Measurement & Interactivity

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How audience measurement can be used in combination with interactive digital signage.
 
At the Munich Digital Signage Conference in October 2009, representatives from OVAB Europe and audience measurement supplier Quividi headed a moderated panel discussion on the need for Pan-European standards in the digital signage industry. They argued that standard metrics are essential as a means of reaching a transparent calculation basis which can lead to reasonable and comparable cost analyses. Facial recognition technology has, so far, asserted itself as the most popular way to measure audience interactions with digital signage.
 
Quividi is a French company that develops audience measurement solutions for out-of-home media like digital signage using proprietary image processing technology. Back in September 2009, they launched version 3.0 of their audience measurement solution. Using small cameras and a video analytics engine, Quividi’s solution delivers a real-time flow of anonymous audience data which can be used for unbiased audience measurement, adaptive marketing installations and retail metrics projects. Their solution is currently being operated in 20 countries in the world, in malls, supermarkets, convenience stores, banks and numerous other locations. In some cases, as many as 50 screens are being measured at a single site. The metrics that Quividi deliver are consistent with the OVAB audience measurement guidelines which are currently being discussed in Europe. This software enables marketers to display specific messages to their audience, engage an audience through interactive applications, identify the best performing content in a campaign and bill advertising campaigns by actual impression so that advertisers can be offered a guaranteed number of impressions that fits their budget. Other data includes the number of viewers, opportunities to see, attention and dwell time as well as the audience’s demographic distribution (gender and age group).
 
One of the benefits of knowing an audience so thoroughly is that content can be adapted to target that audience, taking into account their demographic profile, behaviour and position in relation to a screen. Audience measurement makes adaptive marketing an exciting possibility.

Case Study: SFR
 
 
SFR is a subsidiary of the Vivendi and Vodafone groups and the second largest mobile phone operator in France. One of its key distribution channels is its stores, called ‘Espaces SFR’, across France.
 
The company wanted to market a new line of smart phones available in the stores using a custom piece of in-store furniture which would also have the capability of providing compelling multimedia information on a selection of smart phones. SFR’s marketing team also wanted a rich set of data from the campaign in order that they might better understand the steps leading to a purchase.
 
French integrator Supertec was selected to design a screen that fitted into the furniture of the store and was connected to a range of mobile phones beneath it. The featured phones had RFID tags attached to them so that when a browser picked up a mobile phone, relevant content was triggered to display on the screen. This also meant that the number of handlings or viewings could be accurately recorded.
 
Also embedded in this application was Quividi’s real-time measurement software. A small camera concealed behind the face plate provided a video feed which was converted into rich audience measurement data, including opportunities to see actual viewers, attention and dwell times and gender.
 
Using sales data from store’s records, handling data from the RFID tags and Quividi’s audience results, SFR was able to compute key metrics during the campaign. The company had access to a variety of key analyses: the percentage of passersby who stopped to look at the screen, the percentage of viewers who watched the screen for more than a certain length of time, the percentage of viewers who picked up the phones and, last but not least, the percentage of engaged viewers who then purchased the product in-store.
 
In the back office, this set of marketing data was used to benchmark the stores as well as optimise the range of phones on display in order to improve shelf space efficiency according to individual stores.This solution has already been rolled out to over 150 SFR’s stores and is also being used as a sales tool, as the interactive digital signage installation can provide information on demand to the customer.

Case Study: Fragrance Dispenser
 
Scentys Fragrance Systems’ range of interactive scent dispensers includes an all-in-one olfactory screen which uses patented dry scent technology. Together with Scentys Fragrance Systems, Quividi developed an innovative application called TargetScent which enables fragrances to be dispensed according to the gender of the browser.
 
The Scentys dispenser is controlled by Quividi’s VidiReports software. The compact fragrance dispenser can diffuse up to four different scents up to a 5m distance and is integrated with a screen which shows content relevant to a particular fragrance.
 
VidiReports detects human faces in the vicinity of the dispenser and estimates the corresponding gender. This information is sent to the scent dispenser and the appropriate fragrance is diffused as the browser approaches the unit. The integrations uses VidiReports’ native data communication protocol and simple middleware to trigger the correct fragrance and video in response to a viewer.
 
The fragrance is selected based both on the gender and position of the audience. At the same time as a scent is dispensed, advertising content is played on screen which corresponds to that perfume. If the audience contains an equal number of men and women, a generic fragrance is dispensed. If there is no audience, the screen plays content to attract browsers to approach the installation.
 
A small webcam also sends a live video feed to VidiReports, which analyses the interaction in real-time, without recording any image or extracting any personal information. Anonymous statistics are therefore used to measure the success of the scent dispenser.
 
The software can be configured for different detection distances and also what action it should take if a number of faces are recorded at one time.
 
Clément JeanJean, CEO of Scentys Fragrance Systems, comments, “This scent marketing tool is a world first. It combines in a simple and efficient way the latest innovations in message targeting and scent marketing technology, which has already been adopted by many well-known perfume, cosmetics and wine and spirits brands.”
 
Olivier Duizabo, CEO of Quividi, adds, “With Scentys we have developed a new application for the targeted marketing offered by our live audience measurement technology. We’re empowering a new generation of in-store marketing tools that embed measurement, adaption and interactivity capabilities similar to what exists on the internet.”
 
This innovative application offers a unique interactive and highly memorable experience for shoppers.