How We Turn a Brief Into On-Screen Content in 24 Hours
It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and a hotel marketing manager has just had a last-minute spa package approved. Guests can get 20% off treatments if booked before the end of Friday. This could increase revenue for the hotel, but only if the offer can go live as soon as possible.
The marketing manager has two options:
- Brief a designer and hope the promotion can be turned around before Friday.
- Message Digital Screen Services and have it sorted by Wedne sday.
Good screen content design doesn’t need to take days. Here’s how we turn a brief into live, animated content in under 24 hours.
Step 1: The brief
We don’t need a lengthy specification document (unless you want to send one). Often, all we need is an email with the details of the promotion you’d like to run.
In practice, that might look something like this:
“We’ve got a spa deal running this weekend. 20% off treatments if booked by the end of Friday. Can we get something on the lobby screen and the restaurant display by Thursday morning?”
That’s it. We might have a few follow-up questions, but all the main information is in that short message. We know the offer, the deadline, and which screens need updating. From this, we can remotely manage the content creation, upload, and scheduling.
Step 2: Design and animation
Once we’ve confirmed the details, we start on design — usually on the same day. We’re already set up with the client’s brand (colours, fonts, logo, tone), so we’re not starting from scratch. This means we can turn something around quickly, while still ensuring it fits with the other content on the digital screens.
Some clients might supply copy or additional assets, but typically, we work from a simple brief. The output is a short animated asset that runs around 10 to 15 seconds. Animation is important for capturing guests’ attention. A static image is easy to ignore, but an animated promotion is more likely to catch someone’s eye.
We purposefully keep these straightforward. There’s no wall of text, just an easily digestible message with a simple action — in this case, book.
Step 3: Review and sign off
We then send a draft to the client and keep the review process light. Typically, that’s one round of feedback, quick amends, and final sign off. We don’t operate like a marketing agency; there’s no account manager to chase or lengthy design process to wait for. We keep our team purposefully agile, allowing for flexibility on last-minute screen content.
Step 4: Scheduling and go-live
Once we have sign-off, we upload the content, ready for it to go live. This is where digital signage scheduling really comes into its own.
For the spa deal example, it might look like this:
- Wednesday: We upload the content and schedule it.
- Thursday at 8 am: The content automatically goes live on the lobby screen and restaurant displays.
- Friday at 8 pm: The content is automatically taken down when the spa closes.
This ensures the content goes live at exactly the right time, ready to start generating revenue. It’s then automatically taken out of rotation as soon as the offer expires, avoiding disappointment for guests who might see it too late.
Speed is key
The ability to move fast ensures that even last-minute deals, changes, or events can be communicated to your visitors in an engaging way. This is much, much faster than waiting for printed posters, which could take up to two weeks from brief to design to delivery.
We treat each new brief like breaking news. A last-minute room offer, a dish that’s back on the menu, a conference space that’s just become available; these are all time-sensitive. The longer it takes to get the message on screen, the less work that message can do.
Want to improve your screen content design?
Get in touch to book a free demo, or take a look here to see how we work with hotels.