Scoreboards

The world has come a long way since the first Earth Day in 1970. It’s hard to believe that, during that era, people didn’t think twice about wasting products and considered the natural resources of the world to be eternal. The philosophies of recycling, reusing and no-waste have permeated on both the individual and business level and Electro-Mech has led the way in recycling within the electronic sports scoreboards industry.

LED lighting has come to the forefront of common use around the world. Beyond just the exciting colors, LED helps in your ‘green effort’ and is a substantial electrical savings. Schools and organizations are focused on every possible method to contribute to a continued green effort and participate in technology that supports this process. Electronic sports scoreboards have adopted LED lighting for quite some time, offering a savings over board systems that use standard lighting. The ability of the LED to withstand changes in weather, shock, extreme temperature and vibration make LED’s the perfect lighting technology for indoor and outdoor electronic sports scoreboards.

As a society, we are not only accustomed to experiencing excellence in technology, but we are now in a condition where we expect it. On a daily basis, we view high resolution videos with special effects and extreme sound quality. This expectation can also translate into the world of electronic sports scoreboards, where we face a few more challenges and hurdles in video displays. While we have a total environmental control when viewing a video on a pc, tablet or our smartphone, this is not the case in either an indoor or outdoor electronic scoreboard. Each venue may offer limitations and there are rules-of-thumb that can be applied for the decision as to when to add audio to scoreboard video.

The advantages of LED lighting in today’s electronic sports scoreboard supersede all display sources of the past. The high resolution, sturdy, safe and long lasting LED lights bring millions of colors to a screen, offering a clarity never before seen. The LED lights in your electronic scoreboard are not only earth-friendly, by not containing the mercury of fluorescent lights, but are recyclable. The LED lights have longevity of over 60,000 hours, and lower electricity use to bring additional savings. While the initial cost of LED lighting is higher than standard or fluorescent lights, the longevity outweighs and quickly pays for itself. The enjoyment of your electronic scoreboard will last for years to come; however, when additional lighting sources are in place, there are considerations that need to be included to give your audience and sponsors the very best indoor or outdoor scoreboard experience.

Video creates a powerful connection to the viewer and accelerates the sales process for your sponsor. Statistics show that consumers that watch video are 144% more likely to buy a product or service. These are incredibly important mantras when you a considering video for your electronic scoreboard. You might be in a situation where you think you have limited technology tools to make the kind of powerful video you think that you need. There are some shortcuts and special hints that can help you on your video journey to help make your presentations look like the pros.

You are the master of your electronic scoreboard advertising and as such, have chosen a video format for the best possible results. Now that you have made the biggest decision, you will need to tackle the topic of what kind of video advertising will do justice to your sponsors.

The stats show that video with audio bring a higher retention rate in the viewing audience. This will translate into measurable dollar return on investment for your advertiser or sponsor. Video scoreboard advertising offers a higher level of creativity, but with that you may find there are some hurdles to overcome.

There are many variables on the topic of electronic sports scoreboard advertising and you will need to examine each one to accommodate your abilities and the requirements of the sponsors. The technology of today offers easy to use software that is available to the non-professional, and yet brings the look and feel of a professionally designed presentation. Video has been proven to not only attract but maintain the attention of the viewer over static and slide show options and brings additional repeat sponsorship.

Video software packages are now available at reasonable costs so that you can be a pro at video advertising. The technology can be pc or Mac and software such as TriCaster, vMix, Wirecast or Casper CG includes editing tools to use multi-camera sources, lighting adjustments, pixel definitions, and Auto HD. These are important factors to create the highest quality advertising.

Choosing the right electronic scoreboard advertising can be both fun and challenging. As you embark in the endeavor of creating sports scoreboard ads, you will want to consider a number of options: slide show, static, streaming video, and audio. While the choice of total video with audio may be your first selection, it is not always the best, based on the type of venue you have.

The outdoor stadium presents a number of issues for electronic scoreboard advertising. You might create a top notch video, only to find the color has faded due to the variations in lighting and the acoustics are questionable due to wind and temperature. Having software that allows you to adjust for lighting and change the clarity can address the lighting problem, but the audio portion is based on volume, and that can cause additional presentation problems. If the outdoor venue is one that has consistent weather situations that affect audio, you may want to change to a slideshow or static advertising format.

Video advertising for sports scoreboards offer a number of positive choices and solutions. As the ‘creative engineer’ you and your advertising team will be responsible for developing quality video for your sponsors. Today’s technology allows non-professionals the ease of video creation, with some simple options available to just about everyone.

Videos can be created as a preroll video, typically in .wmv format or you can use a slideshow format with displays static single page ads. Each style uses a different type of software. The preroll video will require a computer base (laptop, pc or Mac), movie camera(s) and software such as TriCaster, vMix, Wirecast or Casper CG. Editing tools are available so that you can take the various ‘shots’ and blend, delete, enhance and duplicate as well as overdub and add music as background. Studies have shown that the preroll video format with enticing content capture and retain a larger audience than a static ad. For the advanced user, software such as MStream allows multi-screen video advertising and will stream via an electronic scoreboard as well as social media feeds. You need to keep in mind that full video advertising requires more time and dedication than a static or slideshow ad.

We are a society that is connected in more ways than ever before and are accustomed to instant notification, within minutes (if not seconds) of something happening. Sports scoreboard advertising is making use of the complementary formats to entice sponsors as well as fans.

There are a variety of choices and options that you have when thinking about scoreboard complementary services. The most popular has been a streaming live feed via website broadcasts. This requires that you have the camera equipment, editing software and a web tech that can not only link the live feed video, but focus in on the advertising spots. Make sure you have the support of the school or organization web master. This individual is responsible for all content and will need to be an integral part of the project. The massive popularity of smartphones offer an enhanced ability for live view and will be an enticement for sponsors as their advertising message will reach an even larger audience. If you are experiencing financial problems and have the talent but not the equipment, you can talk to sponsors to assist in helping with the technology as part of their program. Adding their name and logo in recognition of their additional sponsorship level will offer an additional advertising and marketing opportunity and elevate their position in the community.

As you move into the world of sports scoreboard advertising development, you will quickly realize that you need the help of others to make your creative genius come to life! This is indeed a case of “it takes a village”, as you will need to enlist the assistance of a number of people and marketing concepts for the total success of your endeavor.

The first people that you need to look to are your internal resources. These can include Booster Clubs, Alumni, students, faculty, friends and family. These are the core groups that will often be the most receptive. Booster Clubs and Alumni already have the experience and the local business contacts. A meeting with both groups will enlighten you on the most successful campaigns as well as the most receptive sponsors. In many cases, the rest of the group is often readily available and sometimes eager to help. You will find that they are the group that needs direction, so it’s advised that you set up a plan before you start talking with them.