Photos courtesy Subaru Canada
By Peter Saunders
In 2011, Subaru Canada, based in Mississauga, Ont., announced the introduction of ‘Subaru.TV,’ a new stream of digital signage content developed to help connect the company’s brand identity with customers’ shopping experiences at its 86 authorized dealerships by explaining various products and services. The project’s goal was to ensure Subaru could engage and entertain its customers directly, rather than allow them to be distracted by random content airing on regular TVs that had been installed in some dealerships in the past.
“The argument was simple,” says George Hamin, director of e-business and information systems. “Every day, we and our dealer network collectively spent thousands of dollars to drive prospective buyers and returning customers into our dealership. Once there, they were greeted with outdated promotional materials and, in some cases, TVs showing competitor advertising.”
While many individual dealerships or dealer groups had some form of customer-facing digital signage in place at the time, Subaru sought to become Canada’s first automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to deploy the technology at a national level. To this end, it had spent the previous year sourcing and developing enough high-definition (HD) content to make the experience distinctive.
Though it was inspired by digital signage networks in restaurants like Tim Hortons and Lick’s, Subaru did not want menu-style boards cycling through advertising, specials and promotions. Rather, the content was meant to seem like TV, just without competitors’ ads.
Finding partners
After partnering with Vancouver-based digital signage integrator 10net Managed Solutions, Subaru began gradually deploying a network of 1- and 1.3-m (42- and 52-in.) Sharp liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in May 2011, reaching across Canada. The network used a customized Dell media server running Scala’s Player software to provide unique content across both sales and after-sales service channels, available in English and French.
The rollout of ‘Subaru.TV’ began in 2011, extending across Subaru Canada’s 86 authorized dealerships throughout the country.
In addition, dealers that were already running Calgary-based PBS Systems’ Aristo contact management software and its integrated media suite were able to display the current status of vehicles in their service bays, helping reduce the need for oil-change and repair customers to keep checking in at the service counters. Subaru announced it would also work with other vendors of this type of dealership software to offer similar content integration opportunities.
Some two-thirds of the network rollout was completed when Subaru.TV was officially launched in time for the screens to display a five-minute sneak preview of the 2012 Impreza compact car, which was scheduled for release in October 2011.
As mentioned, however, Subaru’s goal was for the content to come across like a private TV network. So, the company also entered early discussions to secure nationally syndicated news, sports reports and other third-party content.
