What to think about when planning your first retail digital display
Over the past couple of years we’ve been honoured to have helped various well-known retail brands to implement their first ever in-store digital display. This includes helping high street giant Next to use LED in their windows for the first time, installing 830 panels of LED across 23 key UK stores in time for Christmas. Recently we also supported high street favourite The White Company on their first ever campaign using LED in the windows of three of their flagship UK stores.
Both of which were successful campaigns that looked great. However we know that if you’ve never used digital displays before it can be difficult to know where to start. Which is why we wanted to share our top tips when it comes to planning your first digital retail display.
When is the best time to launch your first digital campaign?
In our very unbiased opinion it’s always a good time to add digital to your sites! However an obvious place to start would be during your seasonal campaigns, where adding a digital element can help to boost sales.
Taking Dior as an example, a client we have worked with for over seven years now, they have campaigns for every major season throughout the year, including Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day and, of course, Christmas. These are times where they always include digital in their temporary sites, whether that’s a temporary pop-up in Boots, a shopping centre or something in the windows at Harrods.
You only need to walk down Oxford Street or visit any shopping centre in the UK to see that digital is becoming a vital part of the retail landscape and something that helps a brand to stand out.
What should you look for when hiring AV for your first digital display?
For your first digital campaign (and probably many more after that) you want to look for a team of dedicated retail experts who have lots of knowledge working in challenging retail environments. Also look for experience working with brands like yours, and a dedication to providing the latest equipment available on the rental market as the last thing you want to do is spend money on a screen that looks outdated compared to your neighbours!
At VAST we’ve chosen to specialise in retail AV which means we have experience in working within the majority of department stores and shopping centres. From knowing their book-in systems, health & safety requirements, electrical sign-off requirements and even how to physically get in and out of the stores without disruption - it’s what we do day-in, day-out! This is why we’re Harrods’ recommended digital supplier, as we know the space extremely well.
The equipment we invest in for our rental stock or supply on a permanent basis has also been specifically chosen to work within these, sometimes challenging, retail environments. Whether that means ensuring it’s easy to upload content remotely, or choosing high-brightness LED which works well in store windows, we take all of this into consideration when you ask us to be involved in your projects.
How early should you speak to an AV company about your digital display?
It’s a good idea to involve your AV partner as early as possible. This helps when you’re in the initial stages of thinking about including a display in your permanent or temporary site, as you can use our expertise and experience to help guide you.
In the case of The White Company, who had never included digital within their windows, they asked us to suggest a best fitting LED display for their windows in three flagship stores. We designed two free-standing LED options using our high-resolution 2.5mm LED in two different sizes and provided drawings to help show what this would look like as shown here:
The screens paired with simple white bases and returns suited the aesthetic of the brand perfectly.
Where should you position any screens or displays?
Screens are incredibly versatile these days and LED can be positioned in various different areas or formations within your retail store. We traditionally think of store windows, which of course is the natural option, to attract attention, but even within store windows there are so many different ways LED can be used. From flat LED screens, to curved screens, cube screens, edged screens and tickers; how you create your LED can be unique to your vision and brand aesthetic.
In a recent project we worked on Harrods utilised gift-shaped LED cubes for their Christmas window displays which shows just how creatively it can be used!
How do you create screen-ready digital content?
You’ll need to check with your retail partner the format required for any digital content, to ensure it’ll work on the screen resolution and size you have chosen. We’re happy to create renders, plans and provide any support necessary around bespoke content creation for our clients. This is particularly helpful on creative projects. Recently we worked on a YSL project where content needed to be created for an aftershave bottle created solely out of LED!
The plans and renders we created helped ensure the client could create their content, and that it would fit seamlessly on the screens of the digital display (see it in action here).
For help creating your next digital display, or indeed your very first digital campaign, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch today to discuss how we can help bring your creative vision to life.