Digital Signage and the Food Industry

It would be difficult to have not noticed the meteoric rise of digital signage over the last few years. Screens used for marketing, promotion and branding are now ubiquitous throughout shopping malls, department stores, in concourse, and even along the high street as outdoor digital signage.

Menus in a fast food restaurant (Picture Daily Dooh)

There is a whole host of uses for this dynamic new media. Its flexibility and versatility also means there are a wide variety of industry and market sectors that have turned to it as a form of advertising and marketing; however, some industries have really gone to town with digital signage.

The food industry is one such sector. Digital signage advertisements and promotions for restaurants, fast food diners and sandwich bars one of the most common types of content viewable on digital out of home screens (Dooh).

Restaurants are now utilizing outdoor digital signage as digital menu boards outside their premises while many fast food restaurants now display menu items inside too. Many of the advertisements on digital posters, billboards and outdoor display screens we see about are also advertising food.

There are several reasons why food and meal advertisements are so commonly displayed on digital signage displays. The first is the way an LCD display will make the food look so much more attractive than just a single photograph. Images of food can be videoed allowing such nuances as steam emanating from the dish to make it much more tempting and appealing.

Whether menu boards are interactive or looped to display images of all the fare on offer, customers can get to see what the meal looks like rather than have to rely on an enhanced image that commonly bears little resemblance on the true aesthetics of the meal.

Another reason why digital signage is commonly used to promote food and meal items is the unique ability it has in scheduling content. No other from of outdoor media can do this and it means that certain adverts can be displayed at certain times of the day. For the food business, this is a great boon as it means that at meal times, such as lunchtime, when passers-by may be hungry or looking for somewhere to eat, the scheduled adverts can appeal directly to this targeted audience.