The University of Vermont implemented digital signage from Poppulo in 2013, with the goal of improving the student experience within its student center. Due to the success of the initial implementation, the university’s digital signage grew to include other locations and departments. But as the school’s signage network grew, governance and management challenges started to crop up.

UVM needed a solution to streamline content management, improve adoption, and create efficiencies. In 2023, the campus transitioned to the Poppulo's cloud-based digital signage platform, unlocking new contribution and management capabilities.

However, those new capabilities came with some challenges. The platform had become more powerful and intuitive, but nobody on the university’s team was an expert on how best to utilize the new features. That, coupled with UVM’s new centralized signage approach led to questions about process, technical best-practices, and the ability to effectively scale digital signage to more departments.

Ultimately, UVM’s communications team realized it wasn’t yet appropriately positioned to take full advantage of the power provided by Poppulo’s platform. This realization was coupled with the fact that the team needed to ensure a cohesive digital signage strategy in a decentralized model, one that could effectively deliver a mix of dynamic and static content across multiple departments, while also enabling each department to manage content on their screens. To achieve this, UVM’s communication team faced a few hurdles:

Decentralized management with no single owner of the entire platform

Limited resources and time to dedicate to digital signage strategy, technology, and design

A clear need to improve signage adoption across campus

The need for a better technical understanding of the Poppulo Digital Signage capabilities and features

The migration to Poppulo’s cloud-based platform was the first step on the journey from a decentralized structure to a centralized management structure that enabled global brand elements and content, and local unit-based contribution at the same time. To learn more about the new capabilities of the platform, the UVM team sought additional educational opportunities provided by Poppulo.

After attending a Poppulo webinar around best practices for digital signage in the higher education sector, UVM’s team spoke with Poppulo to learn more. This conversation led the campus communication team to partner closely with Poppulo's Customer Success team. These sessions helped the team with everything from governance best practices and technical capabilities to new content ideas and key integrations with UVM's emergency messaging provider. 

It's been invaluable to have Poppulo’s ongoing support, and to be able to meet with a team that’s so excited about digital signage—people who just get it.” — Anne Marcoe, Project Management Office at UVM

Through regular meetings, the UVM team learned:

How to utilize platform features like labels and scheduling to streamline content management and delivery across campus

How to create templates and workflows to simplify content management while also ensuring brand consistency

The benefits of exploring integrations with other campus systems like emergency messaging, events calendars, and news feeds

Best practices for implementing a clear, scalable structure, allowing individual departments to manage their own content while also allowing for central communication avenues for campus-wide messaging needs

After learning how to better leverage the Poppulo Digital Signage platform, Cody Silfies, Creative Director at UVM, noted, "Poppulo makes the management of content for folks who are not technically inclined, super simple and super easy. We’re now able to execute our plan of onboarding new departments and enabling them to manage their own screens while maintaining a centralized management structure."

The University of Vermont's partnership with Poppulo’s Customer Success Team has yielded significant improvements in campus-wide communication, streamlined content management, and increased adoption of digital signage across departments. By leveraging Poppulo's Digital Signage platform and working closely with the Customer Success team, UVM is well-positioned to expand its signage network, bringing all on-campus digital signage under one platform, enabling broad emergency messaging capabilities while empowering better student, staff, and faculty experiences by creating more personalized, department-specific content contribution. Among the many results UVM has experienced, three themes stand out: partnership, a future-proof strategy, and a better way to bring on new departments.

The ongoing collaboration with Poppulo's Customer Success Team has been crucial to UVM's success with digital signage. Anne states, "I think the Poppulo team has been able to help us connect the dots faster, making us more successful than we would have been on our own because we don't always have the time to dedicate to self-education."

This partnership has enabled UVM to overcome challenges and continually improve their digital signage strategy, setting the stage for a more connected and informed campus community. The university continues to work with Poppulo to explore new ways of leveraging digital signage to enhance the overall campus experience, ensuring that students, faculty, and staff stay informed and engaged. Cody highlights the value of this partnership by saying, "As a person who has to interface with a ton of third-party vendors, it's pretty common for most companies to expect you to pay for every interaction you have with them. So, for someone to just be dedicated to our success, without additional fees, has been mind-blowing. It’s clear Poppulo wants us to be successful, and invests their time and expertise to help us achieve that goal."

UVM sees digital signage as a critical component of their future communication strategy. The foundational work that the UVM team has done sets the stage for the rapid growth of digital signage across the campus and in the community. By continuing to expand the network and bringing more campus departments onto the platform, UVM is creating a truly comprehensive communication system. And with initial plans to implement digital signage in more high-profile locations around the community, the university’s communications team will be able to further expand the reach and brand impact of UVM.

In addition to expanding the network, UVM’s campus communication team will have the ability to create more data-driven and personalized experiences. As an example, Cody envisions being able to empower the admissions department to create more personalized welcome content for potential students on campus visits, establishing a relationship with prospective students while on campus, and hopefully driving higher student enrollment. 

We’re at a point where the admissions teams could upload a CSV of campus visitors that welcomes everyone by name, so the experience feels more personal and more individualized. That’s the type of thing that can help someone choose UVM over another school. And that’s just the start of how we can now start creating better experiences across the campus—not just for students, but for staff and faculty as well.” —Cody Silfies, Creative Director at UVM

UVM has developed a strategic approach to expanding its digital signage network across campus—one that enables content contribution without sacrificing centralized governance. Underpinned by a desire to have a campus-wide emergency messaging channel while simultaneously enabling more impactful content experiences, the campus communications team actively reaches out to departments not yet utilizing the system, showcasing the benefits and potential applications. New departments are often brought on board through small-scale pilot programs, allowing them to experience the benefits firsthand before full implementation.

While the initial onboarding process at UVM is quick and user-friendly, the Campus Communication team’s approach extends beyond mere technical setup. UVM has implemented a two-step strategy that combines practical training with strategic planning. The first step, led by Anne, covers the basics of using the platform, allowing users to quickly start managing their own content. This is followed by a strategic brainstorming session that focuses on content strategy and identifies opportunities for cross-campus collaboration and efficiency.

This approach has yielded significant benefits across the university. Through meetings with new units, shared requirements are identified. In one example these onboarding sessions uncovered that four newly onboarded units were each publishing “News” but that each of them was doing it differently. This led to the development of a “News” app that not only streamlined content creation but also fostered a more cohesive branded experience across campus. The process has also improved content distribution by identifying opportunities for content sharing, such as automatically displaying student life posters on student ID screens. Perhaps most importantly, these sessions have uncovered numerous ideas for structuring the network moving forward.

Once onboarded, content contributors are given a quick training, and due to how easy to use the platform is, can immediately begin managing their own content. Reflecting on the programmatic way new departments are added and trained, Anne notes, “It's a 20 minute walkthrough in the platform—almost as simple as ‘upload your content here and it will display,’ and people just get it. It’s been really great.” And that sentiment is shared by the departments that are being added to UVM’s centralized digital signage network. When asked about the onboarding process, Megan Thomas, Director of Outreach and Process at UVM libraries said, “As new adopters of the Poppulo system on our campus, we now have a built-in way to get walk-by messages in front of our library patrons daily. The system is easy-to-use and fun to experiment with in terms of the content we develop. We are able to receive emergency messaging from our central communications contacts and we just feel a bit more dialed into the central systems and processes.” And Ben Chiappinelli, Event and Media Technician at the Grossman School of Business, adds, “Poppulo has really impressed me with the ease of use and the robust set of options that it provides when it comes to creating and managing playlists. The interface is clean and a breeze to train other staff members on. I also appreciate the ability for Poppulo to handle a variety of media and file formats without compromising my creative use of their system. Overall, Poppulo has been a welcome (and needed) addition to the management of our digital signage.”

Education

The University of Vermont

Find out how this historic university transforms campus communications with scalable digital signage.

Enhancing Campus Communications at the University of Vermont

Choctaw Casinos and Resorts has a large, complex operation spread over multiple properties in Oklahoma. Owned and operated by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the company is an award-winning gaming operator and a staple within the tribal casino community. The tribe is dedicated to guest satisfaction and engagement at all of its 23 locations, leading the way with technology, best-in-class services, and top-flight entertainment. To ensure its gaming floors, conference centers, hotels, and other locations exceed guest expectations, the company has utilized digital signage from Poppulo for over 5 years, now managing 350+ signs across its portfolio, with applications focused on enhancing the guest experience at its 8 standalone casino and resort properties, as well as its 15 Casino Too locations inside Travel plazas located throughout Oklahoma.

Choctaw Casinos and Resorts needed to ensure it had a cohesive digital signage strategy that could effectively deliver a mix of dynamic and static content across multiple properties, while also enabling each site to operate hundreds of screens for a variety of use cases. Additionally, the company sought a way to maximize ROI from its existing digital signage investments, plus streamline wayfinding at its flagship property in Durant, a resort that boasts over 218,844 sq ft of gaming floor and 1,616 hotel rooms.

To help with those challenges, Choctaw transitioned to the Poppulo Digital Signage Cloud in 2020. That migration from an on-premises hosting structure enabled Choctaw to streamline device and user management across its entire portfolio, positioning its properties to get more value out of its digital signs. 

In an age where changes need to be made on the fly, a cloud solution is a must!” —Hayden, Choctaw Conference AV

In 2024, to further ensure its flagship property in Durant was best positioned to succeed, Choctaw brought in Thomas A. O'Sullivan as its new Director of Marketing, and his prior experience using Poppulo’s digital signage platform proved extremely beneficial. Before joining Choctaw, Thomas had over 10 years experience using Poppulo at a variety of properties, and was able to bring in a new strategy and implement new processes to improve the use of digital signage at Choctaw—and the impact of those signs on the guest experience and the bottom line. Thomas has been instrumental in not only driving the expansion of digital signage, but also the value Choctaw gets from its signage investment.

Digital Signage Use Cases at the Durant Location

“Currently we run Poppulo for all of our digital signs on-property. We have hundreds of landscape and portrait signs we use for promotional content. But we also have signs specifically designed for our food and beverage locations, our entertainment venue, and our convention space, as well as our wayfinding and gamefinding applications,” explains Thomas. The scope of digital signage at its Durant property, and the Casino Too’s associated with it, is massive, encompassing the following applications:

The scale of what Choctaw uses digital signage for at its flagship property is impressive, but it’s the strategy behind the casino’s digital signage usage that is making a clear difference. While many of the property’s screens are designed to promote a variety of things happening on property, taking a deeper look into Choctaw’s strategy shows clear differentiation across three categories: intent-based content and scheduling, strategic alignment, and customization.

One clear example of how Choctaw uses the same set of signs to create a different experience can be found with the screens outside and inside of its 3,000-seat venue built to host live performances and events. Since the venue first opened, the property promoted events on 120+screens outside the venue’s doors, as well as the two 8K, 24ftx12ft screens that flank the stage. Today, Thomas and his team still use the signs for that purpose, but once the event is over, the content on the screens changes to promote other aspects of the property, keeping guests on-property and engaging with the casino’s many food and beverage outlets and gaming opportunities. It all comes down to intent. 

Prior to an event, the screens are used to create a sense of arrival and excitement. And after, we use our signs to keep people engaged with all the property has to offer.” —Thomas A. O'Sullivan, Director of Marketing 

Coordination between marketing, creative teams, and various other business units at the property are critical to the success of the resort. The Marketing team not only ensures that promotional content is always up-to-date and accurate, but regular bi-weekly meetings are now held to fine-tune strategies, address operational needs, and gather feedback from stakeholders. This allows the marketing team to respond swiftly to the resort’s needs, creating and deploying content to drive toward specific goals like ticket sales, food and beverage revenue numbers, and more, further positively impacting Choctaw’s bottom line.

In addition to better aligning digital signage with the casino’s goals, Thomas invested in the Communications Engagement Management (CEM) service from Poppulo, gaining a digital signage software expert to help implement and refine Choctaw’s strategy. Thomas stated, “Currently, we have a CEM for our Durant location, and through him, we’re continually improving our maps and wayfinding capabilities so guests can find their way to different games and revenue outlets more efficiently. But beyond the tactical stuff, the CEM service is also helping us onboard new folks and new properties by creating training that increases our time-to-value with new employees and locations.”

Seeing an opportunity to drive additional revenue by securing event bookings, Thomas and his team implemented a strategy for digital screen takeovers during conventions and large events. By giving clients—and perhaps more importantly, showing event planners—how easy it is to create a fully-branded takeover experience, the casino is increasing revenue through event bookings. This ability to quickly create and deploy custom branding enables Choctaw to secure more high-impact events and deliver a better event experience at the same time.

Digital signage has become a cornerstone of Choctaw Nation’s strategy to improve guest engagement and operational functionality. Under Thomas O'Sullivan's leadership, Choctaw’s digital signage strategy enhances the guest experience and delivers significant operational returns. As the Choctaw Nation continues to innovate and expand its digital signage use cases, it is setting new benchmarks for the effective use of signage in the gaming industry. The results speak for themselves, with increased guest engagement, higher operational returns, and revenue improvements.

The enhanced guest experience and strategic post-event signage led to increased dwell time and higher revenue. Thomas noted, "Due to the promotions on our screens after an event, we see an extended time on our gaming floor and increased revenue from our food and beverage operations because guests now stick around rather than making a mass exodus after a show." Additionally, adjustments to digital signage content have proven to result in tangible outcomes, such as a 25% daily increase in ticket sales for an underselling concert due to an increase of promotion on the casino’s screens. Thomas added, “We saw ticket sales stagnate at the beginning of December. We got through basically New Year's Eve knowing that we needed to keep the New Year's Eve messaging strong and then in January, increased rotation and time of play for those slides for that show. From that point we saw ticket sales increase 25% each day, which led us all the way up to a sellout event at the end of February.”

Strategic Alignment Ensures Goal Attainment

Increasing revenue from on-property outlets and services doesn’t happen by accident. Thomas realized, if aware of the property’s overall and departmental goals, digital signage could be deployed to meet revenue targets. In the same way Thomas learned about and implemented a strategy to drive ticket sales for an undersold event, his team learns about and helps drive traffic through promotion on specific screens to other departments and outlets that need a boost to hit their individual targets. These meetings serve as the place where goals are discussed and promotional plans agreed upon. Thomas and his team have helped increase ticket sales, drive traffic to outlets in need of additional revenue, and more—all in the pursuit of the casino’s revenue goals.

Thomas implemented a strategy that gives the casino the ability to customize digital signage for conventions and large events, attracting high-end corporate events and enhancing the overall reputation of Choctaw Nation properties. Large event clients are able to customize digital signage in the convention space, adding value to their events and creating a cohesive, branded experience for attendees. This helps keep high-margin event business coming back, as they are able to create a more immersive event experience. Thomas emphasizes, “For our corporate events, digital signage is often a deciding factor. Clients love the idea of taking over these giant screens and creating an amazing welcome moment for their team. It's a real wow factor that elevates their event." Given the increase in event bookings, effective wayfinding plays a significant role in helping guests find and navigate to games, on-property restaurants, and more. The implementation of new wayfinders significantly improved guest navigation and satisfaction, allowing guests to easily find their desired destinations, reducing the time spent wandering the property. 

Our wayfinders have proved to be a critical tool. The adoption rate here is substantially higher than what I've seen elsewhere. There's not a time of day where I'm out there and someone's not actively using them to navigate our property.” —Thomas A. O'Sullivan, Director of Marketing

Choctaw Casinos and Resorts use of digital signage demonstrates the transformative power of the technology and highlights how strategy can play a role in the overall success of a digital signage network. Choctaw Casino and Resort's implementation of digital signage has revolutionized their guest experience, from creating impactful first impressions to driving revenue across various venues. The Casino’s strategic use of digital displays for wayfinding, event promotion, and targeted marketing has resulted in measurable revenue improvements, and but also serves as a benchmark for how to use the technology effectively to enhance engagement, streamline operations, and ultimately boost the bottom line in the competitive casino and hospitality industry.

Gaming/Casino

Choctaw Casinos and Resorts

How a multiple-property casino operator boosts engagement & revenue with scalable digital signage

Enhancing Guest Engagement and Driving Revenue at Choctaw Casinos and Resorts 

In 2023, London Borough of Tower Hamlets embarked on a major transformation to reshape how it delivered on its top priorities, which ranged from providing homes, to accelerating education, empowering communities, and investing in public services for a clean and green future. 

It also wanted to establish itself as a Borough Council that listens to and works for everyone. The transformation program, called People First, required the changing and reshaping of roles and services within the council, leading the Internal Communications team to create and deliver a series of communications designed to:

Support employees during the transformation

Support a culture of transparency and two-way conversations

Ensure staff felt engaged in the council’s continuous improvement journey

The transformation program necessitated a communications-led culture change within the organization, with the Internal Communications team working in alignment with other key stakeholders, including the Strategy and HR teams.

Building on previous communication-led and data-supported impact in initiatives implemented through the Poppulo platform, the internal communications team sought to expand on this with new ways of reaching and engaging multiple staff audiences and stakeholders.

Poppulo really helped us expand what we were doing because we were able to show the level of two-way engagement, statistics, what’s working and what’s not working. That’s been a big part in helping us engage with our staff and improve on what we achieved previously."—

, Internal Communications Manager, London Borough of Tower Hamlets. 

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ leadership commitment to significant transformation was underpinned by an awareness of the need for culture change throughout the organization, if it were to achieve its goals.

Consequently, with hard data from Poppulo analytics proving the success of the council’s internal communications across several initiatives—from positive behavioral change to increased employee understanding of key issues—Asha and her comms team were made an integral part of the transformation program, working in tandem with the Strategy and HR teams.

Poppulo’s communication analytics have been instrumental in helping the comms team and the organization’s senior leadership understand how employees are engaging—or not engaging–at Tower Hamlets, arming the communications team with the necessary data to change the messaging for different audiences or change tactics or strategy.

An example of this in action was the employee My Annual Review program, where Asha and her team were able to analyze and compare engagement stats with completion rates, moving the dial from 25% in 2022/23 to 93% in 2023/24. This depth of knowledge as a result of quick and ready access to Poppulo analytics played a crucial role in the transformation program.

When the transformation came in, it was felt that there would be a need for a resource to really help with it and use the knowledge that our team has. And that was as a result of the impact that our communications were having. Not people just looking at something on a surface level and saying: ‘that looks great’, but by really going into our engagement statistics and showing that it’s worked and has had an impact."— Asha Isaac

For the change transformation initiative to be successful, Asha and her team introduced a suite of different methods to engage with staff, for example, online and face-to-face events, manager briefings, etc., as well as email newsletters and other digital communications.

The success of these different engagement methods has been due to the newsletter through Poppulo, to get the message out there to our employees—half of whom are online— in a really interesting and engaging way, which the platform enables us to do. Poppulo has played a major part in improving overall comms platform and especially two-way communication with our staff through the ability to comment and give feedback."—Asha Isaac

During this period of change, it was important for internal communications to ensure leaders were highly visible, approachable, and were clear and concise with their messages. Their goals for the leadership communications campaign were to:

Improve staff perception of senior leaders, including strengthening trust in leadership and enabling two-way conversations

Ensure staff are engaged in Tower Hamlets’ continuous improvement journey

Increase understanding and bring about behavior change via key messages around the importance of compliance and effective people management

Support managers during the transformation, given their essential role in managing change at a local level

To achieve these goals, the team executed a range of communications—everything from a Chief Executive Roadshow and Tea & Chat sessions with the Chief Executive to online meetings with the Corporate Management Team, and a Staff Conference and Awards ceremony.

The engagement and behavioral changes as a result of Asha and her team’s communication strategy were impressive.

The transformation program hinged on engaging people and gaining their support. Poppulo's role in our communications strategy was instrumental in making this happen."—Asha Isaac, Internal Communications Manager, London Borough of Tower Hamlets. 

There was a significant increase in attendance at existing events and an enthusiastic uptake of newly introduced events, which provided opportunities for two-way communication and promoted messages around the transformation journey.

Chief Executive Roadshow: Employee attendance doubled compared to previous years

Behavior/organizational culture change following comms campaign: 93% staff completion rate for My Annual Review staff appraisals, up 25% from previous year.

Staff Conference and Awards involvement: Biggest attendance ever, with an almost 400% increase on the previous year

Employee understanding of key issues: 84% positive feedback, showing “very good” or “good” understanding, up 38% from the previous year

In addition to the success of the transformation comms campaign, the use of Poppulo has been extended. From initially being used to create and publish a single newsletter for staff, Asha and her team have expanded how they use Poppulo to engage with Tower Hamlets councilors and members, and have also introduced three directorate newsletters.

From a platform that was initially used just for a weekly newsletter, we’ve really utilized it to engage with multiple audiences and different parts of the organization. And that’s come from other people seeing how our comms are landing, and then wanting to use Poppulo themselves. It really helps that the platform is so accessible and user-friendly.”—Asha Isaac

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