Category: LG Commercial Display

 

Laura Cohen is the Sr. Marketing/Communications Manager of the commercial division at LG Electronics USA, Inc.

She grew up in Deerfield, IL and enjoys: working out, snowboarding, cooking… not baking  and music.

 

Laura’s favorite quote is:

“Dripping in this strange design, none is yours and far less mine. Hold the wheel, read the sign, keep the tires off the line. Just relax, you’re doing fine. Swimming in this real thing I call life. Can I bring a few companions on this ride – Phish

Why did you decide to get into marketing?

I liked that marketing utilizes both sides of the brain; creativity and analytic thought. Also, I enjoy the challenge of solving: “What’s the best way to create a loyal following, and how do you attract new prospects that become loyal?”

Was there a defining moment when you picked this career?

I was lucky enough to be selected to be an intern at Domino’s when I was in college (U-M, Ann Arbor). Everything about Domino’s was about marketing; the building, the wall colors, the messages and it all just kind of clicked for me.

What marketing initiatives are you working on right now? Anything unique?

We’re starting to get into Augmented Reality (AR) which will open a whole new world for us and our products. The more customers and/or prospects can interact with our products in a real setting; the more they feel that we’re offering the right, best product or solution just for them.

What digital marketing channels have you implemented in order to help grow your business?

Social, digital programmatic, online forums – I see how creating communities really helps expand the conversation. It allows us to listen to what’s on our customers’ or prospects’ minds.

Which specific channels have been most effective for your business?

Online communities, email of course, and our website where we host videos, tips and tools.

How does your company use data to determine marketing strategies?

We segment our files and use metrics to iterate and optimize on a regular basis. This helps us drive better leads down the conversion funnel. The more targeted we are with our data and segments, the stronger results we see.

Which tools does your company use to manage marketing initiatives?

Salesforce, Pardot, TechValidate, Optimost, Omniture

What is the biggest benefit of partnering/working with an agency?

The biggest benefit is the collaborative spirit and an “outside” view. Often, when you are “in” your business you take certain things in messaging or imaging for granted. That outside perspective can bring the focus back.

How do you form great partnerships with your agencies?

A good vendor relationship is all about open and honest communication at all times, mutual respect and the ability to compromise for the good of the project or brand.

What are you most excited about in the marketing industry?

Dynamic, interactive content and the new Augmented/Virtual Reality world we are entering.

Did you experience failure along the way? What did you learn from it?

Failure is part of the marketing “gig.” You learn the most when things don’t go quite right. If you are agile enough, you can iterate and make correction. This is why data and analytics are so important. You constantly test our your hypothesis based on data, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out how you planned it. Certain marketing messages, content pieces, and so on might not resonate as originally thought.

Value-add

Give the readers the best marketing advice you have.

Learn to make decisions and stand by them; don’t waffle. You can always test-fail-learn. Action is better than passivity.

While working on your project, have you come across any interesting bit of knowledge that you’d like to share?

You can’t please everyone or every customer. You don’t need to.

What daily habits do you have that allow you to perform at your peak?

I try to create a daily routine; check project status, check my dashboards, see if fellow team members have any hot issues before I get started on my daily work ahead of me.

Recommend a great marketing book!

Seth Godin, Augusten Bouroughs

 

Hello B2B Marketers.

We hear it all the time. B2B sales cycles are long and some are longer than most due to the industry, product fit, seasonality and selling notions. Some sales cycles last a few months, some last years until an agreement is reached and an SOW/PO is cut.

At LG B2B, our success is based on sales relationships. Though our brand carries equity in the marketplace, a lot of our solutions are complex, technical in nature and setup, and require patience in the process. Our goal is to ensure that our customers get the right products that serve their needs both now and in the future to drive TCO savings, and that can take time.

But time in sales can be a double edged sword. Finding that right balance is a perplexing task that every company that sells in the B2B space is challenged with. Depending on the solutions, meetings and presentations often turn to hands on product demos and in environment pilots below a full scale buy. This is true at LG where most of our solutions are extremely hard to travel with and require time from the potential customer and sales teams to bring them onsite to walk them through our products. That’s the process of today. This stretches our sales cycles significantly.

A few smart heads came together and decided that something had to change.

Enter AR or Augmented Reality. Through AR itself is nothing new and the tech has existed for years, it has primarily been a consumer play. However, recently within the last year, a handful of companies has started to explore AR in a B2B space. We are proud to be one of them.

As head of digital, my job is to do the best I can to help my sales teams. From branding, awareness, education, lead gen, demand gen, tools etc, I need to ensure that I am arming my sales teams to go close deals faster. I have long been a fan of AR and our marketing team quickly understood the value of introducing AR into the sales cycle. The solution we came up with and plan to roll out this year is very exciting:

1. Our products are too big to travel but are needed in potential customer environments for size and specs before a “buy” commitment is made. It made complete sense to arm our sales team with an AR app with “visualizes” our products in a customer’s native environment in real time.
2. Our sales teams will be able to confidently walk into a customer meeting, pitch our solutions in a meeting, walk with the customer to the actual environment, fire up our AR app, “visualize” the right product within that environment, measure and then lock in a visual blueprint ready to be shared with the customer via email. All in the same meeting.
3. Will this replace the need for product demos or actual units? Not completely. But our goal is to accelerate those sales conversations wherever possible to get to a closed opportunity.

Slated to launch on Android and IOS phones and tablets in the latter half of 2017, I am super excited to integrate AR into my selling stack. A mentor once told me “find the path of least resistance to the first dollar”. This program certainly amplifies that.

If you have questions about AR or process flow, feel free to ping me.

The show is over, but the accolades are still hot. LG Commercial Displays walked away with nine coveted awards spanning LG OLED technology, the Marriott Charlotte City Center installation, new 88-inch Ultra Stretch display with touchscreen overlay and new Transparent LED Film.

 

All in all, InfoComm 2017 created a new record for LG awards from the key players in the digital signage industry. That’s a glowing testament to the innovative capabilities of LG commercial displays and the amazing ideas they can kindle among architects, designers, integrators, resellers and business owners.

 

Here are the InfoComm 2017 awards we will be proudly displaying.

 

• Commercial Integrator InfoComm BEST Award—LG Wallpaper OLED, Best Digital Signage Hardware
• Commercial Integrator Integration Award—Marriott Charlotte City Center Installation, Best Hotel/Hospitality Project
• rAVe Reader’s Choice Award—LG Wallpaper OLED, Favorite Video Product
• rAVe Reader’s Choice Award—LG Wallpaper OLED, Favorite Flat Panel Display
• InfoComm Rental & Staging Award—LG Dual-View Flat OLED, Best General AV Product
• InfoComm Rental & Staging Award—LG In-Glass Wallpaper OLED, Best Digital Signage Product (Flat Panel/Large Screen)
• SCN/InfoComm Installation Award—LG Dual-View Curved OLED, Most Innovative Emerging Technology
• Digital Signage Magazine (New Bay Media) InfoComm Best of Show Award—88” Ultra Stretch
• Digital Signage Magazine (New Bay Media) InfoComm Best of Show Award—Transparent LED Film

 

And speaking of amazing ideas, here’s a high ride in high resolution:

 

The 123-story Lotte World Tower skyscraper in Seoul is the world’s fifth tallest building. It is home to the world’s fastest double-deck elevator called the Sky Shuttle that whisks passengers on a minute-long thrill ride to the Seoul Sky observatory at the top. It’s quite a spectacular ride because the elevator is lined from the floor to the walls and across the entire ceiling with LG OLED displays, filling the entire space and immersing passengers in the breathtaking scenes of Seoul that culminates in a fireworks display.

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

 

The marketing establishment and dynamic media are converging at “customer experience” (CX), and CX is increasingly a reflection of the digital experience (DX). This is especially true in consumer-serving locations such as retail, food services and hospitality, and also applies to transportation, attractions, health care, and education.

 

Customer experience (CX) is to engage consumers on topics of shared interest. It involves discovery, learning, play and acquiring as well as storytelling and respect for people, places, organization, listening and aspirations. CX is the feeling that you get in the presence of the brand.

 

Retail is a $4.95 trillion industry in North America, $390 billion of which is reflected in online revenues. Physical retail accounts for over 92% of purchases and its inherent capabilities to offer discovery, browse, learning, product examination, try-on and immediate fulfillment are core to the customer experience. These support the branding, revenue, margins and loyalty to which digital experience contributes, which provide improved productivity of places, processes and people that are the foundation of business-to-consumer enterprise success.

 

Because factors such as convenience, time, trust, loyalty and experience influence the perception of value, very few consumers actually buy a product at the lowest available price. Overall experience is the biggest factor on whether or not a purchase will be made, and each interaction impacts future purchases (i.e. transactions) and overall brand and retailer loyalty.

 

“The ‘stor’ of store has related to storage for readily accessible inventory, but that same ‘stor’ is increasingly the basis for story” declared Ken Nisch, Chairman of JGA which has developed branded environments and consumer strategy for clients such as Sundance, Sleep Number, Hershey’s, Disney, H&M, The North Face, Whole Foods Market and Big Bazaar. Telling the story is to describe the topic of mutual interest to the storyteller and the listener. Selling the story is to influence the perception of the topic.

 

In-store media has tended to be biased on the art of the art and science of customer experience and it has urged the realization that both of these are elements and that professionals should be bold in applying analytics. A customer-first strategy prevails when digital experience seeks to improve the productivity of places, processes and people.

 

Scott Emmons who has led the Innovation Lab at Neiman Marcus IS for the past 5 of his 13 years with the retailer said “Form is as important to function when it comes to technology in luxury retail, so we are extremely focused on assuring that our customer experience approaches suit the overall Neiman Marcus experience. Generally, the reason that something doesn’t work is because it doesn’t solve a real problem or remove friction from the shopping experience. ”

 

He continued “Our successes can in part be attributed to making sure foundational data infrastructure is available everywhere, sourcing according to standards, building strong networks and device management capabilities, thinking in terms of a media platform and building in functional overhead”.

 

Emmons added, “One of the principle benefits of an Innovation Center is to harmonize and address issues and priorities across stakeholder groups, to help assure that our broader enterprise interests are best considered”.

 

Ken Moy, Vice President of Digital at Subway describes, “The customer experience is intrinsically personal and changes from moment to moment.  Not only do retailers need to provide great digital products and services, but must have the processes, skillset and discipline in place to continually evolve them in line with evolving customer expectations”

“The ‘attention economy’ is very real,” said Rohit Kapoor, Vice President of IT at Pizza Hut International, adding, “customer experience has its biggest obstacle the consumer’s time, and the biggest challenge is to respect the customer’s time. Be sub-optimal in any aspect of the business will impact CX or pricing.”

 

Albert Vita, Director of Strategy and Insights for The Home Depot explained that “digital experience technologies are only valuable to the extent that it brings engagement to a human level of how people discover, learn, relate and interact. Today’s in-store retail customer experience funnel starts with disruption and then engages consumers with connecting, experiencing, conversing and sharing” adding “the starting point is empathy and love for customers and associates and what we can do together.”

 

Customer experience has to be the business focus aimed at expressing and having patrons feel love for themselves, what they do and can become.  The time has come to take customer experience to new heights as “The retail apocalypse has officially descended on America” as stated in a May 21, 2017 Business News article[1] that reported on the expected closure of 3500 locations.
Customer experience, specifically digital experience is a primary differentiator.
Supply systems related to customer experience are actively engaging in response to brand and retail needs. The internal innovation, marketing or customer experience group of the brand or retailer can draw on the expertise of CX design agencies or source directly from the experienced base of digital experience technology providers such as LG Electronics and the provider firms with which it partners.

 

Dynamic display in uses such video walls and information, promotion, digital menu or interactive panels can fulfill customer experience needs. Specific display products such as Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), stretch and LED enable unique presentation of brand and other messaging that improves the productivity of places, processes and people.

 

 

Lyle Bunn is North America’s longest serving analyst, advisor and educator in North America’s Dynamic Media industry. He serves on the BrainTrust of RetailWire.com and as Chair of the Center for Digital Experience (www.CDigEx.org) was nominated as the Elevate Awards Customer Experience Influencer of the Year. See www.LyleBunn.com or email Lyle@LyleBunn.com.

 

This blog is an excerpt of an article by Lyle Bunn summarizing the 2017 ICX Summit

[1] See: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-retail-apocalypse-has-officially-descended-on-america-2017-3

The Arches … Not Mickey D’s Golden But those as seen on the ceiling of the CES booth, South Korea’s Incheon International Airport and N Seoul Tower

Stretch … Not your favorite NBA basketball player
But 86 inches of super-wide UHD goodness
86BH5C-B

Curves … Not the Weight-loss workout program But an incredible new twist on image perception
Curved Open Frame LG OLED 55EF5C

Wallpaper … not your Grandmother’s dining room walls
But a razor-thin slice of pure visual bliss
LG OLED 55EJ5C

Clouds … not the fluffy white puffs in the blue sky
But secure, comfy and virtual
20CAV37K, 23CAV42K-BL, 24CAV37K-B

Dual … not the old-fashioned gun/sword fight
But the two sides to every story
LG OLED 55EH5C

Pie in the Sky … not someone’s dream
But a high ride in high rez

Interactive … not a group session
But it sure could attract one
84TR3B

Touch … not the “Do Not Touch” china
But a crowd pleaser at their fingertips
32” – 55” Overlay Touch Kit

The question is what do they all have in common? Well, they are just a portion of the mind-blowing family of display innovations from LG Electronics B2B Business Solutions Division. From the black & white tube TV in the wood console from years ago to today’s razor-thin screen and almost non-existent bezel, LG has been a major player in the world of display technology. Things that we thought were just cool concept designs are now incredible realities in the digital signage industry. We’ve come a long way from the days of having to get off the couch to change the TV channel … followed by the remote control which was one of the best inventions ever (although it made us all lazy). And today, just ask your TV to find a certain program, channel or location and it’s done. Life’s Good!

Check out all of the above products and see much more here. Want to see them in person? Come to one of our shows. Visit our Events page to see where we’ll be next. And if you aren’t impressed … I’m worried. Then hop on over to our consumer site and have a look at LG’s incredible selection of home appliances, electronics, cell phones and yep, even flooring and counter tops! We’ll make you feel amazed.

InfoComm was a big success last week in Orlando, drawing record attendance along with a record number of exhibitors for the U.S. show.

LG drew a large crowd with incredible technology innovations on display, including the latest LG OLED offerings of razor-thin Wallpaper, Wallpaper In-Glass, video wall displays and bendable open-frame displays. New products launched included an 88-inch Ultra Stretch LCD display and a 55-inch Ultra-Bright Video Wall display.

rAVe Publications wrote an excellent article on the new Stretch and Ultra-Bright Video Wall displays, and we encourage you to give it a read by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.

In the meantime, here are a few details.

The new 88-inch Ultra Stretch display measures over seven feet long and almost two feet wide, creating a 32:9 aspect ratio and delivering Ultra HD (3,840×1,080) resolution with 700 nits of brightness. It features built-in system-on-a-chip (SoC), eliminating the need for PCs or media players to drive content. The display can be used in a variety of installations from a stand-alone display to a video wall in landscape or portrait configurations, or installed in a floor-standing square pillar with up to four displays. What’s more, the display is also touch screen enabled for providing interactive functions.

The new 55-inch Ultra-Bright Video Wall display features a 3.5-mm bezel-to-bezel width and is up to three times brighter than conventional video walls. It can deliver up to 1,500 nit peak brightness for crisp, vivid images even in areas with high ambient light. Also featuring high-performance SoC, the new display offers Full HD (1920×1080) resolution, so a 2×2 array enables spectacular 4K Ultra HD images.

Both the 88-inch Ultra Stretch display and 55-inch Ultra-Bright Video Wall display utilize LG’s In Plane Switching (IPS) technology to keep colors looking accurate and vivid even when viewed from off angles as wide as 178 degrees. IPS technology also prevents display blurring and flashing when touched, and offers enhanced thermal capabilities to eliminate screen blackening defects after being exposed to direct sunlight or high temperatures.

Read the full story from rAVe Publications here.

 

 

 

 

 

In case you missed Dave Haynes’ post on Sixteen:Nine this past Wednesday, it was about LG’s new Transparent LED Film. Dave had first seen it at ISE in Amsterdam, and now that it has been formally launched at InfoComm 2017 he wrote about it. You can read his post by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page.

The innovative LG Transparent LED Film is an entirely new product segment for us that can be scaled to fit a variety of installations. This versatile technology is 0.8mm thin, with a 30mm pixel pitch and over 1,000 nits of brightness. Each 480 x 480mm panel contains 256 LED pixels that support gray-scale tones. It is a self-adhesive film and can easily be installed on any glass surface, such as a retail storefront window, where it would draw the attention of passersby without obstructing the view of the merchandise behind the window or blocking the light from coming into the store.

Other applications include mass transit rail platforms and safety barriers, lobbies and large public areas, and even tall glass elevator shafts. The flexible film display works on curved surfaces and in parallel to the bezel, can be cut to size.

Regarding LG at InfoComm, Haynes wrote, “The show’s exhibit floor opens this morning, and LG will be – as always – hard to miss.”

Thank you for that fine compliment, Dave. We hope you enjoyed the show.

Read Dave Haynes’ Sixteen:Nine post here.

LG introduces advanced commercial desktop monitors InfoComm 2017

LG Electronics USA Business Solutions has added new premium 4K UHD and In-Plane Switching (IPS) commercial monitors to its already broad portfolio of cutting-edge desktop monitors. Led by a 43-inch 4K UHD monitor, the new displays provide the high-end picture quality, enhancements and flexibility needed to maximize productivity and ease of use. LG showcased the new monitors this week at InfoComm 2017 in Orlando, Florida.

 

LG’s new family of 4K UHD monitors – 43-, 32- and 27-inch class units (models 43MU79, 32MU99 and 27MU58P, respectively) – feature 3840 x 2160 resolution to deliver four times more detail than 1920 x 1080 Full HD displays.

 

Available now, the new 43MU79 monitor is one of the largest desktop monitors on the market. With a 350-nit IPS panel that delivers expansive, high quality images, the 4K UHD 43-inch monitor offers enough screen space to replace a complicated four-monitor rig. What’s more, its non-glare panel makes it ideal for a variety of workspace ambient lighting. Built-in speakers use LG’s Rich Bass technology and a 10Wx2 sound amplifier to provide full-bodied audio.

 

Next in LG’s expanded 4K monitor portfolio and debuting later this year is the 32MU99, a 32-inch IPS display delivering high dynamic range (HDR) and 95 percent of the DCI-P3 color space, making it ideal for media content creators. Compatibility with the HDR10 standard increases peak brightness, enabling users to edit movies and photographs at up to 550 nits. H/W Calibration is supported with True Color Pro Software and Color Modes for unparalleled color reproduction accuracy.

 

Also debuting later this year is the 27-inch 27MU58P IPS monitor. With a pivot- and height-adjustable stand, the 27MU58P can be positioned to fit the precise needs and viewing angles of the user, all while maximizing space which is ideally suited to various work environments. The 27MU58P is TAA compliant, which is important for many government and business installations.

 

LG also showcased 27- and 24-inch Full HD (1920×1080) IPS monitors in both the BK75 and BK55 series. The borderless BK75 series monitors (models 27BK750Y and 24BK750Y) feature an elegant CINEMA Screen that has only one thin bezel on the bottom of the panel. The 250-nit BK75 monitors can be daisy chained together to synergistically pivot and stack Full HD content from up to four monitors onto one single display for efficient resource-sharing. BK75 series monitors offer near-zero standby power – 0.005 Watts in DC off mode – increasing energy savings and lowering electricity costs.

 

These new advanced commercial desktop monitors underscore LG’s commitment to meeting the needs of businesses looking to elevate their capabilities, productivity and work environment.

 

We’ll have more news from InfoComm 2017 next week, so stay tuned.

At the recent LG Commercial Display Roadshow at Nationals Park in Washington, DC, rAVe Publications founder Gary Kayye conducted a behind-the-scenes interview with Garry Wicka, head of marketing for LG Business Solutions, about LG’s plans for InfoComm 2017 in Orlando, June 14 – 16.

The first bit of information is that LG has some exciting new things that are not being shown until InfoComm. So if you’re going to the show please make it a priority to stop by LG Booth 1626 in the Orange County Convention Center — West Building.

Garry Wicka also announced a new online tool called the LG OLED Retail Lookbook™, which will inspire businesses by visualizing ideas on how to use LG OLED in real-world settings. The lookbook is now live on the LG Commercial Display website.

As an example, the revolutionary new LG OLED Wallpaper offers never before seen advantages to retail and is incremental to the market. For businesses that don’t want to cut into a wall or have a display stick out three inches with a mount, LG OLED Wallpaper is the ideal solution. At only 3.65mm thin (like a credit card) and with outstanding picture quality, it blends seamlessly into a wall to create a new kind of harmony between dynamic images and the business’s interior décor.

Also, the news is out that the world’s largest LG OLED video wall is up and running in the Dubai Mall, where they have the big aquarium. The video wall is massive and is made up of 800 LG OLED panels.

At InfoComm 2017 LG will give us a glimpse of what the future holds for commercial displays – with some mind-blowing technology for sure. We hope to see you there, but if you absolutely cannot make it to the show be sure to watch the rAVe videos after the event. We’ll let you know when they go live.

Watch the rAVe interview with Gary Kayye and Garry Wicka here.

Have a look at the new LG OLED Lookbook™ here.