You may not have heard about Fargo-based startup Revel Digital, but you might see their signs in taxi cabs in Malaysia. Or in a major hardware store throughout South Africa. Or in your local Target.

The four-year-old company offers a cloud-based digital signage platform that enables what you might call “smart signs.” These are digital signs that are able to take in data and then customize the advertisements shown on the screen. They do things like know your age and gender through a sensor, or display your name on the screen using beacon technology (say, on a Coca-Cola bottle).

Sounds a little freaky? We thought so too. Especially when they’re displayed on the futuristic silver mannequins throughout the office, named Dorine, Betty and Veronica.

But the Revel Digital workers assure that there is nothing intrusive about the signs. And in fact, they already exist in many places. It’s similar to Google throwing up ads based on your most recent searches.

The capabilities are vast as well. They’ve used their platform to sync up with a toy car, using the screen as a video controller. Right now they are working on creating interactive content as well, such as touch features on the signs.

The company was started by Theodore “Ted” Rosenbaum and Mike Tinnes, business partners for 15 years. The two started out designing biometric technologies, like fingerprint identification on credit cards – a development that Rosenbaum says was a little before its time. They then started a research and development company called Catalyst Group that was bought by a company in South Africa, where they now house a second office and around eight employees. Revel Digital emerged as a project within Catalyst Group.

Here in Fargo, they keep a low profile. Their seven employees work from offices in the Centenniel building on NP Ave, decked out with arcade games, vintage trinkets, and Kandinsky paintings.

But while they are little known here, the company has big connections. They are currently doing product testing for Intel. They display digital signs for Dyson vacuums in hundreds of Targets nationwide. They worked on toothpaste displays for Walgreens, and thousands of displays for Hunter Douglas windows and blinds.

Most recently, and one of their only in town projects, Revel Digital provided the digital signage for the Valley Women’s Expo. Their software was used to display speaker profiles, schedule, sponsor logos, etc.

Far from Fargo, the company is doing work in nine different countries as well. Thousands of taxis in Malaysia use their platform to display ads on tiny video screens. They are working with a shopping mall in Pakistan, and the “Home Depot” of South Africa – a hardware store called BUCO that is using Revel devices to track traffic flow through sensors on digital signs.

“Every day is totally different,” Rosenbaum said. “We have a lot of big projects coming in. We no longer hear things like ‘if you were bigger, we’d work for you.'”

As for where the company is headed in the future, Rosenabum laughs and shakes his head.

“I don’t even go there. That way you’re not disappointed,” he said. “Right now, this is just plain fun.”

 

 

Photos by Marisa Jackels