Coca-Cola taps Google tech for digital signage

Dive Brief:

Coca-Cola is creating an in-house version of digital signage that makes use of a number of Google technologies instead of relying on off-the-shelf solutions, according to Fortune.
The brand's goal is to place digital end caps on thousands of in-store points of sale. Greg Chambers, global group director of digital innovation at Coca-Cola, told Fortune that digital menu boards cost up to $40,000, making a more wide-scale rollout monetarily impractical.
Coke tapped Google's Chromebits on the hardware side for processing power and connectivity, along with DoubleClick ad serving software and Google Cloud Platform services like machine learning and analytics to piece together an in-house version of its digital signage.

Dive Insight:

Coca-Cola is in the midst of re-evaluating its approach to digital strategy, especially after a handful of more experimental initiatives with the channel stalled out. Stemming from that, the brand recently hired its first Chief Digital Marketing Officer and is currently revamping its widely popular loyalty program to put a premium on digital elements and ease of use as well.

Coca-Cola's creation of its own version of digital signage and using essentially off-the-shelf technology from Google shows the brand is willing to continue to innovate and push its boundaries, though expense is limiting the project at the moment, per Chambers.

Out-of-home advertising, typically thought of as everything from billboards to in-store promotional material, is getting a boost in the digital and mobile age. On the digital side, messages can easily be altered on digital billboards and signage whereas non-digital versions have to be physically replaced in order to change up the message.

However, the real value here comes into play by combining the digital messaging with data from mobile devices. Marketers can use geotargeting to place personalized offers and message on digital signage to target down to a single person. Coke's digital signs use beacon technology to push offers to smartphone users passing by their endcaps in that regard.