SUTV: Campus-wide Digital Signage
"We have seen such a great response from the SUTV ads we ran last month, and will definitely be purchasing more in the future” – local branch of a national non-profit
SUTV is a network of more than 125 digital screens located primarily on the main campus of the University of Alberta.
SUTV was designed to provide up-to-the-minute information to the more than 40,000 students and 14,000 staff on campus, from news and weather to events and services. Screens can be found in all university libraries and residences, in the majority of faculties, and in a number of other high-traffic buildings and locations.
SUTV is also an advertising medium for the university and for external businesses. Rates are very cost-effective for our University clients, and our commercial clients tell us our external rates are also competitive. It is a uniquely targeted way to keep students and staff up to date with your organization’s ongoing promotions, services or products.
Please contact us directly for a Rate Card.
For more information, check out our online Media Kit.
Feel free to get in touch with us at sutv@su.ualberta.ca or at 780 492 4241.
SUTV specifications and design recommendations
Technical Specifications
- Your advertisement must be 1150×865 pixels in size and in landscape format (not portrait); we cannot adjust your file if it is the wrong size or format
- Your file must be a JPEG/JPG; we cannot accept any other file formats
- Your file must be less than 5 MB in size
The following image shows how an advert looks on a typical SUTV screen. Note that screens in different locations have different "skins". This design is for a busy corridor, where people are walking; in a food court, where people have time to read a screen, the skin will often include a news feed to attract attention.
Design Recommendations
On SUTV, your advert will appear throughout the day, 12 seconds at a time. Remember that someone looking at your ad is trying to remember key information, so you should make that as easy as possible. If you have a lot of text, or your key message is not clear, or if you are asking people to remember long URLs, then your ad may not be effective.
With over 10 years experience working with SUTV clients, we know what works and what doesn’t:
- SUTV is a visual medium, so think photos or graphics rather than just text.
- with SUTV, “less is more”. Ads that get a message across with visuals rather than text definitely perform better. Check how long it takes to read your creative... and if it’s close to 12 seconds, maybe it's time to start editing.
- try to keep the text to less than 25 words, and keep URLs as short possible.
- we do not recommend the use of QR codes.
The comparison below shows how an original ad was revised - by the client - at our suggestion.
Partnering with SUTV
We know that there are many commercial options available for digital signage, but we also know that they are often a "one size fits all" solution, where you - the person with the screens on walls - have little control over the content. Commercial solutions can also be expensive and often require a long-term commitment. SUTV is different.
With SUTV, the Students’ Union has created a “made-on-campus,” student-centric digital signage solution specifically designed for the campus community. In fact it has become the de facto standard for digital signage on campus, and we have partnerships with close to twenty different organizations, including the university libraries, all the residences, the majority of faculties, and with several other departments and groups.
Our Partners get to design the screen layout they want, they have control over the majority of the screen content... and we give the technology away, and maintain it at no charge.
If you are considering digital signage for the first time, or have underused capacity on existing screens, we should get together. We have considerable technical expertise in deploying and managing digital signage, our solution is entirely web-based, and there are no commercial software or other fees.
To learn more, please get in touch with us at 780.492.4241 or sutv@su.ualberta.ca.
We have also developed partnerships with other Student Associations, including the main campus of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton, and SAs in Ontario and in Eastern Canada. To learn more about how SUTV works on external campuses, get in touch with us at sutv@su.ualberta.ca.
Phone
780-492-4241
Email
sutv@su.ualberta.ca
Students' Union Executive and Administrative Offices
Room 2-900
Students' Union Building
University of Alberta
8900 - 114 Street NW
Edmonton, AB
T6G 2J7
