Complete Led Screen Guide

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The Complete Guide

to Buying a Led Screen

Six Important Questions to AskBefore You Buy a Led Screen

Fabio Aversa

Second Edition


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The Complete Guide to Buying a Led Screen2004-2011 Fabio Aversa. All Rights Reserved.

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Via Mahatma Gandhi, 2110051 Avigliana, TorinoItaly

Tel. +39 / 011-954-1015Fax. +39 / 011-954-1017eMail: [email protected]

Copyright 2011 by Fabio Aversa. All rights reserved.

No part of this guide may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or any manner, electronicor mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system,without permission in writing from the Author, except in case of brief quotations embodied in criticalarticles and reviews. For requests for permission or further information please contact the Author viaemail ([email protected]) or send a letter to Fabio Aversa Via Mahatma Gandhi, 21 10051 Avigliana, Torino Italy.

Limit of Liability / Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best effortsin preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy orcompleteness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties ofmerchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

There are no warranties which extend beyond the descriptions contained in this paragraph. The

advice and strategies contained herein may not apply or be suitable for your situation. You shouldconsult with a professional where appropriate. The accuracy and completeness of the informationprovided herein and the opinions stated herein are not guaranteed or warranted to produce anyparticular results, and the advice and strategies contained herein are not suitable for every individual.

It is sold with the understanding that neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in renderinglegal, accounting or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required,the services of a competent professional should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shallbe liable for any loss or loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited tospecial, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

Published in the Italy by the Author.

Categories:

1. Marketing-Management-Handbooks, manuals, etc 2. Advertising media planning- Handbooks,manuals, etc

All brand names, trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners.

This is NOT a free guide. Purchase of this guide entitles the buyer to keep one copy an his or hercomputer and to print out only one copy.

Printing out more than one copy or distributing it electronically is prohibited by internationalcopyright laws and treaties, and would subject the purchaser to penalties up to 100.000,00 eurosPER COPY distributed.


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Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................................3

How a led screen works ........................................................................................................................ 4

How to choose the right location........................................................................................................ 6

How to get the permit .......................................................................................................................... 9

How to define the led screens specifications..................................................................................12

How to choose the right supplier......................................................................................................15

How to make money with the led screen........................................................................................19


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Introduction

Dear Reader,

Are confused about buying a led screen?

If you are, then congratulations! This guide will answer all the most common doubtsof who like you is considering to buy a led screen.

The information in this guide is intended primarily for those who are seeking a led

screen for Advertising, but most of the advice can be applied to screens for Sports,Events, or Mobile as well.

Each chapter responds to one of six important questions to ask before buying a ledscreen. Depending on the current state of your project, some chapters may be lessinteresting for you.

For example, if you have already got the permission for the installation(compliments!), then you can safely skip the chapter on how to choose theinstallation site.

So based on your particular situation you may want to read this guide frombeginning to end, or only read the chapters that interest you most.

In case you still have any urgent doubt or if you want to suggest another questionfor the next edition of the guide, you can reach me via email [email protected]

Best Regards,

Fabio Aversa

Fabio AversaLed Screens Consultant


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How a Led Screen Works

Any entrepreneur must answer several questions in order to select the best screen,the best location and the best supplier. But the very first question you must answeris How does it work?

If you understand how the led screen works, it will be much easier to understand allthe following questions answered in this guide. By understanding how it works, youcan also identify what are the weaker areas in your project, those that need morefocus.

Below you can find a scheme of the seven components you will find I any standard

led screen installation for advertising.

In some circumstances, this diagram might not be totally accurate. For example, ifyou have a led screen for Sport or Events than you might not need the #2(broadband internet) but youd rather need a fibre optic cable.

But in most cases, this illustration will provide a fairly accurate description of whatyou need. Lets look at each component more into details.

1) Remote PC - The remote PC allows you to control the led screen from anywhere inthe world, as long as you have internet access. You can work both online (e.g. fromyour office) or offline (e.g. while travelling).


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2) Broadband Internet - A fast internet connection allows you to update youradvertising videos and synchronize the playlist in a matter of minutes.

3) Embedded PC - An Apple computer is installed inside the LED Screen. Apple waschosen because of its reliability and performance. In order to control the embeddedApple computer remotely, you need a fixed IP address (ask your internet provider).

4) Fullcolor Led Screen - Euro Displays LED Screens are like huge DVI monitorsconnected to the Apple computer installed inside the modules.

5) Metal Frame - Advertising screens must be installed on a metal frame, whetherthey are placed on a pole, on a roof or on a building facade.

6) Footstall / Plinth - It is the foundation of the screen. The plinth must be installedat least 28 days previous to the installation to allow concrete to dry properly.

7) Power Supply - The screen must be connected to a electric supply, to berequested approximately 6/8 weeks before the installation takes place.


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How to Choose the Right Place

Now that you have a better understanding of how a led screen works, the next mostimportant question you must answer is How do I choose the best place to install theled screen?

The answer to this question is easy: Location, Location, Location.

Thats the secret of a successful LED screen installation. As far as I am concerned, it is10 times better to have an average screen in an outstanding position, than havingan outstanding screen in an average position.

Therefore, the first step to start making money with a led screen is to define theexact position where it will be installed. Thats the most important stepof the entireprocess and it requires a great deal of attention.

The position indeed have a direct impact on the number of potential Customers (inyour case, advertisers) that your business can target: the better the position, thehigher the chances that someone will want to broadcast his advertisement on yourLED screen.

But how do you identify the best location for your first LED screen?

I know that this can be a very intimidating task because you dont really know whatyou need to look for. Heres a 8 tips that will help you to get started:

Forget the biggest cities: If you thought of installing your first led screendowntown London, Paris or Milan, than forget it. In these cities you will not onlyfind the hardest competition ever, but you will also face an incredible wall ofbureaucracy.

You must start outside the biggest cities and try to work you way inside onlywhen you shoulder (and budget) will allow you to fight the fierce competitionand bureaucracy.

Aim at micropolitan regions: The best target to install your first LED screen is anarea with a population ranging from 10.000 to 60.000 people. This size canusually provide a decent traffic and especially a good number of local businessesthat you can target to become advertisers on the screen.

Typically, micropolitan areas have a fairly steady growth in terms of populationand economic activities. This is important because advertising LED screens are alocal business and therefore you must make sure that you can find customers tosell your spaces that are located within 10/15 Km from the installation.


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Take a map: In order to identify the locations with highest potential, you can takea map of the town where you want to install the LED screen. It does not have to

be the town you live it. Don't get stuck do to this mental limit I've seen severaltimes. Get a map of the nearest cities too, so you have more options available.

Once you have the map, start to highlight the main streets leading in and out ofthe city, the main intersections and the main squares. This is going to be yourfield of research. Now take the car and drive by the roads you highlighted andlook for the locations of other billboards. A good place to install the screen, couldbe after all other signs fades out.

Choose good neighbours: good traffic is usually a consequence of the presence ofotherspecificbusiness activities located nearby the screens, such a the

followings: banks, post offices, hotels, casino, train and metro stations, parkingplaces, outdoor markets and shopping malls.

These businesses are very particular because they generate a constant flow ofpeople throughout the day, which makes it so much easier for you to justify yourprice to your advertisers.

Search for traffic: to successfully sell advertising spaces, you must have as muchtraffic as possible. As a minimum traffic, you should consider the 600 / 800 carsper hour, or about 16.000 to 22.000 people per day.

To calculate the impression, simply multiply the number of cars for the averageoccupants for each car (1,38) and then multiply for the 20 hours the screens runeveryday:

600 x 1,38 = 828 and 828 x 20 = 16.560 people per day

Look for consistency: this traffic should not be concentrated during the rushhours, but ideally it should be spread over the entire day. In fact, a digitalbillboard installed in a low traffic area, or in an area with traffic only a few hoursduring the entire day, is less attractive to your Customers, which means your ROIwill be much longer. The pedestrian traffic is perfect because it is slower and can

check out different advertisements when it passes by your screen.

Choose high visibility:The screen must be installed on a side or at the end of along street, so that it becomes visible from a long distance. If allowed by yourlocal restrictions, a traffic light near the LED screen forces people to stop andwatch the ads when the light is red. The pedestrian traffic is perfect because it isslower and can check out different advertisements when it passes by your screen.In case of high commuting traffic, you can build a 180 rotating structure, totarget the traffic both during mornings and evenings.


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Find new roads: Ask the City Hall for a list of the future roads projects and theiradvancement status. This is more a long term strategy, but this information gives

you a road map of the next advertising billboards sites that will becomeavailable. So you can start to contact the landlords to reserve your right to installthe screen even before the roads are built.

Close, but not too much: It is important that you live or work nearby the screen,so that you can easily reach it if necessary, but you dont need to absolutely haveit in your hometown.

This is a mental limit that I encountered several times in my Customers whichwanted to install the screen in their own town and spent months trying toconvince the City Hall who wouldnt give the authorization.

If thats your case, dont waste too much time: just move to the nearest city. Evenyou dont live there, chances are that you are very familiar with that area as well.

The only real advantage I acknowledge you have if you install in your hometown,is that you might have some contacts in the City Hall and that could be useful toget the authorization.


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How to Get the Permit

Are digital billboard dangerous for drivers? This is a debate that have been going onfor years and I believe it is intelligent question to ask, because if they are dangerousthan there should be regulations.

But now there two different studies, conducted by Tantala Associates and theVirginia Tech Transport Institute. Both studies analyzed the possible link betweendigital billboards and vehicle accidents. And the good news is that according to bothstudies, LED screens are not dangerous.

Heres an abstract from the press release:

Washington D.C., July 11, 2007 --The combined results of two separate studies thatexamine crash causation and statistical data and driver performance in relation todigital billboards were released today. The research offers conclusive evidence th ttr ffic ccidents re no more likely to h ppenin the presence of digital billboards thanin their absence.

Here is what Mr Albert M. Tantala, from Tantala Associates says:

The analysis and statistics in Cuyahoga County demonstrate that digit l billbo rdsh ve no st tistic lly signific nt rel tionshipwith the occurrence of accidents.

And here are the conclusions of the Virginia Tech Transport Institute:

The overall conclusion from this study is that the presence of billboards does not causea measurable change in driver behaviour, in terms of visual behaviour, speedmaintenance, or lane keeping.

So if you hear such objection, you can now reply with proven facts. See page Errore.Il segnalibro non definito.to learn how to download the press-release and a copyof both studies.

But even if such big objection has been answered, in order to install a LED screen onthe public ground, you still must obtain the permit from the Competent Authorities(the City Hall, the Traffic Control or the Government) which may vary depending onthe place of installation.

As a result, there is not a uniformed way to deal with such authorization requests.Most of the time, there is not even a standard form valid for the entire country.

Such lack of legislation in the regulation system is therefore filled by eachAuthoritys judgement, according to their approach towards new businesses and


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new technologies (obstructive or cooperative). So how to you find your way in thisbureaucracy? Here what Ive learned based on my Customers feedback:

Find the competent authority: the very first thing you should do is find out whichis the right Competent Authority to forward the request to, based on the place ofyour installation.

Remember that you must ask the authorization even if your screen is installed ona private property. Wherever the screen is installed, if it is facing a public area,you need a permit.

Be patient. Very patient:very often getting the authorization can take up to oneyear of more. One year of constant follow up, likely with several frustrating

episodes during which you will be tempted to give up. Im not telling you this todiscourage, but rather to make sure you understand it will take commitment.

Talk to the right person:before spending hours and hours talking to anuninterested employee that will have NO impact in whether the request isaccepted or not, try to understand who really has decision power in this matter.Very often the right person is the Chief of Local Police, and not the Major as youmay think.

Start slowly:One of the main reasons for rejection is fear of the unknown. Andunfortunately most of the people working there will not know what the LED

screen is, because its new and different from any type of static signage they areused to.

This difference from the well-known static signs makes them feel uncomfortableand that is often a reason for being obstructive, negating the permission: theyprefer to the bounce the authorization, in order to avoid problems for doingsomething wrong.

Thats why if you ask for the authorization for a High Technology Digital LEDScreen your request will be almost surely dismissed. Rather start talking about aninformative digital billboard instead. This way is much more similar to a

common tri-vision billboard that at the public office are used to deal with.

Be professional: asking for the authorization is probably the most importantmoment of your business. If you dont get it, you wont even start.

So be prepared in advance for this important meeting. Write a formal request onyour companys head paper, submit a picture of the place where you want toinstall the screen and attach a planometric drawing of the area, better if made bya professional.


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In order to support you in this phase, Ive included in the appendix a sample ofhow a professional request should look like.

Show whats in it for them: as any human being, the person you talk to will takeactions according to two fundamentals emotions: fear to loose and desire togain.

Show them how the City Hall, the Police or the Civil Protection could benefit fromsome free ads spaces on your installation and you will be one step closer to getthe authorization.

In these spaces, the Institutions will be able to provide the community with animportant service by informing the public about their schedules, services, events,

traffic changes, works in progress, weather forecasts, maintenance to the watersystem etc

On average, my Clients offer 10% of the advertising spaces in exchange for theauthorization, but sometimes they had to give up to 30%.

Show the advantages for the environment:with the most environmentalsensitive City Halls, you could gain an edge by highlighting the fact that a digitalbillboard saves every year paper equivalent to cover 9 football fields.

Dont be discouraged, be committed: dont expect a positive answer the first

time you submit your request. And do not get stuck in the mental limitation thatyou must install in your own town: if it doest work in your city, try with the citynearby and than the next one. Remember also that anytime a newAdministration is elected, it is a new chance for you.

The longer the better:if you have good chances to get the authorization andyour are getting closer to the final result, make sure that the permit is granted toyou for at least 5 year or more. The longer you can sell your ads, the higher theprofits.


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How to Define the Led Screens Specifications

Once you found where to place the screen, its fundamental to select the billboardthat better fits the installations visibility conditions.

It is hard to define standard dimensions for an advertising LED screen, but asreference we can say that in Europe the most common dimensions are: 3x2, 4x3, 6x4or 7x5 meters.

As you can see, usually the ratio is 4:3, but more and more often Im seeing 16:9digital billboards being installed. As a general rule we can say that the biggest, thebetter.

As you probably already know, on the screens there are thousands of leds usuallyassembled in groups of 4 leds (2 red, 1 green and 1 blue), called pixels. The morepixels you have on the screen, the higher the resolution.

A high resolution LED screen allows you to visualize higher quality images andvideos, therefore it is more appealing to your Customers.

To identify the resolution a size that better fits your needs, I defined two easyformulasthat you can use to define the specifications of the led screen you need.

These two formulas will help you to define the Minimum and the Maximum viewingdistance of the led screen. Both these measures are very important, because theydefine the field of visionof the screen.

How to Calculate the Minimum Viewing Distance

The minimum viewing distance is a function of the pixel density: the more pixelsyou have on a given surface, the closer you can look at it and still get a goodimage quality.

The formula to calculate the Minimum viewing distanceis easy. Here it is:

(1) take the physical pixel pitch (2) divide by 2 and (3) convert into meters.

For example if the physical pixel pitch is 20 millimetres, the minimum distance is:20 / 2 = 10 meters.

If the physical pixel pitch is 12 millimetres, the minimum viewing distance is:12 / 2 = 6 meters

How to Calculate the Maximum Viewing Distance


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The maximum viewing distance, is not a function of the pixel density but ratherof the screen surface. In fact, the bigger the screen is, the further you can be to

watch it.

The formula to calculate the Maximum viewing distance is the following: (1)calculate the area of the screen and then (2) multiply times 20.

For example, for a 3 x 2 meters screen, the surface is 3 x 2 = 6 square meters.Therefore the maximum distance is 6 x 20 = 120 meters.

For a 4 x 3 meters screen, the surface is 4 x 3 = 24 square meters.Therefore the maximum distance is 24 x 20 = 480 meters.

Would you like to know what other people choose generally? In the table below youcan see what, based on my experience, what are the most common screens, thosewith the best price/performance ratio:

Size Surface Physical Pitch MIN Distance MAX Distance

2 x 1,5meters 3square meters 12mm 6meters 60meters

3 x 2meters 6square meters 16mm 8meters 120meters




Important: these formulas should be used just to identify a ball park figure.

They are not scientifically proven and you will not find them in any Encyclopaedia.For example, if the formula gives you a minimum distance of 10 meters, this doesnot mean that the screen will look terrible at 9 meters and perfect at 11...

The minimum and maximum distances should be used to identify the range withinwhich your audience will watch the screens and identify the pixel pitch accordingly.My purpose is to provide you with an easy and immediate tool to identify the rightproduct most of the time.

To better explain the concept of pixel pitch and resolution, in the image below, youcan see the same image displayed with high resolution (right side) and lowresolution (left side).


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The low resolution image is not necessarily worst it just has a longer viewingdistance. Try to look at the images in the next page from 3 meters away and you will

barely notice a difference.

This means that higher resolution is not necessarily better. It all depends from theaverage viewing distance of your target audience.

Experiment: Look at the images below at increasing distance (e.g. 2 meters, 3meters, 4 meters) until when you dont notice any difference anymore.

Higher ResolutionSmaller Pixel Pitch

Shorter Viewing DistanceHigher cost per square meter

Lower ResolutionLarger Pixel Pitch

Longer Viewing DistanceLower Cost per square meter


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How to Choose the Right Supplier

If you are serious about entering the business, you should ask several quotation andcompare the proposals of at least three different suppliers and choosing the bestsupplier is critical to your organization. But how do you choose the best supplier?

First Create a Rating System

Despite this first impression you get from a website, evaluating your potentialsuppliers performance requires you to create a rating system. This system consistsin the evaluation of pre-defined measures, performed using specific metrics.

These measures are important and specific aspects of the supplier performance thatyou should take into consideration. These measures can differ from organization toorganization and they should be based on the particular needs of your company,your project and goals.

But generally, performance measures fall into one of categories indicated below:

Price: this indicator relates to the direct financial impact on your company andincludes the LED screen price, payment terms, shipping charges, savings fromprocess improvements etc.

Quality: this indicator indicates the rate of conformance of a product or service toyour requirements and can include warranty terms, years in business,manufacturing process, technology used to improve products and services, andother metrics related to the durability, reliability, and consistency of the LEDscreen features over time.

Service: this indicator takes into account the personal interaction between yourand the supplier and it includes responsiveness, resolution of problems,technology used to provide after-sale service, languages spoken and so forth.

Delivery: this indicator measures the ability of your supplier to support your

scheduling requirements for the installation and includes on-time delivery of theLED screen, on-time completion of installation and other services, stockavailability, or anything related to the cycle time between order and receipt.

Once you have identified the key elements important to your company, you mustacquire the information on which you will base your evaluation.

Generally you can acquire these information from the supplier itself, which is a goodstarting point but that could also hide from you some important information thatmight be negative for his evaluation.


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Therefore I suggest you to find further information doing some research on yourown, for example trying to keep in touch with some of its current Customers to ask

for their feedback, or visit their closest installation to make your own idea on thefinal result of their work.

Furthermore, to evaluate the credibility of your potential supplier (it is a goodindicator of whether it will keep his promises or not), you could check for examplehow many years the supplier has been in business, who are its usual customers, ifthere are many project references, etc

Once you gained these information, you can start to evaluate your potential supplierby using the supplier scorecards, which is the most common tool used to ratesuppliers.

The votes you give to each measure are based on a scale (usually from one to ten)where low scores indicate poor performance and high scores indicate goodperformance. Then all the scores are added to obtain a final score for that supplier.Heres an example:

Performance Measures Score 1 to 10)

It has a competitive price 9

It delivers on-time 4

It responds promptly to emergency situations 6

Total 19

In the scorecard you can also take into consideration the fact that not allperformance measures are of equal importance to you. For example, you could bemore interested in prompt response in emergencies situation while you can toleratea one-week delay without too many problems.

In order to do this, you can add a weight where the more important measures areassigned a higher weight and the less important are assigned a lower weight.

Then each weight is multiplied by its related score to produce a weighted score forthat measure. The weighted scores for the individual performance measures arethen added to produce a total score. See an example in the next page:


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Performance Measures Weight Score Total

It has a competitive price x3 9 27 / 30

It delivers on-time x1 4 4 / 10

It responds promptly to emergency situations x2 6 12 / 20

Total 43 / 60

Supplier scorecards like the one of the sample above are a very good and relativelyeasy rating system. Unfortunately, it is impossible to determine a standard scorecardsince each the performance measures and the weight you assign to them can vary

widely, depending of what are the goals of your company.

Second Meet the People

When you make such an investment with a supplier company, you are not onlybuying their product: you are committing to them because you will be in strictcontact to them for the next few years, whether you want it or not. So youd betterpick a company with people that you trust and feel at ease with.

If possible, you should visit the factory of your potential supplier. This will allow youto see the facilities and get a better idea of how they are organized. Furthermore, it

will allow you to meet their staff.

Ideally, you should ask to meet the technical support staff to get an idea of thepeople you will be coping with in case you have any problem. Make sure theyunderstand your language or that there is someone in the company that can do thetranslation in real time.

Third Visit the Facilities

Most companies present themselves as manufacturers, but only a handful are. LEDscreens manufacturing requires knowledge that only a few companies have, so thegreat majority of alternatives you find on the market are trading companies.

This is not necessarily a negative thing, as long as you are aware of it. But if you wantto make sure you are purchasing from an original manufacturer, you should visittheir facilities and check for some specific items.

In fact, in a real LED screens manufacturing plant, you will always find all the itemslisted below. Since each of these items requires a considerable investment, you willnot find them in a trading company that doesnt need them.


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Mechanical Office: Any manufacturer of any product will invariably have amechanical office, using professional 3D CAD design software for example

SolidWorks (license costs about 7.000 euros). LED screens manufacturersare no exception.

Electronic Office: Any manufacturer of any electronic related product, willinvariably have an electronic office too, using professional design software for example Protel (license costs about 7.000 euros).

Electronic Microscope: for quality control of industrial manufacturing forexample, a Vision Mantis Electronic (about 900 euros).

Climatic Chamber: Any manufacturer must test the printed circuit boards

(PCB) and components at precise values of temperature and humidity, tomake sure they will resist when installed outdoor. Therefore anymanufacturer will always have a climatic chamber about 15.000 euros.

Chroma Meter: A manufacturer must measure the perfect calibration of theRGB triad on the screens before delivery, in order to ensure realistic colors.Therefore any LED screen maker will always have a chroma meter forexample the CS-100A Konica-Minolta about 8.000 euros.

Oscilloscope: The oscilloscope is an electronic test instrument that allowssignal voltages to be viewed, usually as a two-dimensional graph of one or

more electrical potential differences about 9.000 euros.

Laboratory / Testing Area: with instruments, sample LED tiles andprototypes being tested. The picture on the right is taken in the laboratoryof a LED screen manufacturer.

Manufacturing Plant: trading companies are usually pretty small, with just asales office. If any facility is present, than it looks like a deposit where thescreens are just in transit. The picture on the right instead is taken in amanufacturing plant


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How to Make Money with the Led Screen

Too often I happen to see on LED screens some ads that were objectively terrible:transition effects, cluttered text, horrible colour combination, unclear promotion,lack of contacts like phone or website

Next time you create an ad for your screen, please remember to simplify and specify:Ive seen too many ads that were complicated and generic. Ive never seen one thatwas too simple or too specific.

Remember that youre a salesman, not an artist: if you want to be an artist, goodluck. But to have a career in advertising you must be able to sell something with the

ad you create.

And that's important, not just for the sake of creating good advertising, butbecause is the only way to make sure your advertisers renew their contract nextmonth.

Ok, so now we established that your job is to be the salesman of your Customer -using your LED screen properly.

In order to do that, you must create ads that will help him to sell more of what heoffers: if you fail doing sot, on the long run your Customer will realize that he could

spend his advertising money on another medium or just use them to go out withfriends.

Creating advertising that sells is not an easy task: if it was easy, anyone would do it that's why you are paid good money from your Customers.

There are many things you should do to create effective advertising, but the veryfirst thing you should do is identify your exact target, which is your CustomersCustomer, the final consumer.

This isnt easy either because most of your advertisers dont know who their target

Customer is... so if even they dont know, then why should you care?

Because if you dont find it out, your advertising wont be effective, your Customerswont renew their contracts and you'll have to spend resources finding newadvertisers rather than milking those you already have.

How to identify the target user will be the topic of a few posts to come, but hereare some hints you may want to consider:


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Advertising messages should be created for, and directed at, the heavy using

customers in your category.

Women make almost all the financial decisions and they buy almosteverythingcommercial as well as consumer goods.

People over 50 comprise 29% of the population and they control 77% of financialassets (and they are the target for 10% of all advertising)

The profile of your target Customer must be way more accurate and that these aregeneral facts that not necessarily describe your final user, but it is a very goodstarting point.

So we said that advertising messages should be created for, and directed at, theheavy using customers in your category.

This simple concept holds a lot of important implications... First of all, why shouldyour LED Screen Advertising aim the Heavy Using Customers?

Easy: because the few heavy users represents the biggest part of your Customersrevenue (and profits).

In terms of value of goods sold per consumer, the Pareto Rule applies (also known asthe 80/20 rule): 80% of your business is generated by 20% of the consumers. Thismeans that light and average users represent a significant percentage of consumers,up to 80%.

But when your Customers invest in advertising on your LED screen, it costs them thesame to reach the average as it does to reach the heavy user.

This means that most of the advertising effort (and cost) is wasted towards peoplethat wouldnt buy a significant amount anyways or wouldnt buy at all.

This also means that if an advertising message is created for the average user, itdoesn't have an impact to the heavy users which should be the only ones you wantto have an impact on.

Heavy users in fact understand your business probably better than you do (when Isay your business, I actually mean your Customers business), they know yourcompetition better than you do and they might know your product better than youdo because they buy and compare your products with the competitors everyday.

So targeting the average user is stupid because your are wasting most of your effortstowards people that won't significantly affect your business.


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What you must do is understand who your heavy users are and what makes thembuy your product. And then give them even more persuasive reasons to do that over

again with an even stronger message.

Of course its hard and requires a lot of work... but do you have any alternative? No,you dont because Heavy Users represent the biggest part of revenues and profits ofyour advertisers. You cant ignore that.

So now that we agreed that Heavy Users are those that really count, how do youpractically define their profile in order to target them properly?

Well, each one has its own method: make a list of characteristics, have abrainstorming session, go out for a walk. Whatever you decide to do, this is an

example of what you should came out with.

This is the Heavy User profile that I defined when I started to run a LED Screen inTorino (Italy). It helped me and my team to narrow the research base and spend ourtime and resources more effectively.

Of course this is "our" Ideal Client, but you can use it as a good guideline to describeyours.

Location:Our Ideal Prospect is a medium-small business of 5 to 80 employeeslocated in the Western Turin metropolitan area, in particular in the towns ofRosta, Rivoli and Avigliana.

Background:They have been in business for at least 3 years and they are agrowing reality in their own local industry. They already understand theimportance of advertising since they already pay for publicity on localnewspaper, radio or signs.

Best Practice: The best way to approach these potential Clients is to call inadvance to inform them that one of our agents will be passing by their area thenext day and they would like to talk to the sales manager.

On the scheduled day, arrive on time and behave as you had to make them themost important proposal of their life: make it a big deal.

Please note that this is probably the single most overlooked aspect by any companythat struggle everyday for survival. Successful companies on the other sideunderstood that very well.

Here are a few examples of industries or companies that totally missed this concept,targeting the wrong people or using the wrong message:


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Supermarkets Dear supermarket manager, you've got it all wrong. Why makethings easy for your unprofitable customers and annoy to death your profitable

ones?

Why have express lanes for people buying a bottle and a magazine? Why notexpress lanes for the people who actually make you some money? The ones with 25items or MORE!

Airlines Lets take an Italian example very dear to me: Alitalia, the Italian nationalairline. Dear Alitalia manager, you got it wrong too. We all know that the heavytraveller hate Alitalia to heart.

They take longer trips to avoid flying with you, due to strikes, lost luggage and

delays Still you spent millions of euros to advertise to him with a happy familyhappily travelling together.

They know your industry better than you do and they absolutely know that thatimage you advertised is totally fake. It wont help your bad reputation.

How about a 60-seconds security check? I bet this will make them run to yourcounters.

Yogurt Dear yogurt manager, youre wrong too, sorry. Your Heavy Users are notthose who purchased a yogurt in the past four weeks (or that will purchase one in

the next four), because they want to be healthy. These are the average and lowusers.

Your Heavy User buys a yogurt everyday, because they probably use it a mealreplacement, to eat something decent sitting at their desks.

Stop highlighting how healthy your yogurt is or you will only attract light users.

Start advertising the meal replacement properties of your yogurt and youll probablyget the attention of the Heavy Users, those that make you a profit.

Now that we explained whyyou should target heavy users, whoare they in practice?In general, anyone that is selling a product or a service should advertise,

They Already Understand the Importance of Advertising:

For those who do not know it, teach them why it is important for example bypublishing on your website the top ten reasons why advertising on your LEDscreen can increase their revenue. In case you dont have the time to write ityourself, I prepared exclusively for the readers of this book a sample text that youcan copy-paste on your website. See page XX for instruction to download it.


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They Need Relevant and Timely Advertising

As we said, LED screen advertising has much more in common with TV and radiothan static billboards.

They usually are: department stores, real estate agencies, restaurants, retailers,car dealerships, banks, radio stations.


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Tel +39 / 011 954 1015

About Euro Display Srl

Founded in 1978, Euro Display has been the first Italian company to design andmanufacture full colour LED screens.

The experience gained In over three decades and with thousands of installationsaround the world and performed in all weather conditions, makes Euro Displaystechnical department among the most competent not only Italy and Europe, butWorldwide.

Thanks to electronic and mechanical design of products developed internally, byaccredited professionals, the company is able to assist customers in selecting the

most suitable technical solution to the specific needs of each project, proposingsolutions preferred in the past by other customers.

The reliability of the solutions over time has become the hallmark of Euro Display, ascan be verified by the many case studies available on the company website.

The company counts among its Clients several prestigious brands, includingSamsung, Tenaris Dalmine, Mediaset, SEA Milan Airports, ATM Azienda TrasportiMilanesi LeNORD and railways which have chosen Euro Display because they werelooking for a qualified, technically capable and reliable partner, able to offeradvanced technological solutions.

The Companys headquarter is located in Northern Italy (Turin).

Euro Display SrlVia Mahatma Gandhi, 2110051 Avigliana, TorinoItaly

Phone: +39 / 011-954-1015Fax: +39 / 011-954-1017Email: [email protected]

www.EuroDisplay.com

Documents

Complete Led Screen Guide