ScreenScape is so simple to use and so cost-effective that even a small organization will find it easy, and profitable, to operate their own screen display. At the same time, the potential of the service as a promotional tool for multi-site organizations like franchises is considerable. This post explores how ScreenScape can be used by franchisors to deploy a coordinated, fully-branded display network that helpst to pursue established corporate goals and also to generate entirely new lines of revenue.
ScreenScape is an Internet service and community that makes it easy for your franchisees to operate a dynamic screen in their store. As franchisor you can decide to use ScreenScape to create content centrally for your franchisees to show instantly on their local screen. In this way you can use ScreenScape to develop your own distributed digital signage network.
Optionally, franchisees can add their own content to provide a local flavour and target customers in their community with their own custom messages mixed in among the standard promotional items coming from your head office.
Super Shapes Fitness
In this example a health and fitness franchise called Super Shapes Fitness uses ScreenScape-powered Screen Displays to create a high quality, uniform messaging system in each of their locations. The messaging system, which they've dubbed ShapesTV, features short exercise videos and health tips between Shapes promotions for their member referral program and onsite health food products. Any time head office has a change to a promotion it is easy for them to login to screenscape.net and make a quick change that instantly will take effect on every screen in the network.
An important selling feature of ScreenScape is the ScreenScape community - a whole network of venues and their displays which could be used to extend ShapesTV - to bring Shapes promotional messaging to target audiences in the region or around the globe. Here in figure 1 a nearby residential complex called Sunset Towers uses ScreenScape-powered screen displays in their buildings and has partnered with Shapes to help promote the local marathon.
Shapes HQ believes in empowering their franchisees. Therefore they've asked their franchisees to use ScreenScape to add their own content to the mix. Each local franchisee adds value to their own display by posting community messages, member profiles and photographs of recent events.
Shapes headquarters is thrilled with the benefits they receive from the service. In fact they are exploring new options to incorporate third-party content on their network. They know that their membership represents a unique audience - a set of consumers that appeal to marketers of fitness products. To capitalize on this opportunity they plan to sell advertising and turn the network into a significant revenue generator.
The Business Case
Shapes decided to make the program optional with hardware costs being the responsibility of the franchisee. By buying as a group Shapes HQ was able to extend to their franchisees a discount on hardware which would setup each franchise for a cost of $1000 per location for two screens. Each franchisee was asked to subscribe to ScreenScape for the nominal fee of $9.99 per month.
In this way Shapes distributed the initial investment costs to set up the system across their franchise network. All they had to do at headquarters was sign up for their own ScreenScape account which they use for distributing centrally authoring content.
In exchange for their participation Shapes is promising to repay the hardware costs invested by each franchisee out of the proceeds of their new advertising service. What follows is the business case that helped Shapes to see the bonus opportunity - that of selling sponsorships and turning this into a real revenue generator. A modest prediction was made in which Shapes would offer three sponsorship opportunities to third-party partners for a fee of $500 per month. This would account for less than 10 percent of ShapesTV program - the rest being dedicated to Shapes own strategic messaging.
