1,000 ABN Dealerships For Harris
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
The Automotive Broadcast Network has selected Harris Corporation as its vendor of choice for a dynamic, scalable Digital Out-Of-Home solution to augment its popular Dealer TV broadcast at auto dealerships across North America.
The solution will deliver superior technology, network operations management, and turnkey field services, including dealership installations and support. Harris was awarded the contract due to its full-service approach for ABN.
“Harris has the depth and efficiency as an organization to deliver a full range of products and service across the entire network, allowing us to focus on sales and marketing. It also can scale with us quicker and more efficiently than any other vendor,” says Jerry Daniels, president and CEO, Automotive Broadcast Network.
ABN launched its Dealer TV service in 2008 to enhance the automotive retail experience for customers and better control sales environments. The Harris DOOH solution, which is an upgrade to ABN’s existing digital signage system, will roll out at 1,000 dealerships in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2012, bringing diverse and targeted content to every screen in the network – along with the broadcast-quality graphics, superior video quality and rich data of Harris InfoCaster technology.
The complete Harris DOOH solution will allow ABN to control the entire customer experience at each dealership. This includes unique and targeted content in the showrooms, service departments, welcome areas and other departments. Local dealerships can also upload content to ABN for placement on the applicable screens, and control content delivery by location.
”The Harris DOOH network will significantly extend our ability to market specific messages to appropriate audiences, helping dealerships to increase sales and otherwise stir customer interest,” says Daniels. “Digital signage is an ideal way to communicate with everyone that visits the dealership and reach customers at various points of transit. By strategically placing multiple displays throughout the dealerships with messaging relevant to location, we can facilitate communication with customers in a very consistent and effective manner.”
Daniels says that he is interested in using digital signage to educate and inform customers about all the different opportunities and services that dealerships have to offer — from service specials to discount programs — and in having the flexibility to create vibrant, attractive displays that capture customer attention.
“We have a unique need in that, to our knowledge, we are the only company in our industry that is mimicking broadcast content to this extent,” says Daniels. “We want to provide that rich broadcast viewing experience to the consumer, and Harris is really the only company that offers that kind of platform. Harris delivers the broadcast-quality graphics, dynamic screen presentations, content management and scalability we need to achieve our goals.”
Daniels says that the Harris DOOH network solution will also enable integration into social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, and provide stronger local content tied to news, weather and other pertinent information.
“ABN has built a unique viewing experience for the automobile industry with Dealer TV, mixing family-friendly entertainment with promotional content to create an environment to engage and retain customers,” says Harris Morris, president, Harris Broadcast Communications. “Harris’ solutions and service will help ABN evolve the entire experience, from engaging customers with the right content at the right time to helping dealerships sell automobiles and services — all tied to an exciting digital out-of-home experience.”
See further information on Harris in our personal interview today with Denise MacDonell.
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