Technology

Kwik Stop digital signage approach fuels community building

Sean O'Neill's vision for Kwik Stop has fueled a digital signage transformation which has revamped the brand image and customer experience.

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April 6, 2023 by Daniel Brown — Editor, Networld Media Group

Sean O'Neill. Image supplied.

You might not guess it from his gentle, soft-spoken manner, but Sean O'Neill wears a lot of hats and is almost always on the go in his role as business development manager at Nebraska-based Kwik Stop, a line of 24/7 gas station convenience stores. It's a testament to his family's people-first philosophy of business, which is embodied not only in their recent digital signage transformation project, but in the way they have leveraged the new Watchfire signs for community building via messaging tailored to each store's local community, instead of merely serving as advertising and branding tools for the company.

O'Neill talked with Digital Signage Today via a phone interview to share the brand's story.

Kwik Stop overview

"So, we're based in North Platte, Nebraska — which is kind of West Central Nebraska — about exactly halfway in between Lincoln and Denver, right on the Interstate 80 corridor," O'Neill explained. "We have 27 locations total, soon to be 28 — we're getting ready to break ground on another one. 26 of them are in Nebraska, and then we have one in Holyoke, Colorado, just on the border."

The distance between stores, along with the terrain, require a lot of travel by O'Neill, who (along with his parents and co-owners) tend to be hands-on in their management approach. When winter weather and ice make roads difficult, this adds a new challenge to an already demanding career.

"So my job — well, it just varies every day," O'Neill said. "I try to grow our corporate fuel business, and I oversee our maintenance department, our liquor category. We have some liquor stores. It's still a very small-knit group of people that work here. So it's kind of all hands on deck, and nobody's afraid to do any job. I'll change diesel filters, if I have to; my dad will change diesel filters. We'll unload freight if we have to. And the last couple of weeks, we've actually been putting in some new flooring in our stores. We got rid of the old tile flooring that we've had for 20-plus years and we put in new vinyl wood flooring, so we've been kind of out of the office and out of town doing that kind of grunt work for the last couple of weeks."

In contrast to the popular conception of various retail chains being owned and run by faceless overseas corporations, O'Neill's family takes pride in this strategy. "That's the only way we're going to be able to stay viable in our locations, if we kind of know what's going on — and every location is different," he said. "So that's kind of why we do have a hands-on approach."

Hungry for more

Initially, Kwik Stop had standard signage, focusing energy on other parts of growing the business.

"We just kind of had the old, basic sign on the corner where you have to lift it up and we were propping open the the signboard and trying to put letters in there," O'Neill said. "The letters were getting broken, and some of them were different sizes, and it just didn't look very good. And a lot of our stores are in really nice locations where we have a lot of vehicle traffic, and we wanted to do something that made it look a little bit more crisp and clean."

Without a background in digital signage, the family was initially not sure where to begin. "The one thing we talked about is, you're never going to be able to measure the return on investment. It's just impossible to do, but we felt that we're in these communities and we want to be visible — in our hometown as well — and we just thought that these signs really just give our locations the pop and the modern look at it that they needed," O'Neill said.

O'Neill's journey echoed the "Keeping up with the Jones's" phenomenon, in which businesses get involved with digital signage for the first time by asking around after getting curious about digital signs that other local businesses are putting up in the community.

"We would just have specials or messages, but we could only leave them up there for a couple of weeks at a time," he said. "You can't change them daily, just because of the the time that it would take, so we were always thinking of a way to get something in our locations where, if we want to change it daily — if we want to even change it hourly — we can. And we saw some of these banks and event centers that were putting these signs in, and we got in contact with the sign company here in town who has done a lot of work for us in the past, and they were a vendor/dealer with Watchfire."

The transformation process

Once they found a knowledgeable provider, the process wasn't too difficult, according to O'Neill. "Almost all the signs are the same dimensions which makes it easier," he said. "I mean, Watchfire puts out a really great product. It was pretty easy, once you saw the presentation and what you're able to do with it."

True to form, the family has taken a hands-on approach to this side of the business, visiting install sites with the integrators from Condon Signs.

"We go out with them and we utilize their expertise on where they think (the signs) should go," O'Neill said. "A lot of them just go right underneath our price sign, just because we already have power and everything there, and we're kind of limited in where we can put them — just because we don't want to dig up a bunch of concrete and run a bunch of conduit underneath."

As of our February conversation, the project was still underway, with 23 locations having digital signage up and running. "Our goal is to have all 28 locations done in the next five to six months," O'Neill said.

Content and community

So what kind of content is Kwik Stop running? Is it just food and beverage specials, or is there more, such as revenue-generating DOOH ads?

"We've talked about that, but we haven't really gone that route, just because we're mainly focused on running specials on our end," O'Neill said. "A lot of our locations are in smaller, rural communities. So we're very involved with the local businesses, to support them, especially the schools. We really thrive on supporting the local school communities and stuff like that. So, you know, we'll have their logo popping up as they win a big game, or if they do well at a speech meet or something, we'll put that up there for a week and let that run. We really try to stay involved as much as we can in the communities that our locations are in."

O'Neill has seen how much people appreciate this local, human touch. "Everybody likes it when you get noticed, or your kids get noticed," he said. "We find that people really do like that. We take the time to recognize those people."

But where does this focus on community come from for O'Neill?

"Well, you know, a lot of our locations ... are in towns where they're probably 4,000 people or less," O'Neill said. "So there's not a lot of players in town as far as convenience stores ... So we've kind of found that if you get involved with the school and the community, that gives you kind of an upper hand on somebody that maybe doesn't want to do that, as far as people supporting you in return."

It sort of boils down to treating every aspect of the business and customer experience as a relationship across the Kwik Store brand. "It kind of comes back into the the hands-on approach that we kind of have from from a from a corporate standpoint here," O'Neill explained. "I mean, we're very involved. We know what's going on in the communities that we have locations in, and that's just what you have to do in our business to succeed."

In line with the community-feel of the brand, the business isn't looking to go global anytime soon; they like to keep the stores within about a two-and-a-half hour radius from the North Platte, Nebraska base of operations (by vehicle).

"Anything outside of that and it's just kind of hard to keep an eye on," O'Neill elaborated. "So we're pretty comfortable with where we are. We're getting ready to break ground on a new store here in North Platte that we're excited about. And we've been kind of working out the details for the past year and a half, making sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed for that. So that's really about it going forward."

In terms of creating the content, O'Neill and his team try to use pictures and GIFs instead of lots of small-print text. "The cars are going by, you know, 35 miles an hour or whatever; they're not going to be able to read all that," O'Neill said. "So you've got to try and catch their attention creatively, and we found that pictures and animation can do that."

O'Neill also credits his in-house artistic consultant for helping him refine the style of content. "I love my wife dearly, and she will give me opinions and feedback, whether I want to hear it or not," O'Neill said with a chuckle. "She's kind of the artistic one, and if I put something up there, she'll look at it and say, 'I think that looks pretty good.' All right, we'll give it a shot. Or I'll change it."

Cost, ROI, learning curve

So was the project worth it, especially in terms of ROI and initial cost of installing the digital signage?

"It's definitely something to keep in mind," O'Neill said. "I think the main thing is, you just have to go in with an open mind, knowing there's not going to be any concrete way or data to really measure the ROI. But once you put it in, and you see the look that it gives you, and you see that people really do notice and that they're paying more attention to your specials, or messages, or whatever... it is worth it."

While the system is handy for remote sign management (especially in bad weather), we asked if there was a learning curve as a new user of digital signage. "No, not really," he said. "You should kind of watch a couple of training videos, and the main thing is, you just kind of need to start doing it, and you just get better by trial and error," he added. "I'm not very artistic, so you kind of have to just learn — and, honestly, we're not big on reinventing the wheel." O'Neill says it's important to keep an eye on what's happening in digital signage across town, which can inspire your own design journey. Still, the software shouldn't be a point of anxiety for businesses thinking about a similar journey, in O'Neill's estimation. "It's very user friendly. It's very, very easy to pick up on," he said.

While the digital signage comes with onsite support Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. local time, along with Watchfire OPx Ignite support (the content management software), the system hasn't required a lot of technical support so far. "We really haven't run into a lot of issues," O'Neill said. Power issues are solved easily by hiring a local electrician if there are power level problems, and Watchfire can often fix the rare glitch with remote support.

Don't be afraid of innovation, feedback

Does O'Neill have lessons to share from this experience and the broader Kwik Stop journey for young entrepreneurs?

"I think a lot of it is just don't be afraid to just try new things," he said. "And don't be afraid to ask an opinion. You know, if someone's not willing to give you honest feedback, they're probably not worth talking to. You just ask them, 'Hey, do you like the way that looks? You don't like the way that looks? Tell me.' Because they're the ones that you're hoping will notice it and then go to your location, or go to your event, or whatever your goal was with the sign — so don't be afraid to ask people for feedback and criticism."

And, O'Neill added, don't forget the human side. "It's all about relationships. And, you know, just basically just not being afraid to take a chance and do something different, if something's not working. You know, when they say 'the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again, expecting the a different result.' So, you know, just don't be afraid to try something different. Branch out a little."

Did O'Neill feel that anything got left out about the project?

"No, not really," he said. "We found it really made our curb appeal a lot more crisp and modern-looking. And we're just really happy with the product that we put out there, and we hope that it drives people in, and people appreciate it."

Digital Signage Technology

About Daniel Brown

Daniel Brown is the editor of Digital Signage Today, a contributing editor for Automation & Self-Service, and an accomplished writer and multimedia content producer with extensive experience covering technology and business. His work has appeared in a range of business and technology publications, including interviews with eminent business leaders, inventors and technologists. He has written extensively on AI and the integration of technology and business strategy with empathy and the human touch. Brown is the author of two novels and a podcaster. His previous experience includes IT work at an Ivy League research institution, education and business consulting, and retail sales and management.