Outdoor LED screens have self-diagnosis systems, content monitoring, audience monitoring, remote on and off, interactivity services, among many other developments.
By Richard Santa
For many years, outdoor advertising has been done through large advertisements on printed billboards that only allow one art per fence. But with the emergence of LED screens the situation is changing.
More and more news is heard about screens that are installed in open spaces of great circulation of people in Latin America.
In the Alejandro Villanueva stadium in Lima, Peru, last December the company AOC installed an LED screen that measures 28 square meters and has a P16 resolution, which allows the transmission of sharp images with good quality; They will also put an advertising banner with the same technology that has a perimeter of 101 square meters.
And it is that having the possibility of broadcasting multiple contents and being able to update them in real time, allowing to react to the changes of the market, is one of the main attractions of led screens outdoors.
This is assured by Jacky Montoya Galeano, National Product Manager of Publik, a Colombian company and for several years has been installing screens on public roads in several cities in that country.
It stands out that today they have 30 EspectaColor screens installed in Colombia. Each one with a real-time content monitoring system, from a Mobile platform, which they deliver to customers so that from their cell phone they can verify the frequency of the pattern and the audience flow that each site has.
For Marcelo Clarens, managing partner of Goran and Ledsa, other possibilities offered by this type of screens is that "from the commercial point of view, they have a very high impact and, mediating a good visual product, great memory. Its location is critical to meet the desired goal, however, with a support like this, the impact is assured."
Resisting the weather
The weather conditions, be they sun, rain, winds and pollution, make the LED screens that are located outdoors must have special conditions that do not affect the quality of the final product.
Jacky Montoya Galeano explains that each Publik EspectaColor screen is built depending on the specifications of the site where it will be located.
"Colombia is a particular case because there is a great diversity of climate changes, so we have a specific protocol for manufacturing screens for each region and to that same extent, preventive and corrective maintenance is specific depending on the site."
Marcelo Clarens adds that in the case of its screens "the outdoor screen cabinets are metallic and their electrical and electronic components withstand temperatures between -20º / +60º, they also have visors on the front that fulfill two functions: the first, to reduce the entry of light and the second, protects it from stones and hail".
Goran Digital Advertising and Ledsa, are two Argentine companies that manage digital advertising media and that are venturing into the installation of screens. The first is responsible for the marketing of the media and the second for import, installation and technical support.
Together, they have installed four screens of their own in Argentina and are preparing two more screens, one in a shopping mall and another on public roads in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
New business
This type of screens, which have been replacing printed billboards when advertising outdoors, have also allowed to generate new forms of business, with very good acceptance and recall by the general public.
In the case of Publik, with its fixed EspectaColor screens four meters high by six meters wide, installed on public roads in several cities in Colombia, they offer the possibility of updating content through the Internet, in real time and technologically appropriate with satellite TV signal, which have allowed the transmission of important events such as the Africa 2010 World Cup.
Jacky Montoya Galeano indicates that they were recently elected by the mayors of the Colombian cities of Pereira, Armenia and Cartagena to install the giant screens in their stadiums, which complements the channel with the giant screens already supplied by Publik for the El Campín stadium in Bogotá.
The last two screens installed by Goran and Ledsa have been in the city of Rosario, province of Santa Fe, Argentina. Its dimensions are four meters long by three high.
Each screen, which in value exceeded US $ 150,000, has the possibility of transmitting videos, animations and photographs in high definition quality. The group of installers offers corporate advertising packages with variants of 30, 45, 90 and 120 minutes daily.
With regard to the image, they have two models: one for advertising use, with a refresh of 450 hz and the same model for use in show or TV scenarios, with a refresh of 4000hz, which allows the recording (filming) in front of the screen without being noticed in the recordings black stripes or flickers.
Marcelo Clarens is forceful in ensuring that the acceptance of this type of screens with advertising use by the public has been excellent.
"The medium is perceived as novel, attractive and of very high impact. Consumers like it a lot and add value to the brands that advertise there. We have also had press coverage for the event that was the installation of the first screen in Rosario. It attracts a lot of attention."
In Colombia, Publik has had excellent levels of positive attitude towards the environment. In a survey conducted by the polling firm Ipsos Napoleón Franco, at the end of 2010, obtained outstanding levels of recall, captivity and impact.
A 90% positive attitude towards the environment, 77.4% impact, 75% captivity, and 70% attraction of the contents, were some of the results of the survey.
Mobility available
But it's not just fixed screens for advertising purposes that are gaining traction. Mobile phones also have their market.
To launch the new presentation of its soda, Coca Cola installed in Bogotá, Colombia, a screen on one of the busiest avenues and in which great traffic congestion is generated, resembling a drive-in cinema.
On this occasion, the mobile screen was used to present one-minute films, while they delivered 250,000 free samples of the new presentation of the soda to people who traveled in their vehicles through the area.
Publik also has a series of mobile screens three meters high by six meters wide, installed in trucks that travel through the different cities.
With this type of screens, and thanks to an agreement reached with FIFA, they promote the U20 World Cup in the Colombian cities that will serve as their headquarters.
This sporting event will be promoted and transmitted throughout the Publik Channel made up of EspectaColor screens and electronic informants installed on the main public roads of Colombia.
Along with the growth of the market, developments are growing. Marcelo Clarens explains that the latest outdoor screens have been redesigned, a paint cover was added that protects the metal from saltpeter (cases in which it is located near the sea).
"In addition, the cabinets were improved for better maintenance, such as the front opening of the modules, better cooling system for very hot places and has been given greater water resistance on its front face."
