Outdoor Digital Signage – Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Last weekend saw the second prix that Abu Dhabi hosted, this year though there has been a massive increase in the exploit of digital marketing, some indoors and some outdoor digital signage.

There are several uses of digital signage used from within the surrounding hotels to the pit lanes, so let us look at them and see how dynamic marketing is being exploited.

Resort – Dynamic Signage.

In a hotel or resort, most of the dynamic signage is installed indoors in the buildings, ranging from LCD advertising displays promoting what is on the menu at the restaurants to digital posters promoting what is accessible from the hotel shop or room service.

In the bars a variety of digital posters are used to advertise the beverages on offer to possible buyers, for guest information much larger screens can be used that are a floor standing LCD poster, these run on the same built in ads player. Now these are utilized for displaying when the race starts, when the courtesy buses are departing to get visitors to the race in plenty of time.

Grand Prix – Digital Signage.

Then when you get to the arena and enter the focal gates, you are met with big LCD TVs that are housed in shielding LCD enclosures; these offer the protection from the high temperatures through a small air conditioning unit that is managed by the audio visual manager for the location. In the pit lanes little screens around 32 inch in size, these show all the positions of the drivers, so that at a glance the pit crew can see straight away who is coming in for a tire change or top up of fuel.

This is a standard example of both indoor and outdoor dynamic signage working together and the hardware used is relatively simple to use even for new people in digital signage. Let us look at the technology used.

Digital Poster and Digital Menu Board.

Both pieces of equipment comprise of a LCD display that can be located in either landscape or portrait position, both units have a built in campaign player that work on a memory card and the size of campaigns are only dictated by how many you can get on an 8GB card.

Media formats supported are JPEG, MPEG1, MPEG2, AVI and MP3, giving the user total control over their advertising project.

The advantage is these units are affordable and an easy move for anyone who has never used dynamic marketing before.

The free standing LCD display uses the same equipment as the digital poster, but is based into a free standing steel unit.

Outdoor LCD enclosure.

These are created from steel and watertight to prevent water ingress, they save from harm the marketing hardware from the weather and potential vandal assaults, permitting integrators to use standard hardware designed for indoor use, outdoors at a much more cost effective price. As the dedicated outdoor digital signage equipment is very expensive.

Over the past 19 years the writer has made a range of digital outdoor signage protective enclosures and founded LCD Enclosure Global who are the leading manufacturer of LCD monitor enclosures, they also offer anti vandal LCD enclosures that provides all the protection and security needed for outdoor use.

Outdoor Digital Signage – Abu Dhabi Grand prix

Of late we saw Abu Dhabi hosting their subsequent Formula 1 Grand Prix, over the last year since their first race the use of dynamic signage has increased both inside and outdoors.

Electronic marketing has been used every where from the pit lane to the area resorts, now let us look at how and where dynamic marketing is being rolled out.

Hotel – Electronic Marketing.
Here the bulk of signage equipment is rolled out within the places to stay, these range from LCD advertising screens and digital menu boards for small marketing techniques. For example the digital menu board is utilized to show the menu in a high definition environment with mouth water starters, main courses and deserts.

Digital posters are utilized to promote the cocktails of the hour in the reception and bar areas to visitors and guests. They have a mix of data for their guests such as breakfast times and checkout times on much larger free standing digital poster, these have the matching ad player as the wall mounted units and also inform visitors when the bus leaves for the race tack, so no one misses the free bus to the track..

Grand Prix – Digital Signage.
Then when you get to the arena and enter the main gates, you are met with massive LCD monitors that are housed in protective LCD enclosures; these offer the defense from the high temperatures through a small air conditioning unit that is managed by the audio visual administrator for the location. In the pit lanes small screens around 32 inch in size, these show all the positions of the drivers, so that at a look  the pit crew can see at once who is coming in for a tire change or top up of fuel.

This is a standard example of both indoor and outdoor dynamic marketing working together and the hardware used is relatively simple to use even for new people in digital signage. Let us look at the systems used.

Digital Poster and Digital Menu Board.

Both types of devices comprise of a LCD display that can be placed in either landscape or portrait position, both units have a built in ads player that work on a memory card and the size of campaigns are only dictated by how many you can get on an 8GB card.

Media formats supported are JPEG, MPEG1, MPEG2, AVI and MP3, giving the user maximum control over their marketing campaign.

The advantage is these units are cost effective and an easy transition for anyone who has never used digital marketing before.

The free standing LCD poster uses the same equipment as the digital poster, but is based into a floor standing steel unit.

Out-of-doors LCD enclosure.
These are created from steel and sealed to avoid water ingress, they safeguard the advertising hardware from the weather and potential vandal assaults, allowing integrators to use standard hardware designed for inside use, outdoors at a much more affordable price. As the dedicated outdoor digital signage equipment is extremely costly.

Over the past 20 years the author has developed a range of outdoor digital signage protective enclosures and founded LCD Enclosure Global who are the leading manufacturer of LCD monitor enclosures, they also offer anti vandal LCD enclosures that provides all the protection and security needed for outdoor use.