Photos courtesy NEC Display Solutions
By Keith Yanke
A well-known attraction in Alberta’s capital, the Edmonton City Centre (ECC) is an expansive indoor facility that connects local stores, two downtown hotels and more than 557,418 m2 (6 million sf) of office space. As such, it is an attractive hub for out-of-home (OOH) advertising.
According to the Canadian Out-of-Home Measurement Bureau (COMB), as of June 2011, the ECC’s bridgeway—an elevated indoor walkway above Edmonton’s 101st Street—is traversed by more than 4.5 million pedestrians each year, with a weekly average of 87,200. This intense level of walking traffic recently sparked the notion of installing several video walls, both to entertain passersby and to help increase the retailers’ revenue through marketing and promotions.
Building the case
ECC offers a unique bridge for commuters to quickly access several buildings in downtown Edmonton. With more than 74,322 m2 (800,000 sf) of retail space, the thousands of daily passersby are prime targets for shopping-related advertising.
In 2009, Advitech conducted an in-mall and telephone survey, the results of which estimated 41 per cent of ECC pedestrians are between the ages of 25 and 44, comprising a large portion of the shopping population.
Two years later, Walsh McPherson established WMC Digital Media to turn the video wall idea into a reality. Serving as a dynamic media provider and network operator, the company would help OOH advertisers design and deploy eye-catching content appropriate to the venue.
ECC’s bridgeway is traversed by more than 4.5 million pedestrians each year.
“We screened multiple companies in search of the perfect partner for this opportunity,” says Olympia Trencevski, general manager of ECC. “Our new bridgeway digital video walls would be the first to market, providing a way for local, regional and international brands to reach premium demographics.”
Establishing the mix
As founder and president of WMC, McPherson was tasked in March 2011 with augmenting the planned video walls’ liquid crystal displays (LCDs) with the creative use of interactivity.
“We regularly see a long line of commuters waiting to grab a coffee,” he says. “Those minutes can be used to attract them to local businesses. To do so, we wanted to entice their participation in community events or entertain them with trivia and news.”
The large-format digital signage would allow marketers to target their messages to both office employees and mall shoppers, with a mix of video, audio, animation and/or RSS feeds. The video walls would also have the capability to display photos and text sent via social media by passersby using the walkway.
Content would also focus on news and entertainment through the display of ‘fun facts,’ pop culture, financial information and sports stats. The blend of content was designed to pique the interest of as many shoppers as possible, then lead them to stores within the mall.
Achieving this aim also depended on how the screens were installed.
“The placement of the video walls was crucial to the success of the project,” says McPherson. “The content would have no purpose and the project wouldn’t be beneficial if the target audience couldn’t easily view it! So, the sizing, placement and location of the video walls were among our top priorities.”
