Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Reinvent Your Products by Using Digital Signage

Because we are technologically more advanced than the previous civilizations that have gone in the past we are ever aware that change in our society is inevitable. And so we imagine what the future would be like and our passion for this is reflected in everything we do. For instance the futuristic Hollywood movies, it was not long ago that we dreamed of our future cities and how extravagant they would be 50 years later. What strikes me as eerie are those cutting-edge ads that were shown in movies such as Back To The Future and Total Recall, because they’ve represented our future society in a more accurate way. Particularly are those digital and holographic advertisements they closely resemble to what we have now. Digital signage is that apparent “futuristic” theme adapted from those movies and they seem to be very promising and is as comparable to paper ads when they began.

Static advertising was widely used in the 19th and the 20th century and even now it is still as strong as ever. However, the digital revolution is persistently pushing forward and we will have to go along with it as we are beginning to see those changes now. In the summer of 1996 when the Olympic Games was held in Atlanta, Georgia USA the first digital advertising was attempted. By using green and blue background and digitally enhancing the images to projected on them in live TV, they were able to successfully create a digital signage that displays multiple images. Today 40 inch plasma screens can be seen in almost all public places and they seem to be more prominent than sign boards and other paper ads.

There is virtually no disadvantage with digital signage and the advantages far outweighs than any medium used for advertising that have come before. While print media would take so long to mass produce a single ad, digital signage can display your ads within hours. You can cut your budget by more than half of the normal spending you invest when you’ll do digital signage. Diffusing the information worldwide is easy, because the means are already laid out before you, all you have to do is to purchase those means. Your money then would be worth spending and you will double or triple your profits before your expected estimates.

Indeed digital signage can be an effective and profitable tool to use for business, even experts agree on this. Perhaps the most obvious disadvantage is power outage, but like all other problems associated with this, it is highly unlikely that a scenario as such would occur, unless of course civilization would end. The advertising industry will be baptized in fire once again as 3D holographic imaging will be coming soon and will further uplift the status of digital signage. In most developed countries digital signage is very much alive and is fast becoming a new alternative trend in advertising. It is comparable to outsourcing, because of its low cost, but is viewed as an advanced method of diffusing information.

Keep Up With The Trend! Enhance Your Ads Through Digital Signage

Our fascination about the future has always been extraordinary and to some point sometimes exaggerating. Like for instance the futuristic movies in the past, although critics call it as a poor attempt in visualizing the future of human civilizations, some of those predictions have come true in some remote way. Perhaps the most common scenes in those futuristic movies are those colorful glaring holographic ads that lights up the city at night. A decade or two ago futurists predicted that plasma screens and holographic imaging would become the most likely mediums used in our time and they were right. Where once paper streamers and plastic banners filled the halls of most establishments in the greater metropolitan areas, now plasma screens dominate. Lately, Google Earth has developed a 3D holographic projection of the Earth, this also indicate that holographic imaging would be used as an advertising tool as well. But currently digital signage is what’s in circulation and it seems to be so promising that many cites have adapted this method of advertising in most countries.

With the industrial revolution came static advertising following close and it reigned supreme in the arena of advertising for a century and a half. Now digital signage is the rising contender for the title “supreme” of the advertising industry and it has been proven a very effective tool since it surfaced. The first form of digital advertising was attempted in the 2004 Olympic Games where they used blue and green back draft and later digitally manipulated various images on live TV for advertising purposes. It was a success and now with the latest technology in plasma screens it has now been incorporated in many public places and business establishments that are gathering places for people.

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It may take some years before digital signage becomes the prime medium in advertising, because there seems to be no indication that people will ever stop using paper. However, digital signage has a lot of advantages that print media advertising cannot have. While paper ads largely depends on the efficiency of printing presses digital signage are changeable with a simple keyboard or click & drag commands from a computer. This means that you can instantly make changes to your digital ads any time you wish to and it saves you time and the effort to do it. Needless to say that since the distribution of your ad is via electronics and digital means it also cuts your spending by more than 60% than doing it the traditional way. The communications system of our planet is so widely connected that it also gives you the flexibility to do worldwide advertising, by comparison, this will take you months to make the necessary preparations with print media, while it will only take you hours to do it with digital signage.

This would be the most logical option for business enthusiasts and corporate giants alike, because of its cost-effectiveness. With so many advantages we could hardly find any loop holes or disadvantages for this kind of advertising, except maybe for power outage, network errors or a computer virus which is very unlikely.

Save Time And Money By Using Digital Signage To Project Your Ads

Our curiosity about our culture and about its future endeavors is as fervent as the ever expanding universe. Our passions indicate an unsettling search for answers and some of this have been attempted to portray in Hollywood movies since the last half century. Apparently this has an ever-clear effect in our daily lives and to some our evolving technological age has become an obsession. Not to say that it isn’t beneficial, but rather quite the opposite. One clear indication about Hollywood futuristic movies is the evolved future society and it is almost a certainty that one could not miss how future advertising techniques was also imagined. Nothing will get someone’s attention as enticing as a visual stimulus, in fact 90% of our learning ability is through our vision. This is why futurists had suggested that interactive displays and holographic imaging is going to be the next stage in advertising. That was some 10 or 15 years ago. Today, however, at least one of the two predictions has penned out correctly and that is the interactive plasma screens for which digital ads or digital signage are being used.

Almost 200 years ago paper ads, streamers, logos, stickers, flyers, newspapers, magazines, etc. had been the most effective method of diffusing information. Even when television was invented the need for print media never diminished, but now the digital age would seem to challenge the paper industry’s supremacy on a global scale. With the advent of the internet integrated advertising came into view and it’ll just be a matter of time before it takes over the whole advertising industry. History recalls that the 1996 Olympic Games was the very first venue where digital signage was employed and they did it like in the movies by setting up a blue and green screen background. It was then digitally enhanced on live TV to project multiple images which in these case the logos, brand names and emblems of various corporate industries. Nowadays you will find huge plasma screens in almost all public and recreational places and yes most of them are indeed interactive. They too project multiple images of different companies who paid for a “spot” on those plasma screens and they are most common in malls, supermarkets, department stores, subways and other establishments.

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We are truly now in the era of digital advertising and digital signage is the pioneering method that spearheads it. Digital signage has a clear advantage over static advertising that was widely used in the past and those are having multiple ads in one medium, whereas with paper you could only print one or two. Digital signage allows you to edit your ads on the fly, because these plasma screens are centrally controlled you can have the operator change or add more to your previous catch phrase. It is also cost-effective than traditional advertising. With the internet and global network of communication systems you can have your ads broadcast worldwide in a few hours if not minutes. While your competitors endlessly print new ads and ships them across the world which would take forever.

Analysts and experts alike agree to the obvious fact that digital signage is a very cost-effective and profit increasing method of advertising. This would have to be a cheaper way in introducing your business or products just like outsourcing. Although there may be some slight disadvantage to this kind of advertising, they are not too much to cause a concern and it seems that digital signage industry is going to grow stronger in the coming decades.

Digital Signage Is The Best Way To Diffuse Your Ideas To The World

We as a whole have always been curious and interested about what the future of our civilizations would be like. In fact since the 1950’s there have been many speculations about future trends in almost all aspects of life including advertising. It was not long ago when we began making movies, short video clips, wrote books about it and discussed it publicly, but perhaps nothing was as much as an attention catcher as the movies. Hollywood has often consulted with futurists about how the marketing community in general would project their clients’ products and what tools will they be using. Indeed about 10 years ago at least most the entire world knew that plasma screens or a three-dimensional hologram would be the most likely mediums for advertising in the next decade or so and this could not be any truer than what is happening now.

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For nearly 150 years static advertising has been the defining attribute of the 19th and the 20th century, but now with the digital age has become us it introduced a revolutionary new idea – the digital signage.
Since the turn of the new millennium already the idea about integrated advertising has been brewing and in the 1996 Olympic Games the first attempt in digital advertising was achieved. They used a green and blue sheet to digitally embed and enhance images on live TV, but today, however, 30 – 40 inch plasma screens are the more suitable mediums to do advertising on and they are installed in almost all of the public places you can find, especially in developed countries.

Although the era of static advertising has not completely disintegrated surely the era of digital advertising or digital signage has just began and it is growing at a mind boggling rate. The reason is because of its instant advantage that its predecessor could not have. With digital signage you can have multiple ads projected on a plasma screen where as with traditional static advertising it will cost you time and money to do the same thing. Digital signage also allows you to make adjustments or changes on your ads within minutes or even seconds. It is cost effective and time-saving than the traditional way and finally you can broadcast your ads live in the network of integrated advertising. This includes the internet, TV, smart phones, local networks like malls, restaurants, fast food chains, subway train stations, airports, clubs, recreational centers and many more. Basically you could have a worldwide dissemination of the message you want to let the whole world know in minutes after conceptualization.

Even experts agree that this kind of advertising is very profitable for all business enthusiasts and veteran entrepreneurs alike. The disadvantages of digital signage have yet to be outlined, but for our readers’ benefit we will mention them. Perhaps the most obvious disadvantage is power outage, you can’t advertise digitally without electricity, but the city services has got you covered on that one. Number two would have to be network connection problems, this is because those plasma screens you see in the malls are all controlled centrally. Network failure means no display in simple terms, finally the most unlikely disadvantage a computer virus of sorts, but who would be interested enough in planting a virus on something that any hacker could not get anything out of?

The digital age is now and soon digital signage will progress into the 3D holographic displays that were once only seen in the movies.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Evolution of Paper, Printing and Writing

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In the past people wrote or carved symbols on stones or clay to leave behind some important achievements of their culture. Thousands of years had passed they invented a more elaborate way to write and this time on papyrus and animal skins and then a few centuries later they also made some engravings on copper or bronze. As time went on people became more sophisticated with the advent of new discoveries and new technology, they discovered how to make paper from wood pulp. Today, however, our society has become so advanced that we even made at least 50 different kinds of paper and all of which are of the best quality than what we had before.

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Here are some of the few that we will be discussing in this article and they are synthetic paper, which is made from wood pulp and oil resin. Synthetic paper is best used for digital printing and it is already the second most demanded paper material in the market today. There is also vinyl paper which is almost made in the same way, but it adds nitrogen into the mixture of vinyl resins, plasticizers, and AZO compound to get the desired material. Another great paper material is the decal paper, it is a layered paper and other materials pressed together to make decal paper. It is great for marking things or makes stunning decorations of sorts on your car, boat, airplane or any of your favorite items since they come in all shapes and sizes. There’s also waterproof paper which is made from special coatings and fibers to enable it to resist water or moistly conditions. Waterproof paper is great for outdoors, packaging, writing in rainy or moistly weather, making labels and tags as well as some crazy art like raincoats and bird feeder which is a DIY craft. Repositionable sticker paper is also among the favorites, especially in company meetings, school presentations, scrap booking and card making. Sticker papers are also made almost the same way as other special paper and they are lined and coated with adhesives to retain their sticky properties.

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There are other impressive papers that sometimes we have not heard of before like azurelaid paper, base paper, cast coated paper, chromo paper, fluorescent paper and many more. Although their names may appear strange or irrelevant, they are actually indispensible in our daily lives, especially in the industry and manufacturing sector. These many kinds of paper like other raw materials make up the backbone of our perpetually busy society.

Synthetic Paper: The New Canvas for Digital Printers

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True that a mechanical printer could never be as talented as Michael Angelo or Vincent Van Gogh in terms of spontaneously making artistic paintings. However, it does an amazing job in printing awesome pictures and images that is so clear and accurate down to the last pixel. In today’s printing business quality is what’s most in demand and thanks to vinyl and synthetic paper, nearly all of the outputs are of top quality prints.

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People who are in the business of printing are continually finding new methods of printing things, like for example T-shirt printing can now be done digitally. Some of the prints on kitchen wares and beer mugs are also digitally crafted as well as fine quality prints on the top layer of cakes and pastries. And because of this ever increasing demand and new ways of printing the printing industry is pushing further forward. The printing merchandise is also widespread in its variations, for example printing presses for books and print media is also catching up with the times. Books, magazines, newspapers, and other reading materials are also using synthetic paper recently. We truly are now in the age of synthetic paper!

Arts and crafts have also employed the use of synthetic paper, waterproof paper, vinyl paper and other types of special paper. Lately school teachers and government educational institutions encouraged and inspire children to draw fresh ideas from nature-friendly materials as well. Huge corporations also make quite an investment on these special papers as well, especially in their office use and for marketing purposes.

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The discovery of paper was probably one of the most important achievements mankind has ever known. It is estimated that about nearly 37% of our technological society would cease to function if we lose our trees forever, because we would no longer have the raw material needed to make paper. Even synthetic paper still uses 50% or more of wood pulp, so unless we can duplicate wood pulp artificially our way of life would be so different if this was to happen. It was very prudent also for man to realize that he needed to recycle things and not waste them, it is after all more efficient that way.

Advance technology plus efficiency makes our lives leisure and not a burden and digital printers and synthetic paper is exactly the combination of the two wisdom.


Friday, May 20, 2011

Will We Ever Stop Using Paper?

There are probably 1.5 billion desktop and laptop computers in the world and by most standards it is easier to type the words on computers than to write them on paper. So why do we still need paper products and destroy our forest just to get wood pulp to make paper? This is a very complicated question which needs a complex explanation to satisfy the answer.

The Current Data
It is estimated that the whole world consumes about 300 million tons of paper each year, this translates to 150,000 trees that are lost annually too! It also means that we destroy about 214.2 acres of forest per year, 300 years ago we had 1.6 billion hectares of tropical forest, but now only 50% of that remains. The trees that were cut down could not be replaced in time, since we use more than we can give back to nature. Mother Nature is no sorcerer, no she is not, she follows the laws of the seasons and unfortunately she cannot grow trees in five years for us to harvest.

Are Computers a Viable Replacement?
Through technology we have overcome obstacles that were prevalent in the past, suddenly people are living prolonged lives, our household chores are now done in minutes and our lives became more convenient. The calculator became the computer and it got smaller, but smarter. Technically speaking a computer can serve as a viable replacement for paper, but what seems to hinder us from doing so is our cherished traditions, economy and our ignorance. Although computers are not perfect either, they are vulnerable to shocks, impacts and data corruption. But if handled with care these machines are designed to last for a decade or so and the data they contain can be transferred electronically so that they won’t be lost.

Why Use Paper Then?
Economic-wise the idea of replacing papers with computers is not a very good idea at all, although it can be done in a transitional manner to prevent an economic crash. It would be safe to assume that there must be at least one printing press in every city and these industries heavily rely on paper to keep their business running. They also employ several hundred workers and those people need their jobs to provide for themselves and their families. So if we were to instantly let go of paper to save our forest, we would inadvertently cause a lot of people to lose their jobs and their business and our global economy would take a dive in an hour or so.

Conclusion
Like all transitional period the minute we ultimately decide to let go of paper would take a process for a hundred years or so. However, we are seeing the beginnings of that happening now, especially with the introduction of devices such as the digital full touch screen displays like iPad and similar products. Hopefully we would still be in time to save our trees in the foreseeable future and it is also note worthy that we recycle paper and other materials and use synthetic paper as well.