Digital Signage Innovations – Digital Menu Boards

2010 is promising to be an exciting year in the digital signage and out of home advertising industry with many new innovations and applications expected to increase the usefulness of this new media.

One device we will perhaps start seeing a lot more of is the digital menu board. These multimedia menus are starting to crop up outside a lot of restaurants in the US and their use is now starting to spread throughout Europe and other areas of the world.

Digital menu boards are far more dynamic than a regular menu that you may find placed outside an eatery. For starters, as digital menu boards are digital signage systems that allow TV and moving imagery they are far more eye-catching than standard menus.

There are other reasons too that make digital menu boards a tempting investment. Not only are they eye-catching but content can be scheduled at different times so lunch and dinner menus can automatically be replaced. Digital menu boards are also extremely flexible when it comes to changing content so daily meal specials can be placed on the menu remotely.

Digital menu boards also create a better image than standard menus, with some early users of the system boasting increased profits by up to 25%.

But there are some implementation hurdles in using digital menu boards. Like any digital signage system, digital menu boards are predominately TV devices connected to a media player and like most electronic devices they need to be protected if they are placed outdoors.

And as most digital menu boards are best implemented outside the restaurant where a passing audience could be tempted by the dish of the day, they need to be adequately protected.

One of the simplest solutions for protecting, not just digital menu boards, but any outdoor digital signage device is to use a waterproof LCD enclosure. LCD enclosures are ideal for the outdoor use of LCD TVs (and plasmas) as they protect not only from the weather such as rain and snow but also they contain heating and cooling systems to ensure the optimum operating temperature of the LCD. Most LCD enclosures also have room for media players, offering the same protection.

LCD enclosures also come in a wide range of sizes from 20” – ideally suitable for a digital menu board – to giant 70” enclosures for large outdoor digital signage systems.