MANILA – Rob Fowler, Sales Director for Philips Commercial Displays in the Asia Pacific, tackled technology and return on investment (ROI) at the recent Digital Asia Expo and Conference (DAX). Under Fowler’s leadership, Philips rose to be one of the top four brands in 2013.
With the topic “Digital Signage: Visualizing your ROI”, Fowler broke what he called old news first: the Philippines’ traditional market is gone. He used the menu board as an example – what used to be static is now digital, modifiable. “The no brainer when it comes to technology and interactive digital signage is the menu board,” Fowler said.
The present condition of shrinking marketing and advertising budgets has advertisers getting smarter in communicating to the target market, Fowler said. He discussed a method implemented in Australia where cameras are linked to demographic recognition softwares that can deduce a person’s gender, age, etc. These cameras are placed directly below Philips commercial displays that show adverts based on the information it gets. If a young boy waits in line on a hot day, for example, the screen might play an ice cream commercial.
Fowler also cited the emergence of smartphones as an opportunity for more specific target marketing. He talked about a store chain that has developed a smartphone application that detects when the smartphone owner is in the store. Based on user data, the app suggests purchases via adverts.
When it comes to strategy, the first half of the four-step AIDA (Attention Interest Desire Action) marketing principle could already be covered by technology per se; although Fowler said that “content is, was, and always will be king.” He stressed that the technology used will only be as good as the creativity and desirability of its content.
With the technology existing today, Fowler said that the question for businesses “is no longer can [they] afford to implement it, but can [they] afford not to?”
