Scala offered various insights into digital communication and the latest industry developments at the International Scala Conference 2014, which took place on May 14 & 15 at the Timber Lodge in the Olympic Park in London. With its emphasis on successful Digital Communication Solutions, the conference brought business together in this rapidlyevolving market.
Presentations
On Wednesday 14th , Scala hosted an interesting conference program, where prominent industry guest speakers shared valuable industry and project insights with the audience. This year’s program featured the following presentations and digital communication success stories from various industries:
• Nikk Smith (Pixel Inspiration): Intelligent digital media at Argos
• Steen Mertz (Jyske Bank): jyskebank.tv – from web TV to flow channel
• Adrian Exton (BlueSight Systems): Using audience data to increase revenues
• Alex Hughes (Amigo): Branding Your Building, The Scala Way
• Peter Critchley (Beaver Group): EAT – Fresh Food and Fresh Menus
• Christian Lie (DNB): Rebranding Norway’s largest financial institution with digital signage
• James Fine (Telecine): The Art of Signage Seduction…or How to Score with Great Content
• James Brenner (Esprit Digital): The Westfield Stratford City case
Scala CEO Tom Nixand CTO Peter Cherna updated the audience on the roadmap and strategy of the company. VP Advanced Analytics Stefan Menger gave a presentation titled “The Data Connection – Connecting and Optimizing Customer Experiences”. You can find the presentations here.
Visitors of the conference could also connect with two sponsors. Main sponsor Mdina Media showcased their latest Scala Certified Players and Avnet Embedded showcased the Instorescreen DSignage Android range.
Scala Tour
In the afternoon participants got a chance to experience the large scale Scala installation at Westfield Stratford City mall during a guided tour. The tour was followed by a double-decker bus trip past several Scala installations and hot spots in the city center.
NEC Showcase
On Wednesday 14th and Thursday 15th Scala showed their latest and innovative solutions at the NEC showcase in the Olympic Velodrome. NEC asked the leading solutions providers in the industry to collaborate to create fully integrated end-to-end solutions within real-life scenarios to educate and inspire. Over 100 truly inspiring solutions were on display distributed in 9 different zones: Retail, Digital out of Home, Education, Transport, Emergency Services, Media, Leisure, Innovations and Corporate Communications. On several screens at the Velodrome Scala showed live and up to date information about the event.
Connected Store
Scala presented an engaging, interactive shopping experience at the “Scala Connected Store” in the Retail Zone. Mobile devices and apps have introduced retailers to an unprecedented level of personalized engagement. By means of Bluetooth Low Energy technology (BLE) it is now possible to pinpoint a customer’s location within a store. Scala demonstrated a solution using beacons which can send customers personalized notifications about items near them, items on sale in the store or products of particular interest. Scala showed how customers can even “connect” their phone to one of the playback screens in the store: 1-on-1 engagement!
In addition Lift Technology was used with a range of Whisky bottles, displaying relevant information on a screen whenever one of the products was lifted from its spot on the store shelf. Scala used the NEC leafengine to detect the pick-up and “communicate” in an easy way with different devices. The NEC leafengine basically is a “unified sensor”; a software solution that enables access to a broad catalogue of sensors, including gender and age classification, proximity detection, NFC, QR-Codes and many others. More info: www.leafengine.com.
To complete the future view on the retail experience Scala included electronic shelf displays at their “Connected Scala Store”. This solution allows store owners to adjust pricing per store-shelf location instantly, with only one click, across many different locations.
Connected Coffee Corner
Ordering and waiting for a coffee to go was a breeze at Scala’s Connected Coffee Corner. Visitors could order coffee through a self-service kiosk without the need to remember their ticket number; a picture was taken when they ordered. Once the coffee was ready their picture showed up on a screen. Scala Advanced Analytics “added the sugar”… It helped transform point-of-sale data about the coffee orders into actionable insights for maximized sales and operational efficiency.
Sense
All the coffee was complimentary for all guests of the Scala Coffee Corner. In return Scala encouraged their guests to make a donation to Sense – the AV industry’s nominated charity that supports campaigns for children and adults who are deaf blind. A collection box was placed at the Scala solution.
SCALfie
Scala and NEC cooperated in this event initiative by asking visitors to take a SCALfie (“selfie”) with a “stress cube” and post the picture via Twitter and Instagram using #SCALfie. At the Scala Coffee Corner the result of the connection between social media and digital signage was showcased. The persons who made the best picture won an iPad Mini.
About main sponsor Mdina Media
Mdina Media has more than 10 years international experience, with solutions in the high-end digital signage industry. Providing the customer with a personal and innovative product is the key. Mdina Media offers low-cost players on AMD and Intel platforms; all embedded and Scala certified. The players offer multiple-display capabilities, with connections to 2 – 3 – 4 – 6 or 12 screens. The company offers different players: QE-series with AMD Kabini and optional AMD DASH 1.1 technology. This system is based on a low power, high performance processor (9–25 W), featuring AMD Radeon HD8000 graphics. QS-series, based on AMD R-series (35 W), where one single APU chip contains AMD Radeon HD7660G graphics and processor. Players with Intel iAMT 9.0 and a Haswell Intel Core processor, which can display three full HD screens. More information: www.mdinamedia.com.
About sponsor Avnet Embedded
At the International Scala Conference Avnet Embedded shows the Instorescreen DSignage Android range, which is Scala approved and which offers a versatile and creative Digital Signage Solution. The high quality, vibrant colour and high contrast digital LED panels allow amazing images, videos, applications and messages. Remote content management systems and the open Android OS gives the user complete control and allows you to change your messages when you want and as often as you want. The Instorescreen DSignage Android products are Scala approved, look fantastic and can be fully customized and integrated consistent with your unique company branding and image. More information: www.avnet-embedded.eu.
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