How Digital Signage is Improving the QSR Experience, Part 1

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In recent years quick-service restaurants have become major users of digital menu boards and other displays, and their number continues to grow due to the proven advantages digital signage offers over printed (static) menus and cardboard signs.

What’s happening today?

QSR franchisees are converting their old restaurant and refreshing its look to keep in line with the corporate brand image. As they remodel they are incorporating digital signage to: 1) Keep up with screen-savvy younger generations that have come to expect a digital experience. 2) Realize the efficiency of automatic menu dayparting and real-time content control. 3) Deliver promotional messaging to customers waiting in line, whether it’s about a new menu item, store event or limited time offer (LTO).

Digital signage applications for QSR include menu boards, drive-thru displays, promotional displays, self-order kiosks and infotainment displays. Digital signage can enhance the overall restaurant design, reinforce the brand identity, improve efficiencies and ensure content consistency in multi-site operations. It imparts a clean, modern look and offers numerous opportunities to display a wide range of information in engaging new ways. Simultaneously, it can help cultivate customer loyalty and a desire to come back soon.

Next week we’ll dive into the benefits digital signage brings to a QSR, including:

  • Enhanced customer experiences
  • Effective advertising
  • Effortless menu management
  • Automatic menu dayparting
  • Real-time LTO management
  • Quick overstock promotion
  • Expanded performance from the drive-thru
  • Increased efficiency in kitchen/food prep areas

Stay tuned.

The Digital Signage Evolution is Unstoppable

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As commercial display technology has evolved so has the actual configuration and the solution itself.

Back in the early days of digital signage a QSR, for example, would have a monitor up front serving as a menu board. In the back of the restaurant would be a large computer to play the content, with cables running to the front for the menu board. That computer was expensive – maybe $1500 – $2000 to have enough power to run however many monitors the QSR had in the front area.

But as technology improved, and solutions improved, the actual computer (now called a media player) has gotten much more efficient and powerful, the capacity has gotten larger and the player has gotten much, much smaller. And the costs have come down.

Today, the latest evolution is SoC (system on chip) embedded in the display itself, with an 8GB SoC being powerful enough to run the content. A digital signage solution with SoC and a web-based platform reduces system costs by eliminating the need for the media player, and also saves money on installation labor as well as cabling.

And that’s just for content delivery. When we consider the evolution of the displays themselves it’s incredible what has happened. We’ve gone from thick and heavy flat panels to lighter, thinner flat panels, virtually seamless video walls with ultra-narrow bezels, stretched displays that go where no display could go before, razor-thin displays that seamlessly blend into the environment, curved flexible displays that can actually become the environment, and transparent displays that take digital content to yet another new level of excitement.

Where will it all end? We don’t believe it will. All we know is that today’s digital signage solutions offer businesses more ways than ever to stand out from the competition, create better customer experiences, and manage their content in real time from pretty much anywhere.

We can’t wait to see what’s next.

Opportunities Soar for Digital Signage in Airports

By using digital signage for flight information, wayfinding, alerts, advertising, infotainment and other content in key locations, airports can provide travelers with experiences that create real value. Not only will arriving and departing passengers find their way around more easily; they will be more apt to spend extra time in the airport, and patronize the shops, when the environment is visually accommodating and engaging. Digital signage can capture the attention of even the most seasoned travelers while compelling them to shop, dine and get to their gate on time.

Here are some of the benefits digital signage can provide:

  • Enhance brand perception and the traveler experience, with beautiful, innovative displays
  • Unique, attention-grabbing installations can display custom content in ways never thought possible
  • High-haze semi-outdoor displays provide clarity and reduced glare, even in less than ideal lighting
  • High-brightness outdoor displays withstand harsh environments and easily communicate information to arriving travelers
  • Digital signage can be seamlessly integrated and centrally managed, monitored and controlled remotely
  • Content updates can be made in real time
  • Unique displays allow for flexible installations in both portrait and landscape, with the ability to segment multiple content sources on one screen, simultaneously

 

Watch this new virtual flythrough to get an idea of what’s possible.

Make Sure There’s No Place for No Signal

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When you’re counting on your digital signage to attract, engage and inform, and compel people to take action, you don’t want to see a blank screen with the little “No Signal” message. A blank screen can mean lost sales or other actions not taken, and that’s why your commercial displays should have an automatic fail over function.

Automatic fail over enables automatic switching to other input sources (in order of priority) if the primary signal is interrupted. It also enables the automatic playback of content stored on the display’s system-on-chip (SoC). Since a robust SoC can hold 8GB of content there’s a lot to work with.

Here’s a typical example of how it works, with what’s called a triple redundancy. If a business is using media players for their digital signage content, they can set the display’s auto fail over priority of input sources as media player 1, a second media player as media player 2, and the SoC as the third content source. So two media players would have to fail in order for the SoC to be used.

If the business doesn’t use media players, and uses the SoC as the primary content source, they can set the function so that if the SoC should fail the display can switch to a USB stick with content, and if the USB stick should fail the display can switch to a preset static image. If the business is a QSR, for example, that static image could be a general menu, so there wouldn’t be a blank screen and customers could still order certain items.

Auto fail over makes continuous advertising and marketing possible, to ensure you get the most mileage for your message and your display.