BELL CANADA SIGNS ON TO DIGITAL ADVERTISING SERVICE

Bell Canada late last month launched a new service aimed not only at filling up capacity one some of its largest optical links, but puts it in position to change the way consumers view retail in-store advertising.

The service, dubbed the Digital Signage solution, allows businesses to advertise products and services on in-store plasma, LCD or projection screens using content transmitted over Bell Canada’s IP-base MPLS network. Content for the network will be created by Convergent Media Systems, which will take virtually any type of media and develop ads specifically for Digital Signage subscribers.

“A digital sign is really a compilation of many different objects,” said Trevor Davies, vice president of engineering for Convergent. “We get raw content and that content could be a newspaper ad or B-Roll tape or even VHS tape. Most of the time, after we’re fed raw assets, it’s our responsibility to re-purpose that for the specific signage application.”

At the heart Convergent’s system is Sony’s digital content distribution system, which includes both centralized storage as well as a digital storage player at each retail outlet. At larger stores, several players will be used.

“It’s truly an enterprise space platform and it interfaces with different kinds of networks,” Davies said.

As part of the Digital Signage network, Bell Canada has set up an OC-48 link to Convergent’s data center. From there, content is sent over a secure VPN link to the store location using whatever last mile link is available.

“The last link can be a number of different technologies including T1 or DSL,” said Blair Makin, vice president of industry solutions for Bell Canada. “It basically allows for a secured distribution.”

The digital storage player will be managed and maintained by Bell Canada as a network element, letting the carrier monitor performance and response time. Bell Canada also will provide and maintain the display devices. Each player will be assigned an IP address and can receive and display different ads depending on specific location and time of day. In a large department store, for example, an ad for women’s shoes would run only in departments where woman tend to shop at the specific times of day the retailer decides.

“You’ve got to understand from a targeting standpoint, the physical location of that player and the logical location of that player in the network,” Davies said.

On the back end, the service comes with a secured portal where customers can review and manage digital ads. Additionally, the site will provide audit information to ensure that the correct ad is being played in the proper location.

Through relatively new to the retail environment, dynamic advertising has proven to be successful in all the preliminary studies, according to Makin Customers are 10 times more likely to notice dynamic media over static media and five times more likely to recall it, he said, adding that according to Bell Canada statistic more than 70% of all buying decisions are made in the retail location.

And though the carrier is trying to market the service to the entire retail sector, several vertical segments are expected be early adopters of the technology. Initial pilot tests were done with grocery stores.

“It’s absolutely the banks, grocery store chains or any large retailer like bookstores where this works very well,” Mankin said.