Popstar is looking for an experienced Product Manager who will be responsible for product planning and execution throughout the product life cycle.  This includes gathering and prioritizing customer and market requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, sales, marketing and support to ensure the product roadmap is aligned with the company’s overall strategy and objectives.  The ideal candidate must possess a blend of business and technical savvy, have the ability to conceptualize and maintain a big-picture vision for Popstar products, and the drive to make the vision a reality.

Primary responsibilities include:

• Advocating a superior customer experience
• Owning and managing the entire product life cycle from strategic planning to product development to end-of-life for one or more products including:  defining and maintaining the product roadmap, implemention of life cycle procedures for software release and documentation, and managing the discontinuation and obsolescence of products
• Managing all aspects of products and new product launches including:  developing and executing pre-launch, launch and post-launch plans, running beta and pilot programs with early-stage products, observing, conducting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative user research, such as focus groups, interviews, and surveys, and create and perform test plans for UAT
• Providing in-depth market, industry and competitive analysis and positioning
• Developing pricing and packaging strategies with sales and marketing teams
• Working with marketing to create campaigns and plans to drive leads and sales opportunities including:  developing content and collateral and analyze data to gauge performance.
• Working closely with the sales team to manage all aspects of trainings for distributors, customers, and employees, including the preparation of materials, conducting the training and the coordination of resources sales tools and training
• Conducting monthly product meetings with the sales, customer service and marketing teams to keep them abreast of new product plans, both current and upcoming development efforts
• Working with the team to develop innovative marketing programs and show event campaigns
• Working closely with Engineering Project Managers to coordinate project scoping and prioritized planning
• Leading review sessions with technology team members to ensure business requirements are understood and met by team members.
• Conducting brainstorming meetings to generate new ideation
• Working closely with key partners, customers, and prospects to understand the needs and requirements of each of Popstar’s targeted markets.
• Working with external third parties to assess partnerships and licensing opportunities
• Developing  and managing customer care programs

OLATHE, Kans. – April 19, 2011 – Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE:IM) and Popstar Networks, an industry-leading digital media  software and services company, today announced a distribution alliance for Popstar Networks’ advanced digital signage solutions. Through this relationship, select members of Ingram Micro’s U.S. network of value-added resellers (VARs), managed service providers (MSPs) and systems integrators will be certified and enabled to offer Popstar’s digital signage products for medium- to large-scale deployments.

“Today, organizations are looking for effective ways to reach consumers and target audiences at the point of presence or purchase. Increasingly, they recognize the value of contemporary passive and interactive digital signage networks as key components of their marketing and merchandising program,” said Jeff Xouris, vice president of marketing for Popstar Networks. “We’re pleased to collaborate with Ingram Micro to offer enterprise-class solutions that are expertly designed to meet complex content, data, and networking needs.”

Popstar’s entire line of digital signage products is now available through Ingram Micro U.S.

“The addition of Popstar Networks’ full line of digital signage solutions enhances our portfolio and provides our channel partners access to a robust, fully customizable solution set for medium- to large-scale deployments,” said Kevin Prewett, vice president, vendor management, Ingram Micro U.S. “Working together with Popstar, we’ve designed a go-to-market strategy and complementary partner enablement program that will help accelerate our channel partners success within the digital signage category and key vertical markets.”

Designed to meet the needs of clients in quick-service (QSR) and fast casual restaurants, multi-location retailers, and healthcare facilities, Popstar Networks digital signage solutions feature:

• Remote location management capabilities
• Easy content distribution and high-quality playback for almost any type of digital media format
• Robust content scheduling and asset management
• Proactive network monitoring and reporting
• User-based permission levels for dynamic control

Popstar Networks’ digital signage software solves the most complex technical aspects of enterprise-class network deployments, including: content and asset management, connectivity, systems integration, device management and data reporting. Additionally, these products feature robust, flexible, and easy to use functions, and integrate seamlessly with many 3rd party applications and existing backend or enterprise systems to provide key insights and an enhanced customer experience.

If you’re planning to attend the upcoming Customer Engagement Technology World (CETW) April 27-28, in San Francisco, come see us in the Samsung booth # 300.

We’ll feature our complete digital signage software solutions for QSR, retail and healthcare sectors, including demonstrations of our  platform driving:

• Digital menu boards
• Interactive & self-service kiosks
• In-store merchandising
• Mobile & social media integration

The In-Store Marketing Institute’s March newsletter features this article on “shelf-talkers” going mobile through the use of static QR codes.

As they report, “More and more, QR and text-message codes are making their way onto P-O-P materials as brands and retailers seek ways to better engage smartphone-wielding shoppers.”

And while this is certainly a great way to extend your reach to consumers, retailers are only dipping their toe in the water of what makes for a truly engaging in-store customer experience.

Employing passive or interactive digital signage networks as part of an overall shopper-marketing approach — fully integrating online and mobile strategies — provides more flexible, dynamic and highly relevant campaign capabilities.

The dynamic nature of digital displays means QR codes or text-back campaigns linking to coupons and other information can be changed or updated on the fly, tested at targeted locations or with multi-variant options across the system.

Add audience recognition capabilities to these in-store displays and kiosks and suddenly your knowledge of the consumer has risen to a completely new level.

Retail digital signage really becomes the connection between online, mobile and in-store experiences.

Digital Signage Today posted this online article on Friday, March 25 — reporting from CTIA on Sprint’s Expanding Machine to Machine (M2M) Portfolio.

Popstar Networks and our partnership with Sprint is prominently featured in the article, and shows how wireless broadband provides unique benefits for digital signage networks.