As screen resolutions continue to become clearer and bezels between displays get smaller, rentals make the latest technology more feasible for many clients.
Skipping yesterday’s technology
Digital signage technologies are evolving at a rapid pace and continually improving. Screen resolutions are becoming clearer and bezels between displays are shrinking.
One of the major advantages of renting digital signage systems, rather than buying them, is the ability to access the latest cutting-edge technologies. Clients are not limited to using screens they purchased years ago to relay their current messaging and make a powerful statement today.
Any digital signage purchase represents a relatively long-term commitment. Within a few years, many clients find themselves looking to upgrade to newer technology, so as to sustain the original ‘wow’ factor they created in the past. Renting allows them to benefit from only the latest, greatest equipment.
Pop-up stores, for example, only need digital signage for a short-term campaign—e.g. one month—to promote their new products or services to the local market. As such, they may opt to rent top-of-the-line equipment to draw as much attention as possible to their storefront over the course of a few weeks, rather than make a permanent purchase.
Business benefits
Some clients also enjoy other business benefits from renting digital signage systems. By way of example, 100 per cent of a business rental cost can be immediately expensed without depreciating over time like a display purchase would.
Additionally, a rental is an operational expense, as opposed to a capital expense. If a company plans to purchase a large video wall for its lobby or store, that investment will be registered as a capital asset on the budget, which could become maxed out with as significant an expense as that of a digital display. Renting, on the other hand, is a great way for marketing and event teams to use technology on a temporary basis and factor it into their budget in a way that gives them greater flexibility.
For these reasons, renting is particularly advantageous for companies that have bigger operational expense budgets.
The victory tent of Toronto’s 2015 Pan Am Games featured two temporary outdoor video walls.
Where the demand is
Digital signage rental projects are both increasing in frequency and wide-ranging in application.
A major automotive dealership, for example, recently used temporary digital signage for an on-site party complete with a DJ, VIP guests, media and prospective customers in attendance. The client simply required extra displays to augment its launch event, not the installation of permanent fixtures in its facility. The focus was on designing and installing a spectacular short-term display for the event’s attendees.
In the summer of 2015, the victory tent for Toronto’s Pan American (Pan Am) Games featured two video walls. One used 1.4-m (55-in.) liquid crystal displays (LCDs), while the other assembled 1.2-m (46-in.) LCDs. And just two months later, CTV commissioned one of the biggest video walls ever assembled in North America—comprising 108 of the 1.4-m LCDs—for its annual ‘upfront’ presentation, announcing its new fall lineup of TV shows.
As these three disparate examples show, the situations in which temporary digital signage systems can create a major impact are endless.
