Some people think about LED walls as a classic tri-vision billboard… just with more than three faces available on each prism.

Now, this is pretty reductive idea of the high flexibility allowed by LED walls. The difference between classic billboards and LED giant screen is the same difference you find between a writing machine and PC!

Think about it. Your LED walls do not only allow you to broadcast 10 seconds advertising spaces 24 hours a day. This is the most basic feature but surely not the only one. With your LED wall you can do much much more.

For example with Euro Display's EDX software for playlist scheduling, you can define different advertising slots that you will sell at different prices: just segment your daily schedule by creating rush-hours slots that gets more visibility and therefore are worth a higher price premium. In this way you differentiate your services by offering customized and time-targeted advertising spaces as it happen in television.

TV spots aimed to create "awareness" are aired when the greatest numbers of targeted viewers are likely to be watching, whereas "direct response" spots are broadcasted when viewers are fewer in number but are more likely to leave their errands to make a phone call.

Following the same concept, you can for example create "weekend slots" that are specifically targeted for discos, clubs, cinemas and restaurants which more likely to benefit from advertising on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. And therefore more willing to pay an higher price for their presence on your LED walls.

Another common objection about your LED giant screen could be: Can you prove that my business will grow thanks to the advertising on you LED giant screen? In other words, how can you prove the real benefits (ie. increased revenues) that the advertising brought to your Customer.

This is the type of objection you might face especially at the moment of contract renewal with an existing Customer. And if you can not reply properly he/she might not sign the advertising contract the second time.

So how do you respond to that? Of course, as always it is better to prevent an objection rather then respond to it (and if you can not prevent it, at least mention it yourself first and provide a convincing answer before the Customer raise the doubt).

In my opinion, the best ways to respond to the "Proven Benefit" objection is to provide a "Proven Benefit": teach your content creator a few basic notions of direct response advertising  and apply them to the LED giant screen as it was a TV ad.

What makes direct response advertising different from traditional advertising is that it asks the viewers to respond directly back to the advertiser. Usually, this means asking the audience to call to get a free quote, take advantage of a special time-limited offer, visit a Web site to get a report, or walk into a place of business to claim their free gadget or sample.

Direct response advertising is, therefore, perfectly measurable. Which is both good and bad. It's good for your Customers because they know what they're getting in return for their advertising dollar. And it's good for you if it performs well... When it doesn't, there's no place to hide (maybe behind your LED giant screen?)

Last week I was talking with one of our Customers (who is now also a good friend) about the advertising clips broadcasted on LED giant screens. I was giving my opinion and he was providing with his first-hand experience about the most common objections that a "Digital Advertising Company" gets from its Customers.

Basically, we were saying, one of the most common objections you get when you are selling your advertising spaces on the LED giant screen is that after a while (usually 2/3 years) the LED giant screen gets integral part of the environment and you do not notice it anymore.

This objection make perfect sense: the initial excitement for the new high-tech installation, will allow you to enjoy high profits the first year. But the LED giant screen might become invisible to the audience after a few months if you persist to continuously broadcast advertising ONLY. Why? Because like any human being, your viewers will loose interest if there is not a TANGIBLE and IMMEDIATE benefit for them.

So how can you respond, or better anticipate and avoid such objection? For example you could invest part of yours advertising spaces to provide a truly useful public service to your audience. You could broadcast traffic information, weather forecast, local time, date and temperature, list of the current or future events in the City, quote of the day etc...

In this way you give your viewers a good reason to watch your LED giant screen everyday. In my opinion you should reserve about the 25% of your advertising time to such type of public information in order to make it look a REAL service and not just a random information given every now and then.

Now, I know this means extra work for you or your graphic designer and virtually reduce the number of Customers you could host on your LED giant screen... but I think there are two important considerations that you should make. First, the extra work is an investment that will keep your LED giant screen attractive to your Customers for a longer period of time. Second, by explaining to your Customers how you catch viewers' attention and how they can benefit from it, you might be able to charge more for the advertising on the LED giant screen!

I know some of you will not like the idea, because it means that you have to put even more effort and commitment in your business, seek for better workers, make further investments. I know that excellence costs... but the key point is that, on the long run, only EXCELLENT business survive. And the LED giant screen industry is not an exception.

Last week we received a question from a visitor of the Euro Display website, concerning a particular feature of the LEDwall: "Some LED manufacturers speak about using 1R, 1G and 1B LED in their displays whereas others talk about 2R, 1G and 1B. What is the difference between these?"

Let's start by clarifying what 1R, 1G and 1B means: it is the description of the number and color of the LEDs in each single pixel. Therefore it should be read "1 Red + 1 Green + 1 Blue LED For Each Pixel".

Red Green and Blue are the three basic colors used on LEDwalls to enable the Additive Color Synthesis. The Additive Color Synthesis is the method of creating color by mixing various proportions of two or three distinct stimulus colors of light. These primary colors are commonly red, green, and blue, however they may be any wavelengths to stimulate distinct receptors on the retina of the eye.

The distinguishing features of additive color synthesis are that it deals with the color effects of light rather than with pigments, used in the digital printing. The most common example of additive color synthesis is the color television screen, (or RGB monitor), which is a mosaic of red, green, and blue phosphor dots.

And exactly the same principle is applied to LEDwalls; at normal viewing distances the eye does not distinguish the single LEDs, but blends or adds their stimulus effects to obtain a composite color effect.

As our visitor pointed out, some LEDwalls manufacturers prefer to use a RRGB combination with (2 Red lights per pixel) rather then the most common RGB. So what is the difference? Mainly it is a difference of technical approach but basically there are no or little differences in terms of performances.

Just to be clear: I am not saying that there are no differences in performances between the manufactures, I am just saying that these differences between LEDwalls are not due to the number/color combination of LEDs per pixel!

Just a few thoughts about the previous article: our LED crosses (and LED displays in general) are flexible communication tools that allow anyone to broadcast up-to-date general information, latest promotions, new services and anything you think could remotely interest your potential Customers.

Especially for small business, where the instinct purchase represent a considerable slice of the entire business, LED crosses and LED signs are an incredible marketing and communication tool that could seriously increase the business revenues if used properly!

The little frustration I experienced in Siena derives from the fact that I wish I was able to better communicate these incredible possibilities to any of our Customers, so they could take advantage of them to benefit their business.

I know I'm a little freak when it comes to marketing, but that's my job. I can understand that a pharmacy owner doesn't have much time to create the messages on the LED cross... but I'm not asking to use the LED sign at 100% of its potential. Just at 10% of its potential would be fine!

So please dear pharmacist from Siena, think about the treasure that you have in your hands next time you program your LED cross. I am even ready to come to your wonderful city again next weekend to help you program it. No kidding! So we can even go out for lunch to further discuss together about the numerous ways your business can benefit from the LED cross! You choose the restaurant, I'll take the bill on me!