader range of outdoor solutions.
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