From Reactive to Proactive: AI Agents Redefine Digital Signage
Glenda Kirby, Chief Customer Officer at Poppulo, explains how AI is reshaping digital signage by balancing creativity with automation, speeding up deployments, and setting the stage for more intelligent, connected networks.
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Digital signage has long been seen as a high-impact channel, but managing it at scale has often been a resource-heavy challenge. From designing layouts to ensuring screens are running smoothly, teams have traditionally spent days juggling manual processes before a campaign ever went live.
AI is changing that. By taking over repetitive, time-consuming tasks, automation is giving marketers the freedom to focus on creative strategy while also ensuring faster, more precise execution.
“The boldest and most impactful digital signage content always begins with a strong creative concept; AI doesn’t replace that fundamental element. Instead, AI acts as a powerful enabler, taking over repetitive and time-consuming tasks so teams can focus on higher-value creative work,” says Glenda Kirby, Chief Customer Officer, Poppulo.
Glenda shares how AI agents are changing the way enterprises run digital signage at scale, speeding up workflows, easing the shift from manual to automated systems, and paving the way for smarter, more personalised experiences.
Excerpts from the interview:
What impact does AI automation have on the speed of content creation and deployment across large signage networks?
AI‑driven automation is reshaping how marketing teams create and deploy digital signage content at scale. Poppulo recently announced new AI-driven tools designed to streamline and accelerate content creation and deployment.
These tools include Poppulo Designer, a web-based design platform purpose-built for digital signage, and the Analyze Agent, which interprets content performance and network health data. Both will help teams move faster by automating layout creation, enhancing visual design, and simplifying the authoring process.
As a result, enterprise marketers can launch and adapt campaigns across dispersed signage networks in hours rather than days, making their messaging more relevant, timely, and impactful, regardless of scale.
How do you balance creativity with automation in digital signage content, and what role do AI agents play in this process?
The boldest and most impactful digital signage content always begins with a strong creative concept; AI doesn’t replace that fundamental element. Instead, AI acts as a powerful enabler, taking over repetitive and time-consuming tasks so teams can focus on higher-value creative work.
Poppulo’s vision is to empower users of all skill levels to quickly produce beautiful, brand-consistent content through its Designer tool. Complementing this, the Analyze Agent interprets performance data to guide creative adjustments over time.
Together, these AI-driven tools create a seamless workflow where marketers maintain creative control while AI manages optimisation, formatting, and deployment, enabling the delivery of more relevant, impactful campaigns at scale.
What KPIs matter most when measuring AI-driven content performance?
Content playback reporting and network health metrics are foundational to understanding the true effectiveness of AI-driven digital signage. Playback reports show exactly what content played, when, and where, giving marketers clear visibility into message delivery and audience exposure.
Network health metrics ensure that screens are online, content is displaying without interruption, and performance issues are caught early. Together, these insights not only confirm that the right content reaches the right audience at the right time, but also enable proactive troubleshooting and optimisation.
This combination maximises uptime, enhances message relevance, and ultimately drives stronger engagement and ROI across the entire signage network.
What challenges did you face when transitioning from manual content management to AI-powered automation?
One of the biggest challenges has been managing expectations, making it clear this isn’t a flip‑the‑switch shift from ‘all manual’ to ‘all AI’. It’s a layered journey, where workflows evolve over time as AI becomes more capable and teams get more comfortable.
There is definitely some scepticism; people are wary about letting an algorithm influence messaging or design. As a technology company, we see it as an imperative to leverage AI to rethink long‑standing manual processes, and then to continuously invest in training so teams can adapt and build trust.
At this point, a lot of the focus is on aligning AI‑assisted tools with brand standards, making sure they feel like an extension of the team rather than a disconnected service. It’s about introducing AI gradually, to reduce the repetitive, time‑consuming tasks, so creative staff can focus on higher‑impact ideas.
The goal is to balance the best of human creativity with AI‑driven efficiency, and that balance is being shaped every step of the way.
How do you see AI agents evolving to further optimise digital signage performance and customer engagement in the future?
Looking ahead, AI agents will become even more proactive and context-aware, moving beyond reactive insights to predictive and prescriptive actions.
Another exciting evolution is the emergence of agent-to-agent connections, where different AI agents within the signage ecosystem collaborate seamlessly, sharing insights from content performance, network health, and audience data to optimise campaigns holistically.
This interconnected AI network will enable faster, smarter decision-making and more precise content delivery. Additionally, AI will increasingly automate personalised content creation and delivery at scale, making each interaction feel tailored without adding manual workload.
Integration with broader enterprise systems will further align digital signage with overall customer engagement strategies. Ultimately, AI agents will become indispensable partners that continuously learn, optimise, and amplify the impact of every screen, making marketing more effective and intuitive.
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