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Do-it-Yourself Digital Signage: From PowerPoint to DVD & digital photo frames

July 27, 2009 By 8 Comments

Times Square ParadeIf there were really a ‘sign of the times’ it would probably be blinking and flashing. In-store digital signage is the fastest growing — and most costly — segment of the sign industry.

However, given the low cost of digital photo frames, TV/DVD combos and LCD displays, can it be done well on the cheap? I think so.

Global shipments of retail digital signs are set to rise to 2.5 million units by 2013, generating a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26.8 percent from 758,122 units in 2008, according to iSuppli Corp in Economic Downturn Impacts Growth of Signage and Professional Market.

Retail signage spans a range of display types and functions, from LCD screens to LED video displays that are used for digital merchandizing, enhancing ambiance as well as customer and brand communication for both indoor and outdoor settings.

“When I see a digital sign, it draws my attention and makes me want to look at it, ” said Chloe Janisch, my 9-year-old daughter. “They are very, very helpful.”

The word ‘helpful’ is key.

Effective digital signage is more about the content than the technology. Using digital signs with the right goals in mind help ensure success: advertising – to promote products and services at the point of sale; brand building – in-store digital signage to promote your brand identity and enhance a customer’s experience; public information, providing quick access to local news, weather and travel info;  and internal information – to share corporate vision, health & safety info.

Another factor driving the adoption of retail digital signage, according to ISuppli,  is the demanding and rapidly changing product or service revisions inside retail outlets.  As products change quickly and revisions with new features come fast and furious, maintaining active communication with end-customers is key for successful merchandizing. Retail digital signage offers a way to communicate these changes and revisions on a real-time basis, but also allows advertisers to control, schedule, monitor and change content.

Begin with PowerPoint

When it comes  to do-it-yourself digital signage, the best place to start is PowerPoint.  It provides the ability to put together a sequence of well-designed screens quickly — with a minimal of design expertise.  After all, while the design of a digital signage screen isn’t as important as the content itself,  it shouldn’t be an afterthought.

Creating a good digital sign sequence is a lot like creating a good PowerPoint presentation. PowerPoint presentations are simple. Make charts easy to understand.  Use graphics and graphic that illustrate the text on the slide. Avoid packing too-much text on a slide. Some authorities suggest no more than five words per line and no more than five lines per individual slide.  Digital signs typically refresh images every 5 to 10 seconds.  Outdoor digital billboards typically run ads for 7.5 seconds. This allows for eight different ads to appear in a 60-second loop.

Prepare your loop in PowerPoint and test the slideshow by autoplaying it with these settings.  Then, adjust the content of slides and duration of each slide as needed to achieve the desired result.  When the presentation is complete, you can use an LCD monitor connected to a PC to power your digital signage — or, export the presentation to an inexpensive digital photo frame or TV/DVD combo.

Digital Photo Frames

Recently,via amazon.com, I found the Digital Spectrum 10.4-Inch Digital Picture Frame for $99.99.  (Features include 10.4-inch Digital TFT LCD panel with 640 X 480 resolution; thin design with interchangeable faceplates; plays photos, audio and video in JPEG, BMP, MP3 and MPEG file formats; view clock and calendar with slideshow and music simultaneously; and 512 MB memory, 4:3 aspect ratio, 4-in-1 card reader.) I also found a Opteka 15-Inch Digital Picture Frame with 1GB Built-In Memory for $185. Both frames are highly rated.

Loading a PowerPoint sign onto a digital frame is as easy as loading photos — once to convert PowerPoint slides into individual JPEG files in the right aspect ratio for the frame. In Powerpoint 2007 and later, it’s  as easy as doing a “save as” and selecting JPG as the desired format.  If your version of PowerPoint doesn’t support this capability, you can also use PowerPoint Image Copier.

LCD TV/DVD Combos

LCD TVs with built-in DVD players can be used to power larger digital signs. And, the cost isn’t out of reach for small business owners. I found a Sylvania 19-Inch Flat Panel LCD HDTV/DVD Combo on Amazon for $249. Displaying PowerPoint slides via DVD takes a bit more work, but it’s not difficult. There are three ways to covert a PowerPoint presentation to DVD using free PC applications:

Signs

A simple short film about communication. One of the 2009 Cannes Lions winners!

Further Reading:

Filed Under: Misc T, Offline, sales, Strategy Tagged With: , , , , ,
About Troy Janisch

Troy Janisch, Publisher of Social Meteor, is a digital marketing professional and social media beatnik. He is a contributor to SmartBrief on Social Media. Troy leads the marketing team at Sentry Insurance, but don’t let that scare you. He rarely talks about insurance in mixed company [grin]. Like a good social media program, SocialMeteor.com is all about content. It’s not a consulting company or marketing agency.

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  • charlene

    tech develops so quicky nowadays. powerpoint has not just been the rigid tool. we can make full use of it in more ways. powerpoint can be converted into DVD, VIDEO,viewed on ipod, iphone and even uploaded to the web online. what you need is just a third tools or software to convert its format. there are lots of these software. according to my experience, i feel software called acoolsoft quite well. it supplies us with the converters to those differen formats,such as Acoolsoft ppt2dvd, ppt2video, flash , youtube, etc. all the software are easy to use and works quite well. they offers favorable price and some are even FREE. i think you can have a try here http://www.acoolsoft.com/.

  • Taylor

    charlene hit the point.
    From PowerPoint to DVD, it’s totally a new way to show PowerPoint presenation.
    Now, I’m using such PPT to DVD tool name Moyea PPT to DVD Burner.
    I just love it, you can try this tool here:
    http://www.dvd-ppt-slideshow.com

  • http://www.cheapdigitalsignage.com/2009/08/building-do-it-yourself-signs-with-powerpoint-and-photo-frames/ Anthony

    Thanks for the great tips, just posted a few additional notes:

    One additional point is that if you are running Keynote on a Mac, you should be able to natively burn a DVD of your presentation. You can also create an iPhoto slide-show and burn that to DVD as well.

    The only drawbacks of this PowerPoint sign approach are:

  • Signs can only be updated through a multi-step process (imagine finding a typo and then having to edit the PowerPoint, convert to DVD, burn the DVD, and then swap the DVD into the player)
  • There is no possibility for adding video to the signs.
  • Digital photo frames are still on the small side… probably too small for anything but a countertop display.
  • There are no analytics about the number of time each slide is displayed.

    • Read more at: http://www.cheapdigitalsignage.com/2009/08/building-do-it-yourself-signs-with-powerpoint-and-photo-frames/

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/troyjanisch Troy Janisch

    I traveled to Las Vegas recently for business. We stayed at Harrah’s. Upon check-in, I noticed digital picture frames at each station. I took this snapshot: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?filter=app_2392950137#/photo.php?pid=2023869&id=1095484363&ref=mf

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  • Anonymous

    this is a very powerful swf to flv converter, worth trying
    http://www.swflv.net

  • Anonymous

    This Mac DVD Ripper is a multifunctional DVD ripper for Mac OS X software. It is able to rip DVD to various video formats and audio formats, such as MP4, AVI, 3GP, FLV, MP3, WAV and so on. The output files could be supported by all kinds of video cell phones and digital video and audio players and youtube. Of course my iPhone was included. This Mac DVD Ripper could also satisfy your customized needs with the help of these function buttons: “Trim”, “Crop” and “Merge”. These buttons will instruct you How to Edit DVD.
    Read More:
    http://www.macdvdripper.org