BlocksGlobal®

Case Study of the event and metrics here

SxSw in Austin Texas is a would best be described as a creative and corporate circus. Starting as a music event in 1897 it now includes three festivals back to back spanning Music, Film and Interactive. It amazing to see the mix of people across these professions all wanting to make a name for themselves or to soak up the energy and atmosphere. Although I had preconceptions of SxSw and indeed Texas I really didn’t know what to expect. Downtown Austin is unlike most places I have seen in the US but did feel strangely similar to parts my home town in Melbourne Australia. Different styles of architecture and commercial and industrial sites converted to hipster style venues. There is distinct pockets of the town, each with their own character and charm. The festival it’s self is very hard to prepare for, it’s bigger, more spread out and confusing than you anticipate. There is the conference centre but also pop-ups and seemingly every restaurant, cafe and open space has been hijacked for one brand or another. There a literally a hundred consecutive planned events, not including non publicised parties and meet ups. You can attempt to track these on the SxSw website or other apps and sites such as the Deloitte App but even so there is just too much. So how do you organise your time, well it may be possible if your amazingly organised, don't go out at night, where some would argue the best networking happens, have a bike to make your events all over town, and can clone yourself for those consecutive events you wish to attend and have someone to stand inline an hour before each event to ensure you a seat, but in reality, I believe it’s best to pick one or two each day and then let it roll. We took a stand at the conference centre, which I have to say I was concerned about after speaking with people prior who said they didn’t plan to head there. Reality was the traffic and quality of Interactive people was good, for days 1 to 3, day 4 you realised it was now the music crowd, easy topic with the outfits and beer drinking at 10am. We tracked the head count using OpenSign Footfall which gave us a solid understanding of the traffic, people coming to our stand, repeat visits and how long they spent. See our case study here. Will we do it again, I certainly hope so, now I’ll let my brain and liver recover.

Helloworld launches on Opensign.

BlocksGlobal wins the Melbourne Design Awards 2013 Category for Digital Experience - Signage Interactive in both the Market (popular opinion) and Industry (formal) voting categories.

Promenade, commissioned by the MAB Corporation, is a combination of 42" wall mounted touch screen displays and 10" roaming tablets, allowing staff to lead customers through a journey, complementing the sales process and promoting the new Docklands vision.

The Melbourne Design Awards

  Last night, the Melbourne Design Awards announced they are celebrating courage in design from both commissioners and creatives. Courage to work together and embark on a wonderful creative journey resulting in design innovation. At the design event, held at the Are Bar roof top in Melbourne we saw a range of wonderful works from architectural to digital media design. In Australia, it is good to see that digital media in the design community is growing, a community that we are very proud to be a part of at BlocksGlobal. 

  BlocksGlobal continues to be leaders in the digital retail signage space and interactive content screen displays. 

  Take a look at the MAB Corporation Promenade Touch Screens entry.

  Read more about the Melbourne Design Awards.

Good read from Experian's study on online and offline-channel retailing. From their research paper, they stressed that:

"The Australian retailers’ adoption of e-commerce strategies is driven more by threat than opportunity. Feeling the impact of shoppers’ proclivity to buy from international sites, and feeling the pinch of harsh economic conditions at home, retailers are struggling."

Vote for us... we've been short-listed. 

The 2013 Melbourne Design Awards represent the diversity and culture of the Melbourne design industry. Four of our recent digital projects have been short-listed and we need your vote.

Awards are determined by a combination of a judging panel, industry and public votes. Spread the love and share these very special projects.

You will need to register to vote. It only takes a a few minutes and provides you a voice in shaping the quality of Melbourne's creative and digital community.

DIGITAL EXPERIENCE - WEBSITE  Balloonman     

Together with Balloonman, we developed the brief to build a connected world of technology, commerce and social media to give flight to beautiful images and a seamless booking process.

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DIGITAL EXPERIENCE - INTERACTIVE SIGNAGE  

Bedshed Touch Screens     

Bedshed sought our assistance to embrace the digital revolution. Their goal was to enhance the shopping experience for the franchisee and customer. This means saving time and printed resources while making shopping easier for customers choosing furniture and mattresses during busy selling periods.

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DIGITAL EXPERIENCE - INTERACTIVE SIGNAGE  

NewQuay Promenade Touch Screens     

A combination of 42" wall-mounted touch displays and roaming 10" touch devices compliment the sales process, allowing sales staff to lead customers through a journey to qualify the lead. Beautiful sweeping galleries, simple apartment selection and clever mapping techniques combine to give the visitor a deeper understanding of the project and the precinct's vision. 

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DIGITAL EXPERIENCE - WEBSITE  Ratio     

The perception of town planning is often suits, ties and white tea with two sugars. The reality is a dynamic industry with expert teams contributing a huge difference to our everyday lives via livable cities and towns. BlocksGlobal rose to the challenge to change the perception with Melbourne-based Ratio Consulting.

Almost everything around you is run by media and technology. Media has integrated technology to effectively relay information through different channels; newspapers, magazines, television, mobile, and the Internet. Now, many businesses have taken advantage of the power of Internet and technology to promote and advertise certain products and services.

Through TV commercials, mobile advertising, and touch display technology, businesses have found a better retail opportunity to let people see their products on a much interactive style and presentation.

  One of the hottest channels that effectively affect sales and give retail opportunities is the new digital signage industry. Many have used digital signage for promoting their services and products. The success of using this technology has motivated more companies to incorporate digital marketing to generate more profit.

Digital media in Australia has become a great advantage in inducing more buyers and generating more profit. Through different forms of online marketing, digital media has engaged customers on the retail experience with interactive content, which can create a good shopping experience in-store and save costs.

Influence to customers’ shopping decision

Indeed, people are easily hooked with colorful graphics and moving pictures. Digital signage fuels the interests of customers through extending its marketing messages. It is likely to show off exactly what a product or service will look like at hand. Either digital screens will make them purchase or blow them away from buying the product. Shopper’s decisions are influenced by these displays depending on how the customers find the presentation.

Additional avenue to “Specials” and “Deals”

Digital signage can help build new retail opportunities through presenting product packages and deals. It lets you discover new products deals and specials, which is the objective of most businesses. With its different approach, digital signage shows a catchy look which can be a good way to introduce new promos and special offers. People tend to give attention to things that are new to their eyes. Such behavior gives digital signage the advantage to keep the customers interested.

Build store/brand reputation

It’s important that every business establish an effective brand, title or trademark of their product or service. In this way, customers can easily recognize the uniqueness of a certain business or retail store. Digital signage creates a classification to a company’s services and products for easy access and recommendation. Customers would quickly recommend a shop to their friends if it has drawn a clear mark on their mind. Most people would likely to share their extraordinary experiences with friends and colleagues, especially if they are so much satisfied with the service.

Influence return store visits / return sales

Through the interactive content of digital signage, customers gets a very unique shopping experience. The more people are engaged to the attraction, the more they tend to keep the good retail strategy. Once customers are hooked with the product presentation, they tend to give attention to other products and try other item varieties.

  Adds interest to retail store/brand

New things pique the interest of many consumers. Digital signage entice more customers because of its high-tech approach. People will spend time to explore those screens that they think must be discovered. In this way, there will be more interested customers who would want to try and experience such technology.

Digital media has also been so successful in invading even the private screens of customers through social networking sites. Due to the undeniable influx of social network users, businesses have seen it as a good source of sales. Same with digital signage, links to social media networks can induce more customers. Digital signage provides customers the access to easily share their retail experience to Facebook or Twitter.

With the great power of Internet and influence of media, retail on digital screens are indeed good opportunities to create distinction and product trademark. The more people are engaged to interactive content, the more they tend to keep the good retail experience.

Do you know the difference between an 'S-trap' and 'P-trap' toilet?

This is the working ground that became the basis of GWA Bunnings' Toilet Selector Screens placed in their store. 

The content played on their digital retail screens are meant to help customers identify the types of toilets available to them - specifically the 's-trap' and 'p-trap' ones. 

For the sales aspect of this digital platform, GWA's objective was to be able to communicate their range of toilets across big-box retailer Bunnings' stores in a innovative, interactive and measurable way.

GWA approached us to design and develop an interactive and informative digital solution for their Bunnings' customers. They were looking for a platform that would provide inspiration and advice on their extensive range of toilets.

Their objective was to be able to provide informative, engaging and instant information to both trade professionals and DIY-ers.

What SCT and Blocks Global came up with:

The interactive units are equipped with the latest product offerings of GWA's top selling toilets, a toilet inspiration gallery, and instructional videos. The monitors are also fitted with sensor recognition to monitor vital engagement levels and conversion rates. The sensor are able to recognise passers-by and adjust content depending on their viewing situation.

The units specific features:

Fully operational Fujitsu touch screen technology.

Up-to-date, measurable, and easily updatable Blocks™ technology.

Sensor recognition to monitor engagement levels and conversion rates.

Toilet product range of top selling items.

Toilet Inspiration Gallery.

Not the usual digital touchscreens you see on retail stores, the Bedshed digital screen tablets actually allow customers to pick items, create/email/SMS wish lists, join their newsletter, and signal for staff assistance with just a few screen touches.

Completely web-based, the Bedshed touchscreens are interactive as it encourages shoppers to pick furniture and respond to choices presented to them. Most importantly, there is real-time assistance from the store's staff to show users the selected bed models.

This digital retail model also enables franchisees to market to a local area, using multi-lingual marketing with brand control. A customer assist button activates a physical light using Arduino technology. Floor stock is then matched to stock displayed on screen using Blocks™ Catalogues, giving a clear and compelling view.

Features of the Bedshed Furniture-Selection Digital Screen:

In "normal" operation the screen plays HTML-based marketing messages, such as large banners and wayfinding content.

A rangefinder sonar sensor, connected to the player via a Phidgets USB interface, detects movement when someone walks within range and switches content to an invitation to interact further.

Users can add items to a wishlist as they go, and enter their email address to get a customised PDF brochure of their wishlist products

Customers who want assistance can hit an "assist me" button. This sends an Ajax request to the sales desk where a box with an Ethernet-enabled Arduino board lights up a pre-determined colour LED, indicating where the customer is

Linger stats (tracking 5, 10, 30 & 60 sec lingers) are recorded 

Blocks has worked with Coles by providing an easy-to-use Pain Medication Selector Screen that helps shoppers get information about medicine products that are used for certain ailments. These digital screens stationed along rows of pain medication shelves, also allow people to SMS or email description of the drugs and their usage. It is like a pharmacy-advice tool that aids shoppers in knowing, understanding, and ultimately choosing the right medicine for their condition.

Information about products can be found in two ways: (1) You can look for them via brand names; or by (2) specifying the ailment to be treated. Shoppers can check information about each brand, product, and ailment and these can be forwarded via SMS or emailed to be read at a later date.

What can this digital product selector screen achieve for Coles?

It provides important insight on what shoppers are looking for in terms of medicine brands and products.

It gives information on the level of demand for each pain-medication available in store.

It serves as a tool for lead-generation to be used for future store promotions and sales - as it collects a list of email addresses and mobile phone numbers

It helps Coles understand shopper behavior and engagement when looking for specific products. Metrics such as customer influx schedules and screen usage are made available for them.

Insights gained can then be used for future implementation of product selector screens targeted for other supermarket items they carry.

Square Circle Triangle is in the business of helping brands make the best out of their business by providing the right digital tools. Local search engine optimisation is one of the many facets we advise to local clients when they aim to be number one for their market in Melbourne. Here are some of the best practices we use for local seo.

1. Utilise Google Properties – Google Local / Google Plus / Google Maps

The easiest way to get found is to put yourself out there in the local listings. Google helps those who help themselves! So take advantage of free listings in Google Local/Google Plus/Google Maps. Fill each listing field as much as possible, indicating your store hours, payment process, business category, etc. Don't forget to add relevant keywords in your business description. Add informative photos and videos about your brand.

Get Local Citations

Get website address/store address listed on local directories like yellowpages.com.au Superpages.com.au, hotfrog.com.au, 3aw.com.au/businessdirectory, etc.

Engage with your Community in Facebook/Twitter/YouTube/Pinterest

Word of mouth online is powerful. Aside from posting updates about your business on Facebook, try building up a conversation with your target audience. Ask for their concerns about your brand. Ask how you can better serve them with your product or service. Also, do your promos online via social media to help spread the news. If your business is highly visual in nature, be active on Pinterest/Flickr and connect with your local audience there with the same interest as yours.

Content Marketing: Produce helpful, interest content for your market

There is no sure way to receive continuous traffic to your site or store than by offering people what they need. Create useful content for your consumers by producing blog posts, informative videos, and photos. Make people come to you (yep, Inbound Marketing) by responding to their interests and needs in relation to your brand.

5. Integrate your web presence with Digital Retail In-store Technology

Innovation in communication is vital for a business to survive in any industry, most especially with today’s consumers who are constantly bombarded with information. Consumers are now more focused on what’s relevant to them at that particular point in time and will ignore other displays that they perceive to not offer anything that they want or need. This is the reason why digital menu boards and restaurant digital screens are now preferred by most businesses.

Although static banners can still promote your brand, digital signages are more flexible and easier to manage. Digital retail boards and restaurant screens are capable of showing different messages every time. Business owners will have a more flexible pricing scheme that can attract customers, or will even help promote a brand or service to those who are not aware of such. Digital signages are also more cost-effective compared to static banners. Using digital boards is only as easy as having the system installed and managing the information to be displayed on them.

To reach your target market, take cue from mainstream forms of communication like radio, with its rush hour time slots; TV, with its prime time; or the Internet, where a user can choose where a message appears; digital signage dayparting and changing menu selection make use of a calendar tool to divide the display options into segments because audiences and their interests change throughout the day and the week.

This flexibility offered by digital signages optimizes the relevance of messages because it enables the business owner to schedule presentations to play automatically at different times of the day and specific days of the week. Business that practice this method experience added convenience, increased freedom to focus on other areas of business, and a greater impact on the viewer

Changing Menu Display. A restaurant’s breakfast, lunch and dinner digital menu boards can be changed automatically throughout each day when service for that meal begins.

Promotions. Retailers can also use dayparting technology in digital signages to announce limited-time discounts, promotions, featured food items, and special offers on specific days and at specific times.

Mobile Ordering. Give customers the freedom when ordering their food by utilizing their handheld devices. They can view an interactive menu and see videos of featured menu items while waiting in line or after being seated using their smartphone or tablet.

Self-Order Kiosk. Another option for an alternative ordering experience us by using touchscreen kiosks like in airports and other venues for quick service. Customers can place their order, pay for it with cash, debit, credit, or gift cards, and proceed to the pick-up or dining area to receive their food.

Notifications. Integrating mobile tools with the ordering system provides customers with the convenience of avoiding the queue. Make use of SMS notifications to let your customers know when their order is ready. Create wish lists that can be sent to a customer’s mobile via SMS to make it easier for them to decide which to get.

Loyalty Rewards. Successful business owners recognize the value of customer loyalty. Digital signage can also be used for QR triggered loyalty programs to reward your best customers.