Where you live, work, play, dine and just chill out – the Dynasty Interactive Screen Community (DISC) in St. Louis – invites you to come on in and get acquainted.
In Da Loop Restaurant and Bar, in the University City Loop – where patrons can feast on woodfire specialties including made to order pizza, chicken wings, toasted ravioli, Oysters Rockfella, Italian Meatball subs, salads and more – is one of a growing list of restaurants, event centers, nonprofit agencies and others taking advantage of indoor digital platform being launched here.
“People come in and they get to see advertisements and information about what’s happening in the community,” says Demadison Fife, one of the owners of In Da Loop, 6665 Delmar Blvd. “They’ll start looking at it and say, ‘I know those people.’ It becomes like a comradery. They see people that they know on the screen. It is a good feeling.”
Better Family Life, Inc. (BFL) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit community development corporation that works to stabilize inner-city St. Louis neighborhoods is learning firsthand how the DISC system works.
“I can see it being beneficial to use, being able to share in the experience of this technology” says Marquette King Conners, Vice President of Youth, Family and Clinical Services at the agency, 5415 Page Blvd., in North St. Louis.
There are two DISC screens inside BFL, one in the youth department on the first floor and on the second floor in the Workforce Development wing. Visitors, staff members and students notice the non-intrusive monitors and often take not of the advertising message such as banking, skin care and places to eat.
“The pixels are noticeably clear. It has pulled me into the advertisements being displayed,” King-Conners says. “It will be a valuable tool for other organizations to be involved in. Others offered this technology to us for a fee, but this is free of charge to us.”
In the age when digital access is on the fingertips and in the eyesight of consumers, the priority to reach a diverse audience via active and creative media content is at a premium.
News delivered. Information shared. Advertiser’s products and services pitched. Understanding obtained. That’s the story of widening the online highway to go places it must go – into the minds and hearts of African American consumers.
David Beckford, Creative Director, and Founder of Dynasty Media, which has generated over $2.5 million in advertising revenue for its Media Partners since 2019, said technology is free to establishments to host a screen. He said the benefits are enormous.
“Screen host locations receive free promotion throughout the year,” he said. “Our media and marketing teams work to advertise the business to attract new customers, fill seats at events, and drive revenue. And to be seen and heard by thousands of prospective clients.”
A sample of the colorful and engaging messages on the video screens include:
- A St. Louis person being selected as a new member with the Obama Foundation Leaders USA Program
- Local exerts and leaders meet to address the gun violence in St. Louis
- An African American insurance association’s annual scholarship fundraiser
- Health and food info about staying mentally healthy during the summer heat, and about watermelon being the $500 million dollar wonder fruit loved around the world.
- And most of the community information has QR Codes for you to dig deeper in the messages with a click of a photo on your mobile phone
Dynasty Media (Network) is a Partnership of Trusted Black/African American (AA) Owned Digital & Linear Platforms Across the United States. The agency offers advertisers the opportunity to CONNECT with a valued audience that is African American, culturally relevant content to “grass root” local communities
“Our goal is to give Black media a bigger voice and some type of competitive advantage in the larger mass communication landscape,” Beckford said.
To date, there are fourteen locations in the St. Louis metro with the goal of being twenty. According to market data, there are 367,000 “pair of eyes and ears” in the radius of the screens, reaching 160,000 people in a collective frequency.
The first thing eyes see upon entering the NAACP’s St. Louis County office at 26 North Oak Plaza in Northwoods is a DISC video screen. The system scrolls with advertisements about Black businesses and facts about vital community resources and services. Some of the moving and colorful visuals include ads about restaurants, beauty salons and hair care, banking, social services, technology, sports and more.
From John Bowman Sr.’s perspective, president of the NAACP county branch, the video system makes sense because of the historical relevance of the civil rights organization for Black Americans to ensure “political, educational, social, and economic equality” to people of color.
“The video screen gives you information about black resources in the community,” said Bowman, the former District 70 state representative, who has been at the helm of the NAACP county branch for four years. “As the leader of one of the oldest Black organizations in the country, I want people to spend money, for example at restaurants, who looks like them.”
The DISC system is also inside the Omega Center, an entertainment and banquet venue at 3900 Goodfellow Blvd. in St. Louis. Bowman serves on the center’s foundation.
Other locations where the DISC system is up and running:
- Heartland St. Louis Black Chamber of Commerce
- Krab Kingz
- Omega Center
- Riverview West Florissant Development Corporation
- Tapers Barber and Beauty
- Tripe City
- Two of a Kind Bar & Grill
- Your Place Diner
- In Da Loop Restaurant
- Gwen’s Restaurant
- Ladies of Elegance Salon & Spa/Ryze Manufacturing
- NAACP County Branch
- NAACP St. Louis County
- Better Family Life, Inc.
Click on DISC to see at video clip for the St. Louis Market
