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CAP Ventures Signals Birth of New Media Category: Large Format Electronic Displays in Public Spaces

(Norwell, MA) March 27, 2001 … A brand-new media category, with vast potential to change how brand-marketing messages are conveyed, is being created, according to the Visual Communications Technologies Consulting Service at CAP Ventures. Comprised of large format electronic displays used to deliver information and advertising messages in public spaces, the category is poised for explosive growth.

"Our research into this new media field confirms that now emerging are electronic versions of traditional point of purchase, out-of-home and visual merchandising applications", said David Williamson, director of the Visual Communications Technologies Consulting Service (VCT). "Nearly $250 million has been invested in just the networks being developed to carry these advertising messages in venues from convenience stores to retail malls and along streets and highways around the world."

At two U.S. trade exhibitions being held last week, these cutting-edge electronic displays were on display. Outdoor LED boards were the primary focus of the International Sign Association in Las Vegas. At the same time in Chicago, at the GlobalShop exhibition, interior gas-plasma and LCD displays were featured along with newer electronic papers for point of purchase and retail signage applications from the Xerox spin-off, Gyricon.

CAP Ventures, in a briefing before sign industry executives last Friday, March 23rd in Las Vegas, has termed this new large format electronic display field the "Third Stage" of signs and graphics, joining analog products and large format digitally printed signs as classes of output. The VCT consulting practice at CAP Ventures has released to its clients a White Paper research report with an in-depth analysis of "Narrowcasting in Public Spaces."

"The concept and business models behind Narrowcasting in Public Spaces uses new and emerging technologies and time-tested methods that blend the best of the town crier from centuries ago, the ‘sound trucks’ from the 1940s and 1950s and all of the tools of the Internet," said Bill Collins, VCT senior analyst and principal author of the White Paper.

Williamson added, "Analog signs and then large format digitally-printed graphics have each emerged and dominated the public advertising environment. Now large format electronic displays, in both indoor and outdoor settings, are becoming an additional answer to brand marketers’ classic challenge of targeting scarce resources to accessing the strongest possible demographics – and to do it on a real-time basis, with messages changeable almost instantly."

The White Paper on how "Narrowcasting in Public Spaces" will develop into a new media category will become available to the general market on May 1. Major content in the report includes these sections:

• The basic display technologies in use today
• Applications for digitally printed and electronically broadcast output as viewed in public spaces
• How both analog signage and large format digital printing will be impacted by large format electronic displays
• Four propositions why this New Media category is no fad but emerging as the third of three classes of signage and an equal partner in delivering advertising in public spaces

The Visual Communications Technologies Consulting Services provides market research, forecasting and strategic counsel to clients in the large format printing and large format electronic display markets. More information about the VCT consulting practice is available by contacting . Additional information about CAP Ventures is available on the Web at: www.infotrendsresearch.com.