You could call it a sign of the times—eye-catching multimedia displays that integrate, schedule and manage video, stills, TV and cable feeds, sound and data.

You’ll find them in hospitals and doctors’ offices, in the lobbies of movie theaters and hotels, in retail and recreation environments, in transportation terminals, in schools and on college campuses.

Digital signage is replacing the inflexible, expensive printed signage. It’s a growing market, mushrooming 50 percent every year.

Accounting for digital signage’s popularity is its ability to deliver advertising messages that cut through media clutter. People remember seeing them.

The highly reputable media research service Arbitron, Inc. conducted a study at a Simon Mall (Roosevelt Field) on the effectiveness of digital signage's ability to deliver visual impact and memorability. The study revealed that people have a significantly higher recall of ads seen on digital signage than of the same ads seen on television. The study found:

• People remember them. Half of the consumers in the Roosevelt Field Mall spontaneously mentioned the video screens when asked about recent changes made to the mall.
• People prefer them. Four out of 10 shoppers would prefer to visit a mall with video screens.
• People recall seeing advertised products. Nearly half of all shoppers could name at least one brand they saw advertised on the video screens that day without any prompting.
• People remember product ads better than they do television commercials. More consumers recall seeing products (diet soda and a jewelry retailer) in commercials on the video screens in the mall than during the television show they just watched.

NEC Unified Solutions is ready with the market-leading line of BlueFire® video display controllers based on NEC’s unrivaled computer technologies.