How data is transforming digital signage

Omnivex Corp. describes how its Moxie software is changing event experiences from IT industry conferences to hockey games.

In a business like digital signage, a game about grabbing as many eyeballs as possible, it could be easy to overlook the success of a company like Omnivex Corp.

In fact, the low-key firm recently had a starring role on a global scale: its Moxie software ran all the digital signage at Microsoft Corp.’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Houston, Texas last month, following a similar project at the Microsoft WPC in Toronto a year ago.

Omnivex seems to defy a lot of today’s typical IT sector conventions, though. It sells its digital signage software to 2,000 customers in nearly 50 countries, yet is still headquartered out of tiny Concord, Ont. The CEO is the same engineer who founded it back in 1991. It’s never gone public on a stock exchange. Has never dipped into the venture capital funding well. And despite being in the intensely visual industry of digital signage, Omnivex has its eye focused squarely on the message, not just the medium itself.

“Everyone’s always saying the medium is the message,” says CEO Doug Bannister. “But it’s not content that’s king. It’s context.”

It’s an evolution that’s swept across the entire digital signage sector. Before this shift, digital displays were “all about putting a pretty picture up there,” Bannister recalls. Now it’s all about data. Newer tech trends – such as mobile, biometrics, analytics, social media, location-based technology and gesture-based computing – mean scores of data can be collected and crunched almost anywhere in real time. Omnivex taps into such data to make its signage more relevant, timely and interactive for each audience it’s aimed at.

“With these smart devices generating data, ultimately what you want is targeted messaging,” says Bannister. “We do targeted visual messaging. The way we do that is with data.”

Example one: a delegate checks into a convention with their smartphone; they can then find out about event times and locations targeted to them on an interactive screen in their hotel room; screens in the hotel lobby display how soon a shuttle bus will pick them up; digital screens on the bus provide real time updates about weather conditions, how far they are from the airport, and whether their flight will depart on time or be delayed. The hotel, bus company and airport can all run advertising on the screens to monetize the displays and increase ROI.

“The more data you have, the better your (message) targeting will be,” Bannister says. “We’re trying to drive value and get value out of the data.”

Example two: Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) realized that some fans at Leafs hockey games were reluctant to leave their seats to buy beer and food. Why? They feared missing a goal. So Omnivex rigged 350 digital signage screens throughout the Air Canada Centre concourse to show an instant replay of any goal just seconds after it’s scored. The video replays are triggered automatically whenever the goal judge turns on the red goal light. Now more fans head to the beer and food stand, knowing they won’t miss on-ice action while away from their seats. The replay clips are also sponsored, allowing MLSE to monetize them.

After 22 years, where is Omnivex headed from here? It released Moxie 6.10, the latest version of its flagship software solution, to coincide with the recent Microsoft WPC. (Omnivex software has run all key digital signage at the last four consecutive Microsoft WPCs.) Clients can use Moxie to create, display, schedule, manage and remotely monitor their digital signage. It’s interactive, incorporates real time data, and includes a system to build maps into signage using location-based data. And since Moxie runs on Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform, users don’t have to invest their own time and money in developing proprietary hardware or software.

“Moxie offers a variety of unique features and capabilities organizations can use to digitally display data that is critical to their business in real time and in a dynamic manner – which has the potential to change how they communicate and interact with their audiences,” TEC analyst Jorge Garcia noted in a November 2012 product review white paper.

With no stock listing or VC funding, how did Omnivex surmount the seemingly perpetual Canadian challenge of translating innovation into commercialization? By focusing on steady organic growth and, in Bannister’s words, “innovation with a purpose.” Staff are encouraged to spend about 20 per cent of their work time on side projects that are “aligned” with the company and its core business goals, he says. Once a month workers from all departments (not just developers and engineers) gather in the cafeteria for an “ideathon” to pitch new products and ideas. The ideas, however, must be targeted ones.

“Not innovation for innovation’s sake but applied innovation,” Bannister explains. “It’s always got to be about what’s the benefit to our customer and how can they gain value out of this innovation.”