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invest$$$$on Mar 12, 2013 3:48pm
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"IBM has also teamed up with iSign"
"IBM has also teamed up with iSign"
| | iSign innovates digital signage By: Rachel Levy Sarfin
March 12, 2013 |      What's this |  Signage has been used for hundreds of years to entice consumers to enter retail outlets. In the 21st century, many businesses use digital signs to grab shoppers’ attention. A Canadian company has made digital signage even more sophisticated. With iSign, retailers can program their digital signs to send messages to mobile devices when a shopper draws near.
Alex Romanov, CEO, iSign, noted that this technology was developed by a group of students at the University of British Columbia. The group launched a digital signage network in Vancouver with software that could identify mobile phones when they came into range of the signs. The software would then send a message related to the signage using Bluetooth’s short wavelength radio transmissions. The students’ invention also recorded how many people came into range of the sign and how many of them opened the message. Romanov partnered with the students to help them roll out the technology. In 2007, he bought their company and transformed it into iSign.
When Romanov created iSign, Bluetooth was the best technology available to send movies, music and other forms of rich media, he explained. Today, iSign transmits messages via Bluetooth and WiFi. These networks both offer an important advantage over cellular networks: Romanov noted that iSign does not have to pay wireless carriers for transmission.
As people with mobile devices approach iSign’s digital advertising, the software identifies their smartphone or tablet and uses a 12 digit code to send them messages that relate to the sign. Romanov explained that iSign is a proximity solution. Bluetooth signals can only travel 300 feet, the range for businesses to set the activation distance for iSign. For example, if a potential customer comes within 300 feet of the signal, he or she will receive a message through iSign. If a person decides to open a message from iSign, iSign gathers information on the type of mobile device the individual uses. It also records the time of day that the consumer opened the message. Romanov noted that iSign’s customers can access this data through an online dashboard that can be tailored to suit their needs. While businesses can interpret the data themselves, they can also make use of iSign’s partnership with Baylor University in Texas. Baylor’s Research Innovation Collaborative will analyze the information from iSign’s database and prepare a report for the company’s customers.
IBM has also teamed up with iSign. It uses iSign’s technology to gather information about advertising campaigns on IBM’s touch screens in bars, restaurants and banks. IBM’s acquisition of Cognostechnology enables iSign gather and analyze data on these mobile device users. “We were a timely find for IBM to see where mobile phones are going,” Romanov said.
In our eco-conscious era, Romanov believes iSign offers companies an attractive marketing solution. “It’s green and it doesn’t require printing,” he stated. As consumers take greater interest in reducing their lifestyles’ carbon footprint, electronic, proximity-based advertising might be a good way for businesses to win them over.
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