TORONTO, Ontario -- In-store promotional campaigns are only useful to convenience store operators if they can measure the results. Now, iSIGN Media Solutions Inc. using Intel Corp.'s Audience Impression Metric (AIM) software is working with 5th Screen Digital Services Inc. to generate unique metrics to measure the effectiveness of in-store promotional campaigns at Mac's Convenience Stores.

These metrics -- available in real time -- confirm audience measurement, gender and age to increase effective brand advertising and generate higher revenues and return on investment (ROI) for the iSIGN digital signage network at Mac's.

According to a news release, the trial successfully measured customer digital signage engagement, gender, age and dwell time on advertisements displayed in the Mac's Milk test stores, as well as the effectiveness of the mobile reach created by iSIGN's Interactive Marketing Solution software. These metrics will be used to confirm to potential advertising clients the actual audience of the digital signage network and purchase redemption in real time.

This makes the Mac's network the only interactive network of its kind, currently in the world.

"Mac's Stores have been using our digital signage network for product promotions over the past three years," said Alex Romanov, CEO of iSIGN. "This study will provide advertisers and brands with unique and exclusive metrics that will optimize campaign effectiveness of their in-store digital promotions. The combination of iSIGN's and Intel's two solutions generate a high level of real-time metrics never before available. This will make the Mac's network the only one delivering proof of audience and sales redemption to constantly increase ROI and revenue for all parties, as well as a convenient experience for new and loyal customers."

The most recent results at one location, over a three-day period, detected approximately 12,000 phones, with a unique handset detection rate of more than 1,800 daily. The results also detected that 4,055 unique viewers viewed the point-of-sale digital screen, located by the store's cash register. Of these viewers, 2,314 were identified as males and 1,741 as females. The young adult segment spent the most time looking at the point-of-sale screen, averaging slightly more than three seconds, followed by the senior segment at 2.9 seconds, and the adult segment at 2.7 seconds. The overall average viewing time was approximately 2.9 seconds, according to iSIGN.

"We used both iSIGN's and Intel's software solutions for this study," said John Curran, president and COO of 5th Screen Digital Services, and a digital signage consultant to Intel. "Intel's Anonymous Video Analytics (AVA) package is a software-based technology that uses a sensor to gather viewership metrics for digital signage. We measured total viewer counts, viewing times and demographic information such as gender and age. AVA, combined with iSIGN's IMS proximity marketing solution, takes the measurement of promotional campaign effectiveness to a new and exciting level."

5th Screen will also assess the digital media assets including color and font usage, product showcasing, transitions, screen layouts, zones and themed messages. Based on the analysis of AVA viewer metrics, playlist construction and digital media assets, 5th Screen and iSIGN will develop a digital media blueprint including media production best practices for advertisers and brands to help increase the number of impressions and viewer exposure.