On its face, the enthusiasm for outdoor digital displays is well-placed. The technology has substantially improved over the past decade. In fact, the technology allows just about everything that can be imagined to be displayed. And that is the start of some enormous problems for the nascent digital signage industry. Let me explain. An article from a March online community was titled, “Making Mobile and Outdoor Displays Work.” A few excerpts should suffice:

 

“Digital signage and mobile handsets are made for each other, but outdoor displays and mobile interactivity are particularly well-matched. Working together with mobile, the attention-grabbing outdoor display becomes a dynamic call to action.

 

“… allowing users to interact with an outdoor display adds a new dimension to entertainment, engagement and communication. Providing a call to action on the giant outdoor screens for users to collect coupons or sign up for sweepstakes are some of the simpler applications. Multi-user games, text to screen, mobile voting, picture to screen and even Tweets to the giant screen add much more to enhance the user experience and create a ‘wow’ for the brand and the venue.

 

“With the proliferation of outdoor displays and increasingly feature-rich mobile handsets, the only limit to the range of marketing campaigns is human creativity.”

 

Here we have an ironclad case of enthusiasm trumping prudence. The moment a digital display is deployed outdoors—at least here in the United States—there is a vast opposition ready to spring into action. And much of that opposition comes from regulators able to ban or restrict outdoor displays. From this sentiment of “gee whiz look at what our technology can do!” comes also a woeful lack of knowledge about sign law, zoning authority, and the real-world, everyday challenges faced by the sign industry, both off-premise (billboards) and on-premise.

 

So, I would like to address all my enthusiastic colleagues, and ask you to take this quiz. Only those with a passing grade get to go on and deploy digital signage outdoors. On to the first question:

 

1.) True or false. The First Amend-ment gives you the right to put up a sign anywhere you want.

a. True, because that’s what free speech is all about.

b. True, because your sign uses up-to-date “attention-grabbing” technology.

c. True, because your boss has a big marketing campaign ready to break using this display.

d. False, because the protections given commercial speech under the First Amendment are balanced by other rights given to municipalities.

 

2.) Multiple choice: The Constitu-tion protects private property. Your digital signage is private property, therefore, you can:

a. Install it outside of your boss’ new condo.

b. Install it on top of your bank’s new office building.

c. Apply for a permit in the proper jurisdiction.

d. All of the above.

 

3.) Multiple choice: Jerry Wachtel believes digital billboards cause driver distraction, and driver distraction causes traffic accidents. His opinion is important to those in the digital signage business because Wachtel is a:

a. Leading world researcher on driver distraction.

b. Strident anti-sign consultant with 30 years of federal funding.

c. Former star on “That ’80s Show.”

d. Friend of your car insurance agent.

 

4.) Multiple choice: Anti-sign forces claim that a driver can become distracted in the period of approximately two seconds. This morning, while driving the major highway into the office, you:

a. Looked at messages on your cellphone.

b. Texted a friend about where to meet for lunch.

c. Drank a cup of very hot coffee.

d. Almost ran a stop sign.

e. Tested the “attention-grabbing” features of your outdoor digital display by downloading a coupon.

f. All of the above.

 

5.) Yes or No. The billboard industry has sponsored a number of research studies which prove no causal relationship between digital displays and traffic accidents. Should you become familiar with their conclusions and methodology?

a. No, you didn’t take Statistics 101 in school.

b. No, you’re just Marketing.

c. No, look at all the “attention-grabbing” technology in your new digital signage.

d. Yes, because the boss is sending you to something called a “variance hearing” tonight.

 

6.) Multiple choice: You just came back from last night’s variance hearing. The boss is not happy that the new digital display is not going to be permitted for the top of your bank’s office building. What should you do?

a. Complain about all the so-called citizens that came to the hearing. (What is this, a democracy?)

b. Complain that a digital display installed by your competitor in the town next to yours just got approved.

c. Complain that the staff planner “had it in for you.”

d. Complain about the board member that said your research was just “industry-funded.”

e. All of the above.

 

7.) Multiple choice: The boss says now you have to go do a BZA. A BZA is the:

a. Celebrity website that had all the gossip on Tiger Woods.

b. New exhibit at the zoo honoring the Benevolent Zebra Association’s 100th anniversary.

c. The radio station that plays all ’80s music.

d. The code name for the new “attention-grabbing” features coming out in the digital signage your boss just purchased.

e. Board of Zoning Appeals.

 

There are 39,000 local jurisdictions in the U.S. with some authority to ban or otherwise restrict outdoor signs, off-premise or on-premise. The sign industry welcomes, I believe, the enthusiasm of new digital signage network operators, and the larger universe of brand marketers.

 

But now your enthusiasm has to be combined with the experience of sign companies. If you want your digital signage technology to be part of the American landscape, it is going to come down to getting a permit. And that permit just became a lot harder to obtain if your main pitch is that “the proliferation of outdoor displays and increasingly feature-rich mobile handsets” is limited only by “human creativity.” Something tells me that is not a great case for enhancing traffic safety.