LA Interactive Powered By Toshiba
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
When Toshiba decided to get into digital signage with a business plan about two-and-a-half years ago, it decided that interactivity would be a key part of its offering.
Scott Maccabe with Masato Yamamoto, executive vice-president and general manager, Toshiba Tec, Tokyo
That was clear Saturday night at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles when it revealed six different interactive products in a section dubbed LA Interactive Powered by Toshiba.
This permanent section is only part of Toshiba’s partnership with Staples Center: It will also be replacing about 1,000 TV screens in the concourse areas and suites over the next 30 days.
LA Interactive was formally opened with an official ribbon cutting by Scott Maccabe, president and CEO, Toshiba America Business Solutions Inc., in the presence of several senior executives from Toshiba America, Toshiba Japan and Toshiba Technology Corp. (T-Tech), Lee Zeidman, president of the STAPLES Center, Luc Robitaille, LA Kings president, business operations and NHL Hall of Famer, as well as Bailey, the LA Kings mascot and a group of LA Kings cheerleaders.
With 4 million fans passing through the STAPLES Center for 250 events per year, this will allow the fans to learn more about the events, the teams, the individual players and more, as well as make more connections with the events, the players, and the fans’ friends.
The speakers – Maccabe, Zeidman and Robitaille – said that this makes STAPLES Center the most interactive, connected sports place in the US.
The interactive products in LA Interactive include:
- A 13’ x 6’ videowall, very tied in with the social marketing aspect. On it will be everything from the games to montages of the fans;
- An 8’ x 5’ videowall allows fans to do things like predict who will score the first goal the hockey game;
- Two 46-inch Toshiba Virtuoso interactive touch displays featuring team and event-specific information;
- A 60-inch Toshiba “Touch & Get” interactive kiosk allowing for high-speed transfers of exclusive Los Angeles Kings and STAPLES Center content;
- Three 65-inch Toshiba Ultra HD displays.
There are also menu screens around the bar area.
One of these kiosks is wireless but currently only available for use with Android devices but will be usable with iPads and iPhones in the future. The kiosks allow the user to use interactivity to the max.Tweeting, Instagram and other social media forms are part of the LA Interactive scenario.
Several cameras, provided by Quividi, for facial recognition will allow better analytics regarding approximate age, sex, mood and more to allow for better targeted content.
“We are already in half a dozen arenas, but this is the first where we are putting in all these new types of screens,” says Maccabe. “LA Interactive will be Toshiba’s technology showcase, and we’ll be bringing people in to see what we can do. We’ve had a lot of partners collaborate with us to put it together, as well as our own in-house creative development group.”
And – no surprise here – Toshiba is using its own proprietary software!
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